Blog
Midterms, school projects, and data organization - the name of the past 2 weeks.
After losing our archive drive - again - I’ve looked into cloud backup and synchronization data providers. I used to enjoy CrashPlan - reasonably priced - but they’ve since switched to business only. My main qualifiers for a provider were:
- Solid security record
- End-to-end encryption
I may be paranoid, but after multiple instances of data breaches, I don’t want files I commit to off-site backup (eg: tax, financial, school, medicial, business, etc…) easily available as part of the next great data breach. I’m currently testing out Tresorit. They market primarily to businesses and lack family plan types, but… The software seems solid and they hit my major qualifiers.
Read more →
Friday updates didn’t seem to be working out, so I’m just going to make sure I do something 1x a week (Fri-Sun, depending on when I get to it!).
This past week has been busy with remodeling and work. In an exciting turn, Fin is planning on writing a research paper of her own – and there’s a lot of opportunity in her subject for economics modeling and a degree of math. Our kitchen is currently a complete mess of drywall dust and loose construction supplies – but it’s starting to take shape.
Read more →
It’s hard to believe January is already gone!
This past week has been busy with remodeling and work. In an exciting turn, Fin is planning on writing a research paper of her own - and there’s a lot of opportunity in her subject for economics modeling and a degree of math. Our kitchen is currently a complete mess of drywall dust and loose construction supplies - but it’s starting to take shape.
Read more →
4 weeks into the new year already and near time to say bye to January. This past week has been rough (too much time being sick!), but I’m getting back in the saddle at least a bit.
How’d I do this Month?
I’ve started working on 3 different piano pieces, and a technique book. At least for January, I’m on track to complete the personal challenge of daily practice. We’ll see if I can keep it going. I also found (SOME!) of my old recording gear. Might be able to get some podcasts up and going soon.
Read more →
Winter’s cold grasp is wrapped tightly around our homestead. Ice encased trees are simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. A few degrees cooler would have pushed this last storm into more dangerous territory. As it was, I stayed home and Fin took the car to work. Fortunately, her commute is only a couple miles of surface streets.
Some sort of gnarly cold virus hit this week and consumed significant amounts of my free time. Still, I’ve kept up with the grad class, piano playing, and even managed to power through a fair amount of my book while up sick.
Read more →
There’s some nasty weather rolling in, and I’m sitting down trying to keep off Facebook. I’ve been thinking for a bit that a once a week activity post might get me to get off my ass and do stuff. Here Goes.
Grad school started this past week, and I’m feeling simultaneously behind and (likely) over-confident. This class covers stuff I’ve worked on professionally for a few years, but it’ll be interesting to be academic about it. I’ve started a pop non-fiction book, that I’ll be trying to review shortly. On Piano, I’ve been experimenting with Debussy and focusing on technique and strength.
Read more →
My new years ritual is back for another round. It seems that over the past few years, my goals have gotten a little - well - resolutiony. And, as happens with most Resolutions - ineffective. So, this year, I’m resetting again and will try to make sure that I’m following “SMART” goal setting. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Trackable).
- Complete the Master of Your Domain personal challenge for the year on Piano. The challenge is simple - play the Piano every day unless you are sick or away. I’m also thinking I’d like to expand this to doing some amount of creative writing every day.
- Post a Piano recording before Winter 2020. It’s been a few years since I’ve done this - and I’ve got an improved repertoire.
- Read 1 book a month. “5 years from today, you will be the same person that you are today, except for the books you read and the people you meet” - Charlie Jones. I don’t meet a lot of people, so it’s time to start more reading.
- Build a small garden. I haven’t done any gardening or planting to speak of since I’ve been a child. Not sure what Fin plans if anything for this year - but we’ve got enough acreage that I can find a small square to plant some tomatoes and peppers. I’d love some tomatoes and home pickled jalapenos if nothing else. Thinking like a 5’x5’ square somewhere that gets me walking.
- Knock out 2 more grad school classes. I’m still in good standing w/ the college, but need to get back on the train to keep progress toward my Master’s degree. Signed up for a class already starting in a few days.
- Pay off my remaining student loans. The payment term on this thing is stupid long and the payment stupid small to make progress. Time to get rid of this pet!
- Create and publish a blog roll with useful and energizing sources. Since Google Reader has gone away, I’ve seriously missed keeping up with RSS feeds. Some of this is that many bloggers have stopped. I can sit endlessly scrolling on Facebook depleting my energy, or I can find new and interesting ideas.
- Complete a full year guided journal. I recently obtained a yearly guided Journal. Journaling is one of those things that I’ve heard repeatedly should help with mental and physical health - but not something I’ve kept doing strongly. To complete the guided journal, I’d have to write a bit at least weekly.
- Write a research paper. I’ve got enough grad level things I’m working on write now that any number of research papers are possible. I’d like to actually have a few things published and start having a framework to shape a direction into doing actual research on a regular basis. This would be a meaningful first step, even if I don’t manage to get published.
- Actively report on my goals at least 1x a month. I’m good for January now, but nothing motivates like some degree of accountability - even if to only yourself. If I actually sit and work through what I’ve done for my goals, maybe I can achieve them all for the first time.
Well, a New Year and 10 new goals - mostly optimistic. I still have some constant items that I’d like to look towards - getting involve with HAM community, flight / cooking / pottery / glass blowing lessons, and improving health. None of those currently concrete enough to fall into the “SMART” goal framework though.
Read more →
Well, it’s that time again, where I take a look back at my goals over the past year and start to plan for the upcoming. This year is a bit different though, as it marks not just the end of a year, but the end of a decade* (well, technically, 2020 will, I’m not a purist on that…)
2019 started off rough for me personally. A downturn in my health largely derailed all my plans and forced me to focus on Doctors and trying to get better. Nothing much to report here, as I’ve yet to get a decently confident diagnosis from modern medicine. Life has felt like an episode of House. My grad school journey continued - though I only took a single Summer class over the past year. So, out of 10 goals for the past year, I’ve scored ‘0.5’. Life has a way of getting in the way of plans.
Read more →
Now that life is returning to normal after the Holidays, I’ve had a chance to sit down and start thinking about the upcoming year. Over the years, I’ve found that I tend to overstretch in my goal setting, or set goals that are more “resolutioney”. With the past year, I’ve become far more aware of the limits of hours in the day to accomplish things. So, this year, I’m going to prioritize my goals and try to introduce some realism in them.
Read more →
It’s been a big year for Fin and me. Also, it’s been a positive year. After the past few, I know that we both have been feeling rather beat up. That’s been reflected in a lot of things, but mostly the lack of activity on this blog. I’m working to change that now though!
As I noted in September, we intentionally turned the mic off here so we could focus on getting things done and setting ourselves up to be in a better place. With the new year coming in, I plan to start reporting on our goings on here a little bit more.
Read more →