Lately I've been obsessed with soy milk and oatmeal, otherwise known as 'Soy and Oats' (not to be confused with the musical duo). I'm glad that soy milk exists, being lactose intolerant and all, it's a good substitute for cow's milk. I also try to get miso soup whenever I can as it also contains limited amounts of soy. I'm convinced that miso soup and soy products in general is one of the secrets of the japanese people's longevity.

Oatmeal is surprisingly good. I confess I like the Quaker mini packets where they have them in cinnamon, apple, raisin, walnut and assorted flavors. Just add a little boiling water, top it with some soy milk and you have a nutritious meal. The Quaker oatmeal granola cereal is also good. And this thing is actually good for you, amazing.

I also tried the Quaker old fashioned style oatmeal which doesn't taste as good but is close to the pure form of oats, so it doesn't have the added sugars and artificial flavors the mini packets use.

These two items would be a good lazy man's meal: quick to prepare, easy to serve, fast to consume. Give it a try.

I have a confession to make. Last Monday I didn't feel like getting up from bed. In fact I didn't feel like going to work at all. My body wasn't in good shape over the weekend. I had a dry throat, felt hot, irritable, and even had some flu-like symptoms. Not good. Either I was physically sick, or the thought of going to work made me sick. There was only one way to find out which of the two were true.

So I dragged my sorry self out of bed, took a quick shower, and rushed to the office. Monday mornings are usually quiet but there was a bit more stress than usual that day. It got the adrenalin flowing. By the time I got home I had forgotten I was 'sick'. And I even got in a decent workout.

As it turned out there was a flu bug going around at our floor, with seven people down with the flu resting at home. So I'm not sure if I actually had the virus (which explains the flu-like symptoms), or if I was just lazy. But it doesn't matter as the adrenalin rush from the stress on that day probably killed off any bug I might have had. Ah, the powers of psychological conditioning.

For this week, the next week, and the week after that, I'll be fixing bugs. Lots of bugs. We had a fair number of bugs from previous releases that were 'punted' or postponed to a future time. These are the bugs that weren't considered important enough to fix, or bugs that were too difficult given the length of schedule available, or those that required significant redesign of messy modules that nobody wants to touch. Some are performance bugs, where the goal is to improve the running time to get an operation to execute in n seconds or less. It's not glamorous work, you just have to go through each bug and fix them one by one. There's a lot of tracing and reviewing old code, cleaning them up, and making tradeoffs about whether to rewrite or patch poorly designed functions.

I call this stage of the project 'trench warfare'. This is when you're on the frontline resolving issues, dealing with the weaknesses of the product. At this stage the challenge is to keep yourself motivated. You need to crawl through trench after trench. You need to have lists of bugs and goals, telling yourself 'I need to fix bugs A, B and C by Friday to make the schedule'. This keeps you in check, motivating you to keep on fixin', and inspiring you when you see your progress. You have to keep these lists and goals close to you, especially when you see other people working on the 'cool' activities of designing and writing new code, knowing that you're left to clean up the mess. Trust me, from experience I know it pays off in the long run building a reputation as a problem solver and bug fixer, rather than always working on the cool new stuff.

OK now my point (finally). One essential element of being a professional is the concept of playing hurt. One important trait of being a professional developer, or pro athlete and other trades, is developing the consistency and the discipline to work well even on those days when you don't feel like it. After all, Michael Jordan did score 38 points on game five of the '97 NBA finals, the same day he was nursing a 102 degree fever, barely able to walk the night before.

These days, there's a drug or pill for every ailment. Have a headache - swallow this tablet. Depressed - take this. Erectile dysfunction -drink this. But the most effective medicine occurs naturally in the food we eat. And eating nutrient-dense foods daily is our best bet to prevent poor health in the first place. Here's a list of my favorite natural 'health' foods:

1. Banana - The perfect food. I remember in high school we broke down different kinds of food to detect the amounts of vitamins and minerals in each of them. Banana was the most all-around food, having the most variety and amount of nutrients. And best of all, it's very affordable and easy to bring with you to work. Eat two bananas daily.

2. Apple Cider Vinegar - You can buy this at your grocery or health store (The Bragg brand is good). I drink a mixture of around two tablespoons of the vinegar mixed with either water or orange juice. It promotes a healthy digestive system, fights sore throat and colds, and contains potassium and natural nutrients that your body needs. Read the book Folk Medicine by Dr. Jarvis to learn more about apple cider vinegar. You may not like the taste of it, but it's good for you so drink it.

3. Garlic - I like eating lots of it. I put a whole head of chopped garlic in my spaghetti sauce or soups. Make sure you crush or finely chop the cloves before you consume them to release the naturally occuring allicin antibiotic that has many health benefits of its own. When I have a sore throat or a cold, I chew some raw garlic cloves to kill the bacteria and germs in my throat. You may lose some friends due to garlic breath, but hey, that's a small price to pay for good health.

4. Green Tea - I believe this is the secret (other than miso soup) to the japanese people's longevity and long life expectancy. Green tea is loaded with natural antioxidants that fight disease and aging. It is also reputed to work well against the common cold. I also find it helps me to relax and concentrate. Drink a cup or two daily.

5. Carrots - I try to discipline myself to eat at least five servings of fruits and veggies a day. Sometimes it is difficult, especially when things are busy. So I always keep a package of ready-peeled baby carrots available so I can snack on them when I get home. Carrots contain beta-carotene which is a good source of antioxidants. I read that cooking it lightly makes the beta-carotene easier to absorb, so consider steaming or stir-frying them. One tip: when making spaghetti sauce, add a generous amount of finely chopped carrots.

Honorable mention: Onions, tomatoes, olive oil, ginger, spinach/cabbage/broccoli. I also recommend reading Dr. Weil's Spontaneous Healing book. It will change the way you look at your health.

I'm lazy so I always try to combine all the good foods into one dish or meal. My favorite concoction is a vegetable soup that has everything: Generous amounts of onions, garlic, carrots, olive oil, and tomato. Then add chopped celery, potato, jalapeno pepper. Plus a chicken bouillon cube, salt, pepper, and bay leaf for flavor. Tastes great and lasts me several days. What's more I can use the soup as a liquid for poaching different kinds of fish. Easy to make and contains everything your body needs.

I think I pulled a muscle last Sunday while doing situps. I can't pinpoint the exact location of the pain. It's somewhere in either my neck or upper back area. I just hope it's more of muscle soreness as a result of exercise, rather than an injury. Now I know what they mean when they say crunches, as opposed to situps, are safer for exercising the abdominals.

Work is going smoothly, we are wrapping up our project. I don't think there will be any more showstopper bugs coming anytime. Then we start the next batch of features. The cycle continues. It gets dull if you don't think of ways to amuse yourself.

The world sort of got to a bad start due to the tsunami disaster, huge death toll, landslides, weird weather, and everything. But people around the world reacted well by helping each other out, it showed we are more resilient as a human race than we give ourselves credit for. Because of this I predict a great year for everyone.

Ever had times when you didn't feel well? Perhaps you had a splitting migraine headache, or you felt too sick to go to work in the morning.

Let's say you're sick. Now imagine one minute later reading in the newspaper that you won a million dollars in the lottery. I bet that migraine headache or fever would disappear pretty fast. You'd forget about being sick. You'd be too busy thinking about the money. The adrenaline rush alone would make any sickness go away.

Because of this I am convinced that eighty percent of all physical ailments are psychosomatic. They are physical manifestations of our current mental and psychological state. The best cure, the most effective drug, can be manufactured by our own bodies.

Next time you're sick, remind yourself that it's all in the mind. Imagine that you just won a million dollars, or that Petra Nemcova is on the phone asking you for a date. If you can convince yourself of that, the results are the same as if you actually won the money. You would get that same million-dollar feeling and the physical sickness which may or may not be real, will go away. Put away those cold remedies, those prozac pills, those antibiotics. You don't need them. It's all in your mind.

"Carlos Boozer set a screen for me, I got the ball up top and tried to get to the bucket. That was pretty much it, it was like slow motion. After I missed the shot, I was still looking, and I saw Mehmet come out of nowhere and grab it and put it back in. It was great. I might take him out to a Turkish restaurant tonight if we can find one."
- Keith McLeod, after the Utah Jazz's 97-96 upset victory over the San Antonio Spurs

It took some time, but finally the Jazz snapped their 9-game losing streak last night. In doing so, they also broke out of a record 18 consecutive head-to-head losses to San Antonio.

It was tough, watching loss after loss after frustrating loss. It was like the team was jinxed, it had developed a loser's mentality. The players had forgotten how it felt to win. You can see it in their faces, the pain, the hunger. Now what the team has to do is take this victory and remember how it felt, remember what they did to win. Then just recreate it over and over.

All these players have multimillion dollar contracts. All of them no doubt are financially wealthy with all their needs taken care of. But there are some needs that cannot be satisfied with money. Eventually you reach a point where pride and the thirst for victory become more important than the weekly paycheck. It stops being a job and turns into a personal mission. I could see this in the faces of some of the players. The hunger, the killer instinct, they're back. Sooner or later you get tired of losing. You get sick and tired of being sick and tired. And this is what drives the fire to succeed.

By the way, I was amused as to how third-string point guard Keith Macleod has developed into the Jazz's most effective starting point guard. Macleod did not perform well in training camp, had no guaranteed contract, was almost cut from the team, and most of the experts thought he was not as good as first-rate guards Arroyo and Lopez. It's clear now though that he is the better defender, better penetrator, and best conductor of the offense. I know there's a lesson there somewhere. Everybody loves a happy ending. Let's make some of our own.

My body is still sore from the situps and pushups I did a couple of days ago. That's good because it means the exercise actually had an effect. Nothing special about my regimen, just do steady training until my body is conditioned to do sixty consecutive pushups in two minutes, and sixty consecutive situps in the same amount of time. Currently I can do thirty of each straight before failure. Now I just need to keep the conditioning to maintain it, and add more reps as I get stronger.

I also plan to eventually be in good enough shape to be able to run/jog two miles in twenty minutes. The running is a bit more challenging because of my weak ankle and the cold weather. So although I dislike indoor gyms, I have no choice but to use the elliptical trainer and treadmills to build up endurance until it is warm enough to run outside.

Diet-wise, I just need to stay disciplined and eat more of the healthy stuff: fruits and vegetables, unprocessed foods. Minimize the fast food and junk. I still like the occasional McDonald's on weekends where I can relax and read.

Pushups - this is one of the most balanced strength and body exercises you can do. Several days ago my abdominals muscles were sore from a workout. Then I thought this would not affect my pushup ability. But as it turned out, I felt the strain on the stomach muscles while doing the pushups. It proves that pushups affect a variety of muscle groups, chest, triceps, arms, including the abdominals. A good all-around exercise, no wonder the US army uses it to measure physical fitness of its recruits.

Situps - I used to do crunches after I read that situps are bad because they unnecessarily work the hip flexors instead of concentrating on the abdominals. But for some reason I could never get a good burn with crunches alone. Situps work very well. You can feel it a day after you do it.

I was definitely more fanatical about working out when I was younger. A lot of pickup basketball games with friends, jumprope to increase my vertical jump (probably one cause of the weak ankles I have now), a lot of running up and down stairs in the university buildings to stay in shape, and a lot of walking, that's how I stayed in shape. Then I deteriorated a bit, got complacent, got involved in a lot of stress at work.

Several days ago I celebrated my thirty-first birthday. As a kid I never imagined myself in the future as being thirty years old! I remember when I was four, and I learned my father's age was thirty-two. It seemed so old to me, so adult. And now I have become my parents, amazing. Now all I have to do is make sure I reach my prime physical form before thirty-two.

Here's my 2004 Top Twelve CDs for this year in order of enjoyment. Note that these are the ones I liked listening to the most during the year, regardless of when they were actually released or when I bought them.

1. CAKE - Pressure Chief

OK. The long wait is over. The day has finally come. CAKE returns with the kick-ass Pressure Chief CD. If you like CAKE you will enjoy this album from start to finish. All songs are good. You will sing and chant along with the band, particularly with songs such as 'No Phone', 'Carbon Monoxide', 'The Guitar Man', and others. Excellent to listen while coding or driving.


2. Barenaked Ladies - Everything to Everyone

This most highly anticipated CD came out last year and was the most collaborative effort of the Ladies. All songs are good, well worth your money. The longer you listen to the tracks, the more they grow on you. I was surprised that it didn't sell as well as previous BNL albums. Lyrics are very deep and meaningful as is the Barenaked Ladies' style.


3. Barenaked Ladies - Gordon

This was Barenaked Ladies' first commercial album and contains some of their best, most inspired songs. I love listening to 'Hello City' and 'Box Set' on quiet Saturdays or early morning drives. For some reason I can relate a lot to those two songs. It has a more acoustic or jazzy style as compared with their later releases.


4. Frente - Marvin the Album

I remembered that the band Frente had a few minor hits back during my college days. On a hunch that I've been missing something all these years, I bought both of their albums from eBay. Oh man! Angie Hart has a killer voice that will make you fall in love with her. Their music is raw, crazy, and touching. 'Ordinary Angels' and 'Labour of Love' are the best tracks here. If you like something sickeningly sweet, listen to 'Accidentally Kelly Street'.


5. Paperboy - Nine Yards

This is a classic. It's rap, but it's good rap. I ordered it mainly because I recalled the song 'Ditty' from college days. And was pleasantly surprised that many of the other songs were good too. Good driving and programming music. It contains a considerable amount of profanity and explicit lyrics which you will love to rap along with.


6. Tears For Fears - Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

Tears for Fears evokes fond memories for many of those who grew up in the 80's. I didn't share that nostalgia, but still found this CD very inspiring and entertaining. I like the first song which starts with the line 'Wake Up' as if Orzabal was speaking directly to me. 'The Devil' and 'Call Me Mellow' are my other faves. If you like the style of the Beatles, you'll like this one.


7. Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays

Barenaked Ladies needed some extra cash so they recorded this special Christmas album. What a bonus! I even got into the Christmas spirit for the first time in a long while. The original BNL songs are what makes this great. In particular I enjoyed the country-style song 'Footprints' though I'm still trying to figure out what it's about.


8. Frente - Shape

This was Frente's second and last CD. Very underrated album. This was very CAKE-like. Just replace John McCrea's monotone voice with Angie's sweet angellic tone. More low-key and serious than their first release. 'Horrible' (a tongue twister-like song) and 'Jungle' (60's-style) are the tracks that stand out.


9. Marc Almond - The Stars We Are

I had this on cassette tape back in high school. Lots of nostalgia while listening to this one. 'Bittersweet' and 'The Very Last Pearl' are so good, you will listen to them over and over again. Perfect to play in the afternoon with the sun out and the windows open.


10. CAKE - Motorcade of Generosity

CAKE's first album. For some reason I kept playing this CD over and over last summer. The music is pure and raw. Very underrated. Good to listen while working on the computer. Lots of good songs: 'Ruby Sees All', 'Jolene', 'Rock n Roll Lifestyle', and my fave 'You Part the Waters' which the band actually played in their live concert. Yeah!!


11. Geri Halliwell - Scream If You Wanna Go Faster

Don't laugh. Whenever I tell people I think Geri Halliwell is actually a good singer, I usually get either chuckles or sneers. Give this a try. I'm sure you will like 'Circles Round the Moon' and 'Heaven and Hell'.


12. David Benoit - Fuzzy Logic

I first heard David Benoit's 'Then the Morning Comes' on the radio jazz station. I enjoyed the music so much I bought the whole CD and was not disappointed. Perfect music when relaxing and savoring victory. I was also surprised later on to find out that 'Then the Morning Comes' is the instrumental remake of an original Smash Mouth song by the same name (which is also good by the way).


This was a good year for listening to music. What made it better was that I got to watch my two favorite bands of all time, CAKE and Barenaked Ladies, in live Concerts, which were real treats. I got the CAKE shirts, hats and everything which I plan to wear first thing in the new year. So, tell me, how can you afford your Rock n' Roll Lifestyle?

Here's a list of the books I've enjoyed reading and learning from this year, in order of importance:

1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert Cialdini

This book was so good I read it twice to make sure I remembered the new ideas and concepts it presented. It changed the way I looked at a lot of things. It shows you how and why people act in certain ways. How we are manipulated into doing things we don't like, and how to defend against these tricks. A wealth of information on human psychology and human nature.


2. Programming Pearls
Jon Bentley

I thought I knew how to write code. Then I read this book and learned I was an amateur. Probably the best programming book you'll ever read. You can feel just how much Jon Bentley loves his craft. It will teach you how to think of the problem, evaluate different solutions, implement the best one for the given situation, make tradeoffs between performance and maintainability. I read the first edition of this book (borrowed from the company library), and am looking forward to read the new chapters added in the second edition.


3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams

After I bought a used copy of this, I thought it would be a throwaway fiction book to pass the time. To my surprise it was one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. For some reason I could really relate to Arthur Dent's character and predicament.


4. Die Broke
Stephen Pollan, Mark Levine

I first read this book five years ago, then read it again this year after I came across a used copy in the bookstore. There are a lot of revolutionary ideas here on how to think about your career (quit today, don't retire), money (pay cash), and life (die broke). If you ever felt lost in your life or job, this book is a must read.


5. Maximum Achievement
Brian Tracy

I have to confess, this is a very cheesy book on Success. I cringed while reading some of the chapters, and don't necessarily agree with everything the author says. Still, there are a lot of great techniques and ideas here on utilizing the powers of your mind, setting goals, and how to find a parking space. Napoleon Hill to me is still the best Success writer, but Tracy manages to embrace and extend many of Hill's best teachings.


6. Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus
Andre Lamothe

I'm indebted to Andre Lamothe for his great work in writing this book. He's a hero to ordinary programmers everywhere who dream of being world-class developers. This is not just a book about game programming, but a book on how to write good quality, high-performance code. A lot of software development techniques with lots of working code you will learn from. Reading this book made me a better programmer.


7. Nightmares and Geezenstacks
Fredric Brown

Sometimes I crave for short stories that stimulate the imagination, that make you think of things you won't ordinarily think of. Fredric Brown fits the bill nicely. Lots of weird stories, crazy scenarios, haunting endings.


8. Awaken the Giant Within
Anthony Robbins

Another cheesy Success book (I notice a pattern here) by renowned self-help guru Tony Robbins who cracks me up whenever I see him on TV. But this book did give me lots of useful techniques for managing my emotions, and on how to control and use them to my advantage. I like the chapters explaining how the mind works, how we can train it to serve us. The chapter on how to effect a revolutionary change in an instant is worth the price of the book alone. Also lots of good information on Neuro-Science and NLP techniques.


9. Relativity Simply Explained
Martin Gardner

A great science book. It explains difficult concepts in very simple terms. I didn't know anything about Einstein's theory of relativity before. Now I can at least start to grasp it. This is the type of book that will make you think.


10. Rebel Code
Glyn Moody

This book tells the stories of our open source heroes - the people who made sacrifices to give us the great computing environment we have today. I like the chapters on Richard Stallman, Larry Wall, and Linus Torvalds. It can get long-winded at times but if you want to get inspired after a long day of coding, this is the book for you.


Special Mention:

How to Sell Anything to Anybody
Joe Girard, Stanley Brown, Robert Casemore

Jack: Straight from the Gut
Jack Welch

The Richest Man in Babylon
George S. Clason

Invasions
Isaac Asimov, Martin Greenberg, Charles Waugh, editors

Any books you've read this year that you can recommend? Send them to me or post your list. I'll be glad to check them out!

(Update 12/29/2004: Added 'Programming Pearls' to the list. Also rearranged the order to better reflect the order of importance. -rob)

I discovered this useful technique for dealing with those pesky irritations we encounter day by day. You know what I'm talking about, dealing with negative individuals, or being exposed to annoying and counterproductive behavior that can break your own positive momentum.

The way to get over it is to put things in proper perspective, stop whining, and start fighting for our lives. Think about it, during times of great stress such as major wars, illness, or alien invasions, we would focus all our concentration and abilities on the conflict, and everything else would be petty or even silly annoyances. If you were literally fighting for your life, you wouldn't even sweat the small stuff.

That's why I believe those in the military have a mental and physical edge over your typical 9 to 5 office worker. They have been exposed to the rigid US Army basic training and survival program. They have been put through life and death situations and decisions. They're used to getting up at 5 in the morning, doing pushups, breakfast, the 5-mile jog under rain and mud, more physical training. And all this takes place before noon. Makes pesky problems such as that gossipy co-worker or neanderthal neighbor seem kind of lame by comparison.

I particularly like the core seven US Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. You just gotta admire those guys. I need to start my own personal boot camp in the coming year. Give myself a kick in the ass.