Oh, Fidel!

Posted on March 29, 2007 | Filed Under Work

So, what should you do when you work with a Fidel?

That’s his code name because I’ve come to realize he has his own dictatorship. In the short time on my current team (and company), I’ve come to realize that he essentially has his own fiefdom. I suppose due to the ever-changing managers and personnel of our team Fidel has carved out his niche as the go-to guy in many respects. If that were his only trait, maybe his nickname would be Ghandi, Pope, or Carter (Jimmy).

Instead, though, Fidel has exploited his knowledge, and asserts his power needlessly. If someone comes up with an idea that Fidel didn’t already first consider then it can’t be a good idea. If something happens that Fidel doesn’t consider important, then it isn’t important. And if you do need info from Fidel’s infinite wisdom one must be patient–for Fidel is a busy dictator with little time for his plebes.

And today I apparently angered Fidel by placing this image from this website on our team’s wiki. We are a user-support team, and I thought everyone could appreciate it and find the humor in it. However, Fidel didn’t like this because I had usurped his power over the wiki.

Of course, Fidel didn’t order me shot, maimed, or even a corporate scolding. Instead he hid behind the facade of “management might not like it. ” Come on, Fidel! If you’re going to be a humorless ass at least have the gumption to be honest about it….or attempt an execution. :)

P.S. I did notice that I wasn’t consistent with historical social terms of plebes, dictator, and fiefdom.

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SD West 2007

Posted on March 24, 2007 | Filed Under Programming

Wow, an entire week in Santa Clara, CA attending geek programming tutorials and classes. Overall, it seems like SoA, AoP, and TDD are the big, recurring themes. SoA seems like something that’s getting way too much publicity for a concept that, to me, doesn’t seem new. AoP is very neat, but also feels like something that could get someone in very hot water very quickly if done improperly–I guess that could be said about a lot of things. And TDD has been around for a while, and I assumed it was something everyone already knew how to do.

Here’s the chronological list of everything I attended:

  • Introduction to Developing Web services with Apache/Axis2 Java
  • Patterns of Refactoring
  • Keynote: Software Development at Microsoft: An Inside Look At Building Visual Studio 2005
  • Building an ASP.NET Application from Beginning to End
  • Keynote: Craftsmanship and the Problem of Productivity: Secrets for Going Fast Without Making a Mess
  • In the MOOD: Modern Object-Oriented Design in C++
  • Effective Java Reloaded - This Time it’s for Real
  • Forgotten Algorithms II
  • Clean Code
  • Programming Windows Communication Foundation a Developer’s Primer
  • Keynote: Why Software Sucks
  • Ruby and .NET: Together at Last
  • .NET Unit Testing
  • ASP.NET AJAX
  • The Hacker’s Goldmine
  • Aspect-Oriented Programming in Ruby

I’ve bolded the classes that I thought were really informative. I’m mildly disturbed that I have an infatuation with many of the Microsoft tools. They look so much more polished and complete compared to what the open source world offers. I love the OSS world, but there’s just some things that Microsoft does better.

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Old Dogs, New Tricks

Posted on March 23, 2007 | Filed Under Work, Programming

So after attending a conference with three co-workers, two of whom each have more experience in the industry than I have in years on earth, I’ve become highly concerned about what I’ll be like in 20-30 years. From everything I gathered from these old dogs, many of the “new” concepts, programming languages, and techniques aren’t new at all. They were doing these things in FORTRAN, RPG, Assembly, and C many, many moons ago.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the historical perspective. These two “old dogs” are very intelligent, very nice, and incredible guys to talk to and “hang” with–to use today’s vernacular. However, being able to accept and embrace useful new concepts is critical. According to these two, Ruby is “a toy language” that’s “too slow” and “doesn’t do anything new.” Oh, and C++ is too complicated and has weird syntax, and Microsoft’s WCF (Windows Communication Framework) is copying ideas that have been around for years.

Yes, many of those things may be true on the surface, but those are red herrings. Without taking the benefits of these not-so-new concepts and tools into account you can essentially dismiss any new technology. And to quote a former co-worker, “It’s all input-process-output.” If we all succumb to this frame of thought, then we might as well ditch all technology and go back to sticks, rocks, and sand.

I’ve decided that if I fall into this static pit of professional growth then I should be taken out back and shot. Or maybe I could move into a management role. Hmm..no, I think I’d rather be shot. :-)

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Daylight “Savings” Time

Posted on March 12, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized

Given all the recent hubbub surrounding the modification of DST lately I became curious about the origins and the driving reason why it was lengthened. Well, it turns out farming has little, if anything, to do with it. See Wikipedia.

I find this snippet here rather ironic (not the Alanis Morissette variety):

Golf courses, convenience stores, and other businesses benefit from extra afternoon sunlight. In the mid-1980s Clorox (parent of Kingsford Charcoal) and 7-Eleven, which both benefit from DST, provided the primary funding for the Daylight Saving Time Coalition that successfully lobbied to extend U.S. DST, and both Idaho senators voted to extend DST on the basis of fast-food restaurants selling more French fries made from Idaho potatoes.

DST can adversely affect farmers and others whose hours are set by the sun. For example, grain harvesting is best done after dew evaporates, so when field hands arrive and leave earlier in summer their labor is less valuable.

So the common excuse of we’re doing this for the farmers is complete bull feces. It’s all about capitalism. Shocker!! What I wonder is if these various companies considered the amount of time and money IT staffs had to go through this year to make the change. I have a co-worker who’s spent nearly the entire last month working on installing software patches just for the lengthened DST.

Personally I think we should just shift the hours permanently and save all that daylight year round. Just think, if we’re saving daylight in the summer why shouldn’t we save it during the winter when it’s in lower quantities/higher demand!!

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Hello, Internets

Posted on March 11, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized

Well, I’ve finally updated my website for the first time in a looong while. This is the first time it’s actually looked presentable since I’ve had it, and maybe that’s because I decided to use software that someone else created.  It finally came to that since friends keep migrating to MySpace (ugh), and I have to “keep up with the Joneses”.

BTW, who are the Joneses? And why do we all have to keep up with them? They must be really smart. Or really fast since we can’t seem to catch them.

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