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I’ve been prompted to collect my thoughts on expressing my reasons for blogging. I should more accurately state that these are my reasons as well for blogging more often. Hopefully, this is the blogging push that keeps the train on the tracks. So, here’s a rough list of reasons I came up with and it’s subject to change after future review, your mileage may vary, batteries not included, etc.

  • I have these thoughts sometimes, but there’s no audience ready to avail,
  • Some things I’d possibly like to remember, or pass on to another, at some future date,
  • Social networking

I think those reasons are a good start (back) up blogging.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

– Douglas Adams

I’m participating in an online blogging workshop and this post is day 2. More great posts are available over at the Desk Community.

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It’s time for some free writing. I used to dread these exercises in high-school composition. The main reason being that I was always afraid that the thoughts wouldn’t flow for the entire time set and I’d feel a bit foolish when I had it evaluated by my peers. Yes, peer review is a scary thing at any age!

So, I sat down, set a timer, and just started typing. I think it might be easier to handwrite, but that’s only because my handwriting speed has suffered over the years due to less usage. I really ought to look into more practice there as well. Speaking of hand-writing, I want to pick up a fountain pen again. those actually felt pretty good to write with. Despite my analytical nature, advanced writing classes were a thing for me during the grade school years.

Another thought I had is a bit work-related, and it’s a bit of a view on how technical support should be very useful. I think it’s better being a “guide” for the person seeking help, and not simply taking over and doing some arcane task. It’s a fine line between being a teacher and a friend, looking over the person’s virtual “shoulder”, especially when you can’t be physically present to see what the person you’re helping is struggling with. Sometimes, frustration could be avoided by keeping in mind that role.

I sometimes see signs of a gradual change, sometimes irreversibly, into jaded, minimal help, with less human touches in a response, and more links to documentation. I try encourage bing sparing in giving links unless needed, and only as the “for more information” part of my response, following an explanation or step-by-step instructions, in my own words, if needed.

Well, that’s it, the timer is going off in a few seconds and I’ll be hitting publish soon after. That wasn’t as bad as I remember it.

Go for a 10-minute free-write: have no mercy on your keyboard as you give us your most unfiltered self (feel free to edit later, or just publish as-is).

via Ready, Set, Done | The Daily Post.

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Software engineers should write

This appeared on my dashboard a few days ago, and I finally got around to taking a peek at it.

Code and essays have a lot more in common. Both begin as a blank slate and an idea, then end as a discrete product for an intended audience.

Good writing skill, much like well structured and commented code increases the value of the person doing the writing and coding as well as making communicating  ideas and software maintenance easier for not only the original, but also future maintainers of a piece of code.

Thinking clearly is such an underrated skill. I also agree that good writing takes time (and some focused effort.) I totally had a particular writer/developer in mind as I read that post.

If you’re a code poet that happens to also write non-code on a regular basis, then that’s a good thing.

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Reward Yourself
Here’s a good idea.

Sometimes, you need to create your own virtual achievements and rewards. I’m a gaming enthusiast, so I do sometimes think about life from that perspective. That often means that I do things like give myself rewards for completing some necessary tasks, such as paying some bill, or completing an errand.

Yesterday, after I realized that I was able to really make strides in almost all my resolutions for the past year, purchased a game I’ve been wanting for a while. It wasn’t expensive, but has a high entertainment value, which is really why such rewards, even when given to myself, from myself, can be highly motivating.

Now, what should the reward be if I actually finish a game review…?

Do you believe in rewarding yourself? How do you go about doing this? A prompt found at:

Desk Community.

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This will be the year that I will end with a shorter, not longer, backlog of things to do. That’s really been my problem in recent years is that the things I’m able to do increased, but not the time to do them in. Time management is probably my biggest challenge, but I’ve got the tools at my disposal and am getting better at it, so less overlapping things will occur (I hope.)

That means I’ll be getting caught up in more of the reading, writing, learning, and playing of things. Getting more things done is what’s going to be different. I’m already doing good, I think, with 1/365 daily posts done.

Basically, I want to reuse the resolutions I made a year ago as well. I’ve pretty much lived all of 2014 with those in mind.

How about you, dear reader? What is going to make this year different than every year before?

via Daily Post – 1.1.2015 – Daily Writing – Desk Community.

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What are you are looking forward to?

 

Since there’s less than 2 weeks left in the year, I think the title should probably have “2015” at the end, but I’ll leave it of, for now. This might be my first open-ended post.

This isn’t a static post. It will change over time, as I add, and remove items from the actual list. Items can be suggested, and if I like them, they’ll be become list items. So, like the items you like and suggest away (follow the list if you like as well!) I have a feeling I’m not the only person that’s looking forward to quite a few things.
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This blog post is part of the Inspiration Pack provided by Desk, a publishing app for OSX.

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There were no donuts today (the picture is from yesterday), but apparently, there is a holiday for donuts, and, unfortunately, it’s in June. We had donuts brought in by an angel of a co-worker yesterday, which got me thinking that there might need to be a holiday for it and that I shall create it! Luckily, another had this idea (long) before I did.

 

 

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Mmmm… donut…

It wasn’t Homer. It was a bit before our times. Check it out here (and mark your calendars!)

National Donut Day

This bit of silly writing was inspired by a prompt over on the Desk community site. The Desk app recently got some big love by being included in Apple’s Apps of The Year list. Huzzah!

Anybody out there ever had an idea and was close to acting to making it happen and then discovering, it’s been done (and, did you do it anyway?) Sometimes, doing it anyway can yield surprising success.