Out with the Old
I’m preparing for what I hope will be a new phase in my life. And one of the things I need for this change is a revised online presence. I’ve experimented with various ideas and concepts. And I want to try and implement them in my life.
One of the first to feel the changes, will be my blogging. I deleted my old Blogspot blog. All the content exists on this website anyways. Also I’m planning to make this blog more into a portfolio, than just a blog straight up. The blog obviously will be accessible, just not on the front page. Also I’m thinking of doing some ExtJS magic and build a new AJAXy theme. So if the site breaks, you know what I’ve been up to.
On another note, I’m getting back to developing justCheckers into reality. And on the side playing around with the newly revived Pyzzle game engine.
Update – A Week in Review
This has been quite a busy week in hindsight. I managed to build up my portfolio and work on my professional image. I managed to restart my coding and writing projects. And I’ve finished up on my correspondences. I look back and I’m quite proud of my achievements. I just wish I could move such mountains on a regular basis.
Building a Portfolio
Yesterday I started revamping my blog, and building my portfolio. Now I don’t really need a portfolio, since I chose a career of software engineering over graphic design and writing. However just because my current occupation doesn’t need my more artistic talents, that doesn’t mean I don’t have any. And it surely should not imply that I do not like to create art or to display it. So I’m putting up a few pages dedicated to a portfolio of my various works and ideas in: drawing, computer graphics, writing, user interface design and organization. How extensive this portfolio will be, depends on how much time and effort I can dedicate to this. It will definitely take sometime, so I don’t expect to finish overnight. Still, I should of done something like this years ago. More often than not, in a professional setting, people show interest in my talents outside of programming. So putting up a portfolio also makes sense too for career advancement. Right now I’m not too worried about that aspect. Rather I just feel like showcasing what I have done so far, and what I plan to do shortly.
Excuse the Dust
I apologize again for the silence earlier this week. I meant to post a few posts earlier on, but I did not get around to it.
Also you may have noticed that I’m updating this blog. In fact in general I am updating and cleaning up my “Web” presence in a big way. Hence I’m working on refreshing the look and feel of this blog. I’m plan on modifying the current theme into something I built myself. And I’ll building out my portfolio, something I should of done ages ago. Hence I’ll try to keep updating this blog frequently, but I might be a bit too busy for daily updates. Also the e-mail subscriptions ARE going way, please switch to using RSS feeds.
Quick Update
Hmm… unfortunately it seems I can no longer achieve much when pulling an all-nighter, as I did in university. In fact, I feel I maybe less productive due to the sleepiness that comes with sleep deprivation. (Talk about pointing out the obvious.) Anyways this week, I’m trying to catch up on work at home, while learning about Spring MVC at work and trying to push forward my projects. So far, the effort hasn’t really produced much in terms of progress on my projects. But I’ll see if I slide them during the day. Anyways, I’ll keep the post for today short and sweet. I have a lot of writing to do, and I need to plan and execute a technical demo for a prospective client. Hopefully today, I can push at least a few things forward.
Move It!
Today I realized I need to get a move on. I realize now that I must capitalize on the opportunity that is justCheckers. Originally I set up as a project to learn and advance my skills in programming Java and project management. I learned a great deal from that project. And after the project’s stalling, I assumed that no more real opportunities arose from it. Today I realized I was wrong. There are a multitude of possibilities that I can exercise in either this project or a similar one. I’m debating what would be the better move, but I’m leaning towards working on justCheckers for now.
Also I planning some rather massive work on this blog too. I have plans, and I see clearly how I can capitalize by achieving them.
The Madness Subsides
I apologize for the silence of in the last few days. Things really picked up at work, to the point of insanity. Fortunately yesterday I managed to get the component I was working on out the door. Still a good amount of overtime was required by the entire team to get our part done. Hopefully the client will be pleased with my initial contribution. I’m sure they’ll be satisfied with my latest work as I’m adding the final touches to that component. Another reason for my silence, is that I’m transitioning to using my cellphone as my main computing platform. It can feel cramped at times, but the portability is amazing. I’m sure it will be even better if I get a nicer device like the N900.
Ok, well all I have time for today is a quick update. I still have a good amount of work ahead of me, and very little time to do it in.
By the way, the new beta release of Kubuntu is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Definitely worth the upgrade.
A Return to Normality
Today marks the first day of getting back to my old schedule and routine. The transition turned out smoother than I imagined. Hopefully, no new quirk will appear and I get back to working on all my overdue tasks. As things stand:
- Writing the first part of the first chapter in the novel. Had tweak it a bit to avoid a plot hole.
- Working out the plan of attack to restart justCheckers development. I’m woefully unfamiliar with bzr and Eclipse integration is not working well.
- Some initial plans for the new justCheckers website theme. Again, new to Drupal theming.
- My consulting work is back to a regular, sane pace and my own expectations have fell into place.
- My expectations and goals in general are more aligned with reality and my own position in it.
- Small urgent tasks keep on stomping on my larger plans, which is a bit trying. Hopefully this will all settle down soon.
I’ll continue blogging in short irregular bursts, until my projects start moving forward under their own momentum.
New Site for justCheckers
I’m setting up a new site for the justCheckers project. The only real good reason for my working at all on this project, is simply to build a portfolio. As a software developer, I want to show to others that I can code. And that my code is clean, elegant and professional. I also want to show that I can write my own web applications. So I am writing the justCheckers website as a PHP, MySQL DB enabled application. All using proper XHTML, CSS and a touch of AJAX. The site is a work in progress. I’m not planning to build an entire flexible CMS, rather I plan on building a custom site.
Kicking Tires
This week, I’ve started working on my delayed projects again. I feel exhausted from the week. But I also can not wait to play around with my projects.
Learning Qt
I’ve always admired the KDE and Qt developers. They make some of the most innovative and interesting technology in the consumer-desktop-mobile land. I’ve decided to pick up learning Qt and C++. So far I’ve read the beginning of C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4 (1st ed). I need to play around with C++, which I plan on doing it while using Qt Creator. One of my first major Qt experiments might be getting the TEA text editor working on my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. I know that Nokia just released the tech preview of Qt 4 for S60 devices. But I’ll give it a shot. Hopefully the GUI will port over nicely.
Completing justCheckers
Yes, the project that I left for dead still lives. I want to work on it, as portfolio material. I first plan on building a website in PHP (or maybe JSP?) that renders beautiful CSS and XHTML. And then I need to give the project much love. But I owe it to myself to finish this application. I won’t build any crazy game servers. But I want to make something totally configurable and fun. And in the process I want to create something that proves that I am a strong Java developer.
Writing A Collection of Shards
I am going back to writing. Unfortunately I need to start almost from scratch, since many of my written sections simply will not work. The ideas are there. I just need to get them down on paper.
Driving License
This one is the ultimate in the tire kicking sense. I plan on getting my driver’s license really soon. Aside from parking, I feel comfortable driving. Once I figure out all this parking stuff, then I’ll be ready. I’m exciting since this will give me a lot more mobility and flexiblity. I’ll be able to solve a lot of problems and have even more time to do things in the day. And I’ll be able to sleep and live in normal time periods.
