Nuala's fashionably late challenge: keep on moving.

[Nuala]

[Please insert RP here]

 

Yep, I'm late! But I had a good reason, I was visiting the wonderful Copenhagen to celebrate my birthday (yay) and the start of my unemployment (way less yay). It was cold, lakes were frozen, but it was awesome, cheers!

 

 

Anyway, I may be a day late but it's still challenge time! It will be really different this time, not really focused on fitness but more on life and skills. I'm still climbing 3 times a week anyway, so I'm not "too" lazy:

 

Goal #1: Let's stay active!

Ok, no job anymore, that mean I have to improve my programming skills. What I need to learn/work on is:

• PHP5
• HTML5
• CSS3
• Ruby
• Python
• Javascript
• Finnish

Ok, I don't need to learn Finnish but that's something I'd like to do anyway, so I'm putting it here. I won't have the time to work on all that every days, but I hope I'll be able to work on at least 3 of these skills every week day. Week-ends are optionals.

 

And here is the spreadsheet where I will register the lessons done:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AotE3VGxMb_VdFU0bUR1SDI3a1FSZzBLeHBUc3dQeEE&usp=sharing

 

 

Goal #2: practice makes permanent, perfect practice makes perfect.

I have 2 other skills that I want to take to another level:

• Violin
• Cooking

I've been playing violin for 4 years now and I still sucks. It's good to be persistent, but it's useless if I don't progress enough. Cooking is special, I cook a lot but until now it's mostly very simple dishes, now I should have time to work on some more difficult dishes and also, work on the dishes presentation.

 

Violin: Video before/after

Cooking: takes some pictures

 

Goal #3: Pull the bar up!

Staying at home, I will be allowed to use my pull-up bar more. Well, I have to admit that it was a little neglected recently. So, my goal will be something like:

Pull-up: 6 -> 10

L-sit pull-ups: 0 -> 5

Chin-up: 4 -> 10

Hanging leg raise: progression to hanging leg circle

Skin the cat: 1 -> 30 seconds

Will detail it more after a few tests.

 

Goal #4: Bring spring in my wardrobe

I know that assassin's dress-code is black. And that's actually the colour of most of my wardrobe, but for some infiltrations purposes, I may need to wear some less assassin-y clothes and wear some *gasps* more colourful clothes. Pictures should be taken.

 

And now I need to catch up with every one.. arg

[Kyliewyotie]

Sounds like you plan to abide by the internet rules and shows pictures!  or it didn't happen

 

I want to see some of these food dishes, I like food porn.

 

I will be following along to see how your challenge goes.

[Devyn]

Colourful clothes are not allowed here!

I love your goals, but that is a lot of languages!  How do you fit all of that in your head??  Sorry about the unemployment but it's great that you got to do a bit of travelling. And bon anniversaire, mon amie!

[Nyxy]

Oh man, Copenhagen sounds so nice to me right now.

Cooking is ALWAYS a good goal! Working on presentation is a lot of fun. It always baffles people you cook for ("What is this? Why is it in that shape? You put almonds on there? Is this parsley?") but it's also just nice. I'm usually trying to add some colours to every meal, so it always has some green and some red and some yellow or black. <3

Good luck!

[OrangeJorwell]

Well I'm jealous.  All of the lakes here keep melting so I can't skate.  I need to work on programming too, but that'll be a job for another challenge.  And we both have the same pull up goal, so my new goal is to get there first.  

 

Feliz cumpleanos!

[rybo]

Nice goals, even better when pics are involved!

[alienjenn]

Sub... because

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[Happienumber]

Nice! That lake looks kinda scary to me. It looks almost half-melty.

That is seriously a lot of languages! Im struggling with just C. Ive wanted to learn ruby forever but have never made the time. Yay for violin videos! And food pictures! Im excited for your challenge.

[bigm141414]

Once you learn Python you'll realize that it is by far the best language. Really. So easy to program. Although it seems a lot of larger web programs are going to Ruby/Ruby on Rails. Good luck with all those languages. 

 

Also that progression link has me now reading that entire site. Thank you for making me unproductive. 

[Wild Wolf]

FOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! I agree with Kylie.. I like food porn as well Late arrival or not, good to see ya!

 

Wolf

[Nuala]

Once you learn Python you'll realize that it is by far the best language. Really. So easy to program. Although it seems a lot of larger web programs are going to Ruby/Ruby on Rails. Good luck with all those languages. 

 

Also that progression link has me now reading that entire site. Thank you for making me unproductive. 

 

Actually, I know a little python already and I would agree that it's one of the great language ever! But employers tends to require Ruby more often, hence why I'd rather learn both Just in case.

 

And sorry for your productivity... But it's a good read!

[Aeryn]

Yay, your thread is up! I kept looking for it.... I suppose being out of town is a good excuse, though. Sounds like a lot of fun. I'll be following!

[chris_de_maas]

Yay, your thread is up! I kept looking for it.... I suppose being out of town is a good excuse, though. Sounds like a lot of fun. I'll be following!

She was out of town + being an awesome and incredibly patient bouldering teacher!

 

Good luck on your challenge Nuala! Really look forward to hearing all about your progress!

[Croman Red]

Good to see you're back:)  Looking forward to seeing you do this!  I'm curious about one thing, was this unemployment a planned thing?  With your choice of goals it looks like you're fast forwarding to a higher level?

[Nuala]

The unemployment was not planned no. I was laid off. But I had 2 month to try to have a plan ready, truth to be said, I have no plan. For now I'm just panicking in one direction, hoping for the best

 

 

Goal #2 analysis:

Violin battle plan:

Separate each training in 3 parts, scales/study/piece.

Scale: focus must be given to warming up, play in tune, right wrist flexibility

Study: focus must be given to rhythm and bowing

Piece: 2 axes. Work on the current piece (slow then fast, rhythm > in tune) and play older pieces (memory + repository)

 

Cooking battle plan

Cooking wise, here is the kind of stuff I usually do:

 

Pan cooked celeriac with dried herbes de provences with pork/beef meatballs. The whole plate should be around 550 kcal. I see 2 problems with this dish:

1- lack of color. Celeriac and meatballs have almost the same tone, that makes the plate boring to see. Fresh herbs may do the trick but it's not the season for them :x

2- The presentation is not really original either. Everything is put in the dish almost randomly. It lacks the "professional" feel I want to give in my dishes.

 

Other than that, it was good

[Devyn]

Put some green on that plate!

What is celeriac? I've heard of it, but I don't know how it tastes or what group it's in.

[Happienumber]

Seriously, i was wondering the same thing. It sounds like celery, but looks nothing like celery.

I love the battle plan for those goals! I may have to steal the violin plan.

[chris_de_maas]

Thank you!!!! I've been wondering what the name of that veggie was in English for a while (knew it in Danish but not in English for some reason!) now and it was driving me nuts!

I read somewhere that you should try to aim for as many colours possible in your plate as each colour (for both veggie/fruit) means that they are bringing you a particular nutrient. I'll try to find it for you

 

How was your day anyway?

[Nuala]

No green at home, my fridge is desperately empty. And it's hard to find some green in this season, beside leeks and cabbage, I don't have much choice. Celeriac looks like this:

http://cdn.taste.com.au/images/articles/celeriac06261152.jpg

 

I usually use it as a potato replacement, it taste different, a little lemony maybe. When you roast it it becomes sweeter and goes very well with spices like ginger. I usually cook it in gratin with sweet potatoes or in oven-cooked fries.

[chris_de_maas]

You could try kale (choux frisé), you can find it all year round.

Another thing that is available all year round (and is orange) is butternut squash, it's delicious just cut in dice and baked in the oven for about 20mins.

[Wolverine]

FINALLY.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

 

HOT SAUCE = INSTANT COLOR.

 

I'm looking forward to following your challenge.  You've got a great layout/plan for the violin. What about the language learning?

[Nuala]

@chris: believe me or not, kale is the one thing I can't find anywhere! And I looooove butternut, I usually makes the lazy recipe, cut in half, seed removed, cover in olive oil and ginger powder, cooked 1 hour at 200°C. The butternut is totally caramelized, it's delicious. <3

 

@Wolfie: thanks!

I don't have a good battle plan for Finnish yet, well I could use several things. I have a list of Finnish words on memrise already, I already know a few hundreds words, I also have several books and some audio files that I could listen at from times to times. I also have my BF who could eventually help me (he is half-Finnish) and finally I have some Finnish friends that would be willing to speak to me in Finnish when my level would be good enough Now, what to do and in which order, it's more delicate. Problem with Finnish is its grammar. The pronunciation is easy (yes, I'm looking at you Danish) , you pronounce exactly what's written (Still looking at you Danish!) but all the cases makes me regret that I haven't learned German before! So for now, I feel that I play with lego without being able to assemble them yet. So, I'll have to try different stuff I suppose.

[Croman Red]

I'm learning more about vegetables than I thought there was to know.  Sorry to hear about the layoff, it's a scary feeling.  Still, you're a sharp woman, creative too.  I believe you can put this behind you and get ahead.  About those vegetables...no onions or peppers?  Carrots?

[chris_de_maas]

That's crazy! It's everywhere here and so freaking good!

You could maybe go for red cabbage instead, I know a really nice red cabbage salad recipe. Easy to make, very tasty and super colourful

And yeah, Danish is absolutely terrible to learn... grrr!

[Devyn]

No green at home, my fridge is desperately empty. And it's hard to find some green in this season, beside leeks and cabbage, I don't have much choice. Celeriac looks like this:

http://cdn.taste.com.au/images/articles/celeriac06261152.jpg

 

I usually use it as a potato replacement, it taste different, a little lemony maybe. When you roast it it becomes sweeter and goes very well with spices like ginger. I usually cook it in gratin with sweet potatoes or in oven-cooked fries.

 

Hmm, I might have to try that. I love making carrot and parsnip and sweet potato fries. Maybe I'll try celeriac fries.