What I’m up to lately.
June 14, 2026
I haven’t touched this very consistently in a while because I am focusing on figuring out the types of stuff I want to put in my new wiki, how to format it, how it flows from my life, etc. I put myself on a 10-weekend challenge to fill out pages and I am doing pretty well!
I did not do much work with the aforementioned docs site, I got some intense imposter syndrome at work after doing a few presentations and I had to let that settle out before I could keep on with the educational sharing. I guess that’s a hurdle everyone goes through sporadically in their journey of owning what they know and sharing it, especially on a professional level. In some ways I think this garden has been set up to help me get through those hurdles through exploration and perspective-seeking, so I’m excited to get back into it soon.
What I’ve been doing with websites:
- Other than building out the wiki processes, not much. I’ve been thinking of this site and where it fits in everything and I’ve had lots of ideas on how to expand my garden and get the ideas growing. In some ways, I’m doing that process in Anytype right now, but I’d like it to be more visible and strictly part of the learning workflow. First, I need to figure out what the learning workflow is! I feel like this is a tool I now “have at my disposal” but I don’t quite need it at this point in figuring out everything.
- I have been keeping up with my Seasons blog pretty well. Even though we are in the worst part of the year (hot) I am finding ways to keep in touch with the seasons. The blog gives me a place to do that tangibly and share that experience but also motivates me to remember to do it!
What’s going on creatively:
- Since I last updated this page I finished a few full-page photo-doodles in my sketchbook. I let myself take my time with them and two of them I recorded to share the process, which was fun. (It was also illuminating that I don’t have the right tools or setup to easily record things like that.) You can watch them at “Doodle a tree with me” and “Green Spring Gardens Doodle.
- I’ve been moving my wall art and photos around as I refresh home via cleaning and organizing different spots all around. It’s not that I hated the previous setup or that it got stale, but sometimes I have this burst of energy to freshen up the environment and get a different perspective. For example, my office art moved to a different wall and found a different arrangement (and now I have a space for another print) so I can put a cat hammock on the wall where it was, and Zenny can sit right next to me while I’m at work if she wants.
What’s going on at work:
- I’m suddenly getting some requests to put content on our cross-departmental intranet site which has information and release notes related to my institution’s classroom. I like managing the site and the release notes, but I’ve been doing it for 3+ years and until now no one has requested to add anything. Suddenly I need to ensure a few contribution documents are up to date, something that perhaps I should have been maintaining all along, but I got busy. Also, governance is never properly prioritized for things like this. I am excited to have other authors and the opportunity to put into practice the scaling strategies my co-owner and I built into the site, and maybe get some buy-in on better governance now that it’s becoming more important.
- Hard at work building the script and assets for a few videos that will showcase third-party learning resources in our setup, including how they are chosen, evaluated, and integrated into the classroom, as well as cool capabilities they provide to the faculty and students. It’s a huge process that has very low visibility on how it all comes together & works, so I’m glad to be able to help clarify some of that for our partner and support teams. It’s the first collaborative video project that I’m building for a multi-level audience (executive, technologists, support), knowing others will see it… and it’s a little scary! But we’re getting a lot of good feedback so far and I’m itching to reflect on what I’m learning!
May 9, 2026
It’s been a while! I’ve been working on lots of other projects and things around my digital garden - Although I call this my “digital garden” it’s actually a bunch of internet plots that come together into my digital landscape.
What I’ve been doing with websites:
- I’ve been working on the Wiki I mentioned last entry as well as my Quotes page. I am trying to figure out how to use the quotes JS from that site to load a random quote on this one, but still learning all this JavaScript stuff.
- I’ve been building a docs site as well where I can place my non-proprietary “portfolio” type of documents. I am not looking for a job, but I know from past experience how much work it is building a portfolio from scratch when you need it, so I’m interested in having that already available if I ever need it. Lots of organizational change is happening at my place of work and you never know what will happen.
What’s going on creatively:
- In September I’ll be reaching the due date of my “101 things in 1,001 days” project. One of the items is to fill out a bunch of wiki pages (10 weeks in a row, focusing on 1-2 different topics each week), and another one is to write the first draft of my personal writing manual and style guide. It’s nice to have writing projects on deck.
- I am trying to doodle my photos more often. I am not very good at remembering to do it, but once I do I can sit and spend a good 6-8 hours on a detailed doodle of something I saw on a walk. I recommend it for those who desire a “slower life” — it’s a very nice way to meditate on something you did or saw.
What’s going on at work:
- I have been spending much of this quarter working on building the knowledge base for a handful of AI agents. The more I learn about how to organize knowledge for AI and ensuring it can make the connections needed to help the people using it, the more I feel incredibly secure in my future career (whether it’s here or somewhere else). What I’m doing could easily earn me triple digits in this “new AI landscape” if I had ambition or wanted to be an organizational leader. (I prefer to do supportive things for small teams instead.) What’s more… I love it. Even though it’s a “side project that I do when I have time,” because no one is actually prioritizing the work involved in using AI at work, it’s very fun.
- Many transitions are upcoming in the next 3 months or so. We’ve all known it was coming, but now it’s almost here! People are getting a little antsy and we’re not sure what to expect, so it’s been a weird mood all around.
March 14, 2026
I’m pretty excited about how this site is shaping out. I have been working on adding highlighting and fun paper-like stylings and going through updating the pages with the new options. There are many pages to review for currency, but I’ll be going through those much slower. It’s fun to get back into this and be more engaged on some coding level. I know you can do custom CSS with Obsidian but it wasn’t hitting the spot.
What I’ve been doing with websites:
- I have spent much of my weekend free time over the last several weeks dedicated to figuring out the layout and updating pages with different styles. I am not 100% sure how I feel about everything yet, I think it’s missing something but I can’t put my finger on it.
- I also built the Wiki component to the digital garden. I was struggling on where to put stuff that I learn that aren’t original ideas and thoughts and notes trying to articulate my perspectives. I figured out a couple of categories based on notes I’ve written or ideas I’ve had, dropped some of the starter notes I hadn’t published yet, then kind of ignored it for this site instead. It’s ready to become a focus.
What’s going on creatively:
- I have been using my screenless digital camera more often to take photos around my home/life, though I keep forgetting to bring it outside with me. I love it in sync with the “slow creativity” goals I’ve been working on. I know I have a bunch of photos to review but I’ll do that some other time, all at once with several weeks of moments.
- I was approved to create an account on lone.earth to share videos I take standing outside and trying not to breathe too loudly while I record a cool nature view or soundscape. I wanted a place to upload and share videos from my travels and walks in nature that wasn’t YouTUbe, and this came up. I find myself recording these videos a lot, but I never share them (instead I hoard and watch them myself), so we’ll see where this goes!
What’s going on at work:
- We have some big things upcoming so I’m gearing up to get a bunch of work again. It’s not that we had a “pause” on work, but we were in a moment before semester readiness deadlines crept up and new initiatives/projects began. In the meantime, normal operations ensued. I was able to organize some of my folders/files and set up for the next few months of my worklife!
- One of the things is a migration from the current content management system (CMS) to a new one that few of us on the team have little familiarity with, because it’ll be new and we’re not only adopting/implementing it but also migrating the old content into it. I know it sounds messy but I’m pretty excited since my role will involve process development and user documentation, as well as being around for content strategy discussion. Also, it’s the first migration I’ve ever done where I wasn’t part of the copy and paste team. Oh how I’ve grown!
March 2, 2026
I did it! I managed to update the layout so the footer is actually in the footer, the content block is big enough to read things, and there’s no overlapping content. I still have a ways to go before I get this site where I want it to be, but I’m proud of where it is now.
It’s barely been two weeks since my last update so not much has happened but I’m trucking along!
What I’ve been doing with websites:
- Just this site… I haven’t given much time to work on sites otherwise. This one is my main focus at the moment until I get all the details updated.
What’s going on creatively:
- Just keeping up with my goals to put pen to paper and write more offline!
What’s going on at work:
- Not much at the moment; we’re in the eye of the storm before new projects start and many things change! I’ve been doing some knowledge management professional development and creating job aids and instructions to help non-writers write documentation.
- It’s performance management season, so I’m focused on creating goals and having those conversations. I just got a new boss (my old boss went to a different department) and he admitted he’s not equipped to measure or evaluate my performance over the last year, since we rarely worked together. Review time is usually “extra work” but a positive out of this recent reorg is that I get to have aspirational conversations about the future, rather than reviewing the past.
February 20, 2026
I’m rebuilding this site from scratch! Well, sort of. Instead of using Obsidian, I’m using a combination of Quartz (preferring to make my pages by hand than to use Obsidian), Anytype, and Leaflet to deliver my digital garden. Each has its own pros/cons for delivering content and I’m captalizing on the pros to make a diverse PKMS for myself.
I have a lot of stuff to add still as I migrate the existing content in addition to stuff I made, but never put online because Obsidian was too limiting for the things I wanted to do.
What I’ve been doing with websites:
- This site: Trying to figure out how to use Github! It took about 5 hours of troubleshooting but I figured out how to fork, commit to MY git (instead of trying to commit to Quartz directly, oops), view my site locally to draft changes before publishing, and (mostly) tweaked the layout. There are a lot of changes still to make but I’m proud of myself for getting this all together!
- Thinking often lately about Phantom Manor and what kind of seasonal things I might add before we get to September…
What’s going on creatively:
- I’ve been making lots of zines! A zine factory! I started my winter seasonal zine and made a few 1-page zines about projects and creative things I have going on. Also, I’ve added a bunch of ideas to my zine ideas list. ‘Tis the season for zining!
What’s going on at work:
- We just completed another reorg after our major work transition that just ended in December. Lots of change is coming! It’s scary but I feel relatively safe/secure and not worried about my job, just uncertain what’s next in line as things sit in the “in between” before a transition settles.
- I’ve been working in Clipchamp more, making short training videos or demos. I finally got comfortable enough to work fairly quickly and now I’m able to budget enough time to create a month-in-review recap of releases that impacted workflows around the online classroom. I’m trying to keep it at maximum 5 minutes so it’s quite bite sized, but I’ve gotten some good feedback so far! Excited to see how that improves throughout the year, and where this new video editing skill takes me.