The Alamo

I was in San Antonio for their inaugural WordCamp last weekend and decided to explore San Antonio’s River Walk after Contributor Day. During the event on Saturday, everyone told me to go check it out and I’m glad I did! I was genuinely impressed by how beautiful it was, the pictures don’t really do it justice. It gives the city a European feel, with cafés and restaurants lining the river. I ended my walk at The Alamo where I learned more about Texas’ history and the role the siege played in it.

Travel, WordPress

San Antonio, TX

Together with fellow Automatticians Marjorie Asturias, Brandon Kraft, and Aaron Douglas, I was invited to a panel Q&A at WordCamp San Antonio.

Automattic, WordPress

Inside the Actors Studio

WordPress

WordCamp San Antonio

Automattic, Travel

Indoor Skydiving

I’m currently in Austin, TX for the inaugural team meetup of Apollo, the WordPress.org-focused team that I switched to when was created a few months ago. After five days of discussions, planning, and working on code, we took some time off today and went indoor skydiving.

It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly much less dangerous than jumping out of a flying airplane! It was exciting to be able to build on my Park City, UT experience and improve my body control in a way that I was almost able to steer myself.

Beer, Drinks

On Drinking Warm Beer

I’m German, living in the United States, and for that been asked about pretty much every German stereotype imaginable. One of the most common misperceptions is that Germans, or Europeans in general, drink their beer warm. Since I was asked about it multiple times again last week (I like beer), I thought I’d turn to the keyboards so I can point to this post in the future.

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Automattic, Travel

2014 Travel

Automattic’s job page says that you should expect to travel four to five weeks out of the year, if you join us. That’s actually a really good rule of thumb. Of course it varies from person to person, but with meetups alone you’re looking at a minimum of three weeks. I ended up spending a bit more time on the road, so I thought I should write a short recap.

In 2013 I traveled about 79,000 miles which—not being used to that much travel—felt like a lot. So going into the new year, I planned on reducing it a little, only going to meetups and local WordCamps. That was not what happened however.

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Who would have thought that Vegas also has beautiful snow-covered mountains?

Travel

Spring Mountains

WordPress

WordCamp Las Vegas

Travel

Las Vegas, NV

Yesterday, a friend of mine invited me to their aunt and uncle’s beach house for the afternoon. It’s a gorgeous place with a big patio, lots of lounge chairs, and direct beach access. We just hung out, had a couple of beers, went in the water to cool off, and finished the day with a calm game of bocce ball before a beautiful sunset. What a great way to spend the holiday weekend.

Drinks

Post-Thanksgiving Activity

Konstantin Obenland

Tools, Talks, and Snapshots: Navigating Life Creatively