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 *~*~*