A Minimalist in a Tech World

Post-Bootcamp Life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 May 2017 22:36:00 +0000

I finally graduated from Thinkful, an online coding bootcamp.

I really learned a lot, and it was thanks in most to my mentor. Unlike many of my colleagues from the program, my mentor was a full stack developer who knew the front to the back of programming. I was lucky!

However, working hard and learning how to program also takes a lot of effort on the student's part. So putting hours in to programming and studying is just as important as communicating with your mentor or going over the curriculum material.

But after joining a bootcamp and finishing, I have to say that the learning is never done.

You cannot just stop studying, coding, building, networking, etc. It's all about making programming a lifestyle.

I'm even planning on ways to get more involved by joining open-source projects, creating collaborative work with colleagues from the program, building my own side-projects to test out new technologies, tutorials, and going through online programs like CS50 and Udacity nanodegrees.

So, don't forget to keep learning, and finding ways to improve yourself. If you want to become something amazing, make sure to give it your all, and don't stop trying!

Life in San Jose, CA

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 04:25:00 +0000

It's been about 6 months since we've been living in San Jose, California. I'm already starting to forget what it was like living in Tucson, Arizona -- the desert, where we had stayed for about 8 months before moving to slightly sunnier California.

Urban life can sometimes be stuffy. I spend a lot of my time in my small 595 sq. ft. apartment, tending to a few plants in my tiny patio, and if I do go out, walk about 5-10 minutes to Starbucks or 20 minutes to the library across the tiny river.

Today's post is going to be a little more about both my journey towards being a real web developer and my zero waste minimalism life style.

I'm currently on my 6th month in the Thinkful bootcamp. I've been working on a React capstone for the past few weeks. Hopefully I'll be finalizing that project shortly. Still some rough parts to polish, but mostly good for now. Ironically, I'm also freelancing to improve a venture capitalist company's website in Wordpress. The ironic part was that my time in Tucson working irregularly in a design agency helped instill in me my knowledge of using Wordpress. Thankfully, you don't need to know a ton of php in order to word with the editors because most of the code is also basic JavaScript.

So, enough about that nothing too much happening in my career in terms of being more of an established developer. But it's a start.

Now, since moving to this new city. I've been blessed to enjoy foods from many different cultures. I can easily get some of my favorite foods like Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese with no problems. Which makes it sometimes hard for me to stay motivated to cook at home.

The bad part about not cooking much at home, is I can easily fall into making waste. Now part of our ZWM lifestyle is to minimalize waste. But we've been still good about carrying around our reusable spoons/napkins, cups and bags, so we're still working on minimalizing. But there are still items we are getting that comes in plastic packaging like noodles or cookies. I'm planning on making a lot more things from scratch. For example, tofu, noodles, breads, etc. I'll make a blog post shortly about that in the following weeks to come.

But one of the things I'm making sure to do better is to remember to enjoy and savor the moments with the ones we care most about. For me that is making sure my family and close friends are healthy and happy, and to stay in touch.

Life isn't a race, we don't have to try to be the best or the most amazing out there, after all life is short and if we don't stop to enjoy the moments we will end up missing out and regretting the awesome stuff.

So breath deep and go slowly.

Building a React/Redux App with JWT

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 18:40:00 +0000

So, I apparently like to sporadically write about different topics. I hadn't had any good ideas for over a month, but this one was on my mind this week as I began to really develop a large scale application using React/Redux. I'm working on my third capstone in the Thinkful program. You can find more about it here.

My previous capstone was mainly using Node/Express, MongoDB, and handlebars, with authentication through PassportJS. I would have to say that definitely moving onto React/Redux and JWT definitely pushes my learning up a notch.

So, the first thing I want to say is how beneficial it has been to learn more about the development process from nearly scratch. I'm using webpack 2, which I've configured myself, and it is definitely something to get used to. But the funny thing is the more I keep messing with the code, the more I actually come to understand it.

I recommend that anyone doing their own project check out some tutorials. I prefer youtube tutorials though because I'm a visual learner, and I like to hear people explain it as they go through the code. However, that's not to say that some materials like written ones with images aren't bad, but they just aren't as effective for my own learning.

I also noticed that while building this capstone, I noticed I'm acquiring more ways to improve how to write my code, and also in setting up my directory. I believe that good clean architecture for your project is important, especially when you're sharing it with others.

So, as of right now I'm not done with my project (it's been over a week since conception to coding), I've discovered a lot more things I need to improve. But I am definitely getting there, and hopefully after this is all over, I will be an even better web developer.

My First Hackathon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 15:26:00 +0000

I went to my first hackathon and this is what I experienced and thought.

I happened about 2 months ago to discover there was a conference happening in SF. It was called Developer Week 2017.

This happened to be my first hackathon as well. I wasn't sure what to expect. It also occurred on a Saturday and Sunday.

I found a team to work on, it was for a door dash like application, but for stadiums. I ended up building the API so the android devs could retrieve the data.

It was a simple node, express, mongodb setup. But I totally felt all these mixture of feelings as I was working on this simple piece of backend code. I read this article before writing this blog, which was helpful for a junior like me.

One of the things that hackathons teaches you is how to work together in a team of strangers, bring together your expertise in order to contribute to the development of the app, and learn to accept that sometimes your work may not be used. Although the ideal would be to work together with a group of people you know well, and on a project that the entire team have a fairly good reason to support. But, that's not always how it turns out.

I think that despite the fact that I've been formally learning for about 4 months now, and have had a year more of self-learning, I have really found myself further ahead in my studies than when I first began. Every little bit of knowledge can be useful in developing my skills as a web developer, from studying SQL that one time, to knowing how a mobile app works.

Most of us junior devs that come from a non-CS background may have a bad case of imposter syndromes. We're not gifted with the opportunity or desire to go through the CS programs because maybe we were not supported in that area, or we did not get the after-school tutoring and good instruction at school for mathematics.

But what this hackathon has taught me was that no one is good at everything. Everyone has their flaws, whether that be in designing, coding, communication or leading a project. No one is perfect, and everyone is learning or at least gaining experience from doing.

Being at the bottom of the totem pole is going to suck for awhile. But one day a lucky opportunity will come and you will work on a great project that will help you build your skills so you can move on to the next level. Then that's when you will realize that all those moments contemplating vague concepts, you will eventually get them, and on top of that figure out the next difficult and abstract problem, to one day become the expert.

For my future self, I hope you didn't give up because each day is a struggle, but when you keep trying and look back, you will realize that you have made progress as long as you continue to try and enjoy what you do.

What is a Software Engineer? Diversity of the Tech Field

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:34:00 +0000

Recently, I moved to one of the biggest tech city of them all, San Francisco or better yet Silicon Valley. Here is where many of the big name companies that is driving our consumption of media built its name, i.e., Google, Apple and Facebook.

Before coming here I had decided to become a programmer.

In my simple life living in the Midwest, I thought that I knew what a programmer meant, and what kind of job I would end up doing.

Building websites right?

Well, that idea of a simple streamline path to becoming what I thought was a simple to describe job was in fact dashed as I got deeper into the field.

The next thing I know people are talking about "Software Engineer" as prominently as "Computer Scientist" had been back in 2008 when the technology craze had really hit the ceiling (at least for me).

Now, I'm scratching my head and wondering what the hell is a "Software Engineer" and how is anything different from a Front-End, Web Developer, Back-End....

The one thing I have discovered so far is that the field of computer programming is diverse. There is so many faucets of this infinite field that one day you can be expert Python coder to becoming a ninja at DevOps.

Exposure I think is key to really understanding all these crazy paths that exists in the tech field. If I hadn't read countless articles, watched countless videos, searched millions of job posts, or network at dozens of meetups I would not have an inkling of what these terms even mean.

But I'm slowly getting there, and that's the point.

Everyone's journey towards achieving whatever life goal they aim for starts with climbing and pushing through the muck. There's no easy track and even the best ones out there doing all the speaking at workshops and conferences all began just as everyone had, which was scratching their head...wondering what that first term in programming meant.

Not everyone was born knowing everything. Like Sal Khan says "Everyone Can Learn", and that's the point, we're life-long learners and it's by being persistent every day that we end up truly helps us improve.

Nothing comes easily or quickly, but if I want to become awesome at what I want, I've got to work on it.

So like I learned from my first Write/Speak/Code workshop at Github Headquarters in SF on January 21, 2017, you've got to #OwnYourExpertise!

And I didn't define Software Engineer here...and that's the point of this post :-)

Hello 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 02:54:00 +0000

Happy 2017!

Many people must have been glad to see 2016 off, especially with so many traumatic news stories and unpredictable events that has happened...Although 2017 did not start off great for some parts around the world...We still live in some of the most interesting times.

Technology is growing (i.e., self-driving cars, AIs, etc), medicine is much better than it had been, people are living longer, there's no shortage of food, and living standards are getting better.

But we shouldn't forget that we share a planet with many other people. And a lot of folks do not have the same access to the goods many of us living in the developed nations do have.

The world is not separated by borders or blocked off by walls.

The air, land and water are still connected no matter if we contain it into small bottles and sell them off for high prices.

My goal for 2017 is to continue to live a zero waste minimalist lifestyle, where my focus in my life is to find ways to produce less waste and to live with less. Not only do I want to do that in my personal life, but also to make my career in a way focus on this.

As a developer, I want to find ways to build apps that provide a service to those folks that want to find ways to improve their health and lifestyles in order to minimize their exposure to the unnecessary. I'm not sure yet what that looks like, but I believe that like everyone in life, we learn from each other and from our experiences. So only time will tell.

So, for now I look forward to continuing our 7th year together with my husband, enjoy our new city of San Jose, and to continue to reduce our wants and waste so that eventually when we start a family and age we can contribute something good to our planet.

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Grow a Thick Skin with Meetup.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:32:00 +0000

Meetup.com is a great social media tool for connecting with other people in your community. It's excellent for making friendships especially when you're new to a place.

When my husband and I began moving around to different cities, we used Meetup.com to connect with new friends. It did result in new friendships, and some that have lasted over several years.

However, there is also a darker side to Meetup.com, as with any social media networks.

The dark side includes the possibility of meeting people who are ignorant, arrogant, and flat out hateful.

In my experience so far, I have had two such experiences, and I realized that when you are networking with new people it can result in meeting people who are very opposite of who you are, and people that are not interested in being kind.

I don't want this post to be about the details of my experiences, but more about how these experiences have taught me to grow a thick skin.

I was never a very confident person growing up, I actually had mutism when I was in school, but as I faced many moments in my life meeting people who in my opinion were ignorant, inconsiderate, rude, mean, and hateful, I learned how to quickly move pass the initial shock and come back to a point where I didn't let those people veer me off of my journey in life.

I learned that people are not always thinking about others around them, or at least their priorities aren't necessarily you.

I know that sometimes we face situations where we want to argue, scream, and oppose, but what I have learned in my life is that it is better to be quiet, and learn to pick your battles.

So, networking is about accepting the fact that sometimes we will meet the good and the bad of humanity. We may find long lasting friendships, or we may end up encountering the most deplorable folks.

We do not live in a vacuum, and that sometimes these social media networks are in fact an extreme representation of the world we live in.

There will be trolls.

There will be the opposite of a troll. (Anyone know the word?)

But that doesn't change the fact of who I am, and who you are.

Just because there are a few bad experiences, it shouldn't ever stop us from creating good experiences and we shouldn't lump everyone into the same category. Rather networking is about finding the connections that works, and that are suitable to you.

So when going out there, and connecting with other people, you will find that you may in fact meet folks that aren't going to care about whether they knocked into you, but you will find folks that will turn back around and apologize for knocking into you.

So, never dwell on the dark side, but also at the same time learn to take care of that thicker skin, but do not let that define you and change you into them.

Swimming Up Stream - Zero Waste Living

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 18:43:00 +0000

Someone on a community group described her journey in zero waste as "swimming the other way" rather than going with the flow of what everyone else is doing, which was consuming massive amounts of chemicals and plastics. She instead was living life more green and with an emphasis on less waste.

My own journey to zero waste started from minimalism. And to be honest me and my husband we never really thought much about the way our lifestyle was influencing our environment.

It wasn't until I started watching documentaries about the topic that inspired me.

Also moving multiple times across the US, and having to pack and unpack everything we owned, really showed how much we were consuming.

Life was not simple and it made me unhappy, so we needed to make changes.

However making changes can be tough, especially when the majority of society isn't thinking about it. It's not to say they don't care, it's just so easy for people to stick to the normal flow of things, like using single use plastic items versus reusable items.

But, change can only happen if we think outside of the box.

For me, we started off by reducing our shopping, and then later on by meal planning, and composting, and eventually focusing on chemicals in our products and our consumption of plastic.

Eventually, we will find ways to multipurpose our household items, and find a balance with consuming things we like that are not yet plastic free to influencing others around us to do the same. Or at least think more consciously about how they are consuming.

Swimming up stream is not easy, but apart of our instinct is for survival, and if we want to survive the next generation in a healthy clean planet, we should just keep pushing against the tide until eventually we make it to the place we want to be.

Eating Out At the Grocery Store

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 21:31:00 +0000

You're in a bind and it's too late to cook at home, so you decide to go out and eat. This happens to even the best of us once in awhile.

Rather than running to a fast food or fast casual restaurant to get your next meal, why not try a grocery store?

Yes, maybe it's not something that has ever crossed your mind. A grocery store....for eating out?

But yes, a grocery store is a simple place to grab our next meal.

Many places like Whole Foods, Sprouts or whatever local eatery is near you has some sort of dining area for people to get their next meal.

If you bring your Zero Waste Kit you should be able to eliminate a ton of unnecessary waste too.

Opt for foods that are loose like fruits and veggies.
Usually water fountains are available so you can also fill your water bottles up too, drinking sodas and coffees aren't usually healthy, but water is always a safe bet.
Buy from the bulk isle and get your fill of nuts and dry fruits.

There's no need to consume food that is heavily packaged, there should always be an alternative in your grocery stores to buy without waste. If there isn't now that's an advocacy project to work on!

P.S. You could also find other alternatives too like Ikea or your local cafe (but try to avoid packaging if you can).

Whole Foods in Brooklyn | Photo Credit http://www.brooklyneagle.com/

Zero Waste Kit

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 18:30:00 +0000

Today I was thinking about my zero waste habits, and thought about cleaning up my bag I take outside with me. We've been preparing for our move to San Francisco, so I wanted to make sure we had everything ready for our journey. Only 2 weeks left.

In my Zero Waste Kit I have some essential items, like water bottles, reusable sporks, cloth napkins, a collapsible container, and stainless steel straws. I also have a reusable bag, not include in the photo.

Attempting to go zero waste isn't too difficult as long as we're prepared.

Every step each individual takes to prevent waste will be a step towards a healthier planet.

What are you doing to reduce your waste? What is your Zero Waste Kit like?

Reusable versus disposable ♻️ Our reusable items we take for traveling in our attempts to reduce waste #zerowaste #reusuable #lesswaste #lessplastic

A photo posted by Dana Ng (@riceball1) on Nov 4, 2016 at 10:39am PDT

Focus on Things that Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 23:47:00 +0000

Sometimes we can become busy and overwhelm.

Work, life, family, society ... all these can become burdensome when we have to deal with managing all of these things with the limited time we have in a day.

24 hours never seems enough when you feel like you have a deadline.

But rushing through life and feeling stressed and upset about getting things done is all relative. People create limitations and restrictions in their lives when it comes to what they should focus on.

By focusing on things that matters we are able to get out of the rut, and begin to make progress.

When I first started working on minimalism, I was overwhelmed. There was just so much I could do, but haven't done yet, to reach the goal of living a life that wasn't cluttered by too many things, toxic people and unhealthy habits.

However, the way I found to really deal with my problems was to focus, and not just focus on what I hadn't accomplished, but to focus on what I could accomplish in the present.

The difference is that rather than viewing life from the problems first, I focus on positive actions. One of my approach to getting things done is to focus on what needs to be done versus how it makes me feel.

Emotions often cloud our judgement.

Feeling bad that I had to donate several bags of clothes, or toss away something barely used could easily absorb my entire day, but rather than allowing our feelings to become obstacles, instead we should build ladders to overcome these inhibitors in our lives.

When writing an application, oftentimes experts would talk about breaking down the problem into smaller solutions. Rather than attempting to get every feature on an application down in one go, instead by steady, modularizing the pieces of the whole, then the journey towards a finished project becomes less daunting and more doable.

Currently, I'm attempting to up my minimalist game, and focus on zero waste.

Making a life change can be huge. My husband is still adjusting to the changes, and after one tiff I realized that sometimes I may be ready to make changes, but others need time to adopt those changes too.

Slowly we have reduced our material consumption and became more conscious shoppers. Although I'm not a big fan of Leonard DiCaprio as an actor, I am glad that those with power and influence are making a stand against climate change.

Right now, as we experience the oddities of the weather from storms, earthquakes, extreme heat and cold, it is more important than ever to focus on things that matters. Electric -- sustainable and renewable energy sources are becoming more and more important as we attempt to find ways to clean up human's pollution.

But like the documentary Before the Flood indicates, we cannot just assume that industries and government are going to be the only ones that will make the changes.

We have to change our lifestyles.

Stop buying processed foods and consuming so much disposable goods.

We need to focus on our energy and water consumption. And go back to using natural, non-harmful chemicals.

So if more people begin to adopt the lifestyle of minimalism and zero waste, then it will become possible for this planet to be a healthy and better place to live in the present and in the future.

How Minimizing is helping me Code?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 12:55:00 +0000

When you're studying something intensely, and working on something for a long time it is easy to begin to feel burnt out or start to lose your passion. Maybe you might even become a bit lost, and ask yourself "Why am I doing this?" or "What is the purpose of what I'm doing with my life?".

Coding to me is an interesting field, but can become easily filled with moments of boredom. Programming, or learning to write code in JavaScript or Python may not be the most exciting job in the world especially if you're only trying to add a small piece of functionality to a larger project, however sometimes it can be rewarding, when you can come up with a solution to a JavaScript feature for a website, or finally understand what closures are!

So how does minimalism help me with coding?

Well, I think that often times like computers if there's too much junk files scattered in a large repository, we will begin to get lost. However, once you refactor any duplicate code, pair down folders to a few you will begin to get a sense of clarity and enlightenment from understanding what you have and what you can do with them.

When I took the journey towards minimalism in 2014, I hadn't started to intensely program yet. It wasn't until I decided in summer of 2015 to stop pursuing my doctorate and focus on web development did I truly find how reducing my clutter mentally and physically was in fact the reason why I am able to focus more on the things that truly mattered.

During my doctoral program I would read hundreds of publications from book chapters to journal articles. I would have piles of these printed out, marked and highlighted. But I was scattered and didn't understand necessarily what I was aiming for, what my goal was in the mountain of paper before me. But through minimalism, I was able to start re-evaluating the meaning of my actions.

Understanding why you do something is just as important as how you do it. For me, when I think about programming from the lens of a minimalist, I see that when I code I must understand how that function or framework is practical to the development of my site or app. Refactoring and making sure my code is DRY is all related to the minimalist mindset. After all, when data scientists and journalist find patterns in repetition, and summarize them down into a meaningful chart or article, we as humans benefit from the condensed down albeit informative piece of data.

So, I just wanted to remind those who are focusing on programming, and also happen to love the concept and lifestyle of minimalism, there is very much a common convergence between these two. I believe that by making sure that my life is sorted and has a proper place, it really has helped me to find more solace when I code. And while you're developing ideas and projects to build your skills up, having a cause that you believe in really helps make coding much more interesting. Algorithms and code challenges are good for understanding how to find ways to more efficient functions, but using your knowledge for meaningful and purposeful projects will really make programming an exciting and long-lasting career path.

Minimalize and keep on coding!

Zero Waste 30 Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 05:10:00 +0000

Sometimes beginning something new can be difficult, especially if you do not have a set time frame to check whether you've actually accomplished something. I decided that in order for me to start living more consciously I needed to challenge myself. That's why I decided to start a 30 day zero waste challenge. I call it Zero Waste 30 akin to phrases from popular whole food, natural diets.

If you've researched and read about zero waste, you probably came across this troubling statistics that says "the average person produces at least 4.3lb of waste per day"! I'm sure you are probably as shocked as me about this information, and wonder what the heck are we throwing away? My goal starting today is to reduce the weight of my trash to less than 4.3lb per month or less than that. I want to break the vicious cycle of consumerism and wastefulness, and instead focus on how can I live more mindful of the things we put into our environment.

Everyone is concerned if they put something unhealthy into their bodies, so why are we accepting of adding pollution to our planet? We share this one place and must learn to better protect it. Not only will this Zero Waste 30 Challenge help you reduce your waste, but also help you learn to live a more mindful and healthier life.

Hopefully after 30 days I will have some good results. But I hope to continue improving my results each month, so don't just see this challenge as 30 days and that's it, but as a stepping stone to reach a goal of reducing what used to be several pounds of trash a day to a couple of months or several years. Let's do this for us, let's do this for the planet!

This is also a nice podcast with Lauren Singer that talks about Zero Waste (Warning: Lots of foul language, not for the faint of heart):

Understand Plastic and Alternatives

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 17:42:00 +0000

Learning more about plastics and how science is working on ways to create biodegradable plastics can help improve the situation where plastic now has contaminated our land and water systems. However, by keeping up the following cycle of reduce, refuse, reuse, recycle will help decrease and divert the amount of plastic going into our ecosystems. I myself try to reduce things we buy that comes in unnecessary plastics. One thing that the Dnews videos pointed out was that plastic is in almost every piece of technology we currently use. However, it's not that we can forgo plastics, but that we can reduce our daily consumption of it, especially of the single use or disposable kind. Again, follow the idea that by consuming less and consuming more consciously you will help to eliminate harmful chemicals and trash getting into our environment.

Who Can Become a Developer?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 00:30:00 +0000

I wanted to write about topic I feel not many people are talking much about. Growing up in a low-income neighborhood in Northern Kentucky, I was just lucky enough to get out of the public school system without falling into drugs or ending up pregnant like many of my classmates had done. I went to the local university and got my degree. But, one thing I wondered about as I change careers from an academian to a web developer, and look at all the great developers out there, is Who Can Become a Developer?

Many of the great developers in the field came from amazing technical schools like MIT, Stanford, and Rochester. We all know that although Mark Zuckerberg didn't graduate college, he did attend Harvard, and that Steve Jobs was twiddling with engineer friends in garages in sunny Silicon Valley. When I was growing up as a kid, I had a rough backyard connected to three houses, and my playground was a cracked sidewalk, and I didn't get a computer until around 1997 which I had to share with my two sisters. My parents didn't speak English. I didn't have Algebra until I was in high school, and when I went to college I only took a linear math class and that was it.

The internet was growing and maturing around the 2000s, but I barely heard about its importance until just recently in the late 2010's when Google and Apple began producing amazing technologies, and spewing out the word Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

Although not everyone is cut out for the web development world, I just wonder how many poor background people do actually reach up in the world of programming given they had to start at a later stage in life? Or was I the one that was just a bit late?

I'm writing this because today I decided to start an online coding school called Thinkful. It's a 6-month program that's suppose to provide full stack knowledge in things like node, express and react. I really hope to learn the ins-and-outs of the development world, but after reading this crazy article about learning JavaScript in 2016 and this other one about the state of JavaScript, I feel like I'm still very far behind. Starting late in the game is a pretty tough ordeal, but giving up I think would be even more disappointing. There's so much to learn, and if I stop now, I know I will be missing out on some amazing things in the future.

Reduce Food Waste

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:37:00 +0000

Food can easily go to waste if we don't first learn how to store it the right way. By making sure we only purchase what we need and learn how to store food the right way we can ensure that we limit the amount of food that goes to waste.

Here are my 3 tips for reducing food waste:

The Right Containers
Make sure you are using containers that are appropriate for the type of food you want to store. For example, if you want to keep frozen foods you can use glass or stainless steel to keep your food contents frozen without the fear of freezer burn. You might also want to avoid storing bread in a box if you live in a humid climate, but you should keep dry grains and flours in a tightly sealed container to keep moisture out.
The Right Environment
All foods have different types of conditions it can last best in. For example, potatoes are best in dark cool places, while flours are best stored in tight containers away from moisture and sunlight. Research and find out what environment works best for your food items. You can find some clues from www.stilltasty.com to figure out storage time and length of time the food item can last.
The Right Amount
Don't over purchase, you can always go back to the store and get more, especially if you live in a first world nation. There will always be plenty of food, and there's no need to prepare for an emergency situation unless your location requires emergency preparations. But usually nonprofits like the American Red Cross are there to help. However, for everyday needs you only need a little, and you should only purchase for less than a week's worth of cooking. Avoid overstocking things unless you use it everyday. Grains and flours might be good if your family eats it everyday, but for a single person or a small family you may be able to buy just enough for a weeks worth, and then go to the store again after work or school to pick up a few fresh produce from the store.

These are just a few tips to get you started. But it's never too difficult to freeze food, buy fresh or focus on simple meals to make sure you don't end up wasting food.

Things You Can Freeze Without Prep
Pop these items into the freezer, making sure to wash and dry fruits and peppers, while meats and breads can just go straight in. Make sure to use tightly sealed containers. You can simply take them out and thaw them for use. I prefer fruits for smoothies, and peppers can be sauteed in meals. You may want to heat bread up at 350F degrees in the oven for at least 10-15 minutes before eating to get the nice crust and soft interior. Make sure for sauces/soups and milk you give an inch or two of space at the top of the jar to prevent breaking from the expansion of the liquid content.

Fruits
Peppers
Meats
Bread
Sauces/Soups
Milk

Things You Can Keep at Room Temperature
These items are easy to keep for a long time at room temperature, just make sure they don't get wet or overheated.

Potatoes (keep in dark cool spot)
Rice/Flours
Soy Sauce/Oils
Onions
Garlic

A Japanese Perspective on Minimalism

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 23:23:00 +0000

I once read an article, and recently found a video about a Japanese man named Fumio Sasaki, and his transition from a hoarder to a minimalist. Here's the clip from YouTube:

I think the most important part of what he has done was that he rearranged his focus. He spent a lot of time owning things that kept him strapped to his home, but instead by getting rid of it he was able to experience another aspect of life -- the outdoors -- that brought him more joy. I think oftentimes we as people in the developed world have a need to own things in order to feel impressive. However, if not kept in check this can overtime lead to overconsumption.

Too many things can burden us. When my husband and I began moving around to different apartments and states, we realized how much possessions we had accumulated. Most of the time we would end up tossing some of the things we brought with us. And the question was why were we keeping things we were not planning on using?

Minimalism is to help us refocus on things that matters. For me that is to have less things that we do not need, and only select things to bring into our home that is valuable to us. It isn't hard, but it does take time and continuous effort to maintain the effort necessary to be and stay a minimalist.

Multipurpose Your Life - 4 Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 03:14:00 +0000

Minimalism is about finding ways to have less, whether that be less stress, less things, or less debt. One way to achieve the goal of minimalism is through the concept of multipurpose.

Multipurpose is easy to conceptualize, using one thing in more than one way.

Instead of owing a lot of things that may have single or limited uses, you can instead invest in something that will offer a lot of value in return. Hence, multipurpose items.

Not all tools will work for everyone, but I think that by considering your own lifestyle, and what you often find joy in doing, you will be able to determine and narrow down what multipurpose items you want to have in your life.

Some tips I have for you, that I believe can be pretty much universal (or at least for the typical western household):

Cleaning Supplies
Just use baking soda and vinegar, these two tools are great at cleaning, and can even act as a hair rinse, ph balancing for your skin, or a scrub if you incorporate water and some salt/sugar. You can also throw in a lemon or castille soap and make up a ton of great DIY cleaning products too. Reduce waste, and reduce harsh chemicals. Win-win!
Cooking Appliance
I think the instant pot 7-in-1 is awesome and acts as my steamer, boiler, rice cooker, pressure cooker, and yogurt maker. I use this thing at least 3-4 times a week to prep foods like meats or soft-boiled eggs. I admittedly do have a zojirushi rice cooker, which I won't give up simply because I make rice every single day and don't like the idea of pulling out the big instant pot just for making rice. I also own a blender and hand blender for making smoothies and pureeing soups. I'm sure I could have just went with one, but they're handy and I use them often enough that they're worth the cost and room. Additionally, I have a food processor from Kitchen Aid, and this item has been useful in grounding meats, breaking down large items like rice into flour or turning veggies into a paste. Just make sure that whatever you get it used often enough for whatever purpose you have desired.
Reusable Bags
Reusable bags are not only good for bringing to the grocery store to put your produce and bulk items in, but they can also be good for shopping for regular shops for glass containers or clothes. You can also use them to carry your books and cell phone around. You can repurpose reusable bags to carry anything you need to lug from A to B. So, instead of buying many bags you can just repurpose the ones you're already using for your general shopping.
Food
This is another area you can definitely multipurpose. I recently found out that oatmeal I hadn't been eating lately can act as a bread crumb in my meat balls or used for making a facial mask. You can also multipurpose meat by shredding it up or dicing it after you've pressured cooked it. You can multipurpose tomato paste to make marinara sauce or stews. I've multi-purposed rice to make sushi, or added to making a Turkish style meatball called kadin budu kofte. You can also use a whole chicken and make broth, shred it, make a stew, etc. Other food items I find great are zucchinis, carrots, potatoes, onions, which can be used in stews or salads, or as a bulk filler for stir fried dishes to reduce meat portions. I also found there are spices and condiments I often use like sesame oil, soy sauce, anchovy stock powder, all-purpose flour, etc.

Make a list and narrow down the essentials, and sometimes it's ok to forgo the extraordinary, since there are still many ways to use what you have on hand. I'm sure there's more ways to multipurpose items around the house, like clothes, and furniture, but I thought these four ideas can get you started. If you have any more ideas please feel free to post them in the comment section below.

CSS Animations Starting Out

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 05:17:00 +0000

So recently at my internship I was given a task to work with CSS animations and transitions. I'm really seeing a big progress in my understanding, before I didn't think much about CSS and focused solely on JavaScript. But I realize now how important CSS is in order to add a bit of glamour to any website.

One of the areas I've been focusing on is understanding how to write in LESS, and also to apply both CSS, HTML and JavaScript together to make really cool effects. I've been working on a Soundcloud custom player using their starter code to initially set up my project. After awhile of messing with other people's code I began to find that I'm beginning to learn to READ the code and actually UNDERSTAND it.

That means I'm getting somewhere.

Well, anyhow back to CSS animations. I found that a lot of simple things can be done using well simple coding. Here is one I did on codepen, with a little help to make the heart-shape, but the concept of just making the heart thump came from understanding the basics of keyframes. Pretty cool, no?

Anyways, keep practicing. A little effort goes a long way. I've also been doing my yoga and studying languages, right now I'm doing French, Turkish, Cantonese, Korean, French and German. Not too much, right?

See the Pen Heart Beating - CSS Animations by Dana Ng (@riceball) on CodePen.

Zero Out - First Step to Minimalizing

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 22:30:00 +0000

So you probably started or have been a long time minimalist, but found that you're not getting near enough to your goal of living an efficient or minimal waste lifestyle as you would like. Well, I've got one phrase for you Zero Out. My husband actually mentioned this term to me first, but it was like a light bulb in my brain, why hadn't I thought about this before?

WHAT IS ZEROING OUT?

You might already have an idea about what "zeroing out" means just by the phrase. But I'll give you a simple explanation here.

So, you want to reduce food waste or stop using liquid shampoo and instead use bar soaps, you should first finish what you have.

That's right, getting rid of stuff and donating things to Good Will might seem easy, but it isn't always the best solution. After all what you're really doing is just displacing items and not really dealing with the actual issue. So, by zeroing out, you reduce the wastage.

Yes, it might seem terrible to own that SFL containing bottle of shampoo, but the best thing is to not toss the entire bottle, but to use it up and start with a clean slate.

Clean slate. Just think of that, you can't just get rid of everything in one go, maybe you can just use that old shirt or wear out those shoes until you can afford to do the research and save up the money to get a good replacement.

Dumping everything and getting eco-friendly products is not necessarily the best solution to start minimizing. After all, not everyone has a boat load of money to spend on new products or clothes.

So, when you're thinking of ways to change your lifestyle to a more minimal one, start by zeroing out, and clear out the pantries, bathroom cabinets, etc before adding more in.

Hard Work Equals Success

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 19:09:00 +0000

Today I was musing over the question of "Why am I bad at math?" because I believe that if I had been a strong student in mathematics, then maybe I would have landed a programming job many eons ago. Then of course in order to find an answer to my existential question, I Googled my question and found this very well-written and insightful article "The Myth of 'I'm Bad at Math".

The basic argument of the article signifies how there are often two sides of an individual's views on intelligence, that is Incremental versus Entity. The first concept, incremental, believes that intelligence is malleable, so with a little hard work it is possible to understand a subject like math very well. Whereas, entity is basically the opposite, which is the belief that your intelligence is fixed.

Now how does this relate to the theme of my site? Well, firstly when we consider how often those of us (like myself) had come to believe that we're just not cut out for a certain field because we didn't score so well on math tests, but what we forget is that hard work and effort can definitely take us far. I began my academic career with communication and an education degree, but was always hesitant to do anything beyond this field because I believed I wasn't cut out for the hard sciences. Now, I'm doing programming, and this field didn't just come easily or fall into my lap like a feather. Instead I had to have discipline and take time and energy to really study the material. I got down and dirty and coded as much as I could, and now I can fairly say after nearly a year of effort, I am by far better than I was a year ago. I'm even diving into intermediate to advance programming topics, which would have floored me before, but I changed because I put my mind into it.

You may think that of course, hard work and repetition will get you somewhere, but that doesn't change the part about your abilities in areas like math. Well, the thing is that those takes time. And like the article says, it really is about your training. Of course those who had a well-organized and parentally-supported education would fair probably far better than us that had to learn it through trial and error, still does not excuse us from pursing our passion. Many great inventors or even great influencers did so with persistence and passion. They never gave up, and kept on hacking away.

For me I know that 1 year, 4 year, even 10 years from now I'll be definitely a different person, with a different world view. In the past I didn't put as much effort into my studies, fitness or even mental state, but now I'm studying at least 30 minutes a day on programming, going to a personal fitness trainer, and even doing yoga to focus my mind. After adopting a minimalist lifestyle I've also begun to focus on those things that are most important to me, and in turn they are things that many people forget about due to stress and materialism. I think that if everyone begins to re-evaluate their view of themselves and their environment, it will definitely change, and with every ounce of effort the outcome will be much better than if we decided to not try.

hard work + dedication + consistency = success

Using SSH on Mac OSx for Github

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 06:59:00 +0000

I wanted to write a post about something that I thought was simply too complicated, but was pretty straight forward. Documentation here. If you wanted to git push a commit to your repo, and you're using SSH. This is typically something like

git@github.com:USERNAME/FILENAME.git

But while trying to push you get something like:

Permission denied (publickey).fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
Please make sure you have the correct access rights

So what you need to do to fix this.

Create your own SSH public key. You will do this in your own computer using the command line. Please read the directions here: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Generating-Your-SSH-Public-Key
Add your SSH public key to github. Log into your github profile, and under your profile go to settings. Select SSH and GPG keys, and from there click on New SSH Key.
Git working! Now you can git commit or git push no problem.

Add SSH public key to github

Can We Eliminate Plastic?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 19:53:00 +0000

In the past months I have been fighting a battle with plastic. There just seems to be a ton of it everywhere I go, especially when shopping for groceries or buying a shirt, there is some piece of plastic that will inevitably come along with my purchase. A recent trip to Costco had proven that plastic was everywhere, and it was becoming overwhelming trying to eliminate it from my life.

So, my question is Can we eliminate plastic? Is it possible?

Let me start by talking about zero waste where individuals are able to create nearly no trash, with an exception of what can be stored in a small mason jar. But there have been proponents of the N.O.W. or near zero waste movement that like me sees minimizing the amount of trash we produce rather than completely eliminating the production of trash as a far more realistic goal than completely zero waste. But of course if you are able to somehow eliminate producing waste do it since you will help keep our planet much greener than if you lived a regular life.

Why we cannot COMPLETELY eliminate plastic?

PLASTIC IS CONVENIENTPlastic is readily accessible, from buying groceries to dining out with friends. Sometimes we forget to bring our reusable bags or stainless steel straws. But the best thing we can do is to make sure that 80% of our time we are reducing the use of plastic, rather than completely forgo it all together. Just try to reach 100% if possible, but don't be discouraged if you end up finding you've used a plastic at the end of the day. If at all possible, aim towards recyclable plastic and avoid styrofoam or store receipts. You can always wash your little plastic produce bags and put them into one of those grocery bag bins at the grocery store. You might find that they also take other stretch film plastics as well, see the photo below of some items that can be accepted. This is from the local Sprouts. Just make sure they're super clean or else you risk contaminating the bunch !
PLASTIC IS PART OF MODERN LIVING
Do you own a cellphone or laptop, or even drive a car? You will not be parting with plastic if you do. Many of modern-day technology uses plastic, and it would be hard pressed to try to stop using any of these technologies in our modern society, unless you want to go back to living like the paleo folks making do with the simplicity of nature. But, this doesn't mean you have to always opt for plastic filled things. You can do your part by making other parts of your world plastic-free. For example, using glass or ceramic utensils, dishes or cookware instead of opting for ones made from plastic. Using reusable versus disposable, and making sure to own less. The less you have the more likely you will be consuming less plastic.
PLASTIC IS SOCIETY'S BAD HABIT
Although plastic is part of most everything we use and purchase, it is really a form of a bad habit that society has fallen into. Giving a plastic straw at a restaurant, using plastic water bottles at a 5k, or wrapping everything in styrofoam and plastic to sell to customers. You can take a stand against the overconsumption of plastic by making sure to limit your own consumption of plastic, and spread the word to your friends to eliminate plastic too.

What can you do to eliminate plastic?

Although I mentioned a lot of reasons (with some tips about why we cannot get rid of plastic in our current life), however there is more ways to help reduce this nasty plastic habit, and hopefully create a trend in our society to move pass consumption of non-biodegradable substances or single-use products.

Some ideas include:

Use reusable versus disposable
Maintain the plastic you do have by keeping them in good condition
Avoid buying goods that are wrapped in plastic
Make/Grow your own foods to avoid unnecessarily buying things wrapped in plastic
Recycle your plastic, don't chuck them into the landfill
Buy less - the less you own the less plastic you will probably consume
Encourage others to do the above
Advocate for your community and grocery stores to reduce plastic

Hope these ideas can help you on your own journey to a minimal waste lifestyle. We only have one planet, one body and one life, so why not keep them all in good shape? Let me know in the comment section what are some other ways to eliminate plastic!

(First) World Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 20:18:00 +0000

You may have heard the saying "first world problems" and associated it with wealthy developed countries, but here this youtube video by The School of Life talks about this concept, but points to a greater issue. The issue that we as a society is no longer valuing the non-material things, such as kindness and wisdom.

The narrator also points out that often in schools we are not educated on how to "live and die well," which in essence is a major part of living. If we mainly focus on the accumulation of wealth, then we will develop far greater problems than when we focus on simply living as good and kind individuals, focused on experiences rather than accumulation of things.

Not surprisingly this goes hand-in-hand with the idea of minimalism. Although it may seem that we are not going to change as a society, but continue to buy more and focus more on building wealth, an article from becomingminimalist.com called "Why Millennials are trending Towards Minimalism?" clarifies how the future generation is not necessarily getting worst, but rather there is a growing awareness due to the advance in technology that material wealth is not as superior as a healthier and cleaner environment. What distinguishes this generation from the previous generations is the fact that technology, mobility and sharing culture has developed due to the widespread use of the internet and mobile phones.

Not only has our economy disappointed us, but it has also led us to re-evaluate our expectations. After all happiness is basically expectations divided by reality. The least we expect, such as wanting less, the more happier we become. How ironic that simplification of life emerged from the development of complex technologies like the computer and cell phones! But of course it is in how we use these tools that will benefit our move towards a more minimal waste lifestyle.

Making the planet and each other healthier as the purpose of our lives is much more fulfilling than focusing on material goods, which will only leave us empty or wanting more. For me and my husband, we try to encourage this concept of minimalism in everything we do. Not only do we try to find efficiency in our everyday living behaviors, but also in our work.

What are the ways we can learn to do something better, and more effectively? This is a question that drives me when I study programming and or improving my lifestyle. After all, everything is a set of habits built through many little steps. In order to do better and not fall into unhealthy behaviors, we should work on change everything one piece at a time, which will eventually have a far greater impact than doing absolutely nothing.

success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out robert collier

Made from Scratch

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 17:27:00 +0000

A photo posted by Dana Ng (@riceball1) on Aug 7, 2016 at 12:20pm PDT

In this chaotic modern world, we often forget to stop and take a break to appreciate the simple pleasures of the everyday. One of my biggest turn to efficiency these days has been to start preparing my own food, and especially making my husband's favorite breakfast bread - simit - a sesame bagel. When we began moving towards a minimal waste kitchen, we also found ways to improve the quality of what we ate too.

Since I've begun to focus on breakfast, it has helped to make me more aware of time and what I do with my time. Before it was difficult for me to even wake up at 8am, but now I'm starting to wake up even earlier like 6 or 7am. If we're lucky we will get some miles of walking in before even sitting down for breakfast. I noticed that making sure we have a proper morning routine really does change the outcome for the day. My belief is that getting things done in the morning improves the amount achieved throughout the day.

If you've followed many minimalist blogs and tips from successful professionals, one of their major routines is to not overwhelmed their day with a busy schedule, but by being organized and deliberate about what they do. Simplify your day. For me my days are fairly simple: exercise, cook, study programming and family time. It is always important to focus on things that matter rather than wasting time on things that don't.

For those working on a minimal waste lifestyle, perhaps start by simplifying the start of your day, and make it something to look forward to. For the recipe above, one of my all time favorite recipe, comes from Delicious Istanbul by Olga Trez. I've tried making it overnight and in 3 hours, both turned out great. You can also cut the oven temp down to 425 degrees and keep the water tray inside the entire 20-25 minutes.

Remember, just like studying a new skill and getting fit, it requires consistency and deliberate practice in order to get somewhere.