Archive

There is a person somewhere in the world whose job it is to create an account on CodePen and create a bunch of spam Pens (we call a demo that you build on CodePen with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript a “Pen”). They look like “landing pages” full of cheesy stock photography, keyword ridden text, and […]

Next time you ask for a favor, think about how you might reciprocate that favor. Can you do it before you even ask? Originally published at The Pastry Box Project.

Blogs were the first round of social media on the web. Medium length writing with links and images and such. Then we got Facebook. We still write, but it’s shorter and doesn’t have the complexities of running a blog. Then Twitter, just 140 characters of text. Even simpler, but you still have to write. Then […]

It doesn’t take very long on a project to get to the point where deleting code feels better than writing it. Sometimes it means you found a better way to do it that requires less code. Sometimes it means you discovered a way to re-use some code from elsewhere in the project. That’s exciting because […]

A barber explaining how they interpret people’s explanations of how they want their hair cut. A dog walker explaining how they successfully find new customers and keep the ones they have. A grandmother explaining their classic recipe for ginger snaps. An engineer demonstrating how a rear differential works​. An accountant pointing out the most common […]

I’d list the ways, but you know the ways. Some of that time is required because we’re decompressing. But some of that time is because we’re being lazy, procrastinating, or worse, lacking the self-awareness to even realize we’re burning hours. I don’t have a solution, but I have one little idea. Every time you sit […]

I don’t have much advice to give, but if I have any, it’s that little recipe. Truly great ideas are rare. Jokers like us will probably never have one. That’s OK. We have mediocre ones all the time and they work just fine. I once had an idea to start a blog about CSS. I […]

Says the designer as he rips open a mustard packet too forcefully and it spatters on his sleeve. If only these idiot mustard packet designers took pride in their craft, like I the web designer do. They shouldn’t be packets at all, but little syringes that excrete mustard in perfect lines. We could add a […]

I signed the papers and wired the down payment to buy my first home yesterday. I don’t actually own it yet though. The papers were for a 2-year land contract deal. The current owner still technically owns it for two more years. At the end of that two years, I owe him the rest of […]

So this was the greatest thing Reddit ever did right?

I’m rewatching the entire series just for kicks. It’s the comfort food of TV for me. Not much thinking, but enough that it’s not boring. No characters or plots that are so annoying that it distracts my calm. By the tenth episode of the first season, they have a really solid sci-fi universe built that […]