things I'm not particularly proud of

June 16th, 2019

"Ooh what's this page?"

Why'd you click on this!

Ughhhhhhhhhhh well anyway, you're here, so I'll explain myself.

This page contains an archive of misc things I've done that didn't make the cut for "things I am proud of."

Please proceed gently

Some of these things are v old and modern-day embarrassing!

But I'm keeping them here because I'm trying to stop deleting everything that embarrasses me. It's probably(?) good to keep some of this, as a matter of personal history.

(And I begrudgingly acknowledge that sometimes a thing that's super cringey to me can still be meaningful to someone else.)

If you choose to poke around here, please be kind!

– – – – –

coding, etc.

Here are some internet playthings I made:

• weeknotes an online webapp that saves your private weekly notes. (source)
• gsa-sheets and sheets-service: a library and command-line tool to manage Google spreadsheets owned by Google Service Accounts.
• Bezier Tool generates calls to <canvas> bezierCurveTo() (source).
• Valentine's Day 2015 bringing back the e-card.
• Block Invaders a dumb space invaders clone (source)

writing

UGH don't read any of this

Just kidding, I guess.

But plz if you read this stuff, recall that like, a lot has changed since the time I wrote some of these things! E.g. I have changed! And the state of ~the discourse~ has dramatically evolved 2010/2015/etc!

(…Not that I remember having anything shameful here, but many of my revelations are rather basic for 2019.)

Anyway alright fine you may proceed

– – – – –

Some of my writing on tech:

• The GoPro vs the Polaroid Cube, and why there aren't more women in engineering
• How software engineers are conditioned to be poor allies and are quick to brush off stories of discrimination
• git svn checksum mismatch lol not an essay, but a surprisingly popular blog post on an annoying git error.

I'm also a co-author of a textbook:

• Web Programming: Step by Step

And here are some book reports:

• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood Pretty, but long and a little lazy.
• Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut Gimmicky but good.
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut A masterpiece. I loved it.
• The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen IDGI. This won awards?
• Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumaker filler filler (plotpoint) filler
• The Help by Katheryn Stockett Awful.
• I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You by Yumi Sakugawa OMG don't give to your just-friends. But do give to yourself!
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez A masterpiece I can't totally appreciate.
• Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger Actually just 1/9 stories. BUT IT'S SO GOOD.
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen All that needs to be said.
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Surprisingly lovely.
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple A fun light read by a self-aware made-for-tv writer.

mvc podcast

OMG if you listen to our old podcast I'm defriending you

BUT FINE okay fine yes! I am former co-host of the MVC podcast, a tech podcast I ran with Marty Stepp from Stanford, who is wonderful! He is not the source of my embarrassment.

Duct-taped together and uploaded to SoundCloud.