One Season Ends And Another begins

Today marked the end of my 2011 Spring Softball season.  I think I had a pretty good season.  I hit 2 out of the park homeruns, I had a base hit in almost every game, and I found a permanent position in the outfield.  On the flip-side, technically my team didn't win any games.  I say technically because we won one game by forefit, which I totally count as a win.  My confidence improved, my fielding improved, and I became a more vocal teammate.  Being more vocal on the team is probably what I see as my biggest victory this year.  I was always there to encourage my team each step of the way.

I've played on a lot of losing teams.  Losing isn't painful for me anymore.  So I began focusing on having fun and making progress each game.  Any time a ball was caught, a throw was made, contact between the ball and the bat, a ball was stopped on its way to the outfield, etc.  I was always there to encourage my team.  Each game we got better.  We made strides, we scored more runs, we allowed fewer runs to be scored.  We came closer and closer to winning.  We got to the point where it actually hurt to lose.  We were making such progress that we went ahead in a couple of games, and then we fell apart.  Those games hurt the most because we could almost see ourselves winning.  We could see we had a change to turn things around and then we'd get too confident, and start making mistakes.  No worries though, it showed we were making progress.  It showed we weren't the team we started the season as.  Progressing was most important.  Losing is never fun, but having a good time and making forward progress makes it interesting.

Now that softball season is over, I turn to soccer.  I've started practicing with my team before the season starts and our team looks promising.  I do have a lot of work to do before I'm ready.  I'm setting goals for myself this year, so I can monitor myself and make progress.  I want to truly improve.  I want to get better.  I always talk about being a good soccer player, but rarely do I do anything about it.  This year that changes.  I also want a new pair of boots, but that's another story.

My goals for my 2011 Soccer Season
 - Score 4 goals
 - Be able to play one game without being subbed out
 - Beat a defender with a step-over
 - Kick 4 corner kicks
 - Score a goal via header

I'm trying to be more of a playmaker, and move from playing on the outside to holding down the middle of the field.  I need to be able to run.  I like running, I also need to be able to control the ball.  This year I'm going to make strides towards doing just those things.

Who I am and where I want to be

This blog is called "The Tech Athlete." I believe these are two words which describe me best. Maybe they don't describe me, but they describe my hobbies and my interests. Isn't that what blogging is about. Writing about your interests, and sharing thoughts and ideas with the rest of the world?

This summer I've been doing a lot of thinking about who I am and where I want to be. Recently one of my good friends turned 25. With this we started reflecting on his life. During my weekly browsing of Hacker News I found an article here talking about a "Quarter-Life Crisis." My friend and I had jokingly diagnosed him with this before I found the article. We had no idea this was a real issue. Since I'm almost to the "quarter-life" point, I started to do some reflecting of my own.

Here are some of my thoughts:

Who am I?

• I am a computer programmer. Not a very good one.
• I am a soccer player, once again, not a very good one.
• I am an amateur photographer, better at this than the previous one.
• I am a cook. My best skill in the list. Although my cooking skills are limited.

Where do I want to be? (At some point and time in the near future)

• A kick-ass software developer. I want to be able to code at home as easily as at work. I want to be able to generate side income via home projects.
• A pretty decent soccer player. One who is comfortable handling the ball, and can run for the majority of the game. Also one who can dribble in more directions that north and south.
• A good photographer with an understanding of the more technical aspects of photography, optics, focal lengths, etc. I want to be able to shoot comfortably in manual mode as well.
• A cook who can make his own sauces, whip up a good meal out of anything I have, and manage proportions well.

These are a subset of the goals I have in my life. I hope to use this blog as an outlet for me working towards and achieving them. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts on how to go about. I hope to one day build up the readership to be able to collaborate and spread my ideas around, but for now I'm looking to practice. Practice my coding, practice my soccer, practice taking good photos, and practicing cooking.

My ultimate goal is to be The Tech Athlete I named this blog for. ..