Progress is a weird thing

Progress is a weird thing, its slow and steady. But because of that we often don’t notice it.

In the time since my last post I have gotten quite a lot done.

I have gotten comfortable with the Ergonomic Split keyboard and even reached 80 avg WPM with a high precision rate, have completed SC-900, been studying for SC-200, picked up a new hobby, and created a consistent bathouse routine.

While this progress was slow and over time, it has given me a lot to be excited, engaged, and happy about.:

Progress Details

Split Ergonomic Keyboard

The keyboard was a tough one at first, but after spending about 30 minutes each day on keybr (which starts off easy and helps with confidence), I was able to greatly improve my keypairs and get it to a good speed.

Infact, the keyboard is so nice to type on that I force myself to use it for everything (work and personal). One of the tradeoffs though is that I was in the middle of learning and getting better at NVim when I got the keyboard, so everything just got 5x harder. Since getting the keyboard I have not done much programming or development, which is actually a good thing as that was taking up too much of my time and causing more stress than good. Since that I have been able to pivot to learning more about Cybersecurity and getting more certified.

NVim

As I mentioned, I paused learning NVim since I got my new keyboard, but I use it to type these posts so I am still getting some practice. I want to keep it up, but since I am putting down software dev in personal time, I don’t think I will be consistent.

This may change as I have some good ideas and projects I want to finish, particularly my survey platform, teacher evaluation platform, and threat intelligence/credential investigation site.

Microsoft Security

I wanted to start small so I found the SC-900 cert and studied for a couple days and passed. Its very conceptual and required you to know and describe a variatey of Microsoft security tools and how they work together.

I enjoyed learning it, so my next certification is SC-200, which is more difficult and in-depth. I have been consistently passing practice exams and I think I will schedule the exam in a week. I still need to go through the Microsoft Learn courses, but I find that incredibly boring so I will save it for a few days before the exam to cram and really ingest the content.

Stop working on web-apps on my own time

Basically I found myself working in endless loops building apps for no real reason, yes I learned a lot. But I left a lot of things incomplete, and the success of the projects would have more to do with marketing and that realm which I am very much not interested in.

New (old) hobby - FPV Drone Flying/Racing

My friend told me he wanted to try out FPV drone racing without knowing I used to do it. After speaking about it for a while, my excitement and passion for it was re-ignited.

So we bought matching drones and sets, then headed out on a Saturday to a park to fly. I had such an amazing time and the high hasnt worn off yet.

I took some of the clips and edited a cool video, which I also enjoyed doing.

Have been using Liftoff as a simulator to get better at full acro mode and have been making steady progress. Still trying to figure out how to get more nimble control of the drone, but I think that will happen with time.

Was able to do some powerloops and have a great sequence without editing needed:

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New Bathouse Routine

Routines are great for everyone, they give us something consistent in times of volitility.

For my birthday my girlfriend surprised me and took me to a Bathhouse (the one by the flatiron). After going a few more times with friends I bought the membership and have been going at least once a week.

It has been a priceless social as well as phsyical activity, and has taught me a lot about just going for the hard things (In this case the cold plunge). Currently I have been able to about 2 minutes and the feeling after is pure bliss. It has been a great thing to look forward to every week.