┏━━┓┏━━┓┏━━┓┏━━┓
┗━┓┃┃┏┓┃┗━┓┃┗━┓┃
┏━┛┃┃┃┃┃┏━┛┃┏━┛┃
TAKE MORE PTO
┃┏━┛┃┃┃┃┃┏━┛┗━┓┃
┃┗━┓┃┗┛┃┃┗━┓┏━┛┃
┗━━┛┗━━┛┗━━┛┗━━┛

(This is me urging you to plan your vacation / staycation for the year)

Just published another issue of my newsletter: https://vic.substack.com/

This issue talks about software development as gardening, includes two family favorite recipes, and links to things I learned.

I had a goal this year to write more, and I think I learned to write better by writing this issue.

My last day of work this year was Friday.

I have NOTHING planned for the rest of the year, it's so great.

Not even opening my calendar.

Early stage startups are becoming too comfortable with saying the quiet toxic parts out loudly because they think people in a down market will put up with anything for a paycheck.

Don't let them normalize 6-day work weeks or sleeping in the office.

When my kids learned about Elf on a Shelf, my plan was for the elf to very quickly meet an untimely end in the toilet bowl one day.

Instead, my wife wrote a letter to Santa that elves are not welcome in our home, and in retrospect, yes that is a better plan.

I notice that #introductions are a thing here.

My name is Vic. I'm a dad, runner, indie software maker, podcast host, amateur violinist, and ardent collector of hobbies.

Between the hours of 9 to 5, I'm a software engineer at Twilio Segment.

I mostly write about tech, SaaS, parenting, plants, food, and life in general.

I have a newsletter at https://vic.substack.com - it's my attempt to get better and faster at writing.

Happy to be here!