Melissa Young

A bit about me for recent followers: 📰 Former journalist & tech blogger 🤖 Developer ⌨️ Engineering Mgr/Director/VP 🧶 Knitter 🎻 Beginning cellist 👯💃Mom of identical twins + 1 🇵🇷 Puerto Rican 🤠 Texan living in NoVA ♠️💜 Ace 😱 Love horror, trek, sci-fi, & trashy reality tv ♑ sun, ♉ rising, ♋ moon

Ok, just finished The Dropout. My body is ready.

I get way too much laugh out loud joy from those robot Olympics videos.

i was fortunate enough to profile Margaret Hamilton in 2019. A really kind and curious person. This was my favorite story she told me:

ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...

2nd week of Newspaper Club, and a 4th grader asked about using AI to help write stories. I didn't expect to get that question from K-6ers, but I'm happy they asked! I said people use many tools to help them write, and that's fine. But what's important is that everything is reviewed and edited.

I've been so busy that I haven't planned out my full spooky season watchlist :(

First day of our second round of Newspaper Club for 2nd-6th graders is complete! My staff increased 45%. BEHOLD a GROWING NEWSROOM! And I can safely say that the kids are still alright. My favorite story idea from day 1 -- Student binders: Are they too big? We ask staff and students.

Jazz-loving New Yorkers, don't sleep on The Pocket. Wonderful acoustics in this beautiful, cozy venue. And get to know Lawrence Fields and his Acoustic Trio. I will be waiting for them to come to DC and grab tickets fast.

Back in NYC. You know what that means...

Astrophotographer Adam (AJ) Smadi caught this image a few hours ago from Washington state. A thin crescent Moon, sunlight illuminating the rugged lunar surface. And 2,400 times farther away—and on the other side of the Sun—mighty Jupiter, and its moons Io (left) and Ganymede (right).

My oldest has decided to start a D&D group with her friends. How many kids will commit? How many sessions will they make it through? Module or Homebrew? Who will die first? Who will rage quit? Will I ever play with them? Stay tuned!

I reject this new Spock hair.

Ok, Fable 5. Let's see if you can do it.

Lawful Great

Welp, got the first ad for Halloween decor. Happy summer?

So the kids are back on Pinterest now, huh?

I kid you not I was getting the grey screen of frustration and blowing into the cartridge dock fixed it. My kids think I'm a wizard.

After the success of the GameBoy Pocket, it was time...

Success! Maybe she caught the hardware bug. I only wish I had a better game selection.

11yo discovered my old GameBoy Pocket and is on a mission to resurrect it.

My kids read the synopsis of Victor Victoria while scrolling through my movie library and said "that sounds amazing." I instantly pressed play. Happy Pride!

Father's Day family D&D ... Tomb of the Serpent Kings

TOP TIER EPISODE

Widow's Bay is true horror. Emailing everyone on your contact list? Stuff of nightmares.

They made a whole typeface out of Neymar's falls: digitalsynopsis.com/design/neyma...

That's not a coupon. That's a warning.

Help. This hole is full of rabbits.

Last day of school newspaper club means it's time for a publishing party! Celebrating the students' hard work with treats over final_final draft copies of the paper.

I haven't been a multi-device purchaser or early adopter in a long while, but this Moto Razr Fold is tempting. Thankfully the price is keeping me grounded.

Laying out a newspaper. WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS. Nostalgia, honey.

Full moon in Sagittarius for this Capricorn Sun/Taurus Rising means I'm hunkering down to finish this book and start another.

New price alert: neighborhood ice cream truck that drives around during school dismissal was $5 for a basic kids sugar cone and $8 for a shake.

You know, I like my usage limits. They force me to have good dev practices and timebox myself. Constraints breed creativity. Now do 140 chr prompts.

Folks, we have a winner.

This is one of the reasons I got deep into British lit as a 9yo. I didn't know half the words! I'd read with a dictionary alongside! Reading can be an easy form of exploration and discovery when you have to spend days inside avoiding 110-degree Texas summer heat.

i was such an avid reader of stuff i did not even get CLOSE to understanding as a kid and all it did was make me read more, and ask more questions about the world. there's a concerted effort from almost every consolidated power on this planet to make people less curious!!!!

Music Teacher: "imagine you have a big pet mammoth" My 7yo, immediately: "I don't know what that is and I don't want it." 😆

Spending the holiday drinking coffee and dedicated to finishing a book I've been taking way too long to read.

A patient with type 1 diabetes has begun producing his own insulin after receiving a transplant of pancreatic cells. For the first time, islet cells have been edited so they wouldn't be rejected by the patient, removing the need for immunosuppressant drugs. www.sciencealert.com/first-of-its...

My deepest condolences.

Saw an actor I really like at the jazz club I'm currently frequenting and he was there for like 3+ hours and I knew I got good vibes from that guy.

I was annoyed that I couldn't find a database of David Attenborough documentaries where I could search for a specific episode by topic. So I made it. attenborough-100.vercel.app

Just watching my child play Mouthwashing...

Hello SourceForge my old friend...

"Why are you always watching Drag Race on Sundays?" "Gotta go to church!"

Saturday morning math and programming lessons with the kids was way more fun than I expected. Shout out to @khanacademy.org

"Amber waves of PAIN" omg

I don't know why they didn't bring American Gladiators back sooner. This is now family dinner time entertainment.

Love when my technical vision and plans are quickly validated. Let's gooo. Beep boop borp.