Delightful Reveal #74

“The Devil Wears Product” - overheard at Flagrant

What we did:

• Drove 1400 miles to attend conferences in Atlanta, GA and Greenville, SC

  • MRO Americas 2025
  • Grok Conf
• Continued learning about Chart.js, specifically using bar charts and how to render default styling with Chart.js
• Figured out how to pull out associated records in memory and not falling back to a query in Rails using the CollectionProxy#target
• Building and refining the internal design system
• Created stickers for Training Tracker to hand out at events
• Worked on signs and interactive installation designs for the upcoming RailsConf.
• Started ideating on a new website design for a clients conference.
• Attempted to combine the state of Florida’s outline with a wallet to make a logo for a client – unsuccessfully
• Designing an unobtrusive glossary/translation tool for an app that helps children learn to read (even if English isn’t their first language!)
• Designing UI for phone & email validation in a CRM
• Adapted an import flow to parse and store attributes as json to allow for a review/confirm dry run before persisting.

What we’re reading:

• Selected Shorts: A Touch of Magic by Symphony Space
• Agile Web Development with Rails 8 by Sam Ruby, Dave Thomas
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman +2
• Slewfoot by Brom
• Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
• Run by Ann Patchett
• The Wake Up by Michelle MiJung Kim

What we’re playing:

• Patty cake, The itsy bitsy spider, etc.
• Stardew Valley +1
• Webbed
• Cadaver
• Forbidden Desert (old cooperative steampunk classic)

What we’re watching:

• Severance S1 & S2
• When Life Gives You Tangerines
• Last of Us: Season 2 +1
• Extracted
• TaskMaster
• Joe Dirt
• Patriot: Season 1
• A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
• Diriliş: Ertuğrul, a Turkish historical fiction/adventure series set in the 13th century based on the life of Ertuğrul, the father of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire
• Dying for Sex
• Gastronauts
• New season of Survival of the Thickest
• Cameron Esposito’s new Dropout Special “Four Pills”
• Yellowjackets S3

What we’re listening to:

• Indigo Girls
• Phantom of the Opera
• You Belong to the City by Glenn Frey
• Rapid Roy by Jim Croce
• November Air - Zach Bryan (cry warning)
• Chad Gadya - Spiced up by Jack Black
• The Sundays

What we’re interested in:

• Jumping Spiders and their molting cycles
• Herb the new HTML-aware ERB parser from Marco Roth
• P5 JS

What we’re struggling with:

• Allergies +2
• Kids are on spring break
• A partner using AI to attempt to explain logo designs to the client instead of allowing / asking me to do that. Aka “data on why to choose a logo from what I made” +1
• Depression
• Watching family struggle

What we’re buying:

• This Humidifier that fills from the top
• Wimp Decaf Coffee
• Silicone Bread Maker
• Hormel Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnadust Seasoned Bacon
• Ink Beetle liquid bandage for tattoo work

What we’re celebrating:

• Passover
• My partner
• My family
• Nature
• Wonderful co-workers
• Spring songbirds
• Homemade hot breakfast feasts because we have family in town
• Roses from the backyard, blueberries from the front yard

If you’re looking for a team to help you discover the right thing to build and help you build it, get in touch.