Wow, April seems to have arrived quickly this year; much more so than spring. It’s unseasonably chilly out right now.
A lot has happened since the beginning of 2011. Honsi Mubarak has been ousted from his political position in Egypt and the event has inspired a revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, floods and all sorts of crazy weather in here the US, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami, along with the resulting nuclear tragedy in Japan, and the Aquabats got their long-planned TV show green lit.
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Not to trivialize what’s going on in the Middle East right now, but all political and humanitarian views aside, Mubarak and Gaddafi have some pimp shit going on for themselves. Mubarak is sporting suits where the pinstripes consist of his name, and Gaddafi’s walking around with an all-female elite bodyguard force. Seriously – they’re an all virgin hand-picked group known as his “Amazon Guard”.
P Diddy has neither. Keep your head up, pal.
All of this makes what’s going on in my life seem very trivial, but since we are now one quarter in to the year it feels like a good time to look back at my list of resolutions and perform a bit of a check-in on things. If you haven’t read my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions post, take a few minutes to check it out. Doing so will make all of this a lot clearer than it would be otherwise.
Make the 9 to 5 more fun and rewarding
Work is busy. There are a ton of large projects going on simultaneously, but we are managing to get things completed on schedule (so far) and with a level of quality that I feel is acceptable. There have been a fair number of hiccups over the past few months, but nothing we haven’t been able to learn from and correct. I’ve been able to send my staff to some minor training sessions and we are collectively working on improving some common skills with the goal of achieving a certification together at some point in the next 6 months or so.
Even with the workload as it is, we’ve been able to maintain a sense of humor and keep a mostly positive attitude about everything that’s going on. For instance, one of the higher-ups congratulated a coworker and me on exceeding a goal that was set for us in March and after the typical round of applause from others in the meeting I said, “Thanks. As a reward for meeting and exceeding the goal, I’d like to request that a George Foreman grill is purchased for my office.” The day before, I quoted MC Hammer when talking about Social Media and marketing strategies. I’ll settle for a Panini press.
Give Back.
My former supervisor, NFTE’s CFO, is no longer with the organization. Having the opportunity to work with him again was one of the main motivations behind doing some sort of volunteer work in their offices, so his absence changes things. That isn’t to say that I no longer want to give my time, it just means that this has moved down on my list of items for now. The organization has undergone so many changes since I left in 2007 that it feels a bit alien to me. It’s something that I felt during my visit back in December, and his departure makes it all the more so.
A few people have said that I may be a good mentor to a younger person. I don’t necessarily disagree, but could see that as being a bit more realistic say, 5 years from now. I feel like I’m still too young and have a lot more to experience before I can confidently guide another person in any way. It’s still very flattering to hear, though.
I’ve started working on a new paging plugin for WordPress. There are a couple of very popular ones out there, but I always find them to be a bit limited when it comes to styling. Mine will be simpler to install and configure, and much more flexible in terms of design. I’m also working on an “auto linking” module for Drupal. It was originally an idea for latina.com, but evolved in to a separate project that I’m working on in my own time. When completed, it will be a super easy way to create a lot of internal links to content without taking any of the editors’ time.
Stop trying to change what cannot be changed
Taking the time to step away from a situation and completely evaluate it before making any commitments has been one of the best resolutions I could have made for myself. There have been times where I’ve decided to take on something I felt passionately about, and others where I’ve taken a step back and let the cards fall. Doing so has worked out well and I think that it has also caused people around me to think twice before coming to me with small items that are blown out of proportion.
This doesn’t mean that there are situations I’d like to change that I’ve given up hope on, I’ve simply gotten to the point where I understand that some things are out of my control and I simply need to deal with them as exist.
Spend more time with friends & family
You don’t get to have a conversation with someone who has been around for over a century too often, and this is something I’ve been lucky enough to do lately. I’ve seen my grandparents several times since January, which is more than I have in the past few years. It’s crazy to see how alert they are, even in old age.
Making more time to be around friends has been good too. I try to have lunch with someone, at least once a week, and have been making somewhat regular plans with folks during the evenings or weekends. Ok – not as much as I’d like, but way more than before. Yes Rob, this means going to the 311/Sublime show in the summer. No Nick, this does not mean paintball – although I do owe you so we’ll find something else to do.
I need to take some time and get myself to Boston. I’ve been talking about visiting a friend up there for over a year now. There will have to be a bit of downtime in June, once most of the major projects currently underway are completed, and I will hop on Amtrak and get myself some Red Sox memorabilia.
Ok, that was a stretch. Fuck the Red Sox.
There is also the possibility of an epic, spiritual cross country quest with one goal in mind; a sandwich containing macaroni and cheese. Yes, oh yes.
Clear my plate of unimportant items
There are way fewer lists, wireframes and schematics cluttering up my life these days. Boom.
Do more, think less.
I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time as I want to the clothing-related projects as I’ve wanted to, but have 2 screens prepared and ready to go when I can dedicate a couple of days to printing up some shirts. I’ve also found a couple of shops that I may just have print up a few hundred shirts for me if I don’t produce any on my own in the next few months. I’d really prefer to be the one producing the shirts though, I really enjoy going through the process.
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I’m still making marshmallows, just way less often than before. I will be making a ton of tasty chocolate-dipped toasted coconut marshmallows for an upcoming wedding, but don’t have any plans to produce more than the occasional batch outside of that.
Find love
Things are going well in this area, but I’m not going to write about it and see shit go crazy as a result.
Sharpen my mind
I’ve decided that it will be better for me to strengthen existing skills before developing new ones. Beginning to learn Ruby, while probably a good idea, is just adding another item that I wouldn’t be fully invested in, to my to-do list. Instead I will spend time working in PHP and finally learning more about implementing the MVC design pattern. I’ve already decided to use the CakePHP framework – now I just need to figure out when I’ll get started.
Memcache is the shit. APC makes me cry tears of joy. Just putting that out there for the individuals who understand what I’m talking about.
I’ve read several pieces of literature since the beginning of the year:
- Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record by Percy Greg
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
On a side note, I was sorely disappointed with the BBC’s 2010 television adaptation of The First Men in the Moon. There was so much from the text missing that the story felt incomplete and at several points it did H.G. Wells a huge injustice. The proliferation of new life on the moon’s surface during the warmer portion of the lunar day, the diversity of the moons inhabitants, the protagonists’ struggle to escape the moon – all absent from the television version. So much of this contributed to the story and the visuals created while reading that the modern production felt like a shell of the original.
I’m also reading Immanuel Kant’s The Critique of Practical Reason. It’s quite the departure from the fictional texts I’ve been spending time with.
Improve my physical being.
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I’m still working out on a regular basis and have not had any significant health problems since I wrote my resolutions. I can see an increase in muscle definition in my arms and legs, but haven’t lost any weight worth noting. I’m patient and realize that I’m losing weight here and there, and increasing muscle at the same time. It’s all good. I am however becoming very impatient with this weather – I want to get out and enjoy some fresh air already!
I don’t have another big ass box of candy to show this time around, so this huge fucking case of Cracker Jack will have to do. You’d think there would be an RC car or something in there.
Well, there you have it. The past 3 months have been good and I’m very happy that I gave the whole resolution thing a shot this year. Enough writing, it’s time for some Eastbound and Down. I’m fucking out.
Apr 3, 2011
Apr 3, 2011
Apr 3, 2011