I write occasionally, marking down my adventures, expressing my thoughts, and my rants.
It’s Hard To Be Mr President
A while ago, I heard that President Obama having a beer while watching an NBA basketball game, is a no-no to some people. There are also people who has no problem with him having a beer and chill out.
Today, I came across this piece of article, regarding People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals (PETA) attacked President Obama, because he killed a fly during an interview. Yes, a fly.
No, I do not have problems with PETA. I do not have problems with people who love animals. But the thing is, Mr Obama, like us, is a human too. Just because he’s the President of United States, does not mean he can’t have a beer, he can’t chill out at an NBA basketball game, he can’t feel annoyed when a fly disturbed him. You people are way too extreme.
Leave him alone, go pick on someone else, or go do something meaningful, like save some animals or kids, will you?
My Way of GTD
I was doing my daily routine of screening through my RSS feeds, and stumbled upon this article on LifeHack talking about 3 habits that make you more productive, a stripped down version of those complex GTD ideas people been talking about.
They mentioned that implementing the practices described in various GTD books, is just so damn complicated. I tried to check email just ONCE a day, and I can say that it is impossible (well, for me, I don’t know about you guys). Really, if you can’t do it, why force yourself do something that works for others, but not you?
One of the three habits mentioned by LifeHack, was to write down whatever you want to do. I do this, a lot. I steal (with permission) a lot of papers from the office, and write things down, things I need to do, things I think I might forget, and I also write down what is the last thing I did before leaving office. I tend to forget about what was the last thing I did, the next morning I get into office. But writing them down, I am able to recall what was the last thing I did in office, and what needs to be done next. I also use Things, at home, on my MacBook. It’s awesome to keep track of things I need to do, and just tick them off when I am done.
The other habit suggested was to defer tasks that is not important, and get to it later. I believe everyone has a flow, when they are working on something. When a distraction breaks the flow, it takes a while to get back to it. So, push things that are not important aside, and finish up the tasks in hand, before moving on to another. I am trying to do this properly, because I get distracted easily, and I can’t get back into the flow, which affects my productivity. Distractions such as Twitter, Facebook, news, chats, are evil, when you are trying to concentrate on finishing up some tasks. I hope to master the art of deferring, sometime soon.
LifeHack also suggested doing a scheduled review, to clear off your tasks, emails, etc. I don’t do this, mainly because I don’t get too many emails or tasks, and I usually get them done within the period I planned. But I think it is good, to actually do reviews, to keep track of the time you spend on various tasks, to properly organize yourself.
Although I’ve been trying and mess around with some GTD practices, I can’t seem to organize myself properly. I believe GTD requires a lot of disciplines, and patience.
How do you organize yourself? What’s your GTD practices?
Wordpress 2.8
Wordpress 2.8 was released a few days ago, but I wasn’t able to see the upgrade link in my dashboard, until today. And I just upgraded.
Four clicks, was all I need. Upgrade link, return to dashboard link, upgrade database link, and finally the continue link that brings you back to your dashboard. This is awesome, the upgrade process that is.
I have yet to explore this new version, but I’ve been hearing good comments about it. Have a look at its over 180 new features.
MySQL Error 1005
I have encountered this error, when I tried to dump an SQL file to a database.
ERROR 1005 (HY000) at line 13: Can’t create table ’secretproject_development.canhaz’ (errno: 105)
First thing came to my mind was, to Google for an answer, where I found this. Being a lazy person to read through the whole thread, it suddenly came into my mind why that table can’t be created. There was a reference to another field in another table, and that table is not available at the moment.
Simple fix was to re-order the CREATE TABLE codes, so that tables are created before being referenced.
BarCamp KL 2009: Day 2
Some notes I took from the second, and last day of BarCamp KL 2009.
Asyraf Rahman: Introduction to Agile Development – Google Documents was given as an example of Agile development, the idea was to create something for documents collaboration, and in 2 weeks, a working product is there! Agile is not for everyone, it depends on your customers, bosses and colleagues – whether they can work with it, and the type of business you are running. For a startup, the market is usually the public, and we want to launch fast. Agile encourages individual interactions, working software over comprehensive documentations, customer collaborations over written contracts, responding to change over following a plan. Basic software development process: business case -> basic requirements -> develop -> support. Agile development process: high level requirements -> ( ( develop -> release N ) * N ) -> support. Level of proficiency in a language does not really affect pair programming, in fact it helps the beginners by having an expert look after them.
Gen Kanai: Mozilla in Malaysia – Talked about the new features in Firefox 3.5, and a discussion on whether there is a need for Malay Firefox. There are 60+ language packs, non for Bahasa Malaysia yet. Mozilla is an architecture, a platform, many apps based on Mozilla (ie. Boxee, Miro, etc). Firefox 3.5 will be called “Shiretoko”. Shiretoko is a national park in Japan. Firefox releases are code-named based on national parks in the world. New in Firefox 3.5: faster JavaScript (Tracemonkey JIT), private browsing, native JSON parsing, to name a few. Awesome for web developers! It was said that in the past 6 months, Firefox usage in Malaysia has grown 34%. Bahasa Malaysia translation started in 2001. Majority of audience don’t see the need for a Bahasa Malaysia Firefox.
Kengyew: The Stingy Web Startup – Identify one core value proposition and do well. Example: Facebook’s focus was to let users find out who are in the same class as them in college. Google’s focus was search. Why focus? Because we don’t have the resources to do everything. Build product people want: talk to customer, identify problem, find solution. Rapid iteration, agile. Magic recipe: product -> ??? -> money (ref: DHH, Startup School). That ??? is price, put a price to your product (eg: Basecamp, Mailchimp). Ads as a business model? Takes time to establish because we need a big user base for it to work. Getting VCs is harder than charging for your product. From an audience: potential angel investors are people who can benefit from your product.
Khalid Hilaby: From Geek to Chique, How to Enhance Your Social Life and Look Good While You At It – Change! Be social, networking, talk English not geek. How to look good: get a girl’s (who has a fashion sense) advice, invest in good shirts, invest in yourself, get a great haircut! Goal is to surprise people when you tell them you are an IT person. How to get chicks: approach them, SMS (the statement, call to action), be you, its a numbers game, be an asshole but be nice after you get her, don’t let it inside your head (you are still a geek!). There was some awesome interactions here, between the speaker and the crowd.
To sum it up, it was quite an exciting experience for me, to meet new people, learn new things not specifically in technology, and get freebies! Kudos to the organizers, great work done! Thank you.
