WHEW it has been a busy week. I’m in a full-bore CODING MODE, which is an interesting mode because I’m putting must of my energy into it at the expense of other projects. This is fine, though, because it fits with the three slots of attention working model I’ve been working with for the past half year. Because I’ve been in coding mode, I’ve been having a “coder’s diet” (see above SPICY SICHUAN CHICKEN), which isn’t great for my waistline but damn is it tasty.

I have a new way of envisioning work focus that I am calling THE MENTAL SARCOPHAGUS, into which I “seal away the soul of my mortal concerns” so I don’t think about anything but work. Like a zombie, but in a good way! With the solitude and quiet that comes from having sealed my daily concerns away into the sarcophagus, it’s a lot easier to single-minded pursue the work for a bit. It’s similar to other approaches I’ve taken like CRUNCH MODE (a multi-day marathon) and AUTISTIC MODE (closing myself to inputs), but different in a way I have yet to determine. Largely it might be working because I just like saying the word sarcophagus over and over, and being amused by this helps my overall attitude.

But let’s get into the actual review! Hopefully this will be fast!

Restatement of Goals

To provide the context for this week, let me restate my STRATEGIC GOALS FOR 2019 as follows:

• [DISCIPLINED GOAL] Increase my mastery of Javascript Development
• [DISCIPLINED GOAL] Increase the viability of my Online Stationery Business
• [EMERGENT GOAL] Increase my expression of “me”
• [EMERGENT GOAL]Take care of myself and the communities that matter to me

I’ve outlined it all on the new Working Process tab which describes the systems I have been using this year. So let’s jump right to the grading.

GRADING OF THE PAST WEEK: Feels like a “B”

The entire week was largely focused on coding, specifically Javascript coding for a billable project. I’m trying to get a big chunk of it done before going on vacation for a month, and it’s been slow going. That said, it’s going pretty well in that I’m learning how to do new-to-me things like work with a graphics standard called SVG for creating a directed graph application. I hit my minimum hour target too.

Let’s look at the specifics of what got done.

SLOT 1 “Javascript Development Mastery” Achievements

• MEME – 20.5 billable hours: continuing infrastructure work for drawing arbitrarily nested GUI components from a pure data representation

20 billable hours a week would be a great minimum target. This keeps the rest of my time free for my vast array of social and personal development projects.

SLOT 2 “Online Stationery Business” Achievements

• NONE

SLOT 3 “Personal” Achievements

• Improved mental focus for coding (“mental sarcophagus”)
• Found skinny and slim jeans that fit nicely
• Committed to a new community project
• Played The Division 2 with my cousins
• Finally added a “Working Process” section to the GHDR 2019 page.

It’s been pretty slow on the personal side of things, as I’ve been largely focused on work. I did pick up the new video game The Division 2 for my PC on Friday, though it was a dangerous choice since I want to play it rather than work. On the other hand, the game experience is a well-engineered reward loop. So long as I am able to prioritize a certain number of hours of work per week, that works for me.

TARGETS FOR WEEK (WITH CONCRETE TARGETS)

For next week, my goals are:

• SLOT 1 (DISCIPLINED TRACK) SOFTWARE MASTERY (SWM) – MEME draw from database code (about 85% done)
• SLOT 2 (DISCIPLINED TRACK) ECOMMERCE OPERATIONS (EOP) – Landing Page, Check-in with Brenda
• AUX (DISCIPLINED) – 80+ billable hours for March (currently at 46 hours)
• AUX (EMERGENT) – finish GHDR subsite
• AUX (DISCIPLINED) – get closer to 180 lbs. WEEK LOG: 189, 187, 189, 191 (net gain of 2 pounds)

I need to keep an eye on what I eat; I am stalled in weight loss.

Conclusion

The grind continues. Gotta get a lot of coding work done. In April, I will start to transition to other things. The big goal this week is to finished the main drawing code for the billable project, so I can pass it on to the other team members to play with.