And on and on and on...

Today was a good day. Life has been on one of those turbulent sections of the roller-coaster; not necessarily in a bad way either. I feel lately like my life has been more full of life than it has in a long time, both in ups and downs. Truly you cannot clearly perceive one without the other for contrast.

I find myself occupying a mental state that I have not been in since my early twenties. That was a time when I basked in multiplicity and being more fearless in my approach to other humans.

One thing that I have now which I lacked in my early years is a better sense of people. I used to be a very naive person. People aren't bad, they just make bad choices. That was a very loud thought in my head. While fundamentally I still do not disagree with that thought, today I am much more aware of the sort of bad choices some people are capable of.

Fast forward today, blogging, getting it all out there. A constructive outlet, just pouring out my mind.

I'm learning more about mobile devices and their architecture. I have a few phones that I would like crack and put a custom OS on. I'm feeling Gentoo call again but I also feel the need to stay focus on my current study path. So much to learn, so little time. Focus.

Speaking of focus, back to study.

 - Jon

What am I curious about today?
Federal Communication Commission device indexing, Read-only Memories

What am I reading?
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

What am I working on?
Security+, Gentoo refresher

Day 7 is the new Day 6

Slipped up. Sorry. It was literally the last thing I thought about before falling asleep last night. I promise to make up for it with an extra post at the end of this streak.

Life is just too jam-packed with stuff these days. We really need to find a way to overclock our brains. Imagine being able to achieve 100 hours of study in a few moments. That would be a major shift in our evolution as a species.

I have finally hit my first lull in study motivation. I want to play games. I want to sleep. I want to make origami. Focus Jon. Focus.

Found a really interesting document that I have the high hopes of reading, despite how daunting it seems. Lots of sub-sections and reference notation.... but the knowledge will be very useful. I'll be attacking this one a small chew at a time.

Looking forward to the end of all this snow. We got hit by what I hope is the last March blizzard. They've declared a state-of-emergency south of the border. Life up here is just the same as ever.

 - Jon



What am I curious about today?
Space and time

What am I reading?
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

What am I working on?

Security+

Day 5. Still Alive.

Day 5 is Monday. I don't mind Mondays. Today was actually a pretty damn good Monday I must say.

Still carrying on with the Security+ study. I feel that I'm starting to get traction on the material and have been noting many topics which I need to explore in more depth to gain familiarity.

It is very cold outside. March is a cruel month in this part of the world. It teases you with the promise of winter's end then blows a chilly -10° Celsius wind in your face. While most of the snow has subsided there plenty of dirt-infused ice clinging to the sidewalk curbs.

I'm learning a bit about .htaccess in order to broaden my web knowledge.

Hello? Anyone there? Just testing the line. Adios for now.

 - Jon


What am I curious about today? 
.htaccess

What am I reading?
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland (which I have not picked up in days despite the fact I still claim to be 'reading' it... note to self: go to bed 15 mins earlier and read in that time)

What am I working on?
Security+, line drawing

Day 4 - Focus

It'll be a short one today as I have a lot on the plate. It is the first weekend in a while that we've had a chance to tidy up the apartment. Making more strides towards the Security+. The material is sticking a lot better than that active directory crap... sorry, active directory is an essential service... I didn't mean it.

I really would like to play some Rust today! Seems I never have time for gaming anymore. When I do I end up feeling guilty after playing for an hour or so and go back to studying.

Side-note: I want to make a text-based adventure game in Python. Something like Colossal Cave Adventure by William Crowther and Don Woods but a bit more refined.

 - Jon


What am I curious about today?
Fortran and assembly language

What am I reading?
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

What am I working on?

Security+

Solid Day 3

I think a key to building a successful habit is traction that two passing bits of matter need to amalgamate which results in a chain reaction. More mass equals more gravity, which means more mass, momentum, accumulation, complexification, etc.

On that note, I've decided to pause my MCSA study. I would still like very much to pursue the Microsoft cert path, though at this moment I feel it would be wise to be especially selective with which certifications I choose to pursue. I also feel that the Security+ will pair rather well with my CCNA R&S and serve as good preparation for the CCNA Security exam.

Having decided to switch gears I find, much to my benefit, that I enjoy the material much more than the MCSA stuff. That has definitely resulted in a higher rate of absorption into my neurons. While diving into the depths of Server 2012 does yield useful insight it is painfully dull at times. Powershell is pretty cool though.

- Jon


What am I curious about today?
PCI-DSS and other security compliance standards

What am I reading?
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

What am I working on?
Studying for Security+, cleaning the apartment, finishing a painting

Day...2?

So much for that seven day commitment I promised in the last post. I think that I am starting to get to the crux as to why I am unable to focus on blogging. It is definitely related on a lack of structure in my life.

I didn't give myself much time this morning, so I will spit out a few thoughts. I've decided to include a loose template for my subsequent posts. I will be highlighting what I am curious about on the day I post, what I am reading, and what I am working on. I feel this will be a good way to keep on task and aggregate my independent study into fruitful results.

Language is another huge interest of mine. At the moment I speak fluent English, semi-fluent French, and I can spit out basic dialog and read in German, Russian, and Arabic. I would like to bolster the languages that I know as well as add Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese to the mix. Japanese makes more sense because study will pair well with my love of anime films, plus I would like to read and write Kanji.

So many interests, so little time.

 - Jon



What am I curious about today?
Nginx vs. Apache, Jekyll and Mandarin

What am I reading?
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

What am I working on?
Studying for 70-410, paintings for art show, album art for friend's band

Day 1

So the blog... yes... I will be talking about what I am doing as a means to keep me on task. At present I work as a PC technician at a small computer store. Before that I was a stone mason, but that is the past. I still dabble with stone but I've chosen to pursue an IT career. Computers have always been something I've enjoyed, since a very early age. My first computer was a VIC-20. I really miss that thing.

I truly love learning and there is so much to learn in the world of information technology. Masonry did have its rewards. Hard good for good pay and the feeling that comes after building something that will last longer than you. I've definitely carried over many lessons learned in my previous vocation to my current.

The plan is to stick with this blog. A good friend of mine suggested once that the best way to build momentum is iteration. Focusing on instant quality can impede one from pushing forward. In the spirit of that I will make an effort to post on here at least once a day for the first week. That should get the ball rolling.

Ttfn.

 - J