Life
Life
I'm 17 today!
In Hex of course. Or 10111(in binary) or 23(in decimal :)
This year I asked for cash instead of gifts. I want to buy a new toy...
Great Saturday. I delivered (or aided in the delivery of) a very nice car to a very “big” celebrity.
Here's a fun exercise for a Friday morning...
Go to the dentist. Get a couple of fillings put in (3 to 4 is fine). Nothing like the high-pitched whine of that drill to start your day. Then drive to work (semi-high on anesthetic). At work make yourself a nice cup of coffee. Say “good morning all!” and take a big gulp (keep some paper towels handy).
Warning: Do this all at your own risk.
I like to think that the bloggers here on DNJ and those reading these blogs are a reasonably educated bunch. That becomes very clear when a blog is exposed to the outside world of non-techies. I wrote two posts a while back - Save Toby and Gizoogle.
Obviously when a normal person does a “Google” on one of these terms, they end up on my blog. The result is silly comments to the posts. For example...
“I am cool”
”bezerker”
”what is a brain wave?”
What are they thinking? Still better than blog spam of course.
Work has been tough the last couple of months. I find it hard focusing. Sometimes I stare at my screen, write a line of code, then get distracted again and read some RSS feeds, email, chat to someone on MSN or work on my budget (information overload?).
First I thought I needed to get more organized. And I did. I cleaned my desk, limited my email and RSS reading. Forced myself to work only to 5. It got me focused, but only for about a week.
Then I took on some hobbies (anything not programming related). That included things like 3d-modelling and photography. Having a hobby is great, but not so great when you'd rather surf the net looking at 3d-modelling websites instead of doing your work.
Something might be wrong with my health, I thought. Got my blood pressure and blood sugar checked out. All good. Got more sleep at night, drank more water and less coffee. I even started a rigorous gym program. Getting some exercise has helped a lot, but I'm still not there.
I think the problem is really straight-forward. So simple in fact that I'm amazed I haven't figured it out before. This is probably my first bout of BURNOUT. Yes, I did take some leave over the December holidays, but that was very exhausting (non-stop entertainment and not much relaxing).
I'm not sure how to cope with burnout. A long holiday? (I've only got 2 days leave to spend) Try another hobby? Move onto another project? Try another line of work entirely?
You know you're a geek when you wake up at night thinking about cryptography. I've been reading Simon Singh's Code Book. The book describes in detail how cryptography has evolved over the ages. For example - Julius Caesar himself used to use a simple form of encryption. In the cipher alphabet, each letter would be shifted a number of spaces to the right (see below).
normal alphabet: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q ...
cipher alphabet: y z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o ...
So the word “hello“ would become “fcjjm“. This became known as the Caesar Cipher. Ovbiously this was a very easy one to break as it only had 26 possible cipher alphabets.
The Code Book is an excellent read. I blame this new-found interest in cryptography on The Da Vinci Code.
Wow, I only wanted to take a short 15 min break. However, getting caught up in this manifesto, it ended up to be an intense 60 minute reading session.
If you haven't been to ChangeThis.com yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. Especially the document I was talking about - Danger: Quicksand. It's about the corporate culture and how to tell when it's time to move on.
Whoah, quite a heavy, unexpected
post on security by Hunter Thompson.
Very strange.
I've measured my blood pressure a number of times at the gym. It's always close to 160/65. Now apparently 120/80 is normal, so my systolic pressure seems to be very high. But then my diastolic pressure seems to be very low. Does this mean I've got high blood pressure or low blood pressure. Or does it mean I've got both?
I should get one of the consultants to do a proper test. These machines are probably inaccurate.
It's my sister's birtday on January 31st. My dad and I have decided to visit her and spend the weekend. The catch - we're driving there and she stays in Durban (that's 1800 km away).
Really looking forward to the travelling. I'm a sucker for long trips (especially when doing it in a Peugeot :)
It doesn't happen very often, but I'm really stumped. Is there such a thing as programmer's block? No matter how hard I try, I just can't figure out how to solve my architectural problem. In a situation like this it's probably best to take a few paces back and view things from another angle.
Sigh.
There is no work quite as soul destroying as trying to replicate an error. That's why I'd choose project work over product work any time. With product work, when a client in Alaska gets an obscure error - you have to try and simulate it. This can take hours and hours. And the end result isn't nice code and a functioning program, the end result is a BUG. Only then can you get back to creative work by fixing the bug.
When you are doing project work and something goes wrong, you've got access to the production server. It's muuuch easier to solve the problem.
So, if I could choose between product or project... bring on the project.
Ever heard of a
moleskine? I haven't until today. A lot of people are
raving about it. I'd really like to get one (or two or three), but I haven't found anyone that sells them in Cape Town. I'll have to do some more research...
Prince Harry has done it again. The world is up in arms about Harry wearing a nazi uniform at a costume party. Yes, he was waaay out of line with this one, but if I were in his shoes I'd do some dumb sh!t as well. Only to show the world that I'm not a puppet there for their entertainment. Imagine being born into the royal family? Sounds like the Truman Show if you ask me.
The January 10 sun has risen over congested traffic. Looks like the party's over and it's business as usual. Swearing, pollution, noise - blank faces facing the day. Then at the office - “hello“'s and “welcome back“s, meetings, emails, coding, coding...
I always thought 2% Low Fat milk contained only 2% the amount of fat compared to Full Cream milk. A simple assumption.
According to this site, Full Cream milk contains 3.6% fat. Not such a big difference anymore, is there?
What would the ideal working environment be? I think being the guy in charge of my own business would be awesome. But let's say I'm working for a boss. Then this is what I think the ideal (most productive) working environment would be like...
1. Spacious working area with no more than 5 people in the same room.
2. A breakout room with a dart board and a pool table.
3. A brainstorming/napping room with a whiteboard and a comfy couch for siestas.
4. Friday should be free beer and dart championship day.
5. Dual-Monitor PC.
6. JetBrains ReSharper (why waste time doing grunt work?)
7. Quick morning stand-up meetings so everyone knows what everyone else is doing.
8. A caffeteria with nice cooked meals.
9. Open spaces near the office to hit a few gholf balls.
I would add 'Dancing Girls' as well, but that would probably kill productivity. Oh well...
Did I leave anything out?
Sadly my holiday is over. I had a great time, got a bit of sun and did a lot of body surfing. The place I enjoyed most was uShaka, slides, aquarium, sharks, sharks, sharks. A lot of fun :)
Yes, now and then I did miss coding. So it's time to get back to Visual Studio.
I'll be posting again soon.
I don’t believe in astrology, numerology, black cats or Friday the 13th.
I do believe in red lights. When I get one of those mornings where all the traffic lights are red, it turns out to be a terrible day. Oh dear.
Truth... or a self-fulfilling prophecy? Anybody else have their own superstitions?
What an exhausting month! Luckily in one week's time I'm off to Amanzimtoti (just outside sunny Durban) for a long awaited holiday.
Sad news from my side - Erna's (my fantastic girlfriend) dad passed away last Saturday (suddenly and unexpected). I spent last week with her and her family to help out where I can. Johan was a great guy. I'm going to miss his passionate conversations about mini's, motorbikes, airplanes and trains.
I've learnt a number of things from the experience.
- Life's really short.
- Take chances.
- Make mistakes.
- Don't waste your days being unhappy... it's not worth it.
That's my two cents.