web-goddess

Month: May 2015

  • Shared today on Twitter

    For those I met at @Meetamentor this week: highly recommend you sign up for @techspeakdigest’s http://t.co/2oiDkOTYtt! Great speaking tips.

    Femgineer – 2 Simple Steps to Start Getting Paid to Speak http://t.co/bw43EGpqTu // Great link from @techspeakdigest http://t.co/P4NtnvpyNy

    w-g: Technical Speaking with Damian Conway – recap and some notes from workshop I attended thanks to @yow_oz. http://t.co/NzKRRH4RbX

    GoDaddy Isn’t the Company You Think It Is | WIRED http://t.co/a7wBmr29Yr

    I had no idea the new CEO was pushing such vast culture change!

    w-g: Little My Softie. Some details of the doll I made for my niece recently… http://t.co/bPm1VbGvyO http://t.co/AL1UJIaT2l

    @drkknits Not a great weather day for it. 🙁

    Bought some sheet pans at Costco yesterday but they won’t fit in our oven. Anyone interested? Orig $19; I’ll take $15 http://t.co/jKEiuS4nWp

    RT @billshortenmp: Tomorrow @tanya_plibersek and I will introduce a Bill for marriage equality.Read the amendment http://t.co/rt9Y4OLsUr ht…

    Sale time stash acquisition! (@ Morris & Sons in Sydney, Australia) https://t.co/mKkNsfteLw

    @pixel8ted I have two giant tubs of wool as it is, but somehow never what I need for the next project!

    Does anyone know if the @KnitGuildNSW Camp “Mystery Scarf” is meant to be kept secret? @SallyPompom @drwitty_knitter

    @RoseRed_Shoes I just bought normal stuff at 20% discount. They did have some decent sale packets though…

    @SallyPompom Fantastic. Thanks!!

    RT @sandimac: Please add yourself and share!! I’m starting a directory of women in tech to speak at events http://t.co/u2sYVOE5EY http://t.…

    BLEEP BLOOP! Mystery project has begun… https://t.co/EweIuN03Mu

    @SallyPompom Will I be penalised for using a tiny bit of a third colour? 😉

    @SallyPompom Hmm. I think it said grey was an option?

    BLEEP BLOOP! Mystery project has begun… http://t.co/UQ9TRryVK9 http://t.co/Jzl1KIPevo

    Added myself to @sandimac’s Women to Speak directory. You should register too! http://t.co/riUSe9oqPB @GGDSydney @WWCSyd @techspeakdigest

    @conniecodes Indeed! We’ll have to make sure we cross paths more often. 🙂

  • Photo post

    BLEEP BLOOP! Mystery project has begun...

    BLEEP BLOOP! Mystery project has begun…

  • Reading

  • Little My Softie

    I wanted to make a special present for my niece Cali, so I thought that I’d whip up a “Little My” softie. Little My is from the Moomin books, and she’s Cali’s favourite character. (I know because I sent her this Uniqlo t-shirt and she LOVED it.) So I started by downloading a line drawing and printing it out. I decided that I was only going to make a simple “two-dimensional” toy rather than try to translate her into full 3-D. I traced the drawing onto some felt and cut out the pieces. The trickiest bit was embroidering her face.

    Embroidering the face

    I used some acrylic yarn for the embroidery. Her features were done in black with a split stitch, and I used orange yarn to backstitch her hair (leaving long strands at the top to form her top-knot). Rather than bother with turning things inside-out, I just used a tight zig-zag stitch around the pieces (with wrong sides together) to sew the her head and body pieces together. For her hair, I actually tucked the long ends back down into her head before sewing her scalp so it couldn’t be pulled undone. It worked really well! I stuffed the head and body parts through the neck opening and then joined the two halves there. Then I zig-zagged across the neck to join and covered the resulting mess up with a cut-out pink bow-tie (tacked on by hand). I also zig-zagged around the arm openings (where her hands are on her hips) and then snipped out the inside bits. I had planned to use black felt for her hands and boots, but honestly I couldn’t be bothered at that point.

    No big deal - just being the BEST AUNT EVER. #littlemy #handmade

    The first thing my niece Indie said was, “Her head’s going to fall off I think!” Which may well happen. The whole thing was a bit of a bodge and I doubt it’ll hold up very well – the felt was starting to pill within a day – but I’ve decided to just treat it as a prototype. Cali absolutely loved it, and that’s all that matters! I’m thinking of redoing it in fleece and trying to make her a bit more three-dimensional next time…

  • Technical Speaking Workshop with Damian Conway

    I mentioned recently that I entered YOW!‘s “Women in Tech Speaking Competition” and won a spot at a full-day training session with Damian Conway. The training took place at the start of May, and the format was essentially to give a talk and get feedback from Damian and the other participants (nine other women). We were asked to prepare a 12 minute talk to give on the day, so I cut down a version of my How to Win Hackathon talk. (I didn’t have time to memorise the new version, but I figured I’d wing it.) I decided to be brave and volunteer for the first speaking spot, which fortunately meant I got a lot of feedback. (We were running behind schedule the rest of the day!) I took over ten pages of handwritten notes over the course of the other nine talks, and I’ve since combined them into a shared Google Doc with a few of the other attendees. Here’s a sample of some of the valuable practical suggestions:

    • A good talk should be for the audience. How will your talk inform, entertain, or make their lives better? It shouldn’t be a sales pitch about you.
    • Aim to reduce any distractions from your content. Dress simply and–“especially for women!”–avoid writing or embellishment near your chest. If you can, remove everything between you and the audience (podium, hair in face, etc). Remove any lanyards or name tags.
    • Don’t point with a single finger. It’s an aggressive movement and in a lot of cultures it’s extremely rude! Use your whole hand (palm outwards) to gesture. (Evidently I’m a pointer. I never knew!)
    • If possible, set up your laptop to your left. People tend to look to the right when they lie and to the left when they recall, so having it on your left makes you (subtly) look more trustworthy.
    • Test your presentation on the worst projector you can find (not your beautiful Retina laptop). Most of them will have crappy resolution and even crappier colours.
    • The Noun Project is a great source for icons and simple imagery to use in your talk.
    • Buy your own clicker and use it! (I went out a few days later and bought myself the Logitech R400.)

    I’ve got heaps more, so send me a message if you’d like me to share my full notes with you.

    A few days later, Damian sent through his transcribed notes for each person as well. I was extremely gratified to read this part:

    I’d encourage you to look at making speaking at least a part-time career: you have real skills and real charisma, both of which you could be sharing with more people. You also clearly love speaking and teaching and connecting with an audience…which are the ultimate secrets to being a great presenter.

    That’s the dream, right there! I’m still working towards my next conference presentation. I was thrilled to be selected to speak at YOW! West which took place last week, but unfortunately I had to decline due to the timing around changing jobs. (I didn’t know I’d be getting garden leave.) I’m undaunted though. I’ve been bookmarking upcoming conferences from the excellent Technically Speaking newsletter, and I’ve identified a couple that look promising. Time to write some CFPs!

  • Upcoming YOW! Night on June 4

    Fred George / Kevin Lynagh – Agile JIT / ClojureScript | YOW! Nights – Looks like an interesting evening of talks! Anybody else going?

  • Shared today on Twitter

    Knowing when to back off – Engineering at Canva – Thanks @brendanh! TIL “back pressure”. https://t.co/zPdMnToULx http://t.co/4JwwYG67nT

    @randomknits Have you got the Brumby skirt pattern from Megan Nielsen? Thinking about getting it and testing with her new app!

    The Mystery of the Margate Shell Grotto – Neatorama http://t.co/BKVsKsTKk3 Whoa. How spooky and cool! http://t.co/umbxOP5gYk

    @randomknits I have just fallen down the rabbit hole of using Pinterest to organise my patterns and the ones I want.

    @gilmae @randomknits Yeah, seriously. Just realised I have yet to eat today.

    RT @developerjack: Standing room only in @pwcc’s talk on page speed! #wcbne http://t.co/8aMSil8d5m

    Way to go, @pwcc! https://t.co/FnWHgWites

    Student Designs an Extra-Extra-Large Game Boy | The Creators Project http://t.co/a0CKN384Av // WANT WITH DR MARIO NOW http://t.co/UkJ6vC82Ua

    Ash vs. Evil Dead: 30 Years Later and Ash’s Chainsaw Is Still Very Bloody http://t.co/VqydZpFxlq // HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS WAS HAPPENING?!

    The housesitter left it behind. Dare I? The cats are dubious. https://t.co/ZtTIjub7ws

    The housesitter left it behind. Dare I? The cats are dubious. http://t.co/6xWggrfwWR http://t.co/qIezrUS12M

    @gilmae @that_alison @RoseRed_Shoes I liked it! First taste was weird, but I persisted and it grew on me. 🙂

    @darthted Congrats!

    Dust off your crayons: Adult coloring books are here | http://t.co/SXbYdW4QXp http://t.co/iOG8aWmrGe // I totes called this trend ages ago!

    Agile JIT / ClojureScript at YOW! Night on June 4 – Looks like an interesting evening of talks! Anybody else going? http://t.co/ZevISzcoDA

    w-g: Pinterest for Sewing Pattern Organisation – What do you guys use to organise patterns? Is there a better way? http://t.co/C33WB8BZSh

    Mad Max’s insane vehicles look awesome in Lego http://t.co/VjBy9grf1P // If they make a Furiosa minifig, I WOULD BUY THIS.

  • Photo post

    The housesitter left it behind. Dare I? The cats are dubious.

    The housesitter left it behind. Dare I? The cats are dubious.

  • Reading

  • TIL: Back pressure

    Knowing when to back off – Engineering at Canva – Great post by @brendanh about how Canva throttles back its “auto-save” functionality during times of peak usage. It introduced me to the term back pressure as applies to IT as well.