ShamelessHacking

Hacking Life Is Therapeutic

When I named this blog Shameless Hacking I don't think I realized the therapeutic affect it would have on my mental health. I expected this blog to be about technology and life hacks. So far the life hacks are winning out. I am beginning to recognize the hacks I've pulled off pretty well. In the process, I've begun to diminish the need for perfectionism. Why would anyone care to know about this? If you are a perfectionist, you may want to hail your imperfect moments as "good enough" and see how good it feels.

Wikipedia explains a life hack in the following way:

"anything that solves an everyday problem in a clever or non-obvious way might be called a life hack"

Solving an everyday problem can be daunting task for those who are perfectionists. But if you look at it as a life hack, it really comes off as something that's clever, rather than a problem that must be solved perfectly. I've always been overly concerned about the perfect solution to any problem whether it be a technical or life problem.

With life hacks, an imperfect solution can now be classified as "clever" which I am perfectly happy with.

Superbowl Hack for Disinterested Women

Last night I went to a Superbowl party -- it wasn't at my house this year. There were a few differences in how I usually do my Superbowl event. But I think this one was hacked pretty well.

First and most importantly, I had no interest in either of the teams. Now, if it were an East coast team, I may have been able to resist the giant-size yawn, but, nope, this year it was - uh - Saints vs. Colts.

Second, I was happy to be invited to my friend and neighbor's home across the street. When I arrived at the house, I saw the usual fare, wings, meatballs, drinks and cheese dips. Yes, so far the standards were all there. Then, the hacks began.

Where was everybody? I was pretty sure there were supposed to be some football fans at this Superbowl party. Then, I realized the twist on our Superbowl 2010. All real men were directed to the downstairs viewing room while the wives were to remain upstairs to watch and basically "discuss amongst themselves". This was not Superbowl party experience I was accustomed to. The usual protocol was to sit with my Canadian husband, while we pretend to understand all the intricacies of football as if we cared or new anything about it. We would enjoy our annual game of quaffing down pub-style foods we wouldn't dare touch for the next twelve months.  This time I was fending for myself.

My friends all gathered around the fireplace and we attempted to glance up at the tube between plate refills and conversations about bunko, dominoes and neighborhood spats. It was just not your typical Superbowl party, to be perfectly honest.

Then, our hostess decided we should abandon the football game altogether and draw.  A change in game plan involving creativity which I was not prepared for at all. No paper, no pencils, no erasers-- at least not on me. My friends were adamant that drawing was what we were going to do. So, they lent me all the necessary tools.

We began drawing following some basic instructions they had garnered from a beginner's art class during the week. A few cut-out shapes thrown on a clean sheet of paper were simple traced where they landed. Then, the job of filling them in with whatever pattern you felt like scribbling in. It was like glorified doodling. I couldn't be happier. I could see my doodling in elementary school was going to take me through this project nicely. I don't know how it happened, but the creative juices started flowing and I discovered a project that could easily become a favorite past time.

Many thanks to my friends for this hack!

After the game, (I guess the Saints won), I  took my drawing home to finish another day. Maybe I'll finish it during the next golf tournament (ho-hum), the best part about this year's Superbowl is that I found out that sports seem to bring out my creative side! 

How I Hacked My Dinner

This is more of a life hack. I wanted to make Chicken Breast Stuffed with Goat Cheese.

After doing my usual poking around for a recipe I thought was worthy of my efforts. I settled on this one:

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes.

I read some of the reviews, I knew I had the ingredients on hand and it looked pretty easy. Then, I started hacking...

• I didn't have dry sun-dried tomatoes, I had oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes.
• I didn't have CHICKEN BREASTS (like I thought I had bought). I had chicken tenders, the kind you use for chicken fingers! Arrgh!
• I didn't want to saute the chicken, I wanted to bake it
• I didn't want any sauce - I just wanted the stuffing
• I couldn't stuff the chicken tenders that would never work

I decided to  make two layers of chicken with goat cheese mix layered in the middle.

I didn't use the oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, but I did use chopped fresh tomatoes.

I didn't make any of the sauce.

I cooked the chicken with the goat cheese for 30 minutes in the oven at 350. 

The result:  Unstuffed Chicken with Fresh Tomato and Goat Cheese was awesome!

Hacking has been good to me AGAIN!

Good Will Hacking

I've been blessed with a somewhat average brain (at least that's what my high school and college grades reflected). I've spent much of my career white knuckling my way through every project wondering if I would make it to project completion. I always made it to project completion. Giving up is not a trait that good will hackers possess.

A good will hacker has a "can-do" attitude.

Early on in my career, I dreamed of living and working in sunny Florida. When a friend told me of an opportunity to relocate, I jumped on it. I wasn't sure if I was qualified, but I had a phone interview and got the position. I am not sure how I pulled it off. I was studying K&R's "The C Programming Language" for just over a week teaching myself the language. I had the book in hand as the interviewer tech-ed me. With little fanfare, I got the job and was off to Orlando. Once I arrived in Orlando, I was determined to succeed at my "slightly" acquired skill, programming in C language. This is where it all started. I had to learn the technology-- and fast-- or risk having to rejoin the rat race from whence I came (NJ). That just wasn't going to happen. I spent three years working in the C/UNIX development environment designing, coding, testing and tech writing. I learned C-ISAM and Informix. I learned to design applications. I never had a class in any of these technologies.

From that point on, I habitually learned every new skill set on the job by doing it. I didn't buy a ton of books. I didn't get a Master's degree, like many of my colleagues. I did nothing "sleazy" to forward my career. I did work hard. I continued to live in Orlando and enjoyed the climate, lucrative salary and relaxed lifestyle when I was not working hard. I'm here to say, you don't have to be brilliant to make a good living as long as you are willing to take some risks and put in the effort to "make it happen".

A good will hacker is a jack-of-all-trades.

After three years, I took my skills to one of the Bell companies and continued to build on my C and Unix knowledge. I designed, coded, cut-and-paste (whatever it takes!), cloned, compiled, tested and delivered software to fit the design specs. My code was further tested by quality assurance teams and passed. I moved on to new projects and collected more knowledge and experience from each one. In doing this I added to my skill set all the aspects of software development from conception to delivery. I basically got my hands into everything.

I wasn't a superstar, in fact, I was just another brain-on-a-stick to my managers. Some managers don't really get the power of the good will hacker. The smart ones do. It's no surprise that to be successful in software development, you need to select your resources carefully. But it's not just the brain on a stick that's important. There are many different personalities and almost every one should be present on a well-staffed software development project. Good will hackers are a piece of this puzzle.

A good will hacker is ready-and-willing to break new ground.

A good will hacker gets a thrill out of figuring out technology and how to exploit it. If someone asks how to get Widget A to connect to Widget B and Widget C is right smack in its way, the hacker is charged up. It's a game to look for solutions, evaluate and implement that solution. It brings out their creativity.

In my case, I've taken the risks and reaped the benefits of a long an ongoing career in good will hacking. And good will hacking has been very good to me.

How did Shameless Hacking come about?

I was informed today that my job included creating my own personal blog. As I'm sure everyone does, it took some hard thinking to find a topic I thought might be interesting to others. There are so many bloggers with so much expertise, what could I offer that would be worthwhile? I gave it some more thought. Should it be personal or career-related? Should it be chatty or helpful? It didn't take long to realize that it would probably have to be career-related - I spend so much time working that it was almost a no-brainer. I've picked the internet clean with my constant googling for solutions to my technology questions, in all fairness, it's time to give back. I hope that the problems I've "hacked" into solutions will be of help to someone out there.