August 19, 2008 [7:10 pm]
Have you ever taught where could you be if you have spent your time more productive? I am sure you did. I wonder about it all the time. Trying to read for example Getting things done by David Allen, blogs or just thinking about this topics helps me a lot. Whenever I come with some idea and it does not have to be my idea, I try to put it into life test. If it fits into my mentality and personality I keep it if it does not I get rid off it.
There was a time when I was lot younger when I spent lots of time watching TV. Obviously not all the time in from of the TV is waist but I would say most of it. I have came with the idea - get rid of the TV from your life and get the useful information through other channels. As you might be already thinking one of the other channels is internet. It is not the only one but major one.
I got rid of the TV about year ago. Do you I miss it? Not at all. I have not actually through the TV out I just do not use it anymore. There is an internet for the actual news and there are cinemas and DVDs for movies and life concerts for music. When I feel like getting some information about science or other fields there are plenty of websites such are www.ted.com or www.bbc.co.uk. The time I saved not watching TV is used by learning new technologies, trips, quality time with my friends.
It was not that long time ago when I realized that there is not enough time again. But this time there was not really anything I could get rid off or you could say it did not look that way. After some thinking I found the answer. I will get rid off some sleeping time. Here in England people start working at 9am which is one hour later then in my country. I have decided to wake up at 5:30 so I can have good 2 hours for working on my projects. I do not get 2 hours every day though because I go to the gym in the morning 3 times a week but at least 1 to 1.5 hour is what I can use in the mornings. Trying to find 2 hours after work would be almost impossible.
I was trying this method for about 3 weeks and I have to say it works really well. I feel even less tired during the day. I still feel I could do better. I might push it a bit later on to 5 o’clock or even more because my PHP advanced course is going to start in October so I will need more time for studying. The mornings are so productive. Quite atmosphere, no distractions.
Do you have any creative ideas? Let me know about them!
July 17, 2008 [9:01 am]
Next week I suppose to go on holiday as I planned at the beginning of the year. It is going to be Grand Canaria island. After very busy half year I really feel I do need to re-charge my batteries. The plan is to relax and enjoy the weather but at the same time I am taking my Canon 40D so I expect to get some pretty good shots in those conditions. That was the second target for this year. I hope I can get at least one excellent shot which I can then enlarge and frame.
If I am right, Grand Canaria is the biggest island in Canary Islands so do not expect us to lay on the beach all the time. We will explore the country around us. I am also taking my PHP book so I will not get bored from all that relax on the beach bellow umbrella.
Taking a book with me (which is quite massive - about 700 pages) brings me into the dilemma I am having for last couple of weeks. Should I be buying more paper books? The reason for this question is new technology. There are devices on the market which can store hundreds of books and the readability comfort is very high. They do not use back-lighting so your eyes are not going to be tired after half an hour of reading. Another reason why I am thinking about this option is space in the room I live. I have collected about 30 books during the last 2 years and there is really no more space in our room.
Do you guys have any experiences with eReaders? My favorite so far is the lattes Sony one even I would prefer one from Apple if there was one but unfortunately there is none. The Amazon one seams to be OK but I am not very keen on design…
June 28, 2008 [4:50 pm]
As you might know from my previous posts I have been studying PHP course during the last 2 months. I have really been enjoying the course. I found it very interesting and useful. Just imagine, after only 9 lessons I am able to create simple web application. Actually it is blog again. I have not chosen the subject. It came from our professor.
What have I learned during those 2 months?
Short story long I have learned how to use php functions, how to interact with database using SQL language.
What it means in reality?
I am able to insert and retrieve data from MYSQL database using html forms for example or have login and registration system, using sessions to define what content is user able to see when he/she is not loged in. I have also learned how to send data from the web form using POST and GET methods. How to pass variables from one page into the other. This is for example used on the blogs when you click on the category and you can see which blog posts belong to this category.
What next?
I want to use the knowledge I got from this course in my fist private web application. It is going to be project management tool which I will start developing immediately after I build lewro’s blog 3.0 . I am also going to sign up for the advance PHP course which is going to start in October. I have not finished yet reading my 2 PHP books but there are not that many pages left. I might buy another one though. There are some PHP podcasts I have found so all these will keep me in for the next couple of months.
Oh yeah and the most interesting at the end. Here is the link for the blog I have build for the course-work: my php blog . You can register (just name and psw) to see the whole application. I have only use simple CSS just to give it some kind of structure so it is not pretty, pretty.
