Scott Gruber 2024-04-27T03:47:34-07:00 https://scottgruber.me/atom Scott Gruber hello@scottgruber.me https://scottgruber.me/articles/la-rivers-challenge LA Rivers Challenge - Ride LA’s Historic Waterways - Bike for Play 2021-06-15T16:40:00-07:00 2022-10-26T10:59:38-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Throughout the month of June each week I’ll be riding a virtual section of the LA River to raise a little bit of money for the LA County Bicycle Coalition by donating to my LA Rivers Challenges Fundraiser. I want to ask you to support my efforts.

The LA County Bicycle Coalition is a strong advocate for bicycling in Los Angeles County and works to make all communities in LA County healthy, safe, and fun places to ride a bike. I’m a supporter of their work hence my participation in the LA Rivers Challenge fund drive.

During the first week I rode 100 kilometers or 62.3 miles.

During the second week, I rode 133.89 kilometers or 83.2 miles.

Mostly I ride along Ballona Creek Bike Path and the LA County Beach Bike Path.

To make a donation please visit my fundraising page

If I raise at least $50, not only do I help a good cause, but I also earn an LA Rivers Challenge t-shirt. And who wouldn’t want a cool t-shirt. My month-long fund raising goal is $500. And, of course, this is a completely voluntary effort with no expectations. If you can afford to donate—great. If not, just sharing this news with you and getting your virtual encouragement is plenty for me.

Now on to some swag.

To help visualize LA's river waterways, please check out the cool map below. It even includes waterways with bike paths!

Below that are the badges I’ll be earning as I attempt to reach my goal of riding 100K each week throughout the month of June.

And if you scroll all the way to bottom you can see me in lycra!

Thank you for your help.

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https://scottgruber.me/articles/100-kilometers-ride-today 100 kilometers ride today is my longest yet! 2021-02-15T15:39:00-08:00 2022-10-26T10:59:18-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ 63 miles! My longest ride yet had climbs and bunch of PRs. Feeling 💯 💪 🚴🏼

Strava

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https://scottgruber.me/articles/dawn Dawn 2021-01-17T07:22:00-08:00 2022-10-26T10:59:30-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Sitting in the backyard before the sunrise. Drinking a cup of coffee. The light changed and I looked up. I heard a solitary bird singing. And light grew brighter.

Palms dance in the Santa Ana wind. High up in the sky a flock flew south. A plane higher still flew along the same path. A seagull passed low heading west to the bay. And then again the light changed.

Slowly, minute by minute, critters began to stir. A first bird song. A hummingbird landed on a wire. In the neighbor’s tree a squirrel rustles past the leaves. Wind whipped up on the highway caused a drone. A siren wails in the distance.

And the sky grew brighter, still. Dawn. This dawn. This day, this morning happens only once. I look around and breathe it all in. Stand up, go in our home and whisper to my dear. Our day has begun.

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https://scottgruber.me/articles/which-wordpress-plugins-should-i-use Which WordPress plugins should I use? 2021-01-12T08:45:00-08:00 2021-01-12T08:45:25-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ WordPress requires, at minimum, these plugins to build a site with real content management system functionality. Content

Utilities

Development

Security

SVG

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https://scottgruber.me/2021/01/11/what-just-happened-and-where-do-we-go-now What Just Happened? And Where Do We Go Now? 2021-01-11T10:32:00-08:00 2022-10-26T10:59:52-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Here are a couple of insightful and important essays I read this morning. I’m focused on the positive and things I can control, but also can’t ignore history. @HC_Richardson from [Letters from an American](https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-10-2021) @Patrick_Wyman from [What Just Happened? And Where Do We Go Now?](https://patrickwyman.substack.com/p/what-just-happened) https://scottgruber.me/2020/12/28/rain-lightning-bolts-and-thunderclaps Rain, lightning bolts and thunderclaps 2020-12-28T08:12:00-08:00 2020-12-28T08:17:48-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Last night, we had rain, lightning and thunder. I woke up a couple of times to listen and count how long between a bolt of lightning and the thunderclap. > Sound travels 1 kilometer in roughly 3 seconds and 1 mile in roughly 5 seconds. When you see the flash of a lightning bolt, you can start counting seconds and then divide to see how far away the lightning struck. If it takes 10 seconds for the thunder to roll in, the lightning struck about 2 miles or 3 kilometers away. I counted from 15-20 seconds, so the lightning struck about 5 to 7 kilometers or 3-4 miles. https://scottgruber.me/2020/12/26/i-went-for-a-42-0-mile-ride I went for a 42.0 mile Ride 2020-12-26T15:16:00-08:00 2020-12-26T15:16:33-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Working my way to meet a 600km #strava challenge for month of December. https://scottgruber.me/2020/12/14/i-see-venus-in-the-early-morning-sky I see Venus in the early morning sky 2020-12-14T06:36:00-08:00 2020-12-14T06:36:19-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ https://scottgruber.me/2020/12/8/watched-theaterofwars-zoom-meetup-for-frontline-medical-providers Watched @TheaterofWar's Zoom meetup for Frontline Medical Providers 2020-12-08T11:26:00-08:00 2020-12-08T11:26:59-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Viewing @TheaterofWar's Zoom meetup for Frontline Medical Providers today deepened my awareness and understanding of the unique challenges faced by Frontline Medical Providers. And may make it easier to talk about difficult topics and do the hard work #WeavingCommunity https://scottgruber.me/2020/11/14/listening-to-0uter0uterspace-intro-to-variable-fonts-keynote-indiewebcamp Listening to @0uter0uterspace “Intro to Variable Fonts” keynote @indiewebcamp 2020-11-14T07:51:00-08:00 2020-11-14T07:54:15-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ https://scottgruber.me/2020/11/14/vote-up-content-strategy-hacks-for-civil-discourse Vote up Content Strategy Hacks for Civil Discourse 2020-11-14T07:35:00-08:00 2020-11-14T07:40:40-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Today's Keynote by @movie_pundit @indiewebcamp to #fightbias is excellent. I gave his @sxsw talk about Content Strategy Hacks for Civil Discourse an upvote and ask you do too. #WeavingCommunity https://scottgruber.me/2020/11/14/indiewebcamp-east-2020 IndieWebCamp East 2020 2020-11-14T07:03:00-08:00 2020-12-13T10:29:51-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ <figure class="h-entry"> <span class="p-author h-card"> <a class="u-url" href="https://scottgruber.me"> <img class="u-photo" src="https://scottgruber.me/assets/images/scott-gruber-avatar.jpg" alt="Scott Gruber's photo"> </a> </span> <figcaption> <span class="p-name">Scott Gruber</span> RSVP <span class="p-rsvp">yes</span> to attend <a href="https://2020.indieweb.org/east" class="u-in-reply-to">IndieWebCamp East 2020</a> </figcaption> </figure> https://scottgruber.me/articles/we-are-lost We are lost 2020-10-29T08:02:00-07:00 2020-12-08T11:27:19-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ A poem by Elayne Griffin Baker read by Bruce Springsteen There's no art in this White House. There’s no literature, no poetry, no music. There are no pets in this White House, no loyal man’s best friend, no Socks the family cat, no kids’ science fairs. No time when the president takes off his blue suit red tie uniform and becomes human, except when he puts on his white shirt and khaki pants uniform and hides from the American people to play golf.

There are no images of the First Family enjoying themselves together in a moment of relaxation. No Obamas on the beach in Hawaii moments, or Bushes fishing in Kennebunkport. No Reagans on horseback, no Kennedys playing touch football on the Cape. Where'd that country go?

Where did all the fun, the joy and the expression of love and happiness go? We used to be the country that did the Ice Bucket Challenge and raised millions for charity. We used to have a President that calmed and soothed the nation instead dividing it, and a First Lady who planted a garden instead of ripping one out.

We are rudderless and joyless. We have lost the cultural aspects of society that make America great. We have lost our mojo, our fun, our happiness, our cheering on of others. The shared experience of humanity that makes it all worth it.

The challenges and the triumphs that we shared and celebrated. The unique can-do spirit that America has always been known for.

We are lost.

We have lost so much in so short a time.

— Elaine Griffin Baker

On November 3rd, vote them out.

Bruce Springsteen via @springsteen

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https://scottgruber.me/2020/10/24/how-would-you-build-a-simple-website-today How would you build a simple website today? 2020-10-24T15:31:00-07:00 2020-10-24T15:31:03-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ If you want to build a website without any database what would you use? SFTP, HTML and CSS? I’d like to use markdown to write and need to convert it somehow to HTML. Extra credit if no JAMStack required or use is limited to markdown. 🤔 https://scottgruber.me/articles/replace-master-with-main-branch-on-github Replace master with main branch on Github 2020-10-23T17:14:00-07:00 2020-12-13T10:30:13-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Here are the steps to replace master with main branch. This is a simple fix to avoid any negative connotations inherit in master:slave terminology. Although in the history of git the etymology of master was in the sense as master:copy.

Move the master branch to main with the command:

git branch -m master main

Using the argument -m will transfer all of the commit history on the ‘master’ branch to your new ‘main’ branch so nothing gets lost. Push the newly-named main branch to GitHub (assuming that is your remote repository) with the command:

git push -u origin main

Point HEAD to main with the command:

git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD refs/remotes/origin/main

Now you need to set "main" as the default branch for your project on GitHub. To do that, log in to your GitHub account, open the repository for the project, and click Settings | Branches. In the left sidebar, click Branches and then select Main as your default from the drop-down. Click Update and, when prompted, click I Understand. Now, back at the terminal issue the command:

git push origin --delete master

That's it!

Sources: Github, Techcrunch, 9/22/2020

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https://scottgruber.me/2020/09/15/ten-quick-tips-for-teaching-with-participatory-live-coding Ten quick tips for teaching with participatory live coding 2020-09-15T16:02:00-07:00 2020-09-15T16:02:43-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Tip 1: Go slowly Tip 2: Mirror your learner’s environment Tip 3: Be seen and heard Tip 4: Use the screen(s) wisely Tip 5: Avoid distractions Tip 6: Use illustrations—Even better, draw them Tip 7: Stick to the lesson material Tip 8: Embrace your mistakes Tip 9: Get real-time feedback and provide immediate help Tip 10: Turn learners into co-instructors https://scottgruber.me/articles/listen-first Listen First 2020-09-08T08:44:00-07:00 2020-09-08T08:49:37-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Movement to mend our frayed social fabric by building relationships and bridging divides one conversation at a time. What does Listen First mean?
  • Listen First to understand rather than to reply
  • Listen First before rejecting a conversation
  • Listen First before dismissing alternative ideas
  • Listen First before launching attacks
  • Listen First to more effectively advocate your position

Top 10 Listening Tips

  1. Allow others the courtesy of silence while they are speaking.
  2. Maintain a calm and respectful tone when you are speaking.
  3. Come with an open mind, ready to learn and grow.
  4. Listen to others as you want them to listen to you.
  5. Listen to and consider others' views before sharing your own.
  6. Be present and curious rather than thinking of how to respond.
  7. Fully engage, free of distractions.
  8. Restate what you heard to clarify understanding, using "I" statements (“What I heard you say was” or “The way I understand your position is”).
  9. Ask thoughtful and respectful questions, free from judgement, assumption, or bias.
  10. Seek to discover common interests and areas of agreement by focusing more on why than what, more on personal experiences than positions.

#ListenFirst

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https://scottgruber.me/articles/project-management-high-level-scope Project Management High Level Scope 2020-08-20T09:47:00-07:00 2020-08-20T09:49:40-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Key questions to answer when scheduling and vetting any web project. Key questions to answer when starting any project.

  • What are we doing?
  • Why? How?
  • How much will it cost?
  • When do we start and how long will it take?
  • Who will work on it?
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https://scottgruber.me/2020/08/18/full-michelle-obama-d-n-c-speech-transcript Full Michelle Obama D.N.C. Speech Transcript 2020-08-18T07:05:00-07:00 2020-08-18T07:07:14-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Michelle Obama is fantastic. What a fabulous speech. > “He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.” https://scottgruber.me/2020/08/16/smart-citizen-kit-at-canopy-studio-labs Smart Citizen Kit at Canopy Studio labs 2020-08-16T19:33:00-07:00 2020-12-15T06:23:01-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Here at Canopy Studio labs in Palms, California, I setup a Smart Citizen Kit. The kit is an environmental monitoring station that records air quality, sound, light, temperature, weather for citizen science. Live Data online. https://scottgruber.me/2020/07/31/inclusive-design Inclusive design 2020-07-31T22:08:00-07:00 2020-07-31T22:32:11-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Designers must take into account the diversity of the human condition. People who make accessible web sites, buildings, consumer products, and transportation systems are doing their part to ensure that the environments we create are enabling and not disabling for people with different physical abilities. Inclusive designs sometimes require more creative thinking, but this can be a benefit, because the resulting designs are often better for everyone, not just for people with disabilities. https://scottgruber.me/2020/07/26/long-distance-pr-bike-ride Long distance PR 2020-07-26T13:45:00-07:00 2020-12-13T10:30:42-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ I went for a 43.1 mile bike ride this morning. https://scottgruber.me/2020/07/23/a-domain-of-ones-own-meetup A Domain of One's Own Meetup 2020-07-23T09:44:00-07:00 2020-07-23T09:46:31-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ IndieWeb community is putting on what looks like another excellent event today, Thursday July 23rd at 10:30am PST. Unfortunately, I have a digital project management class to attend from 10am to 1pm PST so won't be able to attend. Looking forward to our next meetup with @ChrisAldrich #IndieWebCamp https://scottgruber.me/articles/web-accessibility-specialist Web Accessibility Specialist 2020-07-09T08:59:00-07:00 2020-12-13T10:31:26-08:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Links to help me prepare for the IAAP Web Accessibility Specialist certification exam
  • IAAP Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS)
  • Body of Knowledge
  • Accessibility Pro Certified: To Be or Not To Be
  • IAAP Certification Exam registration
  • International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP)
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    https://scottgruber.me/articles/two-years-today Two years today 2020-07-08T07:43:00-07:00 2020-07-08T07:43:29-07:00 Scott Gruber https://scottgruber.me/ Today is very important to me. I've reached a personal milestone of two years since taking the first steps out of depression, anxiety and addictions.

    The work has been rewarding and challenging. For the next 2-3 days I plan to reflect on my past, check-in with my mental well being, and set my compass on the next steps on my journey. 

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