Writing Culture, Listening Commute

The other day at work, there was a meeting for all the hires in the past year. It included a panel of some experienced employees and the opportunity for us new hires to ask questions about the organization and company culture. The topic of our writing culture came up. The narrative documents we create were described as not only being key to informing the reader, but it was stressed that the process of creating the document ensures that the writer is fully thinking through and understanding the problem space. This really resonated with me, as I think it says something pretty similar to what I stated in my previous post:

"There is something about writing that ... makes reflection more deliberate and effectual."

To me, this validated my position. Its nice to know you're not crazy, and better yet, get a little confidence to help boost your motivation. Writing prompts and forces you to answer questions that are too easy to miss or ignore otherwise. That said, I haven't done any more reflective writing, but I will.

Since I have a rather long commute, I've been taking advantage of podcasts to educate and entertain myself. I though I'd share my list of favorites:

• Revisionist History by Malcom Gladwell
• Revisiting and understanding historical incidents
• Just listen, its great. if you don't like the first one you listen to, try another. Its a really amazing podcast.
• S-Town
• Amazing true story about a brilliant guy in a backwoods town. He contacts a reporter to investigate a murder that the town in covering up.
• Java Pub House by Freddy Guime
• The production quality isn't amazing, but I really appreciate the content and am using it to help kickstart my journey towards Java mastery.
• Mission to Zyxx
• Think improvised Star Wars parody. I've laughed out loud... alone in my car. I think people saw me.

A couple of these were recommended by a great guy I used to work with. He's a smart guy, you should check out his blog.

I'm planning a post that will refer to one of the episodes of Revision History, Miss Buchanan's Period Of Adjustment. Have a listen, and you'll have better context when I get around to posting about it.

I've also spent a bit of time lately playing PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG) in addition to my old standby, Rocket League. For those not in the know, PUBG is a multiplayer online game that starts with about 99 players dropping out of an airplane onto a multi-kilometer island, scavenging for weapons and equipment, and fighting for their life as the playing area gets increasingly smaller. The goal: Be the last man standing. I've played games where I've gone 20 minutes without seeing anybody only to be picked off by a sniper rifle when I'm one of 14 people left. Other games involve running into somebody right at the beginning while you're both still weaponless. It's intense and fun. I've felt enough adrenaline from it that I don't play when I know I want to be asleep within an hour.

Cheers