A new blogging format was experimented with during a morning commute, focusing on personal career stories and reflecting on the journey that led to working as a product manager at NASA.

A colleague asked me yesterday what routines and practices I’ve been using to manage our new normal of working onsite every day. I typed up this response, and decided it was worth turning into a blog post so I could share it more broadly in case others were interested. I’ve had all of three days to figure out this new routine, so it’s ill-defined in its current iteration. I’m sure it will get crisper over time, but here’s what I have been doing the past few days.

In my weeknotes post from January 20, 2025, hours before the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump, I wrote about being uncertain about what a Trump presidency would hold for me as a federal employee. While government efficiency sounds good (who wouldn’t want that?), it seems like part of the plan is to make things tougher for federal employees. Including return to office mandates, layoffs, worse retirement/insurance benefits, and more. As a federal employee, that does not sound appealing.

My week summarized into 3 highlights, 2 discoveries, and 1 anticipation. 3 Highlights The Office - I went into the office on Tuesday this week, which was a highlight for two reasons. First, I got an InBody scan as part of a twelve-week fitness challenge I am doing through NASA. The results were what I expected, and I have some work to do to get my body composition to where I want it!

My week summarized into 3 highlights, 2 discoveries, and 1 anticipation. 3 Highlights Eating in My wife and I have a chronic problem with being unprepared when dinner time rolls around, so we often end up ordering food or going out. My belt and my bank statements would attest that this is not a good practice. But this week we did much better eating in for most of our meals. I found the Tasty app and have been using that to plan our meals each Saturday so we can pick up groceries on Sunday.

I’m on the couch, coffee in hand, excited to try a new format. I actually have no idea what the true format will be, but I know that I am going to write weekly. The plan is to have a consistent format for these weeknotes, but I’m more concerned with actually doing the thing, so I’m starting without the format. Jump first, find a parachute later, right? Bear with me while I sort things out for the first 5, 10, or 50 of these.

My first full year of blogging is in the books! Or should I say, in the internet archive? Check out this neat sitemap graph of my blog generated by the internet archive. I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for over a year! One thing that has become clear is I write more like a geyser than a waterfall. I spend most of my time dormant, and then have a sudden flurry of activity before going quiet again.

I learned it’s weird to talk to your coworkers about your showering habits. The slightly uncomfortable laughs gave it away. But it’s been on my mind because I’ve been doing something different in the shower lately. I think showers are more than just a way to get clean. They’re also a space to think. While most people have “shower thoughts”, I bet a majority can’t remember them. When I say that showers are a “space to think”, I don’t just mean they’re a place to have thoughts pop in and out.

LinkedIn can be so cool sometimes. I connected with Mural’s VP of Product, Matt Crawford, and we got to talking about my experience. I told him I LOVE using Mural for user story maps, but I’m having trouble integrating with Jira because of how our instance is set up at NASA. Lo and behold, the current problem I’m having integrating Mural with Jira Data Center is a priority for him right now and they’re running a pilot program.

What I am up to now. Check my /now page for the latest update. Dad Stuff My daughter is walking! She is almost 15 months old now, and it feels like overnight she transformed from baby to toddler. Crawling to walking took a couple of months, but I think she went from walking to running in an hour. We’re chasing her all over the place now. This is such a fun age.