Learning Log, May 2026

Life~Work

Life: took a road trip to visit family. It was great to have leisurely time to catch up. It’s been a while since we’ve visited outside of holidays or events where everyone’s attention is spread thin. May also brought a college graduation (and parties) for my niece—proud of her accomplishment! Finally, due to an obscene amount of vacation time at work, I’ve been busy planning a much-needed Summer trip.

Work: work remains very busy. I’m still acting as the interim product manager for my new squad, who’s taken on a new track of work. I’ve noticed real overlap between PM and PD skills – both require strategic thinking and bringing stakeholders along – and sharing early and often has been invaluable. I also led a fun workshop with our content design team, walking through real-world examples of how they can effectively work with a range of AI tools. I’d summarize the two-hour workshop with: ‘just try things’. It’s early days and I feel strongly that everyone should be trying different tools and techniques rather than specializing around a single tool that will likely change (or disappear) in a few months.

Projects

• New font for this site – At Textual from Arillatype.Studio. They make  lovely fonts, and I really appreciate their affordable designer license.
• Published a new post on all the tools I built for myself – documenting the small, specialized projects I’ve created.

Digital gardening

Bookshelf

• Rogue Male, Geoffrey Household – a combination of a spy thriller survivalist tale. It opens with a near-death chase scene, and doesn’t let up.
• The Mountain is You, Brianna Wiest – A case where the right book found me at the right time. I heard about it through The Questlove Show. If you haven’t heard it recently (or ever), Ahmir (Questlove) changed the show’s format and focus late in 2025. Since then, it’s consistently been one of my favorite podcasts; deep conversations on creativity, personal growth, and more. Highlights: Open Mike Eagle, Baz Lurhmann, Jamie Lee Curtis, Flea, Posdnuos, and Brianna Wiest.
• Daniels’ Running Formula, Jack Daniels, PhD. Reading for ways to improve my running habit.
• Inspired, Marty Cagan re-read this for two work-related reasons, (1) my interim PM role, and (2) we use the SVPG / Marty Cagan model at work, so it was a good refresher on best practices.

Other reading

• Misery is not wisdom - by Robin Rendle, sharing things that have delighted him recently and kept him light. Love it.
• Just You Wait by Chris Shiflett. A great summary of his career in all things web and how he’s adapting to the latest shift in the industry (AI). I appreciated his curious attitude and how he’s positioned his well-earned experience and perspective as a real strength… it echoes what I’ve seen at work.
• FontDrop! - load a font file and learn about all of its features and OpenType options. This was the perfect tool when I was exploring different fonts for this site.

Movie

• Listers – a GREAT documentary—free on YouTube—made by two brothers who get high and decide to get into extreme birdwatching. It exceeded my already high expectations.

MEMEX

A few favorite visuals that I’ve added to MEMEX, my swipe file:

• At Textual font demo. 😍
• A classic FuzzCo contact page. Big fan of their work
• Gretel homepage—their grid caught my eye
• Illustration by Mike Mignola. Watched a great documentary about his career
• Clever Summer Symphony poster