Author: SK

One thing I need to more of, and put myself totally into it… is my kids. Yes, I have lot of things to do. Yes, they’re important. Yes, I would love to do the other things.

Kids are more important.

Kids are growing.

That’s the most important job for me.

I want to teach them things. I want to spend time with them.

Involve them with the jobs, if need to. GIve them something to do. Yes, that’s much better!

Fabian polish language skills are not that good anymore. I need to put a better focus on a weekend to speak 100% polish. Period.

I think I have a chest infection. At first, I thought it’s just some pain in the chest. But I’ve had it for a few days now! So I searched on the net, and found a few people with similar symptoms: big pain when caughing, and having a hard time to move. I think it might be time to get to the doctor, as few suggested, as only antibiotics can help me

I am not a handy man. I think I said it many times. But I am becoming a gardener! That is one thing that arises my interest. Plus, it’s easy to do. And very satisfying.

Starting tomatoes from seeds is so much fun! Especially with a self-watering system! So easy, actually! My tomatoes are growing very nicely.

I learned a few things yesterday. I am going to build a trellis from pvc pipes. That is going to add support for my tomatoes. Will it look bad? I don’t think it’s going to look worse than having different sized sticks in the ground. But we’ll see after I put it in place. Should be fairly easy to do.

One thing I didn’t do, that I still need to do, is to add an 1/4″ of peat moss on top of the grass after overseeding. Moss keeps moisture. Moss helps to improve the soil. And moss is much less expensive than other solutions! More moss for me!

Am I too much into gardening?

I don’t think so. Why should I be ashamed of something that I like. Plus, it gives me lots of fun. My kids like it as well.

Yesterday, I learned a better way to aearate. You go North-South, then East-West. You then overseed. And then aearate again. It’s also best to apply fertilizer before, like a week or so, so when overseeding, it’ll already be in ground. And it’s best to overseed in late fall. I’m thinking September is a good time to do it. 

My garden beds are waiting for me. I will start some seeds. Probably tonight.

I took a sick day yesterday. I had a hard time opening my eyes, my head was spinning. Things were not working out very well. 

So I decided to stay home. After taking Motrin, things started to get better. I actually felt pretty good after that! I could have gone to work, but since it’s only  a 2nd time I take a sick day, it’s totally fine I think.

So I went to Kazik and Ewa. He gave me some natural medicine. So far, it appears to be working. Really well, actually. I did not have to wake up during the night. Not sneezing that much, either. It would be a great discovery if it worked. Too early to tell. Other than that. allergy this season is really bad. I hate it. I hate it!

It’s been some time since I wrote an entry. Why? Why am I not writing more? Or what happened?

Time change.

Allergy.

Not getting enough sleep.

Those are the reasons.

I control only the last one. And allergy I think I can control a little better. 

This year, allergy has been pretty bad. It started early, for one. It seems to be stronger, for two, And it is predicted to last longer, for three.

But it seems like Benadryl is my friend. It’s helping me manage this worse sickness ever. But I have to take it often. Every 4 or 5 hours. And also during the night. It helps me sleep a little better, a nice side benefit at night. 

I really hope it’s not going to ge worse. There are a few days, I remember, that are hard to control. Things are just out of control, when that happens. My friend B does not help. But hopefully that will not happen this year. Big hope.

Allergy season is here again. This year, it’s really early. It’s only March and for the last couple of days I’ve been “feeling” it. Yes, I’ve been having bad allergy days. Well, not so bad, but things are not as usual either. My eyes are watery. I sneeze a lot. My nose is running — and that really annoys my wife. So I’ve started taking Benadryl which helps a lot, but it’s almost not allowing me to read. Oh, well, I need to adjust.

We are on week #2 for our tomato seeds. And we’ve got close to 50%, actually more than that. Let’s see if all of them sprout. If not, I think I should have around 15 or so out of 24. I think more will germinate as they are showing up daily. My sons are into it. They check on the plants daily. It’s really making this process more collaborative, which is why it’s cool.

I sometimes feel that I’m stupid. I really do. I sometimes doubt myself.

I have weak spots. Plenty of them.

But I also have some strong spots! One of the strong spots is that I am a simplifier. I make things simple. Whether it is programming artificts. Whether it is UI artifacts. I try to make them simple. Communication wise, same thing. Great thing about this, is that I can apply these things to anything I do. It’s not necessarily related to Java, language I know the most. It’s something I can apply to anything. And as I broaden my skills, whether it is python, or my lawn, I apply these skills. With great results. Generally, I am happy with what I produce.

Less so with my communication skills. With the way I explain myself. I need to work on this area. I also need to practice graphical drawings, white-board drawing. It’s a required skills for senior and lead engineers. Without it, I might not be able to go far. I need to start practicing. My notebook is a good starting point.

With good and bad, I can still chug along!

Clock change is having a negative effect on me… waking up an hour earlier will take time to get used to. But on the other hand, when I get home at 6pm, it should be still very bright. That is something very cool. I should be able to go out and do some work outside, or play outside with kids. Great thing to do!

Starting tomatoes from seeds is a very good idea, it turns out. Everybody gets a big kick out of it. Even myself. But especially my kids. They love seeing the plants grow. Fabian gets excited. Even Victor wants to look at them. It is really cool. And it is not that expensive either. Well, initial cost is not small, but after a few years, I should get my money’s worth. It is so worth it, and so much fun!

I also overseeded some clover on Saturday. Still early. We then had some frost the next day. But there was a great article on starting clover lawn, that said that “frost seeding” with clover is possible. As clover will find a way to the soil when the frost melts. Not bad thinking.

My left ankle is bother me more often lately. Not sure what it is. I might be putting too much pressure on it. But doing what? Good question. Since I am not doing anything special. Perhaps good old rest will help.

Still waiting for the first sign of growth from my tomato seeds. I’m curiuos to see if anything sprouts out. There should be some sign of life in the next few days. I will be watching!

I am dying to work on my garden. To work on my lawn, specifically. I have a few ideas I am going to try. First of them is planting clover. Really? Clover? Isn’t that a weed. Yes, but it is a complimentary weed. It causes nitrogen fixation, basically bringing nitrogen to its neighbords. It’s really cool.

So I will plant some clover tomorrow. Early? It’s only Mar 10th. Still, I want to try it out.

I read an interesting article on clover yesterday, put on deliciuos, that also says that clover needs to be reseeded every 2-3 years. I should take note of that.