Update from last week's moral dilemma: I didn't quit my job, and that project (the one that I felt was unethical) is now out-the-door. I still feel icky about it, but I had a few really good conversations with another guy on my team - neither of us like the application we put together, and we're going to talk to our boss about not accepting similar work / work from these clients in the future. At the end of the day, we need to feel good about the code we're writing. I'm not in a political or economic position to take a stand like this alone, and I couldn't just leave my job without putting myself through some really tough times. I think we'll be fine, and I don't think I'll ever have to design a predatory product like that again...Or maybe I'm being too optimistic? I don't know. This is what I can do right now, and we're doing well enough as a company to decline work. As a more general life-update, I have to move out of my apartment this week. It's like the worst parts of cleaning and doing laundry, but turned up to 100 - I've never noticed how much shit I have! I'm throwing a lot of it away, recycling what I can, and gifting out anything with even slight value. I'm going to sleep well when it's all done.
When you move in to the new wherever, you will appreciate having dumped useless shit. The purge is starting around my house as the effects of spring cleaning are starting to wear off. The tempo of midwestern garage sale culture suddenly makes blindingly clear sense to me.
We've been slowly purging ourselves these past few years. What's interesting is, this year things are a bit different. I used to be able to text a friend and say "Hey, would you happen to want my XYZ? It's in great shape and I know you like stuff like that." The answers used to always be "Sure! I'd love to take that off your hands." Now though? It's always "I appreciate the offer, but I'm trying to declutter myself." As annoying as it is to lose avenues of giving good stuff to people who I know would appreciate them, I can't be mad. I think we all have too much stuff and that we're all slowly drowning in it, so to see other people get in the declutter game makes me feel hopeful.