Oct
31
Filed Under life | 1 Comment
Thats really all there is to say about that. They stole my TV, xbox 360, laptop, etc. over $11k in property was stolen yesterday IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY, between 9AM and 6PM. Heres the story of the worst luck ever:
I had locked my keys in my apartment before I went to work, and had called my girlfriend to see if she could let me in later after work. Since I had locked the door and my keys were stuck inside, I figured there was nothing more that could be done. It appears that the robbers credit card’d my door. My neighbor showed me how easy it was to do, took them 2 seconds to do it to themselves (they ironically locked themselves out). Not only was I hit, but two girls below me also were broken into and had their laptops stolen and other things as well.
Say goodbye to my faith in humanity. It feels EXTREMELY demeaning to not only have your entire apartment ransacked, but to have every one of your pant pockets be pulled out, looking for dollars.
Scum.
This marks the 4th bad holloween I’ve had, consecutively.
Oct
27
Meet my new kitty, Oliver. I just adopted him today…he is a very cute little guy. I have a photoset of him as he came home here. He strolled out of his little box and is right at home. :)
Oct
17
Credibility is an interesting phrase to throw out in the world of web applications or web technologies. I had been contemplating this word a lot lately, and thought I’d share with you guys an excerpt of something that I’ve been writing as of late:
…Often times, I’ve found perception to be a key to the success of web applications. Initial impressions are so important, we need to wow users, not necessarily with fantastic user interfaces, but with a solid, purposeful we application. Take for instance StumbleUpon, its key to success is its accuracy. I find it amusing that its hard to establish yourself as a credible, respected web application (due to the saturation of “web 2.0″-esque applications), yet its easy to lose your credibility rather easily.
This is an interesting theory, I think we can easily connect these dots to similar technologies. I am tempted to discuss the parallels I outlined between ColdFusion and Ruby on Rails, previously. I’ve spoken with friends about this specific analogy and one thing I’ve always agreed with was “ColdFusion would be one of the bigger web languages if had come out about 4 years ago, rather than 10 years ago.” I think thats totally true! Most of the misconceptions associated with CF are based upon wildly inaccurate statements that may or may not have been true 7 or 8 years ago. I’ve stated this before, but I have to say it again, I feel like developers using ColdFusion for the last 3 years are most likely much different developers than the developers who have been using it for the last 6 or 8 years. The technical needs have changed vastly since ColdFusion’s inception, yet some argue ColdFusion’s approach to the changes has not.
An even more prevalent example is the rise and fall or script.aculo.us. As of late, script.aculo.us has lost massive developer-share to its rival framework, JQuery. But why? Its become better at the game that script.aculo.us started. Its smaller, faster, and provides better solutions to developers who need javascript functionality.
An interesting “control” to my theory is the Twitter vs. Pownce trend. Pownce was a much, much better offering that Twitter, (in my humble opinion) yet, Twitter seems to maintain its strength as the most popular of the two. But why? Who knows…Maybe its the existence of a powerful service API (in Twitter), or the lack of public availability on Pownce’s end? Its really hard to tell.
Either way, I feel like perception is a key to success on todays internet; Maybe my apps just need to “feel” right? I long for that warm/tingly feeling when I use my apps. Perhaps its peoples need to personally identify themselves based upon things they are using, is Pownce more or less “hip” than Twitter? Honestly, I approach most of my application choices based upon utility, but if I am faced with two equally matched applications, I will probably pick the “sexier” one. Although, at the end of the day, its all ones and zeros, right?
Oct
17
Something I’ve been observing lately is the acceptance of complacency. Its disturbing. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’ve been sitting in wordpress for the past twenty minutes trying to start this entry, and thats the best way I can describe it, disturbing. As of late, I have been working on a few projects as a contractor where I have sat right in the middle of some of the most mind numbingly bureaucratic-esque situations I think I have ever been placed in. But at the end of the day, everyone around me can verify that this is “what enterprise is like”. So, in the spirit of being “enterprise” I am required to setup more than 5 meetings about the same exact topic…5 days in advance? I have to have meetings about meetings? I have to write 107 page documents about documents that are going to be written? I have to go over every nuance of a topic before we can even touch code?
This is what enterprise is like? Thanks, but no thanks. Really, I feel like my problem is more with the specific development methodologies that lots of enterprises tend to lean towards, but whats more interesting to me is a two fold observation:
1. Enterprises often times aren’t familiar with the exact terminologies or rules about a specific development methodology that they are employing. Often times, I run into the waterfall methodology, and yet, even more often times, these companies don’t realize they are implementing this design methodology. More on this later.
2. Its interesting how the people around these “500 lbs. gorillas” don’t seem to question the methodologies and begin to get the impression that if they aren’t employing the same techniques, they aren’t “enterprise savvy”. This is stupid and easily classified as “group-think” mentality which is a dangerous road to go down. More on this later.
So lets address the waterfalls. Its an interesting phenomena, perhaps its a human instinct to understand *absolutely everything* around them before embarking on producing something. I suppose thats a decent point to make, its very uncommon for Hollywood to begin production of a movie with only a third of the script or storyboard drawn out, yes? Architects don’t architect buildings without understanding every floor to a T, yes? People done bake a cake without making sure they’ve got all the recipes on hand, yes? I feel that iterative, continuous development is a luxury that software developers are given; It comes with the territory, I have a backspace and dry erase markers for a reason. Nothing has to *ever* be set in stone. But once my cake is baked, I have to eat it.
Although, upon further consideration, its never bad to take a 10,000 ft. view of your project, I think the dangers arise when people stay in the clouds for too long; lack of oxygen?
But what about the “group-think” syndrome? I think this is by far the most caustic issue facing small code shops. “We need gantt charts of everything we are doing!! Okay, lets use Microsoft Project! so that they will think we are hella professional.” Whats wrong with excel? Does excel make you less “hella professional?” I think the acceptance of the bureaucracy in small, agile-capable companies is what makes them fail; but the initial theory most likely computes to make sense, “well, they do this, and they are big, so we should too!” I’m not going to bring anything up about any sort of bridge jumping because your friend did, but you get what I’m saying.
So, with all that said, here’s to being a bit more agile in my everyday life :)
