Reflections

Building smaller projects helps to reinforce learning and be able to freely experiment with things. Larger projects require significantly more forethought on the app and data architecture, technologies used, and overall direction of the project. This past Tuesday evening, the team project that has enveloped all of my free time has launched. Wanderful is a random travel destination site built utilizing the MERN stack. Users are able to visit the site and click a button on the landing page to discover details about a randomized destination stored in our database. Here they can get a quick blurb about the location, and information about various points of interest including: hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and the ability to check flights to get to the location. If a user creates an account with the site they are able to save their favorite destinations and POIs where they can easily view them on their favorites dashboard. If a user desires to get any more information about a give POI, they can click on the given item to have the Yelp details for that location open in a new window. ...

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. One of my favorite things to do this time of year is go hiking, and the region around Portland has an abundance of diverse options. There are mountains to climb, hikes through the woods or by the coast, and even exploring the lava tubes of Mount St Helens. There never is a shortage of options, which is fantastic. A few weeks ago I hiked to the summit of Hamilton Mountain with a friend, about 9 miles total with 2,300 feet of elevation gain. I love getting away from everything, including technology, and enjoying the beauty of nature. I find that it helps me slow down to observe and enjoy the world around me more. I appreciate and enjoy technology and the many benefits that it has brought; one downside for me is the accompanying always on mentality, which can also lead to a perpetual state of distraction. ...