Just an interesting thought/question this week? What would you do if you could be doing something else with your life? My passion in life is programming and being creative when I code! There are many things I would love to do in my life, but I know I couldn’t give up my keyboard and being creative. I do find myself dreaming about what I’d love to be doing, mostly when I hear about someone having fun doing things I’m not. The grass is probably NOT greener on the other side, but it would be fun to try it out.
This is just me thinking of things I’d love to be doing, but why I’m not.
Living the van life
One of the things, I would love to try is living in a van equipped with everything I need to live off grid. Driving around the country seeing the world and working remotely. This is probably on the top of my list. I watch several videos a day where people are quitting their jobs (or keeping them), building out a van, and living off grid. They make it look like it would be super fun and doable. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do this. I have a son in school and a house full of stuff. We could use one for trips, which would be fun.
Living off grid in a tiny house
Another thing I watch a lot of is living in Tiny Houses. Living off grid, collecting my own water, storing my own energy from the sun. It sounds super awesome, but you have to give up a bunch of luxuries. The luxuries are different than living in a van, but there are some sacrifices. I could work from home (if I could get internet out in the boonies).
We have way too much stuff and like our space, so this is probably not an option. This could be a nice thing to have for a summer getaway or Airbnb?
Survivalist
Hopefully you are seeing the trend here. I’m super impressed by the survivalist that can start with nothing and build a shelter, start a fire, and survive with nothing. Fishing and Camping was one of the things I did as a child, and I think that is something I’d love to do more of now! The reason I don’t do that now is because i’m so lazy! Getting everything ready, finding a camping spot, and a bunch of other excuses keep me from going out. This option wouldn’t work out very well.
I do need to take my boy camping more and experiencing the world more. We went with our neighborhood a few years ago and he still talks about it. It was a super fun time and we survived!
Keep Dreaming
I’m going to keep dreaming, and keep my laptop and keyboard handy. The grass on the other side always looks greener, but who knows if you’ll ever find happiness. I applaud people who cross the grass and find happiness on the other side. If you are searching for something better, good finding it!
Tools..Tools..Tools.. What tools do you use in your daily job? There are many that make my life easier. I’m a Windows guy. There are several reasons I haven’t jumped ship to Ubuntu or *gasp* Mac. If I had it my way, I would be using a Linux machine. There are several projects that I work on that require Microsoft. A Linux machine running a Windows VM would be nice, but I don’t think I want to risk it
Some of the tools I use daily are:
Visual Studio Code – Source Code Editor. This is where I do my NODE and PHP work.
Chrome – My favorite editor, even with all the headlines I see on web. The Developer Tools are my favorite.
This is by far my favorite code editor. I have a subscription for Webtorm, and it is a great editor with a lot of features. The plugins for VSCode are what make it so great. The community is developing powerful pluginns that are very useful. They have done a great job at making it easy to push/pull/commit changes to Github/Gitlab. VSCode makes it easy to debug your code too.
If you get a chance, I would suggest looking into the Live Share plugins. It makes pair programming so much easier. If your coworker is in the other room or in another city, this is very useful!
Chrome is my browser of choice and it’s been hard to break the addiction. There are several alternatives, but when it comes to debugging code, Chrome is by far my favorite. The developer tools are the best! There isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not in there tracing calls to my APIs and figuring out what is going on. Debugging CSS is the other thing I’m doing in the DEV tools a lot. I cannot make things look pretty, so it is nice to be able to go in and tweak the CSS and see what it does.
Like every tool it isn’t without problems. Most of the problems I have with it are with my machine. I have 3 monitors at work and one is having a driver issue, so when I try and do PIP on that screen using the Google PIP Plugin. That is my machines problem.
In my college years, I spent many hours documenting my code and drawing UML diagrams. EER diagrams by hand or using old WordPerfect tools or Microsoft Tools. That is what we had at the time. There were no free apps as cool as this, that I can remember. I’m very thankful for the free tools that we have now.
DRAW.IO makes it easier to create flowcharts, user stories, EER diagrams (there are other tools for this. See DBeaver), and many other tools. I use it through Google Drive integration. The downside to this is when you want to share a drawing with someone, they usually need a GMAIL account if you want them to be able to edit it. (as far as I can tell).
This is definitely my go to application for quick editing for random files. I’m sad when i’m using Linux and I don’t have access to it :(. It has syntax highlighting, so you can see reserved words easily. When I need to manipulate data, I can pull it into here and use Regular Expressions to format the document fast. There are even tools to format XML and JSON files so it is easier to read. The code folding is also a valuable feature that gets used daily!
My only problem with this tool is when I have to edit a super duper large file! I’ve run into this several times and I have to split the file up or find another editor.
When it comes to viewing tables and running queries, it doesn’t get any better than DBeaver! If your references are setup correctly it is so easy to get an ER Diagram from your tables. There is always some client or manager that wants to see what your tables look like, and this makes it easy!
My biggest gripe with this tool is the way it manages files, but it could be a problem with me. I create new script files and then forget to give them a name, so it makes it harder to find my “scratch” pad of queries.
Overall it is my favorite query tool for MySQL and PostgreSQL. I still find myself going to Workbench for somethings that I’m use to using. I use Microsoft for MsSQL Databases, but that is because I’m lazy!
I love Linux and the terminal, but when it comes to FTP, I prefer to use a GUI. Filezilla is my favorite quick tool to go to. I’m usually downloading a DB that has been backed up or something. It also makes it easy to forget my FTP password, because I’ve saved it in the settings. SFTP via WinSCP is my alternative. Another super easy tool to use.
To wrap up..
I’m very open minded and not the type of person who lives by the “Do it my way or it’s the highway” and I love learning about tools that make my job easier. I use to use WebStorm code, but my co-worker started using VSCode and loved it! I’m also a creature of habit, so it took me about 2 weeks to make the switch to VSCode. With daily use and persistence, I was able to make the switch. Who knows which one is the best, but I’m really enjoying VSCode more than WebStorm.
Android Studio did redesign their editor using the same editor as what WebStorm was built from, by JetBrains. They did a great job at making it easy to use.
Take all of this with a grain of salt or take a look at them if you have never heard of them. I love finding new tools to use, so please leave a comment with any tools you’d like to share.
The new year is here!
We had a busy week ringing in the new year and enjoying time off not
thinking about the inevitable. Going
back to work and school!? I went back to work on Thursday. The boy goes back to school Monday, 6th
of January. I’m hoping it goes well for
him. We have been bad about keeping up
with reading and some other daily habits that he has been used to. This week hasn’t been that exciting so there
isn’t much to report.
We rang in the new year at the Provo Recreational Center. They have a lot of family-friendly things to
do from 7pm until Midnight. This is the
second year we’ve been, and it is super fun!
They have:
A Hypnotist
Bounce Houses
Dog Shows
Acrobatics
Karaoke
Face Painting
Comedy Show
Game Shows (Family Feud)
Dancing
Virtual Reality
Fireworks (One at 10pm and one at 12pm)
There is a lot to do.
I may have left some out. It felt
like the night flew by! We didn’t get
home until 1am and then to sleep at 2am.
Jacob and I both slept until 12pm!
It was awesome!
He didn’t quite understand how to do it. I may be failing as a father!
One thing I wanted to talk about but I’m a big people
watcher. I love the big city. There are a lot of people in a small place. I can sit on the corner and watch people
shuffle by. I’ve always found it very
interesting. In the past, I’ve been a pretty shy person, so
it was always a good time to come out of my shell by talking to complete
strangers.
I don’t live in the city or anywhere I can watch people. Where we live, we don’t have a lot of street
traffic we can look at, so sitting out on your porch at night watching the
world go by is hard. My office window at
work faces a driveway into the back of the building. Behind our building, there is a path down into
the neighborhood behind us. It is used
by a few people during the summer. We
are pretty sure there are some shady people using the path. They
are fun to watch but not as exciting as the big city.
I have found a few cool live camera sites that are fun to watch while I’m at work. There is a very nice camera in New York, Time Square Cams, that is fun to watch It’s a pretty famous camera, so you see people stopping and waving at the camera. Their Grandparents or Parents are home watching on the camera. It’s fun to watch the interactions.
While watching on Friday, a mother and baby walking one way and another lading coming towards them. The baby tripped and fell. She picked herself up and the lady stopped and helped and showed concern for the baby. It’s a typical interaction you’d expect. Two complete strangers (as far as I know) interacting. Internally, this interaction I’m witnessing is playing out in my head. I find it very interesting. Another camera I watch a lot is in Hermosa Beach at a restaurant. You can see the beach, people waiting in line to go eat, or people exercising up and down the beach. Super fun.
MILLIONS of people live int this world, and we will never meet them all. There are some that you’ll never want to see again, but there are some you’ll want to keep in touch with. Personally, I find it fun to meet new people.
Here is a story about meeting random strangers. We were at Legoland several years ago, and
Jacob randomly got on a ride with this girl.
They HIT it off and wanted to ride the next ride together. It was just her and her mom and dad. We had to stand in line with Jacob, her, and
her parents. The kids were treating each other like they knew
each other before talking, laughing, and having a great time! We were trying to get to know her parents. It was slow at first, but we ended up spending
the WHOLE day with them. We learned a
ton about them, and they did the same with us.
We were from two different worlds. We were the Mormons from Utah, and they were Catholics
from California. Fortunately, that didn’t
matter to anyone. We were all sharing a
great experience riding rides and enjoying a theme park. It was great.
We keep in touch with them on Facebook.
It was a great experience and we never would have met them if it weren’t
for two kids making friends.
Life is busy, and it’s hard to stop and talk to everyone you see. A smile, wave, or a quick “HI” are super easy! I’m not much of a “Goal” person. I think I’ll try it out this year and make it a point to meet new people and/or make someone smile. Everyone has a story or something to say. Give them a chance. You should stop and listen to that story sometime.
Have you ever watched a video on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever that gave you the warm and fuzzies. One that really motivated you for 2 or more seconds. 🙂 This is my favorite kind of videos to watch. I do like watching the fail videos, but if I cringe or have to feel sick inside after the video, I try and void it. 🙂 There are a few content providers that I watch that have videos that make you feel good and spark deep thought after watching. Here are a few, of the many, I watch regularly…
Prince Ea is one of them that I like to watch. He is pretty good at his video production. I don’t like some of his click bait, and I usually avoid the ones that seem like click bait. For instance, the video title “STOP saying ‘I Love You'”. I have yet to watch this video. I love saying “I love you” to my wife. He usually has that, but he has a reason for his advice, but WHAT? I’m going to have to watch the video after typing this now. For the most part, he has a lot of really good videos. They leave you feeling good and wanting to change the world.
Here are a few (of many) I like:
Dear Future Generations: Sorry — I totally feel for the future generation. My son is going to have to deal with a lot of crazy stuff. I’m sure my parents felt the same.
What if? — This one is short, but I found it very interesting.
Dan Mace is another YouTuber that has some videos that inspire me. His videos are put together pretty well and very interesting. In his second season, he started this thing where you can go to his site and ‘plant a seed’. “A seed is a thought you’ve always had and wanted to act on” (www.notnormalshow.com) It is an awesome idea and he explores some random ideas.
Breaking the law in international waters (with cop and gang lord) — This one is pretty interesting. Have you ever looked at someone and made a quick judgement and profiled them before you even got to know them? Have you ever been able to get to know someone you’ve done that too? How did it turn out? I think about this all the time with Criminals and Cops. Cops are generally pretty cool people. Some “hoodlums” are pretty cool if you get to know them. You have cops keeping you behind bars, because you broke the law. The criminal hates the cop because he is keeping them in jail. I find it interesting. These two could look past their differences and become pretty good friends. 🙂
Yes Theory is another good channel with awesome content. They have a lot of excellent videos that inspire and leave you feeling good. From their About page it says:
“We believe that life can be as authentic and fulfilling as you wish if you seek discomfort. “
These guys had an Instagram challenge over the summer called “100 Days of Sweat.” I never participated, but I followed the updates from many of the other viewers and it was pretty inspiring. A lot of people made some great changes in their life and looked great! A few of my favorite videos are:
2 Strangers Swap Lives Across the World for 72hrs!! – What a crazy video. They find two strangers that agree to take a flight and swap lives with someone. They find the perfect people to switch and it turned out to be a pretty epic video. It is definitely worth the 23 minute investment 🙂
Overnight on the Most Dangerous Bed in the World!! — I am scared of heights! So I can totally feel the pain the one guy is going through with this challenge! It looks like a beautiful place to visit, but I don’t think I could make it out on their without passing out or dying. Facing my fears is one of the things I do not do well. Aside from heights, I think public speaking is another big fear.
Check these videos out. Feel free to post some videos that inspire you! I’d love to see them.
