Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Now that 2017 is officially up and going it's about time to solidify some of my goals for the new year. I already talked about how 2016 was for me and hinted at a few areas of growth that I want to focus on moving forward. Which may be a bit optimistic, as Katie and I will be welcoming a little girl…
As 2016 draws to a close, I've been more reflective than normal about how the year went. In a lot of ways it's been a good one. Work is going great, especially considering how I was thrust onto a brand new team using unfamiliar technologies in early January. My boys are growing up fast and I can…
Even after living in and exploring the wilderness of Arizona for two years I still consider myself a Michigan hiker. It's only fair, in some ways: my hunger for the outdoors started in the Upper Peninsula and I spent seven years up there hunting waterfalls and old growth and forgotten places. Two…
Noah and Thomas munched on their breakfast in their seats behind me, occasionally breaking out in short bursts of chatter between long periods of quiet eating. I drove the three of us eastward on US-60 under a predawn sky towards Globe. This was my weekend alone with the boys and we had ambitious…
Between work and kids and moving to Arizona it had been a long time since Katie escaped somewhere on our own. Well, it had been a full year. Last year she took me on a birthday trip to the Dells for a full weekend of sight-seeing and adventure golf. Of course we had been worrying about Noah for much…
Over the last few months I've been taking my older son, Noah, out on hikes around Phoenix. For the first few I kept him in a carrier strapped to my back. He was too young to walk far over the rough ground of a hiking path. As long as I brought some snacks, a sippy cup with water, protected him from…
On the morning of January 5, 2015, Thomas Neal Emerick was born, our second child. He arrived in a small hospital in Mesa, Arizona after a drawn-out pregnancy that was filled with anticipation and far too much stress. We had a few close encounters over the last few weeks, late-night visits that we…
I'm not sure if I'm excited or not for 2015. Noah will be hitting two, we'll be having a new baby in a few days (oh golly), and working for Shutterstock just keeps getting better. On the other hand, I'm 2000 miles from my beloved Upper Peninsula and living in a desert. Everytime I think of the next…
Moving is nothing new to Katie and I. Since graduation, some six years ago, we've lived in five different houses. Going from Houghton to the Fox Cities was a big deal, hauling down all of our belongings between two vans and a car, and since then we've mostly hopped from one Appleton rental to the…
Five years. That's how long Katie and I have lived in Wisconsin. Five years ago we moved from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, leaving behind friends and the land I loved for a faint promise of a better job propect. Things turned out. Both of our careers have advanced since the move, I became more…