Posts

Bottom Line — using a VPN is great for online privacy. Hosting it on a VPS ensures your IP won’t be blacklisted. It’s easy to setup with an automated script.

After switching from petroleum engineering to software development, I have folks ask whether they should do the same.

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

Bottom Line — Imposter syndrome will kill your self-confidence in your craft. The solution is to teach your craft. Teach through writing or video work. You don’t have to be an expert to begin.

Bottom Line — With a video background, I could move around and other people can be behind me without being seen on video.

Bottom Line — Specify a ruby version and RVM will automatically switch them for you when you open a different project.

Bottom Line — My heart wasn’t in it. The cyclical downturns got old. I jumped to software. No regrets about starting with petroleum engineering.

The internet is made up of millions of interconnected computers that send and receive messages. That’s it.

Bottom Line — Worried about being replaced? If you stack your above average skills, they’ll be worth more than the value of a single highly valued skill. Here are examples where stacked skills helped me overcome fierce competition.

Bottom Line — My blog is meant for writing. A Jekyll static site allows me to write with ease and avoid friction I experienced with WordPress.

When I setup a new development environment, I’ll commit my code to GitHub but the green boxes won’t show my contribution for that day.

Sometimes you want to update a form and not refresh the page. This is where AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript) comes handy.

I wanted to show a link in a Rails application based on whether a person was current_user.admin? and signed_in?

Using HAML in Rails views is great because its more succinct than ERB.

I recently stumbled on this technique where you can load JQuery for ANY page and write JQuery commands right in the browser console. This is great for debugging and exploration.

I needed car data for a Ruby on Rails project. I found a GitHub repository where someone generously shared 14,000 rows of car model, makes, and year.

Sometimes I need to make changes to a Ruby on Rails table in production.

Here’s exactly how I submitted my PDUs to PMI to renew my PMP (Project Management Professional) certificate in 2020.

This analogy is about putting important things first. Sounds like the same old crap you hear from self-help books. However, I admire a good analogy that sticks in my head and this is one of those. This analogy comes from Stephen Covey.

If open IRB (interactive ruby) and type in the following expression 2 + 3, you’ll get 5. If you reverse that with 3 + 2, you’ll still get 5.

I finished Pragmatic Studio’s Rails I course and it gave me the skills to build a CRUD Rails app from scratch.  That speaks volumes about how great this course truly is

Doing Test Driven Development (TDD) and learning Ruby simultaneously is a problem for brand new developers.

You’re going to need a text editor to write Ruby.  Although there are many options I prefer using a dedicated Ruby IDE such as RubyMine because it comes with debugging and autocomplete.

Bottom Line — You’ll need a Ruby version manager if you plan on working with Ruby and Rails.

It’s hard enough to learn a new programming language by itself and it’s miserable when you run into avoidable system errors.

Post Updated on October 2020.

Bottom Line — 5 year roadmaps are as successful as fast weight loss programs.

I went to MuckFest MS 2018 5K obstacle course in Denver.  It was my third time running it. A friend, my girlfriend, and I went together and were part of a bigger team of at least 20 people that started the run at 9 am.

Bottom Line — You don’t need to be as ambitious as Bill Gates to have a worthwhile life.

When I heard Ronnie Coleman — an eight time Mr. Olympia Champion — utter these words, I was dumbfounded by the profoundness in one single sentence.

Bottom Line — I look at my knuckles often to remind myself that this hard moment — It too, shall pass.

Bottom Line — Your powerpoint file doesn’t need to be 100 megabytes. You can quickly batch compress images within it to a reasonable size.

Bottom Line — Ideas come to my head randomly. If I don’t jot them down, I forget them. I use a voice recorder app to collect them and transcribe them later. That’s how I generate creative ideas and reduce the stress of having to remember a lot.

I’m on my way to meet a friend for dinner. It’s a 15 minute drive but I hit traffic — in a parking garage.

Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko is a Russian MMA fighter. There’s no doubt he’s a great fighter, but that’s just one piece that makes up his total package.

Bottom Line — Life is easier when you have a solid credit history. Start building it sooner rather than later. Here’s how to do it.

Bottom Line — I initially failed physics. Here’s how I made my come back and ended up teaching physics to others.

Bottom Line — Our generation will have a record number of those who will be hard of hearing. It’ll be our own fault. Use ear plugs!

It’s easier to sit in one spot rather than get up and do something different. That one spot is familiar and it is safe. A soldier friend of mine told me that during his time in the military, his unit would move locations as often as every 48 hours. His unit lived and breathed with the ability to change their location often.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Bottom Line — Cold showers will jolt you out of a funky mood. I take them from time to time.

It’s okay to give up on a dream. Nikita, what are you talking about man? I thought you had to persevere, fight, and never give up. That’s true if you feel strongly about that dream. Are you fooling yourself?

While visiting Mexico in May 2016, I found out that a normal work week consists of 6 working days at 8 hours per day. In the US and Europe, we typically have 5 working days, 8 hours per day. I might be spoiled but sometimes two days are not enough. Imagine only having 1 day off. Imagine not having any days off. It’s nerve-racking unless your full-time work is what you feel strongly about. If it’s not, then do you have enough time to engage with projects that you feel destined to do? That’s where freedom of time is an important asset.

I was driving to work on I-25 and a realization hit me as I was switching lanes. I noticed that during my 25 mile drive, I’ll switch lanes several times before arriving at the destination. You probably do the same thing. So what? It can teach us a thing or two about looking at life. Let’s look at some scenarios.

I stumbled upon a really great video that went into describing how the Navy Seals train their troops to handle high stress situations. They have a unique approach which is focused on exposing the soldiers to fearful situations, and having them react in a sensible matter. I highly recommend watching the video below, but if you’re short on time, I’ll summarize some of the things I got out of it:

I went to Mexico in May 2016. One of my best friends was getting married, and I went down to attend the ceremony and also to get away and relax for a week. I booked an all inclusive resort that was really a dream to stay at. All inclusive includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and entertainment. Everything is done for you; you are there to relax.

Bottom Line — Here’s what I learned about lending money and how to minimize the chances of getting screwed.

I watched Scarface (1983) several years ago and thought that it was just a violent action movie. I didn’t give it a second thought and was satisfied with just watching it once. I saw it on Netflix and decided to give it another chance. This time around, the movie had a deeper meaning to me and it wasn’t about the violence and the 1980’s drug wave, but it was instead a deeper look into human nature. I’m not sure if that was the intention that Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone had when making this movie, but this is what I felt.

Gist: I bought 3 cars for people in 2 years. It might be pretty but it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg in repairs. Research and get a dependable vehicle.

Bottom Line — You don’t need to spend money on courses to renew your PMP certification. Here’s exactly how to do it on the cheap.

Bottom Line — I took the PMP exam in 2015. Not much changed today in the exam world in 2020. Here are all the strategies I used to pass the exam. Here’s what I would teach my younger self.

Bottom Line — Tired of using triple blade blades? You don’t have to. Here’s how you can shave just like your grandfather did.

Bottom Line — Close your eyes and pace a known room. My mind stops thinking and relaxes.

Bottom Line — Speaking skills will greatly amplify your other skills. Here are examples from my life and the lives of others.

Bottom Line — Pug makes HTML tags look a lot less messy.

Bottom Line — “Don’t be that person who uploads a 10mb thumbnail image. Compress it!”

Bottom Line — Handstand progress is not linear. Neither are learning other skills in life. I don’t want it to be that way but that is the way it is.

Over time, I’ve noticed that if I go to sleep closer to 10:30 pm, and sleep until 6:00 am (7.5 hours total), I wake up feeling refreshed in the morning. If I go to bed closer to 12 am, and sleep until 7:30 am, I have a harder time waking up and have a greater propensity to continue sleeping. The total time spent sleeping stays the same at 7.5 hours, but the time intervals change. Let’s take a closer look.

Bottom Line — Get f.lux / night mode on your PC / tablet / smartphone.”

Bottom Line — There is no perfect time to call someone. When you think about calling that person, just call them and stop over thinking it.

Bottom Line — Content begs for easy readability. Think about if your text size is too small and therefore hard to read for the average reader.

Bottom Line — If you give yourself 3 weeks to do a project, you’ll start it on the last day and finish it in a few hours. That’s Parkinson’s Law.

Bottom Line — Speaking and presenting is an underrated skill. Toastmasters is a cheap and effective way to work on it. It will greatly enhance your other skills.

Bottom Line — With a custom domain, you have a better chance of ending up on the first page of search engines instead of your facebook page.

Bottom Line — Using toughdude23xx1@aol.com or user@phonecompany.com is a bad idea. Skip the stereotypes.