2012-10-22

Back again

After certain amount of time I decided to get back to this project. No promises are given this time as it is really hard to keep them.
It would be really good to write small updates every day.

2011-03-22

Day 28. Back on track and first results.

It has been a long time since last post.
I can't say I wasted all those days that have passed, though I can't present much.
I have fulfilled several tasked I have designated for myself on a global plan. Currently I am working on installing fluxbox on Debian and on creating a small program for office work.
Our project is being closed withing 3 months and it adds some tension to these changes I wanted to perform are being pressed by conditions I am now.
P.S. fluxbox installed, a small victory.

2011-02-26

Day six and seven: overcoming momentum and growing tension

I am on the beginning of day three since last post. After this is published, I am going to sleep. Or programming. Or tea. How do I use spoilers, btw?
Anyway, onto our main topic. Day six was my working day that was almost totally wasted. I work until 8 PM and sometimes stay at work with my laptop to learn something. This is what I did that time.
And here is where the most interesting part starts: I managed to focus and work for 3 or more hours and 3 more hours were not as productive as the first three. This fact makes me think that there are too many distractions at where I live. I slept at work for a couple of hours and woke up at 9.
When I got home, I understood that I'd have to cancel the night shift or switch it with someone else. Sneezing and running nose were starting to kill me and headache added to those two minor problems together forming a medium one. I had some hot tea, lemon, put on a scarf and went to sleep everything over.
Woke up at midnight and watched several films. This is where I am now: writing this report. 
By the way, if you wish to waste your time, try Uplink by Introversion software. It took me 2 hours to rob a bank and this is where I calmed down. Yeah, I know I am an addict.

2011-02-24

Day five: a major slip

It was very naïve of me to expect that I would not slip on days four - five. Disaster recovery was successful and I am back on my track.
Some time ago, inspired by the "Band of brothers" miniseries, I watched "The Pacific". Both are good films, though I liked first one more. "The Pacific" depicts (surprise, surprise) the Pacific part of the WWII, which is also described in one of my favourite games — "Pacific storm". This game can devour 2 days of your life and you would not notice that. This happened to me — I almost conquered Dutch Harbor playing for Japanese when I realized that I did not sleep before my day shift. Yes, 1,5 days wasted, yet I am back and the experiment is still on.
Today I was not late for work for the first time in the last 3 months. Even though it is not controlled here at all and does not affect anything, I am happy. Those 2 productive hours of programming I mentioned before... I hope I'll have them today.
No picture/video for today, because I'm sirius.

2011-02-21

Day three: Interlude.

Yesterday's tactical move "forget everything. sleep at night" was a right one.
I woke up at 6:30 am local time, which is very unusual for me. Even though breakfast, cleaning snow and other stuff took pretty much time, I forced myself to do some programming. I'd even say it was success if the outcome wasn't that poor.
Right now I am going outside, it's cold out there and I don't like even the slightest thought of going there, yet I have to. I hope that after I come back, I will still have 2 or 3 more hours of productive work.
Continuing the topic of air disasters, I'd like to present you one of my favourites. Apart from the calm voice of the pilot, I like the part where the ATC guy says:  looks like this ah may be an incident here.

2011-02-20

Day two: situation normal — all f****d up

Got home from the night shift, however not going to linger all night. Going to sleep and postpone everything on tomorrow: practice shows that in 80% cases I wish I had done like that after the sleepless night. This is why I am breaking this habit as well.
Therefore, more information tomorrow. As for today, have this perfect SNAFU video I adore:

2011-02-19

Day one: harsh reality

It is very difficult to change oneself. Several unsuccessful tries in the past made it harder to start over, yet outlined the general strategy and approach. I understood that the more revolutionary changes are, the less force should be applied at once and the more gradual these changes should be. Several tries in the past turned out to be a complete failure because all the transformation ended on day 5.
Now I am not putting many restrictions on myself. Of course, it could be great if I could wake up one day and become completely punctual and disciplined, but I know it wouldn't happen. One of the last books I read was David Allen's "Getting Things Done", its approach was not applicable to me. It contained several tools I borrowed, though:
  1. Trays, especially so-called inbox where I place everything that needs to be processed, but not now.
  2. Hipster PDA which comes in handy when I get these random thoughts about what I forgot to do or what I'll have to do tomorrow(next week, month, year). Here is the photo so that you know what it looks like.

First day was not that successful: I could not concentrate on the tasks I defined for myself, even though nothing I restricted myself to do was done. The reason for this is not that chosen strategy is wrong — it is that you cannot break the habit in one day. So I will keep trying. Here's some inspiring music for those who want to change their lives as well.