Category: Thoughts

You’ve just noticed a weird symptom, it may be a dull pain, a discomfort, a sensation, you name it, and suddenly you start typing on Google looking for an explanation, a benign and harmless cause. Guess what? You will not find that.

You should never consult Dr. Google

You’ll start following links and eventually, you’ll end up certain that you have a very rare sinister illness that will bring you to your inevitable end within a few days or weeks. How did you not notice before?

Ok, maybe it’s not that way for everyone but if you are prone to anxiety you’d better resist the temptation, you may end way down the rabbit hole, reading and searching for hours in uncountable websites about your symptoms. The worst thing about it is that your mind is so powerful that it’ll start creating new symptoms for you to worry even more in a horrible vicious circle. I’ve been there.

The web is not your doctor.

How to deal with it:

• Identify the temptation and the triggers
• Put your device down
• Use a relaxation or anxiety reduction technique
• Live the moment (focus on your work, activities, people around you)
• Keep moving and physically active, don’t let health anxiety paralyze you
• Ask for professional help

Consult your real doctor if you are worried about any symptoms or if your symptoms persist.

 

Recently I got curious about my behavior as a smartphone user, specifically, what are the apps that I use the most on my day to day.

I installed this app, QualityTime, it allows you to monitor and get real time reports on how much time you spend on your smartphone and which are your most used apps. Now I’ve been using it for a while.

So, here are my top 10 Android Apps:

10. WordPress

WordPress for Android puts the power of publishing in your hands, making it easy to create and consume content. Write, edit, and publish posts to your site, check stats, and get inspired with great posts in the Reader. What’s more? It’s open source.

This app become one of my most used apps since I’ve started this blog, it is very useful to be able to manage your site on the go, it helps me to be more consistent with my writing and to don’t miss ideas for blog posts which I can instantly convert to drafts with this app.

9. Wunderlist

Wunderlist helps millions of people around the world capture their ideas, things to do and places to see. Whether you’re sharing a grocery list with a loved one, working on a project, or planning a vacation, Wunderlist makes it easy to share your lists and collaborate with everyone in your life. 

I’ve been using Wunderlist for a long time, I’ve used it to track my homework when I was in college, just as the extract above I’ve used it with my loved one to share our grocery list and places to see (we have plenty), I’ve used it to keep track of my work taks, my personal projects, my learn list, books I want to read, movies I want to watch… It’s not surprising that it is on my top 10 list.

8. Headspace

Get the most out of your day with the Headspace meditation app. We’ll help you perform at your best through the life-changing skills of meditation and mindfulness. In just a few minutes a day, you’ll learn how to train your mind and body for a healthier, happier life.

I use Headspace for my daily meditation, It really helps me with my stress level, keeps me concentrated and I actually really enjoy it, it’s really nice to take 10 minutes and appreciate.

7. Money Lover

Money Lover is the simple way to manage your money, budgets, and bills on your phone. From now on, you’re able to manage all your assets in just one place. How easy it is when getting reports of your expenses, sticking with your budget plans, or tracking your banking transactions!

When I first started working and earning money my financial life became a real mess, I started buying unnecessary stuff, reached the limit of my credit cards and soon I realized I need to manage my finances better or I was going to end up in the streets. I took a short online course about personal finance and started using Money Lover since then to track my expenses and budgets.

6. Google Keep

Quickly capture what’s on your mind and get a reminder later at the right place or time. Speak a voice memo on the go and have it automatically transcribed. Grab a photo of a poster, receipt or document and easily organize or find it later in search. Google Keep makes it easy to capture a thought or list for yourself, and share it with friends and family.

Everyone needs a notes app, this is my favorite one, simple and clean.

5. Fitbit

GET ACTIVE. EAT BETTER. MANAGE WEIGHT. SLEEP BETTER.

My wife recently gave me this Fitbit Charge 2 device, a heart rate and fitness band which I really enjoy, It really helps me to stay active, I love the sleep tracking feature and track my fitness goals. I love the data analytics it gives me, I just try to not get obsessed about it.

4. Instagram

Instagram is a simple way to capture and share the world’s moments. Follow your friends and family to see what they’re up to, and discover accounts from all over the world that are sharing things you love.

My favorite social network, I enjoy looking different realities of people I know as well as people I would like to know.

3. Spotify

With Spotify, you have access to a world of music. You can listen to artists and albums, or create your own playlist of your favorite songs.

I’m a musical person, I need my music with me.

2. YouTube

See what the world is watching — from the hottest music videos to what’s trending in gaming, entertainment, news, and more. Subscribe to channels you love, share with friends, and watch on any device.

I love YouTube I always have videos in my Watch Later playlist, they’re mostly from my subscriptions which contain a wide range of content: space, movies, news, science, travel, TED, formula 1, dev, tech, music, entertainment… I use YouTube app to watchthis videos when I have free time.

1. Tide

Tide lets you get things done by breaking up individual event among discrete intervals, separated by short breaks.

A very simple app I love, it is essentially a timer based on the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method to break down your activities into 25 minutes intervals with short and long breaks. I use it for work, writing, studying, reading, etc. Actually, I think I may be abusing.

Share your top 10 with me!

9:13 – Start. I’ve just arrived to the office with a friend with I share transport, leave my stuff at my desk and I head to register my entrance hour…. I know, it seems kind of absurd to me, I think flexibility is better, but it’s the way it is.

9:30 – Breakfast. I eat a simple breakfast right at my desk while catching up with some news, YouTube subscriptions, personal emails and start figuring out my goals for the day with the help of my Wunderlist.

10:00 – Coffee. With my goals clear I just need one more thing to get fully started: My coffee. So I take my Contigo mug (which is awesome) and take it downstairs to fill it with the elixir.

11:00 – Work, work, work, work, work. I like to code on the morning. I start by fixing some bugs previously assigned to me on our team platform VSTS and continue with any other assigned tasks.

12:00 – Daily SCRUM. Just like this photo of the Jedi council but in a much less cool and small room, standing up and with remote attendants joined by video, no holograms 😭.

 

13:00 – Work, work, work, work, work. I Continue with my assignments, create a couple of pull requests and review a couple from my team.

14:00 – Meditation. Around this time I try to free myself for 10 minutes to meditate. I’m currently using Headspace app to do my meditations. It really helps me with my stress level, keeps me concentrated and I actually really enjoy it, it’s really nice to take 10 minutes and appreciate.

14:30 – Lunch. My co-workers and I go down to the cafeteria to have lunch. My current company is located inside a University so we share the cafeteria with the students. I’m still waiting for the food fight.

15:00 – Chatter. We head to an open area in the campus to sit and talk about everything. Just relax and take a few minutes to talk about everyone’s life, movies, tech, gadgets, comics, memes, and anything that comes up.

15:30 – Learn. Time to go back to the office. I love to learn, I always have topics on my list of things I want to learn about, so I like to spent this part of my day in learning, currently I’m focused on Android stuff, specifically Kotlin and how can I improve the architecture in my projects.

16:00 – Improve. By this time I usually focus on our improvement project, this include tasks like collaborating with co-workers on how to improve our development process, our continuous integration process, integration of new tools, best practices… Currently we’re under a CMMI certification process so I have a meeting with one of my co-workers to review the progress.

17:00 – Closing. I close tasks for the day and focus on any short task so I don’t leave unfinished tasks before I leave.

18:00 – Finish. I register my exit so that HR can be sure I worked 8 full hours.

A Day at the Office.

2017 has been the best year of my life. Here’s a short recap I want to share.

😱 January: I got in a terrifying ride. My wife is a true daredevil, she made me do it and I felt glad to be alive when I get off.

😍 February: It was our civil wedding, no big celebration because we were already planning our religious ceremony for September (spoiler), then me and my wife moved to a new house. It is such an exciting and thrilling adventure to share a place with the person you love.

💻 March: I got a new job. A little reluctant about it, the change, the thrill, the adaptation, the new routine, so many things in my head. It turned to be a good job, I’ve learned many things and I’ve worked with great people, I’m still working here.

⚔️ April: Went to a very cool event (Opera Picnic), and got a little nostalgic while enjoying a couple of AOE LAN parties.

🎂 May: I turned 25 years old.

💒 June: Lots of wedding planning.

🤙 July: Friends and Family. I reunited with some friends from college, had really good time and everybody was so hyped about the wedding (I’m the first of the group that gets married). Had a trip with family to a very nice cabin and a family reunion with my cousins.

🌊 August: Bachelor trip in Vallarta. My friends organized this awesome trip to the beach. I’m just grateful for having such cool friends.

❤️ September: Wedding. I got married with the love of my life. Definitively the best day of my year. I really had a great time, it was so much fun, watching our families and friends so happy, so many moments, so many feelings. A day I will remember all my life.

🍯 October: Honeymoon. Simply amazing. We spent some days on Holbox, a tiny island located in the Mexican Caribbean where I’m pretty sure the time goes much slower and another days in the city of Cancun in a big luxury hotel. Kind of opposite worlds… It was incredible to experience both.

🙃 November: Guanajuato City. We took a trip to one of my favorites cities I’ve known. It amazes me every time I go. Culture, art, history, museums, its tunnels network, and legends are some of the magic it has to offer.

🌲 December: Nature. I got the opportunity to spent some days at Mazamitla, a little town in the middle of the forest as part of the planning session for a software development startup where I collaborate: EPCON CCS. Great days, big fun, team work, and creativity. And also in December my wife got apendicitis… Well, shit happens…

So, a great year. Right? Huge thanks to all the people I got to share a moment with this year, my friends, my family, my team and specially to the love of my life Berenice, now my wife. You have made 2017, the best year of my life.