PIBlog

Any time you have a large number of people driving on the same road, you start to notice certain patterns of stupidity, carelessness, or perhaps ignorance.

Almost every day I ask myself: “Do these people not know how to drive, or do they choose to ignore the rules?”

For some reason I still have some sort of faith in humanity, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the former, rather than the latter.

Plus, the first problem can be solved through education, whereas the second requires a change in attitude, which is much harder to accomplish.

Without further a-do, here is the first in a series of posts with the goal of education the general public on the subtle intricacies of driving.

For my first topic: Signaling.

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I grew up in a tiny town in North-West Oregon called Rainier. As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,687. It’s probably not much more than that today (perhaps even less). The sign on the way into town has read “Population 2000″ for as long as I can remember.

To be more specific, I grew up in one of the several “unincorporated communities” surrounding Rainier, so I wasn’t counted in that 2000 census (not for Rainier, anyway). I had a Rainier mailing address and a Clatskanie phone number.

I recently stumbled upon the blog of an old high school friend and fellow ex-Oregonian Chris Brewer. There is a recent post on there about Problems in the Rainier school district, which sparked a some nostalgia and inspired me to check up on my old hometown.

I found Chris’s blog because it is linked to on his Facebook account. Fairly directly, the power of the Internet as a world shrinker has been shown to me. Because I decided to log into Facebook I now know more news about my home town that I would have otherwise, way down here in Austin, Texas.

Not only that, but I just spent most of my lunch break finding and reading various information about Rainier. There’s quite a bit of history behind the little city, more than I’d ever thought to even look into during my 18 years of living there.

It’s interesting how people can be brought back together, at least in a virtual manner, from all the places they have scattered around the world. That’s the real value of social networks to me: keeping in touch with people you already know, not meeting of new people. Either way, they seem to work pretty well at bringing people together. I can’t see social networking going away in the near, or even in the distant future for this very reason.

Perhaps this social networking business isn’t such a bad thing to be in the middle of after all.

I’ve had both dogs and cats as pets over the years, but I’ve always preferred the cats.

I figure it could be an interesting exercise to put some thought into why this is so.

After some time thinking I came up with a list of attributes of cats and comparable attributes of dogs. It’s clear I have a strong bias toward cats.

The list I came up with, after the jump…

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If you’re like me, you hate to take too much time away from whatever it is you’re working on to make yourself food.

Sadly, this tends to lead to a lot of eating out, or a very unbalanced diet. Fortunately for me, my lovely wife Angie is a health nut (in a good way, I swear! ), and keeps me in line most of the time.

Despite the fact that it does take so much time occasionally, I do enjoy cooking, especially when the result is something as delicious as tonight’s dinner: Teriyaki Chicken stir-fry.

The best part about this meal is that it took me no more than 15 minutes of cooking (plus waiting for my rice cooker to finish), and the result is amazing.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 package pre-cooked chicken slices - I used Hormel Natural Choice Grilled Carved Chicken Breast (long enough name?), which is all natural with not preservatives and all that good stuff. It’s pretty good.

• 1 bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables - I got the kind with snow peas, carrots, and mushrooms, but whatever works.

• Teriyaki Marinade - I highly recommend Soy Vay Island Teriyaki: no corn syrup or preservatives, just a whole bunch of delicious stuff.

• Rice - Whatever you prefer here. I just cook up some rice in my rice cooker, but they have that rice that comes in the microwavable bag that you just stick in for 4 minutes and it’s done. That’s probably fine, too.

• Some sort of oil for the vegetables (optional)

Here’s how to cook it:

If you’re using a rice cooker or cooking your rice on the stove, start that first and then cook the other stuff. If you’re using microwave rice, you can probably wait until the point at which you add the chicken in to start that.

Heat up some oil in a frying pan (or wok, or you can use a sauce pan in a pinch), or don’t, or whatever. If you’re using a non-stick pan oil isn’t strictly necessary. I melted a bit of extra-virgin coconut oil in mine. It smells delicious and adds a hint of coconut flavor to whatever you cook in it. Olive oil or any other reasonable cooking oil will do, of course.

After the oil has warmed up for a couple of minutes, add in the vegetables, and stir them around until they are nice and warm all the way through. At this point I usually drain off the water that comes from the ice on the vegetables.

Next, add in some of the teriyaki marinade. Just enough to coat the vegetables, and stir it around for a couple of minutes.

Now, move all the vegetables to the edge of the pan, leaving some room in the middle. Add the chicken into the space in the middle.

Coat the chicken with a healthy coating of teriyaki marinade and let it cook in a little, then flip the chicken and add a little more marinade. You should see the sauce deliciously soaking into the chicken at this point.

Stir the vegetables and chicken together and, if you feel so inclined, stir in a bit more marinade.

As soon as the teriyaki sauce has thickened to your liking, you are done! Serve yourself up some rice (you remembered to start that earlier, right?), and scoop a helping of your veggies and chicken over the top.

Enjoy! I know I did

I’ve decided that the New Year’s Resolution is just another way to procrastinate, which is why I’ve invented the New Day Resolution.

Well, I just did a Google search and it seems I’m not the first person to coin the term. I must be onto something though!

What’s a New Day Resolution? Is there something you want to improve about yourself? Well, if it’s too late to do anything about today, wake up tomorrow morning and look forward with determination to make that improvement. Don’t worry about yesterday or the day before that, because each day is a new day.

It’s something like that. For me, today, it’s as simple as making this blog post. Hopefully for someone else these same words that I’m writing now are inspiration enough to do something as simple and personally meaningful as well.

Why wait until the end of the year to make plans to improve yourself? It’s a good excuse to put something off until the end of the year, that’s why! “Oh, I’ll stop smoking at the end of the year” or “I’ll lose weight starting January 1st”

No.

Do it now. Not everything, of course, that would be too stressful, but don’t put things off so long. Make a list, start checking things off, keep track of your progress. Be sure to keep any promises you make to yourself!

As you get better at keeping all these little promises to yourself, you’ll be able to handle more of them at once without feeling bogged down. Basically, you’ll be accelerating toward your goals, which makes the progress feel much more impressive.

I have another post already partially written about progress and a nice driving metaphor to go along with it, but I’m going to save that for later because I’m feeling pretty sick and I need to go take a nap. (Taking better care of myself: another new day resolution!)

I’m posting though, because my new day resolution for the day is to post in my blog at least 4 times a week, preferably at least every other day. I posted two days ago, so now I’m posting today.

I found these interview questions from Shane & Peter via Jarkko Laine. I just realized I haven’t introduced myself very well, and that these questions might help to do that at least a little bit.

What’s your personal mission statement?

My personal mission is to work toward owning my own successful company which allows me to be my own boss, work on projects that I enjoy using as well as selling, and to be independently wealthy.

I’ll be building this company myself, with no external funding, because as stated above, I want to actually own the company, not just run it.

In the meantime, my mission is to bring everything I can to my current job, to help this company to be as innovative and productive as possible. It feels good that I get to create software which is being used by thousands of people. I wouldn’t want to work at a place where I get absolutely no input into what I am helping to create, and I don’t want to be building something boring that nobody would ever really see. My current job fulfills my job requirements pretty well, and keeps me fed while I work my way toward my long-term goals.

Yeah, that was more of a “mission babble” than a “mission statement” but this is my blog, so nyeah!

What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year?

At home, one of my cats overate a bit too much. Thank goodness for tile floors.

At work, I checked in some code which had a teensy bug in it which may have taken some sites down for a short period of time. Whoops.

What current entrepreneurial efforts consume your time?

Well, I’m starting with this blog to introduce myself to the internet community and to get to know some others, as well as to have a place to showcase my ideas and projects.

There are also some top-secret projects which I can’t reveal until it’s Alpha or Beta time.

Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? When do you get most excited?

I love the idea of doing something new. Something that nobody has ever done or seen before. Also exciting is doing something that makes people go “Wow! That’s awesome!” When I’m creating things, it’s also exciting when I can imagine myself actually using it. There’s nothing worse than making something you know that neither you nor anyone else will ever even use.

Boxers or Briefs? or as Naomi says, Bikini or Thong, duh?!?

The ever popular hybrid/mutant boxer-briefs.

What do you do when you’re not [designing | programming | managing | writing | toiling for the wo/man]?

I like to hang out with my wife, Angie, and our three cats, Kitty, Cisco, and Ninja.

What one thing made the biggest difference when getting started?

Well, I’m just barely getting started, but I could never even think of getting started without the support of my wife. We have precious little free time together and I won’t cut into any of that without first getting an okay from her.

In return, I’ll make sure that I have plans for the future to increase the amount of free time that we have to spend together. I suppose having that plan should go into my personal mission statement as well.

I want do well enough with my business that I can increase the amount of time I get to spend with my family (Angie and the cats, that is)

What’s your exit strategy?

Well, I’ll keep a helicopter parked on the roof and an underground tunnel/escape chute, just in case.

Well, honestly I don’t know. I’m still working on my entrance strategy, really. Once I’ve got that all worked out, I’ll get back to you about the exit strategy.

What is the last thing that made you belly laugh?

Someone at work, I’m sure. That is one good thing about working with a room full of other developers…we all have compatible senses of humor.

Two seconds ago: “Why is there a bomb on Pavan’s desk?”

Ahh, inside jokes.

Two more seconds ago (about a new Macbook Pro): “This is what it’s like when somebody brings a baby into an office full of women.”

Have you ever been in business before?

Not my own business, no.

At what point do you consider yourself successful?

When I can wake up in the morning and go to work by walking into my office and sitting down. At that point, I will consider myself successful in my own business.

Right now I consider myself successful already since I am living comfortably and working toward the future which I want.

What was your first experience with a computer?

It’s a toss-up between a really, really old DOS machine and the Apple Macintosh plus that my family got when I was in grade school.

My first experience programming was in Hypercard on that old Mac. My first real experience programming was in QBasic from DOS on a 486DX2.

Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates in a jello wrestling match, where’s your money?

I’m not giving any of my money to either of them. Did I mention that I’m strictly a Linux user?

Where do you do your best thinking?

Usually when I’m in the shower or exercising, or some other place when I don’t have access to a pen and paper.

Sometimes it’s when I’m torturing Angie with an explanation of my latest Idea in far too much technical detail.

What does your average daily work / life balance look like? How much time do you work, play and sleep?

Currently I work from 9-6. In the evenings, if Angie is home, I usually hang out with her, and we do errands or watch some TV shows, or just hang out.

If Angie is not home (she works too), I generally will work on one of my “top-secret” projects.

If I could introduce you to anyone, who would it be?

Someone who is living comfortably on their own personal business, and knows how they managed to get there.

Other than that, somebody with similar interests who would like to hang out and talk geek talk.

What stops you from giving up when you are frustrated?

A strong desire to never leave anything incomplete. I suppose that’s a nice way of saying “OCD”.

Of course, this also sometimes stops me from starting something when I think I might not have enough time to finish it in one sitting.

If Chuck Norris and Steven Hawking had a baby (hey it’s my damn interview), would you vote for her for president?

That would depend on her platform and fiscal policy.

Of course, I’m not completely sure either of their wives would approve.

It’s time for some of that fabled “other stuff” mentioned in the headline of this site.

A bit about myself

I’m generally a very calm, laid-back, happy person. I don’t get frustrated too easily and I, by default, don’t let most things bother me.

It’s not for a lack of emotions that causes my general state, it’s an implicit knowledge that getting all flustered and upset and throwing a fit is a generally useless way to deal with a problem. Ignoring a problem won’t make it go away, but if that problem is a bad day at work or a horrible commute home, then you know what? It’s over at the end of the day. There, problem solved, you can forget about it.

The problems

There are, however, things that have bothered me about myself for several years. These are problems which no amount of ignoring will cause to go away. These are the kind of problems which require action.

Here are my two biggest problems:

1. I am overweight
2. I procrastinate

(Hey, those rhyme!)

The second problem has most likely caused the first problem to last much longer than it should have (and it was the original source of the problem as well, “Oh sure, I’ll start exercising this summer when I have more free time…”), but soon it will be a problem no more.

The solutions

I’ll cover they ways I’m going about solving my two problems in reverse order, since the second is the root of the first.

Stopping procrastination

There is really a single solution to both of these problems: STOP PROCRASTINATING

How does one do such a thing? Well, do a Google search for stop procrastinating, start reading about the various techniques for avoiding procrastination, spend some time considering which approach would work the best for you. Now, pause for a moment and think about what you are doing: You are procrastinating some more. Realization of a problem, as they say, is the first step toward solving that problem.

My solution to procrastination is fairly simple and seems to be effective for me. The hardest part of any task for me is simply starting it. Once I’ve started something, I want to keep going until I stop. I think this is part of the reason why I avoid starting things for so long. I’ve started to get myself in the habit of action. I still spend too much time thinking about things, looking things up, discussing things with others. But once I realize that I’m procrastinating, I realize that I need to just start doing whatever it is that I want or need to do.

In short, my solution to procrastination:

1. Learn to recognize when you are procrastinating
2. When you notice that you are, stop

Once you get in the habit of realization and cessation of your procrastination (I’ve got to stop with this rhyming business), procrastination shouldn’t be as much of a problem. I think in my case, doing anything which I had previously put off gets me into the mood for doing things, and I’ll have a burst of procrastination-free activity.

Losing weight

Okay, so the single solution is to stop stalling and act, but what exactly is the action to take for weight loss? Well, there’s a simple solution to weight loss:

Eat fewer calories than your body is burning.

That’s it. No need to go on a fancy diet, not need for pills or muscle-killing exercise plans. Though exercise is also essential for good health, it is not essential for keeping your ideal weight. They are two separate problems and should be treated as such.

My particular solution was taken from a wonderfully helpful free book, The Hacker’s Diet, by John Walker, the founder of Autodesk. If the fact that he’s a Millionaire/Programmer/Businessman (three things I hope to be someday), isn’t enough to be convincing, how about the fact that he went from 215 pounds to 145 pounds in six months?

I’m not looking to lose weight quite as fast as he did, but I have been losing slightly less than a pound per week since I started actively trying to lose weight. I’ve been overweight for the last four or five years, and all it took was getting started.

One of the really helpful things about the hacker’s diet is the way you track your weight. If you just measure your weight, it will vary wildly depending on how much water (or another soon-to-be-released substance) is in your system. This results in a depressingly squiggly line. If you use a sliding average, the line is much smoother, and reassuringly downward-trended (unless you really are gaining weight, of course).

For an example of this, check out my public weight-loss profile at PhysicsDiet.com or just look at this chart of my weight as of today:

Conclusion

The more I do things which I’ve been planning to do, the more I move away from my habit of procrastination. This blog itself is the result of me finally doing something that I’ve been putting off for quite a while. Soon enough I should be posting about other projects which I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but have been putting off.

It’s definitely worth it to stop procrastinating about stopping procrastinating.