I have a new bag!  My old bag was a cool and sexy Timbuk2 messenger, but also an ergonomic nightmare that wreaks havoc on my spine.  The new bag is a North Face Surge backpack!   As soon as I moved all of my stuff into the new backpack and slung it on my back I started feeling better – instant satisfaction. 

This post is not about my new bag, though.  What I really want to discuss is the new technology I’m going to stuff in it.  I’ve started several cool projects in the past and typically abandon them before they complete.  Tonight is the start of a new method.  I’m not going to scale back my ambition, but I need to get better at dedicating time to each little adventure/project.

Here is a list of my most recently abandoned projects:

1. Munny toy robot – intended to look like a product mascot from work and display product health indicators on a uOLED screen in it’s stomach.
2. StudStats – records statistics about your coding habits in Visual Studio 2010
3. Sudoku Game – simple Sudoku game written as a toolbar extension in Visual Studio 2010, which allows you to play while you code.
4. Workbench – stained wood workbench for building/tinkering on small electronics and mechanical ideas

These are all great ideas and I still want to complete a couple of them; however, I’m going to add one more to the list – “learn F#”.  It’s been a long time since I’ve learned a new programming language, and even longer since I’ve taken on a functional language.  I watched An Introduction to Microsoft F# last night and it re-energized my old desire to code.  Tonight I’m going to just poke around and try out a few things with F#.  This Sunday there will be a study group downtown for functional programmer enthusiasts too.  Time to stop writing and start coding!