Setting Goals

I'd like to say the reason why this blog hasn't been updated in over 2 months is because I've been slacking off, and although that would be partly right, the main problem was my over setting expectations, the idea of updating this daily was insane, I simply don't have the time.

During those 2 months I have listened to a lot of Podcasts (they are my main source of news and entertainment), and one in particular has given me an idea, that podcast is +The Art of Charm, and the idea is to write down 10 goals. I only have 5 right now, so here goes.

1) Update this blog weekly, scratch notes down on it during the week or whatever, but make sure an update goes out once a week, nothing more, nothing less. That is doable and achievable.

2) Get back on the wagon when it comes to 90 Days of Action, I think one of the problems there was I was overreaching each day and basically wearing myself out. It is an excellent program (the first time I dropped out after about 30 days due to trips away breaking the cycle, but even then I lost about 6 or 7kg and was a lot healthier) that rotates between different areas of your body and has rest days, I shouldn't and from this point forward won't abuse that. So instead I'll turn into a 270 day program, first 90 days doing Level 1, 2nd Level 2, and 3rd Level 3.

3) I previously mentioned a business idea (probably more of a hobby, but a good idea that could divert into something else), this went stagnant until a few days ago when I registered a couple more domain names under it. In order to kick this off I need a website, and in order to that I need to have the knowledge to manage it. It would either be WordPress or SquareSpace hosted, so the goal here is to have a firm grasp of the pros and cons of both and have the ability to set up either.
Goal to be achieved by the end of March.

4) I enjoy doing short MOOCS type courses, especially through sites like +Coursera. The goal here is simple, keep them going but don't overload, do no more than 2 at a time, and ensure one is personal interest based and one is career based.

5) Spend time learning the work platforms better than I do now, this is both from a personal level of career goals and advancement, but also from the ability to help the customer.

Ok, well that is that for this week, as per 1) I'll be back posting next Sunday, enjoy your week.

Back from Holidays

It's been a long time since my last blog post, not that I've been overtly lazy and avoiding it, but because I've been on holidays interstate visiting the relatives.

Sadly this has caused what happened last time I went on holidays, progress made to reduce the wasteline has gone backwards and it's starting to head outwards again, but that's ok, this time I'm ready, this time I'll catch it now and head it off at the pass.

Later today I'm heading down to the store to pick up a proper pair of running shows, and then I'll start on the battle that is +Zombies, Run! , it's already into Season 3 so far as the main program goes but I'm going to start with their 8 week (though it may take me longer, their sessions are 3 per week which I'll try but may only have time for 2) 5k training program.

Other interesting things is that in the last few days I've had a moment of inspiration, again with the online courses I've been doing in particular this time around Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies, part of the course involves coming up with a concept for your own project.

Well it probably comes as no surprise that this is a hard thing to do, but I decided to do the obvious and sit back and get some inspiration from +TED, and inspiration struck and it struck big.

Not going to delve into my concept idea just yet, not that I'm worried about it being stolen because I can't see it as a massive revenue making idea, but rather because I want to get it off the ground first.

Anyway, that's my update, now back to reality.

3 More Courses Down

I've recently completed 3 more short courses on +Coursera, well really these were completed over the past month but I've just finalised them.

Epidemics - the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases: Good course material covering all kinds of diseases, how they spread, frequency, how the original cure or vaccination were created, why vaccinations are important based on how they work, etc. And the course staff took the time every week to create AUA (Ask Us Anything) videos based on the questions the students were asking in the forum. Overall a fantastic course.

Understanding Video Games: The course title is kind of misleading, it had nothing to do understanding video games from a playing perspective, more of a critical analysis of video games, similar to how you would critic a movie, tv show, or other form of entertainment. Far and away the best and most information course videos I've seen, they went beyond a simple instructional video and were enjoyable to watch while you learn. If you're interested in video games then I would recommend this course.

Usable Security: After those course recommendations, here comes the downer. Don't get me wrong, this course is something you can walk away having learned something, it's problem was in that what was required for grading was unclear, there was no feedback on any of the tests, and in the final test most of the questions were completely ambiguous and relying on guesswork. I'm hoping that since this is the first iteration of this course it may just be a simple issue with getting the bugs out, but if this type of course is of any interest to you I would strongly recommend taking a look before paying to do the Coursera Signature Track (which you need to do if you want to complete the overall Cybersecurity Specialisation).

Not a Fan of Early Starts

I'm not a fan of early starts, not at all, I'm not a morning person and crawling out of bed at 5am doesn't do me any favours, this week has been hard.

Tuesday completed Level 1 of Day 8 of 90 days of Action, that was pretty much all I had time for.

Wednesday, took the night off after a run of early starts and did some course work instead, watched the 2nd last week of the course videos for Epidemics and completed the test with an 8 out of 10, I'll get back to it over the weekend and claim the missing 2 marks when I redo the test.

Today, well no "official" exercise, but I was doing some woodworking out in the shed so that counts as manual labour, and arguably that's better for you that an exercise routine or the gym is anyway.

On the brain side though, I'm making a commitment now to return to using +Lumosity on a daily basis, I've slacked off far too much with that site and I have a paid subscription, it's time to get my moneys worth from it, especially since it only takes 10-15 minutes per day.

Busy Busy Busy

Busy busy Sunday yesterday looking after the boys, it's good to spend time with them but if you need to get anything done you may as well write it off because it's never going to happen. So in the end I gave up trying to do Day 8 of 90 Days of Action and did a 10min spin on the exercise bike instead, still got the blood bumping which was the main objective.

Also early starts at work this week add to the problem as they mean less sleep, so no "official" routine for today, instead I've quickly done 2 sets of 10x pushups, 10x situps, 10x squats, and a 30 second plank just to make sure I don't finish the day empty handed.

Will be back on track with 90 Days tomorrow night and will be hitting the gym on Thursday, so all is good, as long as you sweat a little bit each day it's progress in my book.

Cinema Sins

We went and saw Planes: Fire & Rescue today, movie was ok, nothing unexpected given it's coming from the Cars/Plane universe, but what really got me was that the movie was as per listing due to start at 10:30, but before it started there would have been 15-20 minutes of adverts, previews for other films, self promoting of the cinema, etc.

How can the movie industry complain that people are not paying to go see movies at the cinema while simultaneously forcing them to site through a barge of irrelevant rubbish before seeing the movie? Sure you could turn up 15 minutes late, but what if they put less crap on first and it started 10 minutes after advertised starting time and you missed the beginning?

This is why I like having a 55" TV at home, means I can watch movies on a large screen whenever I want, can pause it and go to the bathroom whenever I want, the kids can go for a run around if they feel the need to, etc, this is why the cinema industry is seeing less people, it's just more comfortable to watch movies at home.

But anyway, yesterday's fitness challenge (Day 6 of 90 Days of Action) was completed successfully, albeit due to work I didn't start the squats until well into the evening, and I did 50 back to back as my opening and I could feel that later on.

Today's Day 7 was a Cardio HIIT and good to get the blood pumping, all 15 rounds completed successfully.

FTTN, Yesterday's Technology, Tomorrow

Good day at work, the project concept I forwarded earlier this year has now been enveloped into a much larger project, and in turn that may be enveloped into another project much larger than it, and I'm coming along for the ride, cheers to the future at work :)

Day 5 of 90 Days of Action, as it is with every 5th day, was a stretch day, so nice and easy.

And finally +NBNCo have announced who will be getting FTTN (Fibre to the Node), or in another words a subpar service to the original FTTH (Fibre to the Home) broadband rollout that includes the added bonus of having large, and I mean large, cabinets all over your suburb.

New technology speeds up NBN Rollout

I've had the crews out pulling and splicing fibre cables around my area for the past few weeks and I've been in a build zone for over 12 months, and I'm not in the suburbs listed in this link, so fingers crossed I still get my FTTN.