Author: SK

Yes, commuting home from work is not the best. I just talked to Tom and told him that by starting at 8AM I hit traffic both ways. This is not the best scenario and not the best thing to do for me. It’s just wasting my time for now.
Tomorrow we have a Breakfast meeting at my Toastmasters club. Wow, it’s been a full year since I have been the president of the club. Time goes by very fast. Have I improved? I think I have improved a lot. I gained a lot of confidence. I improved my eye contact.
But I have ways to go. I still don’t have a very good eye contact. I am getting better when I look at people, but I still look away at times. When I talk to a group of people, though, I have serious issues. I seem to be moving my head too much. I just cannot be relaxed and move my head a little bit at a time. This is important that I start doing it! I need to have a good, direct contact with people – 5 secs per person. I need to just relax when I talk. I should talk as I’m talking to a single person. I seem to feel a lot of pressure when I talk to a group of people. That’s not good. I cannot let that prevent me from doing a better job and improving more. I have to get better in that regard.

Tom, my manager was selected for a jury duty. I am in charge of Connex development now. I think I can take care of it and be successful. Would I be able to do it full time? No, not yet. I told Tom, when he told me that he might leave if things don’t improve, that I probably need at least 6 more months before I can take it on my own. But I would not be able to do it if I don’t take learning about the system seriously.
I still have a lot of stuff I want to learn and read. I want to finish the Thinking in Java book as soon as possible. After that, I want to read the Jboss book that is coming out. After that, I have hibernate to learn. After that, I want to learn AJAX and JSF. That’s a lot of learning right there. Enough for at least a couple of months. But I have to do it if I want to move ahead and maybe find a new company. I should remember that my goal is to become an architect first and manager; if I can combine the two, even better.
Fabian is a great kid. We’re really happy to have him. He gives us so much fun. I don’t have all the energy after work to play with him, but I try to do that every day. He is developing in a fast paste way. I am really happy that my family is doing great. It’s just a great feeling and almost a dream come true.

This was a long day and a rough long night.
Fabian is still being breastfed throughout the night by mommy. He could not be fed from 12AM, as told by the hospital. Mom gave him some milk a quarter before 12. Everything good so far. He woke up at 2AM and since then it wasn’t easy. He was crying, moving, He did not want to fall asleep and constantly was looking for mommy’s milk. He finally fell asleep at around 4AM. He slept till 5:30 and till 6AM, when we got to the Holy Name Hospital.
The surgery was not that bad. He did not really cry. The doctor at the hospital was very good. I liked him.
Fabian did cry at home a little. But I bought him some medicine and since then he has been very happy. The curcumsized penis now looks much better. It was definitely worth it.

I have not been doing a diligent job writing this blog entry. I like writing it every workweek, or almost every work day, but I don’t think I’m doing enough writing. From now on, I will write for 5 minutes at least every time I write. I should also write at least an entry on a weekend. Maybe I can do it either Saturday or Sunday morning. I should try to do it both ways.
What should I write about? Anything I learn, anything I observe, anything I like: anything! This is a journal and I can write anything!
Fabian has a surgery tomorrow. My wife is terrified. I am scared as well but I think this is the best time to do it. It’s better than waiting till after the vacation. It would be stressful during the summer. What is it? He needs to have a follow up circumcision surgery. The doctors at the hospital did not do a good job when he was born. 🙁
Fabian is really developing nicely. He is almost walking! And he’s not even 10 months yet. He is more and more at ease when he does walk. I think he’ll be walking in 2-4 weeks. We’ll see.
There is one funny thing he does. When playing with other kids, he is stubborn. When Michael wanted to take away a toy from him or did not want to give him a toy, Fabian just started using his force and screamed. He did not cry, he was just forcing Michael to give it to him. It might be his age but we’ll see. 🙂

I started work at 8AM today… I thought the traffic is going to be better. Guess what? The traffic was worse! A lot worse, actually. Starting at 8 is just going to make my life more difficult. I am going to hit traffic both ways, going there and going back. Not a good situation. Definitely not one that I can sustain…
But there is light on the horizon. My manager stood up by me. We talked about it on Friday and both are pissed about this situation… He is going to talk to Tim about this. He asked me what my ideal hours would be. I told him 9 to 7. He said OK, he’s going to talk to Tim about that. We’ll see what happens. I certainly don’t really want to start looking for a new job yet…

Anything good comes to an end. It is looking more and more that my good run here at Markit might begin the downward movement… I hope not, but it sure sounds like it. We received an email from the local CTO that we have to come in at 8AM everyday. This really hits me especially. I usually come in at 9-9:15. Coming at 8 will force me to leave at around 7:15. What that does is it is cutting my reading time. It’s unacceptable for me. I have to read in order to stay and get ahead. If this continues, I might as well take a different job. I have only been here for 4 months! I’ll stick around till at least a year but I have to have my competitive advantage. Reading a lot was it. If it is stopped, then I don’t have a real reason to stay.

digress
– zbaczac z tematu
– To turn aside, especially from the main subject in writing or speaking; stray.
digress: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com
http://www.leksyka.pl/search?sp=digress

A fairly quiet day today. Did not do anything special. I read an interesting article about Java Configuration from the Spring framework. It’s how you can write XML free spring configs. Pretty cool, actually. I should look deeper into this.
There are 2 interesting books coming out from Manning. Ajax in Practice and Jboss in Action. I am going to read both of them when they are released.
One word I keep forgetting… audacious. What does it mean? Bold! That’s what I think. Let me check. Yep, I got it right. I learned something new today. Did I do something I fear? I did not have anything in that regard. I called Bernie. 

I think I have the best manager I’ve had ever. Tom and I get along well. We don’t agree on everything, but that’s a sign of a healthy relationship. The only bad thing, and the thing that can break us, is the work we’re working on. It’s not the most exciting, and also requires a lot of maintenance. Tom is being fed up with it, slowly. Hopefully, things will go in a better direction and we have a clear vision of the product we’re working on. If not, I foresee Tom being out by the end of 2007. We’ll see.
My goal is to learn a new word everyday. What did I learn today? Graft – it is taking one’s position to have an advantage in buying something. I just looked up the word.
Am I doing something I fear everyday? I am trying to, I think.
I found out that I got out of the habit of waking up early in the morning. Why? Because when I do wake up, like today, I feel very sleepy. I had to go back for 10-15 minutes. The trick, I think, is not to go to bed totally. I just slept on top of the cover. This seems to do the trick. It is not comfortable to do so like that.

I thought of a business opportunity that I might want to create. Companies are having hard time screening out people they want. They ask the recruiter to do the screening, however, the recruiters don’t do a good job. What I could do, is implement a solution which would allow employees to have their own tests. I would also create my own questions. Ideally, this would force the candidate to come in for a test, have a limited amount of time, and walk out. This way, there would be no cheating. In either way, this is a big hole that is not being filled by any services that are useful.
Just like yesterday, I failed to wake up on time. I am failing in this regard and I will try to set my habit straight starting from tomorrow. I want to go to sleep at around 10:30 every day, and not later. Period.