Not So Early Morning Student

I have now been home for a full week (plus a little) and have realized that waking up early just isn't working. I don't know what it is, but I'm waking up at 10:30 regardless of when I go to sleep. I've tried setting my alarm for 8 and have been going to sleep between 9 and 11, so I'm getting tons of sleep, but I just can't function that early for whatever reason. I've also had quite a few days where it feels like my eyes did some serious workouts while I was unconscious, leading to me being uncomfortable and irritable all day.

But, that's not to say I haven't been productive. In fact, I've been very productive! Every day I get in about an hour of exercise and probably 30 minutes of stretching, which is better than I expected. Because of this (and improved eating habits) I've already lost close to 15 pounds. I'm still not very close to where I want to be, but it's a definite improvement and hopefully I can add some muscle before baseball season starts. It seems my ankle will be a nagging problem for a while (maybe even a lifetime, as I was told this summer), but my elbow and wrist are in great shape and my shoulder is stronger and more flexible than ever. I still need to start throwing again, but that shouldn't take too long. It's like riding a bike, right?

My progress through Python has been pretty successful. Using lecture notes from class last year, Google Code University's short Python tutorial, and Learn Python the Hard Way, I've made significant progress through the language. Clearly I'm not an expert yet, but I do enjoy coding in Python more than I enjoyed Haskell, though I still really like Haskell. Maybe at some point I'll write down my thoughts on the pros and cons of Haskell, but my main thought on it is that it is a fantastic introductory language. The strict type system makes you understand what you're doing, and I'm a big fan of error messages telling you what line is messed up. Hopefully I'll be able to use Python for some web scripting I have planned before fantasy baseball really gets going.

Lastly, I finally upgraded my hard drive from a 500 GB, 5400 RPM HDD that my computer had in it to a 256 GB OCZ Vertex 4. My computer cold boots faster than it used to wake up from sleeping. I haven't tested the battery yet but there doesn't seem to be a significant increase in life there. But I love how quickly I can open files and applications. Maybe I'll have to upgrade the RAM later. The best news: I now have a 500 GB bootable external hard drive ready to go. I still need to transfer over some key files (my music, for example), but I have to take care of some basic things first, like getting my bashrc aliases back for my Terminal and fine tuning some folder behaviors. It feels good to have the smallest and fastest Mac in the house.

Happy holidays, everyone! Hope your weather isn't as dreary as it is in Portland right now.