Category: Uncategorized

I learned that good upbeat atmosphere during a demo is important. Having a good intro as well as a good summary is good as well. That’s what distinguishes good from great.

I saw a DX demo yesterday. They did a lot of work and demo was very effective. The way they presented it was not very effective. More energy guys. It was missing a summary as well. I think I have to make sure we have it well prepared. 

Preparing a demo is not easy. I don’t remember a lot of the stuff. But it is important that I prepare well so we look polished. Presenting things well goes a long way. People can then check it after we’re done. 

My son is rejecting writing. He never likes to do it. He says he knows how to do it.

I think that’s exactly why I have to make him do it.

It’s an important life skill. Writing well can do wonders. And only through practice he can get better. No question about it.

On a different subject, I’m not practicing drawing diagrams. I wanted to make good strides in that regard this year. So what’s stopping me? Why can’t I draw boxes for the systems? Is it that hard? I don’t think so. It’s a matter of getting comfortable. 

My kids love to play with me. I am usually tired after work. But I should find those 10 to 20 minutes and play with them.

But I also want to introduce good practices to them. Reading is one of them. Especially for Victor. I need to think of a strategy. I should try to introduce Richard Scary’s books to him. I think he might like that.

I am getting good feedback all around. So far, I got good feedback from W and T. And yesterday, I got it from my manager.

So it’s all great.

Perhaps. I feel comfortable managing. I think I am providing good feedback for people under me.

Technically, I think I have ways I need to improve. 2014 is the year of confidence building. I will learn our systems better. I will rely on my knowledge to make sure that I understand everything. I will introduce documentation changes. I will build out my courage and confidence so I can draw things on the board. Yes, I will do that. I need to do that. I am still missing that knowledge. 

I took my son sking yesterday. We went to Shawnee Mt in PA. It was his first time. And guess what, he was sking down the mountain,the big one, all by himself. We still got some learning to do, but he learned the how to keep control, turn a little, as well as to stop. Stopping was my main goal. And he nailed it. Really proud of him.

I stayed calm. I gave him my lessons. And he just took it. It was almost natural.

At 8 am he had an indoor soccer game. He played well also. He was running around, opening up, dribbling a litte. All things I told him to do. Well done, Fabian, well done. He enjoys playing soccer so I am going to sign him up for a stepped up soccer program, the shooting stars! I think if he qualifies, and I don’t think why not, he should elevate his skill level. He should play much better. But the program starts in the summer, I believe, so we have to wait and see.

I learned a few things today.

First, I realized that I want to stand up for other developers. I want to be a developer proxy that will fight for our rights. We’ve got to stand for ourselves. We’ve got to have things that change that make our lives better. We’ve got to push for changes that will keep improving our working conditions.

Over the year, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot. But we’ve also lost as a top-notch dev shop. I could be wrong. Other devs might have a different view, who knows.

Anyway, how can I accomplish that. By being vocal is the only way I know. By talkimg to right people. By asking for it. By writing about it. 

I’ve put away my writing for a while. Time to get back to it.

I also learned another thing. It’s minor, but finally learned how to multiple decimals! woohoo! I guess I know but I forgot. Oh, well. 🙂

I realized something today. I want to be 100% positive person. I don’t want to criticize, I want to ask for me, suggest.  And I want to keep doing it. Any time I criticize, there are negative outcomes. Especially at home. My wife does not take criticism well. Then I should change that.

I want to be a walking positivity man. 

So here’s a challenge. I want to convert to being that way in February. It takes roughly a month for a new habit to be set in stone. Day by day, I want to start doing that.

I’ve always wanted to be positive, so why not start now?

I got sick. I think I got a stomach bug, stomach flu, or stomach virus. Whathever it is, it is nasty and it’s painful the first day. I was suffering, I was puking. I did not sleep well. The next day, yesterday, I did not have a good apetite. But it’s over. I woke up today feeling much better. I almost went to work but decided to stay an extra day. I tried to work from home. 

I am hoping tomorrow will be back to normal. I am planning to wake up at 5 and going to work at normal time. 

It’s hard to work from home, that’s what I learned. My windows machine is not really equipped to all that I need. I should setup my workstation with linux. 

We are learning as a team. I’m pushing that we learn. I am learning myself. It’s a good thing, extra adrenaline push, extra push to research a topic.

I am learning. I presented yesterday. I was struggling with a topic. And then, I discovered Kanban. It’s a new agile process. I researched it. I was reading about it, and I came up with a presentation. It worked very well. And now I know more about it. It worked out well for me!

While we’re on the subject, I’m going to start pushing alternatives and changes. We’re due for a change.

Big day for me today. I won 2 innovation idea awards today! Excellent day, good to see others having faith in me. 

I am an introvert. I can’t change that and I don’t want to change that. But I have good ideas. I can write. Writing is my tool. Writing is my strenght. I need keep doing that. I need to keep writing, keep utilizing the tool.

Days like today make me feel good about my workplace, about dstillery.