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.

New Year New Goals!

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?

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?

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...

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

  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

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

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..

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

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

"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!

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

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?

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.