CIO.com: Don't Trust Your Code to Strangers
A good case for XP and against out-sourcing your development.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Never to old to be the hero
Tif called the other night. Brian wasn't at home and... THERE WAS A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE. Tif was totally freaked. She had trapped it under a shoe box (how in the world she did that I have no idea), but she didn't know how to get rid of it. I calmed her down (some), and talked her through it.
Slip something under the box (she used a folder), flip it over, hold the "lid" on tight, and throw it out into the field. (It might come back into the house). Ok, through it into the garbage bins... it probably won't climb out.
After we talked for about 10 minutes, she hung up to go take care of it, and then called me back in about 5 minutes to say it was done. Very tramatic experience, but at least it was out of the house.
"Tell Mom when she calls me to not laugh. This was serious."
I was the compasionate one and saved the day, so to say.
Even when your kid is 22, its still fun to be the hero. :-)
LOVE YA TIF!
Tif called the other night. Brian wasn't at home and... THERE WAS A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE. Tif was totally freaked. She had trapped it under a shoe box (how in the world she did that I have no idea), but she didn't know how to get rid of it. I calmed her down (some), and talked her through it.
Slip something under the box (she used a folder), flip it over, hold the "lid" on tight, and throw it out into the field. (It might come back into the house). Ok, through it into the garbage bins... it probably won't climb out.
After we talked for about 10 minutes, she hung up to go take care of it, and then called me back in about 5 minutes to say it was done. Very tramatic experience, but at least it was out of the house.
"Tell Mom when she calls me to not laugh. This was serious."
I was the compasionate one and saved the day, so to say.
Even when your kid is 22, its still fun to be the hero. :-)
LOVE YA TIF!
Monday, September 15, 2003
Tomatoes
I am very much the procrastinator, which doesn't work well with tomatoes and the first frost of the year. Usually what happens is that the forcast says it is going to get below freezing, I think "I should cover the tomatoes", I put it off, and the next morning they are all frozen and dead. Which is followed by a month of nice weather and me thinking, "If I had only covered the tomatoes."
Well this year I actually figured I would do it, got caught in some late meetings on Saturday and called Tina. She covered them for me. Sunday morning I checked them before they were in the sun, and they looked kind of frozen, but maybe not too bad. Covered them again last night and checked them this morning.
The ends of some of the branches look dead, but the rest of the plant and the fruit look great! Woo hoo! Maybe they'll actually ripen for me. :-)
I am very much the procrastinator, which doesn't work well with tomatoes and the first frost of the year. Usually what happens is that the forcast says it is going to get below freezing, I think "I should cover the tomatoes", I put it off, and the next morning they are all frozen and dead. Which is followed by a month of nice weather and me thinking, "If I had only covered the tomatoes."
Well this year I actually figured I would do it, got caught in some late meetings on Saturday and called Tina. She covered them for me. Sunday morning I checked them before they were in the sun, and they looked kind of frozen, but maybe not too bad. Covered them again last night and checked them this morning.
The ends of some of the branches look dead, but the rest of the plant and the fruit look great! Woo hoo! Maybe they'll actually ripen for me. :-)
Blogger
Blogger just added some new features. Don't have time to mess with them, but some look pretty nice.
Blogger just added some new features. Don't have time to mess with them, but some look pretty nice.
Friday, September 12, 2003
ETonline.com: John Ritter Dies of a Heart Problem
Wow. He was one of my favorites. I'll never forget the time I saw him doing ad-lib with Robin Williams on a Robin Williams special.
Wow. He was one of my favorites. I'll never forget the time I saw him doing ad-lib with Robin Williams on a Robin Williams special.
Friday, September 05, 2003
Almost ready to go
Sitting in the hotel in Denver, checking flight times, fighting over the computer with Jaime. "Dad, you can't work, so let me chat with my friends." Turns out no one is on yet. They are probably all at SHOC or doing something afterwards. Did a little work, but mostly just checking stuff. And blogging.
Woo hoo, plane leaves at 7:30, not 6:00... so we can sleep in until 4:30 instead of 3:00! Good thing Steve double checked the documents!
Should have done the "advance flight information" ahead of time. Didn't think about it. Next time we will. Enter it all on the computer and don't have to mess with it the next day.
Well... this is probably it. We're out of here. I'll probably do some blogging from Cancun.
Later!
Sitting in the hotel in Denver, checking flight times, fighting over the computer with Jaime. "Dad, you can't work, so let me chat with my friends." Turns out no one is on yet. They are probably all at SHOC or doing something afterwards. Did a little work, but mostly just checking stuff. And blogging.
Woo hoo, plane leaves at 7:30, not 6:00... so we can sleep in until 4:30 instead of 3:00! Good thing Steve double checked the documents!
Should have done the "advance flight information" ahead of time. Didn't think about it. Next time we will. Enter it all on the computer and don't have to mess with it the next day.
Well... this is probably it. We're out of here. I'll probably do some blogging from Cancun.
Later!
Whirlwind
The last few weeks have been very hectic. I'm finishing up two projects. One that is going into integration soon to build, and the other that we are bringing up on a production box.
The production system is brand new and we are trying to see how lean we can run it and still process the data. Last week we were processing 160 events a second throw one of N processes. I spent the week seeing what could be tweaked, configured, etc. We are now up over 400 events, which is enough for us to process the 100 million call records we need to process a day.
I love this kind of stuff. It is so cool. Its like being a detective (or what I imagine that to be like). Seeing a problem, looking for clues, trying to find a way to fix it. Its a blast... but it tends to be all consuming. I had a meeting at church yesterday at 4:00PM, and at 4:45PM I realized that a) it was Thursday, and b) it was after 4:00PM. Until then I wasn't really sure what day it was.
In to work at 4:45AM to try and get some last minute stuff done. I'm out 3 days next week, so need to get more than 3 days work done, 'cuz I won't be here to work things.
Leaving this afternoon for Cancun with Tina AND Jaime, were I won't be thinking about 400 events a second... I'll probably be thinking about a handful of events a day: breakfast, sleep by the pool, mid-morning snorkeling, lunch, sleep by the pool, mid-afternoon snorkeling, nap, dinner, after-dinner hanging out, bed.
The last few weeks have been very hectic. I'm finishing up two projects. One that is going into integration soon to build, and the other that we are bringing up on a production box.
The production system is brand new and we are trying to see how lean we can run it and still process the data. Last week we were processing 160 events a second throw one of N processes. I spent the week seeing what could be tweaked, configured, etc. We are now up over 400 events, which is enough for us to process the 100 million call records we need to process a day.
I love this kind of stuff. It is so cool. Its like being a detective (or what I imagine that to be like). Seeing a problem, looking for clues, trying to find a way to fix it. Its a blast... but it tends to be all consuming. I had a meeting at church yesterday at 4:00PM, and at 4:45PM I realized that a) it was Thursday, and b) it was after 4:00PM. Until then I wasn't really sure what day it was.
In to work at 4:45AM to try and get some last minute stuff done. I'm out 3 days next week, so need to get more than 3 days work done, 'cuz I won't be here to work things.
Leaving this afternoon for Cancun with Tina AND Jaime, were I won't be thinking about 400 events a second... I'll probably be thinking about a handful of events a day: breakfast, sleep by the pool, mid-morning snorkeling, lunch, sleep by the pool, mid-afternoon snorkeling, nap, dinner, after-dinner hanging out, bed.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Lunch
Getting tired of the same old thing at work, and too busy/lazy in the morning to usually pack lunch. So today I made, "Grilled Chicken in a Honey Dijon Mustard Sauce."
From the "grill":
Grilled Chicken Breast - ask them to dice it up
Grilled mushrooms
Grilled onions
1 Package of Honey
2 Packages of Dijon Mustard
1 Slice Munster Cheese (from the sandwhich line)
Combine grill ingredients, add the "sauces", stir, microwave for 45 seconds, add the cheese.
Not too bad!
Getting tired of the same old thing at work, and too busy/lazy in the morning to usually pack lunch. So today I made, "Grilled Chicken in a Honey Dijon Mustard Sauce."
From the "grill":
Grilled Chicken Breast - ask them to dice it up
Grilled mushrooms
Grilled onions
1 Package of Honey
2 Packages of Dijon Mustard
1 Slice Munster Cheese (from the sandwhich line)
Combine grill ingredients, add the "sauces", stir, microwave for 45 seconds, add the cheese.
Not too bad!
Friday, August 22, 2003
Counter-Googling
Another link from ev.
Interesting stuff. Originally I thought no one read my blog... then a few family/friends. But who knows.
Another link from ev.
Interesting stuff. Originally I thought no one read my blog... then a few family/friends. But who knows.
Windows XP: How to get rid of Windows Messenger
From ev, quoted from the source above:
Something to keep in mind, since we are supposed to be upgrading to XP at work, sometime in the not to distant future
From ev, quoted from the source above:
"The fastest and safest way to remove Windows Messenger:
1) Click Start button
2) Click Run
3) Copy and paste this command into the Run dialog
4) RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
5) Reboot and Windows Messenger is removed cleanly"
Something to keep in mind, since we are supposed to be upgrading to XP at work, sometime in the not to distant future
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Sigh... wishing for good "old" VMS
I work on Sun boxes. I have a SPARCStation in my cube and the mid-range I work on is also a Sun running Solaris. Yesterday we took a power hit. Kind of typical durning a big thunderstorm. I was in a meeting at the time.
I get back to my desk and my SPARCStation has come down, so I reboot it. I try to log in, but the password file is hosed, because apparently the file gets corrupted if the machine takes a power hit. So I have to get the admin to come over and fix the box and reset my password. This happens EVERY time we take a power hit.
I then notice that the midrange is hosed as well. "Support is working on it." After about an hour, people start going home. "No use hanging out, I'm supposed to leave in 30 more minutes and it obviously won't be back up by then."
I get on this morning (surely it is ok by now), and find that the box is ok. I start working on it, and then my manager comes in and ircs the group. "Hey... we haven't gotten an OK to get on the box. As far as we know the disks are still syncing. Don't whine if you lose your work or cause the machine to take longer to come back up all the way.", so I get off.
I just CANNOT BELIEVE the state of the Sun/Unix world. (Maybe this is just Sun, maybe it is just Unix, I'm not sure which). Unix has its good points. And Sun has its good points. It just drives me nuts though how people claim that it is so much better than Digital and VMS. It is SO much an inferior "lights out, 24 x 7" platform.
Yes, we should have all this equipment on UPS. And then it wouldn't have happend. But still...
How long ago was the last big San Fransisco earthquake? A good 10 years right? At that time there was mail that went out about the computers. There were IBM machines that were taking days to bring back up. The VMS techs went in, pulled the ceiling tiles and junk off the VAXs, stood them up, plugged them in, and they were up and running.
I had a Vax 2000 in my cube. I NEVER had corrupted files because the machine took a power hit.
It just amazes me what garbage people are willing to put up with, when there has been so much better technology out there for so long. Sigh... marketing hype, PR lies.
Open... Yeah, I just love Open systems. I think I'd rather be working on a closed system where I could actually be more productive and do work, then on an Open system.
</whine> Guess I'll go finish my code reviews on paper, since I can't actually get onto the computer. :-(
I work on Sun boxes. I have a SPARCStation in my cube and the mid-range I work on is also a Sun running Solaris. Yesterday we took a power hit. Kind of typical durning a big thunderstorm. I was in a meeting at the time.
I get back to my desk and my SPARCStation has come down, so I reboot it. I try to log in, but the password file is hosed, because apparently the file gets corrupted if the machine takes a power hit. So I have to get the admin to come over and fix the box and reset my password. This happens EVERY time we take a power hit.
I then notice that the midrange is hosed as well. "Support is working on it." After about an hour, people start going home. "No use hanging out, I'm supposed to leave in 30 more minutes and it obviously won't be back up by then."
I get on this morning (surely it is ok by now), and find that the box is ok. I start working on it, and then my manager comes in and ircs the group. "Hey... we haven't gotten an OK to get on the box. As far as we know the disks are still syncing. Don't whine if you lose your work or cause the machine to take longer to come back up all the way.", so I get off.
I just CANNOT BELIEVE the state of the Sun/Unix world. (Maybe this is just Sun, maybe it is just Unix, I'm not sure which). Unix has its good points. And Sun has its good points. It just drives me nuts though how people claim that it is so much better than Digital and VMS. It is SO much an inferior "lights out, 24 x 7" platform.
Yes, we should have all this equipment on UPS. And then it wouldn't have happend. But still...
How long ago was the last big San Fransisco earthquake? A good 10 years right? At that time there was mail that went out about the computers. There were IBM machines that were taking days to bring back up. The VMS techs went in, pulled the ceiling tiles and junk off the VAXs, stood them up, plugged them in, and they were up and running.
I had a Vax 2000 in my cube. I NEVER had corrupted files because the machine took a power hit.
It just amazes me what garbage people are willing to put up with, when there has been so much better technology out there for so long. Sigh... marketing hype, PR lies.
Open... Yeah, I just love Open systems. I think I'd rather be working on a closed system where I could actually be more productive and do work, then on an Open system.
</whine> Guess I'll go finish my code reviews on paper, since I can't actually get onto the computer. :-(
Monday, August 18, 2003
MathWorld News: There Are No Magic Knight's Tours on the Chessboard
For those that have been pondering the 150 year old question, it has been answered.
For those that have been pondering the 150 year old question, it has been answered.
Sushi
Jaime and I went to Meg's restaruant after Fuel on Saturday. Meg had to work and wasn't at Fuel, so we went to surprise her and have some sushi. We tried their special roll, which had something like 7 different kinds of fish on it. It had octopus and squid... both of which I'm usually not too thrilled with. But they were sliced very thin. Jaime tried the octopus and she REALLY LIKE IT! So I gave it a try and it was pretty good. It had a good flavor, and wasn't too "rubbery" because it was so thin. So then we both tried the squid, which was pretty much how I remember it.
We had a California Roll, Special Roll, Shrimp Tempura Roll and then an Eel & Avacado roll. It was all really good. Jaime likes the rolls better than the other kind, because it is more of a mixture and not so much just rice with a large piece of raw fish on it!
So... I'll have to take her out for sushi more... especially since she is way more adventurous than I would have thought. "Dad... it's just not Tif that likes sushi!" Octopus... who would have thought?
Jaime and I went to Meg's restaruant after Fuel on Saturday. Meg had to work and wasn't at Fuel, so we went to surprise her and have some sushi. We tried their special roll, which had something like 7 different kinds of fish on it. It had octopus and squid... both of which I'm usually not too thrilled with. But they were sliced very thin. Jaime tried the octopus and she REALLY LIKE IT! So I gave it a try and it was pretty good. It had a good flavor, and wasn't too "rubbery" because it was so thin. So then we both tried the squid, which was pretty much how I remember it.
We had a California Roll, Special Roll, Shrimp Tempura Roll and then an Eel & Avacado roll. It was all really good. Jaime likes the rolls better than the other kind, because it is more of a mixture and not so much just rice with a large piece of raw fish on it!
So... I'll have to take her out for sushi more... especially since she is way more adventurous than I would have thought. "Dad... it's just not Tif that likes sushi!" Octopus... who would have thought?
Me on Google
Hey... I wanted to enter a link for "Impact Christian Center", so I typed it into google and posted the link. But then I started looking at what it turned up for links (phone listing and maps, christian directories), and then as I scrolled down I also found an article in Breakaway and a link to one of my sites. :-) I'm famous. ;-)
Wow... followed the breakaway link. Cool stuff. It is the article on Pastor Rick's D*group purity night. That was an awesome night. And there is a copy of the "Eye Convenant" that they wrote downloadable in PDF!
Hey... I wanted to enter a link for "Impact Christian Center", so I typed it into google and posted the link. But then I started looking at what it turned up for links (phone listing and maps, christian directories), and then as I scrolled down I also found an article in Breakaway and a link to one of my sites. :-) I'm famous. ;-)
Wow... followed the breakaway link. Cool stuff. It is the article on Pastor Rick's D*group purity night. That was an awesome night. And there is a copy of the "Eye Convenant" that they wrote downloadable in PDF!
The Good News
Yesterday's sermon by Pastor Joe was really good. Well they are pretty much always "really good." The main vision of Impact Christian Center is to spread the gospel, or "good news". To much of the church, and the world, the Christian message is not "good news". It is pretty much bad news. God is a mad god. God is bringing His judgement down on the world. Nothing is further from the truth!
God is a good god and He loves us. In fact He loves us so much, He sent his only son to die for us!
Anyway... I'm not going to preach much. He's on the radio, check it out, or come to church, or get a tape.
So my point was on yesterday's sermon. The main point was "Are you in the right church" and "Does it matter." Yes it does. You have to be in a church that God has called you to, if you are going to serve it what He has called you to do. Part of that was reaching the lost and letting them know how much God loves them. Seems like pretty simple stuff... In one way it is, and in another it isn't. Yeah, it is pretty simple to tell people that God loves them... But the point is, not many people know that. As Pastor Joe was speaking about that, I was thinking how right on he is.
I think that was one of the biggest messages we took to Costa Rica on our mission trip this year. Not only did we bring a message of salvation, but we brought a message of hope. Costa Rica is a largely Christian country. They are a churched country... I'd say more so that the US. But they have a lot of people that do not have a personal relationship with God. That have walked away from the church. That believe that God is mad at them for something they have done. Letting them know that God loves them brought them so much hope and joy. And it brought them into a personal relationship with Jesus and plugged them into the local church. And that is what it is all about. Letting people know that God loves them, so they can get into relationship with him, and grow. Its not just about getting to Heaven. Its also very much about how you live your life here on earth... Not in a "good vs bad" way... but in a "life vs death" way... the ability to walk in the healing, prosperity and power that He desires for each of His children.
Its good to be in a church you are called to, doing His work.
Yesterday's sermon by Pastor Joe was really good. Well they are pretty much always "really good." The main vision of Impact Christian Center is to spread the gospel, or "good news". To much of the church, and the world, the Christian message is not "good news". It is pretty much bad news. God is a mad god. God is bringing His judgement down on the world. Nothing is further from the truth!
God is a good god and He loves us. In fact He loves us so much, He sent his only son to die for us!
Anyway... I'm not going to preach much. He's on the radio, check it out, or come to church, or get a tape.
So my point was on yesterday's sermon. The main point was "Are you in the right church" and "Does it matter." Yes it does. You have to be in a church that God has called you to, if you are going to serve it what He has called you to do. Part of that was reaching the lost and letting them know how much God loves them. Seems like pretty simple stuff... In one way it is, and in another it isn't. Yeah, it is pretty simple to tell people that God loves them... But the point is, not many people know that. As Pastor Joe was speaking about that, I was thinking how right on he is.
I think that was one of the biggest messages we took to Costa Rica on our mission trip this year. Not only did we bring a message of salvation, but we brought a message of hope. Costa Rica is a largely Christian country. They are a churched country... I'd say more so that the US. But they have a lot of people that do not have a personal relationship with God. That have walked away from the church. That believe that God is mad at them for something they have done. Letting them know that God loves them brought them so much hope and joy. And it brought them into a personal relationship with Jesus and plugged them into the local church. And that is what it is all about. Letting people know that God loves them, so they can get into relationship with him, and grow. Its not just about getting to Heaven. Its also very much about how you live your life here on earth... Not in a "good vs bad" way... but in a "life vs death" way... the ability to walk in the healing, prosperity and power that He desires for each of His children.
Its good to be in a church you are called to, doing His work.
Google calculator
Now Google has added a calculator. But it isn't just a normal math calculator, it also does conversions. You can use it just like a normal Google query. "1 smoot in feet", (I don't even know what a smoot is...) or "1 cubit in feet". I had a rough idea how long a cubit was. Google says it is 1.5 feet. So, just in case you have a bible that doesn't list Noah's Ark in feet, but still lists it in cubits, you'd now be able to calculate that it was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. :-)
But in addition to doing calculations of things you may not use everyday (like cubits and smoots), it also does normal type conversion and mathematical calculations:
Now Google has added a calculator. But it isn't just a normal math calculator, it also does conversions. You can use it just like a normal Google query. "1 smoot in feet", (I don't even know what a smoot is...) or "1 cubit in feet". I had a rough idea how long a cubit was. Google says it is 1.5 feet. So, just in case you have a bible that doesn't list Noah's Ark in feet, but still lists it in cubits, you'd now be able to calculate that it was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. :-)
But in addition to doing calculations of things you may not use everyday (like cubits and smoots), it also does normal type conversion and mathematical calculations:
To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the expression you'd like evaluated in the search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button. The calculator can evaluate mathematical expressions involving basic arithmetic (5+2*2 or 2^20), more complicated math (sine(30 degrees) or e^(i pi)+1), units of measure and conversions (100 miles in kilometers or 160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories), and physical constants (1 a.u./c or G*mass of earth/radius of earth^2). You can also experiment with other numbering systems, including hexadecimal and binary.
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