I’m a software engineer, side-project enthusiast, hobbyist game developer, sometimes writer, and full-time wheelchair user.
Speech-to-text combined with LLMs give me a taste of what assistive technology could be like in the not-too-distant future.
Over the last three months, I updated my minimal new-tab page browser extension and added some cool features.
I made a tiny JavaScript package for saving data to IndexedDB without all the normal hassle.
You ever stop to think who inspired your favorite activity? Or who introduced you to your favorite songs? Who taught you things you still use years later?
Looking back on another year, fighting against the steady march of time.
I’m coming up on ten years of being employed full-time (May 4, Star Wars day). I'll do a blog post on that day, but it’s been quite a ride. I’m lucky to have been born at a time when (and a place where) there was enough technology available to make working with spinal muscular atrophy possible. And I'm fortunate enough to have had help and support from so many people.
I'll have a lot more to say about it come Justin Timberlake's favorite month, but I wanted to put something out there now. (3/3)
Toward the end I wrote:
> I make websites. And not having a job right now isn’t going to take that away from me. I still have my dreams. One day, something big is going to happen. I’ll land my dream job. Or I’ll become a successful freelancer. And even if neither of those things happen, I’ll at least keep volunteering for charity, working on personal projects, and contributing some of my creations to the world.
I think I wrote it to *will* myself to believe it—not because I already did. (2/3)
In 2011 I was on year 2 of being unemployed out of college (it would go on to be 6 years). When a company ghosted me after a promising interview, I was pretty down. Some things happened which jolted me out of the gloom. I took to my (now archived) blog to write about it. I'm a little bleary-eyed reading it now. I'm glad 2011 me didn't give up. He definitely wanted to many times. (1/3)
https://blakewatson.com/ihs/we-still-have-our-dreams/index.html