This is a list of "stuff" that I have on my plate. It wouldn't be too bad except that I leave about 5:35 and don't usually get home until 5:30. That's not so bad you say, but wait, after I get home, get out of my work garb, and fix/eat dinner I have about two hours of free time. If I didn't have anything to do I could relax and do some recreational reading, but I prefer to maybe surf a bit to see what's going on with any of the "fun" things I want to do or maybe do some work on the website organizing and/or designing new sections. I have various books and rags on Java, PHP, Linux, HTML, Javascript, Drupal, ... that I like to read - and usually find myself snuggling up to just as I'm closing my eyes.
My goal is to simplify my life, I am learning that I have too many list items and am finding that I am unable to be effective at very many (if any) of these items.
These are the "I'd like to" items. There are definitely some items that are more important to me than others, but for the sake of simplicity I decided to use an unordered list rather than an ordered. And some require more time than others. These are the events that are currently going on, not that they are absolutely necessary, but that they are happening and I'd like to continue accomplishing them.
- website development and management. This is currently only for katomi.com (and if I ever get semi proficient at it - who knows) and although it includes the use of Drupal, PHP, Linux, MySQL, Apache, HTML, rights management, design and layout, etc. I will only be focusing on the Drupal portion of it.
- 4th Dimension - the primary programming language I use at work and therefore I must remain proficient in this area
- Java (including JSPs and Servlets) - the other programming language I use at work, and although I don't use it very often I must try to stay somewhat proficient at it.
- Motorcycling - Currently I mostly ride my 02 VTX 1800, but I like to ride my 78 XL 250S or my 01 DR Z400S - while up on my property. I also have an 05 Shadow Spirit 750 that I'm most like going to sell in the spring this year.
And these are the "I have some sort-of responsibility" items. These aren't the "I don't want to do this" items, it's just that they (should have) a higher priority than the "I wanna" list items
- Son - I love to visit my parents
- Uncle - I have some really great nieces and nephews
- Work - hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go. I believe that work is a good thing, not a four letter word. I do want to work, I just don't want to work myself to death. I would much rather be involved in some sort of R&D than much of what I currently do
- Property Maintenance - I need to work up on my property every once in a while
This is the section that was missing, I should have put this one in a long time ago. These are my completed items. That's right, I said COMPLETED, not that they don't need to be maintained, but I can say that I actually completed something.
- Course # 310-015; Sun Certified Java Programmer. I liked this course and I have been able to use part of my training where I work.
- Course # 1D0-520; CIW Site Designer. This had to do more with the site designing part of being a Webmaster.
- Course # 1D0-525; CIW E-Commerce Designer. This is a course that I'm taking through TechSkills here in Sac. At the end of this course after taking the exam, I received a Certification.
- Course # 70-270; Installating, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional.
These certifications are "nice-to-have" but I need to use them. My current plans are to improve my web styling skills, I need to keep improving my skills in this area as there is a lot of competition.
- These are the items that are going to be put on hold. Maybe someday I'll be able to get back to them and expand my horizons. I've also turned off my extra computer. I have one that I was using as a development server - I had it setup with CEntOS and all the goodies that are on my public site, except that this is where I try different programs prior to installing them on the pub server.
- Roller Blading - I could probably write this on off without any worries
- Piano - not much hope here but it's my only out right now.
- JBoss - a must have for an EJB container
- iText - a "leading" tool for programmatic creation and manipulation of PDF documents
- Xen - a virtual server platform
- LTSP - Linux Terminal Server Project
- Mediawiki - another web tool
- WebCollab - I gotta have some way of keeping track of what I'm doing
- An Enterprise CMS - I am currently running OpenCMS from Alkacon Software, is a professional, easy to use website content management system - from the opencms.org website
- WebDAV - Web Distrobuted Authoring and Versioning
- Programming projects with Java, PHP, MySQL, HTML, ...
- PHP - trying to learn how to develop web programs
- Apache Ant - I've done some projects with Ant and it's nice to work with. I'll still use it but it seems that I won't be learning it as much as I would like - only what I need.
- Javascript/Ajax - a must for any website
- MySQL - using as a persistence layer for the PHP programs
- Linux - learning about the website operating system
- Apache httpd web server - the front end of the website
- jUnit - a must have for java programmers
- Bonsai - I've planted many of my trees up in Placerville so I don't have very many left. And I don't remember the last time I made it to one of the American Bonsai Association of Sacromento (ABAS) meetings - every 4th Tuesday at 7:00 pm at the McKinley Garden and Arts Center
- Bicycling - mostly home from work
- Brewing - this doesn't take too much time as it's not something I do very often. Our last batch of Big Valley Red and Smoked Porter turned out to be two very excellent beers
- Hang out with friends - this is something that I don't do very much of right now and would like to increase the frequency of this item