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Category: Thoughts

Life doesn’t have to be great to be good

Posted on by Cal Evans

Dear Reader,

I’ll be the first to admin that I am not living the life I thought I would. Growing up I had dreams of being a millionaire and living the good life. Working when I wanted to and on what I wanted to. I’m probably not alone in this.

My life didn’t turn out that way. I’ve always been able to provide for my family, sometimes better than other times, but we never went hungry, but it’s not exactly la vida loca. :)

Instead of constantly longing for what I don’t have though, I’ve learned as I got older that I cab be happy with what I’ve got.

  • I am married to the most beautiful woman in the world.
  • I have two wonderful children that, thanks to their mother’s genes, are very smart and talented
  • I have a dog

Life is good.

Could it be better? I’m sure it could. At some point though, I began to realize that instead of spending my time constantly working and scheming to get more stuff, I could spend the time I have left on this planet just enjoying what I have.

Life is good. Yes, if I worked at it, I could make life great. But then I would have less time to enjoy it. So I’ll stick with good.

Until next time,
I<3 |<
=C=

Creativity is hard

Posted on by Cal Evans

Dear Reader,

I have a friend named Jeremy Kendall who is an outstanding photographer. One day I was taking a picture of an old clay pot I thought of Jeremy and something kinda fell into place for me.

I can look through the view finder and see the subject. I can compose a picture properly to showcase the subject. I can adjust the settings for the available light. I can frame it and I can take a picture.

Jeremy however, can look through the viewfinder and see beyond the clay pot, he can see the beauty of the shot that is waiting to be captured. Jeremy doesn’t take pictures, Jeremy makes art.

We both use a camera, we both push the shutter button, but only one of us makes art.

The next time I am tempted to dismiss someone’s creation as “simple” because it’s something I can do, I’ll think of Jeremy.

This includes the next time I look at a SaaS product and think “I’m not paying $75 a month for 250 lines of code and a cron job.” (Actually happened. Cost me 3 years of my weekends.)

“Code is Poetry” as Matt Mullenweg is fond of saying. Code is truly is art.

It doesn’t matter if it’s written in a language I approve of. It doesn’t matter if I like the platform it runs on. Art is art, even if I don’t recognize it.

I need to remember that code is art and that someone poured a lot of love into that code, even if I don’t immediately appreciate it.

Until next time
I <3 |<
=C=

Treat Yo Self!

Posted on by Cal Evans

Dear Reader,

Yes, it’s a “Parks and Rec” reference.

I recently re-watched that series and this concept that was touted in a couple of episodes, always hits home with me.  I think it’s very important that we take time to take care of ourselves. Not an “In these trying times…” kind of thing, but every day, good or bad, make time for a moment that is just about you. I

  • Buy yourself something, A candy bar or small trinket
  • Get alone for ten minutes and just think of your happy place
  • Watch your favorite episode of your favorite TV show again
  • Listen to your favorite album with your headphones on

In Parks and rec, it was all about extravagance and opulence. It ended up financially devastating the participants. In real life it doesn’t have to be extravagant or out of your means.  The idea is not to buy happiness but to simply sit and smell the roses for a few minutes each day. The idea is to invest a small amount of time in your overall happiness and well being.

Invest in yourself today. Make time today to treat yo self.

Until next time
I <3 |<
=C=

Job Security is a Myth

Posted on by Cal Evans

Dear Reader,

As I writ this, I am on “Sabbatical”. I took a few days off to plan and write.

As I was packing to go, the lovely and talented Kathy and I were discussing a couple of large purchases we are contemplating. During the discussion she said “If I knew your current situation were permanent, I’d go ahead and buy both.”

What she was referring to was the fact that I am currently a contract employee for a couple of different companies, this means my job is not permanent. It did make me think.

In my career, I have been fired three times. (in no particular order)

  • Company fired the entire development team including me, the Director. New CTO and he just wanted to clean house and bring in his own people.
  • Company pivoted and in an instance, no longer needed the role I filled.
  • Company was preparing to sell and needed to “trim the books”.

In each case, I can point to a solid WHY. I know why I was let go. In each case, I thought I had a secure job and was safe. In each case I was reminded that – at least in the US – job security is a myth.

Note, this is not me whining about being fired and I like the system here in the US because it gives entrepreneurs the flexibility to be wrong before they are right.

The point of this post is to remind myself each time it comes up that there is no such thing as job security. A job is a transaction, not a family, no matter who tells you different.

You are only there trading time for money, and the eye opening thing is, you are the cheapest solution the company could find for the problem you solve.

Cherish your time at every company, but  don’t take it for granted. Don’t assume that you will be there tomorrow. Always be prepared for the worst, even when you are enjoying the best.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

A hard part about open source software

Posted on by Cal Evans

Dear Reader,

For Mother’s Day, I made my mom and mom-in-law a digital picture frame. I gave it an email address and family can send emails to a system that will show them on the frame. I assumed that once it was deployed, all my siblings and their kids would be excited to send picture to Babe. (the affectionate term my mother chose to be called by her grand kids, Dad was known as Dude. Don’t ask…) I assumed wrong.

Each week I send everyone an email reminding them that they can do this and challenging them to send a picture on a specific theme, and each week I only get a couple of new pictures. It’s not that my siblings and their kids love babe any less than I do but they have their own lives, their own activities, and well, they are busy.

Open source software projects are a lot like this. Projects start out as a labor of love by a single person. They lvoe it, they build it, they release it to the world. Somebody else likes it so they use it too. After a while, you get enough users so that someone steps up and contributes. Everybody benefits, some tell other friends, the project grows in popularity, the cycle continues.

Even though the project is getting really popular with a lot of users, the number of contributors stays small. ONE of the reasons is jsut that we’ve all got other things to do. We can’t ALL contribute to EVERY Open Source Software package we use. I’ve given back to a couple of projects with mixed results. In every case I’ve given back, it’s been that I wanted something extra in the project, I knew how to program, so I wrote it and contributed back.

Moving people from the role of USER to the role of CONTRIBUTOR is one of the hard parts of running an open source project. If a project leader fails to do this then the project will most likely die as the leader moves on to other things.

If you have a favorite project, consider stepping up and becoming a contributor. There are probably a hundred things you can do, many don’t even require coding.

Make life easier on the leader of your favorite Open Source Software project, step up, be a contributor.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=