I’m usually not a huge fan of making resolutions because I get far too easy into the habit of letting them slip. Because everyone does, right?

But on the other hand, having no goals is not a good thing either. So I’m going to put a bit of pressure on myself by publicly declaring my (non work related) goals for the month.

Blog Stuff

Both as in blogging stuff as well as doing blog related stuff. So what exactly?

  • at least 2 more blog posts
  • make sure everything is GDPR compliant
  • write an about page
  • a few minor tweaks

Reading

I want to finish at least one book on my reading list and make progress on the others:

My reading List in a picture

The Go Programming Language – Donovan & Kernighan

A basic, but rather technical introduction to Go for people who already know how to program in other languages.

I’m using a lot tools written in Go for work and for a curious mind like me this leads to me wanting a better understanding of the language. Usually my brain is pretty roasted after taking care of the baby and work, so I don’t expect to make much progress in this one.

How to solve it – Polya

This is a classic and recommended read for everyone in scientific field or teachers.

Funnily enough it was recommended to me by my math teacher, the math professor while studying chemical biology and my math professor at the computer science classes. But the first two of them were so unlikable that I discarded pretty much everything they recommended. Not to my benefit.

I did read it in my first year of CS at the university and it is a great book. I’m rereading it with two goals in mind:

  • Getting a better grasp of English math terms (reading it in English now, not German as before)
  • Being reminded of the lessons for teachers, so I can explain things better once my daughter is old enough

New solutions for Cybersecurity – Shrobe, Shrier, Pentland

This is a collections of articles about Cybersecurity. I haven’t read anything in it yet, despite buying it close to the release early last year. It got mentioned quite positively in many security podcasts and conversations with colleagues.

There is not even a good reason why I have not read it yet, other than not finding the time for it.

Tribe of hackers – Carey, Jin

Here we have a interview collection with well known Hackers. I’m only in a few but so far it has been very interesting. Each interview is rather short so it fits my short time slots when the baby is busy rather well.

Kindle

Mostly for reading along SciFi audio books. I’m currently at Ryk Browns Frontier sage. But of course an occasional smut book sneaks on there as well.

Wrap up Gaming side projects

I won’t go into details here but I have a rather high number of unfinished gaming related side projects. From updated websites to Star Citizen training modules. I really have to consolidate my commitments in that area. It is getting too much for my currently available free time.

Of course finishing things takes time, but if it goes well, I should have more free time again next month.

Fitness & Diet

I used to work out & train every day as kid and young adult, then dropped the habit when I went to university. It was not exactly a healthy life since about 3 years ago when I started regular workouts again.

But in the last 2 month, since my wife is back at work and I’m alone with the baby, I both lack opportunity and motivation for workouts. In addition I picked up some unhealthy eating habits.

I tried 5 min HIIT workouts last month but being sick for a week got me off track again. So, one more try this month!

Since I added about 3kg of extra weight in the last 2 month, I’ll also put myself on an intermittent fasting once more. It already served me well when getting back into shape 3 years ago.

Will it work?

I have no clue, but it does not seem unrealistic at least. I do need more focus on my goals in my life so this is a start. I’ll tell you in a month how it went.

Poggie