Motivating Myself (Part 1)

I just can't believe that I have just uninstalled my most beloved PC game and have thrown away it's installer! I have just uninstalled Warcraft III The Frozen Throne from my PC so no more late night DOTA session whenever I am at home.

That is just part of a mini-project that I have which is motivating myself. I want to motivate myself to be more productive and give time to my chosen goals.

So here it goes, motivation strategy #1:

Remove anything that might hamper you from achieving your goals or might lower the quality of your output.

We all know that the earlier we see the results of our work, the more motivated we get. Unsatisfactory results also lowers our motivation. So throw away those things that might get in your way reaching your goals.

But of course I will still play the game. In fact, I think our regular games with my office mates are active again which is every Wednesday 7PM. This is good since it is controlled and it develops camaraderie amongst colleagues.

An Enchanted Day at EK

Last Saturday, the 77GSI Consultants deployed at a client located in Ortigas along with some friends went to Enchanted Kingdom to relax and have a good time. Of course it was high time for me that I use my SLR and put it to good use. The shots weren't that great because the shots were taken by a non-pro (me) but with a closer look, it was very evident that SLRs do stand out from point and shoot cameras.

It was a tiring but fun-filled day. Although admittedly I didn't try out most of the rides out of my fear of heights, I did enjoy the company of my good frends.

PLDT myDSL Sucks

I have been advised by my doctor to take a rest for 7-10 days due to my eye ulcers. I considered this and have decided to take a vacation leave and partly work from home for 10 days. I don't want my work to pile up so high so work from home is the most I can do. Besides, being a project manager, my projects would be in chaos without me (or so I think).

But alas! For almost a month now, my DSL connection has been going on and off intermittently. I have already reported this to PLDT and they did send a technician twice already but still, the problem persists! Without the Internet, I cannot work properly -- without checking my emails, and checking my team's progress online.

Now, I am currently at the office. My eye ulcers are still here although the lack of Internet access made me consider working at the office again. Damn PLDT sucks!

Back to work! ^^.

EDIT:
As of 09/12/2007, PLDT has replaced my modem and I think my Internet connection is stable (for now).

Red Eyes

Vampires are often depicted as human-like creatures who have red devlish eyes and sensitivity to light especially sunlight. Well that is my current situation right now. Not that I am saying that I am a vampire (I hope not!). It has already been more than a week that I have these red eyes. The doctor said it's called eye ulcers. They are often caused by bacteria most often brought about by contact lenses. Both my eyes have "damage" in the cornea more like little wounds so it hurts a lot. I am also sensitive to light so for the mean time, I'm like a vampire, dwelling in darkness.

I have two eye drops that the doctor prescribed. One medicine is to get rid of the bacteria, an anti-bacteria. The other is supposed to make my pupil dilate. I suppose this is to help the first medicine to take its full effect. The bad side to these medicines is that it makes me more sensitive to light and makes my vision blurry. In fact I am having difficulty writing this blog because everything is well, blurry.

The blurriness in vision and senitivity to light rendered me unable to navigate properly. Thus I was advised to stay at home for seven to ten days. That is like 10 days house arrest!

I am a little bit worried about my project as I have already just began stabilizing it and I was planning to finish all preparation by this week. I guess I should try and work at home. Teleconferences and emails will do for now.

So guys, see you in ten days (that's 7 days from now).

Bought My Own Digital SLR Camera

Yay! I just bought my very own Digital SLR! It is a Canon EOS 400D which is, according to many photography forums and sites, an entry-level SLR. I bought it as a kit so it already came with a lens. It was also on sale so I had a total discount of around P5,000 plus it came with a Canon compact photo printer for free.

Aside from that, they have an ongoing on-the-spot raffle whenever you buy selected items and guess what? I won a coffee maker! So I came home with my SLR, a photo printer, and a coffee maker! Lucky day, I guess.

But I don't have the time to study basic photography yet so for now I am going to set these gadgets aside. My priorities are to stabilize my projects and get into topcoder again as soon as possible.

So hopefully in the near future, I am going to take a good picture of you; picture that!

I'd rather have a moment of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.

I've Been Gone For a While. Now the Updates ^^

I haven't updated my blog for a while and for valid reasons.  Being busy is at the top of those reasons.  But we all know that this is just a lame excuse ^^.

So what have been happening lately? 

Well, for starters, I have already given up on my plan to purchase a car this year.  Yup, because I have now started paying for my own condo unit.  The hand over is not until 2012 (5 years) but I guess it will be well worth it.  It is a 2-bedroom unit with balcony and will be located in -- a very good spot.  I know it is not the best investment as condo units are good only for 5 to 10 years but it's a start of my investment "moves".

I have also temporarily stopped joining Topcoder not until I can upgrade my skills as a programmer.  As you can see from my last post, I have started studying C# .Net to broaden my knowledge.  Well the study sessions has not been going as planned.  In fact my progress is so miniscule that I can't write a simple application YET.  My excuse for this?  You can read about it in the next paragraph.

Work has been a little hellish for me.  Aside from having this humongous 17" widescreen, 4-kilo laptop that I always carry around with me, I now report at two offices.  I have several "projects" under my arms, 2 internal projects, 1 business-related problem, a 4-year project and still running, and tons of CMMi-related process and document making sessions.  The 2 internal projects is actually just one product, release 1 is at design phase and release 2 is at requirements definition phase.  This product was also identified as a CMMi certification pilot project so I am the one coordinating with the CMMi group for what I see fit as the "correct" process and document templates.  Actually I am almost the one creating the process and the templates as the team is a little short handed.  The business problem on the other hand, is the one I'm pouring my brains out for.  It is some sort of a client relationship gone bad with a WHIP of undefined processes.  Another complication about this business is that I was inserted there to resolve the problem but there is already a person assigned to do that before me so it's kind of an overlap in responsibilities.  The 4-year project, I don't want to talk about it.  I am already tired even just to mention its name.

Lastly, I had a sore eyes last Thursday and Friday rendering me unable to go to work.  This gave me time to think and plan ahead.

So what's the plan? 

For a gist, I have been working on upgrading this blog site.  As you have noticed I already have a domain ^^.  You can now access the blog using this address: http://blog.romanofabian.com.  Aside from that, I have been working on a new layout for this site, not a ready-made layout from the Internet but something that is designed by myself.  This has given me the opportunity to study CSS further.  Hopefully I can launch it by next month.

An interest in photography has sparked in me so I am planning to try it out.  I, most likely, will be purchasing my very first SLR very soon.

I have also been tweaking my schedule so that I can go the the gym regularly, study C# and Java further, play badminton every Tuesday, join a toastmasters group, gear up for photography, and hopefully join Topcoder again.

If I will be successful in Topcoder earning at least $12000 every year then I can buy my car by end of 2008.  This is a great challenge for me since my chosen career is in Project Management and not programming like I used to.  Well aside from the challenge in the schedule.

I am also seriously been thinking about my career -- the typical "5 years from now" vision.  But I guess I'm keeping this one to myself for security reasons ^^.

So, welcome back to me!!!

 

If you're failing to PLAN; you're planning to FAIL.