A month in review, January 2017

A month in review, January 2017

January 31, 2017personal journal4 min read

As time pass by, already the first month of 2017 is done. Here is my short look back into what was happening and how did I do this time. Also, a bright glimpse of the future.

Work

January’s been busy. The end of the year is usually a slower time in e-commerce software development because many people take days off around that time. There is also an increased need for more stability in the project. But when everyone’s back, we go ahead with full steam.

So the month was okay, I guess. I’ve been already 2 times in Hamburg (mentioned this already in my previous entry). Unfortunately, the second time I was feeling totally sick. I totally hated it, but the “anti-flu” drug I’ve bought at the airport saved me. I was feeling much better after 2 days.

Getting my own desk

This month I’ve got my new desk and I’ve started working from the new location. It’s a small office space in Ealing where I rent a place to work. While I’m all for remote work, it’s also much easier to separate personal & business life when you work in a separate location. For now, it’s only me there. It’s a start in a good direction.

Last week I’ve also launched a small website for my personal consulting business at kraus-stanko.co.uk - nothing fancy, only a minimal set of information. I’ve also enabled HTTPS by default. It turns out it’s pretty easy with the help of letsencrypt.org and their certbot.

Last but not least, I’ve joined one meetup about Magento2 in the middle of the month. I’ve gathered some experience and wrote about that on Medium (and here too of course).

Personal updates

Besides work, there wasn’t that much interesting happening. Or was it? First I thought so, but then I’ve started listing things and it’s not that dull. In short, this is what happened.

Getting Fitbit scale

We’ve bought Fitbit Aria, a Wi-Fi Smart Scale. I wanted to have one since a long time. It’s much more fun and also motivating to track your weight daily without much effort to log it. Simply walk in on a scale, wait 10-15 seconds and you got it.

Unfortunately, my other Fitbit toy - Charge - started to falling apart. The rubber band is sticking out and it’s a matter of weeks when the whole thing will probably fall out. Fortunately, though, I’ve contacted Fitbit support and they’ll send me a warranty replacement - but since they no longer have Charge models, I’m getting the newer model - Alta.

Visiting Harry Potter

Together with N., we have visited Warner Bros. Studio Tour London to see Hogwarts in a winter theme. We’ve been there once before, a few years ago so it wasn’t the same experience like in the first time, but it was such a great time anyway.

The Burrow, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London London
The Burrow, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London London

The great number of fine details, hard work, effort and creativity that the filmmakers and crew put into creating all 8 Harry Potter’s movies is unbelievable. When you’re a fan of Harry Potter you must visit this place. It is simply amazing!

Personal development

I’ve finished one book, Rework. It was quite fast to read and I’ve got some useful insights from it. I plan to re-read it in February again, this time making some notes too. But first I’m getting through “The Blind Watchmaker” by Richard Dawkins. It’s a “bit” harder material but I’m also getting interested in the topic of evolution and I want to explore it a bit more.

Speaking of notes… Some time ago, I’ve accidentally stumbled upon this thing called “the bullet journal” and I’ve immediately fallen in love with it. So beginning from February I’m setting up also my personal notebook in the quest of better organization and tracking.

Training

From my point of view, this was a little disappointing. I expected to do a bit more. I’ve only gone 3 times for a run… That’s way to less. Fortunately, in the last week of the month, I’ve also got the membership to gym and pool and I was able to swim twice already.

So February will be looking good! I don’t plan to run this month that much but I’ve got many other things to do! My goal for this month is to get consistent training during this month. I also won’t drink any alcohol for the next four weeks.

I really believe I’ll have some great progress in the upcoming month and I’m looking forward to that. Till next time!

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