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Now (December 2021 edition)

This a now page, inspired by Derek Sivers. Last updated on December 6, 2021

I’m fine and feeling incredibly grateful for it. That’s mostly what I’m doing now. Revelling in being in good health. Enjoying life by going on walks, sitting outside with a book or a podcast, and eating great food.

I’m building again

This was the biggest shift in my life: I’m building online things again. The reason it’s happening now is because my life feels a bit under control again. I’m not planning another house move and everyone I care about is vaccinated.

In November, I took part in the #30DayMapChallenge data visualization project. The objective of the challenge is to make a map according to a daily prompt.

Map of the rivers of Ireland

I did 11 days of the 30 which I’m supper happy about.

Released a tool

In the process of doing the 30DayMapChallenge, I got so frustrated with https://geojson.io that I ended up making my own alternative. I then used the theme of the day on the 25th to release it.

If you want to check it out, it’s https://geojson.rocks/

I still can’t believe I got it to work so quickly. It (obviously) doesn’t do everything that the other tool does. But it can preview and inspect GeoJSON and TopoJSON files and it’s fast. It’s all that I need.

Coaching at Codebar

I started coaching at Codebar, which is a charity that organises workshops to help people who are underrepresented get into the tech industry. It’s still early days but it’s amazing. I should have started doing this sooner. I had forgotten how much I love teaching.

There’s something else that I realised. We’re doing terrible job as developers to make your industry accessible to newcomers.

Remote work

It’s is still everywhere. It’s the future, here are more good stories:

The building society Nationwide has made remote working permanent for their 13,000 office staff in the UK.
The University of Manchester will keep lectures online, with the default shifted to “blended” learning.

I’m building a tool to help people with the whole “work from anywhere” thing. It will be my first product, and I’m super excited about it. You can follow along on https://anywhere.town/blog

Mindset

I’m doing good! There’s a bit of Covid anxiety here and there but it’s much better than it used to be. I’m happy with the limited set of safe activities that I can enjoy. Like going to a fun fair at midday on a Tuesday when it’s empty.

Stay safe,
Alvin