Category: goals

10/03/11 02:06 - ID#55233

Fuddled.

80% of my inbox.

And still not done.

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Category: goals

09/29/11 11:06 - ID#55215

I started an online notebook

I think different people have different methods of retaining what they learn. I asked Paul how he keeps notes on the code he writes and he told me he memorizes it and writes notes INTO the pieces of code, probably as comments.

That's good coding practice. But it doesn't help me when I have forgotten where I have used a particular structure or syntax. Since I am not building websites, but rather analyzing data, there is no predictable flow to the code.

Data processing tricks in my repertory need to change with every new data manipulation I want to do and I can't remember what tools I used for each single variable very well. I have found that I learn the most when I take the time to consciously analyse if my mind has absorbed the concepts by writing it down.

I considered using (e:strip) as my code notebook because I wanted to keep everything together. But it does not handle code well. Back and forward slashes produce wonky results. Characters don't escape well even with the code box. The code box itself is a fixed size. I always work in big wide screens and don't see it changing so I also wanted my notebook to have a very generous text area and very little of anything else.

All of these criteria are met by:

I still wish I could do that on (e:strip) though. As my life gets to be more about how to successfully survive in academia, I can distinctly see how that blog will get more entries per week than this one in the near and distant future if I stay on course. But of course, I don't see how I can I wax eloquent over trivia, veggies, food and the side effects of medication in between R, LaTeX and Perl, so maybe that blog does need to be separate.

tinypliny writes at 06:47:09 10/07/11 - Comment #65410: Its gone now. (e:strip) is my notebook from now on and google docs. I didn't like Tumblr so much anyway. their search never worked. Sour grapes.

paul writes at 11:34:02 09/29/11 - Comment #65274: I can't remember back that far.

tinypliny writes at 11:33:04 09/29/11 - Comment #65273: Its more challenging because I have ZERO coding background and have taken no real "programming" classes. I have no concept of what programming involves or even any of the conventions. It's like learning an alien language with no concept about grammar or even semantics. I had SAS classes in before, but SAS is pretty lame in that its not very flexible and encourages code copying without thought.

tinypliny writes at 11:30:32 09/29/11 - Comment #65272: For now, this is all about how to get familiar and remember how I am doing and learning the code... For example, can you remember how you learned things when you were first starting out before you wrote all the extensive code?

tinypliny writes at 11:29:30 09/29/11 - Comment #65271: I guess this is my first really extensive interaction with the language so what you suggest might be possible say, next year or with more experience with more datasets.

tinypliny writes at 11:27:18 09/29/11 - Comment #65270: % you need to work on making it more generic

Yes, I think that is the concept of writing functions in R. The thing is I can only make it as generic as my data structure allows me to. Every dataset is different because they come from differently designed questionnaires. In traditional epidemiology, there are a million and one questionnaires that ask for information in a trillion different ways. Making one generic breaks the other. That is why there are more generic functions for genetics and bioinformatics than for epi. The data is more globally similar in terms of structure and context. It sometimes makes me mad about how subjective data collection in epi can be... Cleaning it all up is a nightmare.

paul writes at 11:14:48 09/29/11 - Comment #65267: Looking at your blog that is the kind of thing that should be on an R site. Thats why I love the online PHP manual :::link::: Its community driven.

What I meant by "in the code" is building libraries with documented code that does stuff. For example, if you write a really great routine for processing information, you need to work on making it more generic so that it will work in more place instead of just solving one problem. I mean that is not always possible but that is the essence of building a code library.

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Category: goals

09/21/11 12:11 - ID#55176

Internal Struggle List

I read this article at 4:00 AM today:

I like its main points of summary. I reordered them to help myself out.

Be realistic
Face your fears
Focus on your options
Rise up to the challenge
Find peace
Don't stress over things you cannot control

---

Engage in acts of gratitude
Be cautious when thinking about confrontation
Donâ€™t suppress or deny your feelings
Be around people

---

Spend some time alone
Feel good about yourself
Relax
Live your life
Seek professional help

And these are my goals for September and October.

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Category: goals

09/02/11 09:43 - ID#55068

Unsorted

I am at a weird point right now. Everything seems pretty unsorted in my life. I can't say that if I died tomorrow, I would be happy with the choices I made. That is not a nice place to be.

This needs to change, today and right now. I want to just take this weekend off the tracks and stop doing the same old things I do and the experience the same old panic. I want to start off anew.

I am promising myself that this weekend will be the most productive of any weekends thus far. And no other future weekends will end with panic ever more because they will all be better managed from now on.

Did you know that:

In 1752, the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar. In the British Empire that year, September 2 was immediately followed by September 14.

We will see how sorted I manage to be by September 14.

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Category: goals

08/24/11 12:36 - ID#55012

It's not lent but...

A chain of rants in (e:metalpeter,55007) make me want to throw down this self-improvement challenge.

I am ready to
a) give up salt for however long it takes
b) start doing push-ups all over again everyday for however long it takes

if someone else wants to give up something or take up something with me and be accountable for that here. It has to be something that is causing you harm or is damaging your life or is negatively influencing your life to some extent.

Too much salt and not enough muscle definitely are negative influences on mine.

Who is up for this little last-quarter goal-setting?

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Category: goals

07/22/11 10:27 - ID#54769

Armstrong 220711

Day 5: 14x
Reason for stopping: breathlessness.
Status: I think I stop breathing or breathe very less when I do these push-ups. Next time I must remember to breathe as deeply as I can. Maybe it's the hypoxia that is limiting the number of push-ups I can do.

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Category: goals

07/21/11 08:27 - ID#54751

Armstrong 200711

Day 4: 12x
Reason for stopping: general exhaustion, not specifically arm-pain.
Status: I was a complete hour late for this edition of project Armstrong because I got carried away talking with (e:Paul). So when I finally remembered, (e:Paul) offered to do push-ups with me. (Of course, he was doing the authentic push-ups, while I was trying to miserably drag through wimpy ones.) I think he got through 18-19 before I was done with my measly 12 with a ton of effort. It was nice to have someone doing the push-ups with me but it didn't really do much good in terms of motivating me to do more. I think this is a sign that the problem really lies so deep that it can't be fixed by mere peer motivation. (hey, that rhymes!)

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Category: goals

07/19/11 10:24 - ID#54741

Armstrong 190711

Day 3: 16x
Reason for stopping: My knee started paining!
Status: I think I stuck to better form today but unfortunately did the push ups on the wood floor instead of on my yoga mat. Result: nasty knee pain and somewhat less arm pain. Maybe it's like the principle of the counter-irritant. The knee pain was so much that it masked the arm pain. Anyhow, this whole process of building up strength is painful... Probably the only thing that encouraged me to do it today was reporting about it here.

As John Wayne once never said, "A tiny-armed person's gotta do what a tiny-armed person's gotta do".

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Category: goals

07/18/11 10:18 - ID#54736

Armstrong 180711

Day 2: 20x
Reason for stopping: Severe arm exhaustion
Status: I followed the Mayo technique that (e:heidi) linked yesterday for modified push ups. However, my back keeps sagging to the ground and I am not sure I felt my pectoral muscles and abdominal muscles stretch or even work. The only thing that is probably dying is my upper arm muscles, particularly the biceps. And they said it exercises your triceps. I am definitely doing this wrong... I will try again tomorrow to see if I can achieve proper form.

Till then, big OUCH. I hope my arms don't fall off in my sleep today. It feels like it.

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Category: goals

07/17/11 10:21 - ID#54724

Armstrong 170711

Day 1: 17x
Reason for stopping: Arm exhaustion
Status: My arms hurt like crazy. I can't even type this properly. I am wondering if this is a wise idea. OUCH. I am not entirely sure I have the right form. I need to check with my department-mate about this tomorrow.

NB: Hmm... can't tell if this journal format is working.