There is this parable thingy I've encountered, that involves trying to pour tea into a cup that is already full. The idea is basically that it's hard to learn something new when you have all these preconceived notions because of similar things that you know. I've been feeling this continuously as I try to learn more about Java while having to work with ColdFusion at work. Mastering both is the end goal, but the thought patterns for each are wildly different.

I decided that I would approach this concept with the goal of filling one cup and setting it aside so that I can begin filling another cup. I spent this weekend working my way through Macromedia ColdFusion MX7 Certified Developer Study Guide. I knew the majority of what could be done with ColdFusion, but this filled me in on a few things I hadn't used and pointed out other things that I needed to spend some time with to get comfortable. I wrote a bunch of code. In the next week or so, I'll take the certification test, and I can then mentally set this cup aside, and spend more time with Java.

That's the plan.