Hey there! Today’s going to be a short one.

I’ve been taking it easy this week, no studying or coding outside of work. I went to Valencia over the weekend, and the next day after coming back to Madrid, I got a cold! Interestingly, the last time I was in Madrid, I also got sick at the end. Most likely, what happens is that I tend to go out more, interact with more people, take the train more often, etc. so there you go.

Valencia was great. Coincidentally, the weather improved that weekend, so it felt like a mini summer in January. While I’ve been to the city a few times already, this time I got a new appreciation for it. I walked quite a bit (almost 25k steps a day), went to the Albufera Natural Park, and of course, couldn’t leave without eating an outstanding paella. After also eating a few burgers, I can also say that Valencia has great burger places.

If there’s anything I’m enjoying about my weeks in Spain is the sunlight. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. It does something to the mood and energy.

Going back to the software, while I haven’t done any reading, I installed Atuin in my terminal to have the ability to save my endless command history, sync it and search it. After using it for a few weeks, it has become indispensable.

I’ve also been trying to expand my Vim skills by playing vim adventures 15 minutes a day. I already knew how to exit Vim, move around and edit stuff slowly, but I lack the agility to edit text comfortably like I would do with Visual Studio Code. Is it a win to get better at Vim at this point? Unclear, but why not? With Vim, I only need a single set of key bindings that’s pretty popular, instead of learning the IDEs. Now that I’m more comfortable with the key bindings, I’ve started using Neovim extension for VS Code, and it’s been good so far, thought I’m still slow compared to my usual speed.

Interesting links

• Change the system, not the leader

• If Employers Crack Down on Return-to-Office, They May Lose High Performers

• Great thread on misconceptions about gauging ability in evaluations by Cat Hicks, PhD. The important fact is that people perform much better and show their real skills better in a socially supported environment. Being kind in an interview pays off and can have a “deeply lasting impact on someone's judgment of their own future potential in tech.”