I’ve been flirting around with this idea for a while without actually taking some action, and a recent set of blog posts about these subjects have prompted me to start doing something about it. These and other posts, mostly from a couple of blogs I started reading not so long ago, are giving me ideas on how to break the inertia and start doing instead of just thinking and planning. They’ve shown me some of the obstacles in my way, mostly related to things you can change, instead of things that are out of our control. I spend a lot of time blaming my stagnation on external conditions, when there are lots of things under my own control that I can start changing to be more productive, things like the Internet and e-mail habits, lack of time scheduling, etc.

It’s not an easy task though. It requires discipline, because you can be told what to do and still do nothing, but in that case you have no excuse. This way, you’re at least more conscious that you need to take some responsibility for your life, that you can’t get always away with blaming everything on external conditions out of your control.

By the way, the two blogs I mention are Freestyle Mind and Michael Hyatt‘s personal blog. Not all of what they post is about this subject, and I do not agree with all of what they post about it, but they are great for a start, so I’ll be playing around with some of the ideas and adapt them to my own environment.

Do you know any other useful blogs or sources of information that can help me and others in changing habits, being more productive, being a doer instead of just a planner?

It allows you to select what version of Rails (and Ruby) to browse, and the most awesome part is that you can download a compressed package to browse it offline locally in your own computer. It includes Rails 3 beta and Ruby 1.9.x as well.

Meanwhile I am enjoying a similar experience. Somebody noticed out there that there are many of us with an iPad already (kind of). The iPad nano has been around for a couple of years now but with another name. And I recently got one and I am delighted with it. Why going crazy about the new one when you can have the nano version which fits in your pocket, has a camera and makes phone calls too!

iPad nano

Now seriously, after using the iPhone for some days I understand why people are crazy to experiment with its big but younger brother. Touch screens are seriously redefining how we interact with computers and from a developer standpoint it’s amazing the whole new set of possibilities that arise. And it’s not only touch screens and multi-touch, but also the ability to make a program adapt to different orientations of the device, to be able to access hardware services like a compass, accelerometer, GPS, etc.

My new MacBook seen from behind

I finally ended this mac envy that has been consuming me for the last few months. Being a Ruby on Rails developer for some time now, all those screencasts and tutorials always based in MacOS X and Textmate have had an effect on me. Although it seems that I’ll be playing mostly with xcode instead of Textmate for some time, but it’s sexy to have Textmate just an inch away in case I need it.

PS: For the couple of friends of mine that already had a Mac, my envy was not malicious.

That’s me. And that’s what this blog will talk about, mostly. Experiences, tips, opinions –about software development and software or technology in general. I might go off topic from time to time though. Whatever comes to my mind.