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Faster is different. It sounds strange at first because we expect faster to be better. We expect faster to be more. If we can analyze data faster, we can analyze more data. If we can network faster, we can network with more people. Faster is more, which is better, but more is different.

Have you ever met a homesteader who owns a mansion? Me either. My neighbor, Bill (80), is a homesteader who tries to be as self sufficient as possible. From what I can see, it’s an immensely rewarding and humble existence. Life-satisfaction oozes out of his every pore and, eventually, even enduring the hardships must have become rewarding to him.

I like to build things. I like analysis. I like programming. Interestingly, you often need to reverse that order before you’re in a position to build an application for analyzing something. You need programming knowledge to turn the analysis into a “thing.” The problem is, while I like programming, I’m still new to it. I mean, I’m Codecademy good, but that doesn’t translate into a user facing application leveraging Python, Javascript, and D3. So, when I recently sat down to build a minimally viable data application for looking at airline stocks, I wondered how long it might take to get to viable and, frankly, feared how minimal it might be.

I’m an algorithms guy. I love exploring data sets, building cool models, and finding interesting patterns that are hidden in that data. Once I have a model, then of course I want a great interactive, visual way to communicate it to anyone that will listen. When it comes to interactive visuals there is nothing better than JavaScript’s D3. It’s smooth and beautiful.