One Tuesday, when I was 10 years old, if Iād gone to school that day I would have died by the end of it.
This the story of why and what happened before that. Buckle up, it’s a bumpy one…
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School Bag
School bags were always quite personal things – quite unique for the timeframe during which we went to school but also a reflection of us too.
Whilst all my friends had green/blue canvas backpacks that they could write on, I had the one above. It’s been hard to find a picture of one but, eventually, I found it.
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Preparing for my sabbatical
The noun meaning “a year’s absence granted to researchers” (originally one year in seven, to university professors) is from 1934, short for sabbatical year, etc., which was recorded by 1886 (the thing itself is attested from 1880, at Harvard), a term perhaps suggested by the sabbatical year (1590s) in Mosaic law, the seventh year, in which land was to remain untilled and non-foreign debtors and slaves released.
Online Etymology DictionaryThese days a sabbatical is rarely a year but is still used to indicate a time away from work, sometimes paid and sometimes otherwise (and when not, it’s usually referred to as a career break).
I’m fortunate that at Automattic, every 5 years, we get a 3 month, fully-paid sabbatical. And mine is now due.
When to go and what shall I do?
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Travelling again: time to Reboot
Yes, after over 2 years (due to some pesky pandemic), I’m finally travelling again for work. I’m off to Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, for some leadership training, courtesy of Reboot.
Like most of my travelling diaries, this is mainly going to be about the travel, food and lack of sleep, rather than the actual training which is pretty personalised and a lot less exciting for anybody not in attendance.
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Accessibility and flashing lights
It seems few pieces of electronic equipment these days doesn’t have a status LED on it. Don’t get me wrong, these are great help to quickly diagnose issues, particularly for those devices that don’t have screens or app connectivity. But, unless implemented well (which few are), they’re horrible for accessibility.
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