About me

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Super Powers

I love design. That's not unique but it's true. I love things that are well designed. And I obsess over badly designed things for days. Badly designed menus, badly designed objects and badly designed services. A recent trip to the DMV had me ruminating for weeks over simple improvements that would make DMV trips slightly less painful and bigger ideas that might turn getting a driver's license on its head altogether.

I love writing.  Well, it’s more of a love/hate thing. In another life I wanted to be a writer. A picture may be worth a thousand words but a thousand well crafted words may inspire infinitely more pictures. I like writing. I like reading. I like proofreading for grammar and clarity. Not an amazing skill but useful.

I love improv. I could write a book about what improv has taught me about life, collaborating, and relationships. Some day I might. Improv made me a better designer. I'm better at accepting feedback, building on the ideas of others and getting on board with an idea I may not love as much as my own. All that team player stuff corporations talk about is essential to a good improv show. And it's made me more fearless.

I'm really curious about humans. Infant humans. Young humans. Adult humans. And older humans. As my parents aged I saw up close for the first time what's in store for all of us, if we're lucky enough. It's challenging. I have spent more time in hospitals than I ever imagined. I had arthritis for about two weeks as a side effect of medication. Now, my heart goes out to little old ladies crossing the street to buy lotto tickets and milk. I have a lot of compassion for humans of all ages. Life can be tough.

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I'm a good co-worker

If you read (skim) my resume you'll notice I freelanced for a long while. That's not because I'd been blacklisted from office spaces for bad behavior. Freelancing allowed me to spend time in lots of different offices. And I've learned a few things.

  1. I will never microwave fish

  2. I will never reveal spoilers

  3. I like organizing files

  4. I try to bring snacks that won't ruin anyone's diet. (Most of the time.)

If I'm forewarned about a particularly difficult person (such as an outside vendor, because no one at your company is difficult) I have a super power that allows me to befriend them and smooth out the edges of interacting with them. It's not foolproof, but I have a pretty good track record.

I'm good at leading and good at following. Leading made me a better follower. Being in harmony with a group is more important than showing everyone how smart you are.

I'm not a sporty person but I'll go to the sporty company events and cheer everyone on. I may try a sporty thing if I think I can do it without breaking myself. Or anyone else.

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I like this stuff

The culture fit. Do I like the things you like? Will we be able to spend hours and hours together for days and days?

Here are some things I like so you can decide if we can be work friends.

  1. Fun memes with cats

  2. Better Call Saul

  3. Avocados

  4. The Container Store

  5. RedBull

  6. NPR

  7. Listverse.com

  8. Twitter

  9. Organizing stuff

  10. Star Wars AND Star Trek

  11. Other people's puppies

  12. Hardware stores

  13. Cigar smoke

  14. Single Malt Scotch

  15. Firefly

  16. “As Seen On TV” gadgets

  17. PerpetualKid.com

  18. Coconut anything

  19. The IT Crowd

  20. Sharing all these things with other people