When I was 17 years old, I wrote a little Applesoft BASIC program to help myself memorize vocabulary for my Spanish class. When I went to college, I wrote a new version for the Mac, adding special features for Japanese. Senior year I wrote two new versions – one for my senior project, another for […]
Some people write to exorcise demons, to achieve fame, or to make their fortunes. These are all well and good, if a tad grandiose, and if you’re able to make one of these work out, more power to you. I never expected any of these, and have not been disappointed. I honestly didn’t start this […]
Growing up, I always imagined that there would come a time when, suddenly, I would be an adult. When I would look like the adults around me, talk like them, act like them, and feel like I imagined they felt. Childhood stretched into adolescence, I left for college, lived abroad, took on different workplace responsibilities, […]
The following are concepts from psychology that are important for you to understand. They form a key foundation for understanding why people do the things they do, particularly in extremis. All of these phenomena relate specifically to decision-making, will power, and reacting under intense pressure – most are also common experiences, which is why it’s […]
Transitions are always the hardest times. Even when all of the decisions have been made and you’re just waiting for things to play out, it’s emotionally uncomfortable to be betwixt and between. Frequently, though, the situation is more ambiguous – everything’s up in the air, the key decisions haven’t been made, and there isn’t even […]
As I mentioned previously, I’ve been running a reading group for the managers and leads on my teams. We just finished The Power of a Positive No, which was written by one of the authors of the highly influential Getting to Yes. This had been recommended to me by a member of TripAdvisor senior management, […]
Given my wife’s recent guest post, I thought I’d weigh in with my own response, based on some up-close and personal time spent with an Android phone after four years of living and playing with various models of iPhone. On the recommendation of my coworkers, I got a Nexus 4 – it wasn’t as new […]
[Note: This is a guest blog post from my wife. -Dan] My husband, Dan, spent a good four years trying to convince me to get an iPhone. He used every conceivable argument, including the angle that it would actually be less expensive than my (dirt cheap) cell phone service because we could sign up for […]
Being a single guy was fun. I could stay up all night programming, sleep in on weekends, hang out with friends, go to bars and clubs, hop on a plane on short notice and disappear on vacation for a week or five. I’d go out to a movie or restaurant without a second thought. I […]
Every once in a while, I have a conversation with my four year old that goes something like this: Me: Do you want to go to the playground? Him: YES! Me: No you don’t. Him: I don’t? Me: No, right now you want to lie on the floor, kicking at everything around you. Him (genuinely […]
Dan Dreams of Coding 