One of my goals for 2020 was to stop using Google's products. There are a lot of reasons why, but that's not the point of this post. I found out about Nextcloud last month and it turns out it's a great replacement for a lot of Google. I don't actually use all of its features, but I've migrated my calendar, reminders, contacts, bookmarks, video calls, photos, and news feeds and I'm really happy with it so far. […12 min read]
I went to a virtual conference this weekend called BarCamp Philly and had a really good time. The way they ran the conference was new to me. They somehow made the experience feel enjoyable and inspiring, which I thought was really impressive because I've had a hard time getting excited about virtual conferences this year. I've been to a dozen or so since everything got cancelled back in the spring, and this was the first time I stayed until the end and left feeling more energized than drained, fired up with lots of new ideas and inspiration and even a new acquaintance, which is super exciting to me because I find it so hard to meet new people during a pandemic. […11 min read]