Josh Bavari's Ramblings

Hacker News - Comment Response to Hobbyist robotics

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 09:14:00 -0700

In response to the posts on this hackernews post, I wanted to take a simple thought experiment into what it would take to create a simple hobbyist snowblower robot. This is all very high level and is not exact by any means.

Let's just throw a dart on the board with an MVP that would be a 4 wheeled robot with a snow shovel on the front, battery powered, and sensors to help the robot locate (localize) itself to the environment it is in. We'll assume a general purpose snow plowing robot for a single family home - consisting of a 2-car width driveway and sidewalks. I will make assumptions here that the robot should have an IP rating enough to keep the water from getting into harming the electronics/motors. I will discuss some of the problems below along with the tradeoffs we could make.

The problems we'd face

Again, not a comprehensive list. Just some that I could think of while writing this post in response to the Hacker news post.

A reasonable budget. After all, this is a hobby, so we could assume a limitless budget. Learning is fun, why limit that!
Having a robot large enough to plow a standard size snow shovel equivalent to a human held unit. 18 in. combination blade is ideal for shoveling and pushing snow. (As a hobbyist robot, perhaps you could make a smaller scale version of this. Again, it'd probably take the robot all day to plow the snow and the question of time vs value comes into play. How much time building the robot for how long it takes to have the robot plow the snow. It is a hobby, after all!)
Actuating the snow plow up and down - we'd probably want a plow that we can operate so we don't just push the snow back to where we just plowed it.
Dealing with the robot getting stuck in the snow. Due to this, we'd probably want a 4 wheel drive independent motors, along with a suspension that could flex to varying heights of the snow.
Finding a battery and battery management system that could handle low temperatures and supply enough power for the motors and compute.
Finding some compute small enough to fit into our IP rated enclosure/chassis, powerful enough to run the algorithms for PID/MPC, localization (unless you just want an remote controlled unit), and low power enough for the smallest size batteries.
Choosing 'robust' sensors to help the robot localize (know where it is). Since we would assume that the wheels may slip in slow or ice, we can't really rely on the odometry of the wheels to tell us how far we've gone, and thus, cannot use them to localize.
Fast iteration feedback loops. After all, that snow could be all melted by the time you 'get to market'.
Keeping the electronics dry. As I mentioned above, we'll assume an IP rating to keep water out, but we'll have to take in account the wiring leaving the enclosure to get to the edge of the motors/actuators.

The hardware

You'd need:

A chassis that you could mount the snow plow to, as well as the motors, wheels, compute. As mentioned above, we'd want IP Rated enclosures - either one to hold everything (motors, actuators, compute) or a distributed set of them.
Sensors to support localization - either small lidar units (expensive), cameras (what if we go blind, more below), or some other paired set of mechanisms, perhaps GPS / BLE / RFID. We might even need those sensors to be placed in the environment if we want a smaller compute footprint.
A rigid body that the plow attaches to for support actuating up and down. Thus, we also may need some weights on the rig to keep it stable while driving. (Akin to putting sand bags in your truck while driving without any payloads).

The electronics

At a high level, you'd need the following:

Boards to control the motors (arduino, beagleboard, Raspi, etc).
A battery to power the boards that can power all motors, compute, etc.
Some mechanism to control the battery and switching to charging (battery management system). Assuming we'd want to just plug and play batteries (think like portable drill batteries), we'd need some boards that can do power transfer to what the compute or sensors need.

The software

Could use ROS here. Plug and play for a lot of the sensors mentioned above.
You'd need something to localize, based on what sensors you use, whether it be LIDAR (expensive), cameras (compute intensive), or some beacons to assist. Either solution, you'll need to rely on Kalman filtering for state estimation. Here are some localization methods from Carnegie Mellon.
If you don't choose an off the shelf solution, you're probably ready to sign up for a PhD level course to learn more, needing background in linear algebra, probability, bundle adjustment, and other algorithms to assist in SLAM.
Your software will be heavy on the compute depending on the speed you require. The more speed and power, the more battery you will need.

Iterating - feedback loops

Chances are your iteration with hardware will be the slowest iteration loop.
Second to that, the time between software revisions.
You'll probably be best fit to have a laptop that you can plug into your board (or boards) to flash the USB card, JTAG the board, or however else. You've got updates to hardware, firmware, electronics/boards, or the software itself. Many changes to make!

Supply Chain

Want new hardware? Either 3d print (without the IP Rating) or order some parts. Ordering will take a week or more, depending on the source.
Want boards? Maybe you're lucky to live down the road from Sparkfun, or you've got amazon prime for 2 day shipments.
Want custom motors? Order from China, wait a few weeks.

Working generally vs specific cases

Depending on your use case, this is a large effort at least, an extra large effort at worst. There's a reason hardware is 'hard', since the iteration cycles take longer and mistakes 'cost' more.

Why is the large effort at best? You'll need hardware, electronics, motors, and software to drive them. It's not an easy task, but if you're up to it, you're the best hobbyist of them all.

Cheers!

What would you do

Sun, 28 Jun 2020 21:30:00 -0600

There's an exercise that asks you to begin with the end in mind. This is clearly stated in many books if you've read anything out of the self-help books, it's a common theme. It's one that has wrestled with man kind for clearly centuries. We read first about it in the stoic philosophy that tries to get us to think about our deaths as a reminder of it's ever looming date. These questions of death ask us with certainty about what we want out of life.

Some humans attempt to answer these questions. Others barely catch on to their lives before realizing it is ending. Other humans plan out their existence and chase out dreams, regardless of success or failures. Others still pursue these goals with such vigor and will that there is no failure.

On this July 4th, I seem to find myself thinking about what my 'manifest destiny' is. I wanted as a kid to explore space. You'd think I'd be chasing after the wild dream of working for SpaceX. I double majored in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering because I knew that you would have to pursue those at the very least of getting into anything dealing with robotics and space.

Today I find myself wanting other things, not wanting to chase big hairy audausious goals, but rather, ones of happiness. I may not know what my future holds, but I definitely know that it will end. As others chase their dreams of storing consciousness after their deaths, I want to explore mine during my life. Using jiu-jitsu, yoga, stretching, and other mindful mechanisms to get myself in the moment.

Only by getting my consciousness in the know, could I ever hope to find what I truly want in life.

That is what life and consciousness is - a blowing wind, a vibration in the universe, an energy force resounding in space and time, and ultimately, only truly in our universe unique.

What will I do with this time and consciousness that I have left? Will I use it for the good of others? Will I use it for my own personal gain? Will I use it to put smiles on others faces, trying to bring joy and happiness in this world of suffering? Will I look outward? Will I look inward?

Will I chase drawing my own family together, or go so far deep inside that I may not spare to find myself, but get lost in it?

These are truly the only questions that matter. One day, we will be faced with our own cease of consciousness and existence.

What would you do with this time left? You are not guaranteed it. Take action now. Let go of the past, face forward, embrace the change, and become the best you in the now.

Half year check in

Sun, 28 Jun 2020 21:30:00 -0600

Being it the 28th of June, and having June come and gone so quickly, I wanted to check in with myself to see how this year in review was going.

Highlights

Had my first year anniversary at Amazon.
Working on some fun and interesting challenges.
Got a new truck - 2020 4Runner - an excuse for not being able to take a summer vacation anywhere.
Had camping adventures (Storm Mtn, Turtle Rock, Taylor Park).
Got into a new hobby of off roading / overlanding (just getting into it via Youtube videos).
Visited my family in Oklahoma over the break.
I'm reading more. At the time of writing this, I've completed 24 books, about 4 books a month.
Working from home.

Low lights

Pandemic.
Lives lost in America.
The nation splitting across further, race, masks, politcal affiliations.. it's nuts.
Dog having some paw issues that I haven't figured out yet.

Things to do better

Get more camping trips planned.
Get Majh to the vet again for a checkin on her paw situation.
Get more parts for the truck to support traveling and working remotely.
Be kind to everyone and remind them we are all in this together.

Things I'm looking forward to

Week long trips to go around america in my new car (I really need to decide on some destinations)
Camping trip to Pagosa Springs, Durango, Telluride, and Crested Butte.

Thoughts about my habits and systems

I've really enjoyed ramping up my audiobook and reading habits. I've been doing pretty well on my walking the dog habit and listening to an audio book. I've also kept to my nightly habit of leaving my phone and watch in my office and not allowing it near my bedside unless I'm traveling or out of my normal routine.

My reading habit is solid - I keep my Kindle near my bed, or I have a habit of reading in my office before going to bed. Even if it is only a sentence, or paragraph, or sometimes an entire chapter. I've remained to not break my Kindle streak, which is doing it's job to keep my addicted to the chase of reading. At the time of writing this, I'm 30 weeks in a row, for a total of 162 days in a row. This was due to sometime January where I had a single day where I forgot to hold to this habit.. That will drive me nuts now, but a lesson to keep reading.

Regarding working out, I was near that goal but had some delays. Firstly, while getting into the quarantine, Jamie and I had begun training almost daily. We had some drilling that we were doing along with some light sparring. One day, Jamie accidently pushed my knee in and had a small hyperextension on my knee. This set me back a few weeks, as I had some pain and popping while walking. I am mostly back to normal now, but still not in a daily habit of working out. There is no excuse here, I am just being lazy and investigating other hobbies, namely, off roading.

Additionally, I've cut down on my alcohol consumption. It really doens't leave me feeling well, so I've not had a hard time giving that up. I will occasionally have some in a public setting with friends, be it a simple cider or snowmelt from Upslope.

My weight currently sits at 191.4, which I hope my scale is not wrong. I've been fluctuating around 194-197, so this is a low of the scale is correct.

My writing habit is not going well. I will be honest here, being home all day and working, then being 'off', hasn't really inspired me to write. Other than writing this, and some half baked book reviews, I haven't been exercising writing outside of work.

With my systems and goals regarding giving back to the community - that has been a full on failure. Due to the pandemic, meeting with the community is not allowed. Additionally, I need to get back into my nerd beers community and get some going around work.

Audible stats

May topped with 24 hours and 57 minute listening time. With March and April around 11h 43m oddly enough, with April dipping to 8h 20m, and June at 14h 59m. I know the long time in May was due to my constant driving down to Oklahoma and back to Colorado. I complted Fooled by Randomness, The Infinite Game, and Call Sign Chaos. Sadly, I cannot go back to Jan and Feb, but that's ok.

Goals checkin

Copied from my 2020 Goals and Systems:

Have listened (audible) to 40 books this year. AT RISK. Currently at 21, and that's both audible and kindle. Realistically, it's more like 20 each.
Have read (physical or kindle) 40 books this year. AT RISK. Same as audible.
Have finished writing a book draft for my first book. AT RISK. I could get this done, but I need to get the writing system going.
Writing at least 2 blog posts a month. HALF. Need to keep writing and publish those that I've started.
Have been present and aware as much as I could physically and mentally. ON TRACK. Visited family, date nights, travels planned.
Practicing leadership with people I mentor or in the community. ON TRACK. Practice at work and with family/friends.
Camped 10 different sites with friends and family. ON TRACK. Got a few more planned too.
Traveled to two countries this year. CLOSED. Pandemic.
Completed a meaningful project that helps people sell their used goods. CLOSED. Pandemic.. but mostly time and loss of desire.
Given a talk at Ignite Boulder. CLOSED, Pandemic
Have spoke at one technical conference. CLOSED, could do it, but would rather focus on traveling and working
Get back to a healthy 185lbs and be healhy enough to train jiu-jitsu 3 times a week consistently. ON TRACK.

Everything Decays

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 21:39:00 -0600

Just keep in mind: the more we value things outside our control, the less control we have. - Epictetus

Everything decays. That of course is obvious to any sentient human being who has left any food out for a few days. This decay is so close and personal to everything in our view that we refrain from seeing and thinking about it. This decay is liken to our noses, through a life time we forget it's always in our eyes view. Our brains, through some motion of evolution or preplanned nature, made this ignorance possible. While all things decay, this shouldn't be a negative view. In fact, we must remain every vigiliant in this decay.

In our projects. In our relationships. In our gardening. In our family. In our health.

When you start something new, do you think of the costs of decay - both in terms of your current projects in tow and your obligations to the new project? At some point in time, that new boat is going to need waxing. We cannot control these things, we are merely slaves to them.

When thinking of your next relationship - think more in terms of growth. How can you grow a relationship or bridge relationships - perhaps your two friends both like the same things you do, and by investing in this project together, you create beneficial creativity? That decay then becomes a multiplictive inverse.

Try to pause to remember to think of the points of decay that may increase by taking on that next hobby. The decay is always there, we must stay mindful of where we let it run free. Prioritize internal decay that you can control through your mindset or your actions. Those extra breaths, phone calls to family or friends, working out when you can, and maintaining your diet.

Only through awareness can we become finer tuned in a proactive state to create towards our hearts goals of things that are worthy of decay.

The Opposite of Instincts

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 20:52:00 -0700

I had been pondering this idea of things in nature that are opposite of our intuition, in that doing the 'right' thing at times in our life doesn't follow what we would expect.

I've been talking about this idea for a few weeks with some people at work, and then Seth Godin wrote up this post that then inspired me to write down some of these ideas.

Humans encounter situations that force the mind to do one thing that pairs with instinct, but in modern society, does not follow the normal human protocol.

Looking rich vs being rich
Wanting something out of someone vs doing something you want for someone else
Wanting things to be happy vs being happy
Sales to clear stock vs having quality products on limited supply
Professionals talking in a field vs people doing the required work
Crowding someone to get closer vs asking them for time spent

These kind of sitations occur all the time in my life and I wanted to document them in a post. This post serves that purpose. Here's a few anecdotal lessons I've learned in my life.

When Headwind speed equals air speed

This situation occurs in airplanes when their physical airspeed matches that same speed of the headwind. You seem to be doing a lot of work but you are suspended in space, ultimately going nowhere. The airplanes is doing a lot of work, after all! The machine is working. What is the problem here? If the goal is to suspend in air, you succeed. Eventually, however, you will run out of fuel and find yourself out of control in the air.

What does intuition tell you to do here? Certainly not stay the course. Maybe your goal is to just get a ton of work done, but go no where. Hopefully the closest landing strip is near by.

The instict is to attempt to increase velocity to get where you're going; the opposite is finding there are easier ways forward to manuever around.

Too much wood on a fire

This situation occurs when more often when you're cold and behind schedule when you are camping and in a hurry to get warm. You'll throw tons of wood on the fire and attempt to light it. To your dismay, the flame can fail to start. You have all the necessary ingredients, so why is the fire not blazing?

Opposite of intution is leaning into knowledge from others to learn how to make a flame with smaller kindling, applying more as time goes on until full mass is reached.

Intuition tells us to dive in as deep as possible and become an expert. We all know expertise comes with tons of small 'unsexy' mistakes along the way. Our intution can trick is into fixed mindsets that 'someone' just knew how to make a perfect fire. He used gasoline, after all.

Instinct is throwing as much wood to be lit on fire; the opposite is using flint and kindling to slowly build up the fire.

Jiu-jitsu and the art of frames

When training grappling and ground fighting, one would think it becomes impossible for larger opponents, given that they can just lay on you and apply a little pressure. The trick here is to konw

People who are healthy and beautiful on the outside

Many body builders live a life looking like models. Many of them have an unreasonable standard to keep up with and therefore have to sacrifice many things (mainly calories) to look in their modeled physique.

The trick to this is having a very strict diet. Many body builders develop body dysmorphia, which is a mental condition where the viewers see themselves as very fat when in fact they are in shape. It's a trick the mind plays. Many body builders go to extremes where they eat and purge, use illegal drugs, or even try to outsmart their bodies through timing and chemicals.

What you see on the outside is a healthy, beautiful, and example of a healthy person. Inside their mind may be consumed, their intestines struggling with their diets, and their minds going into panic from the unnatural swings their body goes through. These are from their choices, after all.

The instict is to think they are a healthy individual; their innards may show the opposite.

The instict is to think they are very tough and can take you out; the opposite is that they spend more time lifting weights at the gym to know how to fight.

Work is what horses die of

Having the start up lifestyle i've been so fortunate to have, one thing that strikes me is the true hustle that goes into early stage companies. From getting hiring down, to getting an MVP put together, to marketing schemes, to UI design for apps, for customer attraction, customer retention, and customer feedback.

You can work with several different hats on and meanwhile get many plates spinning. It's exciting. It takes a ton of work. I've got a personality where I tend to get REALLY into something REALLY quick. I dive really deep on things early on, sprint style.

The trick here is knowing when to work and when to relax. When olympians were observed training in France for nordic skiing, others would observe the times they would relax, seemingly when they could be getting a lot of good runs in. The observation here was that rest is necessary to keep going.

When you're on a streak, when you're pushing harder than ever before, and when you're feeling like you have to work - try to ask what you need at the time. There are times when too much work is bad and other times when too much rest is bad. The good in the bad, the ying in the yang.

The instinct is wanting to go with the flow; the opposite is being aware of where you are.

Having money to solve your problems

More money, more problems. You think that by having it all, you can help everyone.

The instinct is that you're free; the opposite is now you're beholden to others.

Boredom for not enough of yourself

Yes, you can overcome your own negative thoughts. They can seemingly come up when you're bored. The instinct is you need something to entertain you; the opposite is that you need to dive inwards to find out why.

Something happened

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 20:52:00 -0700

During high school and college I was a morning person. I loved getting up early in the mornings to read, play some video games, or any other topic that kept me in the 'flow'.

Now I'm a night owl. I focus the best around 8pm. I don't know why, my brain just decides to turn on. I'll get about an hour and a half of pure focus, then it's time to wind down around 9:30 PM.

I prefer to be an early bird. As much as I try to force it, it's just not the same level of focus as I get at night. As much as I want to change, I must accept that I'm a night owl now.

Although I cannot change or understand the why, all that matters now is that I'm aware of this change. Something happened. Accept it. That's the important part.

2020 Goals and Systems

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 21:17:00 -0700

After doing a 2019 in review, I wanted to set up some new routines for some extra discipline in my life for 2020.

Some systems that I want to set up:

Reading more.
Writing more.
Practicing mindfulness to achieve happiness.
Practicing clear and present leadership everyday I can (which is everyday).
Spending time with friends and loved ones.
Traveling more.
Working on projects that help me grow my technical acumen and skillset.
Giving back to my community (technical, city, or other ways).
Speaking up in the community, at start up events, or technical events.
Maintaining a healthy life - through daily walks, working out, and getting back to training jiu jitsu 3 times a week.

Now, those are my systems. Based on those systems, I'd like to achieve some goals:

Have listened (audible) to 40 books this year.
Have read (physical or kindle) 40 books this year.
Have finished writing a book draft for my first book.
Writing at least 2 blog posts a month.
Have been present and aware as much as I could physically and mentally.
Practicing leadership with people I mentor or in the community.
Camped 10 different sites with friends and family.
Traveled to two countries this year.
Completed a meaningful project that helps people sell their used goods.
Given a talk at Ignite Boulder.
Have spoke at one technical conference.
Get back to a healthy 185lbs and be healhy enough to train jiu-jitsu 3 times a week consistently.

I realize many of these goals seem binary, and thus, hard to measure. I will measure them by marking a calendar with the days that I achieve the above conditions. By the end of the year, I should see a high percentage of successes in the goals.

Stop, Start, Continue

I just read the QBQ 3-step upgrade post about how to 'be a better me'. I wanted to try out that exercise here.

I will stop doing

Complaining about things unless I'm willing to act on it.
Playing the victim card. I am taking full accountability.
Accusing other people for things that make me unhappy, I will make that my internal focus.
Doing things that do not bring me joy.
Masking my anger by using sarcasm.

I will start doing

Measuring what matters to me - my reading, my exercise, my habits.
Taking accountability for my actions.
Doing more self-care activities, like physical therapy, exercise, etc.
Doing more, talking less.
Living more by a budget.
Practicing randicle candor.
Reaching out to my parents on a daily/weekly cadence.

I will continue doing

Being kind whenever possible, it's always possible
Helping others when I can (the idea: in order to survive you, I must first survive myself)
Reaching out to others to give positive reinforcement.
Being a supportive son and brother to my family. Being a supportive person to my friends.

Knowledge consumption routine

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 17:00:00 -0700

I love having conversations with other people about reading. Topics in the realm of what they read, why they read, how much they read, where they read, and the habits of how they read. The amount of choices available to any person at any time are at an all time high and ever rising.

Knowledge itself is an enormous black hole - not in the sense that it's pulling everything in to it, but that it's ever growing and potentially endless. The amount of words written is expanding universal levels! OK, I'm getting way off topic of the point of this post. But.. Try and think for a second that everything that has been written by humans in their lifetime, some captured, some lost in time. The sheer amount of numbers is exponential.

That being said, I've recently taken the Sparketypes quiz from Jonathan Fields (came across while reading the book Start Finishing). Turns out, I'm a Maven and a Sage. Which for those unaware, a Maven is someone who loves learning for learning sake and a Sage is one who enjoys sharing and teaching others things.

So if all that there is to know is a black hole, I'm an scientist flying through space attempting to observe and learn it all while radioing back home the messages.

Anyways...

I wish I could find some way to calculate the amount of hours I consume reading on the internet, books, kindle, as well as audio based content.

I'm going to try and outline my reading habits in this quick little post in an attempt to shed some new ideas for others looking for a good reading routine.

I read and consume many bits of information:

Daily email newsletters
Internet blogs and articles
Physical books
Audible
E-books on my Kindle

Additionally, I have some habits in my reading that others have asked me about. I honestly cannot remember where I learned the habit of reading whenever I can. I think it was Bill Gates or someone who said they read when they're in line, when they're waiting for someone to meet up with, etc etc. That's exactly the approach I go for. I try and read during:

The morning rise
The daily walk(s)
Throughout the day
Wrapping up the night
While I'm driving (audiobooks)
When I'm waiting for a friend to arrive, using my Kindle app
Sometimes during lunch (I keep my kindle with me at most times)
While I'm out for lunch or dinner
Literally any chance I can get when my brain is enaged

Now, I'll try to outline my consumption of these mediums and habits!

The content mediums

Regularly Occurring Email Newsletters

I subscribe to a lot of interesting fellows in the psychology, self help, and other various 'self-improvement' email newsletters. I really enjoy some of their articles as brainstorming seeds and kicking off discovery of new ideas. I'll estimate I spend anywhere from 5-10 minutes on either the post itself or links to other articles on the website.

Seth Godin - varies in length, great thoughts about anything in marketing, sales, psychology, and all around thought provoking material.
The Daily Stoic - daily writings of the stoicism philosophy, from Ryan Holiday's interpretations.
Ryan Holiday's newsletter - book recommendations from Ryan Holiday himself.
Mark Manson (Mondays) - spitballed content from Mark Manson's email.
Nir Eyal - behavioral design newletter.
Daniel Pink - author of Drive, A Whole New Mind, and more - weekly content.
QBQ - from the author John G Miller, ideas about accountability.

Internet blogs and articles

I'd say I spend about 5-20 minutes sometimes longer, varying from available article content and the interest of content to me.

Hacker News posts - any that tickle my brain (it's a lot)
Related professional topics in my work hours (software related, leadership articles, system design, etc)

Physical books

At anytime, I have a stack of about 2-3 books that I want to read. I get these from many sources, and right now, there is no rhyme or reason to my choosing of a physical book over an e-book.

How I choose the books is still a mystery to me. At the time of writing this, I have a few piled up on my bookshelf ready to be read; my queue consists of: Black Box Thinking, The Black Swan, Getting to Yes, and Aware.

I'll usually ask for books for any gifts any want to give me as a go-to when someone asks what I'd like.

Audible

I walk my dog every morning. This time on the walk is some prime time for mindfulness as well as listening to some quality audiobook content. I'm a huge audible fan.

I love having some positive thoughts shared on my walk. As of late, it's been focused on leadership, mindfulness, and philosophy. Nothing better than getting a day started with some positive thoughts filling up your subconscious, as our minds tend to absorb whatever is in the community consciousness. At the time of writing this, i've been listening to Stillness is the Key and The Art of Power.

E-books on my kindle

I just got a Kindle paperwhite as an upgrade from my very old Kindle 3rd Edition (the one with the keyboard). While at first skeptical, I'm now in love with my paperwhite. Not only does it have a nice back light - but it's super portable to take in my back pocket to sneak out over lunch or when I get a free moment. I also have the app on my phone, which let's me read when I'm in a waiting scenario, like at the doctors office, waiting in line, etc etc. I try to sneak as much reading on the go with my kindle, as well as when I'm stationary at home.

My reading routine

The morning rise

First off, I've moved my cell phone away from my bed side stand. I've replaced it with my old Kindle (3rd edition). This small habit change has me grabbing for my old kindle rather than diving into whatever my smart phone demands of me. This small trick instantly gets me in the mindset to read first.

I wake up and read the Seth Godin post first. I love that these daily emails provide insight into common day sales and marketing strategy and tactics. Additionally, I love that Seth Godin thinks of the human in us and aims to appeal to that side of us.

I then read the Daily Stoic post from Ryan Holiday. I love the constant reminder that we're human, our time on this earth is temporary, and we will need to be kind to all. That and I'm a sucker for the stoicism philosophy in any form.

Finally, I go to my comfy recliner chair and read either my kindle or a book, whichever I'm into (Currently: "Start Finishing" on Kindle and "Black Box Thinking" in book form).

From here, I at get at least 15-30 minutes of reading time, pending more if I'm super interested in the book.

The daily walk(s)

Once the clock finally hits 8:30 AM or so, my little dog Amaya demands a walk. Great! Now I get some time to listen to my audio book while we go on our daily 1.5 mile walk. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Regardless, this gets me about 10 hours of listening a month. Audible also gives some other fun stats for listening - my minimum listening time was in November of this year, at 5h 52m. My maximum, oddly enough not due to the weather, is December with 20h 48m!

Throughout the day

While the day rolls along, I try to sneak in some reading time anyway I can. I might bust out my kindle over lunch while I'm at work. I might read a few internet articles / blogs / or whatever else I might find interesting throughout the day.

While I'm at work, I try to look up blog posts that are relevant either to leadership, management, programming, communication, or any other issue I am currently working through during my very dynamic days.

Wrapping up the night

Now that I've got my kindle next to my bedside stand - I try to grab a few minutes of reading while I'm jumping into bed. This small hack of removing my phone has given me one option - the kindle. I already struggle with insomnia and I'm finding that having the kindle there helps me read a bit and unwind. By this point, I need something to stop the constant sensory overload that the smart phone provides.

I might grab anywhere from 15-30 minutes at my night time reading routine.

Putting it all in perspective

Again, these numbers are mainly hail mary estimates.

Morning: 15m-30m (daily newsletter) + 30m-1h (book reading) + 50m (audible) = 1h 30m - 2h 20m

Day: 15m - 1h

Night: 15m - 30m

Coming to a guessed grand total for a minimum of 2 hours to a maximum of 3 hours and 50 minutes.

For just a small time investment, I can steal quite a good chunk of learning time. Since I'm being sucked into the knowledge black hole, I tend to lose track of times in my small reading habits. That's OK by me though, since the constant reading habits help enforce knowledge retention since many books seem to cover similiar material, thus being stored to my long term storage!

2019 retrospective

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 21:33:00 -0700

2019 has been a wild ride for me. It was a year of many things, filled of some first time experiences, humbling encounters, some character building sessions, some personal growth lessons, and most of all, tons of small improvements.

If I had to wrap up 2019 in one word, it would be: acceptance.

Why that word? First of all, perception and awareness must happen first before alternate actions can be suggested. Second being, once you can become aware of the facts, you must accept them. I have to admit, I struggle with acceptance. I am willing to embrace that the obstacle is the way forward.

Don't get me wrong though, 2019 was a good year, I am very fortunate to be where I am today.

Let's do the traditional retrospection of 2019 and then dive into the details a bit more.

Key learnings in 2019

Self development is like bathing - you have to do it everyday
Take more time for yourself to rest and see the forest from the trees
There is no easy to road to anything, you must do the work
How you see yourself truly is how others will see you

2019 - What went well

My company was acquired by Amazon

This news alone was huge for me. I had joined Canvas Technology in December of 2015. I had just parted ways working for Ionic. At the time, I really wanted to dive into another domain in the field of Computer Science. Lucky for me, there was an opening for Canvas Technology and I had joined when there was only a wooden cart prototype. Man, I got in early, and I was excited to be a part of the vision to come.

Fast forward 4 years later and we're being acquired by one of the largest industrial robotic companies in the world. What an honor, one of which I was hopeful that our company could help push autonomous robotics forward with.

This acquisition was huge for me, it empowered me to pay off my dads loans, take my parents to London, pay off my cars, and has enabled a life for me which I had only dreamed of.

I've got to meet tons of intellectuals, highly skilled engineers, and all around amazing people at Amazon. The whole experience has been really humbling that a successful company like Amazon Robotics wanted to buy something I helped build.

As awesome as it's been, I've had to accept that this is my new role. I've had to accept that I'm now a part of something bigger - something that is not just a little start up. I've had to accept to give up my legos. My strong sense of ownership now had to be passed off to new groups taking over my old domains. I've had to accept that I'm no longer in charge of my engineering teams. I'm accepting that I'm now stepping back into a single engineer position over managing multiple teams. It's been hard, but it's been fulfilling and necessary to force this growth cycle on me. I'm embracing it with my whole being.

I had an amazing trip to London with my parents

In July, my parents and I departed to the UK to visit one of my fathers friends from his youth, his old old soccer buddy, Khosrow. They had not seen each other in 20 or so years. The whole experience was so heart filling, relaxing, and very adventuresome.

I got to watch my father share stories of his home town in Iran. I got to hear his friend and my father discuss old Iranian culture, fun bits of experiences in their time, as well as meeting Khosrow's very kind and wholesome family.

From this trip - Khosrow opened up to me like one who has embraced all avenues of life - the joys of building his own home in England, his sorrows of losing his dog, his horror of losing his best friend in England, and his scares of cancer. I could see the house he had built was put on pause - his reasoning was that the last year had taken a toll on him and he hadn't had the will or energy to move on.

What this taught me - I must accept this same fate. We all must. The love of fate. Amor Fati. The acceptance to know that we all must die. Momento mori.

I saw myself in Khosrow - in that one day I will be in his position. I must accept that the time in the now is the only time I truly have. I must take it for all it is worth.

I began leading an amazing team at Amazon

While a year ago, I read the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. At the time, our team was really struggling to get feature development done while we struggled to support the deployments we currently had. I decided that I could make a bigger impact with my engineering skills, and that getting a manager for the team I had built would help our velocity pick back up.

Post acquisition, the manager on the team wished to get back to product management, where he came from before. I decided from there on - I would do the best job I could at managing and leading the team. I put my management hat back on and forged forward.

What I struggled with the most here was that - while I can manage and lead a team, that is not my passion. While I believe that skills will trump passion, I had to accept that I'm a passion driven person. This is why I've always gone the route of start ups - because these kind of companies are truly guided by a passion to disrupt the world.

I incurred an injury

I love training jiu-jitsu. I enjoy the ultimate challenge it brings - in that there is always someone who is training more than you, who is more skilled than you, and the humbling that it forces upon you.

While training in May, I had a fellow training partner get me in an arm bar from the mount position - except this arm bar was different, he took my arm and pushed it towards my head. Immediately a loud snapping sound occurred. Following that, immense pain that seered from my arm to my fingers. I knew something was very wrong.

I did as one did - immediately went to a doctor to get it checked out. The ultra sound showed that my ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) had been torn. The Dr suggested that we could do platelette rich plasma (PRP) injections to speed up the healing. I wasn't willing to accept that taking time off from training was the best thing for me, I wanted to speed it up. I paid the money and got the PRP injections.

Fast forward to the end of the year - I'm still dealing with some pain in my elbow, I get some odd popping sounds when I do a bicep curl, something is not right.

Again, that acceptance word - I had to accept that I had an injury I needed to nurse. I had to accept that I was not resting appropriately. I had to accept that taking time off, doing physical therapy, and getting back on the track was the best way to continue training until my old age. I also want to accept the mindset that I have an injury, I am not injured. That mindset is important.

Acceptance of fate

Amor Fati. I must appreciate that these experiences above are shaping me for a better version of myself.

I must accept, and embrace, that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of strength - knowing that you can evolve to the next level by learning from others. Isn't that why we are all here?

The car you are driving, the coffee you are drinking, the heat that you feel in the bed you sleep in - those are all things that others have given their time to provide to you.

Accept the help. Embrace it. It will empower you if you let it.

Now, I'm looking forward to 2020 and the goals I am setting up to become an even better version of myself.

EDIT 01-02-2020 - adding in the Apple Activity walking distances for 2019 below for examination later on:

January 2019 - 31.12 miles
February 2019 - 19.19 miles
March 2019 - 27.84 miles
April 2019 - 60.60 miles
May 2019 - 33.90 miles
June 2019 - 27.91 miles
July 2019 - 49.07 miles
August 2019 - 56.80 miles
September 2019 - 53.49 miles
October 2019 - 43.02 miles
November 2019 - 39.16 miles
December 2019 - 46.68 miles

Why I read

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 17:00:00 -0700

Let me ask you a quick question: if you know that reading is essential to certain parts of learning and growth, then you already know why you read, but is it deeper than that? Is it something engrained in our subconscious minds through hundreds if not thousands of years of evolution?

In today's current society, the internet has enabled an entire species to read and listen on a global scale. Reading and listening is the de facto mechanism in which to share human knowledge to many generations past. There are endless amounts of digital content one can get through the medium of the internet. (I try and dive into that here)

NOTE: I'm going to bucket the 'watch' category into listen and/or read. People read tons of online junk anyway!

We know it in old caves as wall carvings and paintings. There is the knowledge those cavemen passed along to their tribe. The unfortunate thing about that was that only those who veered onto the wall could read the message. The other issue would be - whose cave was this, anyway?! (and what are these large dinosaurs?!) These messages might be wrong or have a different method of thinking than we currently do now. There's no way to remediate the differences, since the author may not always be available for discussion.

The internet, in some sense, eased this burden by providing an infinite level of walls that tribes could erect mass cave paintings in the endless amount of caves.

However, the internet has also enabled another mystery to the human mind: the paradox of choice. How does one today pick what to absorb next? in the millions of physical books, digitial e-books (and scanned copies of ancients), audio books, journals, online journals, blogs, and the bucket category of 'web pages' out in the world?

“Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard.” ― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Capturing the knowledge itself once found is a near impossible task, I'm not going to even touch on that topic because it's thoroughly argued over enough on Hacker news. I'm going to attempt to share how I got to my filter to make reading an absolute enjoyable part of my life. Hop on over to my knowledge page, as I try to capture my knowledge sources there.

What isn't clear to me as of late is 'why' I read what I read. I'm attempting to write this post to enlighten myself and others about this filter that occurs when I move on to my next book.

My Caves

The caves I absorb from now come from a variety of sources:

Email newsletters
Audible content
Kindle / E-books
Physical Books

Let's dive into how I select each of these.

My filtering pattern

For the 2019 year, I wanted to aim for reading two books a month aimed at two topics: personal growth and professional acumen growth. Sometimes, the books would be both. Other times, it would be totally random. It just so happens that what I read for joy is also in lined with what I love: psychology - how the human mind works.

I chose these two topics because they are areas that I would like to strengthen a bit more.

When it comes to choosing email newsletters, I may easily follow the newsletters of authors that I've enjoyed reading their books. The first that come to mind are Seth Godin, Nir Eyal, Daniel Pink, and Ryan Holiday. Many of these authors share a common stereotype - sales, marketing, psychology, and connection with vulnerability.

I often joke that if I didn't go the computer science route, I would have gone to neuroscience or psychology. I'm a hobbyist psychologist, with no patients who need my help.

Certainly hitting the ripe age of 35 has triggered me to think more about philosophy, the meaning of the world, the strive to end or defer suffering, and the ability to see the world anew.

I've driven into professional development - being a manager for the last year or so has given me a 'eyes wide open' view to the world of management. Most of my reading has been more than management though - it's more on leadership. However, I know and understand that the best managers are the best leaders.

When I go to pick the next book, I apply the following pattern:

Look for the latest area of researchers in the domain.
Look for the oldest area of researchers in the domain.
Look at any book references that came about in the last book I read. (Many times the references are where the author pulled some of her knowledge from, so that's another great source.)
I keep a rolling list of reads that may be interesting - either from emails, books references from TED or Ignite talks, and more.

Some examples of this pattern:

"Well Geez, Josh. I seem to be ultra distracted lately and not being able to finish anything. What does the research say on this?"

I then look up books in the focus domain. I find a few: Indistractable, Get out of your own way, The art of communicating, The art of thinking clearly, The Organized Mind, and Atomic Habits. These all seem like good reads. What knowledge sources did these authors pull from? Are there any TED talks about this? Do these speakers have any references or leads they throw out in the talk? What about friends recommmendations? Who is the most focused person I know? What suggestions do they have on the topic, or leads, or books, etc?

Certainly there is more to the pattern than what I posted above, but that's my first stab at trying to understand my pattern.

Once I've decided what to read, I then decide on the medium.

Audible vs reading

When I choose a book, I think of which medium will be best to absorb it. Mainly I turn to kindle these days, because it can go with me everywhere. If a subject is interesting enough that I want to absorb it throughout the day, then Kindle is the de facto choice.

However, sometimes I will choose audible over reading because I want to absorb it while I'm walking, driving, or have some free time doing chores around the house.

The key here is - can I absorb this content while using my hands - or do I want to absorb it fully? When it comes to physical vs kindle, I mainly go kindle due to the accessibility. However, if someone is asking me for a gift, I ask for physical!

But, why?

Why such the obsession with the human mind? In this world of a growing number of human mind and intelligence, I want to know what drives people. Certainly, there is the book Drive, but I'm not concerned with the drive that people have in the competitive world of business. But rather, why do people do what they do? What is the engine in their minds and hearts and what fuel is driving it?

Recently, I took one of the many online quizes and learning that I'm a Maven type. This seemed to align with my intuition, which makes a ton of sense to my obsessions with learning for learning sake.

But still.. What am I looking to learn? I lean an ear towards psychology, philosophy, science, and technology. Why?

If I had another life to live (which I know is not reality), I would spend that life hopefully learning all the things I didn't learn the first time around.

If I absolutely had to put a reasoning to my thirst for knowledge, it would be this:

I have a deep joy of learning. It's the true lesson that I learned from college. (Paul Graham also wrote an essay on this). I have a deep fear about not knowing. I'm not content with the 'it is what it is' phrase. In the last year though, I've tried to change that phrase to be 'I accept it for how it is' - but not until learning why. Once I can learn every 1% of the why, I am more willing to accept the why.

Yet, I've still not found the answer to what lies in the heart of man to drive the decisions he makes. Maslow's hierarchy of needs surely comes close to these ideals, but are those same motiviations still in tact today the same as when Maslow thought up the idea in 1943?

Certainly most parts of this world still seek the bottom layers of Maslow's needs, but what about the higher levels today in the first world?

Maybe I'll never learn why I read what I read. Certainly writing this post hasn't lead me any closer to understand my own drive, so what chance do I have in getting closer to understanding others? I guess I will have to accept that asking one person and their answer must suffice.

The last bit I will sketch out is that in today's day and age, we know and understand that the subconscious mind drives us - like the rider on the elephant, it goes where it will go no matter the tugging and please from the riders. Even asking someone their drives will still not reveal their elephants desires, because they themselves do not know it.

Closing notes

As per the book, Psycho Cybernetics, it is our own self-image that we seek to align with our actions. Perhaps my self-image is one that I am a seeker of knowledge, no matter the effort or cost. Surely, the Sparketypes quiz I took that states I'm a maven lines up with that self-image. Even if the quiz was a placebo to enhance this self-image, I'm taking it.

I'll continue to read to absorb as much knowledge as I can, and attempt to write as much as I can to help share this knowledge. All for the sake of knowledge.