Category: Personal Reflections

Lessons learned about life; pearls of wisdom I’ve gleaned through pain, failure and honest reflection

Free and Useful Tech Tools for Students

Carl Setzer2 Comments

This week I started my coursework for my new career: full-stack web developer (for more about that decision, head here). In the few days since courses launched (online, as we’re still practicing social distancing), I discovered/reinforced the importance of several tech tools.

1.Grammarly

I started experimenting with this about a week ago. I’d seen ads for the free app, and, well, haven’t been too interested. I think I’m a solid writer. But I finally wore down and decided to try it. I’m actually quite pleased. And, as the syllabi that I’ve read the past few days state pointedly, grammar, spelling and syntax in the online posts are a part of our grades. So, that much more valuable. Though less delightful, but important, I’ve seen I’m not so perfect a writer. Having these, shall we say “nudges” helps make me that much better. So, I recommend it.

2. Evernote

This tool is one I’ve been using for at least 10 years. It’s my journal, and main note-taking tool. Articles I’ve read, want to read, brainstorming sessions, projects I’m working on, travel info, checklists…all of this an more are dumped into this tool. The searchability is great! And the ability to customize your organization system is excellent, too. Whether you prefer to have custom “notebooks” or you prefer to “tag” notes, you’re covered by Evernote. I also appreciate that there’s geocoded information in the notes, and also a number of third-party tools to explore.

I’ll post other ones as I discover them. Do you know of any I should explore? Leave a comment and let me know.

4/16: Editted as WordPress converted my manually typed numbers into a <ol> list.

Why I’m starting a new career into Web Development

Carl Setzer1 Comment

Just over a month ago, I learned I was being let go from my current role. I’ve wandered this path before, so I, initially, wasn’t terribly concerned. However, the more I thought about it, the more concerned I became. Mainly, I’d been laid off twice in less than a year. Thinking further, since 2009, I’d been laid off 4 times. I’m a bit tired of that. Yeah, even being a tech-savvy executive assistant/project coordinator, that work is too easy to outsource. Plus, with digital assistant growth, the lessening of friction for scheduling, the ease at which most folks can book their own travel, and you see the recipe for a dying career. I’m ready to be, shall we say, more essential.

Pretty much all of my life I’ve had a fascination with technology. As a young boy, my love of robots and radios (I had a particular fascination with shortwave radios), evolved into space and aviation, then into computers. Early PC games and BBSs then morphed into a vocational certificate in Information Processing (mainly databases and spreadsheets). Looking back, my biggest contribution to most of my past roles has been digitally based. Whether it’s my ability to fix a copier, 90% of PC issues, set up and manage a network, use things like Photoshop and AutoCAD, or build a website, those were the things that added the most value to the world around me.

I believe that the web holds our future. We will interact with most systems and data with web tools. SaaS models are already driving there…in the fast lane. Web development is a fast-growing path (projected 27% growth over the next 10 years), with decent salaries to boot.

So, it looks like fun, and there’s a need, which seems like a great combination. Thus, off I go.

Please Watch This Short Film: Alike!

Carl Setzer

As someone who values creativity, this speaks to me greatly. Especially how our society works hard to create drones, and is terrible at accommodating the creative mind.

So, I think this little gem is well worth your time. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Positive Energy: Xavier Rudd’s Honeymoon Bay

Carl Setzer

I discovered Xavier Rudd years ago, but during the quarantine, I’ve started binging his music. I find his music fills me with joy and with hope. Check out one of my current favorites.

Lyrics: 
Angels flying, wind at her heels
Serpents gliding, nothing revealed
Full back circles
I believe, I believe
It’s my beginning, woah, oh, oh

 

Gone are those winters
Gone are those days
Gone are those choices, to be recklessly brave
I’m guided by angels,
Decided by choice
It’s my beginning, woah, oh, oh

 

I believe, I believe, I believe
Woah, oh, oh, oh
We are young, we can fly, we are free
Woah, oh, oh, oh
Take a chance, take a chance
And see
Woah, oh, oh, oh
I believe, come believe with me
Woah, oh, oh, oh

 

Honeymoon waters, Honeymoon Bay
Safe to assume now,
That we’re on our way
Sweetwater turtle, mingly roads
It’s our beginning,
Woah, oh, oh

 

A dream of stories, etched in the stone
Time to dream now and create our own
Forgotten by angels

This Vet Reflects On “Soldiers Stories”

Carl Setzer

Reflections on a blog post:

Soldiers’ Stories | Life After Iraq & Afghanistan

These are the stories of US combat veterans. Powerful stuff. Stuff that resonates deeply with me, a vet, but not a combat one. These are stories that every citizen should read and consider before we blithely send our youth to war.

Week In Review: 3-29-2020

Carl Setzer

With covid-19 disrupting so very much of life, I thought I’d take a moment to rehash what I’m working on to keep busy. My family has been home due to school closures. I have been unemployed since the February 28th.

First, I’m signed up to study web application and cloud development at Edmonds Community College starting next quarter. There are still pieces to pull together, but I’m moving forward. Classes start on April 13, so it’s coming quickly. I also need to get my math skills back up to snuff. I struggled mightily on an assessment test and was pretty made at myself. Then it hit me: the last math class I took may have been calculus, but it’s been several decades since. One of the folks at the school connected me with a website to help that along, so I’ve been working on getting those skills back up to snuff.

Also, I’ve spent time refreshing some skills. I had purchased a CompTIA training bundle last summer that I haven’t had a chance to start with yet. And I have a Adobe Creative Suite bundle as well. I’ve been carving time for each of those as I can. I also discovered IronCAD, which apparently has a free download, so I might try and squeeze some more CAD work in as well. That’s one big thing I miss from my Eagle Country Construction days.

As for entertainment, I’ve been binging on “Traveling Robert“, a YouTuber traveling the US with his trailer. I really have enjoyed the show. There’s a genuineness that’s delightful. I discovered him via YouTube’s algorithm. It dished up his trip to Seattle this past summer, which I found nice.

 

There’s plenty of other things that I’ve been working on, too. Keeping several websites up to date, as well as a couple of email communication campaigns (about the covid-19 closures and such). And I’ve helped a few folks with their WordPress sites, and with setting up Facebook business pages and trying to pull together some kind of marketing plan in the midst of the pandemic. I mean, how do you market in such a way that you’re being, well, a decent human being.

New To Zoom? Check Out This Great Intro Video

Carl Setzer

With coronavirus forcing us to transform education and interpersonal communication, the folks at Zoom now find their tool becoming the defacto standard, education and beyond. Plenty of organizations (churches, businesses, non-profits) are utilizing Zoom (why Zoom and not Google Hangouts? Skype? I’m not entirely sure at this point, but think it was because the reached out first…I should explore this at some point).

I’ve been a fan of Steve Dotto for years, and highly recommend his videos for guidance about things tech. Steve created this video (below) as a tutorial for many of the basic features. So, if you haven’t used Zoom, or haven’t used it extensively, I highly recommend Steve’s video. My wife (a teacher), who’s used Zoom quite a bit the past few weeks picked up some great tips. It’s highly worth your time.

 

 

Music’s Place In My Soul

Carl Setzer

Listening to Rufus Du Sol, reminded how much I enjoy electronic music and one of my regrets: when I had the chance to study music formally, I opted not to. Insecurities spoke too loudly, drowning out passion. I loved studying music theory, exploring the way audio elevations interact with each other. Memories of improvisation workshops, and the compliments I received for my commitment to rhythm.

Now, though, my poetry echos my musical tastes. Symmetry, rich harmonies, layers, textures, all blending into something far greater than the sum of the parts.

The difference between music and poetry: in poetry words flow in single streams. Together, yet alone; they can’t interact. Several words flowing together at the same time create a pile of textual vomit. Music allows multiple people singing multiple lines simultaneously with their interaction making them greater. Much the way different colors blend into new colors, different feelings, telling a story with each dab.

I often play with the idea of restarting this path. Of exploring all that can be done with today’s computers, today’s sampling gear, today’s synthesizers. I could create words, sung, standing upon each other, blurring, blending into something greater, into something beyond whatever could be imagined. Words building upon words, interweaving with tones, textures and rhythms, pushing through feelings, ideas, the power of souls intermixing and exploding with something more powerful than any human element could be, do, express on it’s own.

With all this, when I was younger I listened to music deeply, richly. I listened to the chords, the words, exploring what the composer communicates with that interplay. Did the pleasant, kind words take on irony with the minor or diminished chord interwoven? Words stacked with changing chords, showing tension, motion, landing on a major chord, resolution, release.

Then there’s the blending of older music, ancient music, such as Enigma, taking ancient chant, interweaving new tones and auditory textures, creating something linking the ancient with the rising sun, with a newness of being, something that both exists from antiquity and yet is brand new.

Lesson: passions drive live, make it beautiful. Explore them fully, deeply, richly. Humanity needs no more bitter business people, soul’s stripped of joy. No, we need more passion, joy, aliveness.

Bring that into being, my friends.

Here is the song by Rufus Del Sol that got me going. Enjoy!