Open Tabs: January 2023

January 24, 2023

I didn’t do nearly as much writing as I intended to last year: suffice to say, things got a little tumultuous .

After chatting with a colleague at my new job, however, I realize that there was a far lower barrier way to do this: write about what I’m reading currently.

And thus (hopefully) begins Open Tabs, a series where I catalog my Open Tabs in a casual, easy way (and maybe close some tabs in the process?)

Events

Write the Docs 2023 ’s CFP closes February 6, 2023. Naturally, I have the Google Doc with my submission draft open.

Open Source Summit North America 2023 also closes soon, on February 5th. For this one I’m still staring at an empty doc.

Learning

I’m writing something on observability and open telemetry for work, and as a result I’m making sure I know enough about observability to do the topic justice. I have a number of tabs open:

I’m also now at a database as a service company and need to make sure I know enough about databases in general, and streaming data in specific.

I’ve got Use the index, Luke! open to brush up on my SQL, and we’ll go from there I guess?

For a mentorship meeting earlier this week, I once again pulled up Mary Thengvall’s Developer Relations career path and Sarah Drasner’s Career Ladders .

Tools

Aiven Console , naturally, to look at Aiven projects and services for work.

TinyIMG is an easy to use image optimizer. We use it to reduce the file size of images for the Aiven Blog . It freaks me out a little though (What if I upload something confidential to.. some random server, somewhere?)

Slackmoji , because sometimes the right emoji can soften the blow of nagging people to do things.

Layoffs.fyi , because who isn’t keeping an eye on things right now :(

For fun

Indie darling Beirut launched a new album , Artifacts, which is part re-recording and part Greatest Hits. I’m now contemplating whether to drop 125€‎ on vinyl.

How to maintain restored Mid-century modern teak, walnut and rosewood furniture . I recently picked up a vintage teak coffee table for a steal of a price, but it has some lightening due to sun exposure. If anyone has a good guide to restoring oiled teak finishes, hit me up on social media. I have a few more tabs open on the topic.

Spotify playlist of the moment

In The K-Indie . The Korean Indie scene is a bit hard to access from the west, but it’s really worth the effort.