A good reminder

"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

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?

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!

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

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!

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

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.