I want to start posting quarterly “What I’m Doing Posts” here on jpniederer.com. Unfortunately, I’ve pretty much abandoned the site. Most of my work these days is posted over on Dev-eryday. It’s amazing that the site has been online for almost five years now. This was actually the first ASP.NET MVC site I ever built. It’s been great having the site online, but I need to start using it more and take advantage of it. So, in the spirit of Derek Sivers, I’ll be posting quarterly “Now” posts that discuss what I’m doing. Here’s what I’m up to at the tail end of April 2018.
For the month of April I did a challenge where I ate vegan all month. I haven’t had any meat, dairy, or any other animal product. I thought it would be hard at the onset, but it really hasn’t been difficult at all. The world provides us with an amazing assortment of foods that are natural and taste good. I don’t think I’ll be keeping the practice indefinitely, but it’s been an enjoyable challenge. Now I need to find a new challenge for May. Monthly challenges keep me on my toes and push me to grow through discomfort.
A couple of weeks ago I read about the benefits of matcha. Alleged benefits include: detoxification, calms the mind, increases focus, prevents disease, lowers cholesterol. It’s too early for me to say whether I’ve seen any benefits yet. I know one thing though, it doesn’t taste good. I’m taking it straight with water and it’s strong. It’s like if you took 10 bags of green tea and used it for a single cup of tea. Each time I take it, it tastes better though so it’s more of an acquired taste.
I’ve been writing an IdeaList each day for well over a year now. The lists are usually centered around a single topic and think up at least 10 ideas that are relevant to the topic. This practice has led to more creativity and a willingness to push through even if no ideas are coming. The mind will do anything we ask of it, but you must ask. Making lists every day is the perfect way to bake a creative challenge.
When I write the IdeaLists I’m doing it in OneNote. It’s a great app to write with but I want to get the data in a structured format. Right now, it’s plain text. I’ve written a tool to convert and write it to a database, but I need to build out the interface for adding new lists. I’m building the app as an SPA using React on the front end and ASP.NET Core on the backend. Since the backend is a REST service, I will be able to use it when the need to build a native app arises. I’ll use React Native probably because it’s the natural progression from the React web app I’m building right now.
Dev-eryday has been going strong for over a year now. Each day I make a check in to GitHub and either watch a tutorial for something I’m learning or read from whatever technical book I’m digesting at the time. This daily practice of improving my craft each day has been core to how I live my life over the last couple of years. It’s not always fun, but it’s incredibly rewarding.
I reached my standard health goals a while ago. Now I’m just working on fitness for aesthetic appeal. There’s no such thing as perfect when it comes to fitness, but I’m moving towards that. However, I define it that day at least.
All the greats read. Buffett, Gates, Bezos, and Munger are all constantly reading. Books contain knowledge. People who read will generally have more than those who don’t. Knowledge isn’t everything but acquiring can be a great way to pass time.
I’m currently serving as the lead developer for a government entity in Central Illinois. There are lot of interesting problems to solve and it’s rewarding to spend my weekdays working to help the people of Illinois through technology.
I spend a lot of time writing. I’d estimate that I’m writing upwards of 1000 words a day at this point. Most of the words are part of the IdeaLists I’m writing, but there are so many places where I’m writing. Writing is so important right now. We communicate so much through the written word that any time spent getting better at writing is worthwhile. Everyone needs to be able to write well.
So that’s what I’m up to this quarter. We’ll see what I’m up to again in July. Until next time.
Published on 4/28/2018 11:09:58 AM