New Year Resolutions 2014 - Metamorphosis - Fuel for the Body, Mind and Soul

Time flew by... before you know, it's 2014. I was able to accomplish most of my resolutions in 2013 primarily focusing on health and fitness.

At the beginning of the year, I beat myself into shape by running, attending Boot Camp sessions and Group Fitness sessions at the gym in the work place. I was able to lose 40 pounds by exercising in the mornings and thus, forcing myself to eat breakfast... thus, increasing my metabolism. I was never diligent in having a proper power breakfast....

Towards the middle of the year, I switched to Cross Fit and found my long lost passion for power weights and muscle fitness. Stacks Fitness (Steve) definitely pushed us really hard... I could have never imagined being able to do 500 push-ups a session in between the workout exercises! I started taking protein shakes to help in muscle rejuvenation and recovery which was totally opposite to my presumptions that it would make me even bigger...

So, naturally, for 2014, I will continue to improve on my personal fitness with more emphasis on cardio... swimming, running and cycling to get ripped. I would love to lose that belly fat once and for all! My newly found self confidence and satisfaction in being able to wear some nice clothes is not bad at all...

On another note, I will continue to strive for excellence in my career and goal to start my own software start-up in the near future. As I continue to aspire to be a better product manager at work and stay relevant in the fast-paced mobile industry, I want to continue to learn and develop on Android, Scala and iOS (Objective C). Some books I want to finish reading are:

1. The Cucumber Book: Behaviour-Driven Development for Testers and Developers (Pragmatic Programmers)
2. Specification by Example: How Successful Teams Deliver the Right Software
3. Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide
4. Android Design Patterns: Interaction Design Solutions for Developers
5. Startup Guide - http://startupguide.com/ (and practice it!)
6. Programming in Scala - http://www.artima.com/pins1ed/
7. Scala by Example - http://www.scala-lang.org/docu/files/ScalaByExample.pdf
8. Object-Oriented Programming with Objective-C - https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/OOP_ObjC/OOP_ObjC.pdf
9. Hadoop Illuminated - http://hadoopilluminated.com/book.php

Overall, I hope for a an excellent and prosperous new year with the road being as bumpy as 2013 but I see myself being being more prepared for the ride! 

*~*~* Happy 2014 *~*~* 

Sun in my Belly... and Wisdom between my Ears...

Had an awesome brunch with pals at Thumbs Up Diner in Marietta and went over to Octane coffee shop to refuel my creative juices...

Just finished up my presentation on Content Management to the AirWatch Sales folks... culmination of my contribution to the beast. Still everyone fails to acknowledge the large elephant in the room. 

When do we start recruiting those smart geeks from West Coast? Are we just afraid to play the game even though we expect those results?

Time for some change... moving into Android next week and as mentioned, I look at it as another experience boost to my resume. It will be exciting taming this creature and ramping this area.

I am ready to take this head on!

Change

I bloom in the sun with friends around me
but then something happens really suddenly
i'm pulled from my roots and taken somewhere strange
i'm not used to it, and I don't like the change

in a glass vase with people I don't know
the sun is on me but I just cant glow
others start to wither so I try to be strong
but its hard to last in this vase for too long

petals fall to the ground, brown and barely red
now the all flowers but me are dead
i know I can't make it another day
but it won't be over without my last say

my stem is discolored but I still can see
that others are coming just like me
there vibrant and bright
but its ironic, they're full of life 

Joel Spolsky got the best of me...

Scrooge McDuck has quarterly meetings with his board members that help him manage his investments and wealth. For these mettings, he deploys the help of Gyro Gearloose’s genius suit that transforms any average duckling to Gizmo Duck! This fleet of Gizmo Ducks help transport the books to the board members prior to the meetings. Soon after these meetings, the papers are shredded as they are top secret and the fact that Scrooge is wary of his rival Flintheart Glomgold trying to intercept these documents. Recommendations from his nephews Huey, Duey and Louie (who are huge Apple fans) has convinced Scrooge McDuck to buy the latest iPad 3 devices for his board members to get the documents over-the-air (OTA). However, the “paranoid” Scrooge is aware of “duck-in-the-middle” attacks and the Beagle Boys up to no good. So he seeks help from LaunchPad McQuack to the rescue who recommends AirWatch’s Secure Content Locker solution.

And there it begins...

Brook's Law: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

Reading the man-month; a great read and I recommend it to anyone working in the software/hardware industry. I am learning a lot on how I should be better at product management reading these great books. I am preparing myself so that I can read Joel on Software (should be coming in next week).

I am thrilled by this new book that just popped into my eyes as I went over to Barnes and Nobles at Buckhead - "Are you smart enough to work at Google?" by William Poundstone. What a coincidence?

Did you know 20% of developers' time at Google is spent on "pet" projects? This has given life to great products like Google+, Chrome. On another note, 3M came up with the yellow sticky notes that everyone in administration takes granted for.