May 2018 – Sparkly Things

Serendipity in Automation

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Jennifer Kuntz

Not all things are improved by automation. But I know that I am in a profession that is inching toward obsolescence (or being pushed toward transformation) by increasingly smarter machines. Right now Alexa, Siri, or Google’s AI can do about 20% of my job better than I can, because they have rapid access to a wider store of information (and they don’t get bored or irked when answering the same routine question repeatedly).

But for now I still have the human edge, I can intuit and extrapolate. I can weigh intangibles in the value of my sources. How quickly and adeptly does the author get to the point? How well do they answer the implied questions? And I can create content, build bridges to understanding, and provide clarity in the way I answer.

I think people are really only limited by their (un)willingness to keep learning. Change is unsettling. Growth is hard. Adapting is exhausting. But if you can learn to be excited about new ideas and information I think you sleep better at night. I’m not going to allow myself to avoid the future.

Hal 9000 — I’m afraid I don’t know where the bathrooms are, Dave.

Approaches

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Jennifer Kuntz

So the Little Man has been having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I can totally sympathize with that as I suffer from the same problem. But on a school/work morning we’ve gotta get up.

And he fights it. He hides under the covers and turns away. And won’t come out and won’t get dressed. I’m at a low ebb, myself, so an argument inevitably ensues and he usually loses screen rights for some portion of the day.

And we wind up leaving late anyway. So definitely not a win for anyone.

Well, this morning I tried something different. When he turned away and huddled under the covers, instead of yelling, I just pulled him out and sat him on my lap. He’s getting tall, my first-grader-for-two-more-weeks, but he cuddled up and I sang him silly songs and we got him dressed.

It took time, time I didn’t really have to spare, but it FELT better. And he was more willing to TRY to cooperate for the other parts of the morning routine. He still goes in the opposite direction when I push, slows down more when I urge him to speed up, but I think I realized that it can be different. He’s got better levers. I just have to find a better approach.

Scientific American–The Self Driven Child

NPR–The Self Driven Child

20171118_141538 — Love him, but ooh that FACE.

Doing Things…that you don’t WANNA

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Jennifer Kuntz

I’ve been sitting on a big project at work because I know the execution of it is going to be excruciating. It’s a stack of purchase requests that will involve contracts and justifications and working with VERY unhelpful co-workers and I just don’t WANNA do it. It literally makes my skin crawl to think about it and while I know it’s part of my job, i just can’t bring myself to tackle it.

I really need concrete help more than a kick in the pants. It’s an amorphous thing right now and I think another person’s perspective could help me to make it more tangible. But I’m worried that by doing that I’m going to have to cope with the fact that I have been putting this off.

ADVICE FOR MYSELF

messy desk

First step–Organize the workspace

Something Obscure

Posted on May 18, 2018May 18, 2018 by Jennifer Kuntz

So, inspiration did hit! I was listening to the new Androids and Aliens podcast from the Glass Cannon network folks and there was a great funny minute in the game that kind of called for a piece of fan art. Which I took my best shot at making. It’s rough. I had to reload and re-learn GIMP to make the elements work together and I know the design could be improved, but it’s a thing that I made.

Mrs Wafflesworth

Momentum

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Jennifer Kuntz

Coming back and going on can be the hardest thing. Setting up the project is fun. I’m satisfying that “learning new stuff” part of the brain. Keeping going is SO SO SO hard for me. I feel like I’m scraping the back of my brain to come up with ideas that are not trite or pointless. I have so many ideas for “projects”, but they all fall apart under the infinite dissection of ambition. It’s a problem of too many steps and none of them feeling like the first one, or the right one.

But I’m here. I’m putting my thoughts down. I’m refusing to censor myself (although a little revision is OK, right?) Next challenge. Don’t wait a week. Next post in two days. Friday, no matter what!

Busting out some fresh dance moves, apropos of nothing.

This is an Experiment

Posted on May 8, 2018May 10, 2018 by Jennifer Kuntz

Consider it an attempt to let the inside voice out. To collect and store the thousand thoughts that come and die in the net of self-censorship. It’s a personal collection, curated to suit the personal audience and presented in hopes that others might also find value in what rests here.

It will become what it is.

This guy will probably show up a lot, bless him.