Completed a soaking wet Chicagoland Half Marathon yesterday. Finished 1:56:49. About a minute and a half off of my best time, but far from my worst. Hoping for better weather next year.

I’m going to be honest: I’ve had a hell of a time getting my head around React. More than any other technology I’ve touched over the last 10 years of my career, I just haven’t had it click for me. It’s very frustrating as I really want to learn it, and it’s clear the library has legs.

I found React very difficult to learn the first time I attempted it. So much so that I actually just gave up and moved on to other things. Given that, I find Brad's honest take here extremely relatable (except for the part where Dan Abramov personally helped him through his React struggles.) And from a purely selfish perspective, knowing that a developer (sorry, frontend designer) that I admire had similar struggles with React makes me feel a bit better about myself.

I still don't consider myself a React expert, but three specific things made it click for me:

• I know Brad threw some shade in his post, but Wes Bos' React for Beginners just made a lot of sense to me when other tutorials didn't.
• I enforced what I learned by applying it to a side project that I found legitimately interesting.
• I eventually realized that I was trying to tackle things that were too complex. It wasn't until I focused on nailing some really basic stuff that things started to move fast and click. For me it was representing data in a table before I started trying to filter, sort, or otherwise visualize that data. For Brad it was rendering a full page worth of mock components.

I'm glad I pushed through. Even though I have a lot to learn and a limited amount of time to do so, I really like React.

Saw some useful clarification in the #pattern-lab channel on the Drupaltwig slack about which version and edition of Pattern Lab is recommended to use with Drupal going forward.

• As far as which repository to use, EvanLovely and Salem Ghoweri clarified that we should be using the main Pattern Lab repository, not the Drupal fork that was previously active. Most if not all of the changes from the fork have been merged back into the main Pattern Lab repository.
• And regarding the edition, EvanLovely somewhat surprisingly recommends the Twig edition over the Drupal edition. Apparently the differences are minimal, and "A true Drupal edition is better represented as a Drupal theme with the Twig edition integrated."

So in summary, the next time you need Pattern Lab for a Drupal project, go here.

Helpful clarification given all of the Pattern Lab forks and editions floating around out there.

If the photo above of me forcing Evan to perform much of the show as a talking broom didn't make it clear, being back at ImprovBoston for the 10th anniversary of Harold Night was a blast. It was strange being back in the building at first, but once I set foot on stage it felt as if no time had passed at all. And I even had an opportunity to publicly shame my brother for his eating habits, which makes the night a success by any measure.

Thanks to all who took in this over the top show, avoided my flailing limbs when I repeatedly climbed over audience chairs, and humored a now dad-heavy group of improvisers as they gave comedy one more spin. Being able to see so many great friends that I hadn't seen in years makes getting stuck on the red line for an hour more than worth it.

The show was such a success that I'll once again be retiring from improv effective immediately. I'll see you all at the 20 year reunion.

(Photo via @haroldnight. Another great photo set is available on the Harold Night Facebook page.)

Hard to believe, but it has been years since I've been on stage doing anything resembling improv. I would have guessed that my comedy days were over for good. Well, they still are! But for one night I'm getting back on stage with some old friends at my old stomping grounds to improvise like it was 2008. Will we change the face of comedy forever? Will we mostly talk about our kids while hanging out in the green room? Will we even be able to stay awake past 10:30 PM? Join us on Wednesday May 2, 2018 to find out.