The Year in Review

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Posted 2017-12-30

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January
Ran another one-day workshop on how to teach for people in Toronto. It went well: what I learned doing instructor for Software Carpentry seems useful to a wider audience.
Started working on a general-purpose intro to teaching programming in response.
Starting a reading group around Building Powerful Community Organizations that proved to be equally rewarding.
Donald Trump became president. It’s tempting to joke about it, but it’s the scariest thing to happen in politics in my adult life.
Resigned from Software Carpentry–it was time to move on.
February
Worked for Shopify for one week; resigned when they decided they would continue to host the online store for Breibart News. I just didn’t know how I would have explained to my dad that I was helping actual fascists make money.
Started work at Rangle.
March
Why is March?
Oh. It’s for learning JavaScript.
April
Tried archery for the first time. Ouch.
Did yoga with my family a few times. Ouch squared.
Discovered Brookfield and Preskill’s The Discussion Book.
“Ten Simple Rules for Making Research Software More Robust” came out.
Spent a few days with my best friend. Didn’t do much; didn’t need to.
May
Called off the Stuff That Actually Matters project. Only three and a half chapters had come in, and while it hurt to disappoint the people who’d worked hard on them, there was no prospect of a complete book taking shape.
Released the first version of How to Teach Programming (and Other Things).
June
Visited the Aga Khan Museum for the first time. The world is full of beauty.
Had my first root canal. The world is full of pain as well.
Took my daughter’s grade 4-6 class to the park and taught them how to play Ultimate frisbee. The world can be a very noisy place.
Ran another one-day instructor training class for a group that wants to start teaching coding to young women of color in one of Toronto’s poorer neighborhoods. The world is full of hope, if you’re willing to work for it.
“Good Enough Practices in Scientific Computing” finally came out. Scientific journals get there eventually, if you’re really, really, really patient.
July
Left Rangle to start work with DataCamp.
Took my daughter to camp downtown on the trail-a-bike a few times. We threw a frisbee around a few times as well, and went swimming, and when my time comes, I hope this is what I remember.
Finished rewriting The Cloudherd and the Tiger’s Boy. My daughter thinks it’s still kind of boring–it certainly needs a better villain.
August
Nazis marched in Charlottesville and killed a young woman.
Shopify continued to host Breitbart’s online store as they spread lies and hate; I’m proud that I quit.
Posted first (incomplete) version of JavaScript versus Research Computing. It needs an overhaul, but I’ll only do that if there’s interest.
Solar eclipses are cool.
September
More instructor training for the Toronto Public Library and for a local company. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface…
October
Thanksgiving with family at the cottage. When my time comes, I hope it’s in the autumn with the leaves in their glory.
Work week in the Azores. It rained a lot, and there was pineapple everywhere.
My daughter made a Hel headdress out of duct tape for Hallowe’en. She’s pretty awesome.
My wife passed her PMP exam on the first try. She’s pretty awesome too.
November
Finished revising The Bookster’s Apprentice. My daughter thinks it’s OK.
My best friend was told that he has terminal cancer. I knew there would be a last game of chess some day; I just didn’t know it would come so soon.
December
Wrote the first draft of this on the solstice, because that’s when the year really turns. The world is darker than it used to be; I hope I’m strong enough for what comes next.