Worthless Invention

I was wondering the other day--why isn't there such a thing as a bobby pin re-squisher? Mine get bent out of shape so they are no longer tight enough to hold thin hair like mine. I guess people just figure it's cheaper to just buy more.

Calling Amazing Shoppers

I have been scouring the internet for a rain jacket. This is what I want:

trench coat style
with a hood
with a belt
khaki/beige/tan color
waterproofish
classy buttons (I like the double breasted style, but it doesn't have to be that way)
XS
less than $150


Like this:



















 





It doesn't seem to me like it should be that difficult, but the combination of the XS and the hood and the $150 is making the search very frustrating. I ordered a small, but it looks goofy--I tried it on at work (that's where I had it shipped to), and the CTO said, "You'll grow into it." :D

The person who finds this jacket so that I can buy it wins a prize. That is all.

Hackbright Q&A with Lindsay

Lindsay also emailed me some good questions (like Kat L.) that I'd like to post here for others' use. I'm sorry I haven't been posting questions of women I have met with in person, but it's so much easier when it's all already typed out. 

I've also noticed from people asking me and my Google Analytics that people have been really worried about not having heard back from Hackbright. David is swamped with the highest number of applications yet, so please be patient.

Ballooney and the scrum cat are ready at the new office.

My warning to Lindsay:
I'm happy to answer questions, but I have to warn you that the application process has changed as the demand has gone up.


Lindsay's 1st question:
I was wondering if you had an an active github page you put on your application? (I do not, or rather, I just made one and it has one simple thing on it...)

My answer:
I didn't have an active Github when I applied and that was no problem. I do have one now. If you've ever done any tutorials to make a quick app, you could upload it there just so they can see that you've done something. Otherwise, don't worry.


Lindsay's 2nd question:
Did you put your personal blog on the application?

My answer:
I did put my personal blog on my application, I believe. (It's been a long time--I actually first applied in June but had to defer.)


Lindsay's 3rd question:
Did you make a video of yourself for the application?

My answer:
I did not make a video. I remember Christian telling us that he and David enjoyed watching those just to get to know people a little.

Lindsay's 4th question:
What was the Skype interview like?

My answer:
The Skype interview wasn't as scary as you think. Christian asked me logic questions and showed me some code and then asked me how I would use the code to work through the logic. He guided me through the whole process, so it was less of a test and more of a group project.


Lindsay's 5th question:
What was the project you proposed on your application and was it the same one you finished for the school? (bookfairy?)

My answer:
I don't recall if I proposed BookFairy, but I did have that idea back then, so probably. I think I typed a whole bunch of stuff about how I wanted to make my life easier, and that's what BookFairy does. :)


Lindsay's 6th question:
Did they give statistics about application numbers and acceptance rates?

My answer:
Since I applied for the very first program, there were no statistics. Despite having no track record to go off of, I was confident that the program would be good. What I wasn't sure about was if it was really what I wanted and if I could hack it (hee hee). Since then, I've seen the first class go on to many successful endeavors, and the second class is well on its way to doing so (I think about ten already have offers, but our graduation time was a little tricky right before the end of the year, so it may take a bit longer). David has said that our class had about a 20% acceptance rate, and I know that the amount of applicants went way up from class one to class two, so I am positive that the next class will have an even crazier number as word gets out about Hackbright [I've actually confirmed since sending Lindsay these answers that there were around 200 applicants this time, but there will most likely be two classes of 16]. If you don't get in the first time, maybe you can try again. I worry that Hackbright will start being inundated by applicants who already know so much that the beginners won't have a chance (because I was a total beginner), but it is possible that they'll split the two classes by level.


Lindsay's 7th question:
Also...what was the hiring experience at the end like? I saw on your blog there were lots of companies that wooed you with swag :) Not all of them are on the Hackbright recruiter page...Did you interview with all of them? They were happy with only 10 weeks of training (or maybe you had more?)

My answer:
I think I ended up interviewing with about half of the companies that showed up to our Career Day. Honestly, some of them didn't interest me that much, but Christian encouraged us to get a lot of practice with interviewing. I was really impressed with most companies when I interviewed there. And similar to the Skype call with Hackbright, the interviews were kind of like group projects, except you're the one with the pen in hand (writing on a white board). You just talk about everything you do and ask questions as necessary. My one concern is that I wouldn't make it through an interview with a company that didn't understand that I was only ten weeks into coding, because all of ours knew exactly what we had learned and tested our application of that knowledge.

Networking is so important in the entire process. Not only do I now have a list of 179 companies/people I could ask about jobs, I know where to turn if I have questions.


Lindsay's 8th question:
Also, for my end goal, I'd like to working in programming for some sort of scientific purpose, perhaps large scale data analysis (I guess the buzzword is "big data"). I have heard Python is better than other popular languages (mainly Ruby) for such programming, so that's why I'd be interested in this course over DevBootcamp or others.  I know the class won't teach me exactly that but I figured it would give me a programming base to work on. Does the program give you flexibility to work on what you like?

P.S. I saw in a picture on your Twitter page that you were voted most likely to Tweet but you started tweeting because of Hackbright. I am terrible and lost when it comes to Twitter . . . maybe Hackbright can help me :)

My answer:
As for your interest in big data, you will be totally good with Hackbright! We even heard some data analysts speak and Christian is great at tapering to specific students' interests. Also, you knowing what you are interested in ahead of time could help other students to figure out what they would like. The last five weeks are yours to work on what interests you, so you can work with data as much as you want when you do your final project, and you'll have the guidance of teachers, yay! With that being said, you will also collect five thousand links of things you want to learn about.

Christian mentioned something at the start of the course about Twitter helping others, and I knew that Hackbright is a huge, unique experience, so I wanted to document it, and I got some benefits I hadn't thought about: I made a lot of acquaintances of people who love to help other people in tech. After Google and Stack Overflow, Twitter would probably be my next resource.

Thanks, Lindsay.

Anyone reading this: Feel free to ask me more questions!

Speaking in Church: "Stress and the Gospel of Jesus Christ"

The Balm of Gilead.

Two weeks ago, I was asked if I would be a guest speaker in church. I obliged, but I struggled to find a good topic. Finally, since a lot of my friends and I are going through a lot of hard times and since I love the practical application of the gospel, I decided to go through all sorts of sources looking for every thing one can do to deal with stress in a healthy manner. I loved to see that the suggestions given by secular sources can be found in the scriptures or in good talks given by Church leaders. As I worked on the talk, the list of advice for stress reduction/increasing happiness grew ridiculously long. However, I didn't feel like I wanted to give a list that wasn't complete though, so I forged on.

By the time I had to give the talk (yesterday), the list was up to 44 items. Since then, I have added one more.

Sunday morning, I knew I was going to have to cut out a lot of material, so I went through and changed everything to bullet points, and then I put asterisks next to the items I most wanted to share. Then, I waited and waited for my ride to come get me to take me to church, which was to start at 11:30. Minutes ticked by as I stood on the porch, talk, jacket, and scripture bag in hand, waiting for the right car to come down the street. Each time I started to feel anxious, I thought of everything I had just put into a 15-page talk and tried to calm myself down. I asked, "Is it really going to matter in a year that I was late to church on the day I was supposed to speak?" and then assured myself, "This is going to be a funny story to tell."

Everything did turn out okay even though I raced through the talk. Sure, it was super-long, but I really feel like what I gathered is a good resource, so I decided to share it with anyone who wants it.

Open it here: "Stress and the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Enjoy. And you're welcome to share the link to this page with anyone you think the 45 tips might help. (Just please don't expect me to exemplify everything in there all in one fell swoop--I'm as imperfect as anyone else.)

Their Eyes Were Watching God Quotation

One of my favorite quotations from one of my favorite books, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God:

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eye away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time."

That Moment

A moment came when I could feel that we were no longer jousting with each other, that things between us had already been settled. In thinking about this moment now, I am tempted to use the traditional language of love. I want to talk in metaphors of heat, of burning, of barriers melting down in the face of irresistible passions. I am aware of how overblown these terms might sound, but in the end I believe they are accurate. Everything had changed for me, and words that I had never understood before suddenly began to make sense. This came as a revelation, and when I finally had time to absorb it, I wondered how I had managed to live so long without learning this simple thing. I am not talking about desire so much as knowledge, the discovery that two people, through desire, can create a thing more powerful than either of them can create alone. This knowledge changed me, I think, and actually made me feel more human. By belonging to Sophie, I began to feel as though I belonged to everyone else as well. My true place in the world, it turned out, was somewhere beyond myself, and if that place was inside me, it was also unlocatable. This was the tiny hole between self and not-self, and for the first time in my life I saw this nowhere as the exact centre of the world.

-pg. 232 of The Locked Room (in Paul Auster's New York Trilogy)

Benjamin Button's Wise Words

Pushing Daisies

I just thought my world would be a better place if you were in it.

-Pushing Daisies

Karma: Yours, Mine, and Ours

"How people treat you is their karma. How you react is yours."

-Wayne Dyer

Are You Happy for Other Couples?

I look at people holding hands in the hallways, and I try to think about how it all works. At the school dances, I sit in the background, and I tap my toe, and I wonder how many couples will dance to “their song.” In the hallways, I see the girls wearing the guys’ jackets, and I think about the idea of property. And I wonder if anyone is really happy. I hope they are. I really hope they are.

— The Perks of Being a Wallflower

How True Is This?

Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

Found here.

Why to Be Nice to Women

Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So if you give her any crap, you'll receive a ton of shi*.

Found here.

Why Visiting Teaching is Great

"I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be--for women. I tell you, it's queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things--it's all just a different kind of the same thing."

-Mrs. Hale in Glaspell's "Trifles"

Do you know what I mean by that title?

Becoming a Weed

"[H]e grew weary of the world, which seemed to him an unweeded garden, where all the wholesome flowers were choaked up, and nothing but weeds could thrive."

-description of Hamlet in Charles Lamb's version of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Pain

Take pride in your pain; you are stronger than those who have none.
-Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Bestsellers

A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.

- The Economist

True that. But you know, I wonder about books that will really go down in history. Will it be Bolaño's 2666 or will it be Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love? I know what I would vote for, but there is something to be said for a book that has at least gotten that person to read one book.

Home

This is how I feel sometimes. It's a torn feeling, like the place I have in my mind cannot be real, cannot exist and I should just settle. Maybe I will first feel like I've found home in the next life. Maybe I'll feel it when I marry. Who knows?























Found here.

"Was mir wirklich fehlt, das ist ein Stück Heimat, ein Stück Himmel, ein Haus, ein Dorf, eine Straße, wo man wirklich hineingehört, wo man jedes Mauerloch und jeden Grashalm im Blut hat und in den Eingeweiden, die Luft und das Gurren der Tauben, die Küchendüfte, das Menschengeschnatter. Du lieber Himmel. Ich hab das alles gehabt und es verlassen. Ich war zu jung, zu verliebt, um den Verlust zu erfassen. Zu spät. Dieser Sommer hat es mir gezeigt. Man wächst sich auseinander. Nicht nur das Haus und die Stadt, auch die Menschen sind mir entrückt, ich erreiche sie nicht mehr, obwohl ich sie, die Stadt und das Haus im Blut hab. Was uns in der Kindheit prägt, verläßt uns nie. -- Und hier, da werde ich wohl nie dazugehören, ich spüre das." -Maxie Wander, Tagebücher und briefe, s. 177

Light Trumps

There’s always going to be bad stuff out there. But here’s the amazing thing--light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can’t stick the dark into the light.

—Jodi Picoult (Found here.)

Sarahbeth Purcell and Mental Imbalance

Mental imbalance is about as acceptable as herpes. It’s never going to be accepted. But really, it’s a disease just like cancer. It just happens, and eats away all the good parts of your brain, like judgment and happiness and perception and memory and life. And you can die from depression just like any other disease. And it’s not as if people choose it. So why is it still a joke of medicine? "She died of cancer" is a lot more socially acceptable to people than “she committed suicide.” Why?

~ Sarahbeth Purcell, found here.

I looked up Sarahbeth Purcell, and she is an artist and a writer. Sounds like someone I'd like to be like.

Jonathan Carroll Quotation

CarrollBlog 5.27

Not having seen each other in years, they met one day by chance and had a nice but superficial conversation on the street. Both knew there was so much more that could have been said but it wasn’t because once *those* floodgates were opened, who knows what might have happened. When they were saying good bye, he reached in his pocket and brought out a roller ball pen. Taking her hand, he turned it over and writing something on her palm, told her not to look until later. When he was finished he closed her fingers over what he’d written, kissed her on the cheek and walked away. Of course he must have known she would look immediately at her hand. There were seven numbers, seven very familiar numbers. But it took her a moment to realize why they were familiar: it was her old telephone number from back when they were together. These thousands of days later, he had remembered.

I still remember my first boyfriend's phone number. Do you?