Zines!

person holding white printer paper

I really enjoyed Zines back in the 90s (their heyday). If your first thought is “what’s a Zine?”, check out this article.

My blogging colleague Bernie has started creating them again (inspired by Austin Kleon’s reboot of the genre). Take a look at Bernie’s blog post.

I had friends who invested a lot of time and effort into Zines. Sadly, I’ve lost touch with all of them. I do wonder what happened to them. It was all part of my life in downtown Seattle in the 90s. An amazing time, culturally. It was challenging in a good many ways, too. That Seattle is pretty much gone, though. Pretty much all the grittier apartments, for instance, are now condos occupied by wealthy tech workers. It’s a fascinating exploration of the City’s evolution.

Anyway, did you ever create zines? Care to share?

The First Airfield at Sand Point in Seattle

Naval Station Puget Sound Sign

When I was a boy, we re-settled in Seattle as my dad was transitioning out of the Navy. Proximity to the commissary, Navy Exchange, and other amenities of the Sandpoint Naval Station were key elements to our choices of housing. This facility has long been a key part of my life.

Valarie, at Wedgwood in Seattle History, wrote a fun article about a piece of its history: The First Airfield at Sand Point in Seattle. As something of a scholar of regional history, I appreciate people who can expand my knowledge. And Valarie delivers in this regard! I won’t give away too much of her post, but here are two of my favorite tidbits:

  • I never heard of the First World Flight, whose centennial is coming up.
  • I appreciate the details of how the Airfield was established because of insights from WWI.

So, I recommend heading over and checking out this article. If you’re interested in Seattle’s history, you should subscribe to her blog.

Yesterday was the Longest Night

photo of city under cloudy sky

Some random stats as I think about the apex of our night-life for my community just north of Seattle. Your mileage may vary.

  • Sunrise was at 7:55am
  • Sunset at 4:18 pm
  • Therefore we had 8.38 hours of sunlight
    • That’s 35% of the day with daylight
    • And, therefore 65% of the day was night
    • 15.62 hours of darkness!

Fortunately, slowly, slowly, the days will start lengthening. And another year begins.

On Finishing, Next Steps, And Adding Value

laptop computer showing c application

I have one more quarter after this one. One! Currently, my post-school plan is to return to the workforce after I’m done. As much as I love web development, I feel that I can offer the most to a company within the realm of project management or systems analysis.

One of my “superpowers” is communication. I am excellent at connecting with people. As I’ve worked across a number of business functions, I understand the information they need, and how they think. With my developer skills, I think I would do an excellent job as the intermediary between IT and business units. I have been told that I communicate IT and other technology issues in a way that doesn’t make users “feel like idiots”. Plus, my career has a solid amount of project work (project coordination, documentation, etc). And I really enjoyed my project management and systems analysis and design coursework.

I intend to continue my studies, too. At this point, I’m looking at pursuing the Bachelor of Applied Science in Information Technology and Administrative Management degree at Central Washington University (ain’t that a mouthful) here in Lynnwood.

The past few years have been full of change and growth. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities that have presented themselves. Now I look forward to using all that I’ve learned to add value wherever I may roam (queue up Mettalica) and make the world better.