Thinking out there

A good reminder

2011-01-15T21:55:00.001-05:00

"Around here, however we don't look backwards for very long.

We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

Walt Disney

New Box

2010-11-14T00:50:00.004-05:00

This past fall I picked up a new personal box for development.

On the local box:

XCode
Dropbox - File syncing at it's best
TextWrangler - A nice text editor.
KeePassX - A nice encrypted password store.
Amazon KindleApp

Given my experimentation with Ruby and Python I've also added

- RVM - Ruby Virtual Machine

- VirtualEnv - a similar stack for Python.

These tools allow me to create specific versions of Python and Ruby Apps without polluting the global space. If I need a new set of gems/modules I can cut a new environment to test against. I also don't have to worry as much about conflicts or upgrades of individual packages.

I've also started using Divvy and Evernote. Divvy is a nice little app for slicing up windows and placing apps nicely on the screen. I've started trying to use Evernote to track notes, plans and todo lists across machines.

I just got a new box for work, and I'm setting up most of the same tools. A few additions: I'll be making: VirtualBox and Vagrant for setting up unix environments cheap and easy. Need to look at Puppet vs Chef, but that'll wait for another night.

Where was I again?

2010-11-13T16:42:00.002-05:00

Snap my fingers and 6 months gone! It's been a hectic summer. New job has been keeping me challenged, busy and learning. Spent a good amount of time learning ruby, rails and a new ERP platform called Blue Cherry. It's been a hectic ride. Company has had huge growth and lots of interesting growing pains. We're weeks a way from Holiday season, starting with Black Friday and on through Christmas.

So what's next? I've been putting a back burner to my own personal projects for a few months. Time to start picking up some new skills and building some new tools. I want to start building some HTML 5 applications, building a few new iPhone and iPad applications. The new App Store for OSX also sounds interesting. Might be some interesting possibilities. I will try to be a bit better at documenting what I've been learning in this blog or some other places.

Boom Baby!

2010-05-04T15:12:00.003-04:00

I'm in the first month of turning 35, and it seems to be off to a racing start. I've

- bought a new car
- quit my job of 9+ years!
- accepted an offer with a new company.

My last day was Friday April 30th. I spent the weekend taking care of my daughter who caught a stomach virus of some sort. (Lots of puking, but no fever).

While I am still getting ready for my next job, I feel like a great weight has been lifted. I realize now, what a fog I had been in. I will miss my colleagues at IBM, lots of good friends that I plan to keep in touch with, but my brain is suddenly free of worrying about what to do next and I can feel my curiosity and mental processes changing. It is extremely uplifting.

Doing lots of reading and getting caught up on house projects before I start the new job. Look for more posts moving forward as I start orienting myself towards some new goals.

Sharpening the Ax

2010-03-05T23:27:00.002-05:00

I haven't been doing a lot of coding the past few weeks, but I have been working and studying. Getting familiar with Algorithms and Patterns. Going back and looking at algorithms for the first time since I was in university was interesting. In may ways easier for me to pick up now than it was then. What seemed pointless then has much more meaning to me now. I suspect that's the difference experience makes. I see a project in my future to actually play with the lowlevel algorithm implementations for a good exercise.

At a higher level I've been looking at Patterns. I've been exposed over the years to various Patterns from the GoF. MVC, Facade I've put to practice in quite a few projects, but this was a chance to look at all the patterns. I ended up reading "Head First Design Patterns". What a great book! Highly recommended to anyone trying to see what's what with Patterns. An engaging well written book that put even my old friends MVC and Facade into a new light for me.

Reading Seth Godin's "Linchpin" as well. Inspiring read. Reminds me of Daniel Pink's Brand New Mind. Important to recognize we've entered an era that forces us to compete against the world on skills. Internalizing the lessons learned from the luxury brands : there is more to compete on than price. Service, quality and customization can still pay off.

I realized recently that part of the reason this resonates so well with me is that these are the same messages my father gave me growing up. Looking at it from a different perspective it helps motivate me towards some new goals and projects.

Found a Project!

2010-02-22T09:37:00.002-05:00

After some discussion with Inna came up with an interesting side project. Going to try and get a prototype going in Google App Engine. Looking to try and get a prototype up and running within the week. It is good practice on my Python development skills. Be interesting to see how far I could take this. Might also have some javascript practice in as well. I'd like to build the basic infrastructure first then enhance with AJAX/JS over time.

Other items that I'm thinking about:
- Learning Core Data for ObjectiveC
- picking up some functional langs : Erlang, Scala

Making progress in my algorithm and patterns refresher. I must admit the patters are more fun than the algorithms, but all good for stretching the head into shape.

Lent 2010

2010-02-18T15:27:00.003-05:00

I'm not a practicing catholic, but my wife's family has a strong Catholic background. A few years ago I started practicing Lent with the family. In previous years I've used it steady my eating habits and curb my processed carbs.

This year I'm taking a more Additive Step, doing something positive instead of removing something negative. I'm working on doing some application development work. So what's on target? Not sure yet. I have a few more iPhone apps percolating in head. Maybe another Web App. Experimenting with Clouds? Something with Firefox?

Perhaps a mix of all 4. I plan to post daily updates and see where it takes me. Goal is to have an idea by Friday and start the process.

New Year New Goals!

2010-01-06T11:13:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2010.

Lots going on this year. Lots of plans and projects in the works. I plan to use this blog to think out loud. I'll be posting progress on different projects as the continue. The focus is on my personal development. I am looking at spawning some other blogs to handle other projects, but first I need to get back into the habit of posting on this one :)

Cheers!

head in the cloud?

2009-10-23T22:35:00.003-04:00

Well a cloud of windows at any rate.

It is interesting I can figure out how diffused my head is by watching the number of open browser windows I keep. I have 2-3 instances of firefox with 3-8 windows each holding 2-10 tabs. That's alot of material I'm juggling. It takes a lot of work to get down to 1 window with 1 tab. Lots of open loops I need to close.

Closing those loops will be a relief.

I am working to declutter the house. I think I need to stay sharp about cleaning out my virtual desktop as well. Too many windows and too many project to track what is going on. Close windows and complete tasks.

Anybody out there?

2009-10-23T10:38:00.002-04:00

Lots going on that I'm trying to wrap my head around. Might be a good time to start posting out again.

For most of the year I've been keeping my journal old school -- pen and paper. It helped keep my brains in order and kept me moving forward, but I'm starting to get back in a mode where I need to discuss my ideas. Or at least vent them semi-publically.

What am I working on
- Sekret Project 2 - well it's secret!
- iPhone development - fixing up LibrayList. Looking to build some additional apps
- Self education - building skills in the following
- Algorithms
- Learning Python
- UNIX/POSIX

- General Education -- recently involved in a panel to look at how education can be improved with cloud computing. Very intersting topic near and dear to me. Looking to spend more time thinking and talking on the topic.
- Public accountability -- need to give myself some accountability to help me work my goals.

rusty...

2009-07-22T14:05:00.002-04:00

Been a while since I got a consistent blogging effort. For the past 8 months I've been focused on getting more of my writing done in a paper (how retro!) journal, but I'm starting to feel the need to publish again.

Lots going on these day. Keeping very busy with work and home-life but I do find some time to squeeze in some interesting side projects. Well interesting to me at any rate. Will start posting more updates as things change.

Good rules

2009-07-15T22:55:00.002-04:00

1. Don't reinvent the wheel.
2. Use open source.
3. Automate everything.
4. Design for scale - plan to be lazy from the start.
5. Design for hardware manageability.
6. Use good cluster management software - don't dig wells with teaspoons.
7. Use open source monitoring solutions.
8. Control your users with a queuing system.
9. Verify you get what you pay for - benchmark it!
10. Manage cluster communication.

11. Look for ways to become lazier.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-11sysadtips/index.html?ca=dgr-twtrLazyClusterAdmin&S_TACT=105AGY83&S_CMP=TWDW

1 Month Down

2009-02-01T20:15:00.002-05:00

4 weeks, or 31 days are done for 2008. I've got 47 weeks until the end of 2009. 13 weeks until I run the half marathon. Where am I in my goals? I have my current targets for the year. I know what I want to finish by the end of the quarter.

Here is where I want to be by end of quarter

- iPhone App (20%)

- Fund 2008 IRA

- 1 Paper (0)

- Renew my IT Cert (20%)

- Read 24 books (6/24)

- Met the 100 pushups challenge

woof

2009-01-28T00:01:00.002-05:00

In the dog house here -- been a few days since I posted here!

Progress is slow on my ipod app. Running into an issue of memory allocation. Need to reevaluate how I built my sample.

Got out for a run on Sunday. It went well. I need to really build up for that second wind. Having my trails ice up didn't help my progress much. Going to start hitting up the bike more to help build more lung capacity. Started working the body weight 100 to get used to doing squats again. Will be building that up shortly. I'll start doubling the workout soon, the bodyweight intervals do me good. Still doing the 100 pushup challenge. Making good progress on it. On week 4 now. Writing more offline now, but I will try and balance it out a bit more.

interesting..

2009-01-20T10:36:00.002-05:00

Something to think about:

Design process

The design thinking process has seven stages: define, research, ideate, prototype, choose, implement, and learn.[1] Within these seven steps, problems can be framed, the right questions can be asked, more ideas can be created, and the best answers can be chosen. The steps aren't linear; they can occur simultaneously and can be repeated.

Although design is always subject to personal taste, design thinkers share a common set of values that drive innovation: these values are mainly creativity, ambidextrous thinking, teamwork, end-user focus, curiosity. There is considerable academic interest in understanding design thinking or design cognition, including an ongoing series of symposia on research in design thinking.[2]

[edit] Define

* Decide what issue you are trying to resolve.
* Agree on who the audience is.
* Prioritize this project in terms of urgency.
* Determine what will make this project successful.
* Establish a glossary of terms.

[edit] Research

* Review the history of the issue; remember any existing obstacles.
* Collect examples of other attempts to solve the same issue.
* Note the project supporters, investors, and critics.
* Talk to your end-users, that brings you the most fruitful ideas for later design
* Take into account thought leaders opinion

[edit] Ideate

* Identify the needs and motivations of your end-users.
* Generate as many ideas as possible to serve these identified needs
* Log your brainstorming session.
* Do not judge or debate ideas.
* During brainstorming, have one conversation at a time

[edit] Prototype

* Combine, expand, and refine ideas.
* Create multiple drafts.
* Seek feedback from a diverse group of people, include your end users.
* Present a selection of ideas to the client.
* Reserve judgment and maintain neutrality.

[edit] Choose

* Review the objective.
* Set aside emotion and ownership of ideas.
* Remember: the most practical solution isn't always the best.
* Select the powerful ideas.

[edit] Implement

* Assign tasks.
* Execute.
* Deliver to client.

[edit] Learn

* Gather feedback from the consumer.
* Determine if the solution met its goals.
* Discuss what could be improved.
* Measure success; collect data.
* Document.
Address : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_thinking

2009-01-19T00:37:00.002-05:00

Slowwing down on my postings. Got to get back on track with that. The sad part is the posting decrease is proportional to the amount of progress I have made on my goals. I hit a bit of a rut this week so fighting my way back to making progress. (To be fair, one of my goals is trying to get that work life balance thing. I've watched two movies and finished two really good books.)

I have started my next iPhone application. Targeted around building a tool to manage my reading lists. I have large piles that need to be worked, either in the purchase phase or the to be read. I'm overthinking the process so far building a cadillac in my head, rather than a volkswagon in the real world. (Or as real as one gets when talking about software). I am overthinking my persistance models, when I should prototype and see where that gets me. Simplicty is hard.

Making progress on my pushup goal, I've managed to keep the routine going well for the week. Prepping for the race is not going quite as well. I need to figure out a concrete plan for that this week.

Trying to refocus my head on where I want to go. Recognizing that I'm not in the right place, but struggling to understand what will be the right place for me. I'll keep working it.

Keep it moving

2009-01-15T10:10:00.002-05:00

"Keep comin on you know we keep comin on
Keep comin on you know we keep comin on
Keep comin on you know we keep comin on
United as one a de revolution"
- Coming On : The Shamen

Trying to keep in motion with all the different ideas. Exploring and progressing. Trying to find my balance as I stumble forward. It goes...

Success!

2009-01-10T23:59:00.004-05:00

Got my first app working and deployed on my iPod. Still lots of polish I'd like to do with it and then I need to decide if I want to try and publish to the AppStore, but overall really happy to just get something started. It has inspired me for a few other projects, but I am enjoying developing for this platform! Very easy compared to the day-to-day, but still interesting and fun.

Committed to the Pittsburgh Half Marathon today. I did my registration and now on to training! I started with some work on the exercise bike. Just an easy pace with a little bit of tension to get a feel for my condition. Didn't do too bad. I hit it up for 30 minutes and I'm feeling ok, broke a sweat but didn't push too hard. Will try and hit the bike for longer and with more tension. I need to see if I can do this for an hour and then for two hours. It's not the same as running, but it should help a little bit towards my cardio conditioning on days when I can't get out.

A little inspiration

2009-01-10T23:55:00.001-05:00

Something More by Sugarland
Monday, hard to wake up
Fill my coffee cup, I'm out the door
Yeah, the freeway's standing still today
It's gonna make me late, and thats for sure
I'm running out of gas and out of time
Never gonna make it there by nine

Chorus:
There's gotta be something more
Gotta be more than this
I need a little less hard time
I need a little more bliss
I'm gonna take my chances
Taking a chance I might
Find what I'm looking for
There's gotta be something more

Five years and there's no doubt
That I'm burnt out, I've had enough
So now boss man, here's my two weeks
I'll make it short and sweet, so listen up
I could work my life away, but why?
I got things to do before die

Repeat Chorus

Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate
I believe that happiness is something we create
You best belive that I'm not gonna wait
'Cause there's gotta be something more

I get home 7:30 the house is dirty, but it can wait
Yeah, 'cause right now I need some downtime
To drink some red wine and celebrate
Armageddon could be knocking at my door
but I ain't gonna answer thats for sure.
There's gotta be something more!

thursday already?

2009-01-08T11:20:00.003-05:00

Not sure I'm happy or ticked that the week is going by so quick. To business.

115 days until the Pittsburgh Marathon. I hope to hit the Half Marathon. I have ~16 weeks to get myself in good enough shape for this event. We'll see how it goes. Getting back in the exercise groove is hard, but working on getting it going.

Trying to get an iPhone Developer's Kit. Still working thru the activation process. Not going very badly, but not exactly a smooth process either. I might be late for this goldrush, but it is an interesting space and doing mobile application development is something I've been interested in for a while. I've built WAP based sites before but mobile device programming would be a good thing to play with. Learning Objective-C and reminding myself how to do stuff in C is also a good challenge. Slow progress, the past few days, an the opening of the Situational App contest may delay making many more changes, but we'll see. Thinking about strategy for developing new apps. My plan is to start with a few free applications, and depending on adoption and feature requests, I may look at adding a paid version.

As I mentioned the Situational Application contest is back on so trying to get a sMash application out there. Also looking at moving an old PHP application to Zero, updating it to use ZRM instead of PHPDB. There was some AJAX items I wanted to add, and this would be a good way to handle that. I've got sMash running on my OSX box, going to reinstall it to my linux system.

Getting my feet wet with Portlet Factory, trying to update my Portal development skills. To date I've been heavy with portlet programming using the IBM Legacy Portlet API, JSR-168 and starting JSR-286, but as the tooling changes so to shall I.

ah... back to the grind

2009-01-05T22:51:00.003-05:00

First day back after 2.5 weeks of vacation. Lots to do and have to hit the ground running. Eight hours of phone calls is a rough way to start back from vacation!

On the plus side got further with my iphone application. After trying to do some debugging realized that I had not associate the text entries in the nib/xib file with the Application Delegate. Once I got that straightened out it worked just great. Now that I have some basics working I want to fiddle with the app a bit more. I'm writing a basic financial calculator. There are a few things I always keep checking and it would be nice to have a quick calculator to do the work for me. Planning out some other ideas of things I would like to try.

Did a little more basement cleanup this evening. Still have more to do, but I do think it is shaping up now. Going to try and get some pushups in before bed.

today's progress

2009-01-05T00:01:00.003-05:00

Almost have my first iphone app going. Having some strange times with basic math in Objective C, but at least I have the UI working. I suspect I'll have this wrapped up tomorrow.

Made good strides in cleaning the basement. Trying to organize the shelves, and toss as much junk as I can. I've made good strides consolidating like materials, cleaning out some space and trashing material I didn't even realize I was keeping. The space looks better, but still has more work to go. Something to continue chipping away at.

a touch at a time...

2009-01-03T21:37:00.004-05:00

Built my first iPhone Application tonight. Only targeted the simulator, and it was an out of the box example. But I got it to work. Going to try and go back and fix my botched application next. It is essentially a very raw hello world, but it is a start. Getting the hang of Xcode and the tools associated with it.

Also made it out for my first run in a few months. Only hit up a mile, and I was hurting at the mile mark. Did about a 10 minute mile, but I have a lot of those to put in before I can get to the half marathon. Did find an appropriate amount of clothing so that felt good. Also tried to get some pushups in. That went ok-- I'm following the hundredpushups.com program. My baseline was 27, I have the option of starting at Week 3, but I think given my general conditioning from the last few months, I may roll back to Week 1 and build slowly.

Project Spotting...

2009-01-02T22:30:00.003-05:00

Projects I am currently working on:

- Project A at work. Major releases due this year. Not much posting about that here. I may find other places to play with that.

- Fitness -- I plan to run the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May. I have 18 weeks to get ready. I plan to mix up running with biking to build cardio conditioning. I want to try and get my Great Race speed to a sub 8 minute mile. We'll see how it goes. I have some consecutive pullup (25) and pushup (100) goals that I want to reach as well for general fitness

- Coding -- Lots of sub projects here: iphone and android development, WebSphere sMash, some skill retooling and growth as I look towards the future. Building some skill with Python and Javascript won't hurt either. Going to do some plugin improvements for Quoteurltext.

- Writing -- A few articles I would like to write and I want to get started on writing a book. I think I have it in me, just need to focus and push it forward. Blogging and journaling will also be good to bring forward.

The big emphasis is getting things done this year. Work fast and get some completion marks.

Welcome to 2009

2009-01-01T22:52:00.002-05:00

Let's do something great! I will be building some blogs and posting a bit more requently as I make progress on different speheres. Expect more posts!

Thanks to everyone for a great 2008! Let's do better with 2009!

Jay

timeliness

2008-09-22T22:22:00.002-04:00

100 Days left in 2008.
13 Weeks.

Not a lot of time to get things done. A good deadline though.

So what do I want to do with my life? A few goals:
- Write a book
- Run a marathon
- 100 pushups in a row
- 20 pullups/chinups
- Read 100 books for 2008 (I've read 45)
- Replace windows

I can't do all of them in 100 days, but I am going to see how many I can accomplish.

not much of a ressurection

2008-08-17T00:20:00.003-04:00

So on the 5th I posted I was restarting a writing habit. On the 16th I post my next post. Not too good on building a habit :)

spending my team reading and thinking and working. Any other freecycles got to Z and A.

Lots going on, trying to make some space to think and it really isn't working too well. So much more to do and see and learn and apply.

Ressurecting a writing habit.

2008-08-05T21:42:00.002-04:00

I was pretty good for three months, and now I need to get the groove back. Most of my habits fall in and out of 3 month cycles. It is something I vaguely notice and comes in handy to reinforce to myself that I can pick something up again.

finding a new groove

2008-08-04T10:43:00.002-04:00

A few days off does a world of good to getting one's mind in place.

Prioritizing comes much easier. As does thinking about the big pictures. Been down in the weeds a bit too long, and starting to realize that now. Looking at the bigger plan is easier with a little bit of perspective.

Looking to make all kinds of progress this week both on work and personal fronts. Actually having the drive to get some house work done. Need to get the house prepped for the party. T-minus 27 days at this point. Or something like that :)

Lots to do, which is always exciting :)

Wow

2008-08-03T14:55:00.002-04:00

It has been many a day since I last posted! I'm no sure where all the time went, some went well some went poorly, some with sickness and some with health. A lot spent working but a bit on playing and balancing. Not enough on the last two but I'm working at it. Also got some reading done which has been wonderful. A variety of selections including a new Destroyer Novel, David Gunn's new novel, "Why French Women don't Get Fat", "Never Eat Alone" and "Man's Search For Meaning". All good reads with interesting headstreaching. Ok not so much with the novels but variety is goodness. There are a few other bits swimming around now in my head. Looking for the best ways to take advantage of them.

I had Friday off for A's Birthday which was goodness. Got some time to relax and enjoy and cater to A for Mom's Fest 2008. I think I need to spend a bit more time catering to my girls, I had a blast doing it and it was a truely relaxing time. We got some shopping and grilling in yesterday, even though we had a no-nap day for Z.

Thinking and mixing ideas from what I've been reading this week. Lots more to explore and read and I'm once again by the idea of extracting ideas from Print. Sometimes it goes away, but I love it when it all comes back!

Prioritizing my reading

2008-07-19T22:56:00.003-04:00

I have at any given time, a good stack of books to work through. I enjoy reading, and my subject matter has grown wider over time. But the question quickly becomes what to read first? Thinking about it tonight, I decided it all depends on my goal. There is a lot of material I want to cover, and not a lot of time available. I can at least think about what goals I want to reach and pick up something that matches that particular goal.

That said I got a nice haul from halfprice this week. A few business, personal development, investing and at least one fun read. Finding fiction is getting hard for me. I should really try and find more to try. That said, I'm finding lots of nonfiction that I find interesting that I enjoy digging into. Too much to learn and to experiment with. Just got to keep moving forward with what I can.

falling

2008-07-19T00:05:00.002-04:00

behind or in line, I'm not really sure. Bouncing off of a couple of different priorities. I spent a bit too much time working Project A, but I think it is paying off. I need to balance out a bit and try and hit some of my other technical areas. I want to go back to my Project Zero Project and try it out on the Mac, but I've been a bit distracted. Haven't touched Quoteurltext, even though I got a really nice suggestion from a user who found me on FB.

I really need to figure out how I can implement a community for that plugin. Perhaps I can build one on Ning? Or host one on my own site. I like the idea of trying a community site. Maybe I will build it locally. Use PHPBoard or something similar.

Reading some interesting material on networking. Thinking about how to apply it.

new toy

2008-07-14T23:10:00.003-04:00

Got a new laptop from work today. In a change from my normal linux laptops I'm piloting a MacBook Pro. I am still learning the ins and outs of it. Trying to get used to the keyboard and the feel of it. So far, I'm liking it. I got used to the multitouch trackpad faster than I thought I would. While I still miss the thinkpad eraser mouse, I do like the multitouch for scrolling. The placement of the keyboard really helps me avoid the accidental smacking of the touchpad that I get on most other laptops.

Am I converted to the cult of mac yet? Dunno. Day 1 has gone well, but I need to see what I like and what annoys me. I still have to install have my apps and I need to figure out what I want to keep on the dock. I know that there are lots of good mac apps out there that are interesting, so I need to search for them and get them started. Also want to get started with Virtualization on the Mac. Probably going with VMWare since most of my other images are VMWare, but I may try parallels for a little while. Biggest roadblock -- replacing visio. I do too much chartwork in Visio, now I need to find a good alternative.

Been spending some cycles on Facebook. Connecting to more and more friends there. A few surprises have shown up. Old friends I hadn't expected to see there, but Facebook is starting to be like New York City, stay in one place long enough and everyone shows up.

Alas poor blog

2008-07-14T00:56:00.002-04:00

...I knew him well.

So this blog has been suffering from a lack of attention. Trying to maintain focus on Project A and some side notes to it has definitely decreased the amount of attention I am spending here. I am thinking about focusing on some specific topics that may make more sense in a different blog. I think I may maintain this as a metablog, discussing all the plans I'm putting into place, but keep targetted blogs and projects to move forward on other fronts. I need to learn more which requires some experimentation and mentoring. I'm willing to go heavy in the experimenting, but I am starting to recognize the value of mentoring. Reading an interesting book "Never Eat Lunch Alone" which is giving me better insight into leadership, mentoring and networking. Lots to consider.

thinking anywhere?

2008-07-10T20:49:00.002-04:00

Out there in here, is there thinking anywhere?

Over the top busy with lots going on. Not much time to make progress on the different fronts. Project A is keeping me extremely busy. Trying to keep things in focus, but really getting pulled in too many directions.

Gonna crash and get some new perspective in the morning.

win for the day: pstree

2008-07-08T17:46:00.001-04:00

a command that separates out processes from threads:

pstree

init─┬─NetworkManager───2*[{NetworkManager}]
├─NetworkManagerD
├─acpid
├─agnLogd───sh───agnLogArchive.t───tail
├─agnclientd───{agnclientd}
├─atd
├─atieventsd
├─avahi-daemon───avahi-daemon
├─bonobo-activati───{bonobo-activati}
├─console-kit-dae───61*[{console-kit-dae}]
├─cron
├─cupsd
├─2*[dbus-daemon]
├─dbus-monitor
├─dd
├─dhcdbd───dhclient
├─eclipse───sametime75─┬─_sametime_mon33───sleep
│ ├─xwatchidle-bin
│ └─53*[{sametime75}]
├─eclipse───notes2w─┬─lnotes─┬─nsdexec
│ │ ├─sametime_idlemo
│ │ ├─taskldr───4*[{taskldr}]
│ │ └─13*[{lnotes}]
│ ├─sametime_idlemo
│ ├─watchscreensave─┬─dbus-monitor
│ │ ├─sametime_mongss
│ │ └─sleep
│ └─42*[{notes2w}]
├─evolution-data-───2*[{evolution-data-}]
├─evolution-excha───{evolution-excha}
├─fast-user-switc
├─firefox───10*[{firefox}]
├─gconfd-2
├─gdm───gdm─┬─Xorg───Xorg
│ └─x-session-manag─┬─bluetooth-apple
│ ├─evolution-alarm───{evolution-alarm}
│ ├─gnome-panel
│ ├─gnome-settings-─┬─pulseaudio─┬─gconf-helper
│ │ │ └─2*[{pulseau+
│ │ └─{gnome-settings-}
│ ├─metacity
│ ├─nautilus───{nautilus}
│ ├─nm-applet
│ ├─2*[python]
│ ├─seahorse-agent
│ ├─tracker-applet
│ ├─trackerd───2*[{trackerd}]
│ ├─update-notifier
│ └─{x-session-manag}
├─gedit
├─6*[getty]
├─gnome-keyring-d
├─gnome-power-man
├─gnome-screensav
├─gnome-terminal─┬─bash───pstree
│ ├─bash───ssh
│ ├─gnome-pty-helpe
│ └─{gnome-terminal}
├─gnome-volume-ma
├─gvfs-fuse-daemo───3*[{gvfs-fuse-daemo}]
├─gvfsd
├─gvfsd-burn
├─gvfsd-trash
├─hald───hald-runner─┬─hald-addon-acpi
│ ├─hald-addon-cpuf
│ ├─hald-addon-inpu
│ └─hald-addon-stor
├─hcid───2*[bluetoothd-serv]
├─klogd
├─mixer_applet2───{mixer_applet2}
├─multiload-apple
├─nmbd
├─smbd───smbd
├─soffice.bin───5*[{soffice.bin}]
├─sshd
├─syslogd
├─system-tools-ba
├─thinkpad-keys
├─trashapplet
├─udevd
├─vmnet-bridge
├─2*[vmnet-dhcpd]
├─vmnet-natd
├─2*[vmnet-netifup]
├─vmware-serverd
└─xinetd

consistency of posting

2008-07-07T16:30:00.002-04:00

My consistency of posting has definitely dropped off since I left the challenge. I think I may need to re-challenge myself :)

Still getting some head space organized. Realized I need some time away to get my thoughts in order, but recognize that isn't happening anytime soon. So going to try and muddle thru with what I have.

fun run

2008-07-05T22:13:00.002-04:00

Well not really a run, just a run of days. Project A was keeping me busy thru the 3rd. On the Fourth had an excellent celebration with the family. Z was very social talking with the family and hanging out with different folks. Her cousins love to show her love -- which is nice for the older ones but worrisome with some of the younger ones :)

Today spent the day helping a friend move. It was a good workout and some creative thinking to get furniture up the stairs. A fine time overall, I enjoyed it.
Relaxing now and fiddling with some side projects. Hope to do some Zero work and do some fiddling with some firefox plugins.

Changes Around

2008-07-01T17:11:00.003-04:00

Quote of the Day - Muhammad Ali - "He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

I find this an interesting quote as I hear of another of my circle of contacts taking a big leap to new worlds. So far I've had two coworkers leaving for other companies, one here, one in Seattle; I've got a friend who's moving to another state to a job that aligns better with their life goals. I have another friend who is giving up an INCREDIBLE job to lead up another organization in a bid to improve the world. Quite frankly, it's inspiring what's going on around me.

Which makes me wonder what am I doing?

shaking in up!

2008-06-29T22:22:00.002-04:00

Lots of fun cool stuff going on. Trying to wrap my head around it, so looking at where to start. So much going on I'm starting to get a little stuck on what to do next or where to turn my attention. I just need to slip things back a bit. Relax my focus so that I can take in the big picture, then sharpen and focus on what I want to do next.

I have an idea for a last minute entry for the Firefox 3 content. I may join, I may skip it. we'll see. Got stopped working on my PZero paper by some distractions from that corner of the world. We'll see where life leads then.

This came from Joe and provides what seems to be good advice on blogging. I'll try to apply it as well as I can.

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A few flying ideas ...

2008-06-25T22:49:00.003-04:00

but very few landing.

I want to use the Cake Framework to store my current reads and maintain the data local to my web site. I'd also like to cross post this information to my 43 Things, my Amazon account and a few other places. The local publish is easy. The remote publish shouldn't be too bad as each of those destinations support a REST interface.

Also have a few ideas for Firefox Plugins that should be simple to implement if I can just remember the details. Need to pick up the pace on my Zero Article. Still haven't finished the application, more database work to do. Found a good hint in the Project Zero discussion forums I'm going to try and take advantage of.

how many roads must a man walk down?

2008-06-23T21:50:00.003-04:00

... and how many sites must a grown man have?

Ok, perhaps there is a such things as too much. I have the following sites:

I suspect I'm going to grow this list before the summer is out, and adding feed related info.

Blargh.

2008-06-23T03:06:00.004-04:00

Insomnia is a bit of a pain. Having trouble sleeping two nights in a row is bad news all around.

On the plus side, got a new side project done. I rewrote my homepage. I developed a new look and wrote it up using CakePHP. It took a few tries, but I got it todo what I wanted. Some portions were fairly underdocumented, like using the webroot to serve files. Once I figured out how webroot worked, my last piece fell into place. I have reached a little beyond parity with the old site.

I have a few ideas that I may want to try next.

Set my reading list as a database
Modify a version of quoteurltext to save to a Cake Plugin.
JavaScript updates -- rollover previews of menu items from the mainpage

Also have some cleanup to do, including fixing the stylesheets, and tightening up some of the html. Still, pretty happy with the effort and the time it took.

Purposing this blog

2008-06-21T23:33:00.002-04:00

So I started reading the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell, a good start so far and I look forward to seeing where he goes with all the rules. I just finished the 3rd rule, the Rule of Process. The point of the rule is that leadership, like many things in life takes time and care. It is the daily preparations and work that lead to the overall win. Like the Dynamic Path Maxwell emphasizes the need for continuous improvement. Evaluating one's progress on a daily basis and striving to improve every day. Continuous practice and work can pay dividends.

So what does this have to do with purposing this blog? I am going to use this blog as my experiment log. I will record my plans, execute and evaluate here. Keeping it public to give myself some accountability. We'll see how it goes.

On to article two, or part two whichever to call it. Still more articles in the pipe so I need to get writing. Made some good progress last night and today. Finally got my head wrapped around the ZRM. The basics are easy, now just need to figure out do the stuff they left out of the examples. I think my article will show how to do LCRUD with ZRM in order to get to where I want to be. I can feel the edges of the groove now, so hopefully the writing will go faster.

Drained

2008-06-16T22:18:00.002-04:00

Slept well, but just a few too many calls today. Need to recuperate.

If I ever need to go to a cube, I nomimate this one.

busy weekend

2008-06-15T20:21:00.002-04:00

Let's see lots going on. Had a happy father's day today. Kicked of with the Pittsburgh Father's Day 5k -- Did a decent time I clocked 29 minutes 26 seconds. About a minute better than my Greenfield Glide time, keeping a much steadier pace. Average pace was about a 9 minute 30 second mile. I am much happier about how I kept the pace. I expect to do much worse with a poor night's sleep and some stomache issues. Neither turned out to be a terrible hinderance. I do need to get more practice in as I think my worst problem was a lack of confidence. Not having the mile markers on the course to get a feel for how fast I was going was a big minus.

Had a dinner with A's family in the evening which was nice. Ate well, but not too horribly. Spent time talking with folks and playing with Z. Z hasn't slept much today, and got up extra early, so she's to bed a bit early. A plan I plan to follow!

Saturday was busy with errands. Hit up Half Price Books and got a nice mix of stuff. Picked up a copy of Book 6 of the Bone color graphic novels, one of the New Destroyer Adventures, a business book : Never Eat Lunch Alone, and a Men's Health 2008 exercise guide. I've read thru the exercise guide. Some good advice and exercise plans I look forward to trying. An excellent article on montivation for exercise that I plan to keep in mind. Also an article on LeBron James focused on career/personal development. The young man has done alot, by taking his natural talent and applying a ton of focus. He is on the Dynamic Path. Some inspiring ideas to work forward with. My favorite bit: Instead of asking "what do I want to do with my life?" he asks "What am I doing with my life?" This skews the focus in a direction of proactive work.

Other items: picked up a new Xul Workbench for eclipse, and giving it a test run. Tried QuoteURLText with FF3.0rc1, looks good so updated it on the site to handle the new version. Looking forward to playing with that again.

Need to get my Zero work and my DataPower Projects up and running. Also catch up on follow up items from Project A. Busy week ahead, but some up sides I look forward to exploring.

A week off

2008-06-12T22:40:00.002-04:00

And back at it.

Projects are swarming me like biplanes on King Kong.

Lots of good stuff to play with. Lots of opportunities to try things out. Not a lot of time to execute. Can you see a problem here? Or perhaps a trend. Not sure. Working out of the hole will be an interesting experience. Working on Paper number 3 slowly while I try and cobble together some other projects at work.

Realized how much I want to spend more time with my daughter. I may need to reconsider my work from work goal.

Found this while cleaning browser tabs. Oddly appropriate. I need to think about how I focus my attention. One of my homepages uses this quote as the header:

"What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. -Herbert Alexander Simon, economist, Nobel laureate (1916-2001) "

I think I need to really think about where I spend my attention. Attention is now more valuable than time, and I should treat it as such.

90 Posts

2008-06-04T11:04:00.003-04:00

So this is a little later than I intended.

Of course I thought I was going to send that 2 days ago. And then I thought I would post this yesterday. So much for that intent.

Well this is post number 90. By a few different metrics I've made my goal to post for 3 months. It has been an interesting experience. I'm not sure what I want to do with this next. I found some value of thinking things out on a blog. As I haven't shared this site with many people, I can't tell how much I should value how well it does as a communications tool. Overall, I'm happy with the experiment. I didn't think I had 90 days of posts in me, I'm glad to see I was wrong!

We'll see where my writing habit will take me next. My article is online and has made the Top Story for the WebSphere Category. The writing has been fun, and I look forward to doing more.

back and forth...

2008-06-02T22:36:00.002-04:00

So read a really great book the other day "The Dynamic Path" by Jim Citrin. It was a present from some friends of our as part of a Mother's Day package. VERY interesting book. It helps shed some light on career growth and development. Essentially Citrin captures a very interesting path: From Champion, to Leader to a Legacy. Citing examples in sports, business and public service Citrin identifies people who made the transitions from Champion individual contributers to leaders and from leaders of a circle of people to leaders who leave a legacy. I can see how these ideas apply in the technical field. Within IBM there are many technical champions, and then there are technical leaders (STSMs, DEs) but at the top of the career chain are those who have left a legacy in technology. These are the IBM Fellows. They have changed the course of the industry by leaving a legacy. I am sure other companies have similar traits and paths.

I think I have found my way thru to be recognized as an individual contributor, but now I need to think and grow as a leader. It is a segement of my role that I'm still learning in. I confess I still like doing the things that got me recognized as a Champion, but I think I need to keep growing myself. That means working harder as a leader and building those skills.

That said, there are other things in my life that I want to focus on. I've been really horrible at my social life for the past few years. I'm starting to connect to people again, on places like Facebook. I'm slowing trying to grow my social circle again. Still needs work.

I'd like to work on that a bit more. I need to get in shape. I saw some pictures of me and realized -- Wow, I'm still really out of shape! I've made some great improvements, but I still have a good ways to go. My healthy weight is about 20 lbs lighter than where I am now. I can fix this. It just took a bit more realization.

Most important to me right now is spending time with Zoe and Amy. She is growing up much faster than I'm ready for. 9 months have gone by SO FAST! Soon other milestones will be blown by. I don't want to miss any of them. The past few days I found a groove that I was happy with. I think I can continue on that track and make progress. Will I continue to hone my leadership skills and career plans... probably, there is some intersection with my goals there. But I think I need to make sure I keep the rest of my life going as well. And look for opportunities to build my skills in other spaces.

Greenfield Glide & other health.

2008-06-01T20:30:00.005-04:00

Greenfield Glide went out this morning. Did an ok performance. Really happy with my first mile, ok with the second and disappointed with the third. Did my first mile in 8 minutes 4 seconds, second mile was clocked at 17:48 (9:30) and completed at around 30:30. So average time per mile is probably around 9:45. A little slower than I wanted but I pushed things a little too fast at the beginning. Lesson learned and something I can apply to the Father's Day 5k in 2 weeks. While I was a little disappointed with the 3rd mile, I do I can learn to push myself a bit farther to try and get that 8 minutes for longer. It would be nice to finish out the Great Race with an 8 minute mile. It is good to have goals to train for. The biggest setback was getting a stick after about a mile and a half from breathing hard. It made the last hill a little too tough, so I ended up slowing down to walk a bit. I'll need to start running my inital mile faster to try and get past that.

I'm also looking at building up my strength training again. June is a new month and I'm resolving myself to hit the workouts a bit harder this month. I've found a plan that looks interesting to me. I will follow the plan for the next 6 weeks, then find another plan and continue. If I can setup a new plan every 6 weeks I think I can make some good improvements.

Making a goal to eat better. I'm fairly horrible at eating on track, with more than a few regressions in the past few months. June is the 6th month of the year, and I've been slacking since Thanksgiving. I can do better and I will. Heavy on the fruits and veggies, more protein, and less processed carbs. Drink more water! These goals are not hard to meet, and I enjoy eating well, they just take a little more effort. Fruits I like are now coming in season so time to enjoy!

Broke from Vegas!

2008-05-31T09:02:00.003-04:00

I had a nice set of habits that were apparently not perfect habits yet that disappeared when I was in Vegas and have yet to reassert themselves nicely. The ones I miss the most: Good eating habits, exercise habit and blogging. I'm SLOWLY getting back on the eating track.

I'm doing really baddly on the exercise track, but I think that one has been down for awhile. I think I'll go and do the Bodyweight 500 program again. I've also busted out my weights again, so I can start lifting on a regular basis. I'm running at least once a week, but I want to try and get more intervals in. Maybe I can mix it up with running and biking. I want to try biking to work one of these days. Doing a race tomorrow, the Greenfield Glide 5k. I ran it last year in 35:17.7 at an average pace of 11:23/M. I've inproved a good deal since then. I think I can do a 10 minute mile easy, so I'm shooting for a 9:30/M in this race. I really need to tone up the exercise and resume the good eating habits. I want to drop another 15 lbs this year. I think I can do it, but I need to start putting some effort back into it again.

As to the blogging, I suppose I could excuse myself and say I've been writing in other places, but to be honest I've just been forgetting. I need to start making my blogging habit a priority again. Posting earlier in the day instead of leaving it for last would help.
That said, I think I'm starting to find my writing groove again. I need to keep working it. I have a few articles I've got planned, I just need to execute now.

Done!

2008-05-29T23:16:00.002-04:00

Article is over to the editor. I have the next article lined up so going to start writing soon. I set a goal of 10 articles this year, and that seems really unrealistic at the moment. I think I need to work with others to try and make that happens as I don't think I can get to 10 articles on my own. We'll see though.

back..

2008-05-28T13:04:00.002-04:00

Came in last night dead to the world. Had a great trip out East, but now I'm back. Fridge is stocked with a bit of junk as we came in dead, so grabbed a pizza. Also brought home a cheesesteak from Michael's. Is teh goodness as they say on the interweb. Looking to catch up with the world and then get rolling in some new directions. Started reading the book Susan sent me and it made me realize focus some plans that had been floating about. I have some items to focus on, starting with time planning, but going in to training and weight loss as well as work progress. The new book has given me some insight into all of it. Just need to look at how to proceed.

slacking again

2008-05-26T21:16:00.000-04:00

Out of town for the weekend, so avoiding the pc thing as much as possible. Will probably post some more when I get back. Maybe.

Moving on

2008-05-23T21:39:00.002-04:00

Draft is completed, but still feeling incomplete. Going to try and get a bit further with my Zero experiments. Hopefully I'll be able to get an app working in Zero. Next step will then be to chose the next project to turn to next. I suspect it will be related to virtualization, either in the cloud or perhaps building a VMWare image for use with Zero, either for my use or general use.

For the last few months I've been in a bit of malaise about what I was doing, but at the moment I feel myself getting engaged with different ideas and projects and it is really giving me a lot of energy.

outta juice

2008-05-22T22:32:00.001-04:00

spent too much time the last few days on paper and work. Need some cycles to recover. May just call it an early night.

hd antics

2008-05-21T16:23:00.002-04:00

Last night, got home to edit my paper, boot the laptop.. and hung. Ubuntu wasn't happily sharing my desktop with me. It was having issues booting. After panicing a few times a reboot restored things. So spent the rest of the night identifying what I want to keep and moving it off.

Didn't finish it off, but got enough that if it died today I wouldn't miss too much. Still have more to try and move off, but at least I can get started on this machine. I'm bringing up a new laptop faster that I intended, but up it must come.

New box is Ubuntu 8.04. Looks nice, still getting a handle on it all. No VMWare from Canonical yet, but I have found workarounds for it. New graphics look cool, but after trying them out, I shut'em off again. Starting to play with screenlets, but I'll let that play out over time.

2008-05-19T22:34:00.002-04:00

Article is coming along nicely and I'm having fun playing with the different tech. Experimenting with the gadgets and fiddling with Zero/sMash feed flows actually works out pretty well. I may play with this further to build some interesting feeds and flows to do something interesting. But for now the playing is good enough.

I've got my eye on a few future projects, but I am trying to keep it real by focusing on one project at a time. Making a point of keeping only 8 hours to Project A (my official work project). And then taking any extra cycles towards my fun projects. It seems to be working better for me.

Offline...and back to the future

2008-05-18T10:11:00.002-04:00

Spent two days offline. Friday, just to stay away from the internet. Saturday, spent the time on the pc drilling down on a new article. One of my goals this year was to write more, and between this blog and a few ideas I have, I think I'll make good on this goal.

Working out how I want to handle the rest of the year. Building plans for the next 3 months. I need to figure out what I want to prioritize, and then start moving forward. Some items (in order)

Make time everyday for A & Z
Make health a priority

Entering racing season, I want to get more runs in per week
I've been slacking on my strength training. Got to get back to a balanced routine
Eat well. Cut the junk further
Sleep!

Writing and IC. Make time to read, absorb and write. The daily writing to the blog is a good start,but I need to start writing earlier in the day, rather than just at the end. Write more articles and practice towards a book.

This is how I want to prioritize my time over the next few months. Z is already 8 month old, and that went by way to fast. We found a video recording we made the 1st week she was home. She's changed so much since then, and I'm not willing to miss too much more. I will enjoy that time. The health and fitness gives me base to build the rest of my life on. If I'm sick or tired, I can't get anything done, so I need to prioritize taking care of myself and getting a strong foundation to build everything else on. Exercise is also a good way to reinforce focus. When I exercise I think about what I'm doing and I don't let my mind wander too far. To drive all the things I want to get done, focus is the key.

The Writing and IC is a mental form of exercise. Exploring new ideas and communicating them is critical. Having a great idea but not being able to share it with others is worthless. I'd like to play with more ideas and start mixing them up.

grinding forward

2008-05-15T23:16:00.002-04:00

Getting a handle on things again. The break was good, now I can focus a bit more. Still need to start up some of the other good habits. My exercise habit has drifted way south of where I want it to be. Trying some morning pushups, but really I need to start the full body work outs again. Part of that is a reference to needing to clean up my workout area, a project I think I can tackle this weekend. It feels good to have some projects behind me that I can focus forward again. I have a bunch of things starting to pile up, but we'll see what else I can add to the story.

whirlwhinded

2008-05-14T23:09:00.001-04:00

Too much going on, but flowing in the right direction. Trying to cap things from getting too out of control and maintain some sense of balance. Not sure if I'm succeeding, but I'm trying. Putting a few irons in the fire to see what comes. We'll see if anything comes of it all.

mixing and other items.

2008-05-13T23:03:00.002-04:00

So yesterday was pretty much just a pure quote but I think it reflects my thinking a good bit. I think I'll do a small remix exercise to turn into a mashup exercise. Lots of good information there to pick thru and reuse.

Got the P0/sMash Milestone 7 to run the Web Based IDE today. Works pretty well. Working on transforming it into something interesting now. Lots of new plans and ideas forming and growing. Realizing now that I need to bring more to work now to survive there. Reading Work-Life Balancing and recognizing how much I need to keep my passion in my work. Not by trying to be passionate about my Project A, but rather keeping side projects that reflect my passions and get me going. Time to remix my job.

Quick Mix Theory 101

2008-05-12T22:08:00.002-04:00

From The Pirate's Dilemma

Ingredients:

A big idea (this doesn't have to be your own; a borrowed one will do);
An idea of who is on your dance floor (Audience)
A handful of other people's ideas (chopped up)
A pinch of originality

Directions:
1. Take your big idea. This can be something you've worked on, thinking about, have, or want. If you are on a train it could be the seat under you, or the girl opposite's earrings. It really doesn't matter; literally anything will do. This is your base, the subject you're going to remix.
2. Break the idea down into its component parts. In a song that would mean the drums, base line, strings, vocals, etc. Separate out the things that work and don't work. If this was a dub version of a record, we'd lose the vocals and turn up the drums and bass. If it's the seat on the train is it comfy? Aesthetically pleasing? What is it made of? How are the parts joined together? Pare it down -- look at what's good and what's deadwood.
3. Next, think about the end users, your dance floor, the people consuming your remix. Who are they? What do they want? How can you reedit the base, the way Tom Moulton did,to better suit their needs? IF the seat on the train, what would you need to do to it to put it in a trendy bar? How could you repurpose it so it was right for an old folks home? Who are the people on your dance floor? What keeps them moving? What causes them to walk away? How are you going to make them go crazy?
4. Now look at your base again. Maybe there was an element you missed that would work really well or something that, on second thought you overestimated. If it's a record,a producer might think he needs louder bass, less treble, or more cowbell. DJ Kool Herc focused soley on using the break beats in disco and funk records, because this was the only part of the record his audience of break dancers was interested in. If it's the train seat for the old folks' home, maybe you need to think about that lower back support. The remix is about taking an idea and making it suitable for a whole new audience.
5. The idea should already look very different, but we're just getting started. What you've done so far is a simple reedit. Now it's time to apply some quick mix theory. Go back to your dance floor, look at the other ideas out there that get it moving and sample them. Line up your idea your idea next to other things your audience seems to be into. When Afrika Bambaataaa and Arthur Baker made "Planet Rock," their base was two records by the German group Kraftwerk, which where popular in New York at the time. But they also knew the punks and disco kids downtown liked hip-hop and the uptown hip-hop heads were feeling disco breaks, so they sampled elements from records that alread had these ingredients, and reused them to hook in these two different crowds.
Look at your new samples the same way you look at your base, chery-pick the best elements, and discard the rest. Once you have them distilled, work out how you an apply these new ingredients. Our old folks' train seat hybrid might benefit from a set of wheels, so why not mix it up with a golf cart? Or mash it up with a La-Z-Boy to make it more comfy, or even add some hopped-up hydraulics from a muscle car to help people get in and out of it more easily, controlled with technology our audience is already used to, swiped straight from a Craftmatic adjustable bed. Where will these new samples all sit in the mix? Once they're in and it's working, stand back and take another look.
6. The idea you are now looking at can be considered a remix, a new original arrangement that contains elements from previous original works or works. Through good reediting of samples, great new original material can be produced from unoriginal parts. But just like Bam and Arthur added rapping and a drum machine to their samples, throwing in something completely original isn't a bad idea. A good remix is defined by its signature original isn't a bad idea. A good remix is defined by its signature original elements. It might be composing a new base line, playing some in some new keys, or adding a new kick drum. You may decide the originality is already there; an original process or take on sampled materials counts. Or you may end up with one tiny piece of the original mixed with an entirely new score of your own. Either way, your originality should outshine the borrowed elements, or at the very least, present them ina new light. A good remix adds value to something. If everything has gone right, you should now have a new idea that contains elements from, but is independent of, the original. The new idea is a remix. Garnish and serve.

Back!

2008-05-11T22:16:00.002-04:00

After a week in Vegas, I have returned! Technically got back two days ago, but really getting back in gear. Ran the Race for the Cure this morning. Took it easy and managed a 33 minute 42 second run. Averaged around an 11 minute mile, but I wasn't pushing much after a week in Vegas plus the enormous crowd of people. It was a fun little run that I got to run along with my wife's sister-in-law. Look forward to a few more races this year, and getting back in the running habit.

Catching up with life, and spending time with Zoe and Amy. Did a good bit of reading which I will be writing up here hopefully in the next few days. Also managed to build a HUGE to read pile, that I look forward to taking apart. Now that I have finished up my lab experience, looking forward to focusing on other projects.

2008-05-06T02:58:00.002-04:00

Slower posting that I thought. Good sessions today. WSTC is getting a bit worn. Just too much going on to get enthused. Got sick again today, but felt better after a bit of a rest. Need to spend some time tomorrow polishing my presentation an lab.

must...

2008-05-04T02:58:00.002-04:00

...stop... ellipses...

Just realized that the last few posts have had a few too many ellipses and had to stop it as only Kirk could stop them.

In other news, spent some time reading and pondering on the plane. Came to a conclusion of sorts. I thought about what I want to do with this blog. I started thinking about the good life. What makes a good life? What would make my life good? What does it take to live good? To Live good. This is not just the consumption of goods, but more the mix of what is good living? What are my values and my priorities. It kind falls into the space of inquiry that I've started with different directions in my life. More on this after more reflection.

and...

2008-05-04T02:46:00.001-04:00

we're good.

Posting should continue for the rest of the week.

with luck...

2008-05-03T13:43:00.001-04:00

I'll post again in a few hours.

Otherwise, expect a week free of posting :)

reading...

2008-05-02T23:07:00.002-04:00

Reading list for the next week:
The Not So Big Life
Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky
The Pirate's Dilemma

Perhaps a leadership book as well?

Counting down...

2008-05-02T00:18:00.001-04:00

Not as happy as I was hoping to be with the lab. I'll live with it. I really feel crushed at the moment with too many things I owe to too many people. Calling a late night again, hopefully the last one for a while.

these late nights...

2008-05-01T00:39:00.001-04:00

are not conducive to much beyond getting sick. Going to crash soon. The new parts for my lab look good. My lab presentation needs a good bit of work, but will try and get that done tommorow. Taking a half day to spend some time with Z & A Friday. So much going on. Can't wait for Wednesday to be over!

brainfried

2008-04-29T22:49:00.003-04:00

Grr.. when will I learn that trading sleep for work will never pay off well !?!

Too many flying objects at the moment, with many a plan going to fruition. Some ripe, some less that ripe, and some very rotten. I am a victem of my own success. Need to work on that moving forward.

Had a decent career meeting with my manager today. Spent most of it look at his new toy. I'll blog about it if I ever get one, but it was fun to help.

better late than... ?

2008-04-29T01:25:00.003-04:00

A double yesterday, doesn't really cover today, but working until 1 AM, I'll cut myself some slack. Lots of things shifting around today. Got a bunch of different tasks added to the todo list. I got a few of the paired away, and I see a direction to reduce the flow of some of the others, but I have a good deal to take care of still.

T-minus 4 days til Vegas. Lots to do and not much time! I got a few of my article ideas approved, so now I need to do some playing and some writing. Opportunity knocks all the time.

Last thought of the night

2008-04-27T23:36:00.003-04:00

"Where does the time go?" and "Where do I want it to go?" are becoming more important to me. I think I need a way to measure -- what can I do in 30 minutes? in 15? In 5? I don't have a strong timesense. Something I need to work on. Not to overinstrument and abuse, but making sure that I'm putting the hours to what I consider important.

I need to figure out where I can put the 30 minutes to do the most good for my goals, my family and my world.

All sorts of good stuff...

2008-04-27T23:21:00.003-04:00

Got a couple of good things running in my head as I try and get my presentations out the door

Part way thru the Pirate's Dilemma [blog] -- chock full of good references to the Punk DIY style of creation. Learning the way piracy can help change the world is interesting. The remix section alone was worth the price of entry for me -- understanding the history of the remix and a quick recipe that will help my writing one I get a grip on it.

Watched this video by way of Warren Ellis on Clay Shirkey's talk on Cognitive Surplus.

So much interesting thought here that's all running together. Starting to see a few ideas coalesce together. Just need to get things running!

Reflective surfaces

2008-04-26T12:30:00.003-04:00

Heads in an odd spot this morning so going with it to see where it goes. I have a meeting with my manager this week to discuss my career as part of my annual planning. A week after my birthday seems like I should be doing some thinking about my plans for life as well. I'm vaguely surprised that I've turned into someone who wants to have a 5 year plan, but life is full of surprises. I am waking to a world of ambitions and dreams. Most fairly pedestrian but I'm starting to see the value of dreaming big. What does it take to feel alive? Attention and focus. Go figure. So it pays to be careful with where and what I spend my time on.

A strange phrase "Spend my time", like I consume time like I consume goods. Figuring out how I consume my money and time seem to be well linked but a direction I would like to decouple. I realize now that I can be a bit frivolous towards my money. I can do better at consuming less but enjoying life more.

But I digress. I have a great deal of thinking to do and planning to take care of, but most importantly I need a way to look at how I execute, when I execute and measure and react to what I do.

last call...

2008-04-25T23:41:00.002-04:00

I've got seven days until I fly to Vegas for the conference. I want to finish it up in six. Got some changes in the last 24 hours to keep things interesting. Looking to see what I need to get done in the next week -- it'll be interesting. Things will get better in 2 weeks. Ubuntu 8.04 is out. This is the latest Long Term Support version (LTS). Good to know. In two weeks I'll be able to wipe my loaner laptop and install 8.04. It is looking good. Looking forward to trying out some new features including google gadget integration. Google Gadgets is looking like a larger and larger part of my future.

resetting the track

2008-04-24T21:49:00.002-04:00

Got a bit of a change in my lab for WSTC. Need to refactor my plan for what I want to cover and how I want to cover it. Got a query for some work on a side topic which looks interesting. I may delve into it. Post more as the opportunity presents itself.

1 down...

2008-04-23T23:09:00.001-04:00

Completed my Agile talk for WSTC -- getting some feedback from my peers, but essentially done. Still need to work on the rest of my lab. Finished up a networking tutorial. Next up is going to be doing a bit more work with Xen, then some more focus on VMWare. Some time soon I will post a note about running xen images in vmware. But that is for another day.

Twice in a week?!

2008-04-23T09:11:00.001-04:00

Granted it was exactly a week -- but still. Got sick last night and just crashed about an hour after I got home. I'll try to post extra today to catch up.

ajax rpg

2008-04-21T21:53:00.003-04:00

Yay for the interweb and a blow against idea rot.

I had nothing to do with this, it was done completely independently of me, I just had the same idea a few years ago. Did I do anything with it? No. Should I have? Maybe. But it is a great idea and I'm glad some one implemented it. I look forward to tracking the progress on it.

To be clear, the closest I ever came to this was a few sketches on a piece of paper. No code, no implementation, just a series of thoughts. Coming up with a good idea is fairly easy. Turning it into a reality is a good bit tougher. I need to work on focusing myself and executing better. Thinking of an idea is a good start, but execution is the only thing that counts. Innovation is best served by a execution over planning.

focus on forward

2008-04-20T21:44:00.002-04:00

So spent a good chunk of the weekend relaxing. Running a little late this year on my annual review. I'm running at full throttle on too many topics at the moment. I suspect that is what I need to figure out for the next year, how to recognize and prioritize what is important to me, and how to get rid of the tasks that don't fit in that category. The key is going to be better leadership skills. Both learning to delegate and say 'no'. I need to think about where I want to grow and focus on those areas, but at the same time find a way to stay organic in my growth.

My current position doesn't leave me a great deal of room to grow in new directions. I need to stop running to get my bearings and figure out if I'm getting closer to my goals or running in the wrong directions! I think I need to do this at multiple levels, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I don't want to burn out on the things that interest me. I don't want to waste the time that I have, because that's all the time I have.

yasp

2008-04-19T22:53:00.002-04:00

Yet another short Post!

I received a copy of Randy Pausch's Last Lecture and read thru it today. Very interesting read. Good advice on living. I need to examine it again and pull out more interesting bits to discuss.

half day

2008-04-18T23:08:00.001-04:00

Took a half day today. Enjoyed the afternoon hanging about with Z. Much more relaxing and useful than what I normally do with a Friday Afternoon. I think I need a way to turn this into a common practice rather than the rare event.

posting

2008-04-17T23:05:00.002-04:00

just for postings sake.

I had expected to be writing a bit more these days in terms of self reflection, but work has me concentrating too much on .. well work! I need to take some time to consider what I want to do for the next year. Think about my longer term goals and the steps I want to take to get there. For now I think I just want to call it a night.

Doh

2008-04-16T22:22:00.001-04:00

Missed it again. Started a post last night then got distracted. But two misses in 2 months doesn't seem so bad. In high gear trying to get all my presentations together. Need to get a few more things done in the next two weeks.

Was hoping to attend a web 2.0 session tommorow, but that seems to be dropping out the window. We'll see what the time brings.

Inbox Zero

2008-04-14T20:44:00.003-04:00

So in the Getting Things Done paradigm, there is a goal of keeping your inbox empty. Strict email management should be used to make sure that your inbox is kept empty, and all new items are immediately addressed.

I am failing at this. I came close in January, but I am quickly falling behind. I can manage the SPAM just fine. Trying to get rid of the 'bacon' in my inbox, is getting better. But I still have a ton of mail to deal with. I need to be a bit more critical of my inbox and either deal with it faster or wipe it out. It just amounts to another version of clutter. I suppose I could nuke the whole inbox but I suspect the fallout would not be worth the price.

On piracy and free support

2008-04-13T21:09:00.003-04:00

While no one probably cares, I have on occasion used pirated software. On more than a few occasions I have built a machine using a copy of Windows that I have not purchased, but was purchased by someone else. I have reformed! Learned my lesson, I will no longer pirate Windows. Between the new anti-pirating features and the availability of free software, I no longer use Windows. I've been using Linux at home for a number of years and I think I just hit two years of Linux exclusively at work. I admit there are a few programs I miss. And the gaming has been horrible, but for the most part I don't miss it too much. OK, on occasion I'll admit the VMWare image does come out for use on replicating customer issues, or some Visio Presentations.

But Microsoft no longer has to worry about me pirating a copy of Windows. Which is great for them, isn't it? I used to think it would be but I'm less sure now. My brother-in-law is looking for a new computer, in years past I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a good Windows machine and that would be that. Now, I'm not so sure. I'll probably need to help tech-support this machine in the future. I'm not using Vista, how can I support it well? His family doesn't need much beyond support for Email and Web Games. So why not a Mac? They are a bit more expensive. No doubt. I can get a cheaper Dell, or Lenovo or HP, but what is the overhead for using Windows? If we were talking Laptops, I'd be closer to going with Windows. I could support them on a Linux box, but I'm not sure if they want to go that far. Firefox works just as well with either system and thunderbird or Gmail would take care of their email needs. The kids don't game all that much, and might be happier using the PS2 for games rather than the Computer. Something to discuss with them I suppose.

Good Company

2008-04-12T21:02:00.004-04:00

Sweet deal! My Inove flashlight died while I was in RTP. This is one of my favorite EDC, so I was a bit bummed about it. I sent an email to Inova to try and see if it would be covered by a warrenty. I got a GREAT response from them very quickly:

I’m sorry to hear that you are experiencing problems with your INOVA T1 flashlight.

All of our INOVA flashlights carry a limited lifetime warranty. We will be more than happy to replace your flashlight for you. Simply return your flashlight in a box including a brief description of the problem you are experiencing.
We have just recently released our brand new, upgraded 2008 T1. The new T1-MP light has been increased to 100 lumens. We will replace your current T1-WB with the new improved upgraded
T1-MP. I think you will be very pleased with your new flashlight.

I'm sending it back this week, but I was really impressed with their service and response.

review.

2008-04-11T22:25:00.002-04:00

A week done, on to the weekend. Last week I started asking where I'll be in 5 weeks. Am I closer to any of my goals? I feel I've got mixed progress.

I've been slacking on the exercise. I need to get that one back in the bag. I've gotten closer to getting my lab running I have only 1 more section to work with. Of course that's the key part, but I'll handle that another day. I think I'm starting to get a stride together with work. A few more weeks of the heavy stuff and then I can relax a bit more.

I'm also starting to get a feel for where I want to be going next in different areas. Not concrete enough for goals, but on the way there. The vision is starting to coalesce. More to do, more to learn and more to execute on but I think the path is the right one.

short one.

2008-04-10T23:31:00.002-04:00

Fried after a long day. Just keeping it short with some interesting links.

Super Mario in javascript.

Project Zero is taking on a new metamorphosis to WebSphere sMash. Expect more content on this from me when I get some more cycles. The short of it is a new platform for doing fast Web 2.0 development, writing in Java, Groovy or PHP. A just in time model closer to PHP than AppServer.

48 Posts ... more or less

2008-04-09T20:50:00.002-04:00

This brings us to about half way through the 3 month goal. To be honest I'm surprised at how easy this turned out to be. The last time I had made a goal to do blog posting I got about a week in and fizzled out :) So keeping a good steam going this time. Guess I have more to carp about than I thought. Taking the time to post every day didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought it would be. Is this a habit I'll take on after the challenge... maybe?

Still a lot to say and do, and it is a time commitment. But I think it can be good commitment, the exploration and reflection on whatever I take the time to write about is helping me keep my head in the right space. I think I could get more ambitious about setting themes and goals in the blog. Writing on everything is easy. Writing on topic... slightly harder. But then again if it was easier, then it really wouldn't be a challenge would it?

Another possible next step is to turn the monologue into a dialog and start advertising my blog out to others. Having a way of communicating with the world really is good, but if I'm not advertising it, am I really communicating with the world?

Leadership and Management

2008-04-08T22:16:00.002-04:00

Read a great post yesterday distinguishing between leadership and management. At the heart is the concept that for an organization to be successful they need to balance between leadership and management. Leadership bringing innovation and the ability to deal with change, and management as bringing a drive to minimize complexity.

I am starting to understand a bit more about what leadership means, both to myself and to my company. I'm kinda split between trying to tread carefully and to experiment more. Although I suppose experimenting on the job is a leadership related trait :)

Too many thoughts and projects I'd like to try, but not enough cycles to experiment with them all. I think this is the sort of thing where leadership pays off. Being able to convince and recruit people to my ideas would be helpful. As a technical leader I need to be able to express my ideas better, and as a people leader, get people behind those ideas. Building a vision of what I want the world or the work to be requires me to understand my drives and the requirements that world provides.

blog part deux?

2008-04-07T23:07:00.003-04:00

Thinking about starting a secondary blog. One that I would post too a little less often but focused on technical concerns. This would be a place to reflect on my day-to-day experiments and experiences with coding and technology. A place to document what I've discovered, tried etc. I suppose I could pull it all into this blog, but I don't think I want to cross post too much. While I still haven't mastered a theme for this blog, I have started thinking of it as a certain personae.

On further reflection, perhaps I am skirting a theme. I'm almost leaning towards personal development here. Not as cool as the Post-Apocalyptic workout, but then what is? It is a theme that is striking a chord with me at the moment. Perhaps I need to be bolder with it, chart a direction then measure my progress. Something to ponder anyway.

I guess it all depends on what I want to communicate with the world. I'll say this, after 47 posts in a row, I'm feeling pretty good about keeping the line open. I just need to figure out what to say with it. Seth Godin makes some good points on keeping a focus on the message you want to transmit. I don't think I have a message here, yet. I think this is really just an experiment with a habit. So maybe a second technical journal is the way to go. A place where I have messages I want to send.

And here I thought I was done with the existential questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? A good deal of my reading of late has been focused on leadership and simplicity. Both really stem from an examination of values. If the values are bad, then nothing good can follow. If values are ignored then it seems we live in a vacuum of one form or another. We end up with Enron like situations in leadership, and tons of clutter in the search for simplicity. To extrapolate that in technical leadership if we do not stick to our values we end up with overloaded crappy software. This smacks of another theme for investigation -- what are my technical values? What do I consider important as an architect, developer and technical leader? Are these different values from what I do in the other aspects of my life?

2008-04-06T22:35:00.002-04:00

Started the day early -- Z couldn't quite decide if she was up, which left her in cranky, noisy state. Fortunately she got settled back in for a nap. Unfortunately I didn't settle back in. Instead got my run going. Did the Schenley Loop in 44 minutes 32 seconds. I may be creaky tommorow but that wasn't too bad. I'm going for distance and time, figuring I'll pick up speed later. I did a good 25 minute run, followed by 5 minutes walking, then 12 minutes of run, then a run walk cycle of much shorter intervals. Still not bad for a Sunday morning. Need to try and get some good runs in this week as well.

Interesting article titled Death and Taxes from Men's Health Magazine. The summary was that the author's tax advisor passed away. In five weeks from diagnosis to death. I found it most interesting from the tag line -- where will you be in 5 weeks. In thinking ahead I tend to go for longer horizons, but there is something to be said for 5 week goals. It is an incarnation of agile, with smaller deliveries towards larger goals. I had a goal realization today when I figured out that I tend to focus on the career track because it is a track. It has well defined levels that make it easy to checklist and plan against. The rest of life doesn't have such nice milestones. Or rather it doesn't have them as well documented. It takes dreams and planning to create those milestones and perseverance to make them a reality.

The other quote of the day that strikes me is from the liner notes of Cowboy Mouth's 1996 album "Are you With Me?" by Patrick H. LeBalanc, who passed away in 1995, "To you who are still alive what are the things that are truly important? And while you are still alive, what are you doing about them?" Good food for thought.

Project Zero:1 Me: 1

2008-04-05T22:39:00.002-04:00

Got it! Installed the cmd line tools and figured out how to rebuild the exported file into the appropriate directories. What I did:
- Exported the project from Eclipse
- Created a new project using the cli "zero create projectX"
- unziped the exported file and copied all the files into the projectX directory, overwriting the existing files
- Since the ivy.xml was overwritten, rerun the resolver "zero resolve"
- That got my PHP dependencies added into the default project.
- Start the project "zero start" in the the projectX directory.

Project Zero:1 Me: zero

2008-04-05T21:10:00.002-04:00

Working on getting a new copy of ProjectZero running on Linux with PHP using the Version .6 Milestone. It will not let me run the server within eclipse. I've seen this before, but unfortunately the solution was to wait for the next build. It could be done by Monday, but I'd like to get further before then. Trying to run the command line interface is getting frustrating. I am a bit short on sleep so I may just chalk it up to that.

May just head to bed early and get an early start tomorrow. I want to go for a run to get back in the habit. I promised my sister-in-law that I'd try and run the Race for the Cure on Mother's Day with her. It's a good challenge, but coming up a bit soon so I need to get more training runs in, both on the weekends and during the week. On the plus side, the weather is getting better so it should be easier. Once I finalize my lab then only 1 laptop to carry around, which should help with running home.

Gonna call it an early night and get some rest.

in the office

2008-04-04T20:59:00.003-04:00

After a week of travel and face to face meetings, I must admit it was a bit of a bummer to be in the office on calls again. Feeling the pain of not cleanly sharing my vision as a bunch of things hit the fan that shouldn't have. Apparently I was not clear enough with the team about what I wanted, so Monday will be a fun exercise in cleaning house.

Almost done with the lab, hope to finish this weekend. I need to put some hours in my presentation, which is also due soon. If I can get them both behind me I can spend more time on building the fun stuff. Looking forward to building fun apps as opposed to all the work related stuff. Talking to T on Project B, I'm not there officially but I am trying to lend a hand where I can. We'll see how that goes.

I want to get back to Market Driven Development soon. I'd like to post that on my website to measure my current projects. The MDD app and my Plugins. I haven't started working on my Firefox entry yet, but I need to start on that soon. Also want to start playing more with Project Zero. So many interesting things to tackle...

... I was going to say 'not enough time', but I'm thinking about that subject a little more these days. I make assumptions against my time and habits that consume my time, but I think I need to start revisiting all of those habits and assumptions. Just as the cleaning/decluttering of the house is giving me new insite about what I have and what my stuff means to me, I think I need to work out how to declutter my time. Something to explore and write about.

back home

2008-04-03T21:53:00.002-04:00

too much of an email backlog. I'll deal with it tomorrow.

catching up

2008-04-02T23:43:00.002-04:00

... in more ways than one.

Getting in touch with folks via Facebook. Old HS friends and associates. People I ponder about and old faces that I suddenly want to connect to once I find them. Of course I am totally unreliable in terms of checking fb, but it is what it is (thank you Dilbert)

Almost done with my lab. Looking forward to working with EI. They have some interesting ideas and things they want to try that I'd like to help them with.