Goal setting help to achieve more and reach your potential. Without goals, things just do not seem to get done at all or nearly as fast. Goals help to push you, to set progress markers and to make you accountable to do things that you would otherwise give up on. Whether a work goal, an atheletic goal or leisure activity, goals are beneficial in all areas of life.

However, I have found that there are also a couple of things to watch out for when setting goals. The first is the need to set new goals once the initial goal is reached. The second is to keep the goal small enough so that it does not overwhelm.

This is the first post of a five part series aimed at development productivity. The subjects covered in the series will be:

1. Basic linux commands
2. "dot" file configurations
3. SSH, Networking commands
4. PHP and git command options and shortcuts
5. Process and disk monitoring

The first part deals with shortcuts and common commands I use in my day to day development on a linux environment.

My friend Vince and I finished the Saskatoon Mogathon half-marathon on Saturday September 20th in a time of 2:02:57. This is a pace of 5:50 a kilometer. I was really happy with the result and felt good afterwards. Tressa commented that last year after the 10k race I looked like I was dying, so I guess my core health has improved a lot in a year : ).

Vince, who has ran a few marathons, could have finished the race in a faster time but he stayed at my pace which was a classy move : ). Stay classy San Diego.

I went out again on Tuesday night and ran 21.1k in a very respectable 2:11:30ish (my GPS acted up the first few kilometers, so had to estimate. I believe it is accurate to +/- one minute). Just over a week before I ran the distance in 2:35:00.

The time difference was over a minute a kilometer faster. How was this possible? I attribute part of it to talking during the previous run. In addition to slowing us down, I think it was a great workout because breathing is much easier when you no longer are huffing and puffing to speak. Another part is that I knew I could do the distance and my body was that much stronger. A last factor is that once my 10k/15k times were known to be good, I pushed myself that much more to finish strong.

I was very happy with the result. Then I was very stiff for about an hour. I did not think I could eat solid food for about three hours (after drinking a shake and a bunch of water). My body thought it was under attack and I had chills and then fever for about two hours. When the fever was gone, my core felt much hotter than usual until the next morning. I was noticeably sluggish the entire next day but feel great again now.

So clearly I pushed myself a little too far, or maybe just enough - after all I did not vomit (and never have from running) or feel sick for more than a few hours. I also remember feeling this way after a 10k race last year and now I never feel strange after 10k. Hopefully, my body will be more used to this the next time I go out.

Our dog Meisha is a little over eighteen months old now and always waits to greet Tressa home from work as seen in the first picture. The second picture is funny because Meisha knows that she is not allowed to go on the couch, but gets around the issue by going on us from time to time. She also has crossed her paws which looks very pseudo ladylike.