Ben's Busy Blog
My personal online journal of daily accomplishments and setbacks
Tuesday Wrap-UpTuesday, October 31, 2006
I don't know what was wrong with me today, but I just couldn't thaw my brain, my wooden brain. I achieved a few simple things, mostly manual labor, but over-all, I was unable to get anything done today. I am still groggy and lethargic despite napping and caffeinating. It just isn't helping. I don't feel angry at myself though. I haven't spent a day on my thumbs for a while, and maybe spending today mostly on my thumbs will help.
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure I think this is where my downfall began, but on some levels, I think that this was multiplied by the inspired thinking I did yesterday.
+ Didn't bike
Failure This was where the day became obvious as a bearish proposition. I got close to the bike, and then sat down on the couch. About a half hour of zen thoughtlessness passed before I decided that I might do better with a long shower.
+ Unable to concentrate, I played videogames
After showering and breakfast, I thought that awarding myself some relaxation time would recharge my mental stamina. All I learned was that Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is fun, but makes me feel kinda guilty running around killing innocent bystanders.
+ Wedding details
I had to handle some email and phone calls for wedding stuff
+ Ran out for errands
We ran out to the bank and the little Oriental grocery. I got Pocky :)
+ Cleaned up harddrive
I can't recommend WinDirStat any higher. It's a great tool for finding out just where your harddrive space has wandered off to. I just wish that I could find a decent duplicate file finder
+ Crashed for an hour nap
This helped a little... but not much
+ Cleaned up geek room
Let me tell you that carrying a very heavy air conditioner is not always good for your back. Everything else was pretty easy to move, but it took some collaboration with Natty in order to find out if some things could be thrown away.
+ Uploaded videos to YouTube
Nat said that if I wasn't too good at anything non-menial, that perhaps this would be a good usage of my time. Enjoy the cat videos folks!
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure I think this is where my downfall began, but on some levels, I think that this was multiplied by the inspired thinking I did yesterday.
+ Didn't bike
Failure This was where the day became obvious as a bearish proposition. I got close to the bike, and then sat down on the couch. About a half hour of zen thoughtlessness passed before I decided that I might do better with a long shower.
+ Unable to concentrate, I played videogames
After showering and breakfast, I thought that awarding myself some relaxation time would recharge my mental stamina. All I learned was that Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is fun, but makes me feel kinda guilty running around killing innocent bystanders.
+ Wedding details
I had to handle some email and phone calls for wedding stuff
+ Ran out for errands
We ran out to the bank and the little Oriental grocery. I got Pocky :)
+ Cleaned up harddrive
I can't recommend WinDirStat any higher. It's a great tool for finding out just where your harddrive space has wandered off to. I just wish that I could find a decent duplicate file finder
+ Crashed for an hour nap
This helped a little... but not much
+ Cleaned up geek room
Let me tell you that carrying a very heavy air conditioner is not always good for your back. Everything else was pretty easy to move, but it took some collaboration with Natty in order to find out if some things could be thrown away.
+ Uploaded videos to YouTube
Nat said that if I wasn't too good at anything non-menial, that perhaps this would be a good usage of my time. Enjoy the cat videos folks!
Monday Wrap-UpMonday, October 30, 2006
Today was a great day for me because I sat down and just worked on something for most of the day, and it has proven to be vastly rewarding. The most exciting part of it all is that I believe that implementing a single design across the entire site is going to be really easy! Thank God for CSS!! I'm sorry I ever doubted you, external style sheets!
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure, but it would have been even worse if I hadn't pushed for it a bit.
+ Did some laundry
Meh, I keep on thinking about calling this an achievement, but it's not that special. Yes, I know I've been doing a lot of laundry the last few days, but I have just been working through a backlog of it.
+ Finalized style 1.0 for LiquidWiki
ACHIEVEMENT! w00t w00t! I spent all day working on this and now the wiki has been completely upgraded to the new skin. It's set as default for everyone.
+ Setup LiquidBen News blog for site frontpage
Achievement! It doesn't look like much yet, but I've dropped in the basics, and I'm already looking at what it would take to create a template which adheres to the style of the wiki. From what I understand, the template's just a basic html document with special blog includes, which means that I might be able to simply strip and retrofit a working wiki page's code. Blogger should do just fine with the external CSS. I'll tell you what: this is making me feel pretty damned smart! ;-D
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure, but it would have been even worse if I hadn't pushed for it a bit.
+ Did some laundry
Meh, I keep on thinking about calling this an achievement, but it's not that special. Yes, I know I've been doing a lot of laundry the last few days, but I have just been working through a backlog of it.
+ Finalized style 1.0 for LiquidWiki
ACHIEVEMENT! w00t w00t! I spent all day working on this and now the wiki has been completely upgraded to the new skin. It's set as default for everyone.
+ Setup LiquidBen News blog for site frontpage
Achievement! It doesn't look like much yet, but I've dropped in the basics, and I'm already looking at what it would take to create a template which adheres to the style of the wiki. From what I understand, the template's just a basic html document with special blog includes, which means that I might be able to simply strip and retrofit a working wiki page's code. Blogger should do just fine with the external CSS. I'll tell you what: this is making me feel pretty damned smart! ;-D
Sunday Wrap-Up
*** Daily review ***
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure! I really need to get better at this. I mean, this night had the extra hour thanks to daylight savings!
+ Didn't bike
Failure! I shouldn't let myself do this. I got close to doing it, then flipped a coin, bailing out merrily when it came up in favor of being a quitter. At least I'm biking most days
+ Did laundry
Nothing special here
+ Did garbage
Argh! Only to find out later that a prescription was missing and that I might have thrown it out
+ Watched Steelers game
This will be the last Steelers game this season to usurp my time. I confess, I really enjoyed being able to wear official Steelers gear with a "Ben" on it. Now I'm kinda disgusted. Cowher, you should have given Roethlesberger the week off. We lost by a touchdown, and Ben threw 4 picks; two of which were converted immediately for touchdowns. The numbers don't lie: Ben needs benched for his own sake before he ends his career or even his life.
+ Wrote up game concept in wiki
Achievement! Sure, it wasn't towards a goal, but I really enjoyed this idea, and look forward to developing it further. Unfortunately, it would be a pretty heavy mod to implement, but it's possible. Maybe it'll make the demo reel some year in the future.
+ Improved tiling background for wiki
Achievement! I won't tinker with the tiling background further. I've gotten it to the point where it doesn't annoy me. I hope 22KB isn't too big. I know my site doesn't get much traffic, but if it catches on, every bit like that counts. Of course if I want to worry, I'll downsize the Trepanation of Atlas banner image
+ More wiki security research
Achievement I don't like taking credit for open ended jobs, but I put some work into this. It looks like I"m going to do an inversion of the traditional security model. I'm going to lock out unregistered users from read access for all resources, but then I'll create a separate public namespace and allow them to read that. I'd prefer that articles are protected by default, and then publicized by choice and action.
+ Searched trash for missing prescription
Ugh, this sucked. At least I knew which bag it was in, so that limited the degredations possible at the dumpster
+ Weekly goals review
This thing takes forever! :-D
*** Weekly goals review ***
*** Discipline Review ***
*** New weekly goals ***
*** Discipline Targets ***
And I'm done for the night!
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure! I really need to get better at this. I mean, this night had the extra hour thanks to daylight savings!
+ Didn't bike
Failure! I shouldn't let myself do this. I got close to doing it, then flipped a coin, bailing out merrily when it came up in favor of being a quitter. At least I'm biking most days
+ Did laundry
Nothing special here
+ Did garbage
Argh! Only to find out later that a prescription was missing and that I might have thrown it out
+ Watched Steelers game
This will be the last Steelers game this season to usurp my time. I confess, I really enjoyed being able to wear official Steelers gear with a "Ben" on it. Now I'm kinda disgusted. Cowher, you should have given Roethlesberger the week off. We lost by a touchdown, and Ben threw 4 picks; two of which were converted immediately for touchdowns. The numbers don't lie: Ben needs benched for his own sake before he ends his career or even his life.
+ Wrote up game concept in wiki
Achievement! Sure, it wasn't towards a goal, but I really enjoyed this idea, and look forward to developing it further. Unfortunately, it would be a pretty heavy mod to implement, but it's possible. Maybe it'll make the demo reel some year in the future.
+ Improved tiling background for wiki
Achievement! I won't tinker with the tiling background further. I've gotten it to the point where it doesn't annoy me. I hope 22KB isn't too big. I know my site doesn't get much traffic, but if it catches on, every bit like that counts. Of course if I want to worry, I'll downsize the Trepanation of Atlas banner image
+ More wiki security research
Achievement I don't like taking credit for open ended jobs, but I put some work into this. It looks like I"m going to do an inversion of the traditional security model. I'm going to lock out unregistered users from read access for all resources, but then I'll create a separate public namespace and allow them to read that. I'd prefer that articles are protected by default, and then publicized by choice and action.
+ Searched trash for missing prescription
Ugh, this sucked. At least I knew which bag it was in, so that limited the degredations possible at the dumpster
+ Weekly goals review
This thing takes forever! :-D
*** Weekly goals review ***
- Upgrade LiquidWiki
- SUCCESS!It was an arduous undertaking, but the backbone software has been upgrading. The new security software has proven worthless so I've had to lockdown the wiki to all non-registered readers. At this point in time it looks like I might wind up creating a new separate namespace for security. Either way, I've gotten it working.
- Paint bathroom door jamb/frame
- Failure At first, this didn't get done because I deprioritized it in favor of patching the wall first. That was a sensible thing to do, but after I'd patched the wall, I didn't move on with painting. All I've done is affix a single piece of painter's tape to protect the latchplate. This task will carry over to the coming week.
- Patch bathroom wall
- SUCCESS After acquiring some patching material from Home Depot, this went much easier than I expected, although I did have to wait a few days longer than I expected in order to make sure that the layers of patching were drying.
- Investigate Greasemonkey script to Firefox ext conversion
- Success
- Work with wireless B adaptor for Xbox
- FAILURE I spent absolutely no time on this late addition at all. This will roll over to the coming week.
- Setup new joint bank account
- Success The account has been created. Now we're just waiting for everything to be activated and mailed to us.
- Tune guitar
- Failure due to my guitar tuner dying on me. I didn't put much energy into resolving this. I'll experiment with PC software guitar tuners in the coming week
*** Discipline Review ***
- Daily wedding hour
- Failed, we didn't spend much time on this
- Daily programming hour
- Success, spent plenty of time struggling with the Wiki and learning Firefox
- Healthy websurfing
- Failed. I turned off Greasemonkey more than a couple times, and I also got bogged down during hours that I've allowed for free surfing
- Review self-improvement
- Failed: Didn't do this one at all. It's a new one, so I'll try and stick with it
- Practice guitar
- Failed due to broken tuner
*** New weekly goals ***
- Paint bathroom door jamb/frame
- Work on Firefox extension
- Work with wireless B adaptor for Xbox
- Tune guitar
- Update website design 1.0
*** Discipline Targets ***
- Daily wedding hour
- Daily programming hour
- Healthy websurfing
- Review self-improvement
- Practice guitar
And I'm done for the night!
Saturday Wrap-UpSunday, October 29, 2006
It's day two of the experimental formatting for the busy blog. Hope it's reading well. Have I mentioned that everytime I see the italics, I hear Phoenix Wright objecting in my mind? BTW, is it just me, or is there a subtle undercurrent of romance between Phoenix and Edgeworth?
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure! My first temptation here is to try to push off blame on this one, but I am a grown man, and I should be able to realize when it's time to go to bed and speak out for myself. On the other hand, I think it perfectly natural that a beautiful woman can prevent me from getting out of bed!
+ Biked
Achievement! W00t, go me.
+ Created HelloWorld extension for Firefox
Achievement! There's a long road ahead for teaching myself about Firefox extension programming. I expect that there will be some experimentation required for me to figure out how to make my Greasemonkey script into a working Firefox extension. I figure I'll crank out a pre-fab version of it using one of the Greasemonkey compilers and then use that as a comparison model for building my own extension.
+ Performed sewing machine support
Nat's sewing machine was acting up on her tonight and generally being a real timesink for the both of us. She leaned on my knack for mechanics a few times when she couldn't figure it out herself. One time that thing made so much noise as it locked up, I came running down the hall, expecting to see sewing machine shrapnel.
+ Got LiquidWiki working again
ACHIEVEMENT! I gave up on waiting for someone in the wiki community to lend a brother a hand, and just nuked the directory and reinstalled from scratch. Happily, this worked as promised.
Unfortunately, the security model is completely borked at the moment. I have compensated by locking out anonymous users for the meantime. I think I'm going to have to move all private content to a new namespace. That's if I'm understanding this correctly though...
+ Updated page design
IT'S UGLY! I need to redo the tile design, since it's fugly. Ugliness is not good, and would be a failure. On the other hand, the code supporting this is in place. I just need to spend the time to redo the tile.
+ To bed late, woke up late
Failure! My first temptation here is to try to push off blame on this one, but I am a grown man, and I should be able to realize when it's time to go to bed and speak out for myself. On the other hand, I think it perfectly natural that a beautiful woman can prevent me from getting out of bed!
+ Biked
Achievement! W00t, go me.
+ Created HelloWorld extension for Firefox
Achievement! There's a long road ahead for teaching myself about Firefox extension programming. I expect that there will be some experimentation required for me to figure out how to make my Greasemonkey script into a working Firefox extension. I figure I'll crank out a pre-fab version of it using one of the Greasemonkey compilers and then use that as a comparison model for building my own extension.
+ Performed sewing machine support
Nat's sewing machine was acting up on her tonight and generally being a real timesink for the both of us. She leaned on my knack for mechanics a few times when she couldn't figure it out herself. One time that thing made so much noise as it locked up, I came running down the hall, expecting to see sewing machine shrapnel.
+ Got LiquidWiki working again
ACHIEVEMENT! I gave up on waiting for someone in the wiki community to lend a brother a hand, and just nuked the directory and reinstalled from scratch. Happily, this worked as promised.
Unfortunately, the security model is completely borked at the moment. I have compensated by locking out anonymous users for the meantime. I think I'm going to have to move all private content to a new namespace. That's if I'm understanding this correctly though...
+ Updated page design
IT'S UGLY! I need to redo the tile design, since it's fugly. Ugliness is not good, and would be a failure. On the other hand, the code supporting this is in place. I just need to spend the time to redo the tile.
Friday Wrap-upSaturday, October 28, 2006
I'm going to experiment with a different wrap-up style today. I've always disliked naming items "Setbacks or Time Sinks". I'll try to just post all of the same items in vaguely chronological order with individual commentaries.
+ Biked
Achievement! Go me! I'm still doing it, although some mornings are pretty sloppy
+ Cleaned bedroom
I needed to collect laundry, but I wound up going beyond my initial plans. Natty was a bit bothered by me cleaning her side a little. I didn't mean to make a statement by doing it though. I was just trying to make us both happy.
+ Ran a couple loads of laundry
Laundry... woo. Boring boring necessity, dammit
+ Removed A/C unit from window
Achievement! This took up a lot of time. This was the first time that I'd removed this one from the window and/or stored it. I was an idiot to have followed through on all of GE's ridiculous steps for affixing the unit to my window, as it's apparently supposed to be there permanently in their eyes. The freaking box wasn't even built to hold the A/C unless it was reduced to it's original components. I spent a lot of time repurposing the styrofoam therein to make padding for the unit
+ Went out for sushi
+ Talked with Dave
Review: I spent a lot of time on physical stuff, but didn't work on projects. I need to take the laptop to Panera for some mental space from everything, I think.
+ Biked
Achievement! Go me! I'm still doing it, although some mornings are pretty sloppy
+ Cleaned bedroom
I needed to collect laundry, but I wound up going beyond my initial plans. Natty was a bit bothered by me cleaning her side a little. I didn't mean to make a statement by doing it though. I was just trying to make us both happy.
+ Ran a couple loads of laundry
Laundry... woo. Boring boring necessity, dammit
+ Removed A/C unit from window
Achievement! This took up a lot of time. This was the first time that I'd removed this one from the window and/or stored it. I was an idiot to have followed through on all of GE's ridiculous steps for affixing the unit to my window, as it's apparently supposed to be there permanently in their eyes. The freaking box wasn't even built to hold the A/C unless it was reduced to it's original components. I spent a lot of time repurposing the styrofoam therein to make padding for the unit
+ Went out for sushi
+ Talked with Dave
Review: I spent a lot of time on physical stuff, but didn't work on projects. I need to take the laptop to Panera for some mental space from everything, I think.
Thursday Wrap-UpFriday, October 27, 2006
We had a doctor's appointment today. That went alright and took up some time, but it wasn't easy.
I took some time working on the Firefox extension. It should be interesting figuring out how to do this.
Still no news on the request for support on the wiki. Since it's been a couple days, I think that I'll try nuking all traces of my wiki up there and then seeing about restoring it, but before I take such drastic measures, I'll try researching it.
Also, the guitar tuning target looks to be undoable unless I go buy a new tuner. My old cheapy tuner isn't responding to me now. Hmm, maybe I'll see if I can score some software that will cover my needs by cabling the guitar straight to the computer.
I have no idea how I slept through my alarm this morning. Everything was set up in correct order, but I woke up at 11. Oh well, I should go to bed.
Achievements:
+ Doctor's appointment
+ Some work on Surfblinders, the Firefox Extension edition
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ More Venture Bros on Adult Swim Fix
+ General spacing out
+ Woke up late
Other:
+ Marked up photos in Picassa with names
+ Helped Nat thread her sewing machine
+ Multiple trips to the Giant Eagle
I took some time working on the Firefox extension. It should be interesting figuring out how to do this.
Still no news on the request for support on the wiki. Since it's been a couple days, I think that I'll try nuking all traces of my wiki up there and then seeing about restoring it, but before I take such drastic measures, I'll try researching it.
Also, the guitar tuning target looks to be undoable unless I go buy a new tuner. My old cheapy tuner isn't responding to me now. Hmm, maybe I'll see if I can score some software that will cover my needs by cabling the guitar straight to the computer.
I have no idea how I slept through my alarm this morning. Everything was set up in correct order, but I woke up at 11. Oh well, I should go to bed.
Achievements:
+ Doctor's appointment
+ Some work on Surfblinders, the Firefox Extension edition
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ More Venture Bros on Adult Swim Fix
+ General spacing out
+ Woke up late
Other:
+ Marked up photos in Picassa with names
+ Helped Nat thread her sewing machine
+ Multiple trips to the Giant Eagle
Midweek goal reviewWednesday, October 25, 2006
Midweek goals review
Brief Summary:
I should pursue the goals which have specific resolutions first, as they have a finite time investment. There are plenty of goals to tackle left, since I kept on tacking on things to the goals list.
- Upgrade LiquidWiki
- I've sank a good amount of time into this, but it's hung up on a technical error for which I'm pursuing support
- Patch bathroom wall
- The wall is patched, but not painted yet
- Paint bathroom door jamb/frame
- I haven't started painting yet
- Investigate Greasemonkey script to Firefox ext conversion
- Some research, no action taken
- Work with wireless B adaptor for Xbox
- No action taken
- Setup new joint bank account
- Done!
- Tune guitar
- No action taken!
- Daily wedding hour
- Not much has been done because Nat's been worn out from doctor's appointments
- Daily programming hour
- This has been wrapped up in upgrading the wiki, see above notes
- Healthy websurfing
- I've been doing alright at this. I haven't been deactivating Greasemonkey
- Review self-improvement
- No action taken
- Practice guitar
- Guitar hasn't been tuned yet
Brief Summary:
I should pursue the goals which have specific resolutions first, as they have a finite time investment. There are plenty of goals to tackle left, since I kept on tacking on things to the goals list.
Wednesday Wrap-Up
We had a doctor's appointment cancelled today. That always seems to throw me off-kilter.
No big summation for the day. I had to take some time off in the evening to relax because I was about to flip. The wiki's junked for the moment. My phone's got headset issues. A few other things were rather frustrating.
Anyway, I'm cutting this off now...
Achievements:
+ Removed an A/C unit
+ Cleaned out closet storage for A/C unit
+ Contacted Mediawiki-l support mailing list about upgrade issue
+ Looked over Greasemonkey script -> Firefox extension conversion
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Watched multiple episodes of Venture Brothers
Other:
+ Doctor's appointment cancelled
No big summation for the day. I had to take some time off in the evening to relax because I was about to flip. The wiki's junked for the moment. My phone's got headset issues. A few other things were rather frustrating.
Anyway, I'm cutting this off now...
Achievements:
+ Removed an A/C unit
+ Cleaned out closet storage for A/C unit
+ Contacted Mediawiki-l support mailing list about upgrade issue
+ Looked over Greasemonkey script -> Firefox extension conversion
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Watched multiple episodes of Venture Brothers
Other:
+ Doctor's appointment cancelled
Tuesday Wrap-UpTuesday, October 24, 2006
We had dentist's appointments today. Nattie was a little worried about going in, but everything went alright.
Ugh, the wiki is borked right now. I was trying to upgrade to 1.8.2, but encountered a fatal error. After futzing around for a while, I've attempted to contact MediaWiki support, but I don't know how fruitful that will be. At least I backed it all up.
I got drawn into various menial upkeep things. I think I need to learn more about upkeeping my own webserver. There are a lot more things I can do than what I previously fiddled with. We do now have our very own 404 error now. I threw it together in 2 secs because my freaking error log was full of errors from not being able to serve a freaking error page... *slaps forehead* I should have been monitoring that log. It also inspired me to create my robots.txt... which doesn't do anything much, but it's there now!
Anyway, it's been an alright day in terms of effort, but product got screwed, but such is the wage of computers. Peace out, homes, I'm off to the bed.
Achievements:
+ Biked 400 calories in 15 minutes
+ Completed spackling in bathroom
+ Dropped in edits to prep for new wiki security
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Bed late, up late
+ Stuck at GE for an hour due to pharmacy issues
+ Nuked my wiki
Other:
+ Moved useful email subscriptions from Hotmail to Yahoo
+ Suckered into Best Buy's reward program for a few bucks
Ugh, the wiki is borked right now. I was trying to upgrade to 1.8.2, but encountered a fatal error. After futzing around for a while, I've attempted to contact MediaWiki support, but I don't know how fruitful that will be. At least I backed it all up.
I got drawn into various menial upkeep things. I think I need to learn more about upkeeping my own webserver. There are a lot more things I can do than what I previously fiddled with. We do now have our very own 404 error now. I threw it together in 2 secs because my freaking error log was full of errors from not being able to serve a freaking error page... *slaps forehead* I should have been monitoring that log. It also inspired me to create my robots.txt... which doesn't do anything much, but it's there now!
Anyway, it's been an alright day in terms of effort, but product got screwed, but such is the wage of computers. Peace out, homes, I'm off to the bed.
Achievements:
+ Biked 400 calories in 15 minutes
+ Completed spackling in bathroom
+ Dropped in edits to prep for new wiki security
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Bed late, up late
+ Stuck at GE for an hour due to pharmacy issues
+ Nuked my wiki
Other:
+ Moved useful email subscriptions from Hotmail to Yahoo
+ Suckered into Best Buy's reward program for a few bucks
Monday Wrap-UpMonday, October 23, 2006
Today's doctor's appointment was rescheduled to Wednesday, due to Nat having a gluten reaction. This caused a bit of deviation from original plans, but I got some stuff knocked out.
Painting the inside of the bathroom doorframe is on hold until I'm done patching up the damage from putting the outlet in. There's no point in breaking out the paint for one thing when I can't do both. I don't know how long I'll be spackling, as near the light there's a pretty big hole. The patch looks like it's going to need a couple layers before it disappears. The big problem has been working with the previous tenant's poor installation of the fixture over the sink. Not only is it difficult to patch around, the fixture's base has to be sunk into the wall instead of on the wall, due to their poor install.
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Spackled bathroom
+ Created joint account
+ Traded in GC
+ Shipped pkg to Dave
+ Read up on Greasemonkey -> Firefox ext conversion
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ To bed late, woke up late, tired
+ Spaced completely after late dinner
+ Played some Dragon Warrior Heroes: Rocket Slime
Other:
+ Went to grocery store for quarters
+ Got GF soy sauce for Natty
+ Cooked some dinner
+ Natty baked me a pumpkin pie
Painting the inside of the bathroom doorframe is on hold until I'm done patching up the damage from putting the outlet in. There's no point in breaking out the paint for one thing when I can't do both. I don't know how long I'll be spackling, as near the light there's a pretty big hole. The patch looks like it's going to need a couple layers before it disappears. The big problem has been working with the previous tenant's poor installation of the fixture over the sink. Not only is it difficult to patch around, the fixture's base has to be sunk into the wall instead of on the wall, due to their poor install.
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Spackled bathroom
+ Created joint account
+ Traded in GC
+ Shipped pkg to Dave
+ Read up on Greasemonkey -> Firefox ext conversion
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ To bed late, woke up late, tired
+ Spaced completely after late dinner
+ Played some Dragon Warrior Heroes: Rocket Slime
Other:
+ Went to grocery store for quarters
+ Got GF soy sauce for Natty
+ Cooked some dinner
+ Natty baked me a pumpkin pie
Sunday RestartSunday, October 22, 2006
Hey all, I'm back, ready and reloaded! Given that the people who have access and interest to this page already know what's going on, I won't bore you with details. There's no accounting for time spent today, as each Sunday's work is towards the achievements for the previous week. This week's goals are rather lean, but I'm also interested in executing the goals that I set last time.
I need to investigate where I fail on meeting goals. If I could impartially recall and honestly critique my own actions, then I think I'd be a long way towards where I want to be.
I have had little progress towards several goals for weeks now, and I am going to have to think about why it's this way. The site upgrade failed at first due to lack of interest, inspiration and time spent.
I fail to spend time on things often. I don't like my at-home work record. I need to learn to focus. Focus might be difficult due to need for more discipline or less distraction. I need to learn to manage distraction and myself better. There's always room for improvement. Speaking of discipline, I won't improve anything by staying up too late working on this, so I'm posting up rough copy and moving on with my night.
New weekly goals:
Discipline Targets:
I'd also like to trade in the Gamecube and pick up my pre-order bonus for the new Castlevania for DS.
I need to investigate where I fail on meeting goals. If I could impartially recall and honestly critique my own actions, then I think I'd be a long way towards where I want to be.
I have had little progress towards several goals for weeks now, and I am going to have to think about why it's this way. The site upgrade failed at first due to lack of interest, inspiration and time spent.
I fail to spend time on things often. I don't like my at-home work record. I need to learn to focus. Focus might be difficult due to need for more discipline or less distraction. I need to learn to manage distraction and myself better. There's always room for improvement. Speaking of discipline, I won't improve anything by staying up too late working on this, so I'm posting up rough copy and moving on with my night.
New weekly goals:
- Upgrade LiquidWiki
- Paint bathroom door jamb/frame
- Patch bathroom wall
- Investigate Greasemonkey script to Firefox ext conversion
- Work with wireless B adaptor for Xbox
- Setup new joint bank account
- Tune guitar
Discipline Targets:
- Daily wedding hour
- Daily programming hour
- Healthy websurfing
- Review self-improvement
- Practice guitar
I'd also like to trade in the Gamecube and pick up my pre-order bonus for the new Castlevania for DS.
Tuesday Wrap-UpWednesday, October 18, 2006
I donated blood today, two RBC units, and I'm pretty wiped. I also did some cleaning around the house, but not a lot. The off-week continues, for now.
Monday (& Friday thru Sunday) Wrap-UpMonday, October 16, 2006
Okay, well the last few days have been busy with a friend's wedding. It was a lot of fun, but I had a lot of running around to do, and Nat's been rather nervous lately. Also Dave was in town and we had him over. Tomorrow will be the first day back to rights for me, with a full normal night of sleep and no wedding related running around to do. I'm going to extend the vacation from proper blogging for one more day.
Thursday Wrap-UpFriday, October 13, 2006
Chug chug chug, the wearying weeks are wearing on. Some good stuff was accomplished today. Honestly, I think one of the most helpful things I did was to read a lot. It really distanced me from the milleau that I'm dealing with. Getting outside of things allows you to rethink your approaches. I'm not saying that I'm on top of things now, but I'm getting back with it.
Achievements:
+ Met with officiant for our wedding
Setbacks and Time-Sinks:
+ Slept in
+ Finished Nightwatch
Other:
+ Drove to Washington for tux fitting for this weekend's wedding
Achievements:
+ Met with officiant for our wedding
Setbacks and Time-Sinks:
+ Slept in
+ Finished Nightwatch
Other:
+ Drove to Washington for tux fitting for this weekend's wedding
Wednesday Wrap-UpThursday, October 12, 2006
This week has proven to be ridiculous and embarrassing in terms of productivity. I don't much like talking about it because I've been dealing with a lot of difficult issues in my personal life. I'm getting tripped up unpredictably at all times of the day. This has made it hard to concentrate, but on top of that, it has also been very emotionally draining.
Achievements:
+ Some photoshopping
+ Some small Wiki style updating
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ More sleep troubles
Other:
+ Stupid bluetooth headset...
Achievements:
+ Some photoshopping
+ Some small Wiki style updating
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ More sleep troubles
Other:
+ Stupid bluetooth headset...
Tuesday Wrap-UpTuesday, October 10, 2006
Argh, I burned my hand through an oven mitt today. Right between thumb and forefinger, ergo, typing sucks
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Photoshopped (almost done)
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Burnt hand
Other:
+ Ouch, hand hurts
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Photoshopped (almost done)
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Burnt hand
Other:
+ Ouch, hand hurts
Monday Wrap-Up
I spent today helping someone out. They were having problems because a prescription couldn't be filled yesterday, so today was rough for them.
I didn't get much done toward goals today, but that's the way it has to be somedays.
Achievements:
+ Posted rough version of wiki page update
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Stuff
Other:
+ Read more Night Watch
I didn't get much done toward goals today, but that's the way it has to be somedays.
Achievements:
+ Posted rough version of wiki page update
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Stuff
Other:
+ Read more Night Watch
Sunday Wrap-UpMonday, October 09, 2006
Argh... I'm not looking too hot today. Not only am I strugging to type this on the Mac which is proving incompatible with most of the shortcut keys I usually use, I also completely forgot until 12:50 that I needed to do my wrapups and goal setting for the week... This hasn't been a good day...
I do have a slight edge in that this week is going to be occupied by a good deal of stuff revolving around Dom's wedding. I've got a suit fitting Wednesday, a rehersal dinner on Friday, and wedding all day Saturday. That's going to curtail my ability for accomplishments this coming week. Unfortunately, there's not much productivity to damage at this point. It's been a poor week. Oh well, let's launch in to reviews (especially now that I've switched back to typing on the Windows box)
Goal: Daily coding hour: Surfblinders or Torque
Results: I didn't work on this at all. I've hit a wall with Surfblinders, but I didn't start working on Torque instead
Review: Failed
Goal: Daily wedding hour (or equivalent thereof)
Results: Progress was made, but I don't believe enough was done. I'm feeling harsh on myself tonight, so I'll say I failed.
Review: Failed - but we did do some good stuff.
Goal: Rollout rough version of website design upgrade
Results: Well, I did research into what Mediawiki is capable of. Based upon that, I started hosing around in Photoshop with the TrepAtlas image in order to make a good background. I'm happy with my concept, although I don't feel completely pleased to the idea of having the whole site committed to a design based around Mediawiki's limitations. On the other hand, I could do something pretty cool with what I've got to work with. Problem is, I didn't roll out a rough version. This goal was ambitious in order to spur me to getting things done. Either way, it's failed.
Review: Failure - Instead of rolling out a rough version, I wasted time perfecting
Goal: Move joint account to different bank
Results: This failed in part due to having to be scheduled in regards to Nat's availability. At the same time, I probably could have made it work with a little more trying. I don't know for sure, but either way, it didn't get done.
Review: Failure! - It didn't get done
Goal: Sell stuff on eBay
Results: I took photos of the stuff, and did a little research for prices and other information, but I didn't post.
Review: Failure! - I procrastinated, I think I'm just worried about doing something stupid
Goal: Start Gamefly
Results: Done. I shouldn't have made this a goal though
Review: Success - but not one that I'm impressed with
Goal: Discipline
Results: I followed this alright, with some deviation at the boundary times (1AM comes around too suddenly on occasion). I'll allow it since I'd already blogged at that point.
Review: Success - but I need to adjust my work times in iCloak, I think
For this coming week, hopefully I'll do better...
New Weekly Goals:
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Flaggellated myself over the weekly goals
+ Worked with Photoshop for a while
+ Called Grandma
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Spent 3 hours in bed with Nat, watching TV and playing DS
+ Wasted time watching the Steelers game, definately a waste
Other:
+ Anya got trapped with her collar holding her mouth wide open, poor kitty
+ A fishy died, so I removed it from the aquarium
I do have a slight edge in that this week is going to be occupied by a good deal of stuff revolving around Dom's wedding. I've got a suit fitting Wednesday, a rehersal dinner on Friday, and wedding all day Saturday. That's going to curtail my ability for accomplishments this coming week. Unfortunately, there's not much productivity to damage at this point. It's been a poor week. Oh well, let's launch in to reviews (especially now that I've switched back to typing on the Windows box)
Goal: Daily coding hour: Surfblinders or Torque
Results: I didn't work on this at all. I've hit a wall with Surfblinders, but I didn't start working on Torque instead
Review: Failed
Goal: Daily wedding hour (or equivalent thereof)
Results: Progress was made, but I don't believe enough was done. I'm feeling harsh on myself tonight, so I'll say I failed.
Review: Failed - but we did do some good stuff.
Goal: Rollout rough version of website design upgrade
Results: Well, I did research into what Mediawiki is capable of. Based upon that, I started hosing around in Photoshop with the TrepAtlas image in order to make a good background. I'm happy with my concept, although I don't feel completely pleased to the idea of having the whole site committed to a design based around Mediawiki's limitations. On the other hand, I could do something pretty cool with what I've got to work with. Problem is, I didn't roll out a rough version. This goal was ambitious in order to spur me to getting things done. Either way, it's failed.
Review: Failure - Instead of rolling out a rough version, I wasted time perfecting
Goal: Move joint account to different bank
Results: This failed in part due to having to be scheduled in regards to Nat's availability. At the same time, I probably could have made it work with a little more trying. I don't know for sure, but either way, it didn't get done.
Review: Failure! - It didn't get done
Goal: Sell stuff on eBay
Results: I took photos of the stuff, and did a little research for prices and other information, but I didn't post.
Review: Failure! - I procrastinated, I think I'm just worried about doing something stupid
Goal: Start Gamefly
Results: Done. I shouldn't have made this a goal though
Review: Success - but not one that I'm impressed with
Goal: Discipline
Results: I followed this alright, with some deviation at the boundary times (1AM comes around too suddenly on occasion). I'll allow it since I'd already blogged at that point.
Review: Success - but I need to adjust my work times in iCloak, I think
For this coming week, hopefully I'll do better...
New Weekly Goals:
- Paint door
- Daily coding hour: Surfblinders or Torque
- Daily wedding hour (or equivalent thereof)
- Rollout website design upgrade
- Move joint account to different bank
- Sell stuff on eBay
- Discipline!
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Flaggellated myself over the weekly goals
+ Worked with Photoshop for a while
+ Called Grandma
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Spent 3 hours in bed with Nat, watching TV and playing DS
+ Wasted time watching the Steelers game, definately a waste
Other:
+ Anya got trapped with her collar holding her mouth wide open, poor kitty
+ A fishy died, so I removed it from the aquarium
Saturday Wrap-UpSaturday, October 07, 2006
I have felt mentally burnt out all day. The whole day my cognition felt akin to that of when one stays up too late at night, but without the sleepiness. I slept in a bit, but perhaps that's what soured me. I'm really not sure, but I've been focusless and ambitionless all day. The week's been a bit sloppy too. I didn't do a midweek goals follow-up, but I can let that slide a bit as that's a new piece of methodology. As it stands though, I'm nowhere close to resolving most of my goals for this week. I think I need to get myself a physical undertaking for the mornings aside from riding the bike. Perhaps it's time to paint the door.
Achievements:
+ Took photos of stuff for eBay
+ Researched information and expectable prices for eBay stuff
+ Worked on creating tiling 'water' background for website
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Slept in late
+ Played games a lot
Other:
+ Watched an MST3K with Natty
Achievements:
+ Took photos of stuff for eBay
+ Researched information and expectable prices for eBay stuff
+ Worked on creating tiling 'water' background for website
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Slept in late
+ Played games a lot
Other:
+ Watched an MST3K with Natty
Friday Wrap-Up
Man, I'm falling behind on the goals for this week.
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Worked on website upgrade
+ Lots of Photoshopping
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Slept in late
Other:
+ Tried to help Dave load an HD into his PS2
+ Setup a few things on XBMC for Nattie
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Worked on website upgrade
+ Lots of Photoshopping
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Slept in late
Other:
+ Tried to help Dave load an HD into his PS2
+ Setup a few things on XBMC for Nattie
Thursday Wrap-UpThursday, October 05, 2006
It's been another grey day in Pittsburgh today. After her doctor's appointment yesterday, Nat's back was hurting pretty bad, and I think that messed up sleep for the both of us.
The wedding seems to be proceeding apace, despite us both being tired today. At least there's a light in the weather: Gamefly has delivered Phoenix Wright!
Achieveents:
+ Biked
+ 2nd meeting w/ Doubletree for rental contract & etc
+ Got XBMC to playback video correct
+ Spent a lot of time with Photoshop & tutorials on water effects
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Played Dragon Slime
Other:
+ Bought cassette tape adaptor to replace POS
+ Cooked dinner for myself, used last of that sauce I made
The wedding seems to be proceeding apace, despite us both being tired today. At least there's a light in the weather: Gamefly has delivered Phoenix Wright!
Achieveents:
+ Biked
+ 2nd meeting w/ Doubletree for rental contract & etc
+ Got XBMC to playback video correct
+ Spent a lot of time with Photoshop & tutorials on water effects
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Played Dragon Slime
Other:
+ Bought cassette tape adaptor to replace POS
+ Cooked dinner for myself, used last of that sauce I made
Wednesday Wrap-Up
Today was hard to recall because I was tired
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Created quality TrepAtlas version, might redo site concept to use
+ Read some Torque book
+ Fruitless research on preferred filetype for video on XBMC
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Doctor's appointment with requisite drive time
+ Websurfing
+ Went through a few shops in the South Side
Other:
+ Bought Sony PS2 Ethernet adaptor
+ Spent some time with Nattie
+ Cooked an egg white omelet for Natty's breakfast
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Created quality TrepAtlas version, might redo site concept to use
+ Read some Torque book
+ Fruitless research on preferred filetype for video on XBMC
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Doctor's appointment with requisite drive time
+ Websurfing
+ Went through a few shops in the South Side
Other:
+ Bought Sony PS2 Ethernet adaptor
+ Spent some time with Nattie
+ Cooked an egg white omelet for Natty's breakfast
Tuesday Wrap-UpTuesday, October 03, 2006
Today, I am being a good boy and going to bed early
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Coded Surfmonkeys
+ Researched background image sizes for MediaWiki
+ Experimented with extending Photoshop filter tutorials for water effects
+ Picked up new Torque book
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Dragon Slime
+ Slashdot and other websurfing
+ Woke up late
Other:
+ Went shopping for a wedding present for Dom & Amanda
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Coded Surfmonkeys
+ Researched background image sizes for MediaWiki
+ Experimented with extending Photoshop filter tutorials for water effects
+ Picked up new Torque book
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Dragon Slime
+ Slashdot and other websurfing
+ Woke up late
Other:
+ Went shopping for a wedding present for Dom & Amanda
Monday Wrap-UpMonday, October 02, 2006
I haven't got a lot to report about today. I'm sorry I haven't got a lot of stuff to inform on. I feel a bit depressed about some of the stuff that happened, but I don't know how to control it.
As for working though, I'm happy that I did code today. Lots of progress on the weddin' front too.
Achievements:
+ Broke 400 cals in 15 mins on bike again
+ Set up Gamefly
+ Wedding hour spent on site and food talks
+ Coded for Surfblinders
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Played Dragon Slime for about an hour
+ Slashdot
+ Fiddled endlessly & fruitlessly with cheap wireless bridge for Xbox
Other:
+ Didn't get to doctors today
As for working though, I'm happy that I did code today. Lots of progress on the weddin' front too.
Achievements:
+ Broke 400 cals in 15 mins on bike again
+ Set up Gamefly
+ Wedding hour spent on site and food talks
+ Coded for Surfblinders
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Played Dragon Slime for about an hour
+ Slashdot
+ Fiddled endlessly & fruitlessly with cheap wireless bridge for Xbox
Other:
+ Didn't get to doctors today
Sunday Wrap-UpSunday, October 01, 2006
WTF, did I seriously meet all of my weekly goals this week? Wow. And I feel good too. This program is getting me somewhere! I am seriously pleased with this.
Goal: Surfblinders or Torque, just do it
Results: For a second week in a row I've had visible progress with Surfblinders. The infant version of it is working, but again, I feel like I've not put as much time towards this project as I should have. I'm going to reflect this in my goals for the upcoming week. I have been performing to the letter of the goal, but not the spirit. I hope that by naming my goal more specifically, I'll see the same increase in productivity as I saw in discipline when I called myself out about it.
Review: Success! - But I need to work more on this
Goal: Create simple unifying design for website, wiki & blog
Results: This is an interesting goal, because it required an understanding of Blogger templates and MediaWiki layout control. I did a lot of research into this, and I'm satisfied that I can make a simplistic general design for my site, which will fuse the different forms of media. I'm admittedly a bit worried that the end design will bear the sum of eyesores without merits, but I think that I've got a layout in mind that has style, that is simple, and is usable. This week I will place a more specific goal, in order to have changes rolling out.
Review: Success! - and the coming week will hopefully see more.
Goal: Clean geek room
Results: This took a while, but the room's looking a lot better. There are a few things that defy storage, and just need to be disposed of. I'm going to try to sell them on eBay.
Review: Success! - Organization has returned... at least until we have more overflow junk to chuck out of the way.
Goal: Daily wedding time
Results: I honestly don't know whether this goal was met explicitly, but being as we've found a favorable reception site, and Nat's wedding dress has been found and purchased, I consider this a success. I will maintain this goal for next week too.
Review: Success! - the wedding seems to be getting back under control again.
Goal: Discipline!
Results: Still no Dwarf Fortress. Still not killing Greasemonkey. I'll try to specify the discipline points each week, or at least the additional ones.
Review: Success!
New weekly goals:
Discipline is still about avoiding Dwarf Fortress and not turning off Greasemonkey. Now it also includes hitting the sack at 1:30 AM sharp each night, if not earlier.
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Weekly goals and accomplishments
+ Some coding on Surfblinders
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Watched part of Pirates of the Carribean
Other:
+ Gathered trash, recycling
+ Emptied cat boxes
+ Cleaned up floors
+ Vaccuumed
+ Emptied dishwasher
Goal: Surfblinders or Torque, just do it
Results: For a second week in a row I've had visible progress with Surfblinders. The infant version of it is working, but again, I feel like I've not put as much time towards this project as I should have. I'm going to reflect this in my goals for the upcoming week. I have been performing to the letter of the goal, but not the spirit. I hope that by naming my goal more specifically, I'll see the same increase in productivity as I saw in discipline when I called myself out about it.
Review: Success! - But I need to work more on this
Goal: Create simple unifying design for website, wiki & blog
Results: This is an interesting goal, because it required an understanding of Blogger templates and MediaWiki layout control. I did a lot of research into this, and I'm satisfied that I can make a simplistic general design for my site, which will fuse the different forms of media. I'm admittedly a bit worried that the end design will bear the sum of eyesores without merits, but I think that I've got a layout in mind that has style, that is simple, and is usable. This week I will place a more specific goal, in order to have changes rolling out.
Review: Success! - and the coming week will hopefully see more.
Goal: Clean geek room
Results: This took a while, but the room's looking a lot better. There are a few things that defy storage, and just need to be disposed of. I'm going to try to sell them on eBay.
Review: Success! - Organization has returned... at least until we have more overflow junk to chuck out of the way.
Goal: Daily wedding time
Results: I honestly don't know whether this goal was met explicitly, but being as we've found a favorable reception site, and Nat's wedding dress has been found and purchased, I consider this a success. I will maintain this goal for next week too.
Review: Success! - the wedding seems to be getting back under control again.
Goal: Discipline!
Results: Still no Dwarf Fortress. Still not killing Greasemonkey. I'll try to specify the discipline points each week, or at least the additional ones.
Review: Success!
New weekly goals:
- Daily coding hour: Surfblinders or Torque
- Daily wedding hour (or equivalent thereof)
- Rollout rough version of website design upgrade
- Move joint account to different bank
- Sell stuff on eBay
- Start Gamefly
- Discipline
Discipline is still about avoiding Dwarf Fortress and not turning off Greasemonkey. Now it also includes hitting the sack at 1:30 AM sharp each night, if not earlier.
Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Weekly goals and accomplishments
+ Some coding on Surfblinders
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Watched part of Pirates of the Carribean
Other:
+ Gathered trash, recycling
+ Emptied cat boxes
+ Cleaned up floors
+ Vaccuumed
+ Emptied dishwasher
