Data Is Communication

7-40 Challenge | Round 4, Day 26 I had a conversation today that connected twenty years of my career to the thing everyone's trying to figure out right now. I work in data management. I've spent two decades as the person who sits between business teams and technical teams, translating what one side needs into … Continue reading Data Is Communication

The Joining Tables Moment

7-40 Challenge | Round 4, Day 25 My freshman year of college, I convinced myself I couldn't handle music theory. I had the brain for it. I just didn't believe I did. So I enrolled in fundamentals instead — the kiddie pool — while my entire cohort moved ahead into the real coursework. I never … Continue reading The Joining Tables Moment

I Told the AI to Edit My Book

7-40 Challenge | Round 4, Day 23 Earlier this year, I finished my first novel — 105,000 words of a YA superhero story set in the 1990s. It needed editing. I had Claude. I figured this would be straightforward. I said, essentially: let's edit this. The AI started rewriting my story. Not editing — recreating. … Continue reading I Told the AI to Edit My Book

The Wing-It Tax

7-40 Challenge | Round 4, Day 17 I was 19 and a bit unobservant. I signed up for what I thought was personal finance. I wanted to learn how to balance my checkbook. I ended up in fundamentals of business finance, learning bond valuation. I did what I always did in college — I winged … Continue reading The Wing-It Tax

Dare Mighty Things (Fifteen Years Later)

7-40 Challenge | Round 4, Day 16 In 2011, I wrote a short passage about a prisoner escaping a cell. He finds a footprint on the floor — proof that someone walked this path before him. He picks up a sword and feels something pulse through his arm. He remembers: I am a warrior. I … Continue reading Dare Mighty Things (Fifteen Years Later)