Dwain Maralack

2025 1
2024 1
2022 8
2021 1
2020 24
2019 41
2018 40
2017 24
2016 4
2015 8
2014 13
2013 7
2012 16

2025

Farewell WooMattic

I was unfortunately affected by the recent Automattic layoffs. We had a tradition at Automattic to post a farewell message on a special message board called farewell p2. I thought I’d share it on my blog as well as many people that I’ve worked with in the last 12 years have moved on already or were part of the layoffs.

2024

My productivity system

I’ve had this post in draft for over a year. I kept the draft to keep notes and to remind myself of my commitment to a new way to work. After learning about the new system, I jumped in head first and tried it out for a few months,but after discovering the shortcomings I stopped using it.

2022

Converting HTML entities to UTF-8 in VimScript

I wrote a small script to fetch a web page title, inserting it as amarkdown formatted link: [title](URL) One of of the issues I ran into was that some titles contain HTML entities and Vim has no built-in way to deal with this.

On the fence about Neovim

I’ve been using vim for the last 5 years. I’ve written about trying this out 5 years ago and stuck to it. It’s a fantastic experience and I truly enjoy working with this editor. I’ve been rethinking it this week though, as I was updating my configuration to get auto-completion to work.

Small town, big internet

Fibre finally arrived in Ceres! It was a dream to have city-like-speeds in our little town.

Vodacom Fibre Support Headaches

Vodacom is the best mobile operator in the country, period! However, the success doesn’t translate into their Fibre offering. They don’t own all the pieces of the puzzle and I think their processes aren’t geared toward this. Especially with how their support teams are setup. I’ve had two long-standing marathon support interactions over two months and it was not a pleasure.

Long term paternity leave

It’s been five months since I last thought about work. My laptop is in its original packaging. My home office turned into a guest room and work goodies packed away. I’m currently taking a six month break from work since the arrival of Ariah.

The team lead path

Being a team lead at Automattic is not a promotion, but it is very challenging and after doing it for the last year, I understand why.

Easter reminder: Jesus died for you

Thinking ahead about easter/passover weekend, I’m reflecting on the reasons for observing it. I consider this to be the perfect weekend to consider who Jesus is, why He was born and died in such a gruesome manner.

Since 34

This blog has been idle for over a year! The last time I blogged was for my 34th birthday (January 2021). I’m disappointed in my lack of blogging, dropping a ball on becoming a better writer. So let us kick off with a quick update and some photos to match.

2021

34

2020

Success with your support network

To succeed at remote work, we need to know what we need and how to communicate it.

Reblog: Seniority vs Familiarity

A great post about the trap of becoming a senior before you’re ready. Avoid being the biggest fish in a small pond. Read on below.

TIL (Things 3) – Filter list by multiple tags

The ability to filter by multiple tags will elevate my prioritization process.

Remote work success

The global pandemic induced a mass workplace migration. Many office inhabitants were thrown into the wild remote working paradise. The expected decrease in Covid-19 case numbers will see most people abandon the remote working paradise, but for some, the distributed work environment is here to stay. I’m writing this guide for those who will become permanent remote workers.

Howzit Podcast Appearance

It was a privilege for me to feature in episode 003 of a fantastic podcast called Howzit. The podcast episode touches on remote work, faith, writing, and personal development. I’m grateful to Travis for inviting me.

Why I blog?

I published my first blog post on April 16, in the year of our Lord 2012. Since then, eight years and 170 posts later, I wonder how I can use my writing more purposefully. How does one commit to writing in a way that fosters the best outcome?

Reblog: Make the touch bar suck less

If you’re just setting up a Mac and find the touch bar setup to be irritating. Follow instructions at this link.

Speech writer secrets

I enjoyed this humorous talk on public speaking. Some of the advice feels gimmicky, but if you compare it to what you hear when presidents and leaders speak you’ll see that they all use it, well with a few exceptions.

My notes from the talk on how to maximise success

Carla Harris, Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, explains exactly how she got ahead in a male dominated industry.

Software Complexity

It is easy to define software complexity, but not so easy to define how complex a specific piece of software is. There have been lots of work in academia to find ways to describe it, but these approaches are not generally applied. Complex software directly refers to its effects on the human mind.

Why is Atlanta burning?

My colleague Charles wrote about the uprising in America, more specifically Atlanta.

PHP is just fine

A programming language starts decaying right after inception. The idea that a language is perfect soon hits the harsh reality of users running into situations the author(s) have not anticipated.

Highlights from Everybody Writes

Beth Dunn went from being an unemployable writer to a writing career that speaks for itself. In her talk, “How to Be a Writing god”, she hammered down the idea; disciplined writing is the only way to improved writing. Her story, alongside the Author, Ann Handley’s simple advice, makes it clear; every professional should take writing seriously.

Choose boring technology

I read an interesting article about choosing boring technology. Here are my key take a ways:

Remote spelled out is TRUST

Bright and I had a very interesting chat about remote work, because of the COVID-19 lockdown situation in South Africa, they were thrown deep into the weirdness of distributed work.

WooCommerce Payments now in Beta

I’m excited to share that our team has just released the beta version of a Payments service powered by WooCommerce, WooCommerce Payments.

My office today

Working from home has its perks. Kids are home and this is the only place they want to play.

Don’t pretend you’re purpose driven

Don’t start a business when you have already thought about when to exit. Exits should happen organically.

Building Reactive Systems: Conference Talk.

I watched an interesting talk about building high availability systems and thought the simplicity was quite fascinating.

33

I’m blessed to have another year added to the tally. On 20 January I turned 33.

We’re on earth for a reason.

‪For those people fantasizing about living on the moon. The dust can actually kill you:

How many bytes are emoji characters in GO?

It takes 4 bytes for each emoji character and 1 byte for every ASCII character.

What happens when you reply to spam email

If you need some time to let your subconscious mind figure out a problem, I enjoyed watching this.

The opposite of addiction is connection

I watched this interesting TED talk about how we treat addicts; we shy away from them and further inflict damage by pushing them into isolation. The talk below gives us a better alternative and a possible way to help those, who themselves don’t want to suffer, grow into a better versions of themselves.

2019

The process before the content

From my perspective, I still have a long way to go. I do however think that sharing what I know today is valuable, not for the sake of what I share, but for the process of refining the idea. I place the process before the content, with the hope that a refined process will lead to fine content.

A Database of Fugitive Slave Ads Reveals Thousands of Untold Resistance Stories

A Database of Fugitive Slave Ads Reveals Thousands of Untold Resistance Stories — Read on hyperallergic.com/435183/freedom-on-the-move/

Simple Money Advice

Someone shared this with me a while ago and I keep thinking about it. The advice is 3 simple thoughts:

Docker Compose Volumes Empty?

The problem is that you’re expecting files from the Container to be mounted on your host.
This is not the way it works: it’s the other way around:
Docker mounts your host folder in the container folder you specify. If you go inside the container, you will see that where there were supposed to be the init files, there will be nothing (or whatever was in your host folder(s)), and you can write a file in the folder and it will show up on your host.

Answer from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42395748/docker-compose-volume-is-empty-even-from-initialize

Functional Story Telling

Write down your stories
Index those stories ( by type)
Tell the story in the best way to get the effect you want.

Why I no longer call them goals

Calling your goals, “goals”, leaves you at a disadvantage. From now on, I suggest that you call them outcomes.

What every computer science major should know

What every computer science major should know — Read on matt.might.net/articles/what-cs-majors-should-know/

I was wrong about spreadsheets, and I’m sorry

Spreadsheets are amazing, they solve specific problems in an optimal way — Read on www.reifyworks.com/writing/2017-01-25-i-was-wrong-about-spreadsheets-and-im-sorry

Outstanding Advice from a tribe of mentors

This will be my final post covering tribe of mentors. If you are a little bit lost and not sure which direction to take you will find a lot of great advice and pointers from this book. It is a great reference book and I’d recommend it to all.

Go compiler internals: adding a new statement to Go - Part 1 - Eli Bendersky’s website

Go compiler internals: adding a new statement to Go - Part 1 - Eli Bendersky’s website — Read on eli.thegreenplace.net/2019/go-compiler-internals-adding-a-new-statement-to-go-part-1/

Local Development: Secure Docker Sites.

This article targets Debian docker containers running on MacOS.

Managing while black (VP of engineering)

I didn’t sell out, I bought in.

Questions I ask when reviewing code

The work of building software in a team context is not quite the same as when you’re working on a hobby project. On an existing project, you must consider paying customers, product quality, engineering excellence, and many other variables that make shipping production code much more challenging. We expect others to review our code to ensure it meets the highest standards before it is sent out into the world and the same is excpected from us.

Comparing Software Engineering to RailRoads in the 1800’s

An amazing (biased) talk about the rust language by one of the core contributors. Comparing accidents in the rail road industry to computer programming and memory safety.

Habits of Highly effective Software Engineers

Valuable advice from the “Tech Lead”. A career in software engineering is a long term game, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Having habits like these, ensure that you’re preserving yourself as you grow in experience and influence.

Strategies for not neglecting your blog

https://twitter.com/unxpectedbowtie/status/1084297723417935873

gap, my most loved git command

gap the alias I created, mapping to git add -p has been one of my most typed commands ever since I changed my workflow.

Opinion Power? No, Thanks, I’m Good - The New York Times

The freedom to say what I think and command my own time is enough for me. — Read on www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/opinion/power-is-overrated.html

How to compare dates in PHP

This is great article about how you can use DateTime class for date comparisons:

Crypto currency

Why people who don’t understand how cryptocurrencies work should stay far far away from it: https://www.wired.com/story/blockchain-bandit-ethereum-weak-private-keys/

One liner for importing multiple SQL files using WP CLI DB command

In some cases, SQL backups break exports into multiple files, usualy by table name.

What does 6 months paternity leave feel like with 2 babys?

I didn’t want to say much about this as it is not that common, especially here in South Africa. The norm here is three days and some annual leave. When I share that I’m on family responsibility leave and for how long, people usually either respond with excellent or a mild form of disgusted jealousy. I’m am truly blessed to have the privilege of paid leave for such a long time.

It doesn’t have to be crazy at work - quick book review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX7Ve8QyUzE

WP Docker Curl Error

If you are using Docker for WordPress development you may have discovered an issue while trying to connect to your installation from the CLI.

Giving Advice Doesn’t Work, I found a better way

I was recently chatting to a friend. He mentioned some area where he was not succeeding . I had the perfect answer. If he’d only follow my advice.

The most gifted books from the tribe of mentors

I read Tribe of Mentors, a year ago, and wrote down all the recommended books. I made notes on these books as I wanted to see if there are commonalities between the things highly successful people read. To no surprise, I found that many of the mentors recommended the same books.

Confusing income potential and wealth

This is more of a mental note for myself. The connection between wealth and income is very obvious, yet we tend to think they are one and the same. I do it all the time.

5 Quotes to ponder on from Tribe Mentors

I wrote a quick review on the book, A tribe of mentors, but wanted to go into more detail and give you some of the quotes that that really hit home for me. I chose 5 of them to share with you.

One year at the helm of Vim

One year ago I started using an old text editor called Vim. I’m happy to say that I’m still sticking with it. I’m now very comfortable with VIM and more empowered translate Ideas into working solutions.

Imposters handbook: a quick review

A year ago I read the imposters handbook. It seemed like this book was specifically for people like me. The found himself in the same position I was in: Feeling like an imposter.

On forging a character

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

Henry David Thoreau

Counting the wrong things!

Dignity matters. Good quality Jobs matter. Watch this video:

a brilliant talk on how to prepare for success

I watched this talk and it answered most of the questions I had about how to succeed and make an impact.

Hiring senior engineers?you are selling not buying

https://hiringengineersbook.com/post/trouble-hiring/

Programming well with others

I watched a funny but interesting talk about working well with others.

32 and content

Yesterday I turned 32. What an amazing time to be alive. There are so many mountains to climb and challenges to overcome. I have a sense of destiny awaiting while feeling thankful that I have opportunities to reach for things greater than where I come from.

When are you proficient in a programming language?

Learning a programming language gives you the opportunity to explore other problem domains alongside new approaches to addressing familiar problems.

Three Important Things — Via Dented Reality

Three Important Things Congratulations! You are in a new management role. Now what? Remember these three things: don’t fall into the safety of your old job, listen, and provide useful feedback. 2,899 more words

Take a Nap, Change your life Book Review

I used to ascribe to the phrase: “sleep when you die”, but to what benefit? Hustling? Working hard? That may seem like the best thing to do now, but it may take 3 times as long for you to reach your goals, if you are burnt out, as you make a lot of mistakes in this state.

Plant Based

3 Months ago, my wife and I embraced a new way of eating. We’ve tried all kind of diets and eating plans but none have ever worked out for us. We wanted to see results in the way we looked and felt. We mostly wanted to shed some pounds and with that feel more confident in our clothes.

2019 Haiku

The green of year

2018

They would never ask Jewish people to forget what happened during the Holocaust

This is racism and classisms at its best:

Creative Computer Science

I read an interesting article on how personal development as a Software Engineer should be largely focused on thinking rather than specific technologies.

You are on time, your own time

New York is 3 hours ahead of California, but that doesn’t make California slow.

5 things to keep in your Journal

Today, while reading my Journal, I had a weird feeling. The feeling that my Journal was actually becoming valuable to me. Like I’d be willing to put up a reward if I’ve lost it.

Why I’m learning a new Programming Language called Go

For the past few years, I got stuck in a rut, a good one. My sole focus was not the technology I used. but rather the thought processes behind why and how I write code. I write in PHP and I mainly focus on the WordPress CMS. This pays the bills and helps me take care of my family but, while focusing on thought processes, I didn’t realise that learning a new language can have the same effect, helping me think differently about similar problems.

Coders should write

I read this great article that I’d like to share with you:

Frustration

Don’t cause permanent damage with temporary frustration.

Teaching -cism in silence

As a child, just after apartheid, I don’t remember learning about how white, is “better”, and black “is not”. I don’t remember sitting in a lecture being indoctrinated. I don’t remember anything else, but I do remember the subtle cues around me.

You probably won’t make it to the top

I read a great article:

How to read and why

I thoroughly enjoyed this article on how to read and why:

Technology does not make us any better

Technology didn’t make our lives better, it simply changed what we can accomplish, but it seems, humans are still very much like we were 100 year ago:

Microservices Are Something You Grow Into, Not Begin With

The craze around microservices is great, but starting small and simple is the best use of our limit time, specially when starting a new project, More on this from the link below:

Golang Channels: explained simply

I see go channels as a pipe connecting two air tight vacuum cleaners. One vacuum cleaner can not push anything into the pipe, if the other vacuum is not pulling from the pipe. Both need to do the opposite action. If one sends the “package” will be stuck until the other turns on it’s receiving action.

Accountability as a service?

Hire a boss, get stuff done

Planning Down Time

After periods of intensity I find myself automatically collapse into a slower period, a period where I feel very unproductive. This was very frustrating as I feel like, you know you can do more, but you’re just not getting to it.

Skill Stacking: A Practical Strategy To Achieve Career Success - Darius Foroux

Skill stacking is a strategy that you can use to achieve career success. You can use it whether you want to build a business or have a dream job. — Read on dariusforoux.com/skill-stacking/

Respect!

Respect the work of your peers, and those who came before you. — Read on baus.net/you-cant-impress-developers/

Designing Software Within Constraints Building to a Specification

We don’t think we have constraints as Software Engineers, but we actually do. Creating specifications is a great way to explore some of these constraints. See the full talk below by Kris Brandow at GopherCon 2018.

Repost: The worst reply to mentions of white privilege

The worst reply: “I’ve worked hard my whole life.”

The Psychology of Money

Let me tell you the story of two investors, neither of whom knew each other, but whose paths crossed in an interesting way….

After all the computers may still need a human hand.

What the History of Math Can Teach Us about the Future of AI - Scientific American Blog Network — Read on blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/what-the-history-of-math-can-teach-us-about-the-future-of-ai/

Grand Meetup 2017

Last year I attended our company meet up in Whistler, BC, Canada. It was amazing, but I forgot to post some pics.

We, The people

When citizens self organise, the government of the day may be rendered a mere follower.

Is enough, enough?

When is enough enough? How long are we delaying our lives as we struggle for someone else’s picture of perfection? How many more years should we put into building a fortune, for our old age? We all need to read the story below na make up our one minds.

Tribe of Mentors: Quick Review

The book contains 100+ interviews with highly successful people, the mentors. These people share their best advice and struggles.

How to blog regularly

Blogging is a learning process. You learn to organize thoughts. You learn to overcome the fear of publishing those thoughts. This helps you to become better at communication, just like Journalling.

AI vs Us

Finding answers will get a lot easier to do with AI, and figuring out what questions to ask will be the new frontier.

It’s ok not to rush a good thing

I’ve been battling with a book review on The Tribe of Mentors. I had some deadlines that have passed already, but today, just a reminder. Rushing good things may have an undesirable outcome.

Rest and Learn

I’ve found that preiods of intense learning followed by a time to reflect, relax and rest has a compunding effect. Things are solidified in my mind and new thought branches etablishes.

PHP database management in a single file

I’ve found this nice little thing that quickly allows you to have a MySql GUI.

1042

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine

My first Podcast interview

I was interviewed by Jonathan Bossenger on WP Hackercast.

Check this rapper, he’s going big!

Mr Ferl, is probably one of the most genuine rappers I’ve listened to, ever. No pretence. More of this and less of the fakeness we hear every day?

9 months with Colemak

9 months Ago I decided to switch to the Colemak keyboard layout, read more about that here: /colemak-fingers/.

WooCommerce 3.3

Today we released an updated version of WooCommerce. The most exciting feature for me is Greater theme support and customization. Them support is an extremely challenging problem simply because theme developers have so much freedom in how they can structure themes.

Colemak Keyboard Layout, 1 Month(ish) In

Typing is one of the most important aspects of my professional career. That’s why, a month ago, I decided to change my keyboard layout to Colemak.

The Three Levels of Software: Why code that never goes wrong can still be wrong Path-Sensitive

http://www.pathsensitive.com/2018/01/the-three-levels-of-software-why-code.html?m=1

Do not major in minor things and expect to be recognized for your impact.

10 things I learned from reading my 2017 journal.

Since I decided to start Journaling, I also decided that I’ll read my own Journals to keep tabs on myself. As the saying goes: “Pen and paper do not forget”.

Why I no longer care about politics, but I still vote

A few years ago, I was politically fired up. I believed that politics would fix all the problems we were having in our beautiful country. I used to think, if only party X would win, or if only party Y would get better, then we’d be in for real change. I honestly believed the answers to our problems can be solved with politics.

2017

Colemak Fingers

I’m switching to Colemak. It’s an alternate keyboard layout that allows you to type while your fingers travel shorter distances. You can read more about the reasons this is better than QWERTY here: http://chetansurpur.com/blog/2012/11/colemak.html

Keeping a journal can change your life

I started some time ago, but it is now more focused and intentional.

It’s not good to think you’re better, but it also doesn’t help to think you’re the worst.

Computer Science vs Software Engineering

An “oldie”, but a good article on Computer Science vs Software Engineering and how the two compliment each other.

Inspired by an incarcerated investor

Curtis “Wallstreet” Carroll taught himself to read and then eventually invest. All this while being in prison.

Less is better than Tail

If you’re using logs for debugging check this out:

Cheap travels with WordPress as the foundation

‪https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/scotts-cheap-flights‬

A todo list, React, Redux and the WordPress JSON REST API

I always wanted to create a very simple WordPress based Todo App. After putting it off for a very long time I finally had the time to look into it.

Faster VIM syntax checking with A.L.E

Is syntactic still slowing down your workflow, try A.L.E. It’s a drop in replacement for syntastic ( make sure your language is supported ): https://github.com/w0rp/ale

Vim CtrlP productivity tip

If you’re using VIM with CtrlP, here’s a tip to quickly jump to line numbers in a file: https://coderwall.com/p/cyh7xg/ctrlp-line-number

Signature plugin for visual marks in Vim

To install this plugin with Vim Plug place the following in your .vimrc: Plug ‘kshenoy/vim-signature’

So I tried an editor called VIM

But Why?

The habit of scheduling blog posts

I’m not good at blogging. I do a terrible job of regularly updating this site, well tat’s untill I discovered scheduling.

New Track: Movement

Just uploaded a new track.

Vienna

Fearless right doing

The article in a local newspaper from a political leader honestly and openly speaking out. Speaking out knowing that persecution will come. Knowing that what he is doing will be frowned upon and even ridiculed by those so close to him.

Design inspiration the right way

I do not consider myself to be a designer.

Oh I have a .blog

Get.blog, a new top level domain focused on people who are really interested in blogging. It’s a nice way to say, hey this is just another blog.

Ableton, software engineering behind the music

Often times, one forgets that the tools you and other people use actually have people just like you working hard to ship the nex improved version.

Enjoyed playing squash again

Blog First

We all use a lot of social / content sharing services where we share a lot of personal data. Sometimes we forget those platforms can shut down overnight leaving you with no way to get back the data.

Floors Done!

So happy that the floors at home has finally been completed.

Happiness

Inspired by talk. I’ll be taking picks or simply writing a general note of things and people that make me happy.

What I do have

Today I turn 30. I woke up and my first thoughts were those of gratitude, which immediate turned into thoughts of empty mess and sadness.

2016

With the US Election, a Landmark Week for WordPress.com VIP

I believe there is a Creator

If you’re reading this as an atheist or and agnostic thinker please know that this comes from a personal place.

Company photos

Taking a company photo.

Grand meetup talks

Listenening to interesting talks at our companies annual retreat.

2015

Dropping the color attribute.

Many times in the media, from friends and in the industry, I hear terms like:

How to make your followers happy

This article is from the perspective of the follower.

How to simplify and remain productive

This approach ensures that we take responsibility together for the success of the whole. The whole can be more than the sum of it’s parts if we co-operate.

WCEU Q&A with Matt Mullenweg

Q&A by Matt Mullenweg and my #questionfail at 47:00. My reaction is really funny.

Hey Developer, Welcome to WordPress

Some time ago, a friend of mine wanted to start doing WordPress development. I created this resource for him and thought that many of you may also want to see this, so here it is:

Planning to blog regularly?

I seriously want to blog more frequently while also creating more quality. If you have a blog then I know you share this with me. And you should know that my reasons for desiring this are very simple:

Abandonware as a WordPress plugin

I have a littles secret to confess. In the days when I was still building client websites I would instal and reinstall at least 5 similar plugins before finding the perfect one. In majority cases I would never let the developer know if there was a bug as I simply didn’t have the luxury of time.

Next chapter and moving into a new role

Today marks the start of a new and exciting journey. I’m starting in a new role as a Developer at Woothemes.

2014

WordPress loves PHPStorm, so should you!

I’ve fallen in love with another text editor. Its been since a while since I’ve last opened SublimeText and Coda. It has also been a little bit challenging to adjust at times but there’s no looking back when it comes to building WordPress based products. My workflow is even better than ever. Now let me tell you why you should love PHPStorm.

Be a better developer

Today, I’m truly happy to share with you what I know and have learned in my career as a developer. This post hopes to give you some advice on how to be a better developer.

Have you tried working Less?

Let me just say this: Stop working overtime on that project. Set your hours. Push hard at it and then rest at a pre-defined point. Enjoy life after working hard.

Let’s get this Hippo started

Ready set go, The Hippo’s party is starting earlier than what you might expect. WooCommerce 2.3 is readying itself behind the scenes for a few awesome leaps forward on the e-commerce dance floor.

Your guide to local remote git repositories.

Did you know that that git allows you to connect to a remote repository that is not so, remote ? I mean, you can actually connect to a repo in another folder and push and pull directly to and from it. I was recently faced a scenario where I had two working versions of the same repo in separate directories. I needed to make the changes in one place but then confirm the changes in a different context.

Add WordPress post type content programatically

To load dummy content programatically load the content below into your functions.php.

WordPress, why we really need front end editing

We all know quite a few online website creation tools that lets one create a website without touching a single line of code, but unless your the end user, this kind of solution is not something you’ll recommend to your client. The current basic WordPress website workflow: Designer/Developer completes the implementation of the theme and a few plugins and trains the new user how to use the site.

Internet at aboard the pacific pearl

Working remotely for Woothemes which allows me to change my office location like I change my shocks. With this benefit my wife and I decided to take the opportunity to work out at sea.

Title loading script

If you’re in need of little script that change your title into and animated “Loading …” use this :

Focus on what matters

This is really simple so I’ll keep it short. This statement has to do with being successful in your career.

Start your Journey now

At this point in my life I am happy. I have a relationship with my heavenly Father through Jesus. I have a loving wife with who’m I’m excited to share the rest of my life with and together we are working towards common goals.

Your story matters, share it

We all have those times when really need inspiration. Most times we find it in the simplest places. It’s in books, blogs, talks even the little children, other times we draw inspiration from our industry leaders and people we look up to.

Let consistency be your trump card

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omuYi2Vhgjo

2013

Life Lessons learnt in support

On 1 December 2012, I started working full time as a support ninja at WooThemes.

Remove Disqus comments from WordPress pages

You have just installed the Disqus comment system on your WordPress blog and now you see it appearing all over the show, on both pages and posts alike. I ran into the same issue and for obvious reasons only wanted to show it on single blog posts and would love to share how I fixed this with you.

Git vimdiff Mergetool Cheat sheet

Your project is progressing at an amazing pace. You’re committing regularly, getting close to the release date when you suddenly hit a merge conflict! What do you do now?

Integrity simplified

I learnt this very neat way to think about integrity and and its practical implementation. It goes something like this:

Generate a link list of all Zendesk articles in a specific forum

I needed to print out a list of links for all articles in a specific forum, for use in our Project management system. I had to go through all the items to ensure that they are compatible with the latest version of our Canvas Theme.

The best coffee shop in Port Elizabeth

This is the Gospel

If you don’t get the full picture watch this: