Pope's Notes

“A philosopher once asked, ‘Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?’ Pointless, really… ‘Do the stars gaze back?’ Now, that’s a question.” ~Neil Gaiman, Stardust When I was about 4 years old, I held my Dad'

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” ~Maya Angelou I love this quote about creativity. And I think it's true. I've been so inspired to be creative lately and have found that as I'm starting to get

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." ~Anne Lamott I'm officially on recharge. My company gives employees who have been working full-time for 5 years 30 days off for what is referred to as 'recharge.' It&

Your potential to be great at something is proportional to your tolerance to be bad at it. I have to be honest. When I started this site, I wasn't super confident in my writing skills, let alone if I could muster writing 3x posts every week. It'

"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn" ~Mary Catherine Bateson Navigating the world of tech can be intimidating, especially for those who don't consider themselves "technical." Working at a big tech company, I’ve often heard the phrase

Lately, I've been doing a lot more reading and writing — a habit my 8th-grade English teacher would no doubt approve. It hasn't been as difficult as one might expect, thanks in part to a wonderful writing community based in London but embraced globally, known as the

Stephan Covey writes "the key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." During a recent conversation with my colleague about productivity, he brought up Parkinson's Law. I couldn't place the term but I realized I was

"I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood." ~Audre Lorde Thank you, Audre Lorde, for these profound words. Lorde, an American writer and

"London itself perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets." ~Virginia Woolf I have a confession. I thought London would be like New York, but with English accents. Silly right? I

“Do not imagine that, if something is hard for you to achieve, it is therefore impossible for anyone: but rather consider anything that is humanly possible and appropriate to lie within your own reach too” ~Marcus Aurelius Stumbled across Meditations at the Foyles bookstore in Waterloo Station and felt compelled

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” ~commonly attributed to George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans). A few years ago, I remember asking my friend, who was an avid skier, if I was too old to learn to ski. He responded nonchalantly, ‘probably,

“But the upside of painful knowledge is so much greater than the downside of blissful ignorance.” ~Sheryl Sandberg Whenever I embark on a new project or step outside my comfort zone, I keep Sheryl's words in mind to guide me through uncharted and often ambiguous territory. In essence,

"You and I are made of stardust. We are the stuff of exploded stars. We are, therefore, at least one way that the Universe knows itself. ” ~Bill Nye I find myself endlessly fascinated by the vast expanse of space and the mysteries it holds. One particular memory stands out—

As I approach my birthday and another trip around the sun, I’ve felt the desire to create something meaningful. Lots of reasons for this, not just my birthday, but the culmination of three years in London and it’s hard to capture what's happened in that time