These two weeks have been all about settling! I did so many home things! Also, my partner visited! And I took time off work! I finally got internet set up in my flat—only took six months—and I bought the first piece of furniture for my living/study/work studio space. Pictures below. I’m investing in nice furniture for that room because I want it to be a space that brings me comfort and joy. Ikea flat pack furniture is great but it does not bring me joy.

My partner and I went to Stuttgart for a day. It was a random blind booking trip and it was nice to see a city that had some inkling of topography to it. Berlin is just SO FLAT. I like Stuttgart, it’s a cute city that has all those German charms, doesn’t feel overwhelming. I’m discovering more and more that European seem to have as default all the things in America that we’re trying to build towards as exemplars. Every city I’ve visited has its pedestrian zone commerce area. It makes me realize just how not-special Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall really is in the bigger picture.

With some needed time off work, I’m ready to continue working on side projects. First Vigil has been pretty busy these past couple of weeks; there’s been a lot of court activity to monitor. The case of Christopher Hasson has been particularly disturbing.

I still find my mental health improving, as evidenced by the number of things I’ve been putting on and crossing off of my to-do lists. I’m looking forward to the Spring.

What I’ve read

I wasn’t very online these past two weeks! That’s good! As a result I don’t have anything to digest here. It’s not that I didn’t read anything, it’s that I didn’t dive into anything enough to take notes.

What I’m learning

DataCamp

I didn’t make any real progress here, though my experience working through the most basic python data science courses has inspired an upcoming blog post.

Lingoda

I had to put my trial on hold. Frustratingly, there was a time-zone issue so all the classes I signed up for I had to cancel. I’m pretty confident that I’m at an A1 level in German right now anyways, so I’m going to do some self-study to top myself off there before committing money to a course. I’ll start with A2 level this month.

Coursera

I’m enjoying the Introduction to American Law course I’m taking there, but it is really very, very superficial. I’ve learned some things, but I think I’d like to take a course that had some more rigorous expectations of engaging with the material.

What I’m reading

I did some reading this week!

• The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington (part of my Modern Library project) Progress: 11%
• Short Stories in German, Olly Richards and Alex Rawlings Progress: 38%
• Linear Algebra Done Right, Sheldon Axler (see my working progress here)Progress: 10%

The week ahead

I’m giving a talk on Data Versioning based largely on the same motivations as my blog post. I need to spend some time working on the First Vigil project board and catching up with folks in Berlin. I’m going to paint my new work studio, so I’m going to make sure to get to a hardware store at some point this week to get at least the basic supplies.