Category: New Year Resolutions

A new month means another book update!!

I finished both of my work related books. The Kanban book I found really useful. The design book less so.

I then decided to go fiction, and found a suggestion from either the Kottke blog or from MG Sieglar’s blog to read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

I just finished it tonight…. And it was awesome. The reviews on Goodreads are either 5-star or none, but man oh man was I in the 5-star camp.

I don’t even think it was the philosophy as much as it’s been so long since I read a book that made me think. I didn’t want to stop reading, and 50 pages would go by in a flash. I asked myself big questions, and challenged the books big questions as well.

The ending was a dud, but by that point you’ve either got what you’re going to get; or you’ll never get it.

I would highly recommend the book to others.

On the list now is 4-hour work week and I need to find a really good, practical, book on agile product development.

Book update for the New Year’s resolution:

I’m reading, in parallel, three books. It’s not the best way to nail one book per month, but I’m really enjoying it because the context switch keeps the content of each book fresh. Here’s where I am with all three:

Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business – 100 pages to go, and we’re starting to apply a lot of this to our design and product development process. Not overly explicitly yet, but we’re understanding WIP, the amount that can be delivered in a sprint, and I’m mentally creating the stages for projects. From there, we’ll want to start telling the story of how it all works, and there are some good folks helping me out with that.

Above the Fold: Understanding the Principles of Successful Web Site Design – This one I’m about halfway through. It’s not a lot of new content, but some good examples of existing best practices. Useful to read, but not really a life changer like the Kanban book.

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days – I need to dive back into this guy. I’m only 25 or so pages in (PayPal’s Max Levchin, and the founder of Hotmail). I didn’t realize how much the Hotmail guys hated their VCs. A lot of lessons to be learned in this one.

And so the resolution is slightly revised to be reading 12 books this year. But other than that, I’m on course!

Having finished two books in January, I’m feeling pretty good about my quest to read one book per month this year. For February, I’ve chosen two books (and I think it’s going to take me until March to finish). They are:

Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business

and

Founders at Work

I’m really focusing on business books as both a form of inspiration, and hopefully as a way to bring some more efficiency to the team. We’re doing really well, and now I think we need to get to the next level.

Happy reading to me!

One of my New Year resolutions for 2013 is to give up french fries. Holy smokes – this is going to be hard 🙁

French fries are a standard across any fast food restaurant. Fine. I don’t eat at many fast food restaurants. Thank you resolution from 2011!

But it’s still an incredibly standard affair. Sandwiches, burgers, and even pizza places have french fries as a side dish. The kids want it. Other people order it not knowing any better. And resisting stealing one off of a plate is torture.

The first thing to get you is the smell. You can actually smell the salt on the fries when you haven’t had any in a while.

Then, it’s the hunger pangs. I had a burger and salad the other day, and I was still hungry. I’m never hungry when I have fries. And there they were on Mike’s plate begging to be eaten.

Finally, as everyone stands up to walk away, it’s the feeling that I, yes I, could save the day, and finish off that plate by eating the last remaining fries. I’m doing world hunger a favor. I need to appreciate having food by finishing it.

Until the bus boy comes by, takes the plates, and ends the misery.

This giving up french fries thing is going to be a lot harder than I realized…

Note: This blog was started on the 7th, and therefore I’m back dating the publish date. I’ll work on publishing on time moving forward 🙂

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to read one book per month. One of the books I’ve started this month is titled, “Astrophotography – A Step-by-Step Approach” written by Robert T. Little. The foreword is written by Isaac Asimov.

I’m fascinated by astrophotography. I think the ability to make photos of the Milky Way, other galaxies, planets, the sun during an eclipse is awesome. It reminds me of how small we are, and yet how special it is to be able to capture that hugeness in a 35mm frame.

But…

It’s really hard to do. You see, the earth moves, and so the stars blur. And it’s hard to really nail a galaxy photo without a telescope. And I don’t have a telescope 🙂

But this book is fantastic. It was written in the 80s, still talks about film, and has stamps in the front from being checked out with old school library cards. Further, the author is super clear, and makes everything really easy. I just need to photocopy the one summary page per chapter, and I’m set.

So… who has a telescope I can borrow to test it all out 🙂

2014 is here! and it’s going to be a big one (I’m turning 30!).

In 2013, I gave up soda for my New Year’s resolution. I killed it (I only had 24 oz all year), and my waist line agrees. I really missed soda though. In 2012 when I gave up fast food, it was actually really easy. This year, between accessibility and stress, I really wanted soda. I’m giving myself a six-pack of Mountain Dew to celebrate, and then I’ll get back off of it again.

For 2014, my New Year’s resolutions are:

• No french fries or onion rings (except during Seker Bayrami at the end of Ramazan)
• Read one book per month
• Blog everyday

Micky and I also have a work/life balance agreement, but I’m not sure how to make it a resolution, because I don’t know how to measure it…

I really like throwing resolutions out in the open so that others can help me stay the course. If you have some resolutions, and you need someone to help you, then let me know. I’ll help hold you to it.

Have a wonderful 2014 everyone

I want to keep score as to how my resolutions and sacrifices are affecting my life. For the new year I’ve resolved to give up fast food, and for Lent I’ve given up soda. The main goal is to get to a healthier place in life. I have to add exercise to the equation as well (and I’ve started that), but let’s leave that to a different post.

In that vein, I’m going to publish my stats weekly to gauge whether anything is getting better or not. It’s quite scary right now, but I’m sure it’s going to get better.

Weight: 206 lbs
Waist size: 35″

What else should I be measuring?

My goal is to be in the 180s and 32″ by June for a physical.

In college I dated a catholic girl who didn’t give a damn about being catholic. I thought it would be fun though to try Lent out one more, and so I gave up red meat for 40 days. It totally opened up my eyes to how much red meat I ate, and just how bad it was for me.

Ever since, I’ve tried to give up one thing per year, and really push myself as to what it was. One year it was fast food (at which I succeeded). Another year it was sloth (at which I epicly failed).

Since I’m giving up fast food this year as part of my New Year’s resolution, I’ve decided to stay in that theme. This year I’m giving up soda for Lent. I’m hoping that by Easter I’m 10 pounds lighter, and I’ve lost the taste for sugar. I’d be lying though if I said that it was easy to skip having a coke with Thai food for lunch (for some reason Indian and Thai food + Coke go together so darn well).

I’m trying to sign up other folks to join me, but at the end of the day this is one of those things you have to do because you want to do it for yourself.

What are you giving up for Lent?

In an attempt to focus on writing more, I plan to post one thing per day. If Fred Wilson can pull it off with his hectic schedule, then so can I.

Today the focus is just declaring this new resolution, and from tomorrow onward the challenge will be to follow through with it. I will succeed!

A new year, and a new set of resolutions.

I had a lot of fun with last year’s resolution, but didn’t quite cross the finish line. It turns out that writing 10 minutes worth of comedy that people will actually laugh at is REALLY hard. Nonetheless, I met some awesome folks, and the guy who runs the SFCC is a great guy. I’d highly recommend the program to anyone who has public speaking problems, wants to learn how to add comedy to their daily routine or is just looking for a new hobby. Definitely a good crew to be around.

This year I’m focusing much more on myself, and asking myself to commit to a healthier future. I am… giving up fast food!

I’m not giving up every fast food restaurant out there. I’ll still eat at Bojangles or Chik-fil-a, but other than that, I’m done. It’s been pretty hard so far, but I’m definitely getting there. I think it could be a real game changer.

My second resolution, which is much smaller in nature but equally worth noting, is shaving at least every other day. I want to be consciously coming into each day, and I think that shaving is, for me, a way of not letting the day catch me by surprise.

I feel good about my resolutions this year, but I’ll definitely update all as the year progresses!