2016 Resolutions

 

Can you believe it’s 2016 already? Time really flies by. It’s actually been one year since I graduated from college. I feel like I just attended my graduation ceremony at the Bryce Jordan. Why does time seems like more of a luxury as we grow older? Weeks fly by as one continuous day and months seem like weeks instead.  As last year showed me, time can pass by faster than you can say “New Years”. I’ve decided its time to reevaluate my goals. 2016 marks another occasion for me to make a brand new resolution list.

Writing this post I feel a little sad I didn’t achieve everything I wanted to in 2015. After taking  some time to reflect I realize I grew tremendously as a person.  So may new and interesting things happened to me this year:

1. I took my first Girl Develop It class (Intro to HTML/CSS, Intermediate HTML/CSS , Javascript, JQuery, Intro to UX, Responsive Design)
2. Attended Content Camp, WordCamp Philly 2015, and Ela Conf
3. Started working 40 hours a week in an office-type job (though it’s not salaried or permanent)
4. Attended Taylor Swift’s 1989 concert by myself (which was an amazing and life changing experience).
5. Became more confident speaking to people and networking
6. Completed an 30 day exercise program without quitting
7. Bought my own domain name
8. Read more books for pleasure than I had in several years
9. Visited Quebec City, Quebec for the first time
10. Thanks to a YouTube parody series re-discovered a TV show I hadn’t seen since 2003 (It still holds up!) and my first childhood “crush” on a a character that rhymes with fajitas (a highly questionable one at age nine no less. I could honestly write a blog post on this subject alone).

It give me so much joy to check off items in a list. When I was in college and high school I always had sticky notes of lists all over the floor. The level of completion varied, but they were a constant presence in my life. It really kept me on track.

So without further ado (Such a creative into, I know) here is my resolution list for 2016:

1. TA at least one Girl Develop It class (target number:three)
2. Obtain my driver’s license (I say this every year but I will keep on adding it until this happens)
3. Gain a position as a front end web developer (or a full time position in general)
4. Write a YA novel
5. Actually write in this blog at least once a week
6. Join an amateur orchestra
7. Try contact lenses
8. Move into an apartment (with or without roommates)
9. Develop and define my unique sense of style (while making sure my personal hygiene/cleanliness is on point)
10. Plan a solo trip somewhere
11. Continue exercising on a regular basis and watch what I eat

I’m not sure how many of these goals will be completed, but it will fun to try and see what I’m made of.  I know one thing is for sure, 24 year old Lindsay will be new and improved version of the 23 year old model.  Not that there’s anything wrong with me right now, I’m just constantly trying to better myself as an individual. I want to be a person who’s not afraid to take risks and and herself. Bring it on 2016!

 

What goals do you have for this year?

Command line chaos

A few days ago I woke up with the most frightening surprise waiting for me on my computer. I had a major network issue I found almost impossible to fix. The problem was eventually resolved, and I left with more comfort in the command line.

The day started normal enough. Since I was off work for the holidays, I thought it would be a great opportunity to work on my blog and  website projects. I turned on the laptop as usual, and clicked on the Google Chrome icon. I was looking forward to some major productivity. When the browser came on the screen, Google popped up. This was innocent enough (Google is my default page). However, once I typed in WordPress, I was greeted with an error message.

At first I didn’t think much of this message. Sometimes I connect to the wrong Wi-fi network. After a few minutes of reconnecting and typing in various urls I realized this was no ordinary issue. The only websites accessible were Gmail, Facebook, and YouTube. I have no problem with these sites, it’s just they’re not the best for completing important tasks (besides Gmail of course).

Being the inquisitive person that I am, my first instinct was to search Google via my cell phone for the answers. It was hard to understand all the explanations on the message boards I lurked, but I noticed a lot of them involved the command line. I remembered this term from reading various articles about web development. ipconfig/all, ipconfig/release, netsh int ip reset, and ipconfig/renew, these were among the first commands I typed into the command prompt. It was fascinating to see all the information displayed. I could explore the inter-workings of my laptop without taking anything apart. I was able to see my IP address and even request a new one.

After about eight hours with no results and one system restore, I ended up resetting my internet connect manually and the problem just went away.  I still don’t know how the internet came back. What I do know is the command line seems less intimidating than it did before. All I need to do now is practice, and after few weeks I’m sure I’ll be a pro. It’s interesting how a seemingly unrelated issue can connect to another life problem.

Return to cello

 

After a 1 year hiatus I actually took the time out of my day to tune my cello. It seems like a small action, but I consider it step one in my road to resuming regular practice. I haven’t played my cello since I took private music lessons at Penn State.

That was such a great time for my musical growth. Even though I juggled a full load of classes and a part-time job I managed to practice at least several times a weeks. After a stressful day I always looked forward to practicing in nice, quite solitude. It was almost as if I was in another world, away from normal distractions and troubles. As a result I improved my technique leaps and bounds. I went from a person who constantly strained her fingers while playing to an individual with a healthier, comfortable grip and improved tonal sound.

I didn’t  mean to have such a large lapse in practice time. The days always seem to slip away. I find my motivation similar to my blog schedule. I always mean to sit down for a hour of musical practice, but the weeks whisk away without a single string touched.    I have always had an on-off relationship with cello since I started playing at 11 years (after switching from violin).  I usually only play when I have an instructor to work with me and am able to practice in quiet spaces without interruptions.

Unfortunately, my period of instruction has been sporadic and I don’t always practice as much as I should.  Whenever I do return to cello I feel like I’m meeting a old friend. It’s amazing  easy to pick up the cello and play like nothing happened. If only I was a bit more consistent I could be freelancing at weddings and parties right now.

Time to end the excuses. Even if I play a few scales for ten minutes a day that already is great progress. Attending my sisters chorus concert made me realize music needs to be in my life; it makes me balanced.

 

My web development journey so far….

When I was 16, I wanted to build a fan site for one of my favorite singers, Amy Diamond. At the time only one website in English existed, and all the other ones were in Swedish. I thought it would be a nice project to add another website into the small but dedicated fandom.  I could have created a blog or used a template, but I was interested in the building blocks of HTML and CSS. I never considered myself a technical person, however,  I was up for challenge. I wanted to know what made a background change colors, how fonts changed sizes, or how words showed up on a page.

For the next year I viewed numerous tutorials on W3Shools, soaking up a wealth of knowledge in the process. I even enrolled in a web development class at my local community college for hands-on instruction. I was hooked. At this point I could make a basic HTML website with some styling (though JavaScript confused me a bit and I used tables to build layouts).  Though I ended up copying and pasting a template to text editor (with slight modifications on my end) using Webs.com, the seeds were planted in my mind. 

After I graduated community college, web development moved to the back on my head. I became more occupied with history courses, school newspaper deadlines, and campus jobs. I attempted to apply to a web development internship on a whim on semester, but I was rejected as I didn’t fit the minimum requirements.

It wasn’t until after college graduation that I revisited my passion. I was so inspired by reading articles about the numerous women who had made a career transition to web development. It made me realize that I could become a front-end web developer if I worked hard enough. I signed up for several Girl Develop It classes and started building my own websites from scratch. I took the 45 minute train ride to Philadelphia over numerous weekends to attend meetups and conferences. Often I find it a bit intimidating to be around so many people, but I always make a goal to meet one person per event.  That simple task usually eases my anxiety.

At the time of the blog post I have started to build 3 simple websites. They might be small scale projects, yet I’m proud of myself.  I feel that I have grown in leaps in bounds since I was 16. Of course, I still much to learn. Concepts like GitHub, Sass, Bootstrap, and more still elude me (also, my JavaScript skills are less than proficient)  The journey has been somewhat challenging, but I am excited to see where it leads me.

2015 is slipping away….

In less than three months, 2016 will be here. How did this happen? I clearly remember when January 1st hit, I had such a long list of goals I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to become a front end web developer, build a brand new personal network, lose 50 pounds etc… After graduating college in December I came back home with the mindset “12 months? That more than enough time to get myself together.”

Now that October is here, it seems I’ve only checked off a few items on my list. It’s really true what they say. Time does go by faster as you age. I always felt like I had all the time in the world as a child. Now time seems to be something I have to take charge of more often.

It’s especially hard to find free time when you’re working almost 40 hours a week.  I really need to stop putting pressure on myself to accomplish so much in 365 days.

I’ve always found it better to take life one day at a time. When I was financially stressed in college, my mom always told me that I need to pray, focus on the immediate events, and not to worry too much about the distant future. At first I thought her advice sounded crazy. How could I focus on day-to-day life when I had deadlines looming months away?

It took me a while to understand , but the moment I started practicing her principle, my life became much easier to manage.  I know that life doesn’t work this way, but sometimes it is helpful to take a break and tackle the day’s challenges before moving to bigger adventures. It makes time management a little easier. For somebody that is a such a big worrier like myself, it’s often all I can handle.