November 2016 Review
Article Table of Contents
Note to the reader: The words that follow are all about me. This is naval-gaze-ish. I feel I owe you this warning.
My November goals were an extension of October’s goals. I feel comfortable with long-term unchanging goals.
They were:
- Deepen my knowledge of front-end web development
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Climb 5.13
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Get “Climber’s Guide” rolling.
An attentive reader might notice that these goals violate all best practices for setting good goals. They’re supposed to be “Specific, Measurable, Actionable/Attainable, Realistic, and Time-boxed”
My goals are none of these, but I’ve been able to break each goal down into smaller pieces. That’s the sole way one could make progress.
My other mistake is that I have too many goals. Three goals is one more goal than I’m comfortable with. I’m going to soon clear item #3 from my plate, and focus on the complimentary goals of software development and climbing hard.
How am I doing, according to my own internal yardstick?
Front-end web development #
I got the recommended pre-work from Turing School, where I’ll be starting their seven-month development program in January. It replaced all other development goals, because reasons.
I’ve completed their “minimum recommended work”, their “if you have time work”, and am almost done with their “if you’re feeling adventurous” recommended work. At that point I’ll still have six weeks before classes start, so I’ll consult with current students to see what they’d recommend I do next.
Climb 5.13 #
This has been a bit more of an emotional trip than usual.
The sequence: Josh is at gym, close to sending climbs two-three grades harder than what he’s used to.
Josh meets folks who are super cool, climb super hard, and want to do the same 5.13 at Clear Creek.
Josh & co meet up the next day.
Josh warms up on the easiest line at the crag. Super casual climbing. Last three moves are a smidge hard. Josh is lazy, goes for a bad low hold instead of good higher hold.
Josh feels something go “pop” in his wrist.
Josh gets injured. :(
I strained something in my wrist. I was numb and/or tingly for five days, though my strength is returning. I didn’t climb for almost two weeks, and am now easing back into climbing.
I’ve done v1-v3 bouldering circuits, and am easing back through v4 and v5. I got back on routes for the first time in a while this week, and have pushed back up into easy 5.12. I feel 70% recovered.
Now, though, I don’t have a chance to send 5.13 this year, but if I keep recovering, I’ll aim for January 2017.
Climber’s Guide #
Little happened here. I got excited with Turing prework.
Misc #
Reading #
Still doing good. I’m at ~70 for the year, should cross the 75 book mark by end of December.
I just finished The 4 Disciplines of Execution, and want to apply some of those lessons to my own projects.
Phone Usage #
Still low. (Which is good). I’m rolling Anki back into my life with gusto, which is pushing my usage back up, but memorization of programming bits of knowledge is fine with me.
I’ve written about using Anki for Spanish here and here, but now I’m using it for programming.
I’ll expand on that soon, but here’s the best summary: Derek Sivers on SRS for Programmers