Weekly review: Week ending August 27, 2011
Posted: - Modified: | review, weeklyThe week looked intimidating at the outset, but it turned out to be quite reasonable when I got through it. Lots of hacking! I blogged about how I made a six-function USB footswitch, and I figured out how to control a 16×2 character display using the Arduino’s LiquidCrystal library.
On the web development front at work, I’ve been fixing bugs and working on projects. I’ve also started refreshing my Ruby on Rails skills by building little things at home to make my life easier. For example, I moved my clothes-tracking notes from paper to a simple Web dashboard with autocomplete. Tracking the clothes I wear can help me figure out what kinds of clothes I wear more often, if there are infrequently-worn clothes I might phase out, how long it takes for clothes to cycle through, and so on. I’m working on another small Ruby thing that analyzes my time. Eventually, this will grow into some kind of home dashboard that W- and I can use to track shared information such as library books, grocery lists, upcoming calendar events as well as personal stuff like my time- and clothes-tracking. =)
Lots of drawing, too. “Hello, Monday!” launched at IBM, and my next comic will come out mid-September. I’ve checked out a whole stack of books on cartooning, and am slowly working my way through them. Learning lots!
From last week’s plans
- Work
[X]Get started on project T – lots of progress![X]Learn about project O – set up virtual machine for Rails on OpenSUSE[X]Follow up on project I – fixed bugs[X]Draw more IBM comics[X]Learn about iRise – nifty for prototyping, but expensive- Helped debug errors in project M
- Relationships
[X]Electronics hacking, yay![X]Wrap up build class for Free Geek Toronto[X]Update build process and checklist[-]Cook a new recipe (Vietnamese bun with nuoc cham?)[X]Catch up on mail[-]Transcribe interview – made myself a foot pedal, though!
- Life
[X]Sleep at some point
Plans for next week
- Work
[ ]Make more improvements for project T[ ]Follow up on looking for an information architect for project T[ ]Follow up on code for project I[ ]Prepare technology selection notes for project O
- Relationships
[X]Figure out LCD character display[X]Help J- learn how to program the Arduino[X]Reupholster chairs[ ]Transcribe blogging interview, really
- Life
[ ]Sketch year in review[ ]Continue working on dashboard[ ]Try microphone as sound sensor[ ]Prepare month in review with stats
Time analysis
| Activity | This week | Last week | Delta | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D – Break | 1.9 | 2.4 | -1.1 | |
| D – Drawing | 10.0 | 4.2 | 5.8 | Lots of practice |
| D – Gardening | 0.2 | -0.2 | ||
| D – Latin | 0.5 | -0.5 | ||
| D – Learning | 9.5 | 1.1 | 8.4 | Electronics! |
| D – Other | 4.8 | 4.9 | -0.1 | Also electronics! |
| D – Personal | 3.9 | 3.9 | Rails hacking for home dashboard | |
| D – Piano | 2.6 | -2.6 | ||
| D – Reading | 0.1 | 3.4 | -3.3 | |
| D – Shopping | 1.1 | -1.1 | ||
| D – Social | 7.8 | 11.2 | -3.4 | |
| D – Volunteering | 3.8 | 8.0 | -4.2 | Short gap between build classes |
| D – Writing | 5.0 | 6.6 | -1.6 |
| R – Exercise | 12.2 | 2.5 | 9.7 | Lots of biking |
| R – Routines | 8.2 | 7.9 | -0.8 | |
| R – Cooking | 1.5 | 4.7 | -3.2 | |
| R – Eating | 2.0 | 6.0 | -4.0 | |
| R – Tidying | 3.7 | 5.0 | -1.5 | |
| R – Travel | 0.8 | -0.8 | Yay working from home | |
| Sleep | 53.5 | 53.9 | 1.4 | 7.6 hours a night, still okay |
| Work | 40.1 | 40.8 | -0.7 |
(Update: Noticed some post-midnight timestamps weren’t being correctly exported, so I’ve updated the output.)
Slightly more discretionary time compared to last week. Further shifted piano and Latin time towards drawing and learning about electronics. Shifted volunteering time towards those, too. Learned lots! Bedtime shifted quite a bit later, though. Should probably look into tapering off electronics / web development late at night, because it’s so tempting to stay up for just one more tweak. For example, I’m writing this at 12:59 AM. Bedtime!