On Habits

I took a couple days off from my regular gym routine because my left wrist and forearm was dying from the increased guitar practice (for a gig that happened last Saturday, pic on my Tumblr).

When I tried to come back to it yesterday, my mind was all over the place. I forgot what weight I was supposed to start on. I almost forgot to bring everything I needed, including goggles and towels. I completely forgot about my post-workout protein and banana.

Which brings me to my point: Cultivate good habits. And have those habits create even awesomer habits. Of course, this can go both ways… like my need to have some kind of carbonated drink with a super oily meal.

I don’t know what came first, my current habit of going to the gym or eating a healthier breakfast, but my breakfast has changed into green tea and oatmeal these days. This has been super nutritional and cheap and time-saving. Just win win win.

Tonight’s post should have been much more informative, alas, trying to turn this into a habit has failed.

Gotta start somewhere.

Next Couple Of Weeks

Got to get my live eSport fix somehow. Since Evo is right here in town, and it’s free, I will be attending that, instead of driving down to Anaheim for MLG. I missed DEF CON last year after getting into Vegas, so I think I’ll stop by. $150 isn’t bad for a new set of experiences. And from then… looks like I’ll be trekking down to San Antonio to hang out with a good ol’ friend of mine.

And then… who knows. Me and my car, roaming the wastelands, er, countryside. San Antonio to Seattle might be doable. We’ll see…

One Project At A Time

Time to get back to what I do best, doing things on a list, one step at a time.

Going too freestyle and trying to be more agile on my toes helped me to see a different side of myself, but in terms of getting actual results, I have to go back to setting aside a plan and executing it.

There are so many little things I have yet to even start, and the list only grows longer.

So now, let’s see if I can share a bit of what I’ve done and will continue to do. Maybe it’ll help you along the way.

The blog is mine again. Not led by any trolls trololing, but I will now do as I please.

Going…

I’m not going where you think I’m going, but I’m definitely going somewhere.

How’s that for some vagueness?

Man, WordPress 3.2 is hot. Little changes really do make the difference, I feel. Definitely a win for the Internet at large, for everyone who just wants to write, and not think about the technology stack as much.

Which brings to where I’m going, in terms of my thoughts on technology, wow it really doesn’t matter if this site is being run on electricity via hamster wheels or nuclear energy because the ‘thing’ that I’m providing are the words.

Creating things via created things. Do what works, and move on.

Oh, and where am I going, geographically? I think I’m going to head up to Seattle. Still need to finish up a few things here in Vegas, but I think it’s the best choice with what I have.

// Oh, or San Antonio. Who knows.

Rails 3.1 Beta

So Rails 3.1 beta just came out recently, a fact I found out as I watched the RailsConf 2011 keynote. Also a new Railscast (ASCIIcasts is really what I prefer) on the subject was posted.

I guess I’m taking a break from all the JavaScript diving I’ve been doing in the past two days. So many programming challenges… argh. I do hope that the next time I’m in this situation, I have enough source code available online so that I don’t have to wade through this process, but right now it’s completely understandable on the part of my prospective companies to ask me to do these things.

Three passes already, but plenty more companies left. Gotta keep rolling. SF Ho!

Syntax Error? Nope.

Logical punctuation, please.

I’ve had this issue since around the time I started to write online. Commas, periods, parens, single/double quoations… I knew what the “proper” rules were, dictated to me by whoever was grading my papers at that time.

But since I make my own rules here, I decided to just keep going with what I felt to be correct. And especially in the Hacker Writing Style, computer syntax would override “proper” English grammar. So I’m pretty sure I kept up my own little system for punctuation.

Maybe it drove a couple of you crazy, but there was a method to the madness, is really all I’m trying to say here.

So if I parens (like so), then the comma comes after it. But if what was in the parens was a full sentence, then I would separate it out, and even include it in the sentence. (But then again, I really should be tangenting this stuff anyway in footnotes, but I absolutely hate footnotes. Probably the better way to do this is to have a second column or some other visual system to go DEEPER.)

Also: Suck it, spellchecker. Parens is a word now.

Just a couple interesting links from Hacker News.

Spark

Some mornings, it takes a while to get started.

This is why some people like to leave tasks undone when they close up shop for the day, so that they can just pick up where they left off.

For me, though, I just have to find out some way to create something to get started.

And I guess that’s what this post is for. Have a happy rest of the day today.

SF Ho!

The more I think about it, the more I can’t look away.

Ever since I moved away from So Cal and started high school in Ohio and college in Illinois, I’ve slowly been moving towards the West Coast.

Looking for a job is always a bit of a pain, but all these companies that I’m talking with are getting me all the more excited.

So hopefully, one of these companies accept me as their own, and I can be awesome with them, too.

Or, I may stay in the Valley I currently reside, the Las Vegas one, working at a smaller robotics and electronics gig, doing more of the same stuff I love to do.

Oh right, for those of you that are keeping count, I’ve had three different “jobs” in Vegas since I got there, and it would be fourth if I choose to stay.

Limited Hours In The Day

I’m not sure why I realized this fact now, but man, it sucks to realize it.

There are so many things I want to learn in web dev, and as I go into the depths of the “NoSQL” world, I realize that I really am not going to be able to learn everything there is to know about even one type of these newfangled database systems.

The day is still young. Can’t let this realization stop me from getting more done.

Just 5 lbs more on the bar today. Just one more hour today. Just one more commit today. Today.

The Lovely Tangents

Now I realize why I’ve always had a feed reader project in the back of my mind.

One, because it’s something I use every single day.

But a much more self-mutilating reason? It creates tangents.

The wonderful world of shiny toys and goodies, ranging from the daily must-read posts to the thoughtful, world shattering essay articles that gets published once a month.

The self-defeating cycle is that these goodies, no matter how awesome they are, keep preventing me from actually making headway on this project of mine.

Here’s a free example: Dwarf Fortress. How I visited this site, I don’t actually remember. I do remember hearing about it many times since I turned to indie games, but… it’s time to close this tab out.

Oh hey, it’s an article on Unmoved Mover on Wikipedia. Totally came to this page via listening to the awesome talk that Chris Hecker gave at Berkeley I was thinking about going to. Close that.

Oh hai, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. I should be reading you, too. Save it for later.

Oh good god, the post on Xsplit I’ve been trying to write for a couple days since switch over from the accursed Flash Media Live Encoder bullcrap.

Ah, now back to my Redis tab. I am at peace again.