Author: Doug McCaughan

Father of 5. Juggler. Ticked off at blogger.com.
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What do you do to stay sharp?

In addition to my regular programming study for work, I do some daily mental exercises. I am practicing Spanish daily. I am practicing Morse code daily. I try to work a non-work related programming challenge daily https://www.codewars.com/ I’m studying ham radio to upgrade to my Amateur Extra class license. I try to get some daily reading in even if it is just a paragraph or listening to an audiobook. And I’m now adding a daily math problem from https://www.mathopolis.com/questions/day.php where I’m doing one math problem from every grade (yes, I got cocky and missed the 2nd grade math problem) and topic. I want to see math like Neo sees the Matrix. I’m failing a bit at my daily physical exercise but motivated to change that.
What do you do to stay sharp?

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An active mind is a healthy mind

Knocking the plaques off the brain. Began the day with some Spanish practice and some Morse code practice. Then jumped into codewars.com and the first challenge I was given was…”write a Morse code decoder!”
Here’s my passing code (wordpress stripped the indentions):
function decode_morse(string $code): string {
$returnstring = ”;

//break the input string into words based on three spaces between words
$morsewords = explode(‘ ‘,$code);
foreach($morsewords as &$word){

//translate each letter of each word from Morse using the built-in library
$morse = explode(‘ ‘,$word);
foreach($morse as &$value){
$returnstring .= MORSE_CODE[$value];
}
$returnstring .= ‘ ‘;
}

//clean up return string by removing any leading or trailing spaces we added or that were in the original input string
return trim($returnstring);

}
Now to return to becoming a PowerApps and Azure expert. Light the incense, dim the lights, and turn up the cyberpunk. I’m going in!

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Communing with nature

When I was a child
I used to sit in the woods
I fell asleep in a tree
One time more than I probably should’ve
I’d awake slowly
Fifteen feet above the ground
Calm in the breeze
With no one around
My mind at peace
My life calm
Then I’d leave nature
To find everything wrong.

-dm2022-04-30

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Work

Work: “It’s Monday! We want you product! So much to do. Go go go go!”
Also work: “Eh, yeah, we installed so many software and firmware updates to your computer over the weekend that you will spend half your day rebooting your computer. No, we aren’t moving the deadlines.”

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Confidence

You know how when you are in the ocean and the water is getting shallower and shallower and you feel like you are finally getting out of deep water but then suddenly you are neck deep or in over your head because you were actually on a sandbar? I’m hoping I’m not on a sandbar but I suspect I am.

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The need for friends

I need to talk to someone
But I can think of no one to call
I’m not sure I even want to chat
I’d just like to know someone has my back
It’s very lonely in this crowded world
I have so many friends I haven’t seen in years
Would they listen to me discuss my fears
Or are they too caught up in their own woes
Busy, consumed in their lives
To be troubled by my troubles I keep inside
I bet they also need to talk to someone
I’d love to chat unfortunately I don’t have time
To call them back.
-DM 2022-03-09