This year has been an interesting one. I got engaged, changed jobs, vacationed in Greece, and spent my first full year in our new home. While that all seems like the making of some impossibly wonderful year, it sure had its downfalls as well. I nearly cut off my right index finger(long story), gained back almost all the weight I lost in the previous year, and reverted back to my couch potato lifestyle. It’s amazing the negative effect on my overall mood, drive, and productivity sitting on the couch and eating junk takes. I’m a much better person overall when I get up early, exercise, and eat right.

As cliché as it is, my overall health is the first thing I need to work on next year. It’s just too important to ignore(and even more so as someone who works remotely). If I’m not energized and feeling good, my code and other work suffers. I already worked on my first step towards that by signing up for a 5k in March, which will just be one of many runs and triathlons I plan on doing next year. Having races scheduled will help give me motivation to get out the door every day and start my day the right way.

Next on the list is my lack of reading and study. I’d like to read a few books for once in my life! I’m taking a few suggestions from a friend, but I’m open to more options. I’ll split my time between fiction and reference books that can up my technical skills. I’m most likely going to drop a few productivity gems in there to keep me on task and efficient.

That leads to the final thing I’d like to work on this year is my overall productivity. It’s not to say I’m not productive, but I know I can be better. I’ve already taken steps to get better, including working at the coworking space a few minutes down the road and writing anything that comes to mind in Evernote. Hopefully, my changes in fitness and studies get me down the right road towards overall productivity as well.

That’s it for now, I wish everyone the best in their adventures in the new year!

I’ve been working at QueueDr for around two months now! Since I’m located in Massachusetts, I’ve continued to work remotely from my home office. While I enjoy kicking it around the house most days, I find myself getting caught up in house work and other distractions every so often. To combat this, I wanted to start getting out of the house any chance I could get. One issue there, my options were quite limited. I have a coffee shop in town, but I wanted to get in a more collaborative space. Thankfully, I got word of a co-working space opening up in Haverhill this month. It’s a short (< 10 minute) drive, has great workspace options, and is in a nice location where I can take a quick walk to grab a coffee. Since it just opened this month the space has been on the empty side, but I’m sure that’ll change soon. I hope it’ll mature into that collaborative environment I’m looking for. If you’re in the Haverhill area be sure to come check the Essex Innovation Lab out.

PS. Expect to hear from me more frequently in the future. Now that I’m situated and comfortable in my new position, I’m ready to spend some more time writing.

Hi! Welcome to attempt number two at getting a blog going! I always feel like my brain is clouded with too many thoughts and I never really get them out in a way I’d like to(or they never escape my head and disappear). This will be the place where I get all those thoughts out and hopefully we can all learn something in the process.

Who am I?

I’m John Nadeau and I write code for QueueDr. After nearly four years of working in the .NET stack, I’ve moved on and hopped on the train with Ruby on Rails. Off the keyboard you can find me skiing in the winter, hiking in the summer, and acting like I’m committed to training for triathlon year round (I swear I’m getting back on track!).