Tag: Life

Google Nest Hub Radio Alarm Issues

I have both Google Nest Hub generation 1 and generation 2 devices, which seem to have issues consistently in playing a radio alarms. Doing a quick Google search and it appears that I am not the only person having this problem. The dates from the results also suggest that it has been a persistent issue for a number of years unfortunately 😦

I have factory reset the devices, tried a number of different radio stations, etc. and it seems that every other day the radio alarm will not play and a traditional alarm will played instead. I double checked to ensure that the devices only have a single alarm and it is a radio alarm.

Both devices do not have issues with network connectivity and the only thing that I can think of is that there is some software bug that is causing the radio alarm not to play. However the one problem with that is the radio alarm sometimes does play. Generally if it is a software issue then it would either work or it would not work, ie. 0 or 1.

I am a little confused about how to resolve this issue as it seems that Google support know of “an issue” with radio alarms but have given no other information. The troubleshooting steps I have already gone through from the support forums and have not helped. One solution I found was to have instead a routine that is triggered at a certain time and to play a radio station instead of having a radio alarm. But that sort of defeats the purpose of having a radio alarm.

If anyone out there has any solution or steps that I can try to resolve this issue then it would be greatly appreciated. I love both my Google Nest Hubs and with the second generation the new sleep sensing features are fantastic as I have difficulty wearing any watch or ring to monitor my sleeping pattern, etc. while I sleep.

Overcoming a Rough Work Day

Not every work day is going to be perfect. You will get some days (like today for me) where nothing is really going your way and it feels like you are fighting every little thing and there are no small wins coming throughout the day. It can be overwhelming and demoralizing, especially in the current climate we are in at the moment.

Today for me I had several issues that I kept running into whether it was my development environment not running or starting correctly, to a unit test that would just not pass and I could not find for the life of me why. It was a miserable day where I felt I was super unproductive and in a work from home world made things even worse.

So the way I tried to overcome this and help me get through my day was to:

  1. Take some deep breaths:
    • I find that trying to calm myself, not get worked up and just settle down some of my frustrations help in clearing my mind, releasing the tension in my body (I did not realize how tense my body got) and just calming me in general.
    • Long and slow deep breaths for a couple of minutes seem to do the trick for me.
  2. Take a step away from the problem:
    • If you are like me you will sometimes find it hard to drag yourself away from a problem. You will continue to think about it, obsess about every little detail, and not feel satisfied until the problem has been solved. This is counterproductive and makes finding the solution sometimes harder or near impossible.
    • Sometimes you need to do another task for a couple of minutes that is completely unrelated. I like to step away now from my desk and try to disconnect from the problem entirely. I either go for a short walk to the beach or grab a coffee or tea and sit on the balcony. I try not to think about the problem and just enjoy the environment that I am in.
    • By taking a step back and not thinking about the problem, when you try to solve the problem again you are looking at it with some fresher eyes and a clearer head which in turn hopefully will help you solve it or at least get you closer to finding a solution. Every little bit helps.
  3. Talk or message someone (it does not have to be about work):
    • I am extremely fortunate that I have some very close friends who I can have a chat to or message at any time of the day. Someone will reply back in the group chat.
    • By me doing this I can disassociate myself from the problem for a little bit and get my head in a state where I am thinking positive thoughts about things I enjoy with people I enjoy being around.
    • By taking this very short break I have found that coming back to the problem I feel more positive that I can solve it and my mood is slightly more lifted.
    • If I was in the office I would ask my coworkers if they would like to go for a coffee run and I would knock two birds with one stone here. Working from home has made this harder and communicating with colleagues over Slack is not the same as in person because I do not know what “state” they are in themselves and if they are open for communication.

Always remember having setbacks, speed bumps and problems throughout your day is not the end of the world. There are way more days ahead for you and the majority of them will be far better that the miserable day you or I just had. I know for myself I have family and friends that care for me, I am healthy, I have an amazing job at an amazing company with some of the nicest coworkers I have ever worked with. Putting all of the day’s problems into perspective, they are insignificant. Will the problem still exist tomorrow? Maybe and most likely, but I know if I go into the next day refreshed, with a clear head and positive attitude then it can be solved or overcome. Never (ever) let the negativity sink in and always reach out to someone if there is so much pressure that you cannot handle it, because more often than not there is always someone willing to lend a hand and help.

Self Isolation and W.F.H during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the world has led many to self isolate and work from home. I have been extremely fortunate that the company I work for (Atlassian) acted swiftly as I have been working from home for four weeks now. The only time I have gone out has been to pick up groceries or medicine, and I only do that once per week. Right now trying to “flatten the curve” is really important and we should all be doing the right thing and our part by following our respective countries rules, regulations, laws and recommendations; which for me is following social distance measures, only travelling when essential and staying home as much as possible to reduce the spread.

I really do miss going out and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, having dinner with family (the ones not living with me) and friends, going to the local pub for lunch on a Sunday and watching the UFC events with friends. On a professional level, not being able to have lunch in person with my teammates, go out and grab a coffee together and just ask questions or chat in person has been difficult to adjust to. I imagine I am not the only one who is taking some time to get used to the new social distancing and isolation measures that are in place. Right now it is the small physical social interactions that I am missing the most.

To keep myself sane and not go stir crazy I have been trying to get together (virtually) with my friends several times a week and either chat for an hour or two discussing life and work (but staying away from the topic of COVID-19 altogether) or play some online games to relax and unwind. I work with an amazing team and getting together on Zoom is super easy so making sure my co-workers are in good spirits during this time has been painless but collaborating online is something that I am only now starting to adjust to. I don’t think I could be a full time remote worker without learning and changing some of my habits.

With no commute anymore, I have been trying to be a little more productive too such as working on personal projects and read some more. Along with trying to be a little more productive I have been watching more TV series and movies, obviously due to the amount of time I am spending indoors. Two things I have not been doing much I have noticed is exercising and getting some sun; but I am trying to change this slowly. Afternoons if the weather permits I have been trying to work outside and am starting a strength and conditioning program at home to at least keep a little fit.

Hopefully in the coming months normality returns and we can begin to return to our regular routines. But until then we need to all do our part, keep each other safe, make sure we check up on our loved ones or the people we care about and make sure they are all staying healthy both physically and mentally. Only together can we overcome this horrible pandemic and maybe, just maybe we can learn from this and make sure that it does not happen again or at the very least can stop it from spreading and affecting the people we all care so much about.

Who steals vehicle licence plates?

After a long and hard work week, I was hoping to have a relaxing weekend. Planned on sleeping in a little on Saturday, play some video games, do some side project programming, maybe go and do some jiu jitsu and then on Sunday watch UFC 248 with friends. But after leaving the train on Friday evening and walking back to my vehicle, I noticed something was a little off. My front (and then as I walked to the back of my vehicle) and back vehicle licence plates had been stolen.

I stood there for a second, sighed and then was like “my relaxing weekend will now involve me filling in paper work in person and online, following up on my registration, getting new plates, etc”. As soon as I got home and was heating up my dinner I started to Google what I needed to do for stolen vehicle plates in Australia. The list of items was not long, but it would require me to go to a service centre, fill out more paper work, and do some more following up. The life of an adult 🙂

To begin with I needed to file a police report. Now for something like this I could either visit the specific website (which I did) and fill in the required information. Super simple and easy, but the only downside is that you will not get a Police Event Number straight away (did not know this at the time). You could also ring a specific hotline, or visit the local police station. If I knew that I would not get a Police Event Number then and there I would have just gone to my local station to file the report. This Police Event Number is important if you go to a Service NSW centre the next day to get new vehicle licence plates.

Woke up early on Saturday and went to the nearest Service NSW centre. Thankfully I was the first person in line and was quickly served. I needed to fill out some more paper work. As I was filling out the form I needed a Police Event Number. The number that you do not get straight away if you fill in the police report online. So now I had to either call the hotline or go to the local police station and provide the same information I entered last night. This time I just called up the hotline, answered all the necessary questions, and got a Police Event Number (yay). So for future reference and anyone in New South Wales, Australia I recommend that you either call the hotline or visit your local police station.

After getting this paper work sorted I got some new vehicle licence plates. They were not free though. I had to pay $47 to get new standard vehicle licence plates, even though they were stolen as the RMS will not take the hit for something like this. Thankfully the people at the Service NSW centre were super helpful (as was the lady I spoke to on the hotline I might add) and all the paper work to get my registration and new vehicle plates were sorted out. Now I just have to follow up with my vehicle insurer and make sure everything gets transfered over correctly.

I was also advised by the lady on the hotline that the police will be taking prints from my vehicle, asking a couple of more questions in person and also canvassing the area where the incident occurred as apparently there has been a string of vehicle licence plate thefts in that area. Hopefully these individuals (or individual) gets caught, have to pay back each and every single person they have affected, pay a substantial fine, and do some community service. Unfortunately I do not believe they will get caught 😦

My First 30 Days at Atlassian

On February 21st I let my (former) employer know that I was resigning because I had taken a position at another company to grow professionally and expand my technical abilities. Come April 1st I started a new position as a Junior Backend Developer at Australia’s best software company (IMO) and one of the world’s best software companies (IMO), Atlassian. I was going to write this post a little earlier but I wanted to get more settled into my new position at Atlassian and get a better feel about how I was really adjusting working at a new and amazing company, in a new city, with me not knowing anyone at the company. What I can say it has been fantastic 😀

Previously my commute was a very short walk to the bus stop, then catching the free shuttle bus service our town offers to work (which was the bus’ first stop from where I caught it from). In total the entire trip from my house to my work was generally no more than 15 minutes at the best case. Now I need to wake up early (well early for me) at around 6am, drive to the train station and catch an early train to the Sydney CBD. I could catch a later train but there is no guarantee that there will not be any diversions or delays. In total the trip can take as long as 1 hour and 30 minutes. Thankfully I don’t need to stress on the train trip as I don’t need to change trains (the one I take directly goes to the CBD), can do some light work, listen to some music or a podcast, and even chat with my mates if they catch the same one that day.

One thing I can definitely say is that Atlassian looks after their employees very well. Originally for breakfast I would have an Up & Go and then head to work. Now I don’t have breakfast at home. Atlassian offers free breakfast 🙂 I usually grab a bowl of fresh fruit and yogurt, and a small bottle of orange juice. Overall a much healthier breakfast option. For lunch I would generally make myself a sandwich and pack some snacks like crackers, yogurt, muesli bar, etc. Again, I don’t need to worry about lunch because Atlassian has me covered with free lunches everyday. With an assortment of different fruits, vegetables, meats, breads, drinks, etc and hot foods on Tuesdays and Thursday I can safely say that I will never get hungry; oh that is not to mention the assortment of snacks including chips, biscuits, nuts, ice cream, etc. I have already started to put on weight that I need to work off with all the food I am consuming.

One thing that I knew was coming was getting a new Apple laptop, based on all the images I saw of employees with their computers on Glassdoor and YouTube. I have never owned an Apple product until now and I am still getting used to the butterfly keyboard and macOS, but generally moving between Windows and macOS is no different than when I was moving between Windows and Ubuntu at university. On the hardware and workstation front having a super comfortable computer chair, standing desk, and large monitor along with a Macbook Pro that is spec’d out to the gills are all great things to have. If you are in Silicon Valley or work at a startup technology company these might all be common but it wasn’t where I was previously working (including the amount of free food and drinks).

Working at Atlassian has also been amazing so far. I am on the Bitbucket Server team and it has some really intelligent and talented developers, designers and managers. One thing that I have noticed when I got here was that my team and manager had a plan for me for the next several months and if I had any questions I could approach any colleague whether they were or were not on my core team. After getting through the massive amount of HR and onboarding tasks put in front of me there was just so much to learn. Many at the company say it is like “drinking from the fire hose“. There is just so much to learn, consume and understand. I can say that what they are saying is 100%, based on how much there is to learn and consume. Thankfully for me, I am surrounded by such helpful people that if I need any clarification or guidance about anything I can easily approach them and they are more than willing to help. It can be a little daunting to try and understand everything, see how everything fits together and how to resolve some of the issues. But as any good developer would say, your debugger is your friend as well as the log files. With a very clean code base with plenty of unit and integration tests it makes understanding the product much easier.

To summarise my first 30 days, it has gone very quick. From fun company and team events such as Star Wars movie event for May 4th (we had it on May 3rd as May 4th in Australia is on Saturday) and lawn bowls to resolving customer issues on Bitbucket Server, I have completely enjoyed my time. I am always learning something new every day and am trying to help my team as best I can, where I can. The next couple of months I am going to try and resolve more and more complex problems, try not to break anything (or if I do fix it) and ensure that I am leaving a positive measurable change. One thing I have learnt very quickly is to speak up when stuck, if you see an issue don’t ignore it but proactively do something about it. Everyone at the company I feel breathe Atlassian’s company values. With everything going well so far, I hope to be here for a very long time.

If you are looking for a change the take a look at the Atlassian careers page, we are always looking for talented individuals to grow our ever expanding team.

My New Blue Light Blocking Tinted Glasses

For the past two weeks while I am at work or at home working on a computer, playing video games, etc. I am wearing a pair of prescription glasses with a blue light blocking tint to them. After a number of different articles came out saying how blue light being emitted from our screens is causing harm to our eyes and sleep, I thought it would be best to ask my optometrist about getting a pair of glasses that block out the blue light.

What I have noticed in just these few weeks of using prescription glasses with a blue light blocking tint was my eyes were less tired at the end of the day, slightly less red and irritated looking, and I fall asleep a little easier. Is this just a placebo effect and something that I am just noticing now because of my new glasses? Perhaps, but in my mind I would rather have “healthier” eyes and an easier time falling asleep with a better sleeping pattern than the opposite. With so much negativity in the world, having something positive is essential.

My original pair of glasses were fitted with transitional lenses (they get darker depending on the amount of UV light detected) and unfortunately I could not get them equipped with both transition lenses and blue light blocking lenses. So now while I am indoors working on a PC or playing Xbox I wear my new glasses, but when I do anything outdoors I wear my older pair of glasses with the transitional lenses.

If you stare at a computer or screen all day then I suggest you take a look at getting a pair of blue light blocking tinted glasses, either with a prescription or not. Previously I believe the glasses lenses that were available had a yellow hue to them, but now (well mine anyway) are clear and depending on the angle you hold them you can see a blue fade to them. To me the eyes are one of the most important body parts and I would absolutely be devastated if something seriously injured them if I could have prevented it. These glasses are one type of protection and prevention that I am more than happy to have obtained.

Microsoft or Google’s Productivity Apps

My original post was going to be about the two different AI assistants that Microsoft and Google offer, Cortana and Google Assistant respectively. However while writing and reviewing the post the theme of productivity and how the two assistants are making life simpler kept appearing. So instead I discarded that post and started this one. I try to streamline and make my life easier by looking for ways to automate, digitally organise, and remove redundant or boring tasks while taking advantage of applications on both mobile and PC to keep everything together.

As someone with an Android phone and has/is still using Google’s products on a number of platforms it would make sense that I lean towards Google’s ecosystem and productivity apps. But, Microsoft’s own products are just as good (if not better IMO) than Google’s. Are there other productivity products out there that do the same job or better? There could be but I generally only like using first party products because I don’t like giving other applications access to my account information. If others have suggestions about other apps that are useful let me know in the comments and I’ll potentially take a look at them and break my rule.

Email

Be it personal or for work, I use email a good amount. On my Android phone I have disabled the Gmail app and have opted for the Outlook app. There are several reasons for this. Aesthetically the Gmail app is pleasing and the performance is great, you never see any slowness or lag. Outlook is not as visually pleasing and appears more formal but it too performs well with little to no lag or slowness. If you are on PC then you can use both Gmail and Outlook through your web browser of choice, and if you subscribe to Office 365 (like I do) you can get access to the Outlook application where you can have both your Gmail and Outlook accounts synced up. The features that you get with Outlook on their apps and the web are also far superior than what Google offers. Outlook can be far more complicated and daunting with all your options, etc while Gmail is more user friendly, streamlined but lacks the options that Outlook offers. Score one to Microsoft here with the number of email features on offer when using Outlook.

Calendar

This one is a no brainer. For some reason Google has a separate app for your calendar which is a little bit of a pain. But the calendar app they do have is like the Gmail app aesthetically pleasing. Not only does it look good but it also performs very well. However the major draw back is that it will only sync with your Gmail account (perhaps I have not found the right setting but I cannot sync other calendars to it). Microsoft’s Outlook app has an inbuilt calendar (yay, less apps) and it has all the features the Google Calendar app offers. On the PC you can again use a web browser to access both Google and Microsoft account calendars. The Outlook app to manage your calendar on PC is a power user’s dream. There are a number of features that are either really hard to find in Google Calendar or are not present. So again Microsoft takes the win here by making Outlook such a powerful app on both Android and PC.

Tasks, To-Dos, and Reminders

I decided to bundle tasks, to-dos and reminders together because I generally treat and use all three in a similar way. Microsoft allows you to handle these either through the dedicated To-Do app (would have loved to be able to do this through the Outlook app like everything else unless you use Outlook on PC) or the AI assistant Cortana, plus there is the Microsoft Launcher, but I won’t discuss the details about that app here. I just want to point out that aesthetically Microsoft’s apps on Android feel very corporate and formal, but the To-Do app feels very consumer friendly and welcoming like Google’s apps. Google handles tasks, to-dos and reminders in a much similar fashion. Google has Google Keep and a new Google Tasks app, plus there is the Google Assistant. I previously used Google Keep and it did the job really well, but after moving to Office 365 and Microsoft’s products I found that Google Keep was/is fairly basic. From what I have read about Google Tasks, that product is also basic and has only the very bare minimum features with more coming the future. If you want a number of features for your tasks, to-dos and reminders then Microsoft’s products are the way to go, but what Google offers do the job just fine.

AI Assistant

The AI assistant of choice really depends on which ecosystem you are using. If you are in the Google ecosystem using Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Tasks, Google Keep, etc. then the Google Assistant is the one you should be using IMO. If you use Outlook and To-Do then Cortana is the AI assistant you need to use. Google Assistant on Android is integrated so well it is really a shame that Cortana does not integrate as well. If I could identify one area where Google is leaps and bounds above Microsoft is the quality, performance and appearance of the app on Android. I believe Cortana does not look as good as Google Assistant and also is not as responsive. There have been graphical issues when I launch the app at times, there is the occasional lag, etc. However with every new update of Cortana on Android it gets better. Cortana on PC however does not have the same issues as it does on Android in regard to performance and appearance. Both AI  assistants perform very similar when I ask them questions in my day to day use so if you’re worried about not being able to answer or perform a task during day to day use then you shouldn’t. They have their own ways to perform the same task but it is just a matter of getting used to it. Google’s feels a little more natural than Microsoft, but it is not a major issue. If I had to lean one way, Google’s integration with all their platforms, products and services, aesthetics and performance makes this one a win for it.

Overall Google and Microsoft offer a number of products and services that can pretty much handle everything that you throw at them. Google’s products are simpler, easy to use and are very consumer friendly. They perform very well and visually are superior to the ones offered by Microsoft. Microsoft’s products feel more business, formal and professional oriented. The number of features that they have is also far superior to that of the features the Google products have. If you are a power user and really want to streamline, organise and stay on top of all your things then Microsoft has you covered. At the end of the day you cannot go wrong with either ecosystem and it is all about what you want out of your apps.

Learning Patience From Teaching

I would consider myself a fairly calm, level headed and patient individual; never can I recall a time where I have gone off the deep end and blown a gasket. There is nothing beneficial in becoming angry, frustrated and furious at an individual or team, or questioning whether someone has really been paying attention in a demeaning fashion. I have seen first hand what happens when someone does blow up and starts angrily blaming and non-constructively criticize someone. As I worked with a variety of different individuals from a number different backgrounds, beliefs, understanding and competence, I have learnt to be patient and try to understand why and where they are coming from.

The reason why I am writing this blog post is because this weekend I was asked by my parents to construct an specific Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that can be easily modified aka “Idiot Proof” as they put it. I am not an Excel wizard or master, but I do know my way around a spreadsheet and I can do what was necessary in Excel for them. As I finished the spreadsheet and was showing them, they seemed fairly happy with the result which was good. But as I was showing them how to update and use it to meet their needs, that is when my patience was being tested. What I originally thought was going to be several minutes explaining how to use the spreadsheet turned into an hour worth of explaining.

My dad is an electrical engineer and as far back as I can remember he has used a computer. He knows how to build them and use a number of various software programs effectively. But his knowledge is limited when it comes to the Microsoft Office suite other than how to send an email in Outlook. My mum on the other hand is what you would call  unfortunately, computer illiterate. She knows the very (and I mean very) basic computer functions. Browsing the Internet (safely), and updating the computer is all she really knows how to do. Anything else would require me to either write it down in simple easy to understand steps or show her continuously until it becomes second nature. She has not used computers as much as my dad or me, so I don’t expect her computer literacy level to be as high as either of us, and that is perfectly fine. She is more than willing to learn which is fantastic.

Back to the Excel spreadsheet. It was constructed in a way that would auto-populate nearly all of the necessary cells with only a couple left to be filled in, and rows in a table would be used to auto-populate a number of other cells. I showed them once how to add a new row to a table in the spreadsheet which allowed the cells to be auto-populated. The actions and process was extremely simple. I laid it out to them in the following way:

  1. Left mouse click in the table cell to select the table.
  2. Right mouse click in the table cell to bring up the pop-up.
  3. Select Insert from the pop-up.
  4. Select Insert Row Below from the pop-up.

I really didn’t think it could get any simpler or easier. However it took them a number of times to understand that you cannot just enter values below the current row and have the necessary cells auto-populated. Knowing that for them this is fairly foreign, I needed to be patient and try to answer their questions as best as possible, in the most simplest way too. If I didn’t have the patience to explain something as simple as adding a new row to a table in Excel then it was a perfect time to learn to be more patient.

After showing them a couple of other necessary actions to perform some other tasks I asked them are there any other follow up questions they had. My parents wanted to see if they could do the whole process from start to finish by themselves with me watching to make sure the right actions were performed. The very first task was adding a new row to the table, and already like an old bad habit they just entered the values below the row and not in the table. I calmly explained to them again that they needed to add a new row to the table otherwise the value will not auto-populate. So I proceeded to show them again how to do that. Again, if I didn’t have patience or was hot headed then I most likely would have said something like “I just showed you how to add a new row to the table like 5 minutes ago, how did you forget? Or were you just not paying attention?”.

As a project technical lead and a software engineer who has been with my current company a number of years, I also provide support to any new software engineers that join our teams. Once again I get to interact with individuals ranging from software engineering interns who are still studying at university to software engineers who have been around the block. With the vast difference in experience that someone has, I need to be able to be more forgiving, understanding and patience with someone who has never rebased a Git branch or resolved merge conflicts before pushing to their origin. I get the opportunity to teach someone something new while also learn to be more patient, understanding and a better leader. It is a win win for everyone 🙂

Obsessively Learning For The Better

Ever since I could remember I always loved to learn and help others. Be it to learn how things work, why something was designed a specific way, and/or what made this thing function the way it did. All of those questions fuelled my curiosity and passion to learn, to understand, and to help others understand or solve their problem. There is something satisfying about knowing how things work, why they work, and being able to answer people’s questions with an appropriate answer. Plenty of people are not too concerned about the how and why, and are just happy that it works; this is absolutely fine as well. For me however, the more I understand something the more I can leverage it to my advantage getting the absolute most out of it. This is probably another reason why I became a Software Engineer and continued to study after my Bachelor degree to obtain a Master degree.

I encountered a small technical issue yesterday and was browsing Stack Overflow to see how others resolved their problem and what the exact root cause was. There was a perfect answer to the issue with a equally perfect explanation as to why it was failing and how the fix solves the issue. Sometimes when I see the answers to questions on Stack Overflow there is just an answer with little to no explanation as to why it fixes the issue. These answers I feel are not that great because really you don’t learn and understand how to fix the problem, you just use a solution without understanding the problem properly. You don’t learn anything. If I do encounter just an answer to the problem I try to read up further as to why this solution works. In the long run being able to understand the problem completely and how the solution fixes it is far more beneficial.

On a daily basis I try to learn something new, be it a new functionality that I didn’t know in Java, C++ or C# had or how to use my body to ensure that I can easily incapacitate an attacker with minimal effort using BJJ. By me constantly learning something new every day I can better myself which in turn I can try and assist others to better themselves or provide a solution to a problem they have encountered. This desire to learn has helped me in my career so far as a Software Engineer, as you need to constantly develop your skills and research new and upcoming technological trends to stay relevant. It is a challenge to try and better yourself day in and day out, but when you go to bed at night and you think about what you have learnt that day or how you have helped someone, it makes going to sleep that much easier.

Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018

2017 I bid you farewell, and I welcome 2018 with open arms.

Overall 2017 was a great year for me, I started a number of things such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and this very blog site. But with having done everything there was still a couple of things that I would have liked to have done such as release my app to the Windows Store, read a couple of more books and learn some new technologies that are not directly related to my work.

So now that 2018 has rolled in I am going to start making quarterly goals with mini goals in those quarters. With these quarterly goals I am hoping it will allow me to focus, reach some more milestones and achieve everything that I want to in 2018. If I was to give 2017 a label, it would be the year that I started many things. With 2018 I want it to be the year that I not only start new things but continue and finish a number of other things.

Right now I am in the process of thinking about and starting to write my quarterly goals. The very first item I put on that list was to release the alpha version of my artificial intelligence app to the Windows Store around April, some more information about the app currently can be found here. I also have picked out the first book I am going to read for 2018, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry; more information about the purchasing the book can be found here.

Let the 2018 adventure begin 🙂

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