"Murphy was an optimist!"
Do programmers dream of black and white sheep? July 19, 2009 10:01 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeI dreamed in code last night. I’ll spend today writing my dreams down.
add a commentAdvantages of working from home with tech savvy children July 17, 2009 2:26 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Programming, TechnologyWith a computer for each child, I have lots of test platforms!
add a commentOf Grasshoppers July 17, 2009 11:03 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Grasshoppers, PhilosophyStudent: We rarely talk when I am happy.
Master: We talk far too often.
Doug’s Mantras July 17, 2009 9:59 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Doug's Mantras, Philosophyadd a commentQuit thinking about how impossible the task is and just do it!
Boy Scout Camp Ends Early July 16, 2009 11:51 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, Noah, Of Being Dad, Of Interest, ScoutsTwo of the scouts in our troop fell ill. In swine-flu paranoia, our troop was quarantined and are being sent home early. Instead of taking the two sick children to the local hospital for confirmation of the nature of the illness, the camp isolated them in the health lodge and confirmed our scouts to their camp. I do not know if today’s activities were canceled. I suspect that Noah only gets 1 out of 3 days actually riding a horse, an activity he paid extra for participation. I feel Noah was cheated. Not over the horse but for potentially losing all of today’s activities, for being separated from the rest of the camp unable to dine in the mess hall or participate in the week’s ending ceremonies, for losing all of tomorrow’s activities, and for losing Saturday’s morning. I understand risk management. I understand the need to prevent a flu outbreak. I also understand the importance of living our lives in a non-reactionary, logical way. My initial feelings are this was handled wrongly. I’ll learn more tomorrow.
There is reason for the paranoia. The WHO has declared that the H1N1 virus is "unstoppable" and that every country needs to vaccinate its citizens against the swine flu. Interestingly enough, the WHO is no longer counting individual cases. Anyone need a mask
Update 17 July 2009: The quarantine has been lifted. The temperatures on the two sick children came down which is not typical of h1n1. Those boys went home last night and this morning no one else showed any symptoms. Good call CDB!
3commentsWe’ve been raided! July 16, 2009 1:08 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, FamilyThe adults are severely outnumbered today!
And on an adult note, Cathy and I had the unique pleasure to hang out socially, with no children, for several hours last night with excellent company while indulging in great Mexican food, fantastic wine, a wonderful view of the lake, in a secluded part of Knoxville.
2commentsGremlins! July 16, 2009 9:01 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeToday is technically frustrating.
add a commentAnd the day began at 3:30, 4:30, 6:30 and 7:30 July 15, 2009 10:17 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeI quit programming and went to bed at about 1am. Read until 2am. Slept and was awoken at 3:30, 4:30, 6:30 and rose at 7:30. Now that’s some quality sleeping!
add a commentMy yard: The sounds of nature July 14, 2009 11:27 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeI love sitting on my porch and just listening. This was from a week ago but tonight is equally as awesome. I’m not sure the recording does this justice. The sound outside is incredible, almost deafening. I find it extremely pleasant. It is also all around. Imagine no matter which way you turn or look this sound is in front of you, behind you, above you, and to your sides. Close your eyes and enjoy or turn on the visualizer in iTunes, Winamp, or Windows Media Player.
[audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/yardnoises.mp3] add a commentSafeplace July 14, 2009 4:20 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, Of Being DadAn upset friend of one of the teenagers landed on our doorstep. It makes me happy to know that they feel comfortable enough to come here.
1 comment so farLearn or become irrelevant July 14, 2009 1:10 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Programming, TechnologyI can’t seem to remember much of yesterday. I know it was stressful. I know I was looking at code until my eyes blurred. Then I broke for some continued professional development (CPD). What is CPD? CPD is the training and education you receive while at work. It could be night school, seminars, or online learning. As a programmer, my industry changes and moves so quickly that I must constantly educate myself else risk becoming irrelevant. Here’s some CPD I received while working at The Learning Company eons ago:
- First Things First Time Management Seminar by Covey Leadership Seminars
- Systems Testing & Quality Assurance Tech Seminar by Advanced Information Technologies
- Software Project Management by Educational Services Institute in association with The George Washington University
- Basic Supervision by Keye Productivity Center a Division of American Management Association
- E3s QA Day – An all day QA Conference and open forum with influential persons and trend setters from the gaming industry’s quality assurance field (sponsored by Advanced Quality)
- How to Develop and Administer a Budget by Fred Pryor Seminars
- Bondware training by Nashville-based EdgeNet
I met Sid Meier at E3’s QA Day. That was very cool!
I once helped a client improve a website that tracked their client’s continued professional development. The idea behind the site was to make sure that the user didn’t cheat the system by turning on the lesson then walking away to watch television. It was quite a challenge! It also inspired me to make sure that I was continually developing my own skills.
Continued professional development can be returning to your roots and reviewing the basics. For instance, when I teach someone to juggle, after getting them to juggle three balls, I often have them return to only practicing with one ball. This gives the the opportunity to relearn with a better understanding of the end goal and helps break bad habits formed while trying to learn the concept of the end goal. It’s amazing what habits and prejudices we form and accept as rule when in fact those premises are wrong. For instance, I’ve been working with ColdFusion since version 2 became version 3. Adobe has just released the ColdFusion 9 beta. There are plenty of habits from CF3 and CF4.5 revolving around best practices and crossbrowser compatibility that no longer apply to current versions of ColdFusion. For instance, I still twitch at the suggestion of using CFGrid even though I shouldn’t. I’ve been working with PHP for a very long time. My habit had been to declare public methods for classes with var until I took some time to re-read some documentation on classes and learned that var had been deprecated for public. Breaking habits is only one aspect of continued professional development. New technologies, better techniques, improved optimizations form all the time. We must set aside time to learn otherwise the experience we have gained over the years will be declared irrelevant due to the lack of inclusion of the latest buzzword.
add a commentThe cat won’t be missed July 14, 2009 12:56 pm
Posted by utterz in : Daily Life, PodcastingMobile post sent by djuggler using Utterli. Replies. mp3
Today’s present: a blue bird and a mole.
add a commentWoman Shot in the John July 14, 2009 10:22 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Touchy SubjectsTN has been having these debates over guns in parks and guns in restaurants but have failed to focus on the true issues at hand…should guns be allowed in the toilet?! One woman was dropping a bomb when the woman with concealed carry permit next to her dropped her gun. Of course, the bombardier got shot.
Disclaimer: Before anyone goes nuts about cc or dangers or freedoms in the comments, and please do feel free to rant, you must know this post had nothing to do with my personal views on guns and everything to do with getting to type the words "dropping a bomb" and "dropped her gun."
2commentsA Tale of Our Times July 13, 2009 11:11 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy SubjectsEveryday I read something online that is telling either directly or subtly of our economic times.
The tow truck is now on its way to my friend Wayne’s garage to be fixed. Please pray for me that the repair costs will be affordable!Thanks! [Source, Twitter, isacarybell]
Over the years, I have desired to intimately write about our financial victories and our financial struggles but could never figure out how to do so without sounding like a braggart or a beggar. I simply could never be as intimate nor poignant as DeMarCaTionVille in the post Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me. Read the whole thing!
Over the past six months, my daughter nearly died. I lost my job…the hubby was laid off…during the same week Diva’s thoracic surgeon mailed out his bill….also lost two relatives…merging households with my mother-in-law…the KKK [Source, DemarCaTionVille, Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me]
Btw, to DeMarCaTionVille, thanks for the Hee Haw flashback!
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