iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 18/08/2026

TFW your work lands on the front page of The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i... #dataBS

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 30/07/2026

I love it when the feed tells an accidentally but perfectly connected story.

Two posts. The first, by @steveolsen.bsky.social, says, “Why is everything this admin does so freaking incompetent and lazy?!
Oh, right, they fired all the skilled and experienced folks.”
He was re-posting @ericumansky.bsky.social saying, “A State dept map misplaced every African country it named.
Reuters found a watermark made by OpenAl.”

The next post in my feed is an @effinbirds.com illustration with a bird and fancy text that says, “oh no, are we dealing with the consequences of our own shitty behaviour?”

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 30/07/2026

I asked a smart, but very non-technical friend to look over my consultancy site today for feedback from the perspective of someone very good at their domain who might need data help some day. The response was amazing. #databs

Dark gray chat bubble line on a black background with white text that reads, “Geck. Don't you do science rocks?”

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 27/07/2026

When my friend tells me their company is doing layoffs today and their meeting is in two minutes

Screen shot from Fools Rush in, where Isabel and her mother are lighting candles at the church and discussing Isabel’s husband’s employment situation. The mom asks, “Which candle am I lighting? To keep the job, or lose the job?”

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 17/07/2026

Good morning to everyone except aws #dataBS

Screencap of my aws cost summary this morning, saying my MTD usage is $1,199,901,002,341.97

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 01/07/2026

Attendees were invited to dress in costumes inspired by our favorite federal datasets. I chose to honor a trio of surveys from USDA on Honey, Honey Bee Colonies, and the Cost of Pollination. The survey data inform research to help understand and address problems faced by honey bees and beekeepers.

Infographic titled ‘honeybees are essential’ with cream background and black border. Left side shows text ‘USDA Does Critical Honey and Honeybee Data Collection and Research’ with a honeycomb-patterned area chart showing managed honeybee colonies declining 13% from 2.78M in 2016 to 2.41M in 2025, surrounded by bee illustrations. Center text reads ‘When bee populations collapse, farmers lose income and food prices rise.’ Right side displays illustrations of bee-pollinated crops (apple, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, pumpkin, grapes, sunflower) with text explaining NASS Honey, Honey Bee Colonies, and Cost of Pollination surveys tracking $6.4B in crop pollination. Bottom features Lotería-style card #26 ‘THE APIARIST’ showing a beekeeper in protective suit surrounded by flowers and trees. Footer: gecky.me/bees

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 01/07/2026

I had so much fun at the Federation of American Scientists Data Policy Institute launch yesterday! It was great to meet with some of the folks I've been working with on dataindex.us and essentialdata.us — and get to chat with other folks working on broader federal data monitoring and policy issues.

Woman wearing white beekeeper suit with protective veil and hood, smiling at camera while holding sign reading ‘talk data to me.’ Standing next to blue and white shark mascot holding sign reading ‘data nerd.’ Repeating FAS (Federation of American Scientists) logos visible on blue backdrop behind them.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 30/06/2026

It’s finally boarding time. I am, once again, stunned by the audacity of some folks wrt how much they think they’re entitled to carry on. I felt silly with this much. And the lunch box could fit in the big bag if it had to, but these tamales are heavy!

My carry-on items sit on an airport chair. It’s a small navy lunch bag in front of a leather (navy, magenta, and camel colors) and silver/dark blurple zebra print bag that was handmade by someone far more talented than I.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 29/06/2026

It’s backyard taqueria season!

Close up of two tacos on fresh corn tortillas - shrimp in the back, campechano (cesina & chorizo) in the front. With cilantro, cebolla, & limón.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 17/06/2026

You may assume that this is enhanced, but I feel obligated to inform you that this photo looks kind of dull and shitty compared to how it looked in real life.

Dramatic sunset sky with vibrant orange and golden clouds above a silhouetted pine forested mountain landscape.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 24/03/2026

Dobby is alive and well

Chocolate and tan piebald mini dachshund with Dobby ears is looking to the left of the camera. Her front paws are on the steering wheel of the parked car she’s in.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 07/12/2025

Please accept this offering of Sprinkles the fox, who spent most of Monday snoozing under a tree outside my kitchen window.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 12/11/2025

(Totally messed up the threading here, but oh well) It wasn’t long before dogs wanted to go out again, since I’d cut their earlier walk short. The colors had waned a bit. Kids joined me for this walk, and the sky lit up again, featuring what my middle kid dubbed “the big pink.”

“The big pink” behind some very tall pine trees. The sky shifts from hot pink peeking through the lower branches of the pines, to a softer pinkish purple, to dark purple. The stars are most visible in that dark purple part of the sky, including the constellation Cassiopeia.

Color! This time, the pine trees rising out of the gulch below me in the foreground are illuminated by a porch light. The light on the horizon is kind of a seaglass green, shifting to hot pink (with light pillars) across the middle of the image, fading to a purple that’s almost black. Stars dot the sky.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 12/11/2025

I rushed back to the house to call the kids out, and the colors exploded. The clouds were moving quickly, so the scene changed dramatically in just a few minutes

Pines, aspens, and a distant mountain (all in silhouette) make up the foreground. The sky behind is almost neon green near the lowest elevations on the horizon. Hot pink light pillars rise up in the center of the image, until they meet a large cloud that’s clearly moving quickly toward the right of the image. The top left corner is filled with dark sky, dotted with stars.

Pines, aspens, and a distant mountain (all in silhouette) make up the foreground, filling the bottom half of the image. The sky behind is almost neon green near the lowest elevations on the horizon, with the higher altitudes shifting from dark purple to hot pink to light purple, moving from left to right.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 12/11/2025

I first saw a pink glow while walking the dogs. I sought higher ground for a better view. From the street end of the driveway, it looked pretty spectacular with the clouds.

A dark driveway, lined with bare aspens and pines leads uphill. Through the break in the trees at the top of the driveway, a pink glow radiates upward, shifting to a light seaglass green, which disappears into a dark grey star-studded sky.

From the top of the driveway, the dark silhouette of a mountain a few miles away sits between the pine trees and aspens that line the road. The sky is painted with fuchsia and almost a lime green, with line and dark grey clouds playing higher overhead.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 12/11/2025

Best “to my naked eye” aurora yet! (More coming!)

Pine trees in the foreground, lit by my patio light. In the background, the silhouette of a mountain is visible through the trees. The sky is a green to indigo to hot pink to dark purple to black gradient, with stars dotting the darker parts of the sky. It’s the aurora!

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 22/09/2025

In about 44 hours, I'll be wrapping up my @databsconf.com talk. Full conference schedule is at databsconf.com/schedule/ and (free!) tickets are available at ti.to/databsconf/d...

screenshot of the title page of my Data BS Conf talk
black text on a mint green background reads:
There Are No Data Emergencies*

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 18/09/2025

C wants you to know that you matter.

My mini chocolate piebald dachshund is wearing a red fleece tube with yellow and white flowers. She’s sitting on a cream colored carpet, gazing soulfully into your eyes with her big brown ones. Her goofy snoot is close enough to the camera that it’s out of focus.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 09/09/2025

@databsconf.com is just over 2 weeks away! It's a one-day, totally virtual, single-track conference centered on the real stories of data work from the folks in the trenches. Speakers and talk descriptions are live on databsconf.com, along with the link to get your (free!) ticket. #databs

Dark teal and mint invitation for dataconf.com
It's happening 2025-09-25, online, and it's free!

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 04/09/2025

Ooo ooo ooo someone said “topology” and I get to whip this out

Hand drawn explainer for the Hairy Ball Theorum

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 24/08/2025

What happens if I push this button in my new-to-me ride? I would say “wrong answers only,” but I do also actually want to know.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 01/07/2025

Cautious. Curious. First fox we’ve caught on our trail cam, though we saw footprints in the snow throughout the winter and frequently see them trotting down the street where we live.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 01/07/2025

Today’s trail cam visitors hung around for a while!

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 16/06/2025

The columbines are blooming. I think it may officially be spring!

Five light purpley-blue petals surround smaller white petals, which in turn surround a cluster of yellow stamens, on a flower that looks like it could be bowing toward the camera. It’s a columbine! A few more in bloom are behind it, and the rest of the background, in soft focus, is filled with leaves and stems.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 15/06/2025

My favorite sign from Park County #NoKings

A fuzzy photo of a sign being held overhead. It reads:
N🚫
KINGS
YAS
QUEENS

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 14/06/2025

No king, no king, lalalalalala!

Clip from the original animated The Lion King. One hyena sits on the floor, clapping, while two others prance joyously around it. The text at bottom reads “no king no no king la-la-la” — which isn’t quite how the movie audio goes, but close enough

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 12/06/2025

Well, that didn’t take long.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 26/05/2025

A #beekeeper nightmare. I am devastated.

A wooden pallet and parts of a beehive are strewn in the wet grass thanks to an overnight bear attack

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 23/05/2025

Ran off this small visitor a few minutes ago.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 14/05/2025

I gotta pocket Got a pocket full of sunshine

A honeybee rests on a wooden pallet with a rusty nail head in it. Her pockets are full of bright yellow pollen.

Slightly fuzzy super closeup of a honeybee on a wooden board. One big eye seems to be looking right at you, and an even bigger yellow-orange ball of pollen is stuck to her visible back leg.

A honeybee carries yellow-orange pockets of pollen toward the entrance of the Langstroth hive she calls home.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 02/05/2025

The average American has three friends.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 07/04/2025

As an 80s girl, stickers are one of my love languages. If I made #dataBS stickers, how many would it be sensible to make?

orange bubbly letters, outlined in dark purple, reading "#dataBS"

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 01/02/2025

The CB might not be saying why it was down, but data.cdc.gov makes it pretty clear.

screenshot of data.cdc.gov:

Data.CDC.gov is temporarily offline
Data.CDC.gov is temporarily offline in order to comply with Executive Order 14168 Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and the OPM notice dated January 29, 2025, “Initial Guidance Regarding President Trump’s Executive Order Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Defending Women).” The website will resume operations once in compliance.

Last Reviewed: January 31, 2025
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 20/01/2025

Made something that roughly resembled zeppoli tonight :D

A white paper plate filled with 11 fried balls of dough, coated in cinnamon and sugar.
This plate is now empty. They really didn’t last long.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 19/01/2025

I still think this bitter cold is some real bullshit, but it sure was pretty when I got up today.

Soft pink and blue sunrise sky, with scattered purpley-grey clouds, over a pine-and-snow covered mountain in the background. Nearer to the photographer, snow-covered pine trees and bare aspens rise up from the bottom of the image.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 19/01/2025

These icicles are bonkers.

$View from my bedroom window, looking toward the deck, which is piled with snow. Very tall pine trees can be seen beyond, filling the background on the left and center of the photo. A couple stars can be seen, and the moon is shining brightly on the right, but it’s being refracted between the extremely long icicles hanging off the roof, which fills the upper right corner of the photo.$

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 17/01/2025

It’s important to have goals. I’m making good progress on mine!

Screenshot of my phone’s mail app, showing that I have 200000 unread emails

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 09/01/2025

It’s been years since I’ve had a physical planner, and I finally acknowledged that I am a person who really does better when I am using one diligently. I was pretty excited to retrieve this critical piece of business equipment from my mailbox. @effinbirds.com

Photo of an Effin’ Birds monthly/weekly planner, sitting on top of my dark grey MacBook keyboard (which is sporting a sleeping tricolor hound sticker in the lower right corner)

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 04/01/2025

I used to say that the only things I missed about going to my old office were bagel Fridays, the amazing espresso machine, and the pebble ice machine. My former colleagues have reported that the espresso machine broke, and bagel Fridays stopped. And now, I have my own pebble ice machine at home. 🎉

Closeup of pebble ice viewed through a crystal clear window in a stainless steel countertop ice making machine.

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Amanda Alvarez @gecky.me · 27/12/2024

With bag 5 an exact copy of bag 4, and bag 6 being nearly the same, they came together very quickly. 608 pieces, but it didn’t feel like it. Fairly easy build; would be great to do as a family activity since there’s so much “do this…now do 4 more just like it.” Great addition to our Christmas decor.

Completed build of the LEGO poinsettia set, sitting on a yellow gridded plastic bin lid, photographed from a high angle. It has a large red, burgundy, and dark green flower with pale yellow center at the top, with two more large flowers and two small ones alternating around the side. The wicker basket-looking pot cannot be seen from this view, only flowers.

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