• Learn to code.
• Lose weight/gain muscle.
• Gain flexibility.
• Become minimalist.
• Financial success.
• Peace of mind.
• Complete home renovations.
• Run a 1/2 marathon.

And now the part where I elaborate on these goals:

Learn to code. Those who know me know that I do some code for a living. The dark truth is that my coding skills are actually quite limited and I normally get through my tasks by using lots of reference materials. I don’t code properly or efficiently, and many times (while the results are successful) I’m not sure what I wrote. I have acquired some learning resources and will begin to learn how to code from the very beginning. This way I’ll know exactly what I’m writing and do it beautifully.

Lose weight/gain muscle. While I don’t live a horribly obese life, I’m not in shape like I’d like to be. I put down both lose weight and gain muscle instead of putting a target weight number as I’m not sure I’ll achieve it. Ideally I’d like to hit 170 lbs (I weight 186.2 today) but will I hit that number before I add muscle weight? Instead of targeting a number I’m targeting a complete feeling. The primary targets are a smaller waist (no gut belly) and muscle definition all over. The obvious cure to this is healthier eating and a fitness regime. So out with crap foods and in with healthy vegan meals. Out with couch surfing and in with morning jogs and evening gym workouts.

Gain flexibility. For many years I played hockey as a goalie, yet I can’t bend down and touch my toes. I can barely get past my knees! This is going to change this year and for many reasons. Going to do some stretching, flexibility exercises and look into Tai Chi, Yoga, and Pilates. Should be a painful venture!

Become minimalist. This is a goal I’ve been striving for for a couple of years now but want to conclude this year. Finally get myself down to the necessary items and rid of the extra “stuff” or clutter. This will allow me to better enjoy the things I have. This will also make life easier by having less stuff to clean/sort/maintain.

Financial success. Last year was a rough one for our personal finances. Not paying attention to our spending and several unexpected expenses has put us in (what I believe) is our worst financial situation. I’m taking over the books and going to go hardcore on paying down our debts and saving money for our future.

Peace of mind. For the longest time I was interested in the idea of meditation but never took the time to explore it. I’m going to save/schedule myself some time to explore this and it’s many benefits.

Complete home renovations. A little irony that this is here while a Financial success goal is above. Most of the large costs of the renovations we want to achieve in this home has been done. The undertaking now is to execute the renovations to completion. We’ll also be smart shoppers and try to only acquire items when on sale. Besides the bathroom upstairs, most expenses will be in drywall and trim.

Run a 1/2 marathon. This was something I wanted to achieve last year but didn’t. Going to re-aim for this one this year. Then aim towards a full marathon.

So there you go. A rather large list but nothing I won’t be able to achieve. Let’s see if I eat these words come January 2013 (if we survive Dec 21).

So does this make the experiment a failure? I’m going to say no and here’s why: While attempt #1 didn’t work out it doesn’t mean I hadn’t seen results. Those results encourage me to retry.

So as a tie into 2012 resolutions the experiment will have a second attempt.

Next blog post will elaborate.

All meals were homemade except a little snacking on chips prior to supper (needed something salty, lack due to workouts?) and a bowl of FruitLoops at night. Had been craving chocolate all day, wondering if it was my body seaking carbs for energy?

Didn’t do a formal workout but did play for 45 minutes with my daughter. We also did some “science” and planted 3 exotic plants from a Planet Earth learning pack.

As for the evening, was tired after doing the dishes and tidying up, but did watch some podcasts. Then relaxed on the couch watching Airheads while waiting for my significant other to arrive home from a work outting.

The 3 days actually went well, besides a few diviations from the wake and sleep times. Tasks around the home was followed as well as the meal plans. Did a workout on Sunday morning plus a hockey practice in which I participated as a goalie. Installed insulation in the basement to better insulate against the looming winter cold.

As for comments of Monday, it was a great first day. Looking at my notebook, I woke near the 5:00 (5:25). Had a productive morning which also includes a homemade lunch. Went to the gym for upper body workout and had a great homemade supper (Buddha’s Delight – hmm, Googling for a recipe it appears the one I made is very different). Prior to bedtime I did all the sleep prep I wanted to follow.

Will develop a more structured daily post come Day 3.

• For health, an easy data set to test is body weight, mesurements, flexibility, and jog distance.
  I haven’t mesured myself yet (task tonight), however the baseline weight is 187.7lbs and flexibility is trying to touch my toes and get past my knees by 5 inches. As for jog distance, will be setting that baseline tomorrow morning.
• For studying, doing some pre-tests will determine my current knowledge prior to doing some studying. Then redo the test and see the improvement in test scores.
• For finances, this will be a little hard to test considering a fluncuation in the market, winter setting in, and the x-mas holidays looming. However I will compare financial spending from Day 1 to 90 to “normal” expenditures to see results.
• For home, simply completing home renovations willl move things forward, however I will create an inventory of my personal affects and compare the list afterwards.
• For time management (and the whole experiment) I am recording all this data in several moleskine like notebooks. I can then graft the results after the 90 days.

Once the 90 days have passed, I will enter all the data into spreadsheets and generate results. If there are other data values I determine later I will update this blog post.

I’m going to test to see what happens to myself if I follow the below plan. The experiment will be for 90 days as an initial recorded timeline.

So what changes will I have to follow? Let’s list them out:

• Wake at 5:00 am for workout and prep
• Work without distraction
• Eat nothing but healthy vegan food (no chips, nada)
• Eat nothing but home made meals (no eat out/take-out)
• Drink my 8 cups of water a day (this includes tea)
• Workout everyday (in one form or another)
• Study in the evenings (no TV, no video games)
• Go to bed at 10:00 pm
• Weekends focus on home tasks (chores and reno)

I’ll blog about the results (mostly) every day, noting things like mood and progress.

Why am I doing this “experiment”? Primarily to hold myself accountable for doing what I want to do

What are the results I expect to see come out of this? These are a few items:

• Weight loss, increased stamina, increased flexibility, increased sense of being
• Increased knowledge in technology and general knowledge
• Richer finances
• Better time management
• Happier home (e.g. Completed home projects, organized home)

With this experiment I know there will be some times when I can’t fully follow the plan. Tomorrow night I have a x-mas party to attend, so the meal is out of my control. I can however, avoid over consumption of food and beverages. Also, one can only study so much and will require a mental break. This will be when I frolic Azeroth a little, for as we learned from The Shining “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”

So here is to day 1

If you try using dish soap and a scrubber it doesn’t seem to do the trick. I discovered online a great tip when looking into it after failing to remove the rim. Simply put in some baking soda and mix a little bit of water to make a paste and then scrub the stained regions. This will remove the stains after a few passes.

The baking soda works similar to removing stains on teeth. It acts as a light abrasion to scrub off the stains from the cup without causing damage.

Here are two behaviours I modified:

1. Backspace key does not return to previous page in Linux.

I usually prefer a hotkey over a mouse click, especially on a laptop or netbook. The backspace function in Firefox is one I always use to go to the previous page (especially handy when doing Google searches.) This didn’t work in Ubuntu and it bugged me, so I did a search and found a solution:

Type “about:config” in the address bar of Firefox and press Enter.
`Filter` for ‘browser.backspace_action’ and change its value to 0 (zero).

Source:  http://bit.ly/2IolB0

Apparently I was not the only person who was bothered with this.

2. Clicking in the address bar doesn’t highlight the URL.

Another annoyance 

An easy hotkey is Ctrl+L. This will highlight everything in the address bar. The only problem with that is having to retrain yourself into this habit.

If you want to avoid retraining, you can edit Firefox again to change how it behaves:

• Type ‘ about:config ‘ in Firefox’s address bar without the quotes.
  In the Filter box, type click.
• Look for browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll, click on it and click Toggle.
• Re-start Firefox and see the magic. Enjoy!Source: http://bit.ly/jLzKMK

So now Firefox will highlight the URL bar when you click in it.

Two little tweaks to make Firefox more your own or make it easier for you to transition from Windows to Linux.

A tool I love in Windows is a Notepad replacement called Notepad++. Besides the plug-in support for so many features, it color codes the text according to the language you enter (HTML, PHP, C) and allows file and folder searching.

Those are two big things I wanted to find in a native editor in Linux. Thankfully I found a similar tool called Geany (“Genie”). To my happiness, it isn’t just a native app for Linux, it also has a cross platform version for Windows.

So instead of getting familiar with two editors, I can simply use 1 for both OSs (Windows at work, Linux at home) similar to using LibreOffice on both platforms.

So those who’ve enjoyed Notepad++ in Windows and are venturing to the world of Linux can give this editor a go. It’s also a good recommendation for those looking to try an/other editor in Windows.

www.geany.org

However since returning to Windows I’ve had this bug nagging in my mind about the switch. See I deeply love the idea behind Linux, FOSS, and GNU, the idea that software is free to use, modify and redistribute. I also love that there is no license agreement to opt-in and that you can install on any device you choose.

Also, been recently doing lots of research online about Linux and Microsoft (like the tactics Microsoft is taking to limit the expansion of Linux on future hardware; introduction of certified hardware using UEFI) and it shocks me.

Linux just feels more right then Windows. The sharing of knowledge and the working of minds together to better humanity seems much more appealing than the betterment of profits and advancement of monopoly.

So with that said, I’m switching over from Windows to Linux, starting with my “desktops” (netbook and laptop [once it's out of the shop]). Later, I’ll start with a virtual machine of a Linux server on my home server until I get better acquainted, then a full switch.

So this is my adieu to Windows and hello to freedom!