Check me against My Story | Zen Habits
I am a fan of simple life. Recently I discovered Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits, a website dedicates to simple life and productivity. I am impressed by His Story. I could not help but to check myself against his achievements. I am glad to find my life and finance are not bad. My ego is soothing. But I really need to worry about my health. Here is the list:
- Quit smoking: I never smoke a puff.
- Became a runner: Currently I can only run once a week. I should work hard to run more.
- Run a marathon: Running once a week is definitely not the way to go.
- Began waking early: I am not sure if 6:30 am is early enough. Leo gets up at 4:30 am. I also have a different morning routine from his. Rather than doing the most important things, I do household chores, ironing and cleaning. To me, chores after work are too taxing. I prefer to have them finished in the morning.
- Became organized: I consider myself organized. I would recommend Kerry Gleeson’s The Personal Efficiency Program, which in my opinion is much easier to follow than Leo’s recommendation: Getting Things Done by David Allen.
- Became a vegan: I do not agree that eating no meat is a healthy lifestyle. Eating less meat is, though.
- Double my income: Again this is very difficult for me. As long as I am able to keep my finance under control, I would excuse myself.
- Wrote a novel: Not interested.
- Took control of my finance: According to my financial advisor, my finance is under control. I do not need to worry about that now.
- Began eliminating debt: Except mortgage, I do not have debt.
- Began saving my emergency fund: Since my school days, I always have one equal to my three to six month’s income. That has already saved me from some hard time, like unemployed days.
- Simplified my life: After reading a few posts form Zen Habits, I think I have already had a simple life, thought there is always room for improvement.
- Cleared my inbox and kept them that way: I always do. I do not understand why someone would need a book on that.
- Lost weight: My deadly sin. I can only pray.
- Began training for triathlon: Hm….
- Began commuting to work by bike: My office is 35 minutes by train away from my home. I would pass this one.
- Began the habit of clean-as-you-go: This is my habit, though may not as thorough as it needs to be.
Missing Toolbar After Upgrade Wordpress
I recently upgraded from Wordpress 2.3.0 to 2.3.1. There was no toolbar on the Write Post panel. I solved the problem by,
- deactivate all plugins,
- download the current theme and all plugins,
- delete from the sever everything except “wp-config.php” file, “htaccess” file and “wp-content/upload” folder,
- upload Wordpress to the sever,
- upload the current theme and all plugins,
- activate all plugins, and
- clean the browser cache.
Other methods I gathered from the Wordpress support forum:
- clean the cache and reload the page,
- reinstall Wordpress,
- delete the “wp-includes/js/tinymce” folder and upload that folder again,
- ask the host to increase the memory allotted to php,
- amend the url at “Options->General” by deleting or adding the “www” (weird method but some reported success).
Leisure Reading: Publish & Prosper: Blogging for Your Business
I do not blog for business. Nevertheless I read this book, in the hope of finding some good blogging ideas.
The book does provide insights on how a company should blog. It persuades managers to deviate from the conventional goal setting business model and just kick start company blogging. Many successful, income generating company blogs start small. Managers should not be afraid of leaking business secrets and should embrace for openness. This advice shines. Today, too many self-help books and management books stress too much on goal setting and planning, as if you will succeed once you set a goal, or you are doomed. They overlook that success can be achieved the other way round, with trail-and-error and plan-as-you-go strategies. “Act first, plan later” on p47 summaries best the authors’ view. I particularly like the quote from business guru Tom Peters,
Ready.Fire.Aim
Now the con. The success stories in the first few chapters make the authors look like quacks. They are all about some companies start blogging and get more income next year. They keep me thinking of some learn-a-new-language-in-3 weeks and shed-30-pounds-in-3-weeks commercials. Anyone with a decent mind would cast doubt on that.
The last few chapters dip in the blogging basics, posts, trackbacks, pinging, and so on. Few examples are given. This book seems to target business managers who can decide to start company blogs. Without examples, can those middle aged non-technical white collar workers who know little about blogging understand? I am very doubtful.
Leisure Reading: Fundamentals of X Programming
I came across the book in a library. The book reminds me of an old TV show…
In 80s, when personal computers started to become household machines, there was a TV show in Hong Kong called something like “Know the Computer” (I do not really remember). It meant to be a program introducing the computer basics like RAM, ROM to the average public. In one episode the host said something like this:
What is a byte? In everyday life a byte equals to 10 bits. But computers use binary numeral system. So in computer world a byte means 8 bits.
So what is a byte? Never explained.
Many technical writers and teachers make the very same mistake: failing to explain the basic fully and clearly before moving on. The author of Fundamentals of X Programming is among them. In page 37, Chapter 2, where the technical term “Atom” appears for the first time in the book :
…The Atom type requires a bit of discussion. While properties are defined as strings, strings are not convenient for many operations, such as comparisons. Therefore X has a mechanism to map strings into integers in a unique way…
So what is an Atom? No wonder there is never a second edition.
Is it the author’s fault? I think it is. Because in the preface the writer says “the book does not assume previous knowledge of X”.
Guy Keren’s online article “Basic Graphics Programming With The Xlib Library” is much better. I am not a programmer but could read it like a novel.
Charles Petzold says in his blog (www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2007/10/160352.html),
My skills are these: I am able to assimilate a new API and determine a coherent tutorial course through the material (ie, where to start, where to go next, how to build on what’s come before, etc).
One reason of Microsoft’s success is paying writers like Petzold.
Run 3 Miles
This is a personal record again. Today I ran for 3 miles in 37 minutes on a treadmill. I started from 4 miles/hr, increased to 6 miles/hr peak. I am still unable to run more than once a week.