11-for-2011 Checkpoint Review

JULY 2, 2011 Checkpoint Review

1. Read the Whole Bible

  • Plan: 50%
  • Actual: 27%
  • Notes: I have a lot of catching up to do!

2. Less than 20hrs of overtime per month

  • Plan: <20hrs
  • Actual: 33.5 hrs (Jan to Jun Average)
  • Notes: Recent months have been around 30hrs, I think I can bring it down to 25 within the next months.

3. Have a nice long family vacation in the Philippines

  • Plan: Scheduled for Christmas 2011

4. Manage our Cash Flow

  • Was able to do it for a month, but somehow stopped along the way (again).

5. Pass JLPT Level N1

  • Plan: Pass July/December 2011 Exam
  • Actual: Passed December 2010 Exam! w00t w00t!
  • Notes: Still continuing Vocab Study via Anki, and company (internal) nihongo course

6. Get Certified

  • Plan: ITIL and/or anything else
  • Actual: None
  • Notes: I have a lot of catching up to do.

7. Develop a Web/Mobile App

  • Notes: I have my development environment set up. I have a general idea of what I want to make, and how to make it. I just need to lay out the detailed plans, and actually start coding, testing, releasing.

8. Read at least six books

  • Plan: 6
  • Actual: 0
  • Notes: Okay, I’ll say this now – this is never going to happen.

9. Reach 23 BMI

  • Plan: 23.0 BMI
  • Actual: 20.7 BMI
  • Notes: It was a steep climb, probably even steeper from here on.

10. Pick up a Sport/Exercise Regimen

  • Notes: Does carrying Nate count?

11. Write More

  • Notes: Do tweets count?

Diving In

I think it’s time to dive right in to my programming project for the year. Enough studying, researching, being scared and testing the waters – I’ve got to do this.

The plan is to create an Android App, written in Java, using Agile Development Methodology. I’ll probably use the cloud for server/storage, Google App Engine, maybe. MySQL for the DB, unless I discover/somebody recommends a better one along the way. What else. I’ll probably need to create some UML Diagrams? Unless there’s a different term for that in Agile circles.

That should cover the basic skills I need to re-learn, after being here in Mainframe Maintenance for so long.