trails, trials and travails » resolutions

2011 New Year, new things

zyrc — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 10:56:30 +0000

Yes, yes, the ubiquitous New Year's Resolution post. With a slight twist: sharing my internet finds.

The first internet find, and one which I really want to encourage folks to use, is 101in365, which is developed by a former colleague, @jennjenn. It's a way of committing to the things you want to do in the next 365 days. Yes, you really have to think of 101 things, which really isn't that easy a task, and then lock them in and start doing them. Its a pretty simple idea & very easy to use. My list is here. Some of it is mundane and some is ambitious, but none of it is unrealistic for the next year, which I think — for me at this juncture — is very good. Some of it I've done before but that haven't done in a while (like bake a pie). Some of it I've never done (like post a book to Blurb). I'm very curious to see what happens in 2011 because of it and I'd love to see your lists there, too, since others can comment on your list items. One of my items is to post at least 25 times to this blog, so here's the first post. Woo.

The second internet find is Mostly365. It's taking the idea of a photo a day (there are many 365 groups on Flickr) and building a website around them. The website is populated by images that are tweeted and hash tagged #mostly365, so it's pretty easy to use and it supports a number of service, including Flickr and Instagram. At any rate, my rate of dropping out of 365 projects is pretty high, but I'm going to try to tweet a photo and that hashtag every day this year, because it's simple and I like their website. My first thought when I saw this site today was, "Wow, why didn't Flickr do this?" Meaning, why didn't we ever leverage machine tags for site pages grouped to a theme? Imagine an Explore >365 page, not unlike the Explore > Galleries or Explore > Analog pages. I know. I hate the thumbnail display, too, on those pages, but it'd still be nifty. Or gamed, probably.

I'm adjusting to moving to the next moment in my life sans Flickr, which hasn't been all that simple given how much of a power user I was of the site. It was weird to go from being a member of a site I loved to working there… and now it's weirder to not work there but still use the site. I don't feel comfortable engaging as much as I once did there, but that's allowed me to go out exploring on the 'net a wee bit over this holiday break. So, other great finds I'm using daily now are Instapaper, Pinboard, and Quora. It's so good to be a Netizen again after spending 18 months with my head jammed into the problem du jour at Flickr. I had some fun, I had some not-fun, and now I'm having different fun. I hope to remember to keep my online life diversified at whatever my next gig will be.

One last find, which I'm ashamed to admit I only heard of yesterday, is the concept of technical debt (or code debt). Wow! Really? There is a name for this and that name is not "half implemented features"? The concept really struck a nerve for me, probably since it's framed in terms of economics. I'm working on getting out from under personal debt, so this rings my bell; here's the quote from Ward Cunningham that sums up the concept,

Shipping first time code is like going into debt. A little debt speeds development so long as it is paid back promptly with a rewrite. Objects make the cost of this transaction tolerable. The danger occurs when the debt is not repaid. Every minute spent on not-quite-right code counts as interest on that debt. Entire engineering organizations can be brought to a stand-still under the debt load of an unconsolidated implementation, object- oriented or otherwise.

Or, as I might more simply state it, shipping a half-baked product is fine so long as you swing back around on a map to manage that code debt. If it's not on a map, you're not taking it into consideration, and things can turn around and bite you hard in the ass if you let the debt pile-up (like my own bills). I wish I had known that this was a concept that actually existed while at my last job, although those stories are for another day. But I do know that if I work for someone else again, I'd like them to have this sort of debt on their radar and a plan of action to manage that debt.

Those are my internet finds for the day, the first day of this new wonderful 2011 year.

Stepping into 2011

zyrc — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:08:36 +0000

A little early for a new year's post, eh? Nah, just have time on my hands and thoughts in my mind.

So, I went on a little adventure the past year and a half. Now, my last day with Flickr is here. It's been a good ride, looking back, but there are always lessons to be learned.

The greatest carry-away for me is to assume less and prioritize more.

Assumptions can lead to crazy spin-making, and I'm thinking of all the doom and naysayers out there who live by drama, feed off rumor, and care little about anything besides their own narcissism. I've now seen the other side of a coin and will be assuming a lot lot lot less about others' motivations in the future. It's tough to really care passionately about a something, because you can start to makey-uppy things in your mind, things which lead you to wrong conclusions. I see it all on the time on various internet forums. People have a story that they tell themselves. People feed off of any tangential info that supports their story, even if their story is wrong. Then, people gravitate towards others who believe what they believe and they each reiterate what the other assumes. Even if the assumptions are shown to be wrong. Especially if they are humor-challenged. Definitely if they pick up bait tossed at them. So, if you don't have the whole story and you bite at any bait out there, you're probably wrong. At the least, you're throwing good energy away.

But this take-away is for really for me.

I've disagreed with others who I thought didn't have a clue ("yur doin' it wrong!"). But there's that underlying assumption there: that they don't know what they are doing. And they might know what they are doing. I might not have all the information of their story. Or I might be right and they are clueless, but it really doesn't matter. And it's OK to put down the passion and to pick up a little trust. Seems odd to have that take-away at this moment, but it's actually head clearing. Today, I set down an entire bag of stuff — good stuff, bad stuff — and walked away feeling better than I suspected I would.

Actually, being able to close the door and take the elevator down to the first floor, walk out the door and walk into a new life, leads me to the second take-away of the day: prioritize more. My greatest shortcoming is that I am a fixer. Which assumes that something needs fixing, and maybe it does. If it does, I'm your gal – I'm great at what I do. I care. On my way out, someone at the office said that caring made people excel at what they do. OK, my ego is big enough to like hearing that, sure, but caring has to be prioritized. Because — trite phrase ahead — if I'm not taking care of me first, taking care of anything else can't really happen. I knew I was in trouble yesterday when my new doctor asked me what I liked to do for fun. I realized then that I hadn't been doing much of it.

When I look back in my life, the best opportunities came my way when having fun, so as a reminder to my future self, here are two examples. I find politics to be fun. By that, I mean political discourse and (no surprise here) being in an arena where a strong opinion is valued. And I have strong opinions! One day, in a city new to me, I joined a mailing list for a local protest group because it sounded fun to make signs for a rally. A year later, I was on my way to Boston as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention – which was a blast. We had great times there (and I'm that sort of person that thinks that stuff is fun)… and it was a stellar opportunity for me.

Another great opportunity was getting a job at Flickr… and that happened because of the fun I had participating in discussion groups on that website after taking a break from graduate school. It's been a fabulous opportunity to use my technical skills at website I truly loved. I learned a lot (both techy and the things I've written about here) and tried to impart a lot…

… which is going to be a sweet pick-up for whatever's ahead in 2011.

So, cheers and on to the new year.

horse sense

zyrc — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:44:35 +0000

hello…. again… help for Haiti – see description, originally uploaded by zyrcster.

I’m auctioning this photo to raise money for charities supporting the Haiti Earthquake Relief effort. You can bid on it here or you can go here to find another photo you’d rather bid on.

So, I haven’t updated since last weekend, still haven’t gotten into the gym yet, but am making headway on the eating better resolution. The first week that I started noticing my diet and counting calories was a true revelation. My food intake has been horrible the past year or two; that combined with my inactivity clearly is the root cause of the weight gain that happened the past two years.

So, it took the first week of counting calories just to notice my habits and the second week to figure out what works – what food do I need to eat to maintain equilibrium and what times of day do I need to be eating? This Monday starts my 3rd week of this resolution to ‘get fit’ and so it’s more the beginning than the past two weeks have been, since I’m going to stick to a certain calorie level and start working in more activity (workout!).

And, of course, working out my brain by thinking of insightful, relevant post to start blogging. Yea.

Fit this

zyrc — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:14:42 +0000

Chicago girls at Sokol Sports, Prague, Austria (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Today I found a great little iPhone app called Lose It!, via Jesse Stay. The timing couldn’t be better, since I have my iPhone with me everywhere I go… and I was just thinking I needed something to track caloric intake and exercise in an easy and convenient way.

Yesterday, I found a website called Calorie Count, which does the same thing and has a ton of info, but the iPhone app is just better for me, since I need something at hand… not something to remember to update hours after I’ve eaten or worked out. I also briefly checked out SparkPeople, but I work in social media… the last thing I need is some super-comprehensive social networking thing for weight loss. I don’t have that sort of time or energy.

Anyway, I need to get in shape and drop weight, and right away the idea of counting calories in an easy manner seemed a good fit for me. I like numbers. I like that it’s easy to do with technology. I like that it gives me a daily goal. I like pausing to think about whether I really need sour cream on the potato.

The lightbulb came on in my head that I am sooo sedate and that it’s sooo simple to burn a few calories doing, well, household things. 10 minutes of vacuuming daily is a simply thing I can do instead of doing it once a week. Getting off the bus a few stops earlier gives me another 10 minutes of walking I wouldn’t otherwise do. The iPhone app’s convenience is ridiculous.

Last month, I also bought a gym membership, so this week I’ll be getting in there twice a week. I’ll be doing weight training because I know it best (from my trapeze days)… and – conveniently – it’s a good way to drop weight since it raises your metabolism if you do it right. I also don’t mind building up muscle.

Tally ho!

Skeletons in this closet

zyrc — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:22:39 +0000

skull, originally uploaded by zyrcster.

I’ve been enjoying doing a lot of nothing, which amounts to poking about town, watching bowl games, and playing video games (I’m currently hooked on an iPhone game called Ice Age), but there are these pesky resolutions under my skin.

Yea, resolutions. Foremost is getting my house in order, which means clearing out more unwanted/unneeded things and keeping it a lot cleaner than it has been lately and clearing out some poor diet choices which have left me, well, large. Home and body. So, today was a deep clean for the house and lighter fare than usual for me.

They say it takes 3 weeks to build a habit, and I’m working on 3. I don’t normally make resolutions at the start of the year, but these bones need some shaking up.

2010 Happy New Year!

zyrc — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:50:52 +0000

Big yawn!, originally uploaded by zyrcster.

It’s time for resolutions, and my top resolve is to start blogging again, one a day, every day. That along with getting into the gym weekly and getting out of town monthly – those are my 2010 goals.

New Year’s Eve was great – I took a drive down the coast to see harbor and elephant seals, then went up to Grace Cathedral for a 10pm showing of 3 Charlie Chaplin films from his Mutual days (including a rocking organist!), ending up in the thick of things down on the Embarcadero for fireworks and frivolity. It was, oddly, a recap of how I spent the 2000 NYE.

Kudos to SF MUNI and the SFPD for excellent transportation (free!) and crowd control. In fact, it was almost surreal in how subdued but happy things were down there. I got all the way down to the waterfront for front-row fireworks, then hoofed it up to Stockton and Market to catch the 9 home…. and it was festive and fun, not ridiculous and stressful.

New Year’s Day here is quiet – lots of open tables at various cafes I passed while out returning the Zipcar. I’m now ensconced for the day watching a muddy bowl game and rooting for LSU.

I thought I’d be in Colorado for this holiday, but I’m glad I stayed back here. I really needed this past week of sleeping in, lazy drives to the coast, and frolicking around the City I call home again. I’m feeling more refreshed than I have in a long while.

I’ll close with a CC licensed image from sebastiansuk.de // pitlanepics.de, who seems to have stood a block away from where I stood last night. Happy New Year!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastiansuk/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0