One of the biggest changes is previously I had a constant reliance on some kind of inhaler.  I relied on Primatene Mist for a long time because it was easily available without a prescription.  It wasn’t exactly a treatment and most doctors recommended something else, but I always seemed to fall back on it once my prescription inhaler ran out.  They had to take the medication off the market at the end of last year because its delivery mechanism contained CFCs which has been banned by the US government.  This happened at the same time that I got sick during the winter so I was forced to take a hard look at my health which has been declining for years.  My doctor prescribed an albuterol inhalter and another inhaled treatment.  I was going there the prescription inhaler as fast as my insurance would allow me to refill it.  The rescue inhaler is generally only supposed to be use occasionally and I was hitting it several times a day.  I could not get one to last a month.  When I ran out and could not refill it things got ugly.  I would take antihistamines just to keep going.  It wasn’t good and I felt horrible.  I went back to the doctor and we decided to try the Dulera.  Things changed almost instantly.

I first noticed that I didn’t need the rescue inhaler as much.  When the one I had ran out, I didn’t refill it.  I worried about it but I decided to see how long I could go as a sort of challenge.  This was around 4 weeks ago and I still don’t own an inhaler.  My first really big test came last weekend when we went on a hike.  I knew it was downhill to our destination but, of course, that means it is uphill on the way back.  When we started back I had a temporary freak out.  I was really nervous about getting short of breath.  We started up out of the park and I soon quit worrying.  I still got winded but it never passed the point of being from being from out of shape and into a serious medical event. When we finished the hike I was surprised and happy that I didn’t have a problem.  It was a sign of good things to come.

I have been to the YMCA every day for the last 4 days.  I have done 30 minutes on the treadmill using an interval hill program.  I have pushed myself harder every day and I have yet to have what I would call an “attack”.  I know it is early but right now I am doing well and hopefully, finally, on my way to better health.  I don’t think I realized how much the breathing issues have affected me mentally but I certainly used it as a crutch and an excuse.  I have a short term goal but that is a discussion for another time.  For now it is enough that I am not tied to an inhaler anymore and I am ready to chase of few things that I thought were out of reach for me.

It’s really a wonderful thing to feel good again.

One thing I haven’t used much, at least until very recently, is the e-reader functionality.  It was something I was looking forward to trying out but I was fairly sure I wasn’t going to enjoy the experience.  I have what might be a bit of a hard coded love for the printed page it seems.  Today I have to say I was mostly wrong in that assumption with one fairly major exception.  I have been reading mostly comic books on the iPad and I have to say they really look great.  With a well produced book the art looks fabulous, the text is crystal clear and the colors really pop.  I don’t like the glare so much but that isn’t my big problem really.  After thinking about it, the problem is not with the material itself but it is with being able to share a book with another reader.  Personally I think this is a huge issue and will really impact publishing.  Digital is already doing major damages to newspapers, magazines, comics, and regular print books but in my opinion there is even a bigger danger in taking the inability to share away from consumers.

When I talk about this I am not talking about someone who just downloads “scanned” copies of books for free off of any number of nefarious and underground sites.  I don’t condone this kind of behavior and I really want to see artists paid for their work.  I do think, however, that there is a type of sharing that is perfectly acceptable and that occurs when you want someone to read something that they would not normally read on their own.

For example, have you ever read something that was so good or you felt so passionately about that you just had to share it with someone?  I have done this will books and comics on many occasions because I wanted another person to fall in love with the story, characters, or author like I did.  When working well this kind of sharing leads to the other person being a future customer of similar work from the creator.  If I am reading everything in digital I can never share these things with others.  I will never be able to turn someone on to Stephen King or The Walking Dead like I have done in the past.  In digital, those future sales will never occur because I won’t be making the same kinds of future fans.

I think there is more to this that I haven’t thought about but the short of it is that it will be that much harder for creators to get their work in front of people that might become fans.  I am interested on how this will play out and going forward but I worry that it is going to be just that much harder for new artists to reach a wide audience.  It’s funny to think that considering how easy it is and will be to distribute the work.  Will be able to find the stuff worth experiencing when the abundance of noise drowns everything out?

I don’t know what this observation means for the future but it certainly is telling something don’t you think? Oh, I took this picture on a new iPad.

So as I was contemplating the evolution of this modern form of entertainment I started to dwell on the old days of the arcade.  For you kids out there, an arcade was a place where big boxes called cabinets which contained a single game would be setup and you could go and play.  Depending on the size of the arcade, you could find around 20 to 50 different games along with classics like pinball and skee-ball.  In the early days each game cost 25 cents to play and your play time was mostly dependent on how good you were at the game.  The better you were, the longer you could play.  When you died you could toss in another quarter or go play something else.

I didn’t get to play a lot of video games as a young kid.  We weren’t poor, but money was always tight so it was a rare event when I got a chance to play Pac-Man or Donkey Kong.  About the only time my brother and I got to play was on those special events when we ate out at the local pizza place or when we went to a birthday party at the aforementioned pizza shop.  I don’t know why arcade games were often found at pizza joints but that was the thing.  Even when we were in the vicinity of an arcade cabinet it was pretty touch and go with my dad and it was always a tense moment when we asked him for a quarter to go play.

You see, that is how it was for us.  One quarter after dinner.  That quarter was magical.  It was a key into another world of light and sound but you had to be careful.  That quarter could be gone in a flash and no amount of crying and bellyaching would get another one.  We had to be strategic in how we used our quarter and really consider things before dropping it in the slot.

I remember those days walking around the arcade area of Mr. Gatti’s Pizza in Winchester, Ky.  I would start with a reconnaissance tour of the area first to see what games were available and would take note on what was new, what was missing, and what I had played before.  Often I would hope someone else was playing so I could watch for a little while all the time holding on to that quarter tightly.  Watching someone else play was a great way to extend the experience as well as figure out if that was a game I wanted to play.  Eventually, however, a decision had to be made and it was a serious one.  It always came down to this:  ”Do I use my quarter to play a game I had played before and thus know that I will be able to play for a few minutes or try something new and risk being done in a few seconds?”

The thing was, games in these days were hard.  Well, they were hard in the beginning.  They were awfully repetitive and once you learned the pattern then the game became very easy but learning the pattern was tough and expensive.  For a kid of 8 the choice was serious.  I knew trying something new was going to cost me but if I never tried a new game then I would never get to play a new game and I badly wanted that experience.  So, more often than not, I would try something new.  I remember trying Donkey Kong and finding myself dead practically before the coin hit the bottom of the coin collector.  Damn that was a touch game to get started on.  Especially when it was one quarter at a time and one try every couple of months.

I think in many ways those experiences are what made me want to play games as I got older.  My parent’s would not allow an Atari in the house.  I don’t know if it was because of money or for some other reason and that just made my desire to play games stronger.  I knew people who had Atari’s and I literally dreamed of the days when I would visit them so I could play.  I bought, with money I saved, a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was around 11.  It was a great day and I remember it clearly.  I bought it at Children’s Palace, a long since closed toy story in Hoover, AL.  I was not allowed, at least initially, to connect it to the color TV in our house but that didn’t faze me.  I connected that sucker to a black and white TV I had in my room.  Yes, my first true experience playing Super Mario Bros. was on a 13″ black and white TV.  It couldn’t have been more glorious.  Honestly and without any hyperbole it was one of the best days of my life.

I think eventually I snuck it downstairs and hooked it up to our den TV.  It was there that I played Zelda, Castlevania, Duck Hunt, Metroid (ah Metroid!), Tecmo Bowl, and many other games.  My parent’s ultimately had to give in and let the unit stay downstairs but I remember getting in trouble for it initially.  They may have though it would damage the TV.  While technically that wasn’t true, eventually I did break the thing connecting and disconnecting the NES.  The NES became the friend who was always there and always ready and the arcade slowly vanished into memory.

Today games are a part of life.  Who hasn’t played Angry Birds?  Back then, however, things were different.  Video games were new and represented something of the future.  I have good memories of those days and in some ways miss the arcade.  There was a social experience in going to the arcade with your friends and playing for a while.  There was trash talking, putting your quarter on the machine to signal “I’m Next” and Mortal Kombat tournaments and all kinds of things we don’t really do anymore.  Certainly not in the same way.  Things like XBOX Live and other online games bring some of it back but it’s not the same.  I suppose nothing ever is.

To this day I can’t walk by a Ms. Pac-Man machine without hoping that maybe I have a quarter in my pocket.

Hope everyone is enjoying the event

A few years ago we made a stop motion film using Spongebob LEGOs.  I say “we” but I had very little to do with it.  I explained how the process worked, setup the camera and showed Emily how to take the pictures.  When she was done I then helped her put the pictures together on the computer and then let her record the dialogue.  I believe she was 5 at the time.  I can’t believe it has been 3 years since we made the short.  Here it is for your enjoyment.

Obviously it is crude but for a 5 year old I was pretty impressed.  We talked about doing another one but never got around to it.  Life sometimes goes like that.  You forget what is fun.  Anyway, time passed and this Christmas we bought her an iPod Touch as her “big” gift.  We bought it so she could talk to friends and her grandparents.  Of course we knew it would take pictures and video but we suspected that those features would be secondary.  For a while, we were right.  Then, as Emily grew more adept as using the gadget and navigating the app world, she discovered a stop motion application, Stop Motion Studio, and it was finally back to making movies.  I need or, more precisely, want to point out that she found this all on her own.  I provided little direction.  She just decided one day to find an app to do stop motion and she did it.  Honestly, I was pretty proud.  She immediately began making short little films with her dolls and whatever she found around the house.  Nothing ground breaking but fun for her and quite the learning process as well.

One thing that made me smile was that one of the shorts she made was just simply a little film about a magic cold coin disappearing from her hand.  Again, nothing spectacular but I found it interesting because she used the same technique that Méliès and thousands of other filmmakers have used to create the same effect.  Shot the first part of the film, freeze, quickly swap out what needs to disappear and then start filming again.  It may be one of the earliest special effects and yet it is still effective when done well.  Emily remembered the concept, simply though it is, and put it to use. I think that’s pretty cool.

We have been talking a lot about special effects in weeks after seeing Hugo.  Last night I pulled one of my big Industrial Light and Magic books off the shelf and showed her some of the techniques used to film things like the Hoth Battle, and the rail car sequence from Indiana Jones.  She was really interested and sat with me while we talked about the techniques presented in the book.  I don’t know if this means she is a future filmmaker in training but I have to tell you, nothing would make me happier than to produce a director, cinematographer, or special effects artist.  I don’t want to be a father who pushes my child into a certain career path but this is certainly an interest that I would like to encourage.  She has been into movies since she was born and is one of the only children I have ever met who could sit through a film quietly and pay attention at a very early age.

If there is one thing we share it is a love of movies.  Seeing films like Hugo that inspire us to think and talk to one another about all sorts of things is something that I really hold dear in our relationship.  The cinema is a wonderful thing but the power to bring Emily and I together as father and daughter may be the most magical part of it all.

I am giving a lot of thought to simplifying my life.  I don’t know what that means exactly but I don’t feel very connected with what’s going on around me.  It is more like I am moving through life as though I were apart from it.  Every day is just kind of something I have to get through so I can get to the next day which leads to the next weekend which then bleeds into Monday again, ad infinitum.  So I am looking at things that maybe I can remove from my life to get down to the meat of my existence.  One of those things that I may have to lose is reading comic books.

There are plenty of reasons to lose the hobby.  One, it is expensive and getting more so all the time.  $2.99 a book seems small but start adding it up over a month and it can come to over $50.00 easily for me.  I currently subscribe to around 15 books a month and some of them carry a cover price of $3.99.  So, the expense while not exorbitant, is significant.  This leads into the second reason to quit and that is my wife.  It is one of those things she really doesn’t get and it creates friction in the family.  This is especially true when the expense comes through the checking account.  In a time when money is tight, such an apparently frivolous expense is hard for her to accept.  I understand that but I always looked at it as compensation for being the breadwinner.  That, view, seems quite selfish when you really look at it.  Thirdly, and this one is becoming a bigger issue, is the space requirements.  The available space to story the books I buy is shrinking.  I don’t give up possessions easily and my personal favorites less so.  I have boxes on top of boxes of books I will never read again but I find it hard to part with them.  I am thus missing a good chunk of closet space because of it.  I want a less cluttered house and a less cluttered life and these boxes are not helping.  Finally, I am realizing that comics have taken away from other reading, fiction and non-fiction alike.  I have read few books over the last few years and I think it is, in part, due to the hundreds of pages of comics that I have been reading.

So, comics may be on the chopping block for 2012.  It makes me sad because I really do enjoy the experience.  Of course there are options.  Digital comics are now available but the price on new issues is still cover price so while digital solves the storage problem it does not solve the expense problem.  I can shift to trades for some stuff, especially The Walking Dead, but there is some stuff I really don’t want in trade.  If they get cut, and it is still a big “IF”, then 2012 will effectively be the end of the Third Age of my comic book reading hobby.  I have chronicled both the First and Second Age here before and I hate to think the Third Age is coming to an end because I feel like some of the best stuff I have read has come out of this period.  Maybe just an evolution is needed and not a complete extinction.  Stay Tuned.

What was different and unique about this book is that it tells the story through both words and images.  Sections of the book are told only though pictures.  The structure fits this story well and honestly I could have done with some more illustrations.  They are quite nicely done and really add to the overall work.  This is, at its heart, a book about the art of creation and art’s ability to inspire.  I think if it was possible the author would also have included moving pictures but that is, as of yet, not a reality for the printed page.

Reading with my daughter is a special time.  Even though she has long since reached the age where she can read on her own, I think she still enjoys our bedtime reading together.  I try to give the characters different voices and give each story we read some texture.  I know I don’t always succeed but it is still fun for both of us to have this special time together.  We haven’t picked our next book yet so I am on the look out for something unique and fun to read.  We started working through Harry Potter last year or so but that project bogged down in book four.  I think the story slows down in that book and Emily certainly has lost interest.  I need to find something soon though because I feel like this reading time may be near its end.  Kids grow up and stop wanting their parents’ to read to them.  She might not miss it but I will.

To get started, here are the things that I either have to do on a weekly basis or want to do.

1. Work – Gotta do that
2. Sleep – Gotta do that too
3. Meals – Ok, there’s that
4. Time with Family
5. Exercise – Health is becoming a serious issue for me.  Serious in that I feel like I am dying
6. Reading
7. Learning something new
8. Personal time – This includes just random things I might enjoy doing like video games, blogging, movies, tv, etc.
9. House/Yard Work – Honestly, I really hate that stuff but it has to be done.

So, that is kind of the main groupings of things I need to schedule so now lets look at a typical weekday.

6:00 AM – Wake Up – This often gets pushed to around 6:20-6:30 but 6:00 is the right time

6:50 AM – Leave for work – I basically have 50 minutes or less to get ready for work and out the door.  Traffic is a bitch.

6:50-8:00 AM – Commute/Breakfast – Yes, I know that over an hour commute sucks but that is the situation today.  This is also the time I usually eat breakfast.  You can guess I am sure that what I eat generally isn’t recommended.

8:00 AM to 5:00 PM – Work – This is a typical day.  I won’t even begin to discuss the days I work later or overtime.  I usually grab lunch somewhere around 1:00.

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Drive Home – Again, very sucky.

6:00 PM – 6:45 PM – Dinner with Family – In 2012 we are trying to eat at the table as a family.  This is important and special time.

6:45 PM – 7:45 PM – Family Time – This includes hanging out with my wife and daughter, playing games, etc.

7:45 PM – 8:20 PM – Open – This is usually Emily’s bath time and is often used for watching any TV that we have recorded.

8:20 PM – 9:00 PM – This is the time set aside to get Emily ready for bed, bedtime reading, and tucking in.  I am not always on bed duty but it is a good time for me to spend with my daughter whom I don’t get to see enough.

9:00 PM – 10:00 PM – Open – This is really the only open time in my day.  It needs to be used wisely and it often is not.  Note that this is about the only time I have with my wife sans kid.

10:00 PM – 11:00 PM – Bedtime.  This is when I would usually read, but lately I am so worn out that I fall asleep about the moment my head hits the pillow.  Sleeping from 10:00 to 6:00 provides the optimum amount of sleep for me at 8 hours.  I can go on less but as the sleep deprivation builds up during the week I have less and less energy.  The older I get, the more of an issue this becomes.

11:00 PM to 6:00 AM – Sleep.

After this the cycle repeats.  Obviously weekends are different but doing anything other than working (gotta get the $$$ when I can) or being with family feels unfair to my wife and daughter.  The weekends provide more time for things I want to do but reading and working on learning something like programming is hard to do when there are 5 day gaps between each session.  Anyway, when I put it all down on paper it looks ridiculous.  There is just no time and I am getting older, fatter, and slower every day.  The only way I am going to meet my goals is to work really hard at squeezing everything out of every hour of every day.  This has to mean that useless or lazy pursuits have to be pushed out.  Throw in a serious attempt at one hour of exercise a day somewhere and there is nothing left.  I am honestly disheartened by the reality of the situation but have no idea how to change it.

I don’t know how other people do it but I better figure it out or life will be over before I really feel like it got started.

After signing up I decided to do a little research on the site and found the following TechCrunch article.

Codecademy’s CodeYear Attracts 100,000 Aspiring Programmers In 48 Hours

While the article didn’t really tell me anything groundbreaking, I spotted a comment below the article that stopped me cold.

I think it’s a great idea.

But do not fool yourself: You will not be the next startup rockstar or the CTO of Facebook by completing these very basic coding lessons. It’s nice for technically uneducated people to understand some of concepts behind coding.

There is no shortcut to become a good coder. You will still need a few years of learning and a few years of practice to be able to write your own startup project code, scalable and reliable. If you’re 20, go for it. If you’re 30 – too late.

Better to spend some time to learn project management and team leading skills – and listen a lot to senior coders how they work and what work environment they expect. You will be way more valuable to your startup then. - Roberto Valerio

What got me was “If you’re 30 – too late.”  I am not sure if I agree with what he is saying or not but I see where he is coming from.  Programming is a learned skill just like anything else.  The best programmers are almost always the guys who live and breath it for years.  We have all heard stories about young programmers sleeping at their desks and working through the night to complete a programming job or some personal project.  Certainly you have to have a passion for coding, just like you have to have a passion for anything to be really good at it but, I am not sure that age is necessarily a barrier to entry.

I remember a lady who was well into her 30s or maybe even 40s going back to school to become a biologist while I was working on my undergraduate degree.  I didn’t think she was too old to learn chemistry back then and I don’t think anyone is too old to learn to program now.  The odds of someone at 36 learning to code, becoming good at it and creating the next Facebook are probably slim, but why tell someone not to do it?  It just seems wrong to me.  What I think he is saying is that someone is wasting their time trying to learn to code when they reach middle age and that they would have better prospects professionally working on the leadership skills of team management and project management.  He may have a point but that is no reason not to learn something.  In fact, I am a firm believer in the idea that the more you know the better.

We don’t really know the limits of the human mind and it should be pushed.  Personally, I am really looking forward to digging into something I have only casually looked at for years.  As I have said before, I seem to have a knack for working with hardware and administration, but I have always felt that I lacked a solid base in programming knowledge.  Even if programming is not to be my future profession, I still want to learn.  I am excited for the Code Year project and will be learning along with thousands of others.  Some, I hope, are as old as me!