“We’re back, baby!”
This is the phrase I’ve been saying to myself quietly whenever something happens that feels very pre-pandemic-y. Most recently, it was while I was walking through O’Hare Airport on my way to a work conference in San Francisco for a couple of days. I haven’t been on a work-related trip since before the pandemic and it was a very strange feeling. As I passed the neon lights under Terminal 1’s Concourse C underpass (IYKYK), I just thought to myself… “Are we back? I think we’re back!”
Now the funny thing was that myself and many others throughout the airport were very much masked up. So while we’ll never actually get back to pre-pandemic levels for certain things, it was interesting to see the ways we have bounced back and even excelled. The fact that I could do contactless TSA Pre and get through security and to my gate in a matter of minutes was both a testament to how far we’ve come but also how much easier it is to travel without a toddler. It was cool to see but also scary. And honestly, made me miss the kiddo and momma a bit.
This past month has been interesting (aren’t they all?). Client work has been quiet lately. CPA Connect has been quiet while the accountants and CPAs are busy helping people file. The bicycle marketplace team is slowly and quietly making progress without much from me. The WOTW internal tool is in good (read: stable) shape (though I did start to add a bunch of improved reports last week). So after the struggle I mentioned last month to get back into the groove of things, I was able to take the opportunity to explore a couple of new projects, including a Ruby on Rails marketplace and customer research for an as-of-yet unnamed estate planning tool.
What I’ve shipped since last month:
rails.market - A curated collection of free and paid Rails + Hotwire projects to help developers build quicker. I created and shipped the first version within about 24 hours and have been slowly starting to evolve it with more capabilities. I’ve even put access to the codebase up on the marketplace.
What went poorly:
The consumption-to-creation ratio is a little heavier on the consumption side of things than I’d like these days.
Being okay with failing, being wrong, not having answers.
Holding ideas/code/projects too precious. Need to be okay with discarding to help keep momentum.
Overwhelming the wife with my many crazy ideas.
What went well:
Family: We had some really lovely time up at the cabin. The boy has been a wonderful delight lately. And while things aren’t always easy, I’m proud of us for making it through another month and prioritizing each other the way we have.
Prioritizing: The things that needed to get done got done. The rest was superfluous.
Health: I need to find some wood to knock on quickly, because as soon as I say this (and because I’m traveling), you know I’m going to get hit. But luckily the last month has been pretty good. Even got the thumbs up from the dentist, aside from the “floss more” that I assume they tell everyone.
Asks:
This might be a little random, but have you done any estate planning? Stuff like will, power of attorney, access to online accounts, etc.
If you have, I’d love to hear more about your experience. Also, where are you keeping that information (doesn’t need to be super specific… could be “in my closet”).
If you haven’t, I’d love to hear more about why you haven’t. Too daunting? Too expensive? Not sure where to even start?