J.D. Moyer

science fiction author, beatmaker, against fascism

Career Sucker Bets

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On January 23

In Creative Work/Career, Culture Rants/Shares

You've earned it!

You’ve earned it!

I’ve had a few hair-tearing ultra-frustrating moments recently in regards to some of my programming work. At times like that I sometimes wonder if I’ve made a “career sucker bet” and gone into the wrong line of work entirely.

After a glass of wine, a good night’s sleep, and successfully delivering the latest iteration of the project, things don’t look so dark. Freelance programming, while it has its challenges, also has massive upsides.

But there are plenty of career sucker bets out there, and if you’re a young person evaluating your career options, here are some things to watch out for:

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How To Stay Relevant as an Artist (What to Do When They Try to Put You in the Cupboard)

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On January 18

In Creative Work/Career, Culture Rants/Shares, Electronic Music

Try not to end up in here.

Try not to end up in here.

My first dance single came out in 1992 (DJ JD — “1-900”). I was 22 years old. My most recent dance single came out last Wednesday (Yellowcake and Kevin Knapp — Oh Yuki/Waterfall). My dance music career is old enough to legally order a drink at a bar.

At the beginning of your artistic career, the challenge is to make enough noise to be recognized at all. A couple decades later, if you’ve had any success at all, the challenge is to stay out of the cupboard.

Let me explain.

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How To Get a Good Night’s Sleep (7 suggestions, and a map)

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On January 9

In Health/Body-hacking, Mental Health

The real sleep experts.

The real sleep experts.

Hello readers! Sorry for the lengthy absence — I went on vacation for awhile, and have been nose-to-the-grindstone on various projects since I returned.

The vacation was a blast — five families went in on a mansion rental in Truckee and we all played around in the snow. Five families under one roof leads to some interesting conversations — both frivolous and serious. One topic that came up a few times was sleep. Not everyone was getting some. Why is it that so many adults sleep poorly? In our case maybe it was the copious amounts of booze being consumed, but even teetotalers sometimes sleep poorly.

Chronic sleep deprivation is one of the worst states of consciousness. Insomniacs are wide awake at night, groggy and irritable during the day, and miserable most of the time.

Insomnia can be triggered by any of the following:

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End of the World(View), and a New Conservatism

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On December 21

In Culture Rants/Shares, Politics

Conservatism has seen better days.

Conservatism has seen better days.

As far as I can tell, the world isn’t ending today. The Mayan calendar rolls over to a new stone, or a longer ring cycle.

So what is ending? Certain worldviews are on the decline, and I say good riddance.

On their way out:

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How To Complete Difficult Tasks

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On December 19

In Metaprogramming, Problem Solving

What’s the secret to completing difficult tasks? If we can learn how to consistently overcome challenging obstacles, we can reduce our reliance on others, feel more capable and powerful, and take on bigger and more rewarding projects. If we give up too soon, we sell ourselves short, abort promising career directions, and become too reliant on other people’s expertise.

I think there is a secret to consistently getting the hard stuff done. But first a story …

We’d been having some trouble with our telephone and internet service. Dropped calls in the middle of important conference calls, internet outages in the middle of gigantic uploads, calls getting dropped after one ring, and so on. Incredibly frustrating, and bad for business.

After seven different support calls and one site visit from sonic.net (all fruitless), and one site visit from Bay Alarm (sonic.net thought the problem was related to our alarm system), I realized the best remaining option was the fix it myself.

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