1st Quarter Report: 2010

Previously, I wrote about things I hope to do in 2010.

Now that Q1 of 2010 is over, let's see how I'm doing.

1) Get out of the I.T. ghetto

Pretty much no motion at all on this one. My job continues to be a pointless exercise in futility at a joyless hole (new nickname for my workplace, but if you own a bar in a shitty part of town feel free to use that name), but at least on the 'abandoning your hopes and dreams' scale, it's a couple steps less bad than being a crack addict with hepatitis C.

As far as this goes, my prediction is eventually I'll just get fired and then pursue a much more fulfilling second career. See? I'm an optimist! Stay tuned for updates.

2) Write more

This one started out well, but I fell back into my old not writing ways quickly. I did spend an amazingly long time writing and rehearsing what ended up being a 5-minute presentation for Ignite Bloomington 2 (on the Arduino), and that was really a great exercise in cutting out bullshit and general minimalism (although watch me now, all kinds of superfluous verbiage in this entry). Now that that's over perhaps I can channel the creative energy into less concise writing.

3) Find someplace other than Soma to hang out

Big success here. I was lured into Scholar's Inn Bakehouse on the square by their Twitter account ('free Euros with any purchase!'), and was reminded that in contrast to Soma's basement atmosphere, there's a lot of light and some nice outdoor tables at the Bakehouse, which makes it an ideal springtime hangout. There are comfortable chairs in the back, but they're almost always occupied. The coffee is good, and of course there are the baked goods, too. So I will at the very least add this place to the hang out circuit.

4) Go to Disney World

Done! We went the week of St. Patrick's Day for 3 exhausting days. I got up before 6 every day, which is unheard of for me except for race days. It was actually a lot of fun, and my daughter loved it, so again, big success on this one.

5) Learn More about Electronics

I have been going to the hackerspace meetings and doing more reading, particularly 'Practical Arduino' recently. I need to talk to the super-experienced electronics master there more, though. He was talking about he was going to teach us all about OpAmps but it hasn't happened yet.

6) Call in to the Best Show on WFMU

This one hasn't happened. I have a bad case of 'the wit of the staircase' (le wit l'escalier, I think) w/ the Best Show. I will listen, and then afterwards think 'oh! I should have called in with this story'. Maybe I'll pull it together on this one.

7) Learn to 'hover' on the unicycle

No progress here, although until a couple weeks ago, conditions for unicycling were hardly ideal.

Yours in the pursuit of better living,

SDC