So I set off with some big goals for March of 2023:
- finish the full-stack web dev bootcamp I’ve been trying to wrap up for far too long
- build out my social accountability script for Todoist in Python
- get at least one other Udemy course tackled this month
- finish the preparations for my AZ-900 certification
- get all my parts ordered for the new gravel bike
So how’d it go?
Full-Stack Bootcamp
This thing (The Web Developer Bootcamp 2023) has been the bane of my existence for some time now. I got more than halfway through the Udemy course back in 2021, and then they went and updated the whole curriculum. I opted to start over from scratch, even though I’d gone through the whole HTML/CSS/basic Javascript by that point. Since leaving Br8kthru for Oracle and Oracle for Wings, I’ve kinda been back-burnering (verb?) the completion of this program since. Which is fine. I got it done, and I uploaded the final project to Github, because well, it needs to live somewhere. Scratch that one off the list! (Completed on March 8th.) Win.
Social Accountability Script
In my brief time at Oracle, I was doing a lot of Python coding, mostly building stuff that would control and extend Obsidian. It was pretty cool and I was really getting into it, but then the switch in roles and my renewed focus on getting the full-stack bootcamp finished drew my attention away from Python. I was casting about for something to start back up with it, and I had a problem with my Todoist/Twitter integration — specifically, every time I checked something off, it would automatically tweet the one item. I liked the idea of a single end-of-day digest, and it seemed like a good opportunity, so I spent some time and almost got this thing cooking. Once this sucker is finished, at 10pm every evening (well after I’m in bed and sleeping, usually), the script will run on a Raspberry Pi that I use as a cheap Linux server, and will post a digest. It’s even smart enough to handle the character limit and to create a thread on days when I’m really kicking ass. I’m not quite finished, as I’ve got a few bugs left to work out, but the final code will be available on Github, and you’ll be able to see the daily digest on my Twitter feed. Fail.
Additional Udemy Course
In addition to the Full-Stack bootcamp, I wanted to get at least one more course done. I knocked out Git & GitHub: The Practical Guide (Completed on March 24th). Win.
AZ-900 Certification Prep
This has been on my to-do list for a couple of months. I started working through the course on Udemy, and then got distracted. I took a practice test and my results were pretty lame, so I restarted the course from scratch, and I’ve been taking tons of notes. I didn’t quite get done by end of day today as I had planned, but I should be done in early April. Fail.
Gravel Bike Parts
When I started this month, I already had a bunch of stuff ordered — SRAM (drivetrain), Chris King (hubs, bottom bracket, headset), and Enve (cockpit and fork). I still needed to order from Zipp (rims), and to acquire pedals, spokes, and a few other things. I finished that before mid-month. By the time you read this, all that will be left for me is waiting on the frame to be completed, and once that’s done I’ll be ready to rock the new bike. (Completed on March 17th.) Win.
Additional Accomplishments
- I made some progress with Gertie on her new trick, “up”, which has her sitting back up from the “down” position. This one was pretty easy. I’m trying to decide what’s next to teach her, and might try to knock out a smaller task in April.
- We finished setting up the basement. Mostly this was unpacking the last few boxes, getting some storage set up, and hanging up the second TV. Oh yeah, and setting up my smart trainer, so I could start piling on the miles.
- Got my Drafts Folder plugin for WordPress rebuilt to modern standards and working on this site. Nothing fancy — just adds a “drafts” link to the sub-menu under Posts in WordPress. It could probably be pared down massively, but is built around the WPPB boilerplate. You can get it from Github if you want to make use of it.
- Got another WordPress plug-in for this site started. It simply adds two new content types — Education Experience and Bike — so that I’ll be able to add specific info about those things. I’ve got a little bit of extra work to do on those, too, which I will probably bang out in the next month or two.
Blockers
Man, blockers. While I was working on the Git/Github course, I got bogged down in working on bits of code that were not on this months’ to-do list. Oops. I also sprang for a Playstation 5, after years of waiting out the scalpers, and that was fun. But also a giant time-suck.
Conclusions
Holy crap, what a month! This is an interesting way to provide some focus to my daily Todoist tasks. Having a daily checklist of things to accomplish is great, but having that bigger scope (“this month’s to-do list”) staring me in the face is a big help, too.
Could I have done more big things this month? In thinking about it, the answer is “I don’t know” — historically, I’ve had a huge problem of biting off more than I can chew, and then when I start getting bogged down in one area, I suffer from morale problems, and get bogged down everywhere. For April, I suspect that what I’ll do is to find a similar “sized” set of goals, and focus on those, with the intent to gather more anecdata on how well I perform.