My 2018 Reading List

December 14, 2017
by Kenna
Lists

The year is almost over and I am very disappointed to say that I did not read much this year. Reading has always been very important to me. Below is my 2018 reading list.

I’ve been trying to figure out ways on how to increase the number of books I read per year. It’s not that I did not pick up anything to read at all. I started reading quite a lot but barely finished anything. My promiscuous reading has been worse lately, whether it’s an e-book or a physical one. Anyway, for the coming year, I hope to finish most of what I started.

2018 Reading List

  1. Idiopathy by Sam Byers
  2. Big Little Man by Alex Tizon
  3. What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
  4. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
  5. Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferris
  6. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
  7. Homo Deus A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
  8. Life in Code by Ellen Ullman
  9. Too Much and Not the Mood by Durga Chew-Bose
  10. Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen
  11. Reset by Ellen Pao
  12. Unbelievable by Katy Tur
  13. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
  14. The End of Faith by Sam Harris
  15. The Global Minotaur by Yanis Varoufakis
  16. Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal
  17. The Rise & Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman
  18. The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing
  19. In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy
  20. The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
  21. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
  22. Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity by John Gribbin

Above is a list of twenty-two books which I hope to read next year. While it might look like a lot, it won’t be difficult since I’ve started most of them. It’s crazy that I own all these books already, actually, they are just a fraction of the books which I already have and are still waiting to be read.

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Why I Have Two E-mails, I Was Hacked

June 12, 2017
by Kenna
General

Okay, I have more than two e-mails, but that’s beside the point right now.

I consider myself a very secure person until I was hacked this year. I have 2-step authentications and SMS authentications for most of my accounts that have the feature. However, I am guilty of something a lot of people take for granted, not only do I have a relatively easy password; I use the same password for all my online accounts.

Gmail is awesome

I have a Gmail e-mail that I have been using since 2005 which was consistently hacked/leaked in multiple hacking incidents involving big tech companies, and I never paid attention. I only found out about it through this site, after I was hacked. This prompted me to immediately change all my passwords, for all my accounts (it wasn’t easy) and delete my bank details online, wherever possible, hoping the websites don’t have my data archived. As a second security step, I replaced all my bank cards. Yes, I have a different password for every single account I have now. How do I remember them? I switched from password to passphrases, and I use 1Password.

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Hello, World!

June 11, 2017
by Kenna
General

I started blogging and teaching myself to code (mostly design web pages) almost twenty years ago. I’ve thought over and over of quitting blogging, and for some reason, I cannot seem to do it.

Turning thirty (one and a half year ago) was a very pivotal moment in my life. I would like to think I had my “Aha!” moment then. No, I didn’t suddenly know everything nor did I figured things out, but I became better at giving priorities and letting things go and valuing time more. Since then, I’ve been trying to take over my life and actual steer it myself instead of letting everything and everyone else do it for me.

I am back blogging

I’m looking forward into this new chapter in my life, and I would like to announce that… I am back blogging (I didn’t quit writing, a select few receive newsletters from me, and I also write sometimes at Medium) and documenting my new found love of making the most my “nothing minutes” so let’s see how it goes.

What to expect?

Most of my “nothing minutes” are currently dedicated to two important things. First, passing my PMP certification this third quarter. Second, getting the score I want in all areas of IELTS in early 2018. As I study, more than documenting my progress, I would like to write about my personal and professional experiences. Experiences related to my full-time job as a Project Manager and everything else with regards to the Telecommunications industry. I’ve been working in Telecommunications more than a decade now (w00t!).

Also, I am currently working on quite a few e-mail marketing projects. I would love to share my insights and learnings on e-mail marketing here too. My e-mail marketing projects usually consume at least a quarter or my day, sometimes more. But, it’s something I’m passionate about. Of course, I cannot forget about reading and books, because it is after all my one true love, I started lib a while back, and you can expect great things on there too. Sounds fun?

P.S. I think this is a great read, Millennials are obsessed with side hustles because they’re all we’ve got.

Learn Web Design

June 14, 2016
by Kenna
Programming

A friend asked for help regarding learning to code and design for the web today. so  I thought I should share more books and tools on Web Design. By the way, I wrote about learning about HTML and CSS before, do check that out.

The Best Programming Language

There are a lot of programming languages and it’s important you find the one you’re interested in. First, check out this handy tool to know the Best Programming Language you should learn this year. Second, check out the tools I handpicked below. And last, just let your creativity flow and never stop learning. For example, I learned HTML first before CSS. Over the years, these two languages have been evolving, I read books and online tutorials to keep myself up to date.

Learn to Code

So once you’ve chosen the programming language you want to learn, what’s next? This is my favorite part, now, let me show you the tools that I love.

Books

There are a lot of books and tutorials out there, and it can be intimidating. Below are my personal favorites: HTML & CSS and Javascript & Jquery,  are must-have books by Jon Duckett! They are well-designed and extremely helpful. In addition, Learning Web Design by By Jennifer Niederst Robbins and CSS3 Missing Manual are also great books.

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Now go out and do it.

January 10, 2016
by Kenna
Lists / Personal

“What would you do today if you knew you would not fail? Now go out and do it.”

Josh Duhamel said this in the movie New Year’s Eve Movie. My best friend was urging me to create a vision board for weeks now, “Make a vision board and wake up to it every day. Make it happen. No more excuses.” he said.

I have so many dreams, and they’ve been on hold for the longest time. Something always comes up. Since I want to focus on myself this year, I thought it will be nice to remind myself of what I want to do.

Things I Want To Do

  • Become a writer. – I just want to write.
  • Be a teacher. – Teaching is something I love doing. To this day, I still think about the time I chose to join a mobile operator and quit my teaching job. I’m not regretting my decision of choosing the telco job, but I do think about whether I should go back to teaching.
  • Do more volunteer work – I remember contemplating this so hard in mid-2014. Told myself I will quit my job. Back then, I had this idea of moving to one country and staying in that country for 3 to 6 months before moving on to the next one. Well, that didn’t happen, and I don’t want to do it anymore.

You think it’s boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it’s on you to make life interesting, the better off you’ll be.Maria Semple

More…

  • Japan – I’ve always said that if I can live somewhere forever, it will be anywhere in Japan. After university, I was working on achieving this goal. I tried to get a scholarship through my alma mater but I got as far as talking to my thesis adviser/colleague about it and downloading the forms and the requirements, and that was it. I tried to learn Niponggo too, but that wasn’t fruitful either. Brought my materials to Dubai three years after though, haven’t touched them since. Now it feels too far fetched that I will be extremely happy just to visit.
  • Get better in all the things I do, especially with my web designing and developing skills. I’m working on it and hopefully, by the end of the year, I will have the online presence I want to have and…
  • Build the following applications: a diary that doesn’t look like any of the ones available right now and the snapshot-to-library app that I thought of last year.
  • Have my cafe with a bookshop and stationery store. – The dream.

If you think you can help me “Go out and do it” or you want to share your thoughts/opinions on any of them, leave a comment.

Do You Know Ross William Ulbricht?

May 17, 2015
by Kenna
Personal

He founded Silk Road.

I think it’s best to explain a couple of things before I proceed. The reason I’m writing about Ross Ulbricht is because I want people to understand why I keep saying that they (we) know nothing. I’ve recently read a two-part article/story on The Wired about him, which I believe is one of the most wonderfully written piece of article I’ve read for a long time (link below). After reading this, you’ll probably be confused, which is my goal so that you go and seek for answers.

Chances are you don’t know about the “deep web”. It’s probably better that way. Please do not Google it. If you do and you get in trouble, I have nothing to do with it. The “deep web” aka deepnet or hidden web is the part of the internet or the worldwide web (WWW) that is not indexed by standard search engines (ie. Google). Basically, what you can view in the search results of Google is just the surface of the web. The Silk Road was an online black market that was primarily used for selling illegal drugs that launched in 2011. Users (both buyers and sellers) can access the market securely and anonymously, no traffic monitoring. It was big. It was eventually shut down by FBI in 2013. Last February, Ulbricht was convicted in relation to Silk Road. Now, what’s interesting in all of these? Let me list some down:

Who fucking cares? The people who use Silk Road, Bitcoin owners and the FBI and U.S. Government. I think that’s about it. What am I talking about? Mostly things in the internet that you probably haven’t heard of.

So there exist something of this magnitude that’s beyond one’s international borders and most people have no idea about it. It was impressive how the U.S. were able to track Ulbricht down. But what stops other people in setting up their own market like the Silk Road? What prevents this from happening again? And this is probably just 1% of the deepweb. There are all sorts of other things in there. And most people have zero idea about.

It’s easy to assume we know a lot but in reality, we don’t. And there’s no way we can. What I’m saying is, it’s okay.

The Untold Story of Silk Road, Part 1
The Untold Story of Silk Road, Part 2

Overeducated

May 10, 2015
by Kenna
Lists / Personal

One of my favorite courses in uni was Philosophy. It kept me motivated to achieve my engineering degree. I learned a lot from it and listed below are some:

  • Smile Project: You smile at everyone and note down the reaction of each and everyone and what happens next. I realized the power of smiles.
  • Patriarchy: I read a book on patriarchy and its history. It was an old book, “Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women’s History of the World“, first published in 1988.
  • Women have finite number of eggs. Men continually produce sperm throughout their lives.
  • The origin of “whore”.
  • Religion, beliefs, faith.
  • The relationship between one’s learning curve and age.

I still believe that one’s learning curve decreases as one gets older.

I believed it ever since the day my professor told me so. It’s a scary thought but instead of focusing on that, why not prove it wrong? Mahatma Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

It is difficult to continue learning and enhancing your skills especially when you work half the day. But it should start somewhere. So here’s the list to get us started, let’s call it, “Becoming Better Guide”:

  • List topics you want to study. Order them in priority (based on what you WANT to learn). Keep the list short and manageable.
  • In each topic, write down a reward you will give yourself once you’ve finished it.
  • Research online and put all online information in one repository for the last topic on the list (you will start from the bottom).
  • Look for books related to the topic.
  • Allot 30 minutes of reading in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. You can read the online references in the morning and books in the evening if you like. Increase the time allotment if necessary, but never decrease.
  • Based on the schedule (above) you should have a deadline.
  • Reward yourself once you reached the deadline and proceed to the next topic.

It shouldn’t be hard. Sometimes we need routine and schedules to get things done.

Other interesting finds:

Ten places where anyone can learn to code
The Next Web deals – Awesome deals! Discounts on e-learning too!
Creative Live – Free live online classes.
A Book Apart – Brief books for people who make websites. Personal favorite!
The Perfect Strangers Project – Swap a letter. Swap a package. Find a friend.
Udacity – Earn a nanodegree!
The Falling Offical Trailer – Maisie Williams, Joe Cole Mystery Movie
Phone Stacking, a.k.a. Don’t Be A Di*k During Meals With Friends

New Beginnings Are Fun

March 29, 2014
by Kenna
Personal
New beginnings are fun

Winter is almost over in the desert. Soon freezing nights (well freezing at least in my opinion, you know how I despise cold weather as much as I hate tropical climate) will be replaced by sweat-filled dreams and more CO2 emissions than usual. It isn’t that hot yet though and for some reason I feel that this change in season is affecting my life more than it should. It’s as if I placed all my plans on hold until I finally feel the real Dubai heat. We have 15-20ºC more to go.

I’m waiting for the feeling of being in a oven, the warm and humid air pushes back on my face as I open the office door to go home. The summer sun piercing my skin, you shed off a lot of water without you noticing it. It’s when people with I-have-so-much-extra-time-I-spend-it-at-the-gym, spends most of their mornings or weekends sunbathing at the nearest beach.

Or maybe I’m just looking for something to blame for my procrastination and stuckness.

Maybe people do get stuck as season change from one to another, specially when you don’t get spring. I think I know where I’ll live next, somewhere where there is spring. Real spring. And no, the flowers at Miracle Garden don’t count.

I’m looking forward to do more side projects this year. I can’t get myself to start working on them though no matter how many Paul Arden and Austin Kleon books I read. They do help, but I suppose the real problem is me. Yeah, I think the problem is me. Lately, I’ve been fixated on finding ways to tell the person next to me that I’m not Google and that I don’t have answers to all his questions. And, I really don’t want to spend any of my time solving his problems.

Speaking of books, I’ve been frequenting bookstores lately, unfortunately it means more unread books on the bookshelf.

Hopefully before summer ends this year I’ll be like Bob Dylan’s successful man ”A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”