Author: SK

What should I do to be more motivated in the morning? Or perhaps I should stop trying? Not ready yet. I think it has to do with goals. I am not writing them. Should I start writing them upstairs on my small laptop? I think that’s not a bad idea. I need to hit the ground running. Maybe I need to skip the news altogether. I think that might be what I need to do.

I am learning scala and java8. I need to fast forward that learning. I need to get a deep understanding of both languages. I can’t get that with only 20 minutes in the morning. I need a solid hour in the morning. Let’s try to get that.

It feels like I’m on drugs. Really. I am running very fast. Things are coming from different angles at work. It’s a bit hectic. I need to control that better.

Coffee. I need to control my intake of it. One cup is ok, two cups, ok. But more than that? I can’t handle it. I guess I have to restrict it based on my reaction. If I start to feel “out of control” or shaky, then I have to say “stop, that’s enough.”

That’s one, two, I really have to get glasses. I might not wear them always, but I need them. My eyes hurt lately. I am thinking it’s because they’re strained. I need to pick up a pair at Costco. Hey, if glasses will help me, then I should start wearing them. Seriously. I don’t want my vision to get worse. Not doing anything will result in that.

I had a decent presentation to all developers yesterday. Good vocal variety. I wasn’t nervous at all. I was actually fairly energetic. I think the key was to coming prepared and knowing my audience.

I am also learning that I am becoming lazy. Especially in the morning. I need to change that a bit. With the allergy season here, it’s going to be harder and harder. But it’s also the topic I’m reading about. Java8 book is a bit dry at this point. But I have to keep it up. Keep it moving along! Learn more!

More discipline in what I eat. I am learning that is what my weak spot it.. Eating chocolates when I get home. Ice cream as well? Can’t do that. Maintaining weight is not easy. It is becoming harder and harder for me. But with the right approach, right attitude, I can make it happen.

Why snack? Snacking is what kills it for me. I am not able to control the intake of calories when I snack a lot. And that creates a problem.

I am currently at 194 and I want to be 185-187. Tough calls have to be made. Tough changes in regards to sweets. Am I ready to make them? I think so.

Spending time with my kids on a weekend is a great thing to do. That’s what I did. I took them to church first. Then we went to the library. After that, we wanted to go bowling, but both places were booked. It’s OK, we can recover later in the following weeks. We went to grab some good tasty meat from Mighty and it was almost time to sleep.  They shifted the clock by 1 hour, so we all lost an hour.

On a Saturday we had a party. My wife saw me around Ola dancing. She was staring. It wasn’t me that started it and I had nothing to do with it. Still, my wife was not happy. But I approached her and talked to her a bit and things recovered. I think that’s a valuable lesson. It’s always a good idea to keep close during a party. Not to let emotion build up. I thought I did that and at the end it worked well. It was a good party.

I have low tolerance for under performance. I just can’t stand it. Whether it is my workers or somebody else, things have to keep moving forward, keep chugging along.

I have a guy that needs to step it up. Big time. I am expecting a big increase in quantity and quality. 

Same thing for my son. I don’t like it when he only tries to get by, only does the minimum, or the way he works is on the verge of cheating. Take typing for instance, when learning and looking for keys on the keyboard, Or typing not using both hands… isn’t that cheating? It’s also not trying to do your best.

Doing fun stuff with my kids on a weekend is great.  I want to do something every weekend. This past weekend, we went ice skating in montclair. It was very fun. Victor, first time ice skating used the walker for the most part. But as he started to get more comfortable, he was stepping outside of his comfort zone and started to try without the walker. I was very proud when I saw that. He did it without me asking him.

Fabian also got better. He struggled at the beginning. I think he never really learned, so it took him a while to get comfortable. But in the second half, he was riding better and better and falling less and less. Towards the end he was skating by himself and making circles with others. He wanted to stay there even after Victor and I left.

We’ll do this again soon. But it’s important that we do something

It’s good to keep notes. Evernote is great for that. I keep my future plans, article to read, project status and other ideas there. It’s the best thing since sliced bread. Hoping it stays like that.

It’s not only me that wants to learn. Other in dstillery want to learn as well. Sam, ds, and others. They want to take scala. They want to learn it. I’m in for that. Learning it with others is a great way to make the learning happen, for us pushing each other. It should be interesting.

I learned that I don’t know how to deal with my weight. I have a “weekend” problem. Or my problems are exposed on nights and weekends. When I come from work, I load up on snacks, lots of food, lots of garbage. On a weekend, I eat a lot more.

I do ok on weekdays. But that’s mostly because I starve myself.

I read a few good suggestions. Instead of snacks, I need to load up on fruits and vegetables. Yes, I need to buy a lot of them so when I feel like grabbing something, I grab something healthy. That’s really the only way to move forward.

I like quality. I like delivering quality as well as giving quality.

I think with my latest changes to the dashboard have that quality. I was able to utilize TDD for that and I’m happy I did. I’ve done it many times, but any time I am able to utilize the technique, good results follow. Always. 

That’s why I’m going to push for it on my team.

In the quality part, I am expecting a push towards TDD. I want as much as possible of it. I want to “feel” it.

Write tests in the following format

given[condition]

when[action occurs]

then[assert]

That leads to tests that are easier to understand and reuse, which leads to less duplication.