52 Word Review: Everything Everywhere All At Once

A brilliant, crazy, fun, funny, surprising, heartwarming, bonkers movie that is about, and comes closer than possibly anything else could in two hours to answering the question of, the meaning of life. I might be permanently happier for having watched this movie, and grateful for the opportunity. My favorite movie in years.

Happy Blogday!

I started this blog 15 years ago today. I’ve been through various periods of activity and inactivity (I’ve posted in 12 of those 15 years), but even when I’m not writing, it’s very frequent that I think, “I should put that on my blog”. For some reason, even when I don’t do that, it gives me a little comfort, so I keep it running. Hopefully I’ll hit an active cycle sooner rather than later!

Polyglotism: Part 0

10 years ago, I started looking at the available languages, with an eye towards potentially adding them to my toolkit. I narrowed it down to 27 and then didn’t get any further. I’m going to reboot this project on a similarly exhaustive scope, but with a more relaxed schedule (i.e. this is going to take a while).

What hasn’t changed in the past 10 years is that I’m still not a language geek, and I’d be happy to solve most of my problems with one or two well-rounded languages.

What has changed is that I haven’t written Java professionally for over 4 years. The average number of languages I deal with in a given week between work and personal projects, has gone from slightly more than one to at least 5 (Go, C++, Python, JS, Java), not to mention any number of DSLs and things like SQL or bash.

The goal at the end of this, is simply to have (and share) a list of candidate languages that someone could find a practical use for in 2021, and some starting points for each.

Part 1 will re-compile the original list, adding new languages (like Rust, which technically existed at the time but was pretty invisible) and removing any that have fallen by the wayside since it was created. After that, I’ll start to dig into each one and make cuts where appropriate.

2020H1 Personal OKRs: Progress

As promised, here is my progress update on my OKRs. Without about 8 weeks to go, I’d say success has been good but less than hoped for. I can’t really pin it all on COVID-19, while that has been very disruptive I don’t think it’s really impacted these goals. What working from home for two months has done has shifted my computer work to some shop work, since I am at home for longer periods more since I have no commute.

Note: Scoring is simple unweighted average of the component pieces, rounded to 0.1.

0.3 – OKR 2020A: Reclaim Technical Familiarity

0.3 – KR1: Get a full stack project “running”

I’ve tinkered here and there but am not sure I’m going to have something running in the next 8 weeks, though that might happen if I make some tradeoffs.

0.0 – KR2: Publish 15 Technical Blog Posts

Not a one! Can I do two per week? Doubtful, but I’ll refocus and try to get at least one per week done.

0.5 – KR3: Learn (and do something useful with) a new language

I’ve done a bit of Go, but nothing useful. This is on the schedule though so I’d say I’m on track.

0.8 – OKR 2020B: Finish More of What I Started

0.8 – KR1: “Finish” my Woodshop

  • 0.8 – Finish Painting There’s a few spots left but they are not really blocking anything, and are better left for when I redo the stairs (which is next half).
  • 0.8 – Wiring – Subpanel is in, table saw has a dedicated circuit, and lighting is 95% done. There are a few circuits left to install (by the electrician) but I’m reconsidering making the investment at the moment.
  • 0.5 – Dust Collection – I got the larger (2HP) unit, but haven’t done any ducting yet, partly because the new sheet good project is in the way of it.
  • Bonus: +0.7 – I’m in the process of adding some sheet good and small-piece storage, which will go a long way to keeping things tidy.
  • Bonus: 1.0 – I finally pulled the trigger on getting the SawStop, which I’ve wanted for many years, and is now the centerpiece of the shop.

0.7 – KR2: “Finish” my Home Office

The space is much improved. There is very little random junk strewn about, though there are a number of bins/boxes that need to be sorted, but if I ended the half as things are now I’d be pretty happy with the progress.

0.5 – OKR 2020C: Improve My Health

What personal improvement list would be complete without some health goals?  These are not easy but seem to strike a balance of achievability and meaningfulness.

0.4 – KR1: Lose 20lbs

I’m down about 10, which is still pretty solid as a sustainable loss for 4 months, but I’d really like to stretch and hit that 20.

0.7 – KR2: Hit 150 Move Goals in Apple Watch

As of May 1, I’m currently at 111 with an active streak of 65 days, so I’m 11 ahead of schedule. It has raised my calorie requirement twice, due to the streak, from the starting 890, first to 970 and now at 1,060.

I am annoyed because I didn’t get my “Perfect Month” badge for March or April, I suspect there is a bug where you don’t get it if it raises your target and you didn’t hit that new target every day.

0.0 – KR3: Do 5,000 Pushups

I’ve basically done none of these, but partly because I’ve been using our new home gym and really enjoying it, when I’m not too tired from doing other physical work (e.g. the workshop).

Bonus: +1.0 – Set up the home gym

I didn’t expect to get this finished this half, but things worked out and we have a nice little spot with some barbells, dumbells, and an elliptical. I’ve been doing some circuit training and really enjoying it, perhaps even more than at a gym. We’ve also been taking family walks 3-4 times per week which has been great for everyone.

Infrastructure Theme

I think the adjustments have stayed within the theme, perhaps even moreso than the things that have fallen out. I have actually conciously thought about this as I’ve been going so I think this is a good part of the plan to keep for future versions.

0.5 – Final Score

I’m reasonably happy with the progress and if I keep tracking I should end up near a nice green 0.7, perhaps higher if I can make progress on the zeroes.

Be back in a couple of months with final results and new goals!

Ranked: Star Wars Movies

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Ranked
  1. The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V)
  2. Rogue One
  3. Star Wars [A New Hope] (Episode IV)
  4. Return of the Jedi (Episode VI)
  5. The Force Awakens (Episode VII)
  6. The Rise of Skywalker (Episode IX)
  7. Revenge of the Sith (Episode III)
  8. Solo
  9. The Last Jedi (Episode VIII)
  10. Attack of the Clones (Episode II)
  11. The Phantom Menace (Episode I)

2020H1 Personal OKRs

I’ve been tinkering with OKRs since before I joined Google, and there are aspects of it that I really like.  I’ve tried a few personal ones over 2019 but they have not been successfully tracked and/or completed.  I’m going to do this round publicly and see if that helps.

A few notes:

  1. I’m not including family things here because spending quality time with them is table stakes.
  2. These are all basically 100% goals, so they are not *too* aspirational, and I intend to hit them all.
  3. I wrote these up at the end of last year, and have been working on them, but haven’t gotten around to posting them!
  4. The target date on these is June 30, 2020 (hence the H1 – Half One).

OKR 2020A: Reclaim Technical Familiarity

I’ve spent the past few years exploring new areas (maps, networks, C++) and want to brush up on what I was doing prior to that.  I also want to do a better job staying better informed of new developments outside the comfy walls of Google.

KR1: Get a full stack project “running”

Running here means that someone (almost certainly not the public) can log in and do stuff, probably play a game although there are other candidates.

KR2: Publish 15 Technical Blog Posts

Media reviews and personal updates (like this post) don’t count, I’m unofficially shooting for about 15 of those too.

KR3: Learn (and do something useful with) a new language

Spoiler alert: this will probably be Go.

OKR 2020B: Finish More of What I Started

I like finishing things, but I love starting things.  If I’ve not finished something it’s rarely because I didn’t want to* and almost always because I’ve started something else.  I’d like to improve my discipline and wrap up a few things that will unlock starting lots of new things.

* Although I have gotten better in recent years about quitting some things earlier, like TV series that go downhill.

KR1: “Finish” my Woodshop

Like software, no workshop is ever really finished, there’s always room for improvement, but I’m pretty close to having no unfinished setup/projects in my shop. Some specific goals are:

  • Finish Painting – It’s an unfinished basement and the walls were mortared by not painted and the floor is concrete, none of which was painted.
  • Install New Wiring – The wiring is actually pretty easy, but a prerequisite is (an electrician) installing a new subpanel, which requires building a wall to put it on.
  • Install Dust Collection – I have a small unit now with a flex hose, but I’d like to get a larger unit with some fixed ductwork.

KR2: “Finish” my Home Office

We moved about 18 months ago and while all (or very close to it) of the moving boxes have been unpacked, my office has yet to really come together. This is in large part due to the fact that I don’t work from home much anymore, so it may be up to 2 or 3 weeks where I don’t even set foot in it, but I would like to maximize the time I do spend there by having it be a pleasant space.

OKR 2020C: Improve My Health

What personal improvement list would be complete without some health goals?  These are not easy but seem to strike a balance of achievability and meaningfulness.

KR1: Lose 20lbs

I’ve been doing intermittent fasting over the past 6 months and have slow but steady success with it and am on the verge of classifying it as a permanent thing. More to come on this later.

KR2: Hit 150 Move Goals in Apple Watch

That basically means hitting it slightly more than 5 times per week, which seems pretty doable. A perfect streak is pretty difficult considering my job is at a desk, with occasional travel, and the occasional cold my son has been bringing home now that he’s going to school.

I accept what The Algorithm decides my target is, it’s been as high as 1200 calories and as low as 800. It’s currently at 890 since I was slacking over the holidays.

KR3: Do 5,000 Pushups

That’s 25-30 per day averaged out, but that’s a little high right now, and I’m hoping by the end of this I’m doing 50-100 per day.

Addendum: Themes

I recently came across a video by CGP Grey about new years resolutions and I liked his idea of themes. I admit that having specific targets like these kind of goes against the whole idea of holistic themes, and I didn’t really have a theme in mind when drafting the OKRs, but I think they can actually work well together. It appears that there is a latent one here that is about laying the groundwork for future improvements. If all goes well:

  • I’ll have a little side project going, which always gives me a boost at my day job.
  • I’ll have two great workspaces from which to tackle new projects, software and otherwise.
  • I’ll be in better health and have more energy and drive to do those projects. Bonus: The onsite gym at work re-opens in May and I should be a much better position to use it well!

Therefore, I will declare the theme of 2020H1 to be Infrastructure.