October 6th, 2015

My Favorite Things: October 2015

I was originally going to post my “8 photos of happiness” next but uh… I’m not done with it yet. It’s hard to choose only 8 photos! But, that’s ok because it’s time for the My Favorite Things link-up, hosted by Raisa and Eirene. This is always a fun, positive start to the month πŸ™‚ Here are things I’ve been loving the past month!

Zoro figure

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Sometimes late at night… I make impulse buys for Anime/video game figures. Earlier this year, it was the Majora’s Mask Link nendoroid and the Luffy + Law Bandai figure, but those haven’t shipped yet since they’re later releases. Then one night I realized… wait wait WAIT… how do I not have a Zoro figure yet???

The more I watch One Piece, the more I love Zoro, and he’s become one of my favorite characters. He’s just… UGH, SO COOL. I had been eyeing the recent one by MegaHouse because it’s his pre-time-skip version, and well, that night I sealed the deal. Since it was released already, it arrived about a week later. I love it. I couldn’t stop staring at it when I first got it, and now I’m looking into a time-skip version too. It never ends.

(For those wondering where to buy, I’ve been using AmiAmi, Hobby Link Japan, Tokyo Otaku Mode, and Crunchyroll’s store.)


Tea

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I recently got over my dislike of hot drinks and have been drinking a lot of tea. It’s been great because I don’t drink soda anymore. So far, I really like green, black, and oolong tea. I’ve just been using tea bags so far, but I have tea infusers on the way! I’ll be stopping by a local tea store soon to pick up some loose leaf πŸ˜€ Give me recommendations!


Mr. Coffee Mug Warmer

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And with my new like of tea, I got a mug warmer! When I first brought it to work, I had a couple coworkers laugh at me. “First world problems. Can’t drink your tea fast enough.”

But! It’s ok! I’ve had others notice it at my desk and can relate to having a drink too hot to drink but then waiting too long and it cools down. The struggle is real. They want one now too, so there =P Anyway, it won’t heat up a cold drink, but it will keep a hot one warm.

I bought the one with a normal plug, even though I considered the USB one at first. I suddenly had visions of me picking up my laptop and accidentally dragging both the warmer and mug off of my desk. I know I’ll forget to unplug it from my laptop. So yeah, no USB version for me.


Learning Agile

Clever use of depth of field or just a super lazy photographer? I'll let you decide.

Clever use of depth of field or just a super lazy photographer? I’ll let you decide.

I haven’t finished this book yet, but it’s already helped me so much. Though we’ve always been Agile, we didn’t follow a specific methodology, so I love that it covers a few different ones. I found that I was really interested in XP and also liked a bit of Scrum.

I’ve been a team lead for many years, but I was still coding 70% of the time and managing the team the rest. Now it’s been more like 20/80, where 80% of my time is spent mentoring and managing, not coding. My role is starting to shift more towards management, and it was overwhelming at first, especially since my team doubled in size.

The book has filled me with ideas, and things are running smoothly now with some of the practices in place. So if you’re ever interested in learning more about Agile values and practices, I recommend giving this book a try. It’s easy to understand, and the stories make it enjoyable to read, even if they’re a bit cheesy πŸ™‚


And that’s it for this time! I thought I’d have more time with my projects this month, but then I realized I’m out of town 3 times within a month. At least I’ll have a lot to write about later πŸ˜‰ I hope everyone has a great October!

17 Responses to “My Favorite Things: October 2015”

  • Tara says:

    Tea! I love green and black tea! However, I still don’t like hot drink, so I’ll only drink hot drinks in the winter. I love Earl Grey tea One of my favourite is this brand: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0065J02EY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=JPYQVMVSH92R&coliid=INSZ80QSOUHDA

    My friend bought that for me for my birthday, and I’ve been enjoying the tea a lot! Way better than Twining for sure!

  • Drea says:

    Zoro is /great/ and that figure is beautiful! I got my best friend a really nice Luffy one like 12 years ago. I should get him to take a picture of it so I can show it off, huff.

  • ariane says:

    Omg, I love the zoro figure!! I’ve been a Onepiece fans since forever and I’ve always wanted to collect action figures. haha If only I had the budget πŸ™ :))

    Your mug warmer is also cute, love the color β™₯

  • Michelle says:

    I don’t watch One Piece, but Zoro is very recognizable to me. He looks very cool ^^

  • Raisa says:

    Aah I’m so picky with tea, but I can’t get enough of milk tea and green tea when I need a little boost. I’ve never thought of getting a mug warmer, but that’s pretty smart. I definitely can’t drink my mug fast enough.

  • Rej says:

    I’m a tea-oholic (if there is such a thing). You should try chamomile, jasmine, and english breakfast! πŸ™‚ Also, I ‘ve been soda free for about 4-5 years now. πŸ™‚

  • Jenny says:

    Ooo I love tea! One of my favorites are coconut oolong tea and matcha green tea πŸ˜€ Jasmine is great too if you want something light and refreshing.

    That Agile book looks interesting! I’m sure there’s plenty of good information even for people not going into management.

  • Nancy says:

    I like how you have all of these cool figurine collection! I haven’t watched One Piece or any other anime for years. I remembered Zoro was so cool with his swords XD.

    I haven’t gotten into warm tea yet. Anything warm is usually too hot for me so I usually preferred iced drinks. The same goes with coffee where I can’t drink it hot either. Maybe one day I can. But all else said, tea is really good for the body and soul πŸ˜‰

    It’s great that you’re going into management! You are passing down your wisdom to others to make the company a better place. I’ve heard of the agile methodology before, pretty neat stuff!

  • Uglyfish says:

    I signed up for LootCrate so I get a free month of Crunchyroll, so I have a lot of anime to catch up on! I read One Piece many years ago and though at first I wasn’t sure, I really enjoyed it! The Zoro figure is amazing! The colour on it is wonderful, and the detail!
    I love tea! I’m drinking a cup right now, and I’ve left it for far too long and could do with Mr. Coffee Mug Warmer =p My firend gave me some oolong tea and I loved it. I also like mango tea, and Matt has some tea called butter truffle which smells awful but tastes like shortbread biscuits.

  • Kenny says:

    I’m partial to cold tea myself. I don’t like hot beverages. I don’t want to worry about burning my tongue, thank you.

  • Chynna says:

    Haha, late night impulse buys are the best πŸ˜› My friend has been bugging me to watch One Piece because she loves anime and that’s her favourite – I do want to give a go and see what it’s like.

    Yay, tea! I love tea. I’m going through a tea phase right now, which is good because I was previously addicted to coffee XD I’d love to have a mug warmer because I don’t drink my tea that fast either πŸ™‚

    Have a great October, too!

  • Jamie says:

    Just like everyone else here in the comments, I love tea! I love all kinds of tea. I don’t drink it nearly enough though, but I do like green, black, oolong, and Earl. I have also gotten used to Chamomile tea. I was told that I have the early stages of Insomnia. So not true, I’m just a night owl who prefers to go to bed late, even though it was mostly due to bad habits. Which I got rid of and now I can fall asleep easier.

    Anyways, I think that coffee mug warmer is cool. When you said Coffee mug warmer I thought of something that goes around the coffee. Like a soda can. That’s pretty neat! Tristan and I are constantly heating our drinks up (coffee and tea and hot chocolate), as we tend to do homework, and then forget about our drinks. I’m always having to reheat our drinks. That might not be a bad idea for a Christmas to Tristan and myself. Ha! I’m going to have to put that in my Amazon shopping cart. Thanks for sharing that! Yeah, I wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of having a USB coffee mug warmer plugged in as like you, I would probably forget it’s in there and there goes my laptop. Again, thank you for sharing.

  • Mara says:

    That coffee mug warmer is genius! It’s too warm for hot tea lately so I’ve been leaning towards cold/iced roasted barley tea for now. But for when it finally gets cold again, I love Earl Grey or Genmai cha (green tea with roasted brown rice) πŸ˜€ I eventually want to get a clear teapot so I can brew some of those really pretty blooming teas!

  • Georgie says:

    I saw a mug warmer today while I was in Indonesia but didn’t think of getting one. I love tea so it would definitely be something I use. I think I do drink my tea fast enough, but sometimes I completely forget that I have a cup on my desk then it gets cold. πŸ™ I can also understand why you wouldn’t want a USB one in case you have an accident! XD

    It’s good to know you are getting into tea, I would recommend T2, an Australian tea brand. They have a lot of varieties, including fruit flavours, oolong, white, and lots of green and black tea variations. At present I love the Daintree, Shimmer Punch and Girlie Grey flavours. :3

  • Eirene says:

    Oh my god that cup warmer is such a smart idea! I’m one of those people who nurses a warm drink for hours. I often don’t finish my tea because I forget about them oops lol.

    As for suggestions, I’d say David’s Tea but I don’t know if it’s Canadian only or not =/ But it’s just a store that has a bunch of loose leaf tea with awesome flavour. Yummm. For teabags, my favourite brands are Stash and Mighty Leaf. (I mostly just buy Earl Grey and Green Tea haha.)

  • Bhairavee says:

    How’s Agile? I have been wanting to study it but haven’t got a chance yet!

    That mug warmer looks like an absolute must have!

    • Cat says:

      Agile practices are nice to learn if you’re looking for a change in how your team develops software πŸ™‚ I’ve had a lot of success with it in my team, and I think we’re producing better work because of it!

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