blue – The PolyBlog

2016 – Progress on my blue goals

January 2 2017

So it is 2017. January. The year that was 2016 is over, and as per usual, it is time to see how I did. It is NOT going to be pretty. I’m starting with my “blue” / analytical / learning goals.

MY BLUE GOALS – Live Blue or Die!

Astronomy was on my list at the start of the year, and I did almost nothing on it all year. Not quite nothing, I did get my laptop setup to try linking with my camera for a bit of astrophotography, but the astronomy part was minimal. I’ve entered a bit of a inertia problem with my astronomy, much of which will sound like a series of excuses rather than explanations. For me, there are four inter-related problems. First and foremost, I struggle with my equipment. I have a good scope for me and my interests, great optics, some filters, etc. But I struggle to “find” what it is I’m supposed to be seeing still. Some of that is technical, some of it is intellectual. I also hate my power supplies for the equipment, need to fix that. Second, I struggle with having a good location to view from. Basically I have two currently — a park in a suburb nearby, not great, or my backyard. I had bad timing this year for the Star Parties and outings, but also with the equipment challenges, wasn’t exactly encouraged to leap to viewing. I’m hoping my friend’s AstroParc is up and running this year, a bit farther away than I would like, but if I timed it for after work, might be an option once in awhile next fall, or even some late spring / early summer nights. Third, it is extremely rare for me to say something like this about ANYTHING, but I find it a bit boring to do alone. Not to mention that hanging out in a secluded dark park is not exactly at the top of my list of things to do with thousands of dollars of equipment. Fourth and final, one of the solutions to all of the first three is to find a star buddy, and that didn’t exactly happen when I joined RASC (the national astronomy club). I thought there would be obvious buddy-like experiences, but I’m not the most extroverted of people, and while the star parties are fun, you’re basically walking around in the dark talking to nameless and faceless entities most of the time. Not the most conducive to finding a buddy to go to the next party with. As I said at the top, mostly lame excuses, not real challenges, but it just didn’t end up being anything I wanted to prioritize this year. Definitely RED.
For Courses, I was fully expecting to hit the ground running in early March/April, finish the Video Games course, get going on Psychology, and maybe even add a third by the end of the year. But for a variety of other issues, mostly under red goals, almost none of those happened. Coursera moved the course around for structure, but I managed to download all the videos I need, so I *can* finish, I just haven’t yet. But I still intend to. Hard to motivate oneself when there is no urgency or payoff other than basic interest. A little bit of yellow near the start of the year, RED by the end.
Reading tends to be something I do in fits and starts. I gave Kindle Unlimited a try, but it’s just not worth it to me in Canada — most of the books I would want are not part of the program. Random guess, I would say I probably did about 30 books over the course of the year, but I’ll have a better idea in the next couple of months as I now have my ebook collection fully under control and organized, and I’m back to doing reviews again. I’m also confident that I’ll be able to keep going this year on regular reading. Mostly I need to stop just reading the news while I have my lunch and to actually dive into novels and non-fiction titles. Call it YELLOW for the year.
Writing is really hard to measure, and I’ll talk a bit again about this in the red goals. I moved the blog and completely rebuilt it, as well as my picture site. I finally reached 500K words, etc., and I got my Book Reviews up and running. But I’m still coding it RED as I didn’t finish my HR guide despite ongoing demand.
Photography is a hard one to evaluate. Mostly it’s red as I didn’t finish my course or setup cards, but I did keep PhotoBooks going and we did end up with some great shots for the year. Still leaving it as RED though.
For my Reviews, I’m going to be a bit generous to myself for three reasons. First, I already took the hit on the blog/writing above, so I don’t want to “mark myself down” twice for the same infraction. Second, I have been tweeting my TV episode reviews like crazy for the year. Some 2800 plus tweets since I began. I also put up 90 old book reviews and I’m almost ready to start with new ones. Definitely would be yellow at least, but I’m upgrading myself to GREEN.
For Organization, I was mainly looking at new ways to use digital apps, and I’ve done that throughout the year with calendars, to-do lists and shopping lists. Even got our passports redone this year, all newly issued. Again, I’m going to be a bit generous, and call it GREEN.
On Cyber, I had four main areas I wanted to handle — sorting photos (green), scanning photos (umm), sorting music (umm), and backup options (yes, except not current, umm). Okay, so the main work was the sorting of photos, and I did that. Rest would be red. Call it YELLOW overall.
On the Honey-Do List, a sexist name for basically a home activities/renovation list, we did a few items on the list, not many. Dealt with the things that needed to be done, plus a few others. Nothing major looming. Call it YELLOW, albeit a bit generous.

Let’s see where that leaves me:

GREEN: Reviews, Organization,
YELLOW: Reading, Cyber, Honey-Do List
RED: Astronomy, Courses, Writing, Photography

Honestly, now that I’ve coded them individually, I’m a bit surprised. It’s not as ugly as I thought it would be, even for blue.

The ones that are my standards i.e. Organization, Reading, Cyber were not too far off where I want them to be overall (I’m ambitious in my goals, but not unrealistic in expectations), and the Honey-Do List is not a crisis. I did okay with the reviews overall for the year, so that’s a plus.

Where I really fell down though was going beyond the basics to my growth areas — Astronomy, Courses, Writing and Photography. And that makes sense to me, particularly in light of what I will have to say in my red goals post.

Overall, I’m coding my blue goals as YELLOW. Down from where I would like them, but not nightmarish.

My blue goals for 2016

February 19 2016

Not surprisingly, I spent most of my time on the draft model thinking about the “blue” stream. As I said earlier, I had hoped for more comments about the model to get me thinking, refining, riffing off other people’s ideas, but that didn’t happen much. I did benefit a lot from one friend’s comments in particular and it helped me crystallize what the blue stream means to me, so thanks AG!

It’s probably more granular than I need it to be, but I would see it having six streams that probably collapse into three:

A learning stream that combines basic intellectual processes with a sense of curiosity, expanding out through exploration and knowledge accumulation, and culminating in applied, directed learning with a strong analytical component (since we’re in blue, it might be more “creative” if it was in yellow, I suppose);
A communications stream that is basic communication, self-expression in a variety of forms, and more applied comms skills like languages…I suspect there is a more “applied” comms category that would encapsulate some of the yellow forms of communication too (singing, art, crafts, dance, etc.) but for me it is probably mostly language at the top level (my blog would be the self-expression form, I suppose); and,
A self-control stream that combines self-possession / relaxation / stability to give a strong core base, some self-esteem + calming techniques + routine in one’s life, and finally culminating in self-confidence, advanced centreing, and ultimately increased “order” to one’s life. I suspect a lot of people would put the relax / de-stress / peace / calm elements in “green” for earthiness, yellow for inner peace, or red for directing one’s energy, but for me it is primarily about ordering the mind, and hence blue.

Category	TIER ONE (Basic Needs)	TIER TWO (Developmental Needs)	TIER THREE (Self-Fulfillment Needs)
Blue (Intellect, analytical, learning, organization)	Essential cognitive skills Curiosity Ability to communicate Stability Self-possession Relaxation	Knowledge, understanding Exploration Self-expression Routine Self-esteem Calming	Analytical skills Applied learning Language skills Order, organization Self-confidence Centreing

Blue is my go-to energy, the one that both gives me energy and energizes me as I’m using it. The perpetual battery for introverted analytical-types. That’s me. And the more I have moved to the “centre” to balance blue, red, yellow and green, the more dissonance there has been with my true self. I’m a blue. I’ve always been a blue. It’s my core, my strength, my claim to fame and my passion. It’s time I embraced my full blue self.

While Kermit may sing about it not being easy being green, being blue for me is like falling off a couch. Point out a situation, and I’m already analyzing it, including why you pointed it out. I’m fast, I’m analytical and intuitive, and I’m damn good at it. Of course, being blue blinds you to some insights from green/red/yellow approaches, but focusing on them has also diminished the quality and productivity of my blue side. In terms of bases, my blue is rock-solid for the learning and communications streams, definitely in Tier Three most of the time. However, the self-control stream has taken some hits in recent years. Probably because it is the least interesting of the three streams, the most mechanized, the most drudgery-filled form of work. Lists, tracking, review, more lists. B-O-R-I-N-G! 🙂

This means for every activity I do in the self-control stream, I will reward myself with activities in the other two. Plus, overall, I want to have at least have one blue for each of the other colour’s priorities i.e. I have three priorities for each of the other three for a total of nine, meaning I have room for nine blue priorities, with no more than three in self-control and six in the other two streams.

I am keeping my astronomy interest going. I didn’t get as far as I would have liked last year, but I did manage to get the tracking mostly fixed. This year, my focus is expanding my skills for the moon, using filters, and taking some astrophotos (moon, planets and globular clusters). Basically, taking my skills from basic to medium in the applied learning stream.

I am also going to complete two online courses this year — the one I am already doing for Understanding Video Games, and I have some ideas how to better access the content for that in my schedule, and then on to the Psychology course. I haven’t been prioritizing it the way I should, but I have hope this will be a nice addition to the applied learning stream.

I have installed Kindle Unlimited on my tablet, and I have set myself an ambitious reading challenge for the year. 26 authors, 26 books or groups of books. I am not sure how I will finish them all this year, but I’ll see what I can accomplish.

For the communications stream, I am going to write a LOT. Some blog, some for books (HR Guide plus additional volumes). While a lot of this looks like “yellow” creativity, there is also a LOT of blue energy involved in researching, organizing, analyzing, developing a structured framework to explain my point of view.

Similarly, while it may look like creativity in yellow, my photography skills need more attention this year. I really want to get the basics down for certain types of landscape photography, including for water. I took some nice shots this past year, and I quite like them, but only a handful would make my portfolio of anything resembling art.

I’m going to count another aspect of communications and writing separately from the first one, and that is my reviews of TV episodes and books. I like the format, and process, that I have now for each, and I’m going to keep adding them to my blog. They’re a bit different from the other writing though, hence why I am counting it separately.

For the self-control stream, some of it already addressed on the physical side (red) with yoga and stretching. As such, my three priorities here are a little tighter in focus on the mechanical aspects. First and foremost, I’ve switched over to a new organizer/app that I can run on multiple computers, tablets and phones, and it will always be live and synchronized. Will it keep me organized for calendars, tracking, and finances? Only time will tell, but I’m using part of it already more than I was, compliments of two new apps (Sunrise for a calendar and TickTick for the todo list). I need to redo my bucket list to be a much more practical, prudent list for example, and I think I’ll be able to include it in the app.

On the cyber front, my two big things for the coming year are going to be organizing my photo and music collections and setting up a good reliable backup system.

Last but not least, I’m going to set up my “honey-do” list finally. I’ve managed it in multiple forms, but it’s time I set it up clearly and unreservedly and set myself a goal of doing at least one thing off it a week. I’ve got a good start on the basic form of it, but I need to prioritize better.

So that’s all of the list, just need one more thing. My slogan. Something strong and provocative as it is my saving energy. How about: Live Blue or Die! 🙂

2015 – Wrapping all the blue goals together

January 8 2015

So most of my goals are up on the blog now, with strong commitments across the board. I haven’t talked about two of them yet, nor the “ongoing” day to day stuff. And the other piece missing? Things I intend to cross off my bucket list this year. Let’s start putting the pieces together.

BLUE PRIORITIES (Intellectual, organizational, cerebral)

My two big goals on this for the year are astronomy and a kitchen renovation this summer. Both require some additional planning, but they are the big two for the year, and I’ve already blogged about them.

For my bucket list, I’m going to knock five blue items off the list:

Learn photography — I have a great DSLR, but I want to figure out how to use it better. Probably one of the Coursera or TheGreatCourses options, combined with some books that I have. I might sign up for a course next fall, if the schedule permits. I will probably start on this in March. I’m also going to produce special little cards, kind of like baseball cards, with key situations and settings as reminders.
Learn to knit — I don’t have any great illusions of ability or commitment for the future, I’d just like to make something. Probably a scarf or a tea cozy. Nothing extravagant, I’d just like to try it. Andrea’s a willing teacher, at least in theory. We’ll see if her willingness continues when she has a lousy student. I’m thinking maybe April for this one.
Learn to juggle — my hand/eye coordination sucks. But, most jugglers claim anyone can do it if they practice hard, and I bought a little “kit” a few years ago with some nice soft hack/sack like balls to practice with. There are also lots of videos on the net. I’m thinking I’ll commit to this as part of a creativity challenge one month when I’m tired of blogging on the computer all the time. Sounds like a good fall project.
Learn origami — I’ve had interest in this since Grade 6 when my teacher, Mr. Hutchison, did some basic origami. I’ve learned a few folds over the years, but I’d like to commit to learning one a week once I actually get started. I’m thinking probably in May and then continue throughout the year.
Experience a meteor shower — I might settle for the regular one in August, or set up for a special one another month. Nothing extravagant, and to be honest, it might not even be the best year to do it. But worth a shot.

Under my ongoing day to day stuff, there are still items that will take work and planning, just didn’t make my big list. Obviously, I’ve taken a different approach to my 2015 goals this year in order to roll up to the PolyWogg 4.0 / Commit to the Quest brand. I’m going to continue that with a new logo design, flow chart, and incorporation into a shirt layout for myself at one of those “print here” places. I also need to set up a special type of tracker to let me implement the Seinfeld Method and keep a running total on some of my commitments.

For my mother’s estate, I mentioned I’m going to do the photo scanning, 10 photos a day. Hoping to start by the end of the month. I’d love to have these all done by the end of the year, along with sorting out all my e-files for photos going back to 2002. That also includes learning some new software and creating some photobooks.

A huge portion of my free time involves electronic tools, and I need to continue my improved organization for it. Some of it is wiring, some of it is backups, some of it is copying CDs onto the hard drive.

I have a long list of little projects around the house, and I think I’m going to give them to Andrea as a “Honey Do” list to manage for me — she can choose which ones get done next. We do this anyway now with a joint list each weekend of errands/projects to do, but many of the non-urgent ones never make the list.

I also want to get my passport renewed, and do a comparison of costs between the two major grocery stores I shop at to see how much of a premium I’m paying for convenience when I use the one.

Finally, for the blue category at least, I need to figure out my learning plan for the year. Yesterday, I posted a list of courses for TheGreatCourses and Coursera that I’m interested in, and my approach. But of course, I didn’t actually commit to the courses — there are 125 with Coursera and another 170 with TheGreatCourses. My feeling is that I can probably do one every other month, so six for the year. Time to ante up and commit to the quest. One, two, three, weed the list!

Two courses are carry-overs, and I’m not counting them in the “six” as I can finish these ones pretty quick:

Coursera – Understanding video games (carry-over)
Coursera – Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology (carry-over)

Of the others, I think I want one that is tied to psychology. Coursera has an Introduction to Psychology (University of Toronto) and I’ll go with that. Future options might be “Positive Psychology”, but that is more about self-actualization techniques.

I also want one on music. There is a Coursera course called “Introduction to Classical Music” from Yale that looks great, give me a better foundation than just randomly picking Beethoven symphonies. Plus I’m a bit more eclectic in my tastes, with some of the most obvious choices of little interest to me. Mind you, there is also a Coursera course that would aid my Billboard writing called History of Rock, Part One which is part of the University of Rochester. But it is the fact that both of them are “obvious” choices that have led me to ignore them in front of a TGC course — Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion.

I’m going to play it a little safer for my third choice, something astronomy related. Coursera has an interesting course called AstroTech: The Science and Technology behind Astronomical Discovery from the University of Edinburgh but it’s not active at the moment. If it doesn’t show up this year, I’ll opt for one of the TGC courses, either Skywatching: Seeing and Understanding Cosmic Wonders or the more traditional Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition.

My fourth course is going to be hard-core. Yep, coding. TGC has nothing in this area, it’s all about the internet courses in general or the Coursera ones, and I’m going to opt for Coursera. I’d like to take Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1 at the University of Maryland, but it assumes you already know Java which I inconveniently don’t. There’s a simpler version at University of Edinburgh called Code Yourself! An Intro to Programming, and it would probably be a really good idea to start with that one just to refresh my brain since my last programming experience from umm, 1989 and 1992 (!) didn’t use object libraries to combine existing code modules. But screw it, I am on a quest! I don’t have time for namby-pamby basics! I’m going for the University of Illinois’ Creative, Serious and Playful Science of Android Apps.

I’m going to pass on the photography courses and the Greek mythology courses, I have books on those that I’m going to read this year already. Governance and non-profits look great, as does one on giving and charities. There are several good options for ones about religion, cultural literacy, and soul beliefs.

But I really need a refresher on microeconomics to help with some work I want to do on ebook pricing, and there is a simple Coursera course called The Power of Microeconomics: Economic Principles in the Real World from the University of California at Irvine. They don’t have any sessions open right now, but I’ve added it to my watchlist. If by the time I get to it, nothing is still available, I’ll opt for one of the other micro-economic ones.

Last, I’m going to take a flyer on something. Coursera has a course from the State University of NY on Meta-literacy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World, which is about digital citizenry. I have an idea for a big project in November this year, and this will help lay the foundation early. In fact, it is up first in the rotation, starting in early February. I guess I should get those other two done before then!

That’s it, that’s all for the blue…On to the green!

My plans for 2013: Part 2 of 6 — Mind / Blue

January 17 2013

The “Mind” category is one that is represented by the Cool Blue of analytics. It is the rational me, the planner, the learner even. In many ways, the introverted me, the deep-in-my-head-this-is-what-I’m-thinking-about me.

In the past, some of my successes in this area have been purchasing a car or house, getting my french, finishing my Masters, making career changes to try something new, taking courses for fun (like film literacy), using a telescope, making some shelving, trying new software packages, learning to program, organizing my book collection, making presentations on HR, moving, running my website, home repairs, financial planning, lots of interesting and challenging files at work, and even using this approach to personal planning.

Last year, I took a slightly different approach, and had ten clear priorities for the year. Here’s how I did on them — generally, I sucked. This is my “big” area, the one that should come naturally to me. Sure, I completed my planning guide with my new approach (#1), organized the office closet (#3, done but need to reattach closet doors), and we re-did the powder room (#4, although mostly farmed out to others).

However, I didn’t set up the backyard or redo the kitchen island (#2 and #5, both postponed due to insecurities at work); never got around to looking at ETFs or re-reviewing the insurance papers (#6 and #7), didn’t update my french profile at work (#8) nor organize my booklist in paper and ebooks (#9). I did add some stuff on trivia and photos to my site, but it now needs to be redone completely in those areas (#10).

For this coming year, being better organized has to be on the list again. I have been feeling like I’m drifting of late, and I am. Survival mode rather than “progress mode”. So, I need to get Evernote organized, using my tablet to help me manage my To Do list regularly, getting my HD / backup scenario going.

While somewhat linked, I also want to do a lot more reading this year. Since I do book reviews, this also means getting my books organized, as well as my booklist. This should also help me on my bucket list regarding making a list of top 600 books and reading it (BL #67 and #68).

Home renovations could be a major theme for the year, although a lot of it will be done by others. Up first is some electrical work, but overall, the backyard is the first priority, followed by the basement, and lastly the kitchen. We may not do anything with the kitchen this year, but it’s an option. Some minor roof work is on the list too, but really it’s about the deck and the basement.

Finances have shaken themselves out a bit, but I need to tick the box by the end of February on new mutual funds or ETFs. Andrea and I should also re-evaluate our insurance this year, and I want to update one element of our will (simplifying the options around catastrophic loss).

I’ll also be expanding my website. This includes more book reviews, some movie reviews, more blogging, etc. — this is generally more related to the yellow section for self-expression than here, but I do need the “structures” of the website to be updated to accommodate the various pieces.

I’m also hoping I get time to perhaps make a garden (#03), learn to knit (#56), learn to juggle (#57), or learn origami (#58). I would also like to find time to take a course or two, just not sure yet on what — or rather, there’s a long list, just not sure what I want to do THIS year.

With those goals in mind, here’s my working to do list for the Mind category:

ROCKS	GRAVEL	SAND	WATER	AIR
Annual Update
Evernote Goals layout Electrical panel ETFs	HD backup Deck Website structure	To do list use Organize books Basement Insurance review	Booklist (#67++)	Kitchen reno Update will Garden (#03) Knit (#56) Juggle (#57) Origami (#58)
Ongoing Tracking
Charitable giving Smoke detectors Roof cleaning LIA option Google docs Plumbing leak Tax prep Boxes in office CD ripping Towel rack Bathroom stand	Basement shelving Apps for Jacob Bluetooth setup Photo gallery Jacob’s history Laundry vent Photo sorting	Roof vents Insurance claim Toon Boom MR design Address book Hang pictures Hang clock Consolidate credit card use Gift cards – Bell, KFC, Trailhead	Garage sale Basketball hoop Porch swing Fireplace Lighting Lawn light Grading, window-well Pension – transition Pension – Co-op period	#04. Design a house #05. Have a cottage #06. Use own telescope (and look through giant) #51. Meteor shower #54. Live abroad for three months #77. Present to >1000 people #83. Teach a course
Focused Learning Areas
AstronomyLegal studies	Classical music	#07. Learn photography	#09. Learn sign language	#08. Learn to drive a standard transmission

On to the next area!

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