Hi everyone! Excited to post here. I recently "retired" from full time software development to do my own thing. My post on why"I just don’t want to be a software developer anymore" was one of the more popular things I've written.

I have a large number of interests that I'm excited to pursue. Some people say I have too many interests and I spent a lot of time trying to be more "focused." Then I decided to accept myself the way I am instead of giving up on things I love.

As for making it work, it's still an experiment for now. I have savings. And a few freelance gigs. Plus a bit of passive income from Amazon Affiliates and the Medium Partner Program.

I'd love to explore writing here, what are people on here interested in? Maybe I'll just list some of my main interests and let me know what you folks like.

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Medium

Shoemaking

I got into shoemaking a couple of years ago. There is a school here in Chicago where I went through most of their shoemaking classes, moving from sandals to more complicated projects like boots.

Here are the boots I made, if you'd like to see the process here is an album

My main goal for the apprenticeship is to develop a couple of products that I'd like to either produce myself or work with a manufacturer to mass produce. Mainly shoes, but I wouldn't mind developing the bag of my dreams either.

Day to day that means honing my skills in the workshop, practicing, and also reinforcing this by teaching classes (IMHO no better way to learn than to teach).

Food

I've been a food blogging for almost a decade now. I used to have a paleo diet blog called Hunt Gather Love. The problem with that is that the paleo diet fixed a lot of the issues I had (mainly chronic GERD, gastroesophageal reflux disease), and then I realized I could get away with not eating it as long as I didn't eat total garbage. Unfortunately a lot of people in that community are a bit religious about it to say the least. I mean I still think it's a great way to eat and mostly eat that way, but I prioritize pleasure a lot in my life which makes it hard to participate in diet culture. Maybe people are moving away from dietary puritanism though?

So I moved on to more "traditional" food writing, which made a lot of sense for me anyway since I have a degree in Agriculture. I was the Food & Drink editor at Chicagoist.com (RIP) for awhile. I had basically no guidance there so I just did random things to see if they'd work. I did longform and shortform writing. I also wrote a bit for NPR's The Salt.

My output slowed a lot around 2015 when I left Chicagoist. The main reason was I advanced in my software career. I got a higher paying more prestigious job, which later I'd regret taking because it would take over my entire life and make it difficult to have hobbies.

Now that it's out of the way I hope to write more about food. Sadly a lot of media outlets in this area have closed or cut back, so I'm exploring less tradition routes. Maybe here?

Spider Farming

I've loved jumping spiders for a long time. I find them really cute and fascinating. A lot of people do not like spiders or are afraid of them, but on the internet I've found an active community of people who love them as much as I do. I run a facebook group that has thousands of members and just launched a website on them.
This is "Little Grey" a bold jumping spider (Phidippus audax). I love her funny looking little "eyebrows."

Coding (as a hobby)

I started coding as a hobby so it's natural I'd stick with it even though it's not my day job anymore. I have been dabbling in a bunch of things to see what I like. So far I'm mainly doing React, specifically Gatsby. I've built a few sites with it and have contributed a bit to documentation. Besides that I've taught some classes and also do code review for people just learning to code.

One thing I've noticed since starting doing it as a hobby rather than a job is my mood is so much improved. I feel happier and more social. I think coding for 2-3 hours a day is perfect for me, I don't think I can do 8 hours ever again. But I do realize that this is a niche and I'm going to essentially have to invent my own career. I'd love to connect with others who have taken this path as well. I know a few (a lot inspired by the "Four Hour Workweek").

Self-Improvement

I love tracking data and using it to improve my life. I have a couple of posts I've been working on with dataviz. One about how I tracked everything I wore for a year to figure out what clothes were useful and which I could just get rid of. Another about how I approached online dating, I waited a long time to write that one because I wanted to actually be able to write it from a successful outcome (a relationship that lasts), which I am now able to.

Anyway, excited to explore here and to hear your feedback!