It’s been a year. I wanted to post something long and full of wisdom. So much for wisdom. The only thing in my head right now is the thought of time. There’s not a lot of it. And because there’s not a lot of it, I shouldn’t waste it on things that bother me which I have no control over. Nor should I waste it on things that don’t provide me any benefit.

Because of this overriding thought on time and the lack there of, I’m going to try and make today my annual day of cleaning. I’m going to knock some shit off in order to clear my mind and make room for more important things.

This year I’m going to focus on the people I love and pay attention more. Summer is coming and it will be priority #1 to keep the boat trips going for the girls. The new baby is almost here and I’m going to focus on enjoying the infant years. I’m making moves right now to make my work more secure. I’m also keeping all of my doors open to make my career dreams happen.

There are a lot of little things I do that take time away from these things. I’m going to knock it off.

When I was a kid Dad would come into my room in the morning and ask “are you going to sleep all day?” He always started his days early and got things done so he could enjoy the rest of the day. He was right.

R.D.H

I haven’t written much in the last 2 weeks because of deadlines and competing project work. Which made me think for a moment about how I act/react during the two very different times. The “crunch” time and the “slow” time.

Crunch Time

It’s always hard to really define a “crunch” time. But I definitely know it when I see it. These last few weeks have seem to be crunch times.

The project at Scottsdale Insurance is wrapping up and we’re pushing to release on April 23rd. QA is getting wrapped up and final preparation is being made to get it into production.

My side project for Ultimate Properties is going along smoothly. I’m trying to double up my effort on it and get it wrapped up within the next week.

h3o(software) is getting some attention too. Adelphos Solutions has met with me a few times and Ray and I have spoken a bunch over email and IM. I’m pretty excited about some of the stuff Ray has cooking.

I’ve had another developer inquire about the Siffer project. We haven’t been able to catch up to each other. It seems like that project would really start to take off if I could get it in a usable state. Time and mental bandwidth seems to be the lacking resources there.

I also got invited by the Arizona State Dept. of Education to participate in the State of Arizona Information Technology State Standards Validation Team for Secondary Education. I plan on attending. I don’t know how I might contribute yet, but it can’t hurt to be a part of it.

Slow Time

I always know when I’m in a “slow” time. I start wanting to learn new technologies. I want to buy books. I read too much crap on the internet. It’s easy to tell – my mind starts racing with half-cocked ideas. It always seems like I want “slow” times because they feel like fun. But most often I complain about boredom.

Reaction

How I react in these times is totally different. During crunch times I get fatalistic. Dooms day. My mind is cluttered with “people have to realize it can’t be done” kinds of thoughts. Everything is a mountain. When the slow times hit, I think the world is my oyster. I can do anything and I can probably do it in 2 weeks.

But ironically my reactions during those times are totally counterproductive. My doom & gloom in crunch time only exacerbates my troubles. My overly optimistic view during my slow times makes me take on too much work which then turns into crunch time.

What I need to work on is ratcheting down my reactions to these 2 very different times. This post is kind of that “note to self” that I need to cool my jets on both kinds of occasions. Being busy is good. Being bored is also good. I need to slow down and enjoy both.