Daniel Porter

Since turning 30 last month, and spotting more grey hairs on my head each day, has really got me thinking. I certainly hope it’s not a mid-life crises as I hope to live well past 60!.

1. Physically, I would be classed as overweight. A few years ago I was diagnosed with a Fatty Liver, which can be managed/reduced by weight loss. A side effect of a Fatty Liver is fatigue, which I seem to be suffering from more lately.
2. Career wise I’ve been talking about getting my MCSE for years now but have never gotten around to actually getting it.
3. 3 1/2 years ago I wrote an outline for 2 x 3D animated shorts (to be made in Blender). Thanks to a site I was on, I had a few people interested in helping me out. The site in question was shut down.. politicts etc, but as it goes it now exists at a different domain, the owner is working only on his projects… I don’t believe the site contains any of my data and I’ve still got all my work… that nothing has ever become of.
4. Ever since I saw the “Wizards of Winter” Christmas light display video, I’ve wanted to created a computer controlled (synced with music) Christmas light display myself. I’ve found a site which have instructions on how to build a system which will allow me to do this. I’ll have to learn some basic electronics to build the system from scratch. I’ve had a couple of other ideas of how I can control/sync it to music (which to me programming the ‘shows’ would be quite easy).. it’s just finding the time (and money) to purchase all the components and build the control system (which could potentially take a month of my spare time to build).
5. Building / finishing a CMS (Content Management System). Following on from my previous post, I want to build, or more continue building the CMS which I’ve written, eventually to the point of releasing it to the masses. I have an idea in my head for the model of it which will make it VERY modular and easy to expand.
6. The final thing is my music. I’ve got all the equipment and software to record, it just seems at the moment I don’t have the time (and space) to record. Granted a lack of motivation doesn’t help either.

SOOOOOOOOO…….

I guess the very first thing I have to do and commit myself to doing is to get off my butt and get motivated!

Addressing each point above:

1. My health comes before everything, so first to address is weight loss! I believe I’ve improved my diet recently and I admit I do have servings on the larger size some times (such as 5 Wheetbix for breakfast.. my excuse.. stops me snacking). The way I can reduce my weight the most is through exercise. An easy start every day is getting off the bus first stop in the city and walking to my office. Aside from it being faster some days, it’s a good 10 minute walk (at my pace). Next would be stepping on my exercise bike at home which I hardly use or going for walks with my Wife and Son. I wouldn’t get the same work out going on those walks purely because I’d be walking at a much slower pace not raising my heart rate. This will be ongoing during the year (average weight for the start of December 138kgs).
2. MCSE. Motivation.. being a self study course and not having time restraints for sitting exams I believe is where I’ve failed in obtaining this in the past. Compared to my other projects, his should be a priority. How do I do it… set aside time, read my books and set dates as to when I will be sitting the tests. I’ll post my progress on this.
3. 3D movies.. Whilst they are fun I think they will be my lowest priority. Reason being a) it’s just for fun, b)it’s going to take a lot of time and other things should come before them. In saying that.. I might spend some time here and there and blog my updates with that.
4. Christmas Lights.. Well the deadline for this is Obvious… ideally lights up for first week of December. I’ll need to prototype this first (and write the code to be used late), which I can do earlier in the year, then mid year start to build the hardware, after that more testing, then designing the actual light ‘show’ during November, installed for December. In the next week I’ll put up my idea as to how I will achieve the final product.
5. CMS.. The website I manage goes live in August, so I guess getting the code up to the next version by then would be the best idea. In saying this, I’ve recently discovered an established CMS which looks promising and expandable, so I don’t know if I might look in to creating ‘modules’ for that instead.
6. Music.. I go through stages of motivation.. I actually played guitar for the first time in a long time the other night. I recorded a couple of tracks for a friends song. If that comes about I’ll post the final mix up here. But I do want to write and record. Do I set a goal of 1 song per month, as opposed to the write and record an album in February (or do I just do that?) I think as long as I ‘Noodle’ occasionally to keep the juices flowing, recording will come naturally.. and I’ll post the results here of course.

Well that certainly was a mouthful :-S But it now exists and I’ve said it, so I’ll come back in 12 months and see where I’m at.