know thyself

Remember the java coaching mentioned in a previous post? P is senior to me, has sound knowledge of Java and is a very good manager. He is leading the initiative. P came up to me today to talk.

P: Hey, I have the habit of barging into conversations and stating my views. Its one of my weaknessed. Do you... find it irritating?

(I left a previous session when P starting talking to my class, and generally do not have my happy face on when he starts to speak)

Me: (with a smile) To be honest, I was irritated the first couple of times. I understand now you did not mean to interrupt me. I liked it when you gave the examples today.

P: Great! Thanks. Good to know.


This conversation could have taken a completely different turn if P were not aware of his behaviour or I had confronted him and not listen to what he had to say.

Solar water cooler

Last year:
1. Open hot water tap. Water too hot.
2. Open cold water tap. Water still hot.
3. Open cold all the way. Done.

This year:

1. Open hot water tap. Water too hot.
2. Open cold water tap. Water still hot.
3. Open cold all the way. Water still hot.
4. Close hot water a little bit. Water still hot.
5. Close hot water all the way. Water still hot.

We need a solar water cooler now.

New language

I've wanted to learn PHP for sometime now and started reading through the basic material at w3cschools today. Having used Java for the past 5 years PHP seems a fairly easy language to pick up. Going though the materials, and the fact that I'm training a few colleagues in Java, led me to draw this mind map:


I intend to use it whenever I start learing a new language.