Category Archives: Life

Thoughts about life

The Importance of a Quality Office Chair

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I write this as I sit in an office chair in a Bellevue hotel room. I try and try again to muster the mental strength to focus on the latest addition to the project I’m working on. However, for every bit of mental energy expended on the process of opening a new vim window, I spend about five seconds opening up a new tab and browsing to {unproductive site} [1]. This is an entirely unbalanced distribution of time, and after about an hour, I still haven’t added anything useful to the project.

Why is this? Out of all possible causes and correlations, I blame it on the chair I’m sitting in. The chair has a long base (The part that makes direct contact with the buttocks), meaning that in order for the back to be pressed against the back of the chair, the sitter must slouch or extend his legs in an uncomfortable fashion. Thus, I am slouching.

This slouching seems to make me inattentive and easily distracted. I am almost too comfortable to be focusing. If I wanted to focus, I would be sitting up relatively straight.

My theory about the chair reminds me of several different scenarios, which I will describe in a very Freudian fashion.

  1. The chair in my home office forces me to sit up straight. However, it lacks solid lower back support. Thus, I am able to focus for a good hour or so, but as soon as I feel back pain, I begin to unfocus and slouch. This slouching causes me to continue to remain inattentive to the task at hand.
  2. The seats of an airplane also force me to sit up straight. As much as people complain about the discomfort of airplane seats, I find them to be very comfortable. Albeit, I think people complain about the lack of respect for a “personal bubble” more than anything. While I’m in an airplane, I am able to focus very well. However, this may be due to my lack of accessible Internet connection.
  3. The chairs in my University library seem to encourage focus. However, there are chairs in which I do not focus – those that are the ones in which cannot reach the table comfortably.
  4. The chairs at my previous employment were very nice Steelcase chairs. While sitting in them, I was able to stay focused for several hours at a time without distraction. This could probably also be attributed to the work environment and the other focused workers who surrounded me.

Although causation is not clearly implied, it is clear that the chair I am sitting in has some sort of correlation with my level of focus. It is obvious that a good chair is necessary for back health, but a good chair may also be just as important for focusing on the task at hand.

 

References
↑1 Usually Reddit, Hacker News, or Wikipedia

Staying Organized in 2015

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Every day I do my best to keep myself organized. I keep my files in their own folders, I keep my desktop clean, I keep my calendar free and relevant, I clean up my phone contacts fairly often, I keep a task list. However, after about a month, none of this seems to matter. I’m not sure how many people experience this, but it seems that no matter how hard I try, I always end up being lazy for about a week and that ruins everything. I save all my downloads to my desktop, I don’t put pictures in their correct folders, I don’t name files in my usual naming convention. All of this leads to chaos. My task list is currently running rampant with tasks that were never actually meant to be completed. I need to bring this to an end. Here’s how I plan on doing it.

E-mail

One of the main problems with my organization has been e-mail. For the past 6 or so years, I have been using Mozilla Thunderbird as my primary e-mail solution. All of my email accounts were imported into my portable version of Mozilla Thunderbird which was saved in my Dropbox so that it would be synced across all my devices. This, honestly, worked quite well. Recently, however, I have been running many operating systems (Android, Linux, Windows) and having all my files synced across these devices is a challenge, especially when one file is a .exe file. Thus, after months of searching for a solution, I have decided to go with a web-based solution. I have decided to use Gmail.

Although it’s not surprising in the least (everyone uses gmail), I never knew that you could import POP3 mail accounts into Gmail and send/receive mail as if they were your primary Gmail address. The integration is seamless and all of my mail goes into one easy-to-use unified inbox, just like in Thunderbird. I’m a happy camper. What makes this even better, though, is that it syncs with the Android Gmail app, so that all of my emails (and imported accounts) are synced to my Android device.

I have also made a commitment to myself to delete emails that I didn’t need immediately. This way, my email inbox is never cluttered with a bunch of stuff that I will get to eventually. That phrase is long gone.

Schedule Management

I love calendars. I’ve always had one of those little date-books where I wrote down what I needed to do and what was in store for me every day of the week. Today, however, carrying around a little pocketbook isn’t all that feasible. It is the digital age, and my calendar must correspond accordingly. Thus, I have become an avid user of Google Calendar. Another completely unique decision. I’ve tried Google Calendar in the past, but I never really kept up with it because I would forget to look at the calendar and/or schedule events on the calendar. To circumvent this, I use a few methods. First off, my calendar lives in a pinned tab in my Google Chrome, so it is always there watching me and alerting me of any upcoming events. On top of that, I’ve found that its icon actually reminds me to schedule events and keep track of what I should be doing. I’ve done the same sort of thing on my phone. I use Today Calendar to display a nice little Agenda widget on my homescreen so that whenever I look at my phone I see exactly what’s next on my plate. I now understand why people hang calendars on their walls. Having a calendar constantly staring you in the face really helps you stay focused and stay on top of the things that you want to accomplish.

Along with my calendar, I have also started heavily using task lists. Of course, there is a task list built into Google Calendar, Google Tasks. Why not use that? So I am. It’s perfectly simple. I simply type in what I need to do and it sits there, right next to my calendar, telling me that I need to do it. No gimmicks, no fancy user-interface, no fancy animations – Just a task list. It’s just what I need. On my phone, I use the Tasks app to follow my tasks. Of course, it’s the same deal on my phone.. it simply lists the tasks that I need to complete. Although it’s not much, it definitely helps me stay focused.

Item Organization

A big part of staying organized is staying clutter-free. This means organizing everything in your daily life. Whether it be having a special place to put pens or organizing books by author’s last name, anything can help. There are many things that I have decided to do to keep my stuff organized.

  • I make my bed every morning. I know this is more of a personal issue, but I am convinced that hopping into a completely made bed at night actually helps me sleep better. On top of that, it makes my room look clean and tidy even when it’s not.
  • I do my dishes every night. Again, this is a more personal issue, but it also helps me stay much more organized. When I wake up in the morning, I can get started with my morning routine almost immediately. I don’t need to worry about washing my bowl for cereal or not having a clean spoon to use. It’s great.
  • I control my phone’s files. Especially with pictures, my phone is a mess. All these photo apps (Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) all put their pictures in their own separate directories. This makes accessing photos very difficult if I am looking for a specific picture. Thus, I am using Redirect File Organizer to move all of my pictures to a single directory. It really helps. On my computers I am doing something very similar. I am making sure that I don’t save anything to my desktop and I put the files where they belong the first time. It’s amazing how much frustration this saves.
  • Notebooks are also a recurring problem for me. I love pens, I love stationary, and I love notebooks. I have a ton and they are very unorganized. Thus, I have decided to take the advice of the label-freaks around the world and label my notebooks and arrange them in alphabetical order. I have also done the same with my books. Say what you want, these small changes work wonders.
  • Music is another thing that I find myself being stressed about often. Instead of having my music collection neatly organized, I just have a list of songs. This is something that has been changing as of late. I am now an avid user of Spotify and I make sure to put all of the songs that I wish to keep into playlists that reflect when I want to listen to them. So far, things are going great.

Overall, being organized is a great thing. It eases a lot of stress and makes daily life a lot smoother. I highly recommend taking a week of your time to sit down and really organize everything. You won’t regret it.

Why Everyone Should Learn Latin

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One of the first posts on this blog discussed the interest that I had in reading pieces written by writers who lived some 2,500 years ago, mainly those who lived in ancient Rome. The post can be found here.

One of the main things that I found to be interesting about reading the works of those who wrote complex anecdotes in Latin is that the topics they discussed are extremely similar to the topics that are discussed and debated about today. For instance, authors often joked about the cruelty of the government, discussed the meaning of life, and wrote reports on the actions and customs of other nations. As a race and society as a whole, we are often claimed to have advanced by an incredible amount; however, upon analyzing the texts of ancient Roman writers, we learn that, especially with social issues, we have barely turned a pebble.

The Grammar

Before I even delve into the world of social issues and Latin, I want to discuss how much of a benefit learning Latin is from a linguistics perspective. To put things in perspective, most people I know are native English speakers; however, they do not know the inner workings of the language. For instance, ask them to construct a sentence using the pluperfect. Most will just sit and stare. “What’s a pluperfect?”. Exactly.

After learning a good bit of Spanish, I always thought it was weird how they put so much emphasis on the conjugation of verbs. Every time you used a verb you have to conjugate it? How strange!! How naïve I was. We conjugate verbs in English, too! (He runs, I run, they run) – it just took Latin to really hammer this idea into my head.

Latin has also taught me a lot about how other languages are able to work. I always figured that all languages work in a strict subject+verb pattern. That is, just like English. However, Latin showed that word order doesn’t even have to matter! Word order is just a preference in some languages, and endings of words determines what is the subject and what is the verb. This allows authors to declare their own style and allows for a true freedom of language. For instance, take the following example of English and Latin.

I ran with my friends.

Ego cum meis amicis cucurri.

As you can see, the English works in a subject+verb structure, where the additional information is provided after the fact. In Latin, the subject is at the beginning of the sentence, the verb at the end, and all additional information is packed in the middle. It really is different from English and shows the true stylistic differences that exist between the two languages.

Before I get talking about the social implications of Latin, I just want to mention that learning Latin has also allowed me to become more knowledgeable about other things in English such as the cases of words, moods of verbs, tenses of verbs, and many, many word roots that are very interesting. (Presidio is derived from the Latin word Praesedens meaning “stand before” – translating into something that stands before other things or defends!)

 

The Social Implications

Think of the world. Think about your existence. Think about the people around you. They all have their own standards, morals, thoughts, and ways of life. Now think about the people that existed before you. Do they have their own standards, morals, and thoughts? Surely. Now think about the people that lived in ancient Rome. Do they have standards, morals, and thoughts? Most people would not imagine so. Most people could not even imagine them living in the same way that we live today (I know I have difficulties with this).

Reading Latin opens your mind to this. Reading the thoughts and words of people who lived in ancient Rome makes one come to the realization that even 2,500 years ago, people were just like we are today. They loved their wives, family, and children. They squabbled over the same things. They came home every night for dinner. It is simply hard to imagine that they lived out a daily life, though. One often thinks of Romans in battle, in court, or attending some sort of toga party, but one never thinks of Romans as people who woke up in the morning, pondered the details of life, and went to bed at night.

Isn’t it weird to think about that? Some many thousands of years ago, a whole different set of people walked the Earth, and they thought and ate and used the restroom just like we do today. Realizing this thing was very humbling to me. All of this realization was able to occur due to the stories, opinions, and anecdotes that I read.

Discovering all of these things was a wonderful and unexpected side effect of learning Latin. I believe that it has led me to a much more open mind and has allowed me to look at the world, especially humanity, in a whole new light. Because of this, I recommend that everyone learn Latin. Learning Latin is learning more about the humble origins of modern humanity.

It’s Just Everlasting Negotiation.

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There was a time in my life not to long ago when I made several very large mistakes. I betrayed the trust of everyone around me, thinking that I knew best for myself. Turns out, I was wrong. While I thought I was happy, everyone I knew constantly berated me for my decisions.

When I came to admit my mistakes, none were as quick to forgive me as she was. She was perfect. She smiled when I cried, she tended to my every need and always made sure that I was okay. She helped me grow. I came to rely on her to be happy, as she was the only one who supported me with everything I did and didn’t do.

She then went on to make some very bad decisions. She betrayed my trust in the worst ways imaginable. Returning the favor, I made sure that I was the one that was quickest to forgive her. What’s in the past is in the past, and I know she would never make those mistakes again.

At this time, I really wish I could sit down with her and tell her that I miss her and that only when she is around is everything at its happiest. She is far away, both physically and mentally, and I am often left alone for days while she goes on with her life. I really miss her.

Then, when she returns, she wants to negotiate. She wants to tell me to stop relying on her; yet, when she needs something, she is so quick to return to me. And so the cycle continues. It is just everlasting negotiation. I wish that we could just settle down and stick to what makes us both the happiest.

Again, I wish that I could tell her this, but I know that nothing good would come of it. It will always be just everlasting negotiation.

If you’re reading this, I love you.

Music

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As I work, one of the primary things that keeps me going strong is the music I listen to. The previous sentence sounded like something straight out of a bad commercial.

I’m serious, though. Nothing helps me get in the zone more than a good song. With that being said, I find that the best music for programming is music that is not too distracting, but soothing, melodic, and rhythmic. Although classical music is a perfect fit for these expectations, I tend to favor something a little more electronic.

What do I mean when I say electronic? Well, electronic music has actually formed into its own genre. Whenever someone says electronic music, most people think of today’s standard EDM. What is this standard? Generally the tracks involve a catchy melodic build-up, a seemingly uncalled for shift (the drop), which is usually preceded by vocals such as “Jump”, “Get Down”, or other words suggesting immediate action, and then a melody with a very distinct beat that is easy to bob your head to.

Fortunately, this is not the type of music that I listen to. I like to listen to progressive house music or trance music. Why? Because it has a calm feeling to it. The songs are not derived from the party formula, but instead are composed to meet the creator’s expectations. I love consuming media that was created out of pleasure. For instance, deadmau5, Madeon, Daft Punk, and the new Porter Robinson are among my favorites, as they create music not for the fame, but because they want to, and they’re very good, too.

As I become more active on my blog, I want to share the music that I listen to. Inspired by posts by Sauropod Studios  as they develop a game that I’ve been anticipating for a while, I also want to post music that I’ve been listening to. Not only will it allow songs that I like to get more exposure, but it will also allow other developers to discover new music.

I am really in love with Porter Robinson’s new album, Worlds.

As time has gone on, I have been trying to find the perfect program to listen to all of my music on. When Spotify first came around (somewhere around 5 years ago? It wasn’t even available in the US), I quickly signed up for the beta and used a proxy to consume all of the media that I could. However, one thing that always bugged me about Spotify was the fact that it didn’t allow local uploads to be synced across devices or shared in playlists. What good is music if it can’t be shared with others? Atleast, that seems to be the biggest selling point of the entire Spotify platform itself.

Because of this, I ended up going with Google Play Music (All Access) for about 6 months. I was very happy with the experience, and the ability to listen to all of my music from the web, upload all of my local music, and see how many times I’ve listened to songs made me very happy. However, the problem with Google Play Music (All Access) is the same problem that Google+ has. All of my friends use the competitor. What does this matter? Well, if I want to see what my friends are listening to, receive songs from my friends, and be “in the loop”, I need to conform and use the same service that they do. That is the reason that I have stayed on Facebook for so long, and that is the reason that I switched away from Google Play Music (All Access) and got myself Spotify Premium.

Of course, I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that Spotify offers a 50% discount to students, which allowed me to gain more profits than I was expecting, which is always a plus! Plus, being able to access all of my friends’ playlists is actually something that I really love.

All in all, I must say that both music platforms have their advantages. Both are solid. However, Spotify is currently the winner. Given enough time, I do believe that Google Play Music (All Access) will pull ahead, though!