Take It As It Comes

Today we added an auto-suggest feature to the search on Octopart. I'm particularly proud of this one, not because I think it'll be particularly useful (you'll be the judge of that - e-mail me with comments and complaints), but because its the first piece of code I've written for Octopart while living a healthy balanced life.

Let me rewind a few months. While in grad school, I ran about five miles every other day and spent another three hours a week in the gym. Working out lets you achieve small measurable goals, something I craved after long, fruitless days in the lab. Plus, I took just about any excuse I could to get out of the basement for a little while. I was in the best shape of my life.

A few months before joining Octopart, I started working on a separate website. Since then, I've been a man obsessed. Coding became my way of relaxing and taking breaks from the lab. Joining Octopart full-time amounted to a ten year old being let loose in a toy store. My daily exercise regime dwindled down to the walk up the street every morning to get a coffee. Food quickly became the sole sensory pleasure in my life. In just five months I turned from someone with marathon-running aspirations to someone who prayed every day that he wouldn't have to buy a new pair of jeans to accomodate a burgeoning waistline.

I'm happy to say that I'm finally learning how to live a balanced life. Andres and I have been going on daily runs and cooking one meal a day - we even had leftovers the other day for lunch. I'm feeling sexier by the day.