Gratitude Journal March 2019

< 1 minute readOk, gratitude listicle! Job at Event Espresso. I’ve been learning a lot over the years, been involved in interesting projects, had friendly coworkers, open-minded and humble bosses, given time to study, experiment and contribute to other open source projects. Family close by. Amanda’s parents are 8 minutes away, her sister Sam only 30 seconds away. […]

To Fund WordPress Plugin Development Through Sponsorship, or More Traditional Models?

5 minute readHow do you make money when you give your product away for free? Let’s consider the common open-source business models, and explore the viability of supporting development entirely through sponsorships.

Why Users Should Pay for My WordPress Plugin (Even When it’s Totally Free)

2 minute readI recently created an Open Collective in order to fund development of my plugin Print My Blog. Here’s its pitch for why the plugin users should elect to donate to the collective. I’m posting here to gather feedback on my ideas, not so to extract money out of people who don’t even use the plugin. […]

My 10 Feelings Upon Receiving $20 (for a WordPress Plugin)

2 minute readThis morning, I received my first financial support for developing the WordPress plugin Print My Blog on Open Collective. Upon seeing the email informing me of that, I’ve had a whole host of feelings… yes, from a donation of $20. Here they are… Elated This came first. This was the first ever donation I’ve received. […]

How I Got All A's on webpagetest.org

2 minute readI heard about webpagetest.org during my most recent WordCamp. It’s a service for analyzing your website’s performance. From what I can tell, it’s completely supported by sponsors, so it’s free to use. I ran my WordPress meetup’s site (which, obviously, runs on WordPress) through its analysis, and initially got C grades or so. Not fabulous. […]

Our favourite textures

< 1 minute readToday Amanda and I had an interesting discussion I thought merited recording: what are our favourite feeling textures? Here’s the results… Amanda slightly oily scrambled egg (in her mouth, not hands) melting ice Mike Baby cheeks 90s slightly grippy, computer keyboards Nintendo 64 controller The meshy padding at the bottom of some backpacks Don’t Like […]

My 1/3 of a hundred birthday

2 minute readYesterday I turned 33. I have to write it down otherwise I forget! Special things that happened: The night before, my brother Phil and I played StarCraft 2 for an hour. We were the slobbering aliens attacking humans Finished watching “Ant man and the wasp” with Amanda too. We enjoyed when they gave one guy […]

Are WordPress’ "Small d" Developers Getting Left Behind by “Modern Best Practices”?

5 minute readWordPress is experiencing a cultural change in order to adopt “modern best practices.” But are these changes leaving “small d” developers behind?

Treasure Hunt for the “Key of Knowledge”

2 minute readDanielle, Celeste and I got out of Amanda and Elise’s hair for a bit yesterday to go on a “treasure hunt”. Previously, just Celeste and I went for a walk in the foresty trail next to Danielle’s school and I took note of the interesting landmarks I could use for a treasure hunt. Then I […]

Gratitude Journal February 2019

2 minute readNew baby Elise. She arrived just over two weeks ago. She had a bit of jaundice, but is doing well now. Healthy little baby! I’m currently enjoying a baby snuggle while typing this out Midwives Jane and Talia. It was really nice to have them checking in and taking care of her. They’ve done a […]