Season 3, Issue 21: Get Scribblin’
Season 3, Issue 21: Get Scribblin’
Welcome, Patrick Filler!
1. Welcome, Patrick 🎉
Our lone part-timer, Patrick Filler, decided to join us full-time this week. He shared his intention with Barry and me on Tuesday, while I was busy scanning in prints (for our beautiful Guestbook), and I wrote him a quick response:
good morning and thanks for the note.
He didn’t like that. So let’s try again:
Patrick, thank you for your interest in joining Good Enough full time. We are pleased to welcome you to the [Company Name] family and are confident that you will be a valuable asset to our team. ❤️ —SL
2. Live from London: the Good Enough Guestbook
Y’all—we got a live feed on our little printer. Which means that after you draw us a beautiful doodle, you can now see your masterpiece come out of the printer. HOW COOL IS THAT!? SO COOL. SO, SO, SO COOL.
Take a look at this beautiful setup James got going at his co-working office in London:
I work with some smart motor flockers and I have no idea how any of this works (even after James’s eloquent explanation). But I did draw this capybara.
What are you waiting for? Get scribblin’!! 😘—SL
2. The Week That Was
This week was all Yay.Boo and Guestbook, both of which are starting to see some action from people none of us know in real life. Seriously, look at those bountiful guestbook drawings!
There’s a sort of validation that comes from seeing strangers use the things we’ve built that makes us feel like we’re on to something over here. Our goal isn’t just to make silly projects, but rather to remind as many people as possible that the web can be weird and interesting and fun and isn’t just a machine for turning human eyeballs into dollars. Maybe it’s workhhhhhing a little bit.
To those of you reading who don’t know us IRL, welcome. We truly appreciate your time and attention… and we genuinely want to know what the hell we did to deserve it. Reach out and say hi or to tell us we’re terrible or whatever!
Other goings on:
Matthew learned about touch-action in CSS to prevent double-tap-to-zoom on phones.
James discovered Tapback keyboard shortcuts in Mac’s Messages.
Arun got back to his art marking ways and built a revolutionary text editor.
Barry will pick a crayon for you (and tell you the date & time).
Shawn set up an Instagram account for Good Enough.
3. Distant Friends
My mornings are usually pretty quiet. I’m in London, and until lunch my colleagues are all still blissfully unconscious in the United States of Snooze. This offset works well in some respects; it gives me some time to focus, some time to reflect. And as my colleagues slumber, far, far away, I’ve—somewhat appropriately—been thinking a lot about distant friends.
One of the great curses of modern life is that our closest friends are often far away. A hundred years ago, the only people you knew lived in your town, or your street, and you’d see them all the time, your lives woven together into a community of daily familiarity and support.
Today, we travel so much more, and so much further, and we meet people from all over the world. And sometimes those people end up being your people, just because that’s how the stars were shining that fateful night you met. We’re lucky to meet these friends—people we might never have otherwise known—but sometimes it can be years between actually seeing them.
Life pulls us geographically apart, and though the internet lets us stay connected, there’s no substitute for actually being there. For being able to help haul an armchair to their mother-in-law’s house, or to sit quietly beside them while they are in pain. For having an unplanned drink on their stoop on a warm night, or being able to talk without screens, without purpose and without the pull of getting back to “real life”. For our kids to play and grow up together while we sit, watch, and smile.
Until we finally get Star-Trek-style transporter technology, that’s just how it’s going to be, and let me tell you: it breaks my heart. So, to my distant friends: I love you so, so much, and I wish I could be there with you, all the time.
No, I’m not crying, you’re crying. —JA
4. Sharing is caring
Have some self-respect and smarten up your quotes, people. —ML
Sites like Cordog.io and Corgi Orgy are big inspirations for Yay.Boo. —BH
I used Pirate Ship for the first time this week and was really impressed with how easy and smooth their software was (and the shipping rates were incredibly low). —SL
Is the art, the art, or does it go beyond that? What is an art? Am I an art? —JA
In our team meeting this morning I mentioned Obvious Plant, and James told us about Leg Boot and their Bugkiss toy. (If you know anything about toy-making, please let us know!) —SL
No idea what Special Fish is but we dig it! —SL
Do you feel that you talk too much (or too little) on video calls? Check out Unblah. (Via Rafał) —SL
5. In Conclusion
Here’s a prize for getting this far: we’ve just received the latest issue of A Good Enough Zine, and you’re the first to know. If you want a copy, email us your mailing address.
It’s decorative gourd seasons, motherfuckers. We’ll see you again in October.