Hello all,
August was a month of finishing things. Four projects that had been in progress for a while all went live at once: a speaker’s website, a studio’s website, a dictation app that used to only run on Macs, and my first volunteer code for the people who forecast wildfires in British Columbia.
Here’s what I’ve been up to, what I learned, and where I’m headed next.
What I’ve Been Up To 📈
I built and launched kevinbrooks.ca. Kevin is a motivational speaker who was involved in a crash that killed his childhood friend. For over twenty years, he has been telling schools, first responders and workplaces what he learned from it.
The Young Guns Studio site went live at ygstudio.ca, in English and Chinese, along with the first page for the studio’s foundation.
I brought Tiro to Windows and phones. You hold a key, speak, and your words land wherever your cursor is. It used to run only on Macs. It is a free alternative to Wispr Flow, and you own it.
I started volunteering with the BC Wildfire Service. Their forecasting tools are open source, so anyone can improve them. I have two changes in review that make the weather charts easier to read.
Achievements & Highlights 🚀
Launched kevinbrooks.ca, a new home for a speaker who has been sharing his story for over twenty years.
Launched ygstudio.ca in both English and Chinese, along with the first page for the Young Guns foundation.
Brought Tiro to Windows and phones, making a free and open-source alternative to Wispr Flow available to people who are not on a Mac.
Submitted my first contributions to the BC Wildfire Service’s open-source forecasting tools.
Top Lesson From This Month 💡
This month’s lesson is using a Kanban board for mapping out your life.
I keep one in Jira for my own life. Every project I have going sits on it, so I can see the whole list at once. It tells me whether I am close to burning out, what can wait, and what I can drop.
Before that, the list only existed in my head. I was carrying it everywhere and spending energy on not forgetting any of it.
Moving it out of my head is what made the difference. The list is somewhere I can check now, instead of somewhere I have to hold.
Top Quotes From This Month 💬
“Whenever you are able to observe your mind you are no longer trapped in it.”
— Stephen Covey
Shoutouts 👏
Kevin Brooks: for telling me the truth about my first draft, and for trusting me with a story he has been telling for over twenty years.
Pete Young and the Young Guns team: for getting the studio site over the line with me, and for the work on the foundation side.
The BC Wildfire Service maintainers: for reviewing contributions from someone who turned up out of nowhere and offered to help.
What’s Next? 🚀
I start at BCIT this month.
A new job opportunity starts next month. I will share more about it in the next newsletter.
More contributions to the BC Wildfire Service, and more open source work generally. It has quickly become the part of the week I look forward to most.
Oasis of Change keeps planting. Details, as always, at impact.oasisofchange.com.
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Onwards and upwards,
Gabriel Dalton
P.S. Want more behind-the-scenes? For more in-depth discussions, check out my LinkedIn or Medium profiles.