Trials of Fixing a Software Developer

Hello, me.  I'm writing to you.  Yes, you.

I am going to fix myself.  What's wrong?  Oh, name it.

I'll probably post brain dumps concerning programming (web to be more specific), since I am working as a web developer, and want to remember a few things.  But, I should post other articles concerning what I am doing to fix other parts of myself.  Fix my body, fix my mind, fix my relationships, and all those fixes will bleed over into the facet that composes the programmer.

You'll find no earth-shattering writing or topics here.  Just ramblings whose only connecting thread is me.  Who's me?  I'm a self-taught programmer that got complacent.  I stayed at one company way too long.  I should have left, but it was so close to home, and the pay was good.  I paid the price.  Like I said, I got complacent.  I did my work, but I didn't stretch myself.  I did slowly improve my code, but still so many things to learn and do, and I wasn't doing that.  I was a lone coder just cruising along.

Egad!  Snap out of it, man!

What am I doing to fix myself?  Well, here's a list in random order.  Okay, not random, but not in any kind of real order...

- Fix my body
Yes, I am fat.  According to the BMI charts (that do not take into account body type!), I am obese.  Dang.  Okay, I am not as big as some, but still hefty.  At my heaviest, I was at 242 LB.  In October, 2013, I started changing my habits, since I finally realized that I needed to change.  I wasn't active, so I started simply by cutting my calories.  I lost about ten pounds, but my weight still fluctuated a lot.

In July of this year, by happenstance, I was listening to an old podcast of The Art of Manliness, and the host was interviewing Mark Sisson, the author of The Primal Blueprint, and owner of the site, MarksDailyApple.com.  What he talked about resonated with me.  I bought the book.

I'm down to 210 LB right now, and I haven't even incorporating all of the philosophy of TBP.  I decided to take measured steps and work on my eating habits first.  Then I started the sprint workouts, and will add in the rest as time goes by.  I feel good.  I still get frustrated, since I'm not losing the weight like I'd like, but change does take time.

- Fix my programming
I did go back to school in 2007 and get a Master's in Applied Computer Science.  It was interesting, but I still lack a grounding in a lot of basics that an undergraduate gets while working on a CS degree.

I'm working on fixing that.  I need to know design patterns well, and know SOLID.  There's still a ton of other things on my software developer to-do list, but this is a good start.

That's it for now.
I'll end this post right now.  It's a good start.  I should go back, reread, and edit, but no.  I'm done.  This is for me.  It'd be cool if other's found it useful.  But I need it to be useful to me.

Take care,
C.