Personal Programming

Meet the MDN Team: Zach Fox

I excitedly joined the Mozilla Developer Network content team three weeks ago. I originally wrote this post for the MDN blog. I then learned that the post didn’t match the content guidelines for the blog, so I’m reproducing the full text of my draft post here. As I progress through life and learn about what’s meaningful to me, I’ve grown to understand the importance of feeling seen. To that end, I’m grateful to have the…

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Personal

The Cost of a 75-Guest Wedding in Frederick, MD

My wife and I got married at a petting zoo in September of 2021 in Frederick, Maryland. Using a giant Google Sheet, a Google Doc, a custom website, dozens of hours of research, and the help of friends and family, we planned a beautiful wedding and then executed on that plan. It all went off without a hitch, and everyone had a fantastic time. This post is the first of two posts which comprise a…

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Personal

My Mobile Device History

I’m feeling nostalgic. Let’s go back in time and take a look at all of the feature phones, smartphones, and tablets I’ve ever owned. Phones LG VX3200 Dates Used: 2005-?? – 2007-?? Price: ???, Verizon Store Ah…my first cell phone. I was in eighth grade. I used it instead of a payphone to call my mom when I needed to be picked up from school. Every so often, I’d ask my dad if I could…

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Personal

Your Guide to Moving and Buying a Home: Part 1

My wife and I are strongly considering moving out of our current detached, single-family home in the Washington D.C. Metro Area. We purchased this home in November of 2020, so we haven’t been here for very long. I move my home base relatively frequently – since graduating from university in 2015, my “permanent” address has changed six times. On average, that’s one big move every 1.1 years! I am very grateful: Each time I’ve moved,…

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Personal

50 Reasons to Keep Going and Stay Motivated

Sometimes, we need help when we’re feeling down. Below, I’ve provided a list of some reasons to push through the pain and sadness you might be experiencing right now. All of these reasons resonate with me in some way, and I hope at least a couple resonate with you, too. Please come back to this page when you’re not feeling well, and pick a couple of reasons that matter to you. Spend a few minutes…

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Personal

8-Day Iceland Itinerary – November 2021

Greetings, travelers! My partner and I visited Iceland for our honeymoon between October 30th and November 7th, 2021. We had a spectacular time packed full of adventure, and I’d like to share with you our itinerary, some photos, cost details, a packing list, and some travel tips. I hope that this information helps someone who is interested in visiting Iceland, especially during the off-peak season like November. I’ll start here with a summary of what…

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Personal Photography

My Photographic Journey

A recent Reddit post inspired me to scour through my photographic archives in search of proof that I’ve improved as a photographer over the past several years. My hunt led me on a nostalgic tour through time, questionable data retention practices, and my entireD:\ drive. While it quickly became obvious that I’ve learned from previous mistakes, what I discovered forced me to rethink what it means to have become “a better photographer.” The very first…

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Education Personal

On Learning, Language, and Psychology…

Within the past six months, I somehow stumbled upon LESSWRONG and added its feed of posts to my RSS reader of choice. Recently, I came across the following post, and it deeply moved me: Mark Eichenlaub: How to develop scientific intuition This post itself is a beautiful gem, but I found the real treasure trove in Mr. Eichenlaub’s answer to this Quora question: Do grad school students remember everything they were taught in college all the time?…

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Personal

It’s My 22nd Birthday!

How very exciting. I turn 22 today. A Friendly Fox has been up since November 17, 2012. That’s exactly one year and four months ago. There was a waxing crescent moon that night, and daylight lasted for 9 hours and 42 minutes that day. I started this site after a friend encouraged me to have a place where I could write tutorials and lists and helpful tech hints. Since then, people have pointed their browsers at this…

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Android Apple Internet Tools Personal

Instagram Direct is Much Better Than Snapchat

With Instagram 5.0 (Google Play Store, Apple App Store), released earlier today, you can now send photos to specific people with a feature called “Instagram Direct.” It’s obvious that Instagram developed this feature to compete with Snapchat. I’d like to weigh the pros and cons of Instagram Direct, and hopefully steer you away from using Snapchat when you want to share a normal picture with a friend. I also want to discuss Instagram as a…

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