I just got off the phone with my dad. He's now officially old as he's in his 60's now. I still remember the red toy firetruck he got for his 40th birthday...
It's weird how things like age sneak up on you. A co-worker today was surprised that someone else's kid is 9 now. He said "but he was just 6, like 3 years ago!". He meant it as a joke, but it's kind of funny how kids change so quickly while "aging" seems like a static process for adults. It's like how next year it'll be my high school 10 year reunion. Now that's messed up.
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Monday, 28 January 2008
XP: religion or development process
Many things xp seem to turn into a religious discussion. "True believers" of agile and related things see it not as a tool, but as something that you should follow without questioning. Admittedly this turns some people off, just like any hardcore religious discussions.
Why do I think that people should follow the agile way? Because I believe that it works and you end up with a higher quality product for cheaper. Do I have numbers to back this up? No, I've got nothing personally that could be submitted as part of a published paper.
Do you *need* to do things like write unit tests? No you don't. If you don't, that doesn't mean your project will fail. However, I consider it to be a basic engineering tool. Sort of like when you go to the doctor your chart or their stethoscope are basic tools. If the doc doesn't have them, it doesn't mean you're going to die, but it's a lot better for you if they do.
If your doctor doesn't write your info down in your chart because they can keep the context of your illness in their head, is that any good to you as a patient?
Think of basic tools in any profession and then imagine how you'd deal with someone not using those tools.
Why do I think that people should follow the agile way? Because I believe that it works and you end up with a higher quality product for cheaper. Do I have numbers to back this up? No, I've got nothing personally that could be submitted as part of a published paper.
Do you *need* to do things like write unit tests? No you don't. If you don't, that doesn't mean your project will fail. However, I consider it to be a basic engineering tool. Sort of like when you go to the doctor your chart or their stethoscope are basic tools. If the doc doesn't have them, it doesn't mean you're going to die, but it's a lot better for you if they do.
If your doctor doesn't write your info down in your chart because they can keep the context of your illness in their head, is that any good to you as a patient?
Think of basic tools in any profession and then imagine how you'd deal with someone not using those tools.
FU F-lock
I've far too long this morning trying to figure out what's wrong with my keyboard (Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000). Something that I didn't know about is this magic "f-lock" key that messes up what the F keys do. I couldn't use alt-F4 to close windows, F5 in textpad didn't allow me to do searches... wtf?!?
I finally found the f-lock key beside F12... For once I almost sympathized with the people looking for the "any key".
Grrr....
I finally found the f-lock key beside F12... For once I almost sympathized with the people looking for the "any key".
Grrr....
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
HTML 5
While it will be good to have html 5 and all the additions that they added to it, some thing about it made me pause. They'll have all these input types do you don't have to do client side validation with js hacks etc. The UI won't even allow you do these in your browser, js or no. Does this mean that there'll be a lot more possible server hacks because people are not validating their input anymore? Will this matter for the most part, or will the app just kack and throw a 500 error? Do we care to have a nicer error message than that?
It'll be awesome when you'll be able to put an annotation (in java) on an attribute and have this validated in the browser, server side mvc layer, db layer before the persist (via jpa validation)... Hell, in 5 years java might have all that magic that rails has 3 years ago... :-P
via /.
It'll be awesome when you'll be able to put an annotation (in java) on an attribute and have this validated in the browser, server side mvc layer, db layer before the persist (via jpa validation)... Hell, in 5 years java might have all that magic that rails has 3 years ago... :-P
via /.
Monday, 21 January 2008
Stirring up shit
I don't know if it's my imagination or what, but it seems that people are adopting a writing style of "write outrageous, messed up statements and see how people react". Basically just stirring up shit.
I'm not sure if it's (always) intentional or more of a symptom of our "internet age" (imagine finger quotes). Basically everyone can write / publish, so to be a content provider these days means less than it used to. The only way to be noticed seems to be that you provide something that gets under people collars and they react.
I think that in the old days (i.e. paper based), the time that someone read, thought about, got some paper and a pen, found the address, and mailed the feedback allowed people to think a lot more about the original writers purpose. Now it's more "hey! That makes me angry! I'll click on the comment form and rip them a new one!". It's all reactive without thinking why the person seems to be stirring the pot.
When the only reaction that you can count on is instant, negative emotion by doing something like kicking puppies, you know people are just going to be looking for the cutest puppy in order to drop-kick.
And I'm getting tired of it.
I'm not sure if it's (always) intentional or more of a symptom of our "internet age" (imagine finger quotes). Basically everyone can write / publish, so to be a content provider these days means less than it used to. The only way to be noticed seems to be that you provide something that gets under people collars and they react.
I think that in the old days (i.e. paper based), the time that someone read, thought about, got some paper and a pen, found the address, and mailed the feedback allowed people to think a lot more about the original writers purpose. Now it's more "hey! That makes me angry! I'll click on the comment form and rip them a new one!". It's all reactive without thinking why the person seems to be stirring the pot.
When the only reaction that you can count on is instant, negative emotion by doing something like kicking puppies, you know people are just going to be looking for the cutest puppy in order to drop-kick.
And I'm getting tired of it.
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Wedding vendor review
I've been meaning to do a review / summary of the people that we dealt with for our wedding but I never got around to it. Better late than never I guess. We found that reading about other people's experience was really helpful to us, so I'm trying to pay the favour forward.
For reference, we had our wedding in Ottawa Canada, May 2007. Like with most couples (I assume), we made the decisions together, but Laura had a stronger influence on the decisions than I did. Laura didn't have any "story book" image in her head. We wanted it to be "us" (not too formal), and lots of fun. Those were the main criteria.
For reference, we had our wedding in Ottawa Canada, May 2007. Like with most couples (I assume), we made the decisions together, but Laura had a stronger influence on the decisions than I did. Laura didn't have any "story book" image in her head. We wanted it to be "us" (not too formal), and lots of fun. Those were the main criteria.
The Invitations
Laura had done many, many mock-ups of wedding invitations. So many so that I was going nuts. One of Laura's friends with a background in design sent Laura a design of a invitation with a rivet in the corner binding the cards of the invite together. We both really liked this idea but didn't have the means to make it happen. We contacted Christy-Ann Drouin-Moore of Tagz to help us out. She was great and we were really happy with the result.The Ceremony
We loved the idea of an outside wedding, but you are always taking a risk with the weather. We ended up selecting the Billings Estate Museum which was just down the road from us. They had a tent that we had as our "plan B" if the weather was nasty. Luckily we had awesome weather (max: 22.3 ∞C, min: 10.7 ∞C, average: 16.5 ∞C) so we didn't need it. We had great friends that helped set up and take down the chairs, the children in my family walked up the isle blowing bubbles, we got married under a big tree. It was great.The Reception
We had the reception just down the street at the RA Centre. Overall a good place. Easy to deal with, close to the ceremony. We did a buffet style meal and my only regret was that I wish we had ordered more dessert. We ordered like 10 more "seats" then we had people, but I still don't know if it was enough. Everyone likes dessert...The Flowers
One thing that Laura had a fairly specific requirement was that she wanted to have tulips in her bouquet. Most florists we spoke to just wanted Laura to change her mind. The reason why I think is that tulips don't do very well as a cut flower. They are all tight and small, but pretty soon they open up and get all droopy. And when I say "soon", I mean a couple of hours max. If you are prepared for that, it's fine. Laura dealt with Elmvale Florist. It's a pretty small shop, but we were really happy with the help and flowers we got there.The Cake
We went with Judy McKenna of Kakes by Judy. We had a bit of a non-standard cake idea (tipsy layers). Most people we had talked about it said something like "Ohh... I have not done anything like that yet". Judy pulled out a picture of a cake she had made and said "you mean like this?". Awesome. I was against fondant icing until I tried hers. The cake sure was tasty. We did have some hick-ups with dealing with Judy though. Just some communication confusion which worked itself out before the wedding so it was all good.The Photographer
I can't say enough nice things about Jennifer Ruiter of photo-tastic fame. Jennifer is a "capture the moment" rather than "take 10 minutes to create the moment" kind of person. We had a "getting to know you" photo shoot which I think made the wedding day a lot easier because we could understand what she wanted and she knew how to communicate with us. On the wedding day Jennifer became pseudo wedding coordinator as well. I feel that we owe a lot of the smoothness of the day to her.Monday, 14 January 2008
Progress
Sometimes at work I feel like I'm actually winning. I feel like things are improving. More and more people are becoming test driven, or at least writing tests. CI tools are in place and the build process is starting to stabilize across all apps. Communication tools are being used (IM) and consolidated (only one wiki). People from different work places are telling us that we've got a lot of stuff figured out (that part scares me). We're moving ahead.
It's a good feeling.
It's a good feeling.
Monday, 7 January 2008
Remembering Scott
Some things that were said at Scott's funeral I'd like to capture because I thought that they were very "Scott".
They stories that his sister told where he tied her up to a tree when they were young and then left her for a while. When he came back, he asked her why she was crying to which she said "you tied me to a tree!!". He simply replied "It's no use crying about it. Get yourself out."
When they were in highschool and she'd walk down the hall, he'd call out "Hey, hot girl!". She knew it was Scott, so she wouldn't turn around, but all the other girls would. He'd tell them "No, you're all ugly. I'm talking to her" and point to his sister.
His sister pointed out that he hated ceremony and didn't show up for any graduations: highschool or university. He probably wouldn't have show up to his own funeral if he had a choice.
For some kids in their family this Christmas he got registered education plans for them. His sister said "how are they going to play with that? They're little kids?!" to which he replied (wagging his finger) "They'll really appreachiate it in 20 years"
What Scott was doing didn't always make sense at the time. He somehow always had long term plans with the best intentions.
The memory that sticks out in my mind is when Scott told me about this family that he knows where the whole family can unicycle. He thought that this was the dumbest / funniest thing he had ever seen. That's why he decided to learn how to unicycle. When I think of that, the word that pop's into my head is "dumbass" and then I smile. I think that Scott would too.
They stories that his sister told where he tied her up to a tree when they were young and then left her for a while. When he came back, he asked her why she was crying to which she said "you tied me to a tree!!". He simply replied "It's no use crying about it. Get yourself out."
When they were in highschool and she'd walk down the hall, he'd call out "Hey, hot girl!". She knew it was Scott, so she wouldn't turn around, but all the other girls would. He'd tell them "No, you're all ugly. I'm talking to her" and point to his sister.
His sister pointed out that he hated ceremony and didn't show up for any graduations: highschool or university. He probably wouldn't have show up to his own funeral if he had a choice.
For some kids in their family this Christmas he got registered education plans for them. His sister said "how are they going to play with that? They're little kids?!" to which he replied (wagging his finger) "They'll really appreachiate it in 20 years"
What Scott was doing didn't always make sense at the time. He somehow always had long term plans with the best intentions.
The memory that sticks out in my mind is when Scott told me about this family that he knows where the whole family can unicycle. He thought that this was the dumbest / funniest thing he had ever seen. That's why he decided to learn how to unicycle. When I think of that, the word that pop's into my head is "dumbass" and then I smile. I think that Scott would too.
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