#Writemotivation Finale… or is it?

Posted by Quinton on Jan 31, 2012 in Featured, Personal | 3 comments

Yesterday marked the last update of K.T.’s #Writemotivation month. I say this, as I am, once again, a day late posting my update! Over the last month a group of us made a list of individual goals with the intention of completing them (or getting as close as possible!) before the end of January. I’ve met some awesome people, browsed a few awesome blogs (but, sadly, still have a hard time keeping up with most – I have a list of over 40 sites I check daily before the #writemotivation group!), and have worked towards completing some of my goals.

Now, we’re not at the end of January yet – today is the last day so I could still complete all of my goals if I worked really hard all day. Truthfully, I only have my one programming goal left. However, I’m not going to complete it. Essentially, I’ve failed to complete the goals that I set out one month ago to complete – and I fully intended to complete them at the time!

You know what? I’m completely fine with it.

My goals weren’t overly extravagant, if anything they were a bit lacklustre, so by not completing them I’m underachieving what I know I could complete. If anything this month has taught me that I am still a bit lazy when it comes to goals and goal setting. Yes, I’d love to change this and I would have loved to complete my goals, but in the end there was no real benefit or incentive for me to finish the last one.

Sure, there was a ton of motivation going around! Twitter was active at almost any hour of the day (or night), as I was assured of a few times! It wasn’t for a lack of external motivation that I didn’t complete my goals, it was a lack of intrinsic motivation. I saw no benefit, and did not really put any effort into it. It probably should not have been a goal in the first place, but I was drawing a blank on ideas at the time!

However, I did end of accomplishing a few things that I didn’t expect during this month. I decided to try eating a bit healthier, and have enjoyed a ton of new recipes! I don’t think I’ve made one thing in the past 2-3 weeks that I’ve made before, and very few that I might have had before. It’s quite an interesting experience!

Another thing that I wasn’t expecting to happen was some new web stuff to work on :) Not much to say here yet, apart from I’m definitely looking forward to this project (you know who you are)! This one has me the most excited of all that has happened this month as it will allow me (and force me) to start working with web design & development with a distinct purpose.

I’ve learned a bit of another programming language (Objective-C, the programming language usually used when creating Apple apps) though other projects and have learned to start managing my time a bit better due to the complicated mess of school/work/homework that I call my schedule. Finally, I managed to sneak in a couple of books to read (suggestions always welcome) including one that I’m looking forward to reading again (yes, yours)! :)

Overall, it’s been a busy January! I’d like to thank everyone in the #writemotivation group, and anyone who has stopped by, for all the help and support over the last month – unfortunately for you, this probably isn’t the last you’ve heard of me! As posted over on her blog, K.T. has been talking about continuing #writemotivation throughout the year, and I fully intend to be around even if I don’t take part all the time!

Hopefully most of us will still stay in contact, and you can always find me on Twitter! If I’m not talking, I am lurking, so don’t be afraid to poke me (except K.T., because she pokes really hard). This next month I won’t be making a list of goals to carry out, rather I’m going to keep a list of everything I have completed. This isn’t really involved with #writemotivation, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Let’s see what February brings!

~ Quinton

PS. It may not be obvious by now, but I do tend to ramble at times. Critique is always welcome, and I do like learning how to improve! Apologies for the extended post, I don’t think I’ve written one this long in a while :)

PPS. As a final note/reminder for myself, I’ve increased the font size on my blog. I find it a bit easier to read, so will likely have to either (a) adjust everything to fit or (b)  find a new theme that accommodates a larger font size!

#Writemotivation Week 3… oops!

Posted by Quinton on Jan 23, 2012 in Featured, Personal, Social Media | 8 comments

I missed checking in last week, so even though I’m quite late to the party today I thought I should check in. Not quite sure what to write this week though, between school, work, and getting sick late last week I haven’t had a lot of time to do much of anything! The time I have found was more geared towards trying to not go insane (as I’m repeatedly told by both those I go to school with and those I work with)!

Looking back on the three goals I made, I haven’t really done much towards accomplishing one of them. This makes the third blog post this month (though, I still haven’t really made a second non-#writemotivation post), which covers my first goal, but I still have yet to do anything in Ruby (programming language) this month (my second goal). It’s been a little crazy so far!

My third goal is still a bit unknown. I still haven’t really thought of a good “new thing” to learn. I have looked at some ways to get a bit healthier, some of which I’m trying, so that may count as my “new thing” for January. It doesn’t seem like much though, more of a cop-out.

I wish I could say that I spent January trying to get back into the groove with school/work, but I know that this month is just the calm before the storm. February, while having a short vacation, will start with the midterms and work project deadlines and March will only be a crazier continuation of that plus end-of-term assignments!

Short update, but glad I managed to put something down :) Hope the rest of the #writemotivation folks have had a lot more luck! Hopefully I get some time to pop around your blogs soon!

~Quinton

#Writemotivation Week 2

Posted by Quinton on Jan 9, 2012 in Featured, Personal | 9 comments

Well, we’re into the second week of K.T.’s #writemotivation campaign and not a lot has changed for me! With this second blog post I (sort of) have my writing goal done, though I’m going to strive for 2 non-#writemotivation posts. I guess I’m already half way there after my 2012 Resolutions post!

I’m still trying to figure out something new to learn this month. At the moment my brain is dead, having had only 3 hours of sleep last night. I was actually debating taking a nap or writing this post, but I had enough #writemotivation to keep going thanks to everyone who keeps spamming my twitter feed! A year ago I was barely starting my blog, and if asked if I would ever do something like this… my answer probably would have been no. I’m very happy that I met K.T. and decided to hop on her campaign, she really is awesome and if you don’t know who I’m talking about go check out her blog!

In other news, this past week was quite a busy one! Once again I’m back on a school term, but also chose to work part-time. My schedule this term is just a bit busy, and I’ve already been told more than once that I’m more than a little crazy. Running around between work and class definitely keeps me busy though! I’m very lucky to work at an awesome place that allows me to set my part-time hours around classes though, otherwise I’m not sure how I would do everything. It will be interesting to see how this plays out once assignments and exams/midterms start up, I may invest in more caffeine this year!

For now, I’m probably going to fall asleep at the keyboard. I hope to read some more #writemotivation updates tonight, though maybe after I’m awake! How goes your #writemotivation?

Quinton

2012 Resolutions

Posted by Quinton on Jan 2, 2012 in Featured, Personal | 2 comments

Another year has come and gone, and this one has been busy! This time last year I was just starting my first co-op term at OpenText, had finished my third year of University, was helping a friend with her podcast & website, and was still pretty much the same (fairly) shy computer nerd I felt like the past few years.

Fast forward 365 days and I’ve completed by second co-op term at OpenText and will continue there part-time throughout this term, I’ll be starting into my fourth year of my program, the podcast was aside (though I still help out with her website), and I’m just a bit less shy! I also met a ton of awesome people this past year and am looking forward to getting to know some of them more in 2012!

Looking back at 2011

Last year I had one single resolution: try to keep in touch with people more often. This came around after I had lost touch with a number of people who I really enjoyed chatting with. For the first few months I was successful — I reconnected with a few people and even stayed in contact for a few months! Like many resolutions though, this one ultimately failed and I lost touch with many again.

That’s one of the reasons I decided to post my resolutions this year: hopefully it will help me keep them. As well, my awesome friend K.T. Hanna is helping to motivate people with her #writemotivation campaign. I’m sure everyone involved will be able to accomplish their goals for January, and beyond!

New Resolutions

This year I’ve managed to come up with 6 different resolutions. Some are a bit broader than others, and some aren’t really resolutions, but I’ll still try to do them all!

1. Eat healthier & get into better shape.

   I’m not really in bad shape — I’m about where I should be for my age/height. However, I’d like to start eating a bit healthier and get out a bit more this year. Getting into these habits was a goal of mine last summer, so I’m continuing with it and making it a full resolution this year!

    

2. Learn something new each month.

   I’m taking a cue from Becca Grieb on this one — her monthly challenges inspired me to try it out as well. I would like to try learning at least one new thing each month for 2012, particularly something more than a few new words or ideas!

    

3. Keep up with my blog & social media.

   There is no way that my small blog will amount to anything if I never update it. Some of my goals for this blog were to keep track of what I was doing over time and to trick my self into becoming a better writer — both of which I’m failing at the moment. Hopefully updating at least twice a month will improve this.

    

4. Become less introverted.

   I could write a lot more on this subject, but I’ll try to keep this one short! In high school I was quite shy, didn’t have a lot of (offline!) friends, and was usually socially awkward. Each year since then I’ve tried to change that in some way. There have been a number of events over the last 5 or so years that have helped me with this goal, but I’m still not where I’d like to be. In 2012, I hope to continue this trend, though I’m not sure how it will happen. I do know some great people and have a few friends who I’m sure will help though!

    

5. Try to keep in touch. Again.

   I know I failed at this last year, but maybe I’ll do better with it this year. I have the advantage of writing it on my blog to help this round, so it may be a bit harder to forget about! To those I lost touch with last year, I’m sorry. Hopefully this year will be better. If you want to get in touch with me, you can always contact me!

    

6. Keep my resolutions!

   This might be obvious, and not really a resolution, but so many resolutions fall to the wayside every year that it warrants saying. I’d like to keep my resolutions this year, and hope that you do too!

That about wraps up my New Year’s Resolutions for 2012! What are your goals to start the new year?

- Quinton

PS. Sorry about no #writemotivation post today — figured I would get this out first since it also relates to my goals for this month!

* Header/Thumbnail photo by Fisher Chia. Used under CC BY 2.0.

Learning, Goals, and #Writemotivation

Posted by Quinton on Dec 19, 2011 in Featured, Personal | 6 comments

After reading a number of blogs from Rebecca Grieb and seeing all the awesome new things that she’s challenging herself to learn each month, I’ve decided to try to set my list of Things To Do.

There’s only one problem: I have no idea where to start. I have a list of things I would like to accomplish — books to read, shows to watch, games to play — but nothing that I could say “I’d like to do this in the next 30 days”.

I also recently came across another blog — What’s on your Learning List by Matt Swanson – that outlined an interesting way to track various things you would like to learn. I think I will try this in the future and stick with it! (I have a half-made list somewhere…) I don’t have any pictures of my list yet, but maybe I’ll have one for my first #writemotivation post in January!

#Writemotivation

Strangely enough, I started writing this post a few weeks before I read #Writemotivation and Progress on K.T.’s blog. For those who don’t know her (and I believe that includes almost everyone reading this!) you should go check out her blog! She’s an awesome writer and has managed to keep me sane over the last year and a half. Don’t take my word for it though,  you really should read her blog! But I digress…

I’d like to coax my friends into a #writemotivation month in January. To help us all get on that resolution train with both feet and head full steam to our destination. Bad analogy? Maybe, but I like steam trains.

Basically, I motivate myself and while doing so, I like to motivate others. Cheering people on and encouraging their progress is a great part of being in a writing community.

~ K.T. Hanna

The concept behind her #Writemotivation campaign was quite interesting to me. I’m definitely not a writer, but since I keep somewhat of a blog I decided to try it out. My goals are a bit different from the participating writers, but at least I have a few goals in mind for January. I still need something new to learn in January, so my third goal is still unknown!

January Goals

1. Write 2 blog posts / month
2. Create a basic website/user login system in Ruby. (Told you I wasn’t a writer..!)
3. …I don’t know yet.

What are some of your goals for this year (or next)? Do you want to join in on the #Writemotivation campaign?

* Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Grey Cup Weekend

Posted by Quinton on Nov 25, 2011 in Featured, Personal | 0 comments

It’s Friday once again and I’m stuck looking for a blog topic. Of course, now that I start writing I’m thinking of more ideas. Music is one topic I have yet to go to yet and I think I’ll start writing some code-related blogs in the future as well! We couldn’t ask for a nicer day today though: 13 °C and quite sunny!

This weekend will mark the 99^th Grey Cup! Now I’m not a huge fan of football and couldn’t even tell you which teams were playing this year (Google tells me it’s the Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs the BC Lions). However, one of my friends’ family always celebrates the event — and who can say no to homemade chilli and pie*?

Every year that I’ve been to their event there has always been a short game of our own before the real event starts at 6:00pm EST. A few years we’ve had snow (which is great to land/fall on!), but it looks like the weather will be too warm for it this year. On top of that, the forecast seems to predict that it’ll be a wet Sunday… but that won’t stop us from playing!

I’m not quite sure what else will be going on this weekend, but I expect it will be a busy one! I know I’ll get to visit with some family that I don’t see too often, in addition to the football on Sunday.

What are you doing this weekend?

Beautiful day at the office

* I’m not making the pies, but they are some of the best I’ve had! I do have an awesome recipe for pumpkin pie, but I don’t believe there will be any of that this weekend…

Quick Blog Update

Posted by Quinton on Nov 25, 2011 in Personal | 0 comments

My comment system and share buttons have bugged me for a while, so I thought I would change them to a new system. Since Discus looks to be used quite often, I’ve added that to this site. In addition, I’ve enabled Jetpack (my Twitter widget is with the project) to help add some new functions.

Hopefully the new changes work out and I’ll be able to improve other sites with them as well :) Let me know if there are any issues or if you have any questions or comments about the changes!

Quinton