Re: What is a Blog? August 19, 2025 I am consistently impressed by ribo.zone‘s website, but this entry is downright marvelous. But the question does remain: Is this a post?
Planning a Project without a Budget August 19, 2025 This was my talk for the HOPE_16 conference: Planning a Project with No Budget Travis Southard (he/him) For HOPE_16 Notes: Hello! My name is Travis Southard and today I will be talking about planning a project without a budget Sometimes this looks like having a contract for a specific set of money with a maximum […]
Who is reporting well on AI? August 11, 2025 Currently reading Karen Hao‘s Empire of AI while also needing to advise more at work about responsible use and data safety around AI. I have largely been a curmudgeon about generative AI in general, being concerned about environmental impacts, data leaks, and it genuinely just having underwhelming products. But my grumpiness shouldn’t stop me from […]
Speaking at HOPE July 30, 2025 I am delighted to be speaking at the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE_16) conference in Queens in a few weeks! I’ll be talking about “Planning a Project with No Budget” based on my experiences at CLS and Code for Philly. Been a 2600 Magazine reader and Off the Hook listener for years and am excited […]
Re: IndieWeb Movie Club: June 2025 June 15, 2025 I saw a post come through my RSS about an IndieWeb Movie Club. dead.garden chose Mary Poppins as the movie for June 2025. Ruby and I watched it together a few nights back. Ruby said she didn’t remember it all besides the “Spoonful of Sugar” scene. I thought I remembered it, and certainly remembered most […]
Philly Tech Week 2025 May 17, 2025 Last week was Philly Tech Week and I was asked to appear “on stage” at two events. For the Technical.ly Developers Conference, I got to host a series of presentations about technical obstacles and their solutions in three Code for Philly projects: Balancer, PAX, and Clean & Green. Later that same day I was asked […]
A Little Redesign May 10, 2025 I have been maintaining this website for over ten years now. I love having my little space on the web to do whatever I want with it. For most of that time I was stuck on making it “professional” (read: acceptable to bosses). I have used colors I liked at the time and mostly very […]
The Rhythm of the Work March 14, 2025 I started a new role at CLS at the beginning of the year. My previous supervisor, Nate, moved on to work at a new workplace, and now I am the sole developer at CLS. In fact, I am now a Senior Developer & Data Analyst. It’s certainly been an adjustment to be managing our projects, […]It’s okay to let things end February 12, 2025 Last week, I was listening to Spotify for the last time. Already I was planning a breakup and starting to collect more physical and digital albums, but this particular session was genuinely the proverbial last straw. I had queued up a few albums while I was working. I had planned that when they ended I […]
Building the web I want to see October 20, 2024 I have made a blogroll! This feels important to me as I try (along with many others) to build a better web. This was a project I have been meaning to take on for some time. I did start with a basic set of links to friends in the footer of my website, but I […]
Your project is worth it July 21, 2024 After reading a blog post from Andrew Dana Hudson about thermochauvinism, I have begun referring to July as “Hot Winter,” a time of year when I spend most of my time indoors because it is uncomfortable and even dangerous to be outside. I tend to spend my free time similarly to actual winter: video games, […]
We cannot afford to skip repairs June 2, 2024 Maintenance and repair are essential to a more sustainable, and frankly pleasant world. Well-maintained bikes feel, sound, and ride better. Well-maintained roads are easier and safer for everyone to navigate.n Well-maintained gardens look and smell better and are more productive. Maintenance is boring and tedious though compared to starting fresh. Repairing a broken thing is […]
My Kingdom for a Paper Map May 27, 2024 Recently returned from a ten day vacation in Lisbon, Portugal to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday. This is the longest trip I’ve taken since Ruby and I spent three weeks in Ireland for our honeymoon in 2022. Wen stayed in a cute apartment with a garden and walking proximity to the city center. In and around […]
My interest in Solarpunk May 20, 2024 Over the past few years, I have been taking in a lot of Solarpunk influences. Solarpunk is a movement/genre/aesthetic/practice based around ultra-sustainability, averting climate climate catastrophe, and community-centric social organization that has been growing and evolving over the past 15 years, largely starting in Latin America, and I first came across it with Andrew Sage’s […]
Sketches of the Real May 12, 2024 I have been sketching lately. Mostly sitting in a place and drawing a building or plant within view. Some of these sketches are better than others, but these sketches are mental exercise more than making final pieces. In have been wanting to get back into making more art, whether pixel art like I have on […]
I am the hand, not the tool March 24, 2024 Despite a very full schedule leading up to the Social Justice Hackathon, I have been really enjoying springtime this year. Some warm days where we were lucky enough to be able to clear out a lot near my house that had previously invited dumping.n But also some last cold days that threatened this year’s early […]
Finding my best duck-ness March 10, 2024 Coming through feeling sick and just in time for day light savings, which snuck up on me this year. Usually I am watching for it like a hawk, but this winter I was very focused on trying to enjoy what wintriness we got. With less than two weeks from the spring equinox, I am hoping […]
After vacation; before spring March 3, 2024 Excited to see that the sunlight is just starting to stick around after 6pm lately. A few hours of extra sunlight really makes a difference to my mood. Weirdly enough the snow in Philadelphia the past few weeks has had a similar effect. Ruby and I have been taking the time to go hiking or […]
Back in the saddle February 11, 2024 After a few weeks working at my new job and settling into new habits, there’s a part of me that feels like I’m waking up from something. I really did not enjoy my last job. While I knew it was temporary, I still resented the forty hours a week spent working with no benefits on […]
New year. New job. New habits. January 7, 2024 New year. I am newly 35 years old and just came through a tough but still good year. Many years have been tough for me, but in the grand scheme of tough years, 2023 was pretty easy on me. This year In was laid off from a dream job, joined the leadership at Code for […]
A personal financial project November 12, 2023 Earlier this year I built a project that came from a personal need. I have three student loans from my time at University of the Arts, my time at Temple University, and my coding bootcamp. My spouse Ruby has her own loans from undergraduate and graduate school. We also share a mortgage on our home. […]
Season of Change November 5, 2023 Autumn is in full show here in Philadelphia, at least up in the Northwest of Philly where I now live. The colors are a great time to reflect on the passage of time. It being the weekend daylight savings ends is also a big hint that time is always changing, even if only arbitrarily. I […]
Smaller code and bigger plans October 29, 2023 Over the past few weeks I have released a tutorial to make the classic video game, Minesweeper, from scratch using native web tools (being HTML, CSS, and Javascript). (Check out parts 1, 2, & 3!) I was motivated to write tutorials in general to help new developers bridge the gap between what they currently know […]
September Updates and October Upcoming October 1, 2023 I have some updates from the past week and a content schedule for the next month! Firstly I am honored that last Monday I was named one of Technical.ly‘s RealLIST Engineers of Philadephia for 2023! It always feels nice to be recognized for work and this is the first professional recognition I’ve received since transitioning […]
Web development streams coming soon! September 24, 2023 I have been working on personal projects in my spare time for a few weeks: stepping into a leadership role at Code for Philly, writing tutorials for upcoming streaming I’ll be doing, and working with Ruby to improve our house. The PLSE Expungement team at Code for Philly has been putting in a ton of […]
Cautiously considering creating content July 31, 2023 I have been arguing with myself for a while now about getting back into content creation for then past few years. I have started and abandoned moved on from so many projects over the years. None of them necessarily “gained traction”, but I also never gave things enough time to really find their audience. I’ve […]
Now with permalinks! June 27, 2023 I have been trying to keep this portfolio and its parts pretty simple and lightweight. Part of this is wanting ton use free services as much as possible, but part of it is to keep my vanilla Javascript skills up to snuff. It also may be my recent interest in permacomputing as well as a […]
I need a better routine June 16, 2023 I am still very much on the job search. I am actively seeking a full-time (though ideally 32-hours-a-week) software engineering position in civic technology with geospatial work. I have had some great conversations and opportunities so far and In hope I can find something I love very soon. While I have been home, I was […]Solved a tricky (for me) docker-compose error! June 15, 2023 I am currently volunteering on a project as part of Code for Philly’s Launchpad 2023. I am working with a small team of developers and UXers to develop a project that will seek to connect Philadelphians to comfortable public spaces, with the focus being on finding places spontaneously. Jump to code solution. We got started […]
Why is some documentation better than others? December 6, 2022 Note: This was originally published on the Azavea blog, but I wanted to put this here in case that blog disappeared. And how ton make sure your documentation is the best of the best Documentation is vital for anything open source; from open hardware, to free recipes, to DIY repair tutorials, but it is especially […]