From the trenches…

[rant]
I’ve been wrapped up in meetings, writing spec documents and designing reports for the past couple of days. Thursday and Friday of last week I spent looking at the work that will be required to port the existing VFP6.0 application I’ve been maintaining to VFP9.0. (Although there’s a distinct possibility it could go to .Net)

(I wonder why, that when ever I spend that much time, not ‘doing’, and just planning… I become very philosophical, less logical… There’s a lesson in there somewhere.)

Then, late yesterday I find myself discussing something with the team that I thought had been resolved. Well… turns out… it’s not resolved, in fact it’s a long way from being resolved… the reality, from what I heard yesterday… some folks do NOT want it resolved and are deliberately pitching rocks at the possibility of resolution.

Why do folks do that? I think everyone should try being, or at least operate as if they were, a contract employee… work on a project by project basis…. Then, the only real issues involve getting the project done on budget and to scope, and getting picked for the team on the next project!! Not how to submarine (as in sink) one that’s already on the boards.
[/rant]

The Professional News

I remain interested in the ‘Percentage of Likeness’ work I told you all about. The more I experiment with this process, the more I really like it. I’ve got a lot of work to do to make it operate faster, but the fundamentals are in place. It has a very broad possible application in the ‘real world’… from identifying ‘Duplicate Candidates’ in a database, to providing matching candidates in any sort of data merge process. I will be placing some examples on the websites in the next few weeks… once they’re in place I’d appreciate any and all feedback on the process. I’ll provide some examples as well that will illustrate the data, and the outcomes.

New business item!! I’m in discussion with a fairly large VFP (Visual FoxPro) shop in Greensboro, NC regarding the possibility of me (and my associates) handling some of their ‘overburden’. This would be a wonderful gig if we can land it! It’ll get the revenue stream growing for the company, and, allow us a look at yet another group’s utilization of VFP and their styles. We should know more by tomorrow if this is going to be a ‘go’ or not!

The client is taking my Spanish translations to Mexico in the morning… pretty cool deal as far as I’m concerned! I’d love it if this project allowed me to learn Spanish finally!

The Personal Side of Things

Well… it’s definitely spring in North Carolina!! The pollen is all over everything… my sinuses are in an uproar… and the lawn grew 8” overnight!! Despite all of that… this is absolutely my favorite time of year here… (Followed closely by Fall) Cool evenings in the 50’s and 60’s, day time highs in the mid and upper 70’s… beautiful weather.

So I’m torn, every day… between relaxing and enjoying the weather… and jumping in to the projects I have stacked up (waiting for this weather)… and pushing forward on all the code ‘projects’ I’d like to do…

I can tell you what’s going to win… anything that has me outside! Mowing the lawn… working on the ’78 pickup, splitting some wood… riding the motorcycle!!

And… Saturday is my birthday…. I haven’t really paid too much attention to them in the past, but, my wife has actually convinced me that I should celebrate each one. It really is something we should all treat as a special day… one that we reserve for ourselves, and those people we truly enjoy being around. It’s not required that there be a ‘party’, instead allow yourself to do the things you really take joy in doing. For me, that’s spending time with my wife, motorcycle riding, hanging with good friends, a spirited debate or any of a number of other things… I’ll be finding time to do at least some of those this weekend!