Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
As much as Jacob likes to focus on his two passions, web development and hiking, there are other things that happen in his life. A marriage, some big moves, occasional job changes… these experiences push Jacob around in new and exciting directions on this crazy journey called life. Here are a few stories of some of these big changes.
It's been a long, long, long, l-o-n-g few years. Mitigating the pandemic, buying a house, handling work stress, and trying to redefine a post-Mountain Rescue existence has been challenging. Certain areas (like this blog) have suffered more than others. I used to try to write a handful of posts every…
A few weeks ago, during normal working hours, something interested happened in one of our team's Slack channels. One of the engineers (from a different team) came in, asked a question about a project they were working on, and, after waiting less than ten minutes, decided to "@here" with a rude…
The last year has lasted an eternity. COVID-19 has impacted, well, the entire world, and my family wasn't spared. I don't mean to complain - we are blessed and privileged and are able to react to the uncertainty - there is just no question that every event in the last twelve-to-thirteen months has…
Working out has, over the last few years, become an integral part of my day. Long ago I assumed that running occasionally and eating semi-healthy was enough, and then my thirties hit, and I realized that I needed something more. Katie prompted me to try a cardio program with a little bit of weights…
For the last two years I've been working on a little side-hustle. A side-hustle that took up more than forty hours a month, pulled me away from a ton of family events, pushed me physically, and didn't pay a cent. I'm talking about Mountain Rescue, of course. And earlier this year I found out the…
My free time during 2018 was overtaken by Mountain Rescue and family. Which isn't all that bad, nor was it that unexpected, just means that some of the hobbies I used to enjoy and some of the goals I set for the year did not survive through December. And, to be honest, looking into 2019 probably…
A month ago my blog hit a big milestone: 500 posts. It's taken nine years to accumulate this many words, words about PHP and Arizona and work and more boring personal matters. There have been dry spells that have lasted months and some months that the posts flowed out much more frequently. Overall I…
For the last ten months I've been training to be a member of a local search and rescue group. The first half was spent doing pre-certification - first aid, rock climbing classes, posse training, etc - and more recently we've been working as a recruit class on foundational pieces. In fact, in May we…
After a lengthy delay, I took a second climbing class from Arizona Mountaineering Club in April. Lengthy delay because I took the first class, 'basics', last fall and haven't climbed since, so it felt a little awkward coming back to the group for anchors. The knots and some of the techniques came…
Managing my daily life with a todo app is the only way I can hope to function any more. In college I used a combination of OneNote and good ol' paper and pencil, and since 2009 I've been using Remember the Milk exclusively. And by that I mean I use it for everything - workout reminders, work, blog…