A very fulfilling month
I know I haven’t been writing much, but it’s for good reasons this time. I haven’t been working 60+ hours a week, either. I’m actually finishing up one of the most fulfilling months I’ve had in a while. Here are some of the things that I’ve been up to offline:
1.) WPF and .Net programming. I’ve spent the past 4-5 years programming just for the web, but lately I’ve had the chance to work in WPF. It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve even been coding on it at home for some spare projects (including one I mentioned about 9 months ago that I *will* finish). While the only finished home product that I could possibly release is a keystroke-counter (I was just curious as to how many keys I hit in a day at work… and it’s usually between 35,000 and 45,000, depending on the hours), I think that I’ll be able to knock out a few working programs by the end of the year. If only I was better at forcing myself to keep each program simple!
2.) Tuba. Here’s a little tidbit that many probably don’t know about me. I’ve been playing tuba for 15 years now. I’m pretty good, at least for a computer programmer. I started in 8th grade, and made the Missouri All-State band my senior year in high school (in a way, I was “ranked” the 6th-best high school tuba player in all of Missouri). I played through four years of college on a music scholarship, and sat first-chair for two out of four years. I even considered majoring in music education or music performance briefly (until I took my first programming class, at least). My biggest accomplishment was being allowed to play “From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific” as a soloist with the full band accompanying me during my junior year. I can’t post the entire mp3 on my site because I’m not sure how to obtain the performance rights from the publisher, but it should be ok to publish a couple 10-15 second clips.
I didn’t play last year because things were already so hectic with the wedding and work, but I’m picking up the horn again this summer. I’m incredibly rusty, so I’ve been practicing to try to get back to the point where I don’t embarrass myself.
3.) Exercise. I’m not incredibly out-of-shape, but I’ve gained a little bit of weight during my first year of marriage. I’m starting to work some of it off. My methods are to hold back a bit on what I eat and playing Wii Fit, and I can already see progress. I know Wii Fit isn’t the best workout, but at least it’s one that I don’t hate going to. Making exercise into a video game is the best way to keep my interest up. 
4.) Dr. Mario. Ok, this game just came out on Wii this past Monday, but I can’t get it out of my head. It’s funny how out of all of the games that are available, the only ones that keep my interest are the ones that I used to play when I was younger. And better yet, the ones I can play for 10-15 minutes before putting them down.
Overall, this has been a very good month. I will get back to writing blog posts soon. I have been writing a bit, I just don’t get them to the point where I feel comfortable publishing them. I have sixteen half-written posts saved in my queue! I think I need to find a more productive approach to blog writing.
Tags: [exercise, programming, tuba]