I've lived in Cascadia for decades now. You can't build in brick here. It'll come down in the next earthquake. Every time I go to a major university campus on the east coast, with brick buildings rising above the brick square surrounded by brick walkways, I'm reminded how different the aesthetic is. Some days it feels like an especially uniform Lego set.
North Carolina
I spent a couple days last week in North Carolina in the US, talking about a thing I'm not allowed to tell you about yet (soon, I promise) and learning a bit about the state. I've been a lot of places in the US, but North Carolina was new to me.
Our hosts were at the UNC System, which includes large research universities like UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University (NCSU) as well as 4 historically-black colleges & universities (HCBUs), one school targeted at indigenous population, and several smaller schools throughout North Carolina with a teaching mission. While the schools are located throughout the state, UNC Chapel Hill and NCSU are within 30 minutes' drive of each other in North Carolina's "research triangle" area.
We covered a lot of ground in a couple days, but I got especially fascinated by the mission of continuing education and distance learning. North Carolina has five military bases and approximately 80,000 retired veterans living in the state, mostly in rural areas. I appreciate the UNC System mandate to support and encourage opportunities for skilling and continuing education for the state's military constituency as well as driving teaching and learning to rural areas. As much as I love the larger university campuses, it's good to see states working to make continuing education available to the community.
Good food, too. I still love my Kansas City BBQ but eastern Carolina's vinegar-based BBQ is a very close second. Shout out to my colleague Alicia, proud UNC grad, who pointed us to all the good places in Chapel Hill.
Time Is Irrelevant, Lunchtime Doubly So
I've discovered if you jump back and forth between different time zones enough your body will eventually give up and go along with whatever your watch tells you to do at the time. It's dark? Good, time to sleep. You just slept three hours ago? No problem, you hadn't slept for 20 hours before that. Your watch says it's breakfast time even though it's still dark? Sure, why not.
At this point I'm using the local time mostly to decide whether I should drink regular or decaf coffee at any given moment.
Interlude
Have you watched this? You need to watch this. It is the sweetest thing. Also it's up for a well-deserved Oscar.
I have a soft spot for Sony Pictures Animation. They have an office just downstairs from ours in Vancouver. I smile every time I see the Into The Spiderverse t-shirts and jackets in the elevator.
Living On The Edge
Worst kept secret in Microsoft: we've been using Chrome internally for years. Most of us in engineering ran Chrome browsers side by side with Firefox and Internet Explorer even when I was with the company in the early 2000s.
This is obvious with a moment's thought: if you're going to make web services, you can't ignore the browser that has market share. You have to build and test on it, and you have to see how your competitor's stuff works. That means living with it for awhile.
So after the initial shock of the idea, the new Chromium-based Edge felt incredibly natural from the time we started playing with internal builds. It's like the best of both worlds: the Chromium platform with some extra improvements.
(And no, that's not a delicate way of saying "extending web standards beyond the bounds of reason." IE 4 was a long time ago.)
I mentioned on Twitter that development builds of Edge were available on Mac and immediately got a snarky reply: "Why would anyone want to install Edge on a Mac?" (It was from an ex-Microsoft friend, too.) Can't speak for everyone, but here's why I'm happy with it --
Collections in Microsoft Edge is a lifesaver. It's just a lightweight way to grab and remember some related stuff for later - conceptually not that different from OneNote, but without all the copy/pasting and organization required. My friends who keep 10,000 tabs open in their browser can save their stuff for later without creating the digital equivalent of this apartment.
Edge has Learning Tools built in to help with reading comprehension for kids and grown-ups alike. My eyes have been worn down by years of staring at monitors and tiny print, so I sometimes like taking a web page and throwing it into a view that's easier for me to read. My old friend Nyla would find it incredibly helpful for her dyslexia. I genuinely wish it was around when I was working on my PhD. It would have saved me a few migraines.
If your workplace is Microsoft based, Edge is super smart about keeping you logged in and on task, instead of asking you for credentials repeatedly.
Edge works with my favorite extensions, so I can use 1Password and Ghostery and OneNote Web Clipper and whatever else I need. For me that's a bigger improvement than it sounds. 1Password and the old Microsoft browsers did not love each other.
And on, and so forth. Microsoft would love to tell you more about Edge, and why it's amazing, and maybe even show you what's coming up. Me, I just wanted to mention it, and note that I like it just fine on Mac and iOS too.
Life in Beijing
Now that the Lunar New Year is over people are starting back to work in China. Sort of. Here's what one colleague wrote me about life in Beijing at the moment. (I've edited this for privacy.)
All Lunar New Year holiday events and get togethers were canceled. Most people are hiding inside. People wear masks everywhere they go, if they have them. Our neighborhood is shut down most of the day, and delivery drivers are now prohibited from coming in to deliver food/packages all day. You have to go at specific hours and they give the packages to you over the fence, prison style. People walk around spraying bleach. Work/schools were canceled until Feb 10, though many of us have to resume work remotely starting today, including me. Given we are in Beijing, there isn't a major shortage on food or supplies yet, except masks/sanitizers. So we aren't super super worried, just being cautious right now.
Thinking healthy thoughts for everyone involved. Also, a special plea to my fellow westerners: don't give people of Asian ancestry grief about coughing. Or anyone else, for that matter.
Inspiration
Grabbed this shot inside my hotel, very late on my last night in London. Spiral staircases are catnip for photographers, especially if it's late and you're in an abstract state of mind.
And We're Off
I'm in Seattle this week for Microsoft's Campus Connections Summit, a chance to catch up and learn from some customers. I thought I was going home on Thursday night, but I learned this morning that my boss and I are visiting a customer in Daytona Beach, Florida instead.
I've insisted that I'm by God staying home next week, as I think my wife and dog are starting to forget what I look like. This of course means I'll be in Whitehorse by Wednesday.
Remember to breathe. Get away from the news for awhile. Drink more water. I started taking vitamins again a month or two ago and am stunned at how much more energy and health I've had since. The millennials are right. Sometimes it's the little bits of self-care that keep you going.