Weeknotes: week 19, 2023
✱ As the result of a badly curated cold, I’ve caught some laryngitis, probably to ensure my week started well. Lots of sneezes and a chronic cough came along as a result. That’s why the doctor said I’ll need to stick to some medication for the next two weeks or so. At least I need no antibiotics this time.
✱ The week also started with feedback time, due to my yearly performance review. I’ve learned quite a lot about how my peers see me professionally and about my strengths and opportunities for improvement. In general, every feedback I received was exciting — and some parts of them made me get even emotional. It’s nice to be working for a company where your leadership cares for you and tries to show you possible paths. Energized with that 👊.
✱ The small, unexpected surprises are the best ones. Last January, when I signed up to become a Matter app patron, they asked me to indicate whether I wanted to receive custom swag from them, which I said I wanted, because I love what they’re doing (otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen to be their patron from the start). It so happens I completely forgot about it until March, when an email from them kindly asked me to confirm my shipping address. I confirmed and forgot about it again — living in Brazil, I know how difficult it is for devs to send swag overseas, what I totally understand. Until an email from FedEx I received Tuesday morning told me a package coming from Matter would be delivered that same day. And it made me very happy to receive a custom, black ceramic mug and some stickers, all of them with Matter’s motto, “Words are my matter”, which also happens to be the name of an essays book from the awesome Ursula K. Le Guin.
My custom Matter swag 😍
✱ For the second week in a row now I’m involved in a mentoring activity. I love being a mentor, because I love teaching as much as I love learning. In this specific activity I’m involved with right now, I’m trying to help a work mate with improving the overall quality of her presentation skills and, so I can do it, I’m using one of my favorite subjects, storytelling, combined with a couple of professional past experiences. And from her feedback so far, it’s going great, not to mention the amount of knowledge I’m also acquiring. There’s definitely life in mentoring.
✱ 📚📺 After finishing reading The Nurse last week, I’ve watched the Netflix TV series based on the book. I’ve taken some notes during my read and intend to post about the book sometime in the future, but I can honestly say the book completely beats the series off. Netflix presented the story in only 4 chapters of about 42 minutes each, and this turned the story into something very shallow and limited, not focusing on the true crime investigation covered by Kristian Corfixen’s book. A real shame.
✱ I just have to say how happy I am for Miami Heat. It’s fantastic to see Jimmy Butler and the team come to their Conference Finals again. That was a great way to finish Friday. There are still steps to climb, but I hope to see them repeat their 2006, 2012 and 2013 feats again. I’ll be rooting from as far as Brazil, but I know it counts! 🏀🏀🏀
✱ Talking basketball, I’ve watched AIR, the Amazon Prime 2023 vídeo which tells us a story based on true events, of how Sonny Vaccaro, a salesman for Nike led Phil Knight’s company in the search for that who is the greatest basketball player of NBA’s history: Michael Jordan. The movie was not the greatest, but it was still inspiring and demonstrative of business disruption. And no one could beat Viola Davis acting.