Written by Katrin Valdre who has a permanent address in Portland, OR but does not believe in one physical location. You should follow her on Twitter
Week Notes Vol 140
January 09, 2022Solid three weeks of no work committments nor side hustle tasks due has been an amazing time to reflect, question and plan for the future…
Week Notes Vol 139
January 02, 2022Ever been to a bog in the winter? It’s such a surreal experience as one step in the wrong way could lead to hypothermia. Imagine a field of…
Week Notes Vol 138
December 26, 2021I have reached the stage in my vacation mode where I am never entirely sure what day is it. Thursday or Friday? Does it really matter? It…
Week Notes Vol 137
December 19, 2021It’s been a weird week of working US west coast hours while in Estonia. It was also my last week at Streem. My manager was on vacation this…
Week Notes Vol 136
December 12, 2021First international fligh since January 2020 is behind me - and it was much less stressful than I thought. Although Covid is spiking again…
Week Notes Vol 135
December 05, 2021Another year of completing 52 hikes is in the bag! This year it was a total of 447 miles with an average hike being 8.6 miles. It’s over 10…
Week Notes Vol 134
November 28, 2021I once again opted outside insted of celebrating Friday after Thanksgiving shopping aimlessly and accummulating more stuff. Thanksgiving…
Week Notes Vol 133
November 21, 2021It’s once again the season of “What do you want for Christmas?” questions. The older I get the more I trend towards gifts that are not…
Week Notes Vol 132
November 14, 2021This week I got absolutely wrecked by a Covid-19 booster. It shouldn’t have been a surprise considering the same happened with the second…
Week Notes Vol 131
November 07, 2021What does it mean to be rich? I started a #fire channel on work Slack and it was interesting to see who joined and why. It is also benefits…
Week Notes Vol 130
October 31, 2021As we are nearing the end of the year (where did it go?) planning for 2022 is on my mind. At the same time time I’m making my way through a…
Week Notes Vol 129
October 24, 2021What if we planned our work around our lives instead of the other way around? Time to hire rates are all time low and employers are…
Week Notes Vol 128
October 17, 2021This year I have interviewed countless people for positions open on my team. In my previous role I started the team from zero. Yet I’m not…
Week Notes Vol 127
October 10, 2021In high school War and Peace was on our mandatory reading list. I’ve read it so far three times - first in high school in Estonian, then in…
Week Notes Vol 126
October 03, 2021Fall has definitely arrived now in Pacific Northwest. My Sunday hike on Mt. Hood had bushes dressed in bright vibrant reds and yellows and…
Week Notes Vol 125
September 26, 2021There are people who like solo adventures and those who prefer company. I definitely fall into the solo travel fan category. I was taking…
Week Notes Vol 124
September 19, 2021At Streem every other week engineering gets to present updates to the rest of the company, part of the intro on this demo day is what I call…
Week Notes Vol 123
September 12, 2021It has been a few years since I’ve participated in any Mazamas climbs. 2020 was a total loss in terms of climbs and 2019 was full of travel…
Week Notes Vol 122
September 05, 2021Been thinking a lot lately about what drives me and what makes me happy. The latter is partially solved by asking what would make a 6-year…
Week Notes Vol 121
August 29, 2021I have received a number of messages on LinkedIn lately that go along the lines of: This is for a fast-growing, {insert field} company in…
Week Notes Vol 120
August 22, 2021This week’s book seems very timely in the light of the recent delta variant outbreak. It turns out an average audio book is just long enough…
Week Notes Vol 119
August 15, 2021Summer Fridays are coming to an end soon. I have wanted to hike from Cannon Beach to Seaside, OR and back (or the other way around) for…
Week Notes Vol 118
August 08, 2021Who doesn’t love a mid-year review? I used to look at these as just a hassle and for a while I had a manager whose annual review length was…
Week Notes Vol 117
August 01, 2021I was hanging out for the second time in person with my knitting group and someone asked me how my midlife crisis was coming along and I…
Week Notes Vol 116
July 25, 2021Pretty much everyone in tech is either interviewing for a new job, considering or already made a jump to a new company or role. Who can…
Week Notes Vol 115
July 18, 2021I’ve been pulling back a little lately reading tech, business on psychology books to give my brain a little summer vacation. I don’t want my…
Week Notes Vol 114
July 11, 2021Wildfires have started, way ahead of the regular schedule. Soon enough the air quality will likely resemble last year’s. NYT tracker doesn’t…
Week Notes Vol 113
July 04, 2021I logged a good 700+ miles this week going on a road trip with a 10-year old. We visited two national parks, dipped in multiple lakes to…
Week Notes Vol 112
June 27, 2021Have you ever wondered where does your food come from and how? I started this book on my birthday hike and it opened my eyes to different…
Week Notes Vol 111
June 20, 2021I’ve been reading a book about how habits are formed and it made me wonder how many of the habits (both good and bad) from COVID era will…
Week Notes Vol 110
June 13, 2021Somehow, suddenly, summer is here. Unlike last year there’s some hope for some normalcy. No, there aren’t any trips involving planes (yet…
Week Notes Vol 109
June 06, 2021Something that has been on my mind since my last 1:1 with a team member leaving to take on his dream job - why do we normalize leaving a job…
Week Notes Vol 108
May 31, 2021One of the things I appreciate about my team and my manager is providing candid feedback and asking pointed questions when I make a…
Week Notes Vol 107
May 23, 2021And this year’s Eurovision goes to the country I did not even see as a competitor. Still baffled by Italy’s win. I personally was rooting…
Week Notes Vol 106
May 16, 2021It’s been a packed week on both physical and emotional level. I climbed St. Helens on Monday and while it is nice to know I can still do it…
Week Notes Vol 105
May 09, 2021In 2019 I bought the flowers and delivered them one household at a time leaving the flowers on the porch or by the front door and texting…
Week Notes Vol 104
May 01, 2021How is it May alreay? I have skipped a few years but I will attempt to embrace #memademay for a month. However instead of focusing posting…
Week Notes Vol 103
April 25, 2021Rhubarb season has arrived. A classic Estonian recipe is rhubarb cake with sour cream. In Estonia rhubarb is the first sweet thing available…
Week Notes Vol 102
April 18, 2021In general there are two types of people - those who like solo travel and those who do not. Typically they also tend to split on that line…
Week Notes Vol 101
April 11, 2021I consider myself extremely lucky to have a chosen family in the states who have been with me through thick and thin. One of the things I…
Week Notes Vol 100
April 04, 2021100 weeks of notes - if someone would have told me when I started that we’d still be in the middle of a worldwide pandemic I would have…
Week Notes Vol 99
March 28, 2021Cherry blossoms are blooming in Portland and for second year in a row it’s a masked affair. Day after day there’s news on social networks…
Week Notes Vol 98
March 21, 2021In this week’s news - Iceland is accepting travellers who have received their COVID-19 vaccine. The itch to go is real. The chance of…
Week Notes Vol 97
March 14, 2021I watched Nomadland recently and have so many feels after it. I had originally planned to hit the road in a van a few years back and then…
Week Notes Vol 96
March 07, 2021Next week marks the anniversary of working from home for many folks. There are patterns I have noticed at work that are somewhat concerning…
Week Notes Vol 95
February 28, 2021With first spring days comes the itch. JMT permits are released for the crowds hitting refresh at 6am sharp to score some. Plans are made…
Week Notes Vol 94
February 21, 2021Moving during COVID is an ordeal. Moving in a high rise in Portland is a hassle to begin with but doing it in 2021 is a royal pain. Unlike…
Week Notes Vol 93
February 14, 2021Portland as a city is pretty useless when it snows. No, it’s not because people don’t know how to drive here (although it is somewhat true…
Week Notes Vol 92
February 07, 2021I have daydreams about hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail, the entire 2650 miles of it over the course of 5 months. The reality however…
Week Notes Vol 91
January 31, 2021As I hit “delete” yet on another recruitment email I wonder if recruiters are aware why their success rate drops in late January / early…
Week Notes Vol 90
January 24, 2021This week brought a new president, a first female VP and a major project release at work. I should be celebrating but I am simply drained. I…
Week Notes Vol 89
January 17, 2021The countdown is on. It’s hard to focus on anything else, in fact it makes me wonder why isn’t Inaguration Day an official holiday for…
Hike mileage 2021
January 17, 2021# Date Distance in miles Elevation gain in ft Hike 1 01/03 7.81 551 Eagle Creek 2 01/03 2.65 1168 Wind Mountain 3 01/09 5.87 440 Big Tree…
Week Notes Vol 88
January 10, 2021Eagle Creek opened after three years of closure due to wildfires of 2017. I made the mistake of adventuring out - it was overcrowded, full…
Week Notes Vol 87
December 31, 2020Last week of a year that I did not see coming. I’ve been thinking of lessons learned from 2020 and there are quite a few of them: Be…
Week Notes Vol 86
December 27, 2020One of the best gifts employers can give is a gift of time off for the entire company. This is what we at Streem are doing for this year. I…
Week Notes Vol 85
December 20, 2020This week mark’s the end of another small agency forced to close its doors - Liveaxle. I worked there for a little over four years and…
Week Notes Vol 84
December 13, 2020What a week it has been - every time I think America is heading in the right direction there’s garbage like this posted by a mainstream…
Week Notes Vol 83
December 06, 2020Remember brunch? Until Byways on NW Glisan closed last year I was there every other Sunday since 2008 having breakfast with my besties. We…
Week Notes Vol 82
November 29, 2020First time in years where I did not travel for Thanksgiving - normally this extended weekend is perfect time to go hit up a national park…
Week Notes Vol 81
November 22, 2020On a recent hike we got to talk about all of the acronyms of 2020 and how we perceive them. For most outdoor people until this year BLM…
Week Notes Vol 80
November 15, 2020Three weeks into a new job and I can definitely say there’s a significant difference in onboarding for a fully-remote company and company…
Week Notes Vol 79
November 08, 2020I found out by hearing all the car horns, pots being banged and cheers outside. For the first time in years the future looks brighter again…
Week Notes Vol 78
November 01, 2020Starting a new job in 2020 is a bizarre affair that goes down something like this. On your last day of your old job around 5pm your system…
Week Notes Vol 77
October 25, 2020I consider myself very lucky to have my chosen family here in the states and finding safe ways to see them this year despite COVID-19. I’ve…
Week Notes Vol 76
October 18, 2020I’ve never been particularily good at good byes. Instead I like to focus on things that can make departures easier - and in my traditional…
Week Notes Vol 75
October 10, 2020After almost 5 years at AAA I gave my notice this week. It definitely has been a journey - from joining AAA Arizona team and managing the…
Week Notes Vol 74
September 30, 2020Turns out getting a few days without internet, Slack and news is exactly what I needed. We hit the road on Sunday with a goal of making it…
Week Notes Vol 73
September 25, 2020I have not taken a vacation in 2020 since getting back from Estonia via Amsterdam in early January. There’s been one day wonders that were…
Week Notes Vol 72
September 19, 2020Just as you think 2020 can’t get much worse the entire west coast gets blanketed by smoke resulting in AQI that is off the charts. The day…
Week Notes Vol 71
September 13, 2020I thought 2020 was a pile of steaming garbage after fires in Australia, police violence and COVID-19. Current wildfires that have taken over…
Week Notes Vol 70
September 06, 2020If there’s one thing I have learned in 2020 is reading topo maps for plotting out hikes and backpacking routes. I’ve spent countless hours…
Week Notes Vol 69
August 30, 2020I braced for impact as I watched other team members up ahead trying to reach the summit of Middle Sister. Each step they took kicked loose…
Week Notes Vol 68
August 23, 2020Our PM quit a week before a big project launch. Was I suprised? No. He had been restless and looking his way out for a while. I’ve also seen…
Week Notes Vol 67
August 16, 2020August is one of my least favorite months of the year. It used to signify end of summer vacation and time to settle back into school routine…
Week Notes Vol 66
August 08, 2020For the past two years I’ve made a concious habit of booking myself a lunch hour. Without it my schedule kept on becoming unmanageable and…
Week Notes Vol 65
August 02, 2020The other day I found myself deep down the rabbit hole of custom clothing tags. I’ve intentionally slowed down lately - some of it is caused…
Week Notes Vol 64
July 26, 2020I had a catch up discussion yesterday on a hike and while it was totally normal and expected there was something that struck out as…
Week Notes Vol 63
July 19, 2020How do I maintain my sanity these days? By doing extra long day hikes in remote places and backpacking so that I could have sunsets like…
Week Notes Vol 62
July 12, 2020Humans are interesting creatures. We adapt to both positive and negative events with much less friction than one would expect. I’m curious…
Week Notes Vol 61
July 05, 2020I have lost count how many weeks into COVID we are at this point - it seems like the last 4 months will stretch into years. Looking at daily…
Week Notes Vol 60
June 28, 2020When I was growing up I wished I was Pipi Longstocking, or at least Little My. I liked to read books about strong female characters such as…
Week Notes Vol 59
June 21, 2020As I get older I’ve discovered that the best things in life are free (or nearly free). I gifted myself a day off work for my birthday to…
Week Notes Vol 58
June 14, 2020As it turns out spending a night away from your home and sleeping under someone else’s roof is exactly what was needed to help to reboot my…
Hike mileage 2020
June 07, 2020# Date Distance in miles Elevation gain in ft Hike 1 01/19 4.4 0 Trillium Lake (snowshoe) 2 01/19 3.2 265 Cooks Butte 3 01/20 4.92 580 Aspen…
Week Notes Vol 57
June 06, 2020This week has been emotionally and mentally hard - it’s difficult to continue living in United States of America when there’s nothing…
Week Notes Vol 56
May 31, 2020It’s been a tradition to hit the road for Memorial Day. Twice now have we scheduled a trip to Hawaii and twice has it been cancelled…
Week Notes Vol 55
May 23, 2020There are some good side effects to being locked inside most of the time for the past 10 or so weeks - I hit my 2020 reading challenge this…
Week Notes Vol 54
May 17, 2020Work from home forever? This week Twitter announced that they will be remote from now one. One can only wonder how many companies will…
Week Notes Vol 53
May 10, 2020This week I’ve been watching endless Youtube videos about hiking the PCT. And doing research on supplies, gear, timing and cost. There are…
Week Notes Vol 52
May 03, 2020I made it! Full 52 weeks of keeping notes on life, work, learning new skills and navigating around boulders and pebbles in life. Not going…
Week Notes Vol 51
April 26, 2020The topic of managing well has been on my mind a lot the fast few weeks. Here are some snippets from the book I just finished: Your job, as…
Week Notes Vol 50
April 19, 2020There definitely are positive sides of the 2020 quarantine - my reading list is 10 books ahead, I am finally mending clothing items that…
Week Notes Vol 49
April 12, 2020Week four of not being able to hike or really get outside and it’s harder by day to find poitivity in all of this. Thankfully it’s lambing…
Week Notes Vol 48
April 04, 2020Week three of lockdown and while some aspects are much easier others sprout like weeds in the sping. There was one morning when I woke up…
Week Notes Vol 47
March 28, 2020Week two of shelter in place and some things are becoming clear - mainly that I do not do well being confined between four walls. I will…
Week Notes Vol 46
March 22, 2020I started 2020 with a trip to Amsterdam. While there I went to one of my favorite book stores (The American Book Center) and picked up a…
Week Notes Vol 45
March 15, 2020What a bizarre world we are living in currently. I’ve been following the news and the future looks frightning, especially being in the US…
Week Notes Vol 44
March 08, 2020The move continues. I can almost see the light through the boxes. My home office is at least setup in a way that enables me to work without…
Week Notes Vol 43
February 29, 2020It’s been boxes upon boxes upon boxes. Every day this week I’ve worked a full day and then packed up my apartment. In some ways moving is…
Week Notes Vol 42
February 23, 2020There’s something extremely comforting about going off grid for a while. This morning I got up early, loaded up my car and ventured out to…
Week Notes Vol 41
February 15, 2020Yay for upcoming the SameSite week! Starting on Monday, Feb 17, Chrome Version 80 will introduce a policy in which: Cookies without a…
Week Notes Vol 40
February 09, 2020It was a rough week. Being type A person I’d like to deliver 100% all the time to everyone but that is not physically not always feasible…
Week Notes Vol 39
February 02, 20202020 is off to recruiters blasting emails and promoting whatever company they are working for with renewed efforts. I’ve seen some priceless…
Week Notes Vol 38
January 25, 2020I thought that 2020 would bring some more positive news in terms of equality and inclusion for women but then I stumble upon articles like…
Week Notes Vol 37
January 18, 2020The word inequity has been on my mind a lot this week. I went to see Hank Willis Thomas exhibit at the Portland Art Museum last week, been…
Week Notes Vol 36
January 12, 2020When I agreed to take on a failing project at work in 2019 I had no idea what it would expand into. Coming from a background of Drupal and…
Week Notes Vol 35
January 05, 2020Five days and four countries in 2020 so far (Estonia, Latvia, Denmark and Netherlands). Numerous new experiences as well: getting pulled…
Week Notes Vol 34
December 29, 2019One of the benefits and pitfalls of Estonia is its size - I noticed a friend of mine shared on IG that she was on the way to Estonia for…
Week Notes Vol 33
December 22, 2019Estonia is a land of contradictions - it’s so modern and European and at the same time so very much stuck in its old ways. We ventured out…
Week Notes Vol 32
December 15, 2019When I was in Estonia this summer for song and dance festival I made a plan to spend December here as well but instead of taking time off I…
Week Notes Vol 31
December 07, 2019It was inside internationational terminal at SFO on my way to Austria when I suddenly got that feeling of belonging. I couldn’t at first put…
Week Notes Vol 30
November 30, 2019I did not grow up celebrating Thansgiving. I find the whole notions of Pilgrim’s meal with the Native Americans appalling - most people know…
Week Notes Vol 29
November 24, 2019Last week was a bit of a downer as work travel takes its toll on me. Being an introvert having multiple days of back to back meetings…
Week Notes Vol 28
November 16, 2019It’s been a rough few weeks trying to navigate project planning season where most of the stakeholders gather in the office. Looking at my…
Week Notes Vol 27
November 09, 2019Everybody has bias, there’s no point to denying it. The key is understanding your own biases and working on recognizing when you’re tempted…
Week Notes Vol 26
November 03, 2019I bought a wedding dress at Goodwill two years ago. It felt theraupetic after the recent turmoil in my life. I had also never had the…
Week Notes Vol 25
October 26, 2019End of the year is near - and planning for 2020 has started. For most people it means annual enrollment period has begun (oh, the joys of US…
Week Notes Vol 24
October 19, 2019Sometimes you ask universe for a challenge and then it just dumps a boatload of them on you all at once. Well, universe, I’m not going to…
Week Notes Vol 23
October 14, 2019One of the things I find great satisfaction in is helping other people achieve their goals. Sometimes this does not exactly work out for my…
Week Notes Vol 22
October 06, 2019Life hacking, optimizing time, optimial productivity - no matter what you name it it is essentially the same thing. I’ve been experimenting…
Week Notes Vol 21
September 26, 2019I am officially in the “will never move to San Francisco” camp after this week. I’ve always found this city dirty and uptight but after this…
Week Notes Vol 20
September 19, 2019I don’t often travel for work but when I do I try to keep some kind ouf routine. Without it my days would follow this template - meet team…
Week Notes Vol 19
September 12, 2019Who does’t love September and planning/budgeting for the next calendar year? Everything is due yesterday. I honestly do not mind all the…
Week Notes Vol 18
September 05, 2019I have been reflecting on my career path quite a bit this week as I am reading a book by someone who on the surface had career trajectory…
Week Notes Vol 17
August 29, 2019As of this week I am the only female on our development team of 24 people. It is a lonely place to be and the bigger the team grows the less…
Week Notes Vol 16
August 22, 2019For the past 8 or so years I have been celebrating what we call knitter’s Christmas in July. This year our annual party shifted a little…
Week Notes Vol 15
August 15, 2019This week I celebrated my 14th year of Drupal. It’s been quite a journey to say the least. Yes, I definitely drank the coolaid. At the same…
So you too want to work remotely?
August 12, 2019First it was individual offices, then cubicles, then open floorplans followed by remote friendly workplaces. The reality is that some of us…
Week Notes Vol 14
August 08, 2019I’ve been going down a rabbit hole of reading about the history race and class in the United States for the past few months. Some of this…
Week Notes Vol 13
August 01, 2019After two and half years of planning West Coast Estionian days is finally here! Kicked off by mass dance practice followed by potluck on…
Week Notes Vol 12
July 25, 2019There are two kinds of people - those who care about status in context of travel and those who do not. I travel a fair amount but I am…
Week Notes Vol 11
July 18, 2019Post vacation blues is a thing. Usually it doesn’t hit me as hard since I’m always plotting the next adventure but this time I came back…
Week Notes Vol 10
July 11, 2019Vacation in Estonia has been a flurry of activities - one could almost say a castle a day? We attended the main rehearsal for the dance…
Week Notes Vol 9
July 04, 2019Is there anything better than unstructured time? No meetings, no phone calls, no obligations except to go see family while on vacation in…
Week Notes Vol 8
June 27, 2019Vacation autoreply - check. Slack OOO status - check. Updated team calendar - check. Signed out of Slack and work email on my phone - check…
Work With Me
June 21, 2019I am a strong believer in autonomy. I’m not a mico-manager by default unless I feel the project or directions have changed in such a way…
Week Notes Vol 7
June 20, 2019Another year older and realizing nothing really matters more than surrounding yourself with people who love you and people you love (often…
Week Notes Vol 6
June 13, 2019Burnout has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve been essentially working two jobs for months now - one being what my job title is and the…
Week Notes Vol 5
June 05, 2019It’s an amazing feeling when you finally accomplish something. I set up a goal back in April 2018 and chipped away at it until all of the…
Week Notes Vol 4
May 29, 2019I’ve been thinking a lot about fear, failure, taking responsibility and finding ways to overcome challenges this week. There’s this quote by…
Grand Canyon Rim to Rim in a day (May 25th, 2019)
May 28, 2019We came up with the plan of hiking Grand Canyon R2R in a day during a long weekend trip to Utah in November 2018 after hiking Angel’s…
Week Notes Vol 3
May 22, 2019Trails are therapy. I used to use mountains as a way to escape from some things in my life and I have finally found that sweet spot between…
Not Defied By Mt.Defiance
May 19, 2019There weren’t many takers when I asked if anyone would be up for a “leisurely stroll” up Mt. Defiance on Saturday earlier this week. My two…
Week Notes Vol 2
May 13, 2019You know those weeks when one thing happens after another and before you know it you have logged a 50-60 hours for your day job? Yeah, it…
Week Notes Vol 1
May 06, 2019I realized this am on my way to the airport that I had been there a total of 5 times in the last 7 days. I’ve been to NYC, SF and picked up…
DrupalCon Seattle 2019
April 12, 2019Reflection on past DrupalCons and links to interesting sessions from Seattle.
Hello World
April 11, 2019For over a year I’ve had a task in my todo list - spin up the site on this domain in Drupal 8. Quess what? It never happened. I realized…