Hello Old Friends
I Hope this post finds everyone still doing well. I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything meaningful up here and so thought I'd give you all a quick update for what's going on.
The new book is coming along and I should be done with all writing soon, focusing purely on some revisions and copy edits. While my own critical eye looks over the pages that have been written and sees mainly the rough edges - I do have to admit that there are some chapters and sections of the book that I am particularly proud of. I'm convinced I will write again as it is something that I truly enjoy - however I do believe that this will be the last book that I agree to create upon someone else's terms and deadlines. So perhaps I'll simply write the next book myself and then shop the completed manuscript around to a few publishers or perhaps I'll explore some simple self-publishing options. Not sure which way I'll go yet, but I do believe that the completed product would be better if I simply wasn't under as many time-constraints and that's a frustrating feeling.
In work, I recently gave my notice to Perot Systems and will be leaving my contract at the National Weather Service next week. I'm leaving to join a startup company working to revolutionize the coupon industry. Leaving a very secure job for a startup can be a little unsettling (especially in these uncertain economic times) - however I felt that this particular startup has both a really great work environment and a unique and compelling solution. But most importantly, I felt that this particular opportunity would offer me a chance to stretch and grow out of some comfort zones that I've picked up as a developer. So at the very least, I should become a better developer out of the experience.
As for this blog, now that the book is nearing complete - it'll be time to re-launch this blog. I've already made a deposit with a fantastic graphic designer who I'm working with on the design for the re-branding / re-launch of this blog. When the blog re-launches - it'll be under a new domain name (don't worry - I'll announce it here and set up a forward), as well as it will undergo some content shifts. While there will be a section on the blog for my personal posts and updates that I've mainly been putting up here - the emphasis of the new blog will be more on some original content. I'll be writing more informational and editorial level stuff on the new blog - providing tips and tricks for web development and sharing insights and thoughts I have about work, business and career management. It should be a much more entertaining and informative ride for both of us.
I'm Voting Republican
Loved this
align=center
Sometimes it's the simple things that escape our attention. I actually spent my day today converting someone else's PHP templates into Rails views. Everything was going pretty smooth except that there was the occasional element in the new template that didn't line up with the others and just looked odd.
I didn't think too much of it at first because the CSS styles that came with the template were using Float's like they were candy pouring out of a freshly crushed pinata. However as the day progressed and I removed (read fixed) more and more of the CSS styles without seeing those elements pop into place - I began to be a little perplexed.
Ten minutes later I realize that dingle-dorfs have also been shoving inline styles randomly into the some of the areas of the template I wasn't paying attention to in my haste to convert all 35 of them. One project wide find and replace all "align=center" with "" and suddenly my pages snapped back into place.
I swear somedays looking at other peoples code makes me want to rip my own eyeballs out.
Blatant Stealing
So most people know that I'm a big fan of the Peepcode screencasts for Ruby and Ruby on Rails related subjects. I think Geoffrey has done a great job of building and marketing a solution that meets the needs of quite a lot of people.
Perhaps it's that admiration that makes someone stealing his ideas so offensive to me.
Here's a screenshot of the current Peepcode screencasts website
Now compare that to this new Oracle Screencasts website
It's actually worse than the images even highlight because the Oracle Tube layout is an exact copy (minus a few color changes). Even all the text on the page is stolen almost verbatim.
Compare
With:
Hell even look at their quotes:
What a bunch of tools!!!!
Code Quality
Process Chart
Blog Re-write Survey
Truth be told - I've never been 100% happy with this blog. It does the job but there are quite a few areas that it could be improved and expanded upon.
I've got a few ideas - such as switching the domain name to something else. Back when I bought the geekward.com domain name, "geek" was still sort of a cool word to use to describe yourself. But thanks to a million and one lame ass technical assistance companies such as Best Buys GeekSquad - the coolness factor has definitely disappeared. I've got a few other domain names that might work such as one I bought named simplif.es that could also be used to bring a little more focus to what I'm writing about. Just not sure if I should use it for a blog or save that for something a little more special.
But of course since I don't currently allow comments on the blog - I'm at a small loss for obtaining feedback on what others think about my ideas.
As a result - I'm trying out some web service named polldaddy to do a quick survey of any faithful readers I still have after my long hiatus from posting here for you to give your thoughts and opinions to me before I begin any work on re-writing and potentially relaunching my blog.
So if you don't mind taking a few seconds out of your day - please click the link below and share your thoughts with me
