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Thursday, April 02, 2009

wireless-g card deal

Just picked up a wireless-g USB key, Trendnet TEW-424UB. These cards are on special at Microcenter for ~$10 right now.

Many of the forums I visited didn't offer any info on the driver for Mac OS-X... I found it here: http://www.trendnet.com/downloads/list_subcategory.asp?SUBTYPE_ID=1155

I tried to reply on the forums, but unfortunately, they're "archived" and replies aren't allowed. (?!)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

grails is groovy

Last Wednesday, I attended the Cleveland JUG meeting which featured a presentation on Groovy and Grails by Christopher Judd of Judd Solutions. The presentation was timely for me, as I was recently lamenting the overhead in creating a simple application in Java. I've long felt that the development cycle was far more cumbersome than it needed to be. When he suggested that this overhead takes time away from exploring new technologies, I could definitely relate.

Groovy is a dynamic scripting language for the Java platform. It is compiled to JVM bytecode which means it runs in standard Java containers and integrates seamlessly with existing Java code and libraries. The language also contains features inspired by Python, Ruby, Perl and Smalltalk. Grails is a webapp framework which supports Groovy, leverages desired open-source Java technologies (Hibernate, Spring, etc.), and places an emphasis on convention over configuration.

It was really impressive to see how fast one can create a basic app using Grails. My former CTO Gary Baney suggested this would be a great tool to create a quick "proof of concept" application, something that doesn't often come easy in Java. I'm curious as to how Grails will hold up to refactoring and debugging. I was pleased to find an Eclipse plug-in for Grails, and already have a few projects in mind. I'll write more as I learn more...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

get your smithwicks off my guinness

Thank you to all of my friends and family for wishing me a happy birthday yesterday. I was floored by how many messages I received. This year, my brother Scott and I took the Rapid downtown and back. It was so packed going in, that they were turning away passengers at later stops. The great weather brought a huge crowd. I was on a stout kick this year, and so much Guinness drinking ensued.

Continuing on the theme of beer... I went to the Linked Cleveland event at Rock Bottom Brewery a few weeks back. Just before the end of happy hour, I went to order a pizza. The bartender in charge said it was too close to the end of happy hour. Huh...? Nice service, folks. Instead, we packed it up and went to Great Lakes for real beer, and an amazing dinner (the Pretzel Chicken is fantastic).

What kind of beer does Petey drink?

Why, Pete's Wicked Ale of course!

Here's the proof:

bigger blue?

BusinessWeek.com - Why IBM Wants Sun

ZDNet - IBM's potential purchase of Sun: Here's why it makes sense (see also the counterpoint)

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

intro to vista

Last night I saw Windows Vista for the first time. It was on a friend's laptop who is new to PCs in general. A couple of us were trying to walk him thru some basics including using MS Word, and navigating the file system. One consistent problem I noticed with Vista, is that the UI seems designed for the newbie and the experienced user at the same time, but is ultimately confusing to both.

Imagine you're a newbie looking for Word... There's a new "doc" at the top that looks vaguely Unix/OS-X--like, but doesn't contain Word (Update: This is apparently the Dell Dock). The "start bar" contains a menu featuring the selection "New Document". That's not real intuitive. If you scroll up the giant menu, you can eventually find MS Word, but this is highly unintuitive. We tried navigating the "programs" menu, but it still contains that horrible feature known as "personalized menus" and of course excluded Word in the process. Finally, using "New Document" we created and saved a sample Word document.

We tried to show him how to add headers and footers. Headers and Footers existed underneath two different menus. Each provided two completely different types of functionality. Fortunately, one of them was what we wanted.

Our friend ultimately wanted to copy his Word document to a USB flash drive. Figuring we should view the file system, we opened a Windows Vista Explorer window. The selections on the left displayed a list known as "Favorite Links" which seems roughly analogous to OS-X's "Places" on Finder. We quickly found the existence of our new Word document under "Documents". After attaching the USB flash drive, it was time to navigate to it. However, it did not appear under "Favorite Links." In fact, Favorite Links doesn't seem to match any actual hierarchy on the file system. It appears to be a list of shortcuts to common places you may use... But shouldn't a newly attached flash drive be among them?

So, how do we navigate to the flash drive? How does one view actual folders on the Vista file system in explorer? If you click the on the "Folders" arrow at the bottom of the list, it displays actual folders within a mammoth scroll bar, stunted so you can still access "Favorite Links". The list is a difficult to read, and includes most of the same directories as "Favorite Links" (Music, Pictures, etc...) which is confusing and redundant. Finally, if you scroll down, you can locate the drives by letter, including the flash drive which was mounted to drive F.

Eventually, we showed him how to copy the file over to the flash drive. After that, he started to remove the device, but we stopped him and explained that the drive needs to be removed "safely". Now if you right-click on the device icon, it gives you several options, including to safely remove the device, or eject (!?). We chose to 'safely remove the device' after which, Vista complained that 'the device is still in use', despite the fact that all applications were closed. Confused? We were. But I'm certainly no longer confused as to Vista's slow adaption rate.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

hibernation 2: hail-mary roadtrip to ny over nye

I took a quickly planned road-trip over the new year. Managed to get in a bit of skiing, a concert, visiting with friends, and some much needed time in NYC. Here's a short recap...

Tuesday 12/30: Drove the NY thruway (I-90) to the Catskills. Grabbed dinner at the Yacht Club restaurant in Tannersville. Stayed at a small hotel called High Peak in Haines Falls.

Wednesday 12/31: Got up early and skied at Hunter Mountain. The new powder was awesome, but it was still snowing and clouded over which made it difficult to see. Drove to Connecticut mid-afternoon. Arrived at Debra's and met her friend Tammy. The three of us headed to Mohegan Sun to catch Hall & Oates... Great show, including many mid-70s obscurities. Ended earlier than expected. Headed back to New Haven. Brought in the new year at a place called The Playwright.

Thursday 01/01: Had brunch at The Greek Olive with Debra. Drove to NYC. Crazy bright sunlight made it difficult to see at times. Took wrong exit and ended up on bridge to Manhattan. Made a u-turn and got back on track. Visited with Patrick and Genevieve and their new addition Benjamin. He likes people. Caught up over a cool glass of rum. Tempted by Indian food, but held out for later plans. Headed to Steve's where I'd be staying the next few nights. The directions had me taking an exit that no longer existed! Drove around a bit, but finally got back on track with the aide of maps. Couldn't find any parking and ended up in a pay lot. We met Rick at the famous Lombardi's Pizzeria. There was a wait, so we grabbed a beer down the street before returning to eat. We ordered one with extra sauce much to my delight. After devouring two pizzas between us, we headed to another bar where they apparently shot some scenes for the Sopranos. That was our final stop for the evening.

Friday 01/02: I got up late as I wasn't feeling so well... Coming down with a cold. Finally, I got myself medicated and in gear. Steve and I headed in to Manhattan. Grabbed lunch at Heartland Chophouse on 43rd. Checked out the observation deck at Rockefeller Center... Great view. Visited the Apple store to geek out for a bit. Grabbed some wine for a party later on. Had a few beers at The Ginger Man... Excellent selection. Then we headed to a New Year's Fondue Party at Steve's friend Tom's, just up the street. He is headed back to Japan for an assignment in a few days. The party was excellent, and the view from the balcony was an amazing extensive grid of buildings.

Saturday 01/03: Got up late again, and finally headed out around 2pm for the drive back. The weather and traffic were both good, so it was an easy trip.

hibernation?

No... I didn't really let my blog lapse for over two months... Did I? Oops.

Well, there's been a lot going on. There's been Shirley's knee surgery, followed by a second surgery because her bones were too soft for the partial. There's been the on-going saga of my sister and the courts and the lawyer I hired. And of course, there's been the job hunt. Most of these have been fruitful so far, but I'm still a little nervous about Shirley's knee. I hauled her around to appointments on several occasions. We had good time, and she was glad to get out of the rehab center.

I've been on a cooking kick, and have found that I have a good knack for both veggie and turkey chili, and baking off chicken in some creative marinades. Music has been on the back shelf, but I do have many ideas brewing. The snow has been something else this year, so I've been skiing plenty.

I do also keep a livejournal, but it's mostly mundane or personal stuff. However, there are a few posts I thought would be worth sharing in a more public place (yep, you're looking at it). So, here's December:

Bygones (2008-12-13)
I went to a funeral today. In this act, I broke 17 years of silence with my childhood best friend. It was 1991 when we last spoke.

I found out thru a mutual friend that his mother had died. I have many memories of Arlene as she tirelessly drove us to events, bible school, summer camp, and our school twelve miles away in Parma (we traded off between carpooling and the bus). She was a kind and very giving woman, and certainly a part of my life. I knew I had to attend.

I wasn't sure how my presence would be received. I met up with our long time mutual friend, and we rode over together. It was immediately obvious that he appreciated our attendance, and insisted we stay for the funeral. His attention to detail with the arrangements was impeccable, much as I suspected it would be, from the photos to the video to the goodies included in the casket. She was well loved by friends and family, made apparent by the turnout and heartfelt speeches/prayers/eulogies.

We met up with them later at very nice restaurant. The food was excellent. It was good to catch up, as brief as it was. We're planning to get together again some time next week.

Employed (2008-12-15)
I accepted the job offer in Beachwood. I'm going to miss working downtown, but I think I'll adjust. Shara took me to India Garden for dinner to celebrate.

Holidaze (2008-12-29)
Stopped in at the Linked Cleveland event at Rock Bottom on the 16th. A few good conversations, but the beer was awful. Martin, his friend and I headed to Great Lakes afterwards to get some real beer. On the 17th, I attended a CJUG meet-up featuring an excellent presentation on MySql optimizations by Jay Pipes. On the 20th, I was at the best holiday party ever (vegan or not). Two days later, I crashed the holiday party of my former employer... It was good to catch up.

On the 23rd, I took Shirley to multiple follow-up appointments. No major progress with the knee, but it's not getting worse. She'll be staying in town longer as they continue to monitor it. Either it will continue to heal, or worst case scenario is another surgery to replace the entire knee (current is a partial). Later, I took her to her old hair dresser at the corner of Pearl & Stumph. The owner is a sweet old Hungarian lady who reminded me greatly of my father's mother. I did some more shopping while she got her hair done and her ear talked off. We visited Marge again, and this time she had a Great Lakes beer waiting for me. We ended up having dinner at Carrabas before I finally got her back.

Xmas eve - Still not done shopping... Panicked shopping followed. Later, drove to PA to spend the evening and following morning with Heather's family. Scott was really glad I went. Brought along some Christmas Ales to share. Since Alex was there (the only child in the group), we got going early Xmas morning. Petey and I had stayed with Heather's brother, just around the corner. They were super great hosts, and I had a great time. Drove back, and quickly wrapped the remaining gifts for my immediate family. Finally showed up at my sisters with the gifts and mashed potatoes that I'd made the previous night. Everything was good, but I was exhausted. I got the kids clothes and boots. Brandon was very happy with his green sweater. I got Heather a pair off boots and some other odds and ends.

12/26 - Had dinner at Udupi with Tammy, who was my first girlfriend back when I was *14*. She was in town visiting family. Later, we went across the street to Yorktown Lanes for some bowling. It was great catching up with her.

12/27 - Helped Laura move some large items with help from Dave and Bryan. It was super nice out... 60F+. Went for a run, and then later did some grilling out.