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!!!!
Process Chart
Investing in Yourself - part 1
It's probably little late to be talking about New Years resolutions but one of the ones that I decided to do this year was to make a series of investments in myself this year.
It's too easy to get stuck in the monotony of merely making a living and miss out on the opportunities that make a life. If I recall correctly - i think the book "7 habits of highly effective people" people referred to it as focusing on the urgent and not the important. So I've looked over my life and found some areas that I felt needed improvement and am spending money to improve those areas:
To improve my inner person - I'm working through these two books:
Taming Your Gremlin (Revised Edition): A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way
To improve my outer person:
Joined a gym (as most americans do every January) but to help seal the deal I've recently purchased a large block of sessions with a personal trainer over the next few months. While this may be expensive in the short term, I believe that the long term benefits of improving my health will be well worth it.
I've also added a little accountability by posting my weekly weight loss results in an online community that I participate in with others.
To improve myself as a Web Developer:
One area that I've always felt a bit weak in was in coding Javascript. Sure I can use many of the existing tools and frameworks out there to hide my weakness, and never felt shy about hacking away on some existing javascript code. But writing an advanced animation or interface feature from scratch has always felt just outside of my comfort level. Fortunately there's been a glut of new Javascript books hitting the market that seem pretty damn good - so I've purchased them and have been working my way through them a little each night. Here's the books I'm working through (for anyone interested):
The Art & Science of JavaScript
Head First JavaScript (Head First)
Well that's enough for this post. I have more to write but it's best if I wait to give those when I have more time and also I can give regular updates on my progress along the way. Besides - another one of my goals is to get back in the habit of regular posting, and I think avoiding the need to do huge monolithic posts will help with that.
Interviewed
Last week I got to do something new by being interviewed about the new book on the Dr. Dobbs Journal podcast. I was fairly nervous and so was worried about how it came out.
Well that interview was posted on their website today and you can check it out yourself at http://ddj.com/linux-open-source/204600757
We talked about the book, how I came to be a Rails developer and the near imminent Rails 2.0.
