### How To Cut A Picture Frame To Size Easily

Under the box lid of a Sears Craftsman 45° miter cut-n-clamp set, which was produced in the 1960s.

$X + 2Y - 0.5 = L$

1. Measure the width of the picture. (X in inches)
2. Measure the width of the molding. (Y in inches)
3. 3 Add twice the molding width (2Y) to the picture size (X) then subtract 0.5.
4. This will give you the length to cut your molding. (L in inches)

Then you can do the same thing for the opposite dimension if your picture isn’t a square.

### Don’t Take My Phone

I spent all of last week with about 540 Automatticians. For an introvert like me it’s a challenging and exhausting week. When meeting new people each day we often repeat the same conversations.

What team are you on?

How long have you been working here?

It’s all a bit awkward (but good) for me, being someone who doesn’t enjoy small talk.

These conversations and interactions may not have been the hardest part of the week though. We tried something new at this year’s Grand Meetup, called Homeroom. Each person in the company was split off into a group of about 25 people we met with for an hour on 4 of the days. At the beginning of each hour, the leads in the room had us place our phones in a drawer or box so we could focus on the group and getting to know people.

Andy said, “It feels like someone cut off my arm.”

I think I’m pretty good at not constantly pulling out my phone in social situations, but not having the option gave me an uneasy feeling.

### 12 Years on WordPress.com

I signed up for WordPress.com over 2 years before I started working at Automattic. My user account was #840 and we’ll be passing 128 million any minute!

### Used Tools

I’ve been wanting to get more tools so I can do different projects with wood. It’s a lot cheaper to start out with used tools, especially as I learn. If I use certain tools a lot and find I need an upgrade, then I’ll fork over cash for new.

On a Saturday I hopped in the car and drove all over Saginaw looking for garage sales. There was no plan, other than to follow every sign I saw. I bought and bargained for a few things and then when I went home to eat lunch I found a big community garage sale about 25 minutes away. Off I went!

I probably hadn’t been to a garage sale in over 20 years. It was a lot of fun searching and it was interesting to see how different the items were from one house to the next. I was really hoping to find a table saw, band saw, and drill press, but no luck on any of the 3. I did make a good haul though.

The saw and miter box combo was brand new in the box, but most of the items needed some love. I sanded, stained, and waxed the wooden mallet and hammer handle. You can’t really see from this picture, but they both turned out great. The biggest tasks were taking apart the two sanders for a thorough cleaning because they were full of sawdust. I also disassembled the router but it wasn’t nearly as bad.

What gems have you found at garage sales?

### Testing: RGB LED Strip, EL Wire, and Endoscope

I’ve been meaning to test out several new products I bought. Figure I would take the camera along for the ride.

Items in the video:

### 53%

Getting back over 50% after I missed the 2016 Automattic Grand Meetup was a tall task. Wouldn’t have been able to do it without assigned meal seatings, the new homeroom groups, and activities.

If we hire 140 people before next year’s GM, I’d only need to meet about 50 new people to get over 50% again.

### Kokanee

Kicking off Matt‘s 2017 CEO Town Hall

### The Sasquatch Zipline

In the weeks leading up to our yearly Automattic Grand Meetup, people organize all kinds of activities. I’ve always wanted to do a zipline tour and I was lucky to get my name on the list early enough to secure a spot. There were 2 different tours available and I picked one out of the blue because of the date and time.

THE SASQUATCH® IS THE LONGEST ZIPLINE IN WHISTLER, ALL OF CANADA, AND THE USA.
whistler.ziptrek.com

I didn’t even realize what I was signing up for! While the total tour time is 1.5 hours, the estimated time on the zipline is 90-100 seconds. The single line spans over 2 km, reaching speeds of 100+ km/h!

Talk about a rush! It was much harder to spin around than I expected, so once I got myself situated I spent a lot of time with my hands on the handles.