Code, Code World

Has It Really Been Over Three Years??

2010-09-11T13:15:00.001-04:00

There was a time when I’d sit down nearly every day after dinner and write up something, anything, that came to mind. It’s funny how such a simple thing can slip away, and before you know it, years have past and you wonder why you stopped.

I think I stopped, initially because things had gotten ‘real’ at work, I was no longer a “Coder of Fortune” I’d joined the ranks of other ‘employed’ folks, I had a real job.

It didn’t seem to me, at the time, that continuing to run a blog that, initially at least, was intended to be about coding, and the sometimes strange world of doing that under contract.

As I look back though, I realize that maybe what I was more worried about than anything was that I now had a job and what I was reading about employers and how they were reacting to employees who maintain a blog, was a bit unsettling.

I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but, then again, when I look back over the things I’ve written, why would any employer take issue with it?

So, here I sit, today, with not much to say really, except that I’ve missed you all. I never expected when I started this, that it would ever really be much other than a personal journal of sorts. That many of you enjoyed my stories, continued to stop in, read and comment on them, was a joy, in and of it self.

I can’t promise I’ll be back in any regular sort of way, but I can tell you I’ve been thinking a lot about it.

I'm still alive....

2009-04-01T12:28:00.002-04:00

Should anyone have been wondering what's happened to me.

The past two years have seen more changes than any other two that I can recall.

It's time I started sharing that with you all, especially now that the dust has settled a bit and I can see past tomorrow.

For all of you who've dropped me a line to ask how I've been... THANKS!!!

Technorati Tags: Comfort - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Comfort

Who’s responsible. . .

2007-08-04T16:19:00.000-04:00

That seems to be the question everyone asks these days. It doesn’t seem to matter what the issue is, there seems to be an almost universal rush to find someone, or something, to point to and say “That’s the reason” or “He’s at fault”.

What ever happened to good old ‘taking responsibility’, and how did it get replaced by ‘placing responsibility’?

I have people tell me how life isn’t how they think it should be, and it’s because their parent got divorced, were too strict on them when they were growing up, didn’t come to their baseball games, teachers didn’t encourage them enough, or any of 1,000 other excuses for what ever ‘plight’ they see themselves in.

Those arguments might carry some weight when told to me by a 16 year old, but when it’s someone over the age of 21, my response is almost always, “So, who has been making the decisions in your life for the last (pick a number) two years?”.

You see I believe we’re all responsible for our own lives. We’re supposed to live, get up every day, do the best we can, learn from our mistakes and just keep moving. We’re not (in my mind) supposed to sit around, lament the current state of our life and look for someone to blame.

Fixing blame, accomplishes absolutely nothing. Oh, it may make you feel better, about yourself, or the situation, but in the final analysis it doesn’t change a damn thing.

So, Ok, you’ve determined you had a screwed up childhood, or that financial problems prevented you from finishing (or even attending) college. That was then; this is now, what’s holding you back “now”? If you’re living on your own, it’s certainly not your parents any longer. If you’re still living with your parents at age 25, and still complaining about how they messed up your life, you’ve got an entirely different set of problems.

Problems, which brings me directly to the “Psychiatric” community, now I’m the first to admit there are folks out there with serious mental problems (Serial Killer springs to mind) and need professional help, and possibly medication. I’m having trouble however; believing that 5 to10 % of the population needs an antidepressant medication just to get through the day. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/04news/hus04.htm ) What did our parents do? Their parents? Their Grandparents?

Some folks will say that well they ‘drank’… that maybe true to some degree, but, if you are to believe statistics, people still drink, and take these medications. (Despite all the bad press about drinking, I tend to think that drinking, socially, and in moderation, has the benefit of letting us interact with others. Taking that pill is sort of like drinking alone.) Is life that much tougher today? Are the ‘stresses’ of our daily lives so intense as to require all of this medication? I somehow doubt it.

Our lives might be more boring, less stressful, and even more mundane than theirs… but when I think about it, I’m having trouble finding the added stress.

I work in a cubicle, in a climate controlled building. I live in a climate controlled house. I drive a climate controlled car. My grandparents (on both sides) had none of the above for most of their lives.

My idea of work is slaving away over a keyboard, my parents, grandparents, well they had physical, manual labor jobs, often working 12 (or more) hour days usually with no ‘overtime’ pay anywhere in the equation.

Television, cable TV, computers, internet, (fully automatic) washing machines, dishwashers, garbage disposals, power tools, lawn and garden equipment, motorized travel, commercial flight, microwaves… and on and on… these ‘modern conveniences’ are all recent additions to things within reach of the average household.

Why is it we all seem to be so ‘stressed’, or even depressed?

I ask myself the question, mainly because I think, at the core; our need to place responsibility elsewhere is rooted in the stress we seem to feel. We’re ‘at the limit’ of out tolerance for stress, and let’s face it, taking responsibility is stressful for most folks.

I believe we’re stressed at the sheer banality of our existence. We have (for the most part) no real problems, we eat regularly, have a dry place to sleep at night, and clean clothes to wear (most days). I’m not so sure that was true fifty or sixty years ago.

I think part of the problem is we humans, in this society, feel very out of control, for the most part. We’re working in large corporate ‘machines’, where often we’re not much more than a small cog on a very large wheel. Unable to derive much personal satisfaction from the job, we begin to pursue other areas to get that satisfaction. Often that pursuit ends up with us buying more and more things, amassing more and more debt, and in the end feeling more and more, out of control.

As I’ve mentioned before, Control, is an illusion. We’re never ‘in control’, if we allow ourselves to believe we control anything, entirely, we’re setting ourselves up for a fall.

William Bennett, former drug czar, recently said:
"unbridled capitalism is a problem to human beings. We are constantly pushing our children and adults to buy things that they do not need. We are making desires into needs and we are, as a result, not living at the center. We are misreading the essential human condition".

In the end, some things are just the result of the normal chaotic nature of the universe. Others however can be traced directly to choices and decisions we make.

Don’t allow yourself to blame your parents, Catholic/Jewish/Protestant guilt, an ex spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or friend, a boss, or anyone or anything else for your life… take responsibility. If you don’t like where you are, make a choice, a decision to change it. Look at where you are, decide where you want to be, and head for that place.

New job, new career, quit smoking, quit drinking, lose weight… whatever, make a decision and go for it! I’m convinced that the only way to remove yourself from unhappiness is to envision where you would be happy, and embark on the journey to get there.

It’s the lack of action, that being frozen in a place you do not like, that leads to blaming others for your plight. Blaming someone else for your problems, does not solve the problem, it just makes being unhappy a little less intolerable, for the moment.

Any thoughts?

Technorati Tags: Comfort - Decisions
-IceRocket Tags: Decisions - Comfort

What do you love to get paid to do?

2007-07-31T21:20:00.000-04:00

I’ve found at least three things. Only one though that paid what I thought the job was actually worth.

Fixing, building, welding and/or painting vehicles was definitely the first thing I loved getting paid to do. . . and I did that with great enthusiasm until about 1979. I loved (and still do) the way a project car just 'comes to life' as the last nuts and bolts are tightend.

After that I found I loved getting paid to teach, and it really didn’t matter what the subject was, what mattered was seeing that ‘light’ go off in a students head. . . and knowing I got paid, was earning a living, to get the joy and satisfaction of seeing that happen.

While I loved both of those jobs, neither paid close to what I felt the skills were worth.

My teaching career lasted until 1985, when with the computer business booming, I got hired to bring my computer skills (I'd become quite interested in all thing computer while teaching) to teaching customers how to use computers, and more specifically to use things like WordStar, Lotus 123, Wordperfect and dBaseII. . . That very quickly morphed into building systems, from simple Lotus 'macros' to full on accounting applications.

For the next 20+ years I’ve loved the work of being in the computer business. I’ve been in, and out of virtually every aspect of it. Most of the things I got involved in however were simply to help me keep doing the one thing I really loved, designing, and then building, business software applications.

From the moment I delivered that first business system to Bill Beck, my future was cast. That look of surprise on the office manager’s face, the smile on Bill’s face, told me all I needed to know. This was not only something I was good at, enjoyed doing and found challenging, it was also something that paid pretty well, and that customers were (almost) happy to pay for.

This was not a ‘luxury’ like a custom paint job, these were mission critical business tools. Not only were they less likely to be ‘cut’ if times were a bit lean, there was actually a real possibility projects like theses would be stepped up to build competitive advantage in lean times.

So what made it ‘Ok’ with me, made it seem reasonable to alter this seemingly wonderful career path I’ve been on?

I think there are a lot of small, yet contributing, reasons, but, the one that keeps coming back to me is the ‘design’ aspect of development.

It’s always been the design piece I really loved, building something in my mind, writing it up, drawing it out and conveying that dream to someone else as we set about to build it.

So, today, in my new role as a business analyst, drawing up those business needs, drafting that requirements document, and then conveying not only the words but the spirit’ of those words to a development team *is* my job. I’m responsible for seeing that the application becomes a useful tool, ties into the overall vision of related applications, and the over all business plans of the company. All of this while still meeting the very real business needs of an entire industry. . .

Pretty cool stuff the more I think about it.

The more I think about it, the more I realize I’ve just made a natural transition.

Back in the day, there wasn’t ‘specialization’ we were all generalists. We had to do a little bit of everything as there was not enough work (or enough people) for someone doing ‘just one thing’. I watched many startups come and go who claimed they were going to alter the business model, stick to strictly development, or only do the design work. I modeled my operations more like a ‘Design/Build’ construction business. (I’m sure it helped that I had a half dozen or so customers in exactly that business).

Today, with ‘offshoring’ and now (can you believe it?) ‘OnShoring’ becoming such a large part of the development environment, there’s less and less opportunity for the ‘design/build’ generalist. We’re in an age of specialists when it comes to things computer…

I had a choice I guess, continue to try and find those few projects that required a generalist who could do a little bit of it all, or, find another way to stay gainfully employed for the next decade or so…

When this chance came along, I’m not sure I really saw it for what it is. It’s a chance to continue to design software, design it in a way that makes a difference to the company, the user and the industry. I’ve always been a ‘business guy’, I just wore the “puter guy” hat because it let me do something I loved, and get paid to do so.

That’s what I’ve been doing, the real difference is, that now, once I’m done with the design, I can watch it being built, and make necessary adjustments (hopefully small ones) in the process as the product materializes.

Maybe it’s true… do what you love, everything else will fall into place… any thoughts?

Technorati Tags: Work - Comfort - Decisions - Development
-IceRocket Tags: Development - Decisions - Comfort - Work

Life after Coding. . .

2007-07-31T19:30:00.000-04:00

There is indeed, life after coding, for me at least.

If you had asked me five years ago if I would ever let go of my ‘developer’ hat, move beyond coding and into another career line I know what my answer would have been. I would have told anyone who asked, “No thanks!” in no uncertain terms.

I’d centered my ‘worth’ in what people were willing to pay me to do, those of you who know me, know that’s been a common theme in my career… I reveled in jobs that had been deemed impossible, the proverbial “It can’t be done” scenario.

I made a nice living in the 80’s and into the mid-90’s doing exactly that for anyone willing to pay me to deliver what others had said couldn’t be done. I only stopped contracting, and that life, because a client had hired me to continue to build the impossible, and in the process get some job “stability”. (Which we now know was certainly a false sense of ‘stability’)

When that gig ended, I jumped back into contracting, eventually ending up where I am now as a result.

However, this time when they decided to make me a job offer, it wasn’t my programming, design or development skills they wanted. Nope, they were actually interested in my analysis skills. Those same skills I’ve been using to spot trends in data for 15 years or more, and to prove, or disprove what was often just a ‘gut feel’ of mine for the data.

I’ve been at it now for about six months, and the jury is in, I *like* not being a developer!

That revelation has been on my mind a lot lately... How can *I*, the guy who loved development, who lived to build things no one else would tackle, suddenly find myself on the outside, looking in, and not missing the development work?

How does that work exactly? How are we (or more specifically, am I) able to shift our primary feedback mechanism, alter our professional “raison d’être” without so much as a second thought?

I never really contemplated the change; I just knew I wanted to make a difference in this project so I accepted the challenge knowing it was a departure from what I’d known for the last 20+ years. Stepping firmly over the line, one I’d straddled fairly well I might add, that divides the ‘business’ folks, from the IT folks, onto the business side of the line.

So, here I sit, a coder, who’s no longer a coder, and what once was the reason I got out of bed in the morning, is no longer any real part of my day. Yet, I still get out of bed, and I still (maybe even more than ever) look forward to going to work… I can’t remember the last time that happened.

Wait, yes I can, it was December of 1994, then again in August of 1998... Then not again until October of 2004... in the interim, I hated the job... but I loved the work... and the people who developed with me... but, then again, it’s always been about the work, for me.

The life I loved was making software with my friends. . . .

More on all of this as my thoughts gel, I think I’m still to close in to the change to fairly observe what’s going on with me.

Technorati Tags: Changes - Comfort - Decisions - Development
-IceRocket Tags: Development - Decisions - Comfort - Changes

Now this could get me interested. . .

2007-07-30T18:48:00.000-04:00

In electric power!! No, nothing has changed, I still don’t really care about global warming, Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” (which all too convenient for Mr. Gore and far too short on truth for my taste), or alcohol replacing fossil fuels…

I care about horsepower.. raw, unadulterated ass-whoopin horsepower… and this two wheeled rocket has it in spades… This is the kind of stuff that gets a new generation interested in ‘go fast’ stuff.

While the technology is a long way from making it to your driveway… it shows what a few folks, some money (about $13K/year for the racing), a little ingenuity and some elbow grease can get done!

Electric Motorcycle drag strip video...

YouTube Link: KillACycle

Here's a link to their website... http://www.killacycle.com/

I’m really pretty excited over what I’ve read about this stuff.

Here I am, mid-50’s and a died in the wool, gimme cubic inches, and gimme lots of horsepower… fossil fuels… loud, ear splitting V8 thunder and all of that…

Watching this video has me thinking about a whole new plan…

I mean 350 horsepower, from batteries that can be recharged in 5 minutes? I think these folks may just be on to something here.

If they’re not… hell it’s still fun to watch the video!!

Technorati Tags: Motorcycles - Comfort - Fun - Electric Vehicle
-IceRocket Tags: Electric Vehicle - Fun - Comfort - Motorcycles

It occurs to me. . .

2007-07-29T01:17:00.000-04:00

That this journey we call life was never meant to be easy.

I’ve had a number of people remark that Maryan and I have had a “rough go” of it over the past four, or five, years. It’s true, we’d had as many challenges in the past few years as many folks have in an entire lifetime. On the other hand, I also know there are at least as many folks who’ve had it much “rougher” than we have.

There have been many days where I just wanted to scream: “Enough! It’s enough already!!”, and just as many days where I did scream it, at least mentally.

The truth is though, somehow, we’ve gotten through it all. The career setbacks, uncertainty and changes, the medical problems, surgeries, and, at times, inept medical care….

One day at a time, one problem at a time, we just kept living, walking the journey, and believing. Believing; that somehow we’d eventually emerge from the other side of the trouble, and finally be able to get on with “our lives” once again.

Of course, by “our lives” we meant the life we had before any of these things occurred.

The reality is though, that we are living “our lives”, everyday. These are the days, the times, we’ll tell stories about, remember, and almost wear as one of our life achievements. Wanting to remember the struggles and the victories, to remind ourselves what we’re capable of doing when faced with adversity.

There’s no doubt, we both miss the long motorcycle trips, meeting all sorts of strange, yet interesting people as we traveled. We both loved the freedom of the road, the anticipation of the next new place we’d see, finding that next new restaurant and the local specialty… Maybe we’ll get to experience that again, maybe not. Either way we have the memories. It’s possible that was just a chapter in our lives, and it’s over. It’s also possible that it’s a long novel, and all that’s happened is a plot shift and we’ll experience it all again, but in a somehow different way.

Life it occurs to me is in the day to day living, not in the past, or in the future. But, right here, right now, and making the absolute most of every moment we have, in the best way we can.

Maryan is home from the surgery now, and as I type this she’s actually sleeping peacefully, possibly for the first time on almost two years.

She’s still in considerable pain, but, and this might sound strange, this is a different pain, focused in the surgical sight and not radiating down her legs… I’m hopeful they might have actually gotten it right this time.

She’s an inspiration to me as you all know by now. Despite pain that has her near tears, and medications that have her emotions in an uproar… she still finds ways to make me laugh… still presses forward, pushes herself against the pain… refuses to give up, or let any of this “win”… determined to get as much of “her life” back as is humanly possible.

I wonder, often actually, what it is that separates us. Those of us who just can’t, or won’t, ever give up, from those that simply just say I can’t take it, and give up.

I’ve been fortunate to have been surrounded for most of my life, by folks who just didn’t know how to quit. It didn’t matter what life tossed at them, they just kept getting up, brushing the dust off, and then just started in again. Sometimes a lot the worse for wear, at others, once the dust settled they were in a much better situation.

As hard as it is for some folks to understand, hell it’s hard for me to understand sometimes, I continue to believe we’re in a better situation now, than we were 5 years ago, and we’ll be in an even better situation three months from now, than we are today.

It is a journey after all, isn’t it?

Technorati Tags: Life - Comfort - Decisions -IceRocket Tags: Decisions - Comfort - Life

A week ago I was focused…

2007-07-28T17:46:00.000-04:00

On entirely different ‘stuff’.

Last Saturday I was trying to mow the lawn, spread some mulch, trim a little here, a little there. Put away a few of those tools that seem to collect on the work bench… Check in on the Application monitoring at work; make sure nothing’s gone wrong….

Looking into better ways to invest my 401K (paltry as it may be)… getting pissed off that I’ve still got a leak in one of the skylights… why does the dryer ‘smell’ funny when it’s running? Is that a knock in the motor of the truck? When can I get the oil changed in the car?

Those, and probably a thousand other, thoughts filled my mind all last weekend.

Today however, there’s but one thought on my mind. Having Maryan home from the hospital, and making sure she’s comfortable and has everything she needs.

What a difference a week makes ‘eh?

She had her back surgery on Wednesday, while the procedure went well, she was in a ton of pain after surgery. That intense, nothing takes it away pain… They eventually put her on a dilaudid IV pump, late Wednesday night and she was able to at least get some relief.

For those of you who don’t know dilaudid is the next step up from morphine, and the last rung on the painkiller ladder. Even with that, she still didn’t sleep until Thursday night, and then only 10, or 15, minutes at a time.

Now it’s Saturday, the pain is pretty much under control, and she’s home and resting, sleeping actually, as I type.

I want to be pissed off at what this doctor found… I want to call a lawyer, somebody, make someone “pay” for all she’s been put through… but, for the moment, I’m staying focused on doing what I can to help her heal up.

It’s frustrating though, as there isn’t really much I can do… get her a sandwich, something cold to drink, an extra pillow, pick up her prescription… but, other than those few things, not much.

This is one of those things where a person is pretty much on their own… not much they can do either, just ‘cowboy up’ and tough their way through it… one moment at a time.

I’m hoping, that by next Saturday, I can go back to worrying about 300 unimportant things!!

Technorati Tags: Life - Comfort - Decisions - Love
-IceRocket Tags: Love - Decisions - Comfort - Life

Thank you all...

2007-07-18T22:53:00.000-04:00

This is just a short post to thank you all for the kind words, thought and prayers for Bill and his family..

Bill was definitely a great guy, and his niece Sue sent me two great photos of Bill enjoying some family time that she’s told me I could share with you all.

Unfortunately I’ve got to scan them and such before I post them, and with work as busy as it’s been, it will be the weekend before I get time to do that.

I’m also working on a reflective post as I’ve been thinking about my life and how meeting Bill really helped me forge a new direction for myself. I’m hoping to have that done by the weekend as well.

There is life after coding it seems. I’ve been working on a post about that too, but as I’m still very much in the middle of that transition, it’s been difficult for me to put my thoughts clearly into words.

I’m touched that you all still stop in, and I’m trying to carve out time for blogging again. Maryan has her next surgery (hopefully the last) on her back next week. I know I’ll have some time to write then, either while I’m home alone, or waiting there at the hospital. Either way you’re likely to be seeing some more words from me soon!

I hope you’re all doing well… it’s strange… I feel as though we’re all friends and I’ve never actually met any of you. The fact is though, we probably know more about each other, and out lives, than we (or at least I) do about many of the folks we see every day and consider friends.

Thank you.

An update on yesterday's Post....

2007-07-12T19:40:00.000-04:00

I received a phone call this evening from Bill’s niece Sue. I hadn’t expected a call, but it was wonderful to have a chance to talk with her as she obviously cared deeply for him.

We laughed, cried a bit and in general ‘told a few tales’ of our memories of the man.

It was so great to hear from one of his family members that he was every bit the same guy, day in, day out, whether he was working, spending time with family or friends, or talking with someone he just met.

She told me about the past few years, and that despite everything, anything else, he cared for his sister (Sue’s mom) and for every one, and everything around him.

Folks, I believe, if you’re lucky, really lucky, you too will have the chance to meet and learn from a man like this. He was one of those people who led by example, he walked the walk, and rarely ever talked about himself, or what he had done.

Every time I think about him starting a long way from ‘home’, with next to nothing and building a company with 48 Tractor Trailers, a dozen or so dump trucks and employing in excess of 50 people, in a fairly short period of time, I’m impressed all over again.

Sue has promised to send me a picture, when she does, I’ll put a copy up so you can all put a face to these words.

Sue also placed another notice about Bill’s passing in the Berkshire Eagle, I thought I’d share that here as it adds a little more of his human side than the one I posted yesterday.

William H. Beck

BECKET -- William H. Beck, 77, of Fulton, N.Y., died Saturday at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. after a short illness. Mr. Beck was a former resident of Becket.

Born on June 10, 1930, in the town of Hyde Park, N.Y., he was the son of William G. and Matilda W. Beck.

Mr. Beck graduated from FDR High School in Hyde Park, N.Y. in 1947.

Mr. Beck was the owner of William H. Beck Inc., a trucking company based in Fulton, N.Y., and from 1997 until his death, he worked for the Hitchcock Press in Holyoke.

He enjoyed traveling throughout the country and abroad. He attended many county fairs and enjoyed working outdoors. He loved to cook, and brought much joy to others with his specialty soups.

Mr. Beck leaves a sister, Mathilde B. Hohl of Plainfield, Mass.; a brother, Edwin Beck of Hyde Park, N.Y.; two former wives, Ellen Murphy of South Hadley, Mass.; and Merle Coy of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; four stepchildren, Scott Nelson of Staatsburg, N.Y.; Wayne Nelson of Centennial, Col.; Brian Denegar of Chicopee; and Debra Leavitt of Simsbury, Conn. His first wife Beulah Budd predeceased him.

FUNERAL NOTICE -- Graveside services for William H. Beck, who died Saturday, July 7, 2007, will be on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery. Arrangements are by SUTTON FUNERAL HOMES, 1 Woodside Place, Highland, N.Y. There are no calling hours. A memorial service to celebrate the life of Bill Beck will be held at a later date at the convenience of the family. Survivors also include niece's children Heather Snider of Beverly, Mass.; Brent Snider of New Haven, Conn.; Ashley Sykes and Colin Sykes of Lenox; Jen Coffin of Nobleboro, Me.; and Julie Souicie of Hartland, Me. To send online condolences: www.suttonfuneralhomes.com. His presence at family gatherings was always a priority. He will be fondly remembered for his work ethic, generosity, thoughtfulness, and love for family and friends. Bill loved animals, so in lieu of flowers, please donate to your local animal shelter.

Published in The Berkshire Eagle from 7/10/2007 - 7/11/2007.

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Thanks, as always for stopping by.

Technorati Tags: Friends - Love - Life
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The Obituary Read. . .

2007-07-10T21:29:00.000-04:00

William H. Beck

July 7, 2007

William H. Beck, 77, of Fulton, NY, passed away July 7, 2007, at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. Mr. Beck was born June 10, 1930, the son of William G. and Matilda Wassenmuller Beck. Until his retirement, he was the owner of William H. Beck, Inc., a trucking firm in Fulton.

Before moving to Fulton, he was a longtime dairy farmer in Dutchess County, as was his father. He is survived by a son, Wayne, and his wife, Sandra Nelson, and their children, Olivia and Erin of Centennial, CO; a stepson, Scott, and his wife, Penny Nelson, of Staatsburg, NY; a stepdaughter, Debbie, and her husband, Adam Leavitt, of CT; a brother, Edwin Beck of Poughkeepsie; a sister, Matilda Hohl of Plainfield, MA; longtime friend, Merle Coy; also several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Graveside services will be on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery. Memorial services will be held in Becket, MA, at a later date. Friends will be notified by the family as to time.

Arrangements by the Sutton Funeral Homes, One Woodside Place, Highland, NY.

To send online condolences, please visit www.suttonfuneralhomes.com

--------------------------

My longtime friend Ken Sheldon forwarded that notice to me this morning. Ken, as you long time readers know has worked with me for many years and Ken was the only person besides me; Bill Beck would allow me to have working on his projects. Getting Bill to agree to let Ken be involved, was almost as hard as ‘letting go’ of those applications was for me.

I mentioned Bill Beck a year or so ago (in March of 2006), in this post, and again in this one.

I talked about what *I* did, how that first project came together, and how it pretty much got me started.

The truth is, Bill didn’t ‘kinda’ get me started, he not only got me started, he got me rolling and by continuing to provide me with steady work, gave me the courage to forge ahead with my first successful consulting venture. No, that’s exactly not right either; he was the cornerstone of my first business venture that actually ever made a profit.

More than that though, he was a good man. He was honest, if he made you a promise, you could absolutely count on, that whatever he promised you, he would make good on that promise.

He was also a generous man, I have vivid memories of times I’d be in his offices, stopping in as I passed by for one reason or another and he’d see me there and say:

“Glenda, write Bill a check for $500!”

I’d always say something to the effect of “Bill, you don’t owe me any money.”

Every time, he’d reply “I know, but I will.”

I always took it as a sign of his faith in me, and the work I’d done… Maybe it was just his way; I prefer to think it was something more personal though.

He was also a demanding man. He held no quarter for broken promises, missed deadlines or less than accurate work. He also knew he was the customer, and when he needed something, he wanted it right now, not tomorrow, or next week, but right now.

If he was upset, he made no politically correct attempt to explain his view of the situation. He’d let you know, often ‘colorfully’, just exactly what was on his mind.

I still have a vivid, near picture perfect recollection of the conversation we had the first time he felt I didn’t deliver exactly what I’d promised him. He must have yelled at me for 45 minutes. I remember thinking at the time, that, “Well, I guess that’s the end of the road here.”

About 20 minutes later, as I was finishing up installing the new equipment I’d brought in, Bill walked back in to the room and said: “Hey, have you got plans for lunch?”

Just like that, it was over… We went to lunch, where he laid out the plans he had for the business, and a whole new piece of software he wanted me to design and write.

Eventually, during lunch, I asked him why he was telling me this, as I thought after what he’d said earlier, I was going to lose his business. He went on to explain that when he’s upset, he just had to get it off his chest, and then, once he’s done that, he’s done with it all.

Bill went on over the years to ‘christen’ every person who ever worked for me. They all knew his company, and how important it was to me, for many reasons. Eventually they’d answer the phone when he called, and he’d let them know, in no uncertain terms, why I needed to call him, and for me to call sooner, rather than later.

I’d always ask them to sit with me when I made that return phone call, in each and every case he thanked me for getting back to him so quickly, and then let me know what he needed and when, we then went on to do just that.

I also stole a "line" from Bill. When I first asked him how he ended up in Fulton, NY from his place in Massachusetts, he said:

“I came here with a 90 day contract to haul grain; I’ve been here ever since.”

He grew that business from one truck to around 40 Tractor Trailers, and a number of dump trucks as well, employing in excess of 40 or 50 drivers, and several folks on his office team as well. As far as I know he was still running all of the software I developed for him when he retired.

These days, when folks ask me how I came to be living in North Carolina I say:

“I came here in ’93 on a 90 day programming contract; I’ve been here ever since.”

I’ve also come to realize I’ve spent the vast majority of my professional life developing software for the transportation business. At first, for Bill Beck’s trucking company, later for an insurance company who specialized in insuring trucking companies, and now for the Railroad industry. I doubt any of that would have ever happened, had I not met Bill Beck.

Life is funny, almost spooky, sometimes, I was thinking back a bit on Saturday, and got to thinking about those days, and Bill Beck, and found myself wondering just how he was doing. I had no idea where he was, or that I would see that notice today.

I went by the funeral home website, and left a little note for his family. I have no idea if they even knew who I was, but I certainly knew and respected him.

I know my life has been better, and followed a particular path, simply because our paths crossed.

I also know that I’m a better man for having known him.

God Speed Bill, you’ll be greatly missed.

Technorati Tags: Life - People - Bill Beck
-IceRocket Tags: Bill Beck - People - Life

Weathering the storm. . .

2007-06-18T19:28:00.000-04:00

As you all know, my wife has been struggling health-wise for some time now. We were discussing it the other night; and it’s been a journey (for us) that’s now lingered into five years.

She had knee surgery in 2002, in 2003 I had two separate back surgeries. We both got laid off and she had a hysterectomy in 2004, then a back surgery for her in 2005, and another in 2006… and finally a Thyroidectomy and radiation therapy in 2006 for her as well.

Now, fresh from our visit to the latest in spinal specialists, we find that there’s definitely a problem with the last surgery, in that at least one of the screws used has literally broken out of the bone… more tests, and in all likelihood another surgery are in our future for 2007.

One the upside and we do try and stay focused on the upside around here, with the exception of the back issue, and the resultant intense pain that brings, things do seem to be improving on the health front for her. The new Doc specializes in what they call “failed back” syndrome. That’s when you’ve had surgery, but have not gotten any pain relief. With any luck, this guy will be able to find the root cause and get it corrected this time.

One of the things that can become overwhelming at times, when a person deals with constant chronic pain, is the concept of “I don’t deserve this”. I know I had it, and she helped me stay focused and get through it, and now I’m trying to get her through it as well.

Couple that with the fact that she often feels as though she has no ‘life’, and doesn’t feel like much of a wife at times… and you have all the makings of a good solid depression. I’m constantly amazed at her ability to “cowboy up” and just tough her way through it.

Despite all of this, I feel blessed. That’s right, blessed.

I had no way of knowing it at the time, but, getting out of my last job, was probably the only reason I’ve been able to ‘be there’ for her, in the way that I’ve been. This company, from the top down, believes family is the single most important thing. They let me work from home any time I need to be here, to go with her to Doctor’s appointments, or she just needs me here.

On the days where I’m not going to be able to get any real work done, I can use a sick day without fear I’ll be taken to task for it.

On the last job, even if I called in sick, they’d call me at home wanting me to take care of things from my sick bed. In two years of working here, not once has anyone ever called me outside of normal working hours, unless it was arranged in advance (often when making system changes the business owners have to verify connectivity and functionality after the changes are made).

I’m definitely living in a very different world now, working for a company that honors not only the employees, but their families as well. I can tell you this for certain, had the last company not outsourced me, I would have been fired, or had to quit, to get through this anyway.

I laugh sometimes, when I think about the emotions I felt at the moment I left that last job. Fear, anger, uncertainty, was just the tip of the iceberg… In the end though, like I’ve always done, I kept looking, and this gig found itself to me. We never had a lapse in health insurance; in fact we’ve had even better insurance since the split than we ever had before.

Most importantly though, we’ve been there, for one another through it all, day in, day out, that has never changed.

Yes we worried about money, argued about what we could, and could not buy, but, we got by, kept the bills paid and carried on.

Life has a funny way, of giving you exactly what you need, at precisely the moment you need it… even if, at that moment, it seems the exact opposite is happening.

She and I have been through more, in our eight years together, than many folks go through in 20… what’s amazing to me, is that I love her more today, than I ever have!

Technorati Tags: Life - Comfort - Decisions
-IceRocket Tags: Decisions - Comfort - Life

It’s Father’s Day again. . .

2007-06-17T09:42:00.000-04:00

Every year around this time I find myself thinking back, and thinking about my Dad specifically.

It’s often hard for me to write about him. Not because there isn’t anything to write, but, because just thinking about him often brings home how very much, I still miss him. I find myself, at times, as I write, actually having to stop, to wipe away tears that make it hard to see.

My Dad was a great guy. He had faults, and I, at one time or another triggered every one he had I’m sure… if I didn’t, it sure wasn’t for a lack of trying on my part.

I spent many, many, years trying to get out “from under his shadow”… I’d give anything today to have just that shadow cross my eyes one more time.

I do wonder sometimes though how he would have faired as this country shifted into a nation of people offended by every little thing… He was a man disposed to action, not talk, and swift action, or maybe better yet, reaction when things went awry.

Years ago, as in almost 40 years ago, in the fall, about the time the first snow fell in Upstate New York, the store he managed would experience what we called the “Tire Rush”.

It seemed every car owner in town would show up that morning and line up to get a pair of “snow tires” (anyone else remember those?) put on.

I remember this one year, I had to be 17 or 18, we were in the middle of this ‘rush’ which was so crazy we workers didn’t get to break for lunch, instead he’d send out for burgers and cokes and we’d all work and grab a bite between cars (I’ll bet you don’t see much of that any happening these days either).

One of the standard things on the work order in those days, was a note indicating what the customer wanted done with the ‘take offs’ (the tires you removed from the rims to install the snow tires). Many customers would have us pull the front tires, put the new snow tires on those rims and rotate the back tires to the front, so these instructions were clearly spelled out.

(In the days of rear wheel drive cars, most folks had the best tires on the driving wheels.)

Some people had us throw away the old tires, others wanted them put in the trunk to use again in the spring (remember cars with a trunk large enough for two full sized tires?)…

Anyway, back to the story. We pulled a car in, and it stated clearly on the work order this woman wanted the tires placed in her trunk. However, in the heat of battle, the tire buster (that’s the guy who actually removed and installed the tires on the rims) had some sort of brain fart and tossed the tires on the cast off pile instead. No one noticed what he’d done at the time, and as there were two of us balancing and removing and reinstalling wheels on the cars while he put tires on the rims, it wasn’t hard to miss.

An hour or so later though, the woman returns to the store after discovering her tires were not placed in the trunk as requested. I remember Bernie Zanowski, the tire salesman came out and talked to the guy who was at the tire machine, an argument ensued and ended with Bernie exiting the garage and slamming the door.

Now as a little background, Bernie was one of those guys who could sell ice water to a drowning man… I once saw him sell a refrigerator to a man who didn’t have electricity… and he was a very hard worker as well, and had been with the company for probably 20 plus years… He also had a very loyal clientele, people who came to the store year after year, and asked for him by name. He remembered every one of those folks too. If Bernie sold you something, he’d remember you forever.

So back to the story…

About 2 minutes later, Bernie, the customer and my Dad come walking into the garage.

There’s about a 45 second conversation, and the next thing I know Dad’s got this guy by the collar and the belt, and literally tosses him into the used tire pile (which by the way is like ten feet high and 20 foot around at the base).. along with the admonition “… and don’t come out of there until you’ve found this woman’s tires!! Come see me when you’re done.”

I was instantly promoted to tire changer (tire buster), my buddy Mark moved up to the balance machine and one of the other stock boys got shown how to use the air wrench.

The beat went on… snow tires continued to get installed…. Barely a blip in the action…

Eventually the guy found the woman’s tires, we loaded them in her trunk and she drove off. The guy went in the store to talk to Dad, he never returned to the shop that day, or any other day for that matter.

Justice was swift in Dad’s domain. This guy was fairly new, less than a month on the job, and he’d broken the two fundamental rules:

1. The customer is always right
2. Do NOT argue with the boss

I wonder today how that would have to be handled.

A week or so before that happened, on the way home from work one night I’d mentioned that this guy was working pretty hard, my Dad’s response was “A new broom always sweeps clean”.

He went on to explain that anyone can handle the normal days, it’s the crazy days (like the tire rush) that sorts folks out… it certainly sorted this guy out.

There was the other side of Dad’s coin too… I also remember Christmas Eve (that same year I think), it was probably around 6:00pm, we’d locked up the store, made the bank deposit filled out the reports, etc. and were headed for the front door and home when the phone rang.

Uncharacteristically, Dad answered the phone, thinking it might be Mom wanting him to pick up something on the way home.

It wasn’t Mom though, it was a customer and the guy on the phone was panicked, he was supposed to have picked up his kids Christmas toys from Lay-a-Way on his way home (remember Lay-a-way?) but, he’d stopped off after work for a couple of holiday beers with his co-workers and had lost track of time.

He was obviously drunk, but said that he could be at the store in 30 minutes.

Now Christmas Eve was one of my Dad’s favorite nights. It not only signaled the end of the shopping season and six weeks of 12 hour days, but, it was “family time”.

At our house, Christmas Eve meant all the kids were home, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, friends and even shirt-tail relatives came over for the evening, and around 11:30 we’d all go to “Midnight Mass” after the get together… He truly looked forward to this night all year. It continued every year I can remember until he died.

I watched his face as he talked to this guy on the phone, listened as he explained *he* had a family waiting for him too… but in the end, he told the guy to come on over.

We waited, for nearly an hour before the guy finally arrived, got him his stuff and after we helped him load his car, headed home, late, ourselves.

On the drive, as usual, he explained why he did what he did. I don’t recall asking, but he was prone to just saying what was on his mind as we drove.

“I was thinking about the kids” he said to me, “and their faces tomorrow morning if there were no toys. I just couldn’t stand the thought of those kids being disappointed.”

He went on to explain to me, that while a man has to be able to go out, have some fun, and drink a cold beer with his friends, he can never forget his obligations, his promises.

“Billy” he said “It’s not always so much what you *do* that will define you as a man, but, often, it’s what you don’t do because you’ve already made another promise that will define you.”

That, my friends, is why I don’t make promises I can’t keep.

Happy Father’s Day Dad!! You are still very much missed.

Technorati Tags: Dad - Comfort - Decisions - Life
-IceRocket Tags: Life - Decisions - Comfort - Dad

I know I’ve been away a lot lately. . .

2007-06-16T07:59:00.000-04:00

First, let me say I definitely miss blogging more than I ever thought possible. I've really enjoyed the process of writing, posting and getting to know all of you who've actually made me wish we all lived close to one another.

Second, I’ve just been so busy, between the job, the house, the yard and all of my other ‘projects’ I just haven’t had much time to sit and write.

Not an excuse really, as I know many of you are at least as busy as I am, if not more so. It is however about the only reason I have for being away so long!

I’m hoping to post pictures of the work I’ve done this year on the ‘Natural Area’ of the yard. Some of you may recall that I got started on it last year, but never really wrapped it up. This year I touched up the areas I started last year, and I’ve about doubled the area that I can actually ‘walk around’ in now.

You’ll see in the pictures (when I post them) that I still have a lot of brush to clear along the drainage area, and in the back corner of the lot… that said, I still think I’ve got about 75% of the deal under control now, compared to about 25% last year!

----------------------

Regarding FoxPro…

I've been fairly quiet on the announcement by Microsoft that they've ceased new development on Visual FoxPro. I, in my heart, knew this day would come the day they announced they'd bought the company from Dave Fulton. I even wrote Bill Gates, and spoke extensively with the folks at Mirosoft back then and was assured they had no such plans.

It seems they may not have had immediate plans... but at this point it feels like all the 'words' did nothing but delay the inevitable.

Most of you know I’ve been a proponent, hell, even a zealot, when it came to singing FoxPro’s praises. I’ve spent the better part of the past 25 years earning a decent living with the Fox (or VFP as many like to call it) as my primary development tool. Many years the number of lines of code I wrote in anything other than FoxPro were so small as to not even be worth counting.

That era is over though… Microsoft is abandoning the product, and once that happens it may as well as be already dead and gone. No new development is popping up on the horizon (well not *my* horizon anyway), and there are fewer and fewer contracts for even maintenance work. It is, after all work, and the work I've done to earn a living for over two decades.

It’s a very strange position to be in.

I feel like I’m assisting in the death of an old friend… Helping an otherwise healthy friend commit suicide… very strange indeed.

Many of you may find it odd that I’d call FoxPro an “old friend”… make comparisons to a living, breathing entity…. Others will simply understand the feeling. Let me try to explain it.

A computer language, is much like any other type of “tool”.

A bit cumbersome when you first pick it up, but, over time, each and every time you use it, you get a little better at using it.

Eventually, you get so good with it, it’s no longer separate from you, but a part of you. You’re better as a result of having the tool, it ‘extends’ you. The tool enables you to do things that before it existed, were either impossible, or so costly as to be considered impossible.

So here I am, a mid-50’s guy who’s achieved a bit of success, and some notoriety (from time to time) as a VFP/FoxPro developer. Yet, I find myself looking forward with a bit of uncertainty as to my marketability, now that my ‘claim to fame’ is soon to be a "here lies" headstone the landscape of development languages.

Yes, it’s true I have decent DotNet chops, and have even completed a couple fairly complex projects with it as the primary tool. I don’t however seeing me becoming the kind of “DotNet guru” that I was with VFP.

Why? A couple of reasons actually.

First, and probably foremost, is the fact that while a decent development environment, DotNet is no VFP. The raw power to manipulate data is simply absent. Not a day goes by that when I show a DotNet, or even a Java developer what I can do with ‘data’ in less time than it takes them to set up to begin coding, that they’re not impressed.

Second, I really don’t have the desire I once had to work day and night (on the job and off) again to get *that* good at any language I’m currently aware of. Trust me on this, there’s no shortcut to become truly proficient with a language, it takes years of 10, 12 even 16 hour days before you truly master a computer language. I’m just not that interested any more… I’d much rather lie in the shade with a pitcher of Gin, Tonic and Lime when I'm not working!!

What I am interested in however is working on mastering the use of the written word…. It’s time to hang up my ‘developer’ hat, and begin a new journey I think…

One where I work at putting words together, to achieve a specific effect… but this time the language will be English, and the effects will be more human emotion, and less mathematics, in nature.

I’ve been thinking lately, that there have been a lot of experiences (in developing systems) over the past 25 years, some funny, some sad, that I’ve never written about… I'm thinking a lot lately of doing so soon.

I haven’t mentioned it before, but a recent position change on the job has me more in the ‘Business’ side of things, and less and less on the “IT/IS” side of things. On a day to day basis, I’m much more involved with the business *need* and far less involved with the IT/IS *how*…. I'm concerned more with analytics, metric and application flow now, than with how that flow is accomplished.

I’d forgotten what a challenge working from the business side can be, and how much fun! We were working on the 2008 Project specifications last week, it’s a strictly business need driven process, and I’ve had more fun reviewing and contributing to that, than I’ve had in quite some time!

So, I'm hoping I'll actually start writing again and you'll start stopping in again to let me know how I'm doing!!

I hope you're all doing well... drop me a note and say hi!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Comfort - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Comfort - Visual FoxPro

Well… It’s official…

2007-04-16T20:50:00.000-04:00

My post about Cesar and the Dog Whisperer is going to be in his new book!

I thought they’d changed their minds, or we wouldn’t be able to work out the details, but, they came back this past week, made some changes to the agreement and I FedEx’d off the signed documents today.

I’ve got to admit, when I started posting out here I never expected to have one of my ramblings get picked to be included in any publication.

Other than that, it’s just been busy. I wonder sometimes where I found the time to write as often as I did a year ago, I barely have time to sit down and eat dinner these days!

I promise I’ll be back soon with some updates on what’s been going on.

Technorati Tags: Writing - Comfort - Decisions
-IceRocket Tags: Decisions - Comfort - Writing

What Have I Been Up To? . . .

2007-03-25T20:16:00.000-04:00

Since the last post?

Well, primarily I’ve been working for the Railroads, my workload there has been, well, let’s just say, overwhelming, this month. There were several tight deadlines, and some areas of responsibility that were fairly new to me as well.

Those combined with my “Not a problem, I can handle it” attitude got me in some trouble around mid-month… I know, me, Mr. “I deliver on time”… finally got himself in trouble and missed a deadline… that may not be a big deal to some of you, but, it was a big deal to me.

I’m happy to say the team I work with, really, and I mean really, stepped up to the plate to help me bring this one phase in, and get the project back in the green. For someone (me) who has had little success in getting help from others (with a few notable exceptions) this was a wonderful turn of events.

In another phase, I’ve completed a data model and an application in VB.Net to allow folks to analyze what they’ve been working on. It’s comprised of one basic form, with a tab control, thirteen tabs each with various views of aspects of the data model. There’s even a context sensitive column search feature that’s activated on a right mouse-click.

How did I get that done, with everything else on my plate? One word, “Infragistics”.

These folks have a slogan “Powering the presentation layer”… from where I sit, they definitely do! If you’re involved with .Net, and are looking for a controls toolbox that functions in Windows, or Web, applications check this company out, for my money they’re definitely the real deal.

In my spare time, I’ve been working on, believe it or not, preparing a commercial VFP application for delivery. A very well known paint company contracted with me to help them with this project earlier this year, but, things didn’t really start heating up until mid-February, and then got very serious, when, in the middle of my other crisis.

Just this past week I worked over 50 hours for the RR’s and another 30 on the project for the paint company… my entire month of March has been a series of 70-80 hour work weeks. I’m not complaining mind you, just recognizing that old saying “When it rains, it pours!”

In talking with some of the other team member on the paint project, I’m pretty confident we have a shippable product now. We’ve converted the application to VFP9, added a software licensing process, altered how some internal password functionality is derived and in general done a decent ‘cleanup’ on the product.

Again, great team, excellent communications and hard work by everyone got this pulled together in time.

My friend Ken Sheldon (remember Ken?) and I had been planning to get together this weekend and hit a bowling alley, roll a few games and, in general just catch up with one another. On Wednesday, as I was looking at some additional tight deadlines (changes to the RR application for a Friday demo, and the fast approaching shipping deadline for the paint company, I was seriously considering postponing our plans.

At some point however, I realized that I always do that, let the work interfere with my personal life. I’ve been doing it for 25 years, Ken would have understood, he knows me and my dedication… about that same time I decided that four or five hours out of the weekend, to enjoy some time with an old friend (Ken and I have know each other 20 years, this year, and we’ve worked together at 3 different times over those years), was something I definitely needed to do.

So at about 8:00am on Saturday he and I headed out to Buffaloe Lanes in Cary. (Yes, that’s how they spell it… as Ken would say, from the Dan Quayle school of spelling).

When we got there, a youth league was in full swing, all 32 lanes in use by kids in the age range of 5-10 it appeared. Well we stood around and talked, and watched the kids bowl for an hour or so, and decided we’d reserve a pair of lanes for when the first pair freed up. As we were talking to the folks, one of them said “No one showed up on 27/28, let them have the pair”

So we were off and rolling (literally).

I’m happy to report that Ken has finally beaten me in bowling; in fact he gave me a sound ‘thrashing’… I averaged about 146, he averaged 198… The only other time he and I bowled together it was in Liverpool, NY.. I had probably the best three game series in my life, he had one of his worst… and I’ve hung on to that victory for over a decade… I’m just so glad that we got out again, and he won, it gives an excuse for a rematch!! Hey, he’s a great bowler, I’m just glad he’s not embarrassed to be seen rolling with me!

So what do ya think folks.. a strange month for sure… I’m neck deep in both VFP and .Net, Microsoft announces the end of VFP yet I’m working like a mad man to keep up…

Two lessons here for me…

1st, you should always make time for friends and family.. It’s worth every second of the time

2nd, hard work, and great team members can accomplish amazing results, especially when you let the team know you need their help.

So how has your March been?

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - .Net - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - .Net - Visual FoxPro

Open Source… the future?

2007-03-18T21:01:00.000-04:00

The open source community, that’s where Microsoft says they intend to place VFP once they’re done with it.

I see few distinct possibilities for the future if that’s what they actually do.

First, and the worst case, is that it will simply die there.

If you know the history, Microsoft bought FoxPro originally to get the ‘Rushmore’ technology it contained. You see, at the core of the Fox was a database engine, one capable of incredible speed, even on those old 286/386 and 486 boxes with slow hard drives.

In many cases it out performed databases on much larger platforms, costing ten times, or more money.

Surrounding that core was (is) a language designed from the ground up to manipulate and work with data. It has some of the best string manipulation functions of any language I’ve ever used.

So, what I fear is that if they release it to the open source community, it’ll be stripped of the technology that made it such a work horse, and saddled with a shell of what it has today.

If those things happen, it will surely die a fairly quick death out there in the open source world.

The other, less likely, but far more exciting prospect is that it’ll land in Open source intact. A group of developers, possibly some of the folks from the current VFP group at Microsoft will pick it up and run with it.

There’s a ton of us ‘old coders’ out here, and a great bunch of young guns as well that would love to be able to tell our clients we’re building their new application on the newest piece of open source software.

The open source community is, overall, robust. It’s also made up of folks just like most of us VFP geeks, zealots, they grab onto something an run with it, and before you know it, it’s the “language de jour” … hey look at Ruby, it was virtually unheard of a couple of years ago…. It’s all the ‘buzz’ today.

Another, possibly even more interesting possibility, is that a group will form up, and using the base code, build a .Net version of VFP. A VFP.Net.

Personally I think that is the track that holds the most promise of widespread success, in my opinion. Microsoft has invested untold millions in the .Net platform, and it’s actually beginning to find some widespread acceptance in the corporate market place. It’s still behind Java, but it’s gaining.

Currently, while you can ‘connect’ to a wide variety of Databases from .Net,
manipulating that data, slicing it, and analyzing it, in .Net, is a long way from the ease with which it can be done in VFP today.

The concept of ‘Macro substitution’ inherent in VFP, simply doesn’t exist in .Net (or at least no one *I have talked to has found it), it would add a ton of functionality if it were there.

We can currently combine code from any .Net language, in the same solution as it all eventually is compiled to be utilized by the .Net CLR (Common Language Runtime), so why not a VFP.Net?

Hell there’s even a COBOL.Net, surely there are minds out there smarter than mine who could get it done!

I’ve built some DLL’s in VFP that I can add to a .Net application to provide some of the functionality I’ve needed from time to time… can a VFP.Net be that far away?

Regardless though, I’ll be devoting most of my free time now to converting my favorite VFP apps, like my TimeClock© to .Net. I can’t afford to be out of work with a skill set no one is willing to pay for!

If you’ve got thoughts, I’d love to hear them!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Microsoft - VFP - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - VFP - Microsoft - Visual FoxPro

The End Of An Era. . . .

2007-03-16T14:43:00.000-04:00

Well folks, it’s official… Microsoft is ending development on any new releases of Visual FoxPro.

Redmond Developer News Microsoft: No Visual FoxPro 10

I’ve been an xBase/VFP developer for over two decades, 20 plus years, and now, well, it seems those skills will pretty much be about as useful as those of an ‘old school’ TV repairman.

Yeah, there will still be a ‘need’, but nothing like there was. Makes me glad I’ve worked on my .Net chops over the past few years… time to get really working on them now though!

Sorry I haven’t been around much. A lot has happened over the past few months, not the least of which is that I’ve been very busy. I miss everyone, and appreciate those of you who still stop in to see if there’s anything new.

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Microsoft - VFP - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - VFP - Microsoft - Visual FoxPro

Thursday we got our first taste of ‘winter’ here….

2007-01-20T15:11:00.000-05:00

After a weekend in the 70’s and then temperatures slowly dropping into daytime highs in the forties, Thursday morning found us receiving a bit of frozen precipitation.

The morning news, as well as the various internet and cable weather forecasters had all claimed the ground was too warm for anything more than some accumulations on ‘grassy’ areas however.

So it was armed with all of this high tech information that I got in the car and set out on my 50 minute morning commute to the office.

As I was slowing for the turn onto the interstate I noticed that the bridge I was on had managed to get a bit slick, “Nothing serious” I thought, but filed that little piece of information away for the drive.

As I was entering the interstate, I also noticed that the road was not ‘wet’, but beginning to become snow covered, despite some rather heavy traffic. I decided to ease up to speed in the ‘slow’ lane until I’d reached the top of the rise and saw what the traffic ahead looked like.

I’d just matched the speed of the pickup in front of me, noticed the semi pulling up on my left, and the one along side that pickup in front when it happened….

The tail-end of that pickup twitched to the left slightly, I eased off the gas a bit, then it twitched hard again, but to the right this time… again I lifted off the gas… about that time the pickup got almost sideways and clipped the front of that semi…

The impact tossed the pickup back into our lane, but now it was spinning… in one of those spins it clipped the guard rail and got airborne… rolling over twice, landing on its side…. Then, just as I reached it, slid off the road and over the edge of the embankment….

I managed to get my car stopped, find the four way flashers… grab my cell phone and dialed 911 as I ran back to the truck… as I was giving the 911 guy the location, I heard the driver moving in the truck… he said he was fine, but needed help getting out.

I told the 911 operator the driver claimed to be fine, but to please roll some help and hung up as I climbed up to help the driver climb out.

He got out Ok.. and amazingly enough, he was fine, not a scratch. His pickup however looked much worse for the experience.

Both of the truck drivers stopped as well… the most amazing thing to me, besides the fact that no one else (including me) got gathered up in this incident, was the way that both of these big rig drivers stopped, and made sure help was on the way.
As we were waiting, there was another crash, in the opposing lanes, and a driver hit that concrete center barrier hard… with snow falling heavily now, and daylight just barely making it possibly to see more than a few feet without the aid of headlights… it all seemed very surreal.

I remember thinking, as I watched things unfold, that “this is going to hurt”, then, as the truck slide out of my way a split second before we would have hit, it felt like some sort of NASCAR slow motion replay… but it wasn’t, it was real time, real people and real dangerous.

I’ve never let the weather deter me from driving where ever I wanted to go. I’ve driven 100’s of miles in blizzards, on closed interstates, on roads where it was impossible to tell where the road actually was… staying ‘on the road’ only by trying to watch for guardrails, telephone polls and other markers.

I’ve had many, many, close calls… this however was the closest I think I’ve ever been to a 50+ mile an hour, in traffic, collision.

I’m thankful for many things, those new Goodyear tires I put on the car this fall, anti-lock brakes… and yes… seat and shoulder belts. The driver of that pickup was wearing his; I doubt he’d have escaped injury if he hadn’t been.

I didn’t continue on to the office that morning, instead I returned to the house and worked from home. On returning, the news was story after story about the dozens, and dozens, of accidents, between where I’d been, and the office. The commute would have been several hours at least from the reports.

One last thing, this whole thing, from the first twitch of that truck, to getting my car stopped took only a couple of seconds, perhaps 10 at best as I’d only traveled about the length of a football field or so, from start to finish.

I’ve mentioned before how intense traffic can be at times… and I know I’ve had a tendency lately to drive a little closer than I should to the car in front of me… I’m thankful that all those years of Upstate New York winter driving kicked in as I eased onto the interstate Thursday morning… I hung back and decided to ease into traffic… I really don’t want to think about what might have happened if I hadn’t!

Please drive safely folks… You never know what might happen next!

Technorati Tags: Driving - Comfort - Decisions - Winter
-IceRocket Tags: Winter - Decisions - Comfort - Driving

Working in an art museum….and other tidbits…

2007-01-15T11:09:00.000-05:00

I had the good fortune to be able to visit the corporate headquarters of BNSF Railway in Ft. Worth, TX this past week.

I say good fortune because, well, the place is simply amazing. Every wall, in every area of the building I saw, is decorated with American art, old paintings, drawings, photographs and pieces of American railroad history. Their lobby/reception area is adorned with museum type glass cases that are filled with over 150 years of railroad artifacts.

I was told, the collection that literally covers every common wall area in the building, is second only to the Smithsonian in size.

In my career, I’ve been to 100’s of corporate offices, many that held large, expensive pieces of art…. But nothing, anywhere I’ve ever been, compared to this.

We spent several days this trip at the Texas Motor Speedway, and those of you who know me, also know, that to a motor head like me, that, in and of itself would be a real treat. However, the few hours spent at the BNSF Railway headquarters on Friday were definitely the highlight of the trip for me. I was, and remain, amazed at what I saw there.

I don’t know if they allow visitors, or give tours, but if you’re in the Ft. Worth area, I’d suggest checking on the possibility if you’re even remotely interested in this sort of thing.

*----------------------------------*

On an entirely separate front, those of you who check out the comments pages, may have noticed the first comment on my Dog Whispering post. It was supposedly from one of the producers of the show who was also co-authoring Cesar Millan’s new book.

I’m sure you all thought exactly what I thought… “Yeah, right”… or something to that effect. I’ve certainly gotten all sorts of, shall I say ‘interesting’ comments, in addition to the ones my regular readers leave. I responded politely, and did send a follow up email.

I remained skeptical however, until Saturday morning.

On Saturday I received an email from the executive producer of the Dog Whisperer show, letting me know I’d be seeing a release document this week, thanking me for being willing to let them use my post, and so on.

This may, or may not, lead to anything further in my dream of writing for a living, but, if it all works out, being noticed by Melissa (a very accomplished writer in her own regard) and being included in the book’s success story section is fairly flattering!

Stay tuned, I’ll definitely keep you posted on both the progress, and on the release date for Cesar’s new book.

*----------------------------------*

Work-wise, things are pretty much, situation normal… no change in employment status, but I continue to work, and be billable, one week at a time. I am looking into a gig in New Hampshire however. It’s a ways from home, but, it’s a FoxPro focused gig and pretty decent rates as well. I’ve submitted all of my info, and now we’re in the wait and see phase.

In this phase, while the company is checking out my skills and experience, I check out the cost of apartments (furnished) etc and what sort of costs I’ll incur to take on the gig. If everything works out, as in a total “win-win” situation, I’ll earn more, after expenses than I am now, and, my skills will match their needs fairly closely.

Stay tuned on this as well. I’ll definitely keep you all posted.

*----------------------------------*

Other than traveling, working, and attempting to relax in the time I’ve had off, not all that much else has been going on. Maryan continues to get better, Lulu has become a wonderful member of the household and, in general, life is good and I continue to feel lucky despite some speed bumps along the road.

Then again, regardless of how lucky I might be feeling today… I’m thinking these guys are feeling even more fortunate!! (The pictures were emailed to me, they are definitely NOT mine! I do not know who actually took them.)

Thompson River Derailment
More Info
One More Story

There are a lot of opinions about railroads, and railroad safety. I’m pretty sure about this however; CN developed a new cab design, that involved ‘Armor Plating’ the front of the cab, in order to better protect the crew in the cab in the event of an accident. I’d say, from these, and the other photos I’ve seen, as well as the fact that neither of the crew men were seriously injured, that the design worked very well!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Trains - Pets - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Pets - Trains - Visual FoxPro

Whispering to Dogs….

2007-01-06T14:29:00.000-05:00

If you’re a dog owner, and have cable television, chances are you’ve at least seen the show “The Dog Whisperer” in the listings. Even if you haven’t yet taken the time to watch an episode or two and check it out.

In talking about the show with friends and acquaintances, I’m finding that folks seem to be divided cleanly into two distinct camps over the show, and the man, Cesar Millan.

It seems people love him, and his methods, or they absolutely hate him.

I found myself fairly baffled, especially at those folks who clearly do not like, or agree with, his methods. His methods never include any sort of mistreatment, or any of what I’d call ‘aversion’ conditioning, but rather, a more proactive, direct, firm, but gentle, approach.

Those of you who know me, know I’m not a fan of using ‘corporal punishment’ to train a dog, I’d rather the dog simply understand what I want, and just do it.

I’ve had moderate (I say moderate because I now know so much more is possible) success in the past, and have often told folks who’ve asked why my dogs were so well behaved that it was because I expected them to be. I’ve also always treated my dogs, like dogs, or at least how I used to think dogs expected to be treated. I’ll admit to projecting human qualities to them at times, it’s often just hard not to, but in the end I’ve always reminded myself that they’re dogs, and not humans.

I think, that most of the dislike people have of Cesar, and his methods, stems from his core belief that the ‘owner’ is at the root of all undesired dog behavior.

Most of us, including me, hate to be told that something is our fault. It’s much easier to project the problem back on the dog (in this case) than to accept responsibility for the problem and therefore responsibility for what’s needed to correct it. Strangely enough though, I think that’s what I like best about his methods, they put me in control of obtaining the behavior I want, and work quickly, almost effortlessly, compared to anything I’ve done/tried before.

My wife and I have been experimenting with the methods we’ve seen on the show. Especially using a leash correctly, and taking control of the walk.

His philosophy of exercise, discipline and then affection it so simple, it’s hard to believe the difference it makes.

As my regular readers know, we rescued our dog Lulu from the local shelter. When we first brought her home, she would roll over and pee if you tried to pet her… She was especially afraid of me and would normally roll over on her back, tail tucked between her legs, when I entered the room she was in.

Outside the house she was very difficult to control on the leash, off the leash she’d tear off across our yard, then the neighbor’s yard(s) and I’d end up down the block before I’d be able to get her back.

Both Maryan, and I were very concerned about our inability to control her, and that she seemed interested in the cats more as a meal (or a snack), than in having them as friends.

As we’d both seen “The Dog Whisperer” show, and had been impressed with what we’d seen, we decided we’d try out a few of his methods.

Two in particular stood out to me (us). The first was the “Tshhhst” sound he makes, on the show; it always gets the dog’s attention, and nearly instantly. The second was using the leash, but up high, right behind the ears, instead of lower, near the base of the neck.

A third method, using a treadmill, to provide exercise when you’re otherwise unable to take the dog for a walk, seemed like something we’d like to be able to use (as Maryan has had great difficulty walking for any extended period of time) “if” we could figure out how to get her to do it. It seemed nearly impossible to us initially as just the sound of the treadmill seemed to scare Lulu.

I’m happy to report, that in just a few short weeks these three, seemingly small, techniques, have transformed our life with Lulu. She’s far more confident, calm and far less of a ‘handful’. Maryan is now able to take Lulu with her when she walks to the mailbox; Lulu is attentive, calm and incredibly gentle on the leash now. No longer tugging, or refusing to move, but instead she’s become a great walking companion.

She, and the cats have made friends, and we’ve all become “a pack”... my only real wish is that these same methods would work on the cats!!

As for that “Tshhhst” sound... I can attest that it works and it works so well that I’m amazed each time we use it. I think it works on two levels, first, the sound alone triggers something in the dog, but second, and maybe more importantly the sound is free of any vocally inflected emotion. The dog hears the sound, knows where it came from, and simply focused his/her attention on the sound and the person who made it.

More importantly, there’s that lack of vocal emotion... One of the things I picked up from the show was that dogs quickly pick up emotional clues from us, if we become agitated or excited, they become agitated or excited (or more, if they already were). So when we ‘yell’ at a dog, we get exactly the opposite of the effect we’re looking for.

I don’t know what your position on Cesar, and/or his methods are, but, I can tell you this, they work. They work without either of us becoming agitated, frustrated or angry. We’re able to have the dog we wanted, without any sort of traditional discipline... just walks and consistent expectations on our part.

Getting Lulu on the treadmill was the most difficult of the three, the first time we tried it literally scared the crap out of her. We persisted however, initially just getting her up on it (with it off), sitting on it, and laying on it etc... Then once she’d get up there without any fear, we started it up. Initially she’d try and get off, but with her on the leash, and keeping her up there, she eventually started walking. Today, she’ll actually get our attention and then go to the treadmill as if she’s asking for a session. It has been a truly amazing transformation.

Our cat "Precious" and Lulu have become such good friends, they acually will sleep next to one another at times! They were both pretty comfortable until Lulu decided she needed to take a closer look at the camera!

One last observation... When we first got Lulu, I found myself comparing her to ‘Maxine’ a Sheppard/Husky mix I had years ago. Maxine was really a great dog, she was loving, loyal, great with kids, essentially just a joy to have around. What I realized though, was that I was remembering Maxine, as she was, not as how she started out. In the beginning she’d been nearly impossible to house train, she’d run off if she wasn’t closely watched, but, eventually she became a member of the ‘pack’ and a valued member at that.

I decided that the sort of comparison I was doing was unfair... after all I’d had Maxine for almost 14 years, nursed her back from near death twice... and we’d formed a real bond. We hadn’t done that overnight, in reality it took years... and just grew naturally. I think that right now, I’m only a few weeks with Lulu, from being where I was with Maxine after a couple of years.

Last, if you stop in here often, you might remember that initially, I thought adding a dog, especially one that was pregnant, and had spent over half her life in a shelter, to the ‘mix’ at home was not a good idea. I was 100% wrong; adding this animal to our home has been a wonderful experience. It’s allowed us to focus on something other than illness, and to focus on the dog. This animal has not only been fun to have, but, in the process of working with her, she’s helping to rehabilitate us as well!

If Cesar lived locally, I’d head over to his place to personally thank him. His techniques are so simple, so basic, and so gentle that my only regret is that I didn’t know about them 20 or 30 years ago!!

His overall philosophy, one of balance, ties closely to my own. I’m of the belief that in order to achieve balance we need to live, “in the now”. It’s a belief most often touted by eastern religions, but, that once it’s examined, causes you (or at the very least it caused me) to realize that the ‘now’ is all we ever have. The past is gone, and nothing about the future is guaranteed, all we ever have is the moment we’re living in, right now.

Discovering that dogs, very much live in the moment, has altered a lot about how I not only interact with Lulu, but with my life in general.

While Maryan and I are very happy we found homes for all of Lulu’s puppies, I find myself, at times, a bit sad that we couldn’t have just kept them all. Unfortunately, our town has a law that no household can have more than two dogs over the age of four months. If I thought I could make a living at it as he has, I’d buy some land and start my own large pack. When I see the love Cesar’s pack has for him, I’m honestly a little envious. I’d love to have a dozen or more dogs, living together, balanced like that, and share the ability to create that environment with others. Who wouldn’t??

I think the most important thing that’s coming out of his show, and his interactions, is that parents, and children, are learning how to interact with dogs. They in turn can show others, and eventually the children will grow up show their children… This guy will have an impact far beyond his ability to touch people personally, and will continue to have a positive impact on future generations. What a great legacy to leave behind.

I’d love to hear from you, what’s your stand? Do you love this guy, and his methods, or hate him? If you’re opposed to what he’s doing, I’d really like to know why. If you’ve got a success, or failure, story of your own, I’d love to hear it.

As always, thanks for stopping in!

Technorati Tags: Dog Whisperer - Comfort - Decisions - Pets
-IceRocket Tags: Pets - Decisions - Comfort - Dog Whisperer

Man I Love Writing Software…

2007-01-03T16:26:00.000-05:00

Even when I’m not getting paid to do so...

I had a couple of hours last evening and decided to look into a problem a good friend asked me to help him solve.

He’s a photographer, and has a fairly extensive website that displays his work. Up until now he’s had to run each of his photos through a manual process to place a ‘Proof’ bar across the picture before posting it to his website.

The idea was, how can we, programmatically, run a series of pictures through a process to place a ‘proof-mark’ across the photo? Doing that allows the picture to be seen, and appreciated, yet prevents it from being taken and used elsewhere with out him being compensated for his efforts.

Well, truth be told he asked me to look into this many, many, months ago, and I’m sure he thought I’d either forgotten about it, or given up on writing something to address his need.

For whatever reason, last night I was thinking about all the other Windows API functions I’d been able to employ to handle FTP downloads both from the internet and from the Main Frame at the job, that I decided to look into the GDI portion of the API and see what I could come up with.

So, for a couple of hours I wrestled with the rather terse (to me) GDI documentation, and attempted to read, and rewrite a picture, then a picture with some text added, then added a ‘bar’, then placed the text in that bar.

Eventually I had an, admittedly incomplete, little application that will read an image file, create a semi-transparent rectangle and place some text inside the rectangle that’s fairly centered as well.

Now this might not seem like much to some of you, but I assure you I was close to dancing on the desk once I got this working.

If he thinks it will meet his needs, I'll tweak it just a bit to provide an interface and he’ll be able to specify a source and target directory and just click “Go” and have all the images in that directory ‘Proofed’ in one shot…

This is not rocket science, but it is definitely one of the things I love about writing software… being handed a problem and then finding a way to solve it.

The best part? That I did it in FoxPro of course… That language that no one seems to have an interest any more, but that continues to ‘come through’ in every situation I toss at it. It’s really a shame it doesn’t get the respect it deserves!

Here’s a sample of a before:

And the after:

Keep in mind folks, this is a language designed to manipulate databases, NOT images.

Again, it’s not software to cure a disease, or change the world, but a little (less than a couple of hundred lines of code) application that does exactly what I set out to do.

It’s also a little project I had a ton of fun wrestling with!!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Images - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Images - Visual FoxPro

Happy New Year!!

2007-01-01T21:59:00.000-05:00

I know that I’ve been absent a lot of late, real life issues have kept me pretty busy, on several fronts. Despite being busy, I know the real reason I’ve been away is that I’ve not felt particularly creative, in fact if the truth is known I’ve pretty much been just “Pickin ‘em up… and Puttin ‘em down”

Which is, of course, a euphemism for just going through the motions… I first heard it in boot camp, when a drill instructor told me I wasn’t there to enjoy the process, and to just keep “Pickin ‘em up… and Puttin ‘em down” as we continued on our march.

Over the past few months, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in waiting rooms, doctors offices and hospitals.. all of which redefines ‘patient’ in ways I’d never really fully pondered in the past. I don’t know where I found the patience to not simply strangle one of the doctors with 180 degree opposing positions on my wife’s condition… or how I managed to stay calm and demand both ‘professionals’ get in the room with us and decide who was right instead of leaving it to us to figure out.

Somehow, we got through these past few months… and I’m 100% convinced 2006 was our ‘turning point’ year. That in 2007 and going forward we’ll be healthier… and stay that way… that’s how I face the fear of the alternative, I simply refuse to let it be a part of my reality set.

Over the months though, I’ve had quite a bit of time for reflection, introspection, and I think I’ve discovered some things, about me, and maybe about finding joy in life, even when some folks would say you had nothing to be happy about.

There’s an old Zen proverb that goes something like this:

“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”

I’ve always taken this to mean, regardless of your ‘state of enlightenment’, life itself continues. (If you find yourself totally intrigued by the proverb, you can spend several years researching its meaning as entire books have been written about its meaning.)

A friend of mine asked me recently how it was I’ve been able to not be out riding (on the motorcycle) when I get so much enjoyment from doing so. (For those of you new to the blog, prior to 2002, my wife and I were out on the road, on the bike, most weekends and usually took motorcycle vacations.)

Initially I told him I’d just put if off for a while, and that I missed it, and was sure we’d get back to it one day soon. As I’ve thought more about it though, I’m not so sure we’ll ever get back to riding like we once did, hell I’m not sure we’ll ever go riding again.

That thought however, got me to thinking.

Was it the actual ‘riding’ I found so much joy in, or was it something else?

The truth is, I enjoyed the process, at least as much, if not more than, the actual ride. Certainly I’d enjoyed the process far more than any single destination or group of destinations.

Then I realized that somehow, somewhere, I’d changed.

There was a time when I’d been totally focused on the goal that I never even noticed the process of reaching it. That once I’d reached a goal, I never took any time to enjoy the thrill of achievement, but rather, focused on the next goal and achieving that one.

That ‘epiphany’ had me thinking about the ‘welding cart’.

I *really* enjoyed the process of building that little piece. Each cut; measurement and tack weld… even the mistakes… I reveled in it… immersed myself in it.

It’s certainly far from the most complex thing I’ve ever done with steel and a torch; in fact it’s one of the simplest, but, for whatever reason, this time I was able to just get lost in the process.

Motorcycling is like that for me as well. There the pre-trip preparation. Oil change, routine maintenance, checking tire pressures, a wash and wax, packing for the trip etc… Some of our fun talks when we reminisce about a trip is how we (mostly my wife) managed to pack everything we’d need for a 10 day trip into two small saddlebags and one ‘back pack’ style bag. Less space than we’d normally use for a weekend away in a car trip.

I’ve started to get all ‘Zen-like’ with regards to the truck project as well. (long time readers will remember the zest with which I started that project) I done nothing on it in over a year, except to move a few things around and lament the fact that I’ve done little or nothing on it.

So, as we start off this new year I’ve decided I’m going to focus less on work related goals, and more about the ‘process’ of my life. I’ll start back in on the truck project, get back in the gym and tackle several projects around the house that I’ve been putting off (like finishing the work in our ‘natural area’)…

I have but one resolution for 2007, to find more joy in the process of living, to allow myself to focus on the process rather than the end result, and enjoy ever facet of that process, even the set backs and failures.

Stay tuned... This time next year you can let me know how you think I did!!

Technorati Tags: Life - Decisions - Reflections
-IceRocket Tags: Reflections - Life - Life

Merry Christmas. . .

2006-12-26T16:31:00.000-05:00

That's right, Merry Christmas!

Not "Happy Holidays" or have a "Great Holiday Season"... It is Christmas after all!

Oh... a belated Happy Hanukah to all of my Jewish readers as well!

I really don’t like the trend towards removing the symbolism from the holiday and attempting to make it a ‘generic’ holiday… maybe it’s because I grew up with all of the symbols, Christmas trees, manger scenes and so on, that without them it just doesn’t ‘feel’ the same to me.

No, I’m not going off on a holiday rant, just stating my position on it all. I think that the meaning, and symbols, of a holiday are an integral component of the celebration. The next thing you know Easter will be up for grabs.

Anyway… I know I’ve been absent, missing in action… the truth is, I’ve just not been inspired to write much lately… a lot going on here, not the least of which is the end of my current contract without an extension, or a finalized employment offer.

Yeas, I’ll still be working, but now it’s a ‘day-to-day’ thing, with no timeline in place. Normally, I would have had a new contract in place back in November. I should have pushed the issue, but, with so much to deal with on the personal front, I just let it slide.

I know I shouldn’t have, but, the truth is, I’m not worried, and I don’t really care. I’m more focused on my wife, and helping her get through what ever she has to go through, that every thing else is pretty much secondary.

That said, we had a wonderful Christmas… we spent it relaxing, and cooked a prime rib roast for dinner, man was that good!! Tonight Nina is stopping in for a visit as she’s home for the holiday and we’re looking forward to seeing her and catching up on everything that’s happened since she moved to Charleston, SC.

So, for those of you who’re still stopping in, thanks!! Please accept my wish that you, and your families have had a very Merry Christmas, and enjoy a Happy, safe, and prosperous New Year!!

Technorati Tags: Christmas - Holiday - Family
-IceRocket Tags: Family - Holiday - Christmas

Welding Project. . .

2006-12-02T13:44:00.000-05:00

Ok.. so I know I've continued to be a very bad blogger... long absences... but honestly I've been very busy.

Work has been absolutely crazy busy. We're deploying the second phase of a year long development effort next Tuesday. This is an application used across the rail industry to not only track but to also aid in maintaining the health of all of the 1.8 million (that's right *million*) pieces of active railroad equipment on the tracks today.

Testing this application, identifying issues, suggesting improvements and writing the user guides has pretty much occupied my every waking moment for the month of November.

I'm doing web casts next week to demonstarte all of the new features to our customers as well as running internal demonstrations and training for our customer service folks. So I had to develop all of thos scripts this month as well.

Now I could have started earlier, but the application didn't exit development until the 9th and I wanted to include only the most current screen images in the documentation.

So that's my excuse for not blogging... but, I did take about a day and a half out to build myself an 'extension' for my welding cart. (Hence the title of this post)

Anyway... when I got my new MIG welder a couple of years ago, it came with a small cart. It was nice that they included it in the 'package', but a couple of things have always bugged me about that cart.

First, while it rolls quite easily, there was no handle so it was always an adventure navigating it to where I wanted to use it in the garage.

Second, there were no built in 'hooks' to hang the various cable and cords, or the welding helmet from.

So, when I recently acquired a used Plasma cutter (I traded a woodsplitter I had for it) I decided that instead of getting a separate cart for the cutter, I'd build an extension for the existing cart, and, while I was at it fix the two things that always bugged me.

Before I started in on this project the cart looked like this...

The first thing I did was to build the outside frame rails. The trick here was to make them exactly the same size, with perfectly square corners and such that the top edges were level to the rest of the cart.

Once that was done, I added two cross braces. One in the front, and one in back. The only real trick here was keeping the outsides aligned and making sure I had room to open the side access panel on the welder so I'd be able to change the wire without removing the welder from the cart.

In the second picture below you can also see the difference in the length of the front and rear 'legs' of the frame rails. While having these unequal sides made aligning everything a bit more difficult it allowed me to better balance the additional load of the plasma cutter on the cart.

Then I added a handle. I angled it forward about 30 degrees, to ease access to the front panel of the plasma cutter, and just to lower the handle height a bit.

After I had everthing tack welded and lined up, I attached the 'legs' to the existing cart and finished welding all of the seams. Securing the legs to the cart helped keep everything aligned during this final welding as one of the problems in welding up a 3D object like this is the tendancy for the tubing to warp as it's heated and cooled.

I also added the 'pan' that the plasma cutter will sit on.

Once everything had cooled, I removed the new frame from the cart, ground the welds, cleaned and sanded all the steel and painted it a satin black to match the rest of the cart.

In these next two pictures you can see the four 'hooks' I added to allow me to hang the cables and cords when they're not in use.

Once the paint had dried overnight, I reassembled the frame to the cart and began storing the cable and cords on the 'hooks' I'd installed.

So there you have it... one customized welding cart...

Interestingly enough though, I hardly had it all put away before I started thinking about a couple of other 'enhancements' I should have made!!

Oh, and lest you think I'm so talented that this all went together without a hitch... the truth is it took me two tries, the first try warped during the final welding as I'd forgotten how steel will do that if it's not prevented from doing so byt being held in place!!

I've missed you all and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! With any luck, starting towards the end of next week I'll have time to blog on a more regular basis.

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Welding - Tools - Home Shop
-IceRocket Tags: Home Shop - Tools - Welding - Visual FoxPro

I’ve Been Busy… Still..

2006-10-29T11:01:00.000-05:00

In all honesty though, I’m really happy and having fun, even if I am exhausted.

Maryan had a total Thyroidectomy last week (on Wednesday) so I’ve been tending to her, on top of tending to all ten of the new puppies, the two cats, and attempting to keep the house in some sort of order close to the way she keeps it!

I took Wednesday-Friday off from work, and while I did log a few hours, despite all the work, mostly while Maryan was sleeping, it was probably less than 12 total.

I’ve been having so much fun with the puppies, that it’s difficult to treat this as any sort of ‘chore’. They’re walking pretty well now, and are so sociable and friendly that feeding and watering them becomes a ‘pet’ fest.

I’ll admit that the cleanup after all of these little guys is among my least favorite tasks; even that task will get me giggling as they try to “help” by attacking the end of the rake or shovel.

It seems that at this age they actually grow a little (visibly) each day… and that growth is evidenced by how much they can eat. We’re going through about 40 pounds of dog food a week… its tough some days keeping food available to them all!

Maryan is doing pretty well, she’s still in some post-surgical pain, but it’s been diminishing with each passing day and that’s been a blessing in and of, it self.

She struggled with a Thyroid ailment called “Hashimoto’s disease” for about three years. When it was first discovered one of the doctors recommended a partial thyroid removal, which would not have ended the progression of the disease, simply removed the effected tissue. In the end, this disease destroys the entire thyroid, so she opted to wait until such time as a complete removal was called for.

Hashimoto’s is an immune system disorder. In short, the immune system decides the thyroid is “foreign” and attacks it in much the same way it attacks the flu virus. When you have Hashimoto’s, you feel like you have the flu, all the time. No on knows exactly what causes the disease, and there’s no ‘cure’ short of removing the thyroid.

If you’ve ever battled a case of the flu, you know how she’s felt, everyday, for about three years.

The surgeon seems fairly confident that this procedure will have her feeling ‘normal’ again, but the return to normalcy will take place over several months, slowly, but steadily.

She may never get back to her ‘old self’, but, she should end up feeling much more like her old self than she has in quite some time.
Initially, I thought us adopting a pregnant dog, and keeping the puppies until they’re weaned was a crazy idea. However, when I see her face light up when she’s watching them play, or when I bring one or two in the house for her to hold, it’s all worth every second of time, and every bit of effort they take each day.

I’ve actually found myself wishing we could keep all ten puppies as they’re so cute, and loving. I know though that us having eleven dogs, and two cats is just not realistic, or even within our realm of possibility.

I do wish though that we’d find some homes for these little guys… I hate the though of taking them back to the shelter… I know they won’t get the kind of care they’re getting now, and there’s a possibility they won’t all get adopted.

Stay tuned, if the weather holds out we’re planning on taking all of them out in the yard to play later this afternoon… and taking some pictures… which I’ll post as quickly as I can get them uploaded.

Technorati Tags: Comfort - Pets - Family
-IceRocket Tags: Family - Pets - Comfort

The Annual Gasoline Engine Maintenance Party. . .

2006-10-15T13:07:00.000-04:00

Or maybe, it’s just an annual ‘pity party’ as the only one usually invited… is me.

Now I know I should start, and run all of my various gasoline powered pieces of lawn and garden equipment once a month or so… fire them up, and then let them run 15 or 20 minutes each.

Then, depending on who you ask, you should either let them run out of fuel (or close the fuel shutoff and wait for the engine to die), or, place some fresh ‘stabilized’ fuel in the tank.

So, depending on my mood, or the particular piece of equipment, I’ve done both.

It doesn’t seem to make much of a difference… eventually; one or more pieces will refuse to start, especially if I’ve neglected to give them their monthly ‘attention’.

I suppose it’s because of my upbringing. A time when gas, fresh from the pump was already ‘stable’, or as stable as a highly volatile liquid ever is, and didn’t turn into some sort of sludge resembling dried varnish, in as little as 30 days.

Maybe it’s because I have ‘too much’ gasoline powered equipment… Naaa, that can not possibly be it!!

I have fond memories of firing up the tiller in the spring, burning a tank or two of fuel tilling the gardens and then returning the tiller to the shed until it was used once more to turn the garden in late fall. Between those two uses, it sat, quietly in the back of the shed, having just been shut off and wheeled there.

No ceremony, no ritual, just hit the kill switch and roll it into the shed until you needed it the next time. It was always ready the next time, one or two pulls and it would be ready to go to work again.

The same was true for everything, the mower(s), chain saw, snow blower, tractor and every other piece of gasoline powered equipment I’ve owned. Despite not being used for close to a year, they'd always, or almost always, start on the second or third pull.

These days, despite using a fuel stabilizer and following the aforementioned ‘rituals’, I’ve discovered it’s still about a 50/50 shot as to whether any one piece of equipment will start, or not.

All the small engine shops tell me it’s the gas, and that I must use a fuel stabilizer (I do) and follow the procedures (I do)… and make sure to run each piece of equipment at least once a month for 15 or 20 minutes (I don’t)…

So, each fall I spend at least one day (this particular day actually) trying to start everything that hasn’t been used, and fixing the ones that refuse to start.

Normally I wait until a bit later in the fall, but, as I have a fellow who’d like to trade me a plasma cutter for my wood splitter (I know I’d use a plasma cutter far more than I do the splitter) I decided to fire everything up this weekend, including the splitter.

As expected some didn’t start, namely the splitter, the push mower and the generator. Fortunately, these little one or two cylinder gas engines are pretty simple.. no real complicated electronics… they need three things, fuel, air and a spark at the proper moment.

I eliminate the fuel question by placing a small amount of fuel directly into the carb (you should never use “starting fluid” especially with two stroke engines) and attempting to start it, if it fires, and quickly dies… there’s definitely a ‘gas shortage’. If it still doesn’t fire I replace the spark plug, if there’s still no response if heads to the small engine shop.

I used to be intimidated by the carburetors on small engines… yep, me… a guy who could pretty much rebuild a Holley with my eyes closed… I was once baffled by the little carburetor on a small engine.

No more though…

I owe it all to a fellow who was a co-worker of mine. He’d been given an older John Deere riding lawn mower, and while short of money he needed to mow his lawn and was offering beer in exchange for my help. In those days the lure of a cold beer would get me almost anywhere!

You see I was the only ‘gear head’ he knew and he was counting on my help. I wasn’t about to confess my inhibitions with respect to small engines… so I sucked up my fears and told him I’d be glad to help.

It turned out that they’re extremely simple, one ‘jet’ and one fuel passage… if the jet and the fuel passage are clear, they’ll work… if not, they don’t. I took his new prize apart in his driveway discovered the ‘blockage’, cleared it, reassembled it and the little mower roared back to life.

I also discovered that day, that unlike the big Holley’s I knew so well, I didn’t, and don’t, have drill bits small enough to use for cleaning… instead I’ve taken to using strands of small copper electrical wire.

Cheap, and something I always have handy in the shop, a couple strands of fine copper wire works wonders. Soft enough it won’t damage the passageways, strong enough to clean things up nicely.

I’m done with my annual ritual, all the equipment is running… and I only had to replace one fuel line. Yep one of the fuel lines was actually turning into ‘goo’ from contact with what passes today for gasoline.

I don’t remember ever having to replace fuel lines before… except when they became so old and cracked they’d began to look like they might start leaking. These days though, the fuel we’re being sold is eating up parts. I know it’s not just me, as I helped a friend fix a mower a while back and at the root of his problem was a rubber ‘seat’ on the float valve… it had been entirely dissolved by the fuel.

You’d think that with the price of fuel, and technology, what it is… we’d have better, not worse, fuel today than we did 20 years ago. The sad fact is, we don’t.

Each year, around this time I begin to question my addiction to all things powered by internal combustion engines… but, as each of those little marvels roars back to life, I’m reminded of ‘why’ I’m so addicted. For anyone who has brought one ‘back to life’, that feeling needs no explanation… to the uninitiated though, I don’t know if I can actually describe it, except to suggest that you think back on any profound feeling of accomplishment you’ve ever had, and then you’ll have a sense, a taste, of how I feel when ever I bring something mechanical ‘to life’.

Despite hating the ‘ritual’… I love the end result.

Technorati Tags: Gasoline - Lawn Garden - Decisions - Small Engines
-IceRocket Tags: Small Engines - Decisions - Lawn Garden - Gasoline

Another Trip "Home". . .

2006-10-14T11:49:00.000-04:00

I say home, because every time I make the trip, it is truly like I’m going home. While I love living, and working (especially *having work!!) here in North Carolina, I really do miss living in Upstate NY.

There’s a lot to miss, and I’ve certainly gone on, and on, about the aspects I miss here before. The fact remains though, that unless there’s a turn around in the economy, moving back is not in my immediate future.

I left for ‘home’ after work on a Thursday, the plan being to get as far as I could, find a Hotel/Motel for the night and drive the rest of the way in the morning. It was close to 11 though before I stopped, about 2 hours later than I’d planned. It seems the folks in DC had heard about my trip and arranged an early traffic snarl up just to make my drive interesting (and give me something to complain about).

Other than that though, the trip was pretty uneventful.

I arrived at Mom and Andy’s place right around noon, we spent a very nice afternoon sitting around, talking, catching up and, in general, just enjoying one another’s company.

As it was the week of Mom, and Andy’s birthday, as well as their anniversary… I’d told them dinner was on me, where ever they wanted to go, and to invite who ever they’d like to join us.

I’d been expecting that Kathy and her husband would join us, but hoping some of the other siblings might as well. As it turned out, we had a slight communication gap, and Mom thought I was coming in a day earlier, and as such we had a smaller dinner party than I’d expected. Just the five of us, but, regardless, we had a great time, great food, and even better conversation!

Here are the dinner guests....

Mom and Andy.....

My Sister Kathy and her husband Joe. . .

and of course me... with the guests of honor. . .

The next day, I headed over to North Bay to visit my buddy Whit. You may recall that Maryan and I made a trip up last summer to attend his daughter’s (my goddaughter’s) graduation party and stayed the week to visit with friends and relax a bit. Well Whit and I have stayed in touch over the past year or so, and while I didn’t have a lot of time, I took some to hang out with Whit, and his family.

On Saturday he and I hung out in the shop, I lent a hand where I could, but the truth is these guys don’t need much help, they’re pretty much on top of the ‘game’.

Here’s an updated shot of the shop (that was under construction last year) and some activities…

THe outside of the now completed shop. . .

Whit doing a little "bizness" on the phone. . .

and of course, a shot of the dog!!

Saturday night we went out to dinner at a great little Italian restaurant, Maryan will be forever sorry she wasn’t there for that meal… excellent food, and once again great company and conversation.

On Sunday, we had a leisurely start to the day, a nice (but hearty) breakfast, did a little maintenance on a family members car, and then Leslie and Jake headed out to the market for the day.

Whit and I took a ride around the area, checking out some of our old haunts, he was showing me things that have changed… what hasn’t changed (it’s nice to know some things haven’t!!) … and in the midst of all of that I got him to drive by my old house, and the lot Maryan and I sold a year or so ago….

Here’s the old North Bay homestead. . .

The new house going up on the lot we sold. . .

Sunday evening I made dinner. My adaptation of Justin Wilson’s Catfish Creole. Instead of Catfish we used Shrimp.

Whit and I went grocery shopping, grabbed a little of everything I remembered I’d need.

Of course I forgot a couple of items… and was having so much fun talking and laughing while I was cooking that I actually forgot to add a couple of ingredients… but in the end it was edible… and once again it was the company and the conversation that was the star of dinner anyway.

At some point Saturday or Sunday I’d used the phrase “Cowboy Up”… we got to talking about it and I mentioned it was one of my favorite phrases, and heard it in the movie “Tears of the Sun”… Whit hadn’t seen the movie, so while we were out, we rented it, and relaxed in front of the TV Sunday night.

All too soon it was Monday morning and I was loading up the car and hitting the road to go home….

I have only two regrets about the trip… I regret I didn’t have more time, and that I didn’t do it sooner.

One way or another, I’ll be making more trips in the months to come. I know for sure I need at least a week to do, and visit with, everything and everyone, I’d like to.

Mom, Andy, Kathy and Joe... Thanks for having dinner with me, it's been too long between visits!!

Whit, Leslie and Jake… thanks for having me up, and for your wonderful hospitality!!

Technorati Tags: Home Again - Friends - Family - Good Times
-IceRocket Tags: Good Times - Family - Friends - Home Again

I know I've been gone awhile. . .

2006-10-08T15:49:00.000-04:00

First, let me say I’m sorry for not posting in such a long time.

Second, thanks to everyone who dropped me a note and asked if I was Ok… I was truly flattered that each of you took the time to do that.

Last, why the absence?

Well, to make a long story short, I’ve just been very; very busy, both, at home, and with work.

It’s the busy at home aspect I’d like to share with you today.

About four weeks ago Maryan and I adopted a dog from the local shelter. Not a big deal, in and of itself, as folks do that every day. The ‘big deal’ part is that she was pregnant, and within a couple of weeks of delivering the puppies.

Maryan fell in love with Lulu, and wanted her, pregnant, or not. The pressing issue was that if she stayed at the shelter and delivered the puppies, they were going to put her down once the pups were weaned. That’s right, regardless of us wanting to adopt her; after she gave birth she would have been deemed ‘un-adoptable’ and put down.

So, the only real choice to Maryan was to take the dog home, then and there, with the stipulation they would take the puppies back after they were weaned.

That’s exactly what she did.

I had a trip up to New York planned, for the next weekend, and sure enough, while I was gone, Lulu delivered all ten (that’s right TEN!!) of her puppies. So, I went from a no dog, to an eleven dog, household overnight.

With that came the need for some ‘housing’… two reasons actually, one to provide a warm, dry and safe environment for the puppies, and second, to protect Lulu’s ‘honor’. While the corner of our patio was working nicely, we both felt a more permanent and secure place was needed, especially when we both had to be away from the house.

You see, she got pregnant at the pound (that’s right, those same folks who preach on, and on, about spaying your pets, placed an un-neutered male, in the same pen with an un-spayed female… go figure), and she can’t be spayed until after she’s finished weaning the puppies.

Soooo… I built her this little place for her and the puppies….

Of course I can’t end this without showing you some more pics ofthe puppies… and the new space I built for her and the ‘kids’…

and, last, but certainly not least... there's still our two cats.

So... that's part of what's been keeping me busy... helping to tend to the "dog pound" and the two cats.. Not to mention work has been a flurry of activity as well.

More on the work scene in a couple of posts, in the next post I'll share some pics of my visit to see some friends and family in Upstate New York!

Anyone want a puppy? Or two, or three??

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Comfort - Pets - Puppies
-IceRocket Tags: Puppies - Decisions - Pets - Visual FoxPro

IBSD... IBIW… IUFG… IBCW… IBDP…

2006-09-10T10:41:00.000-04:00

International Brotherhood of Software Developers….
International Brotherhood of Information Workers….
International Union For Geeks…..
International Brotherhood of Computer Workers ….
International Brotherhood of Data Professionals….

A union for folks who work in the IS/IT field, that’s the topic.

I wrote this on Labor Day; the following is from the US Department of Labor,

“Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

First celebrated in New York City in September of 1882, New York State was the first to make it a State Holiday in 1887, several other states followed, but it took until June of 1894 for it to become a national holiday in the US.

Like most holidays, it too was born of bloodshed. The early days of the labor movement were not only turbulent but complete with suffering and even bloodshed.

Today, we’re shedding jobs more than blood. The new global information infrastructures have turned the world into a marketplace for IS/IT talent, and those of us in this business, in the US, are especially feeling the pinch.

We all felt fairly secure as we watched textile jobs being ‘outsourced’, confident that our skills and abilities would keep us from suffering the same fate. We know now though, that when competing in a global economy, no one, not even highly skilled workers are safe from other, lower cost, competitive markets.

One of the suggestions has been to unionize, to band together and exert pressure on companies to hire ‘onshore’ talent. I have some thoughts about why that hasn’t, and isn’t likely to happen.

First, many, many, corporations are already involved in outsourcing projects. The ‘low cost’ incentive to try is just too high for them not to do so. We can argue all we want about less talented/skilled workers, language and time barriers, communication issues with respect to project specifications and more, it’s pointless though. The stone fact is that companies believe they can accomplish almost as much, for far lower costs, via outsourcing than they can via internal departments.

Second, the average IS/IT worker is far too independent to even want to join a ‘union’. We’ve enjoyed a more than fair wage, a robust job market and built a good career without any union help, thank you very much.

Last, the edge unions once had is gone. The union, as we know it, is a dying concept. Only those jobs which can not be outsourced, moved off shore, can still benefit. Even those jobs, where unions have made huge concessions in an attempt to help a company regain its competitive advantage, financial footing have seen those same companies demand more, and more in the way of concessions (think airlines here folks).

The best thing IS/IT workers could do for themselves today, is to band together and form a ‘service core’. A single organization owned and run by the workers that brokers onshore IS/IT talent to companies. Remove the need for a company to interview a dozen or so candidates for a contract, instead they simply send off the project spec and get it done. (It’s the off-shore model, brought on-shore)

We have a semblance of that today with contract houses, but there’s still the interview process, the recruiting process and getting the worker to the company. In this new model, everything is done off-site except those tasks requiring an on-site, hands on effort like hardware installation/repair.

Personally, I think, that to have a career with longevity, in the IS/IT field today, in the US, something like this needs to emerge. Or, we can simply wait 10, maybe 15 years for the cycle to reverse itself and companies begin to build internal IS/IT groups again.

Let’s face it folks, we live, and work, in a global economy. That trend is not going to reverse itself anytime soon. We need to address that head on, and make some changes to allow ourselves to be competitive, to take back the work that’s headed off shore.

There’s only one way to do that. Be better, faster, and more productive, than everyone else.

I believe strongly, that even if onshore talent was 15, maybe even 25 percent more costly than an off shore source, companies would prefer to work with that group, than with an offshore group.

How do we do that? It’s not going to be easy but it can be done. There would be a need for project managers, lead developers, coders and entry level folks. We’d need a huge, well organized and accessible ‘code base’, in several languages, as well as several development frameworks to build applications around to allow development of features not infrastructure.

Also, and possibly most importantly, we’d need the ability to bring the right mix of top, middle and entry level people together for any project. Blending skill (and therefore pay) levels together to provide a competitive pricing structure. Not simple, not easy, but possible.

So, we’d be building a union of sorts, yes, but not a “union” in the traditional sense. A uniting of skill, talent and people, but not to pressure or force corporations to meet our demands, but instead to provide the best possible mix of people in a way that their competitive advantage would be negatively effected if they chose to ignore it.

Will it happen? I doubt it. There’s no immediate advantage to the individual, it’s not like every IS/IT worker can walk off the job tomorrow and step into this new paradigm. There’s just too much ‘front end’ work to do, and not much in the way of a profit incentive for folks to do so. Let’s face that too, we’re all trying to feed our families, attempting to reinvent IS work in America isn’t going to pay many bills, up front.

I’d sure like to give it a try though… but I’d need a ton of help, folks from all walks of the IS/IT realm, to put a mechanism together, eventually find our first project(s) and bring them in, on time, and on budget. I strongly believe that once a few projects were successfully completed, things would begin to roll forward very, very quickly. We’d need to be prepared for that as well.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to those original labor organizers; they eventually brought management, and workers, together for a common goal, mutual profitability.

That’s still the goal… mutual profitability... without it there’s no common ground. Workers were seen as expendable resources before the labor movement. Through it, management found a work force (initially) as committed to the company’s success as they were, and became willing to pay a little more for that focused and well trained work force.

Until the IS/IT workers are able to prove their competitive advantage, I don’t see any slowdown in the move to offshore as much of the IS/IT effort as is possible.

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Workplace - Outsourcing - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Workplace - Outsourcing - Visual FoxPro

Tales from the road. . .

2006-09-09T11:30:00.000-04:00

I read this today… I’m not sure if you’ll be able to see it, but it’s an interesting read if you can.

It has me thinking about my 2 hours (or more) on the road each day and some of the things I’ve seen just in the past few months.

Take Friday morning for example. I’d been driving, in the same line of cars, for at least ten miles. When I’d slipped into the line it was moving at about 72, maybe 73mph. I noticed a car that had pulled from the line and was coming up very fast on my right. I looked at the dash and saw we were moving at almost 85mph now, and this clown was attempting to pass the entire line and had to be doing close to 95 when he passed me.

About three months ago, I was driving in the ‘slow lane’, moving at a little over 70 (the speed limit on this road is 65),, there’s a semi behind me and a line of cars in front of me… Suddenly this pickup truck passes me on the right, yep he’s on the shoulder… he went by me so fast, I’m guessing he was doing close to 100 that he was out of sight nearly as fast as I realized I was being passed.

This summer, as I’m heading into work, the weather is switching between a light rain to heavy, torrential type, downpours. As I’m approaching one of the really heavy traffic areas I notice there’s been an accident on the other side of the interstate… Someone in an SUV had tried to ‘slip in’ in front of a semi, but, hadn’t quite cleared the front of the big truck… that SUV was wrapped around the front left corner of the semi… and the semi was still on the ‘on ramp’!

Everyday, there’s a driver that makes me wonder, where they could possibly be going at 6:30am and be in that big a hurry! Take those types of chances with not only the lives of others, but, with their own life as well!

I’d like to say that every single one of them has also been yacking on their cell phone, but, only about half are. Most of the cell phone talkers have trouble maintaining a ‘steady speed’… At least once a day, one of these mobile communications obsessed drivers will pass me on the right, pull in front of me and then promptly slow down 5, or more miles an hour, prompting even more folks to attempt a ‘right pass’…

Earlier this week, one nearly rear ended me as traffic came to an abrupt halt… I stopped, and checked the rearview mirror… I could see her closing on my at speed, and was trying to decide to stay put, or pull around the car in front of me and on to the shoulder, when I saw her drop the phone, grab the wheel with both hands and the nose of the car drop as she hit the brakes… she eventually came to a stop, alongside me as she’d pulled on to the shoulder to avoid hitting me.

The cars behind her, were all over the place as well, but, as far as I know, no one hit anyone…

So… what I’d like is you folks to share with me some stupid things you’ve seen on the road… this week, last week, when ever… the worst, the best, anything… I just want some tales of yours… from the road!!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Road Warrior - Driving - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Driving - Road Warrior - Visual FoxPro

More Thoughts on Management (Pt #3). . .

2006-09-04T11:00:00.000-04:00

I’ve been thinking about management quite a bit lately. I’m not sure why as there’s nothing particularly remarkable going on ‘management-wise’ around me at the moment, but, at least a couple of times a day I find myself thinking about management, and managers.

I’ve been fortunate, or unfortunate depending on your particular viewpoint, to have had several managers over the years.

I watched a show a few nights back where they indicated that in previous generations it was unusual for a man to work for more than two different companies in his career. They went on to say that today, a man can expect to work for, on average, seven different companies in his career.

When they said that, I realized I’d worked for at least seven before I was 35, and there’s been at least a dozen since then. There was one year where I received W-2’s from three different companies, and each job was a pretty good one!

So, as a result of all of this turmoil I’ve certainly seen more than my share of managers.

My first real job was working in a large retail store. This was in the mid-60’s and the company, while having a primarily ‘Auto parts’ theme, also sold a variety of other items, like Sporting goods, house wares, tools, lawn mowers, big ticket electronics like refrigerators, Window Air conditioners, TV’s and stereos. They also sold furniture, kitchen cabinets and roofing materials.

I still remember my first day there.

I arrived for work at about 8:45am as the store opened at 9:15am. When I arrived the manager told another guy and me that he was expecting a truckload of roofing that morning, and that while we were waiting for the truck to go down in the cellar and straighten up the stock that was there and make room for the new shipment.

The truck arrived about 11:00, a full flatbed truck with 20 ton, 40,000 pounds of “roofing”. Rolls of felt and ‘half lap’, as well as a more cans of asphalt roof and driveway coating than I’d ever seen on one place before.

We unloaded that truck, by hand, on to a freight elevator, down the one and a half stories into the basement and then carried it, again by hand to the area where this stuff was stored.

It was a little before 12:30 when we finished, and when we got back into the store, the manager urged us to go directly to lunch and to be back by 1:00 as there was another truck expected at that time.

That truck arrived, and was a full load of kitchen cabinets, another 40,000 pounds, this time into the elevator up to the second floor. This time however, while we unloaded the truck by hand, we had 4 wheeled carts to pull the cabinets to their storage area about half way across the building.

We finished that truck shortly after 2:00, and as it was pulling out, another was pulling into the alley, this one was full of toys for the Christmas holidays (keep in mind this was June!)… Once again, off the truck by hand, up the elevator, only this time the toys were stored in the same room as the freight elevator. That truck took us until 3:30 as I recall, and when we came downstairs, the manager greeted us with a couple of cokes and told us there was another, but smaller truck on its way and to wait there, in the ‘back room’ for it.

When it arrived it was smaller, a 20, maybe 25 foot ‘straight job’, packed floor to ceiling, nose to tail with sleds and toboggans (no, not the hat, the curved wooden things you’d slid down a snow covered hill on). I swear that truck was so tightly packed a butterfly would not have fit.

It was about 5:00 when we finished, the sleds also went upstairs, however this time we used a conveyor belt, Joe and I would trade off one of us unloading the truck and loading the conveyor, and the other unloading the conveyor and stacking the goods. Again this was a hand operation, and the sleds where in pairs as were the toboggans. I remember that last pair felt heavier than anything I’d lifted all day.

The next morning, the manager seemed genuinely surprised to see me, ready and willing to work, he even commented on how he’d thought I would bail on the job.

I didn’t, and I continued to work for that company, and him, throughout high school.

I found out, after observing similar days with other ‘new guys’ that this was all part of his plan. He’d hire folks to start on what would most likely be the toughest work the job would ever require, if they came back, he made a place for them. Most, the vast majority, bailed after that first day.

Years later, when I remarked to him that I thought another ‘new guy’ was going to work out, he responded by saying “A new broom, always sweeps clean.” I didn’t understand the meaning behind that, initially, but it eventually sunk in. He avoided making judgments about a ‘new guy’ until they’d had a chance to settle in a bit, and show their ‘true colors’.

As I think back on that job, over the 4 or 5 years I had it, only one or two guys hung in there. Most stayed a little while, but the manual work was more than they wanted to do. Me, I was just happy to be earning enough money to keep my car repaired and in gas, and to date on Friday and Saturday nights!!

I’m telling you this, because, to this day, I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a better, natural manager.

He also taught me at least one, very valuable, lesson that I continue to utilize to this day, nearly 40 years later.

“Never leave work today, without having a plan for tomorrow.”

Now, I’ve used nearly every excuse myself, and heard the excuses I didn’t use from others, as to why it’s impossible to plan tomorrow, today.

To some degree, all of the excuses make sense. It seems that no matter how hard you plan, something always happens during the day, to derail your plan.

However, that ‘derailment’, and knowing it’s a virtual inevitability, is precisely the reason you need the plan! So, that each and every time you come back from that sidetracking event, you know exactly what you’d intended to do, in the order you’d intended to do it

That way, before anything takes you off plan; you can hit the door running and have a shot at getting some things accomplished, without having to make those decisions first thing in the morning. Instead, you made them yesterday when the sense of urgency of each task was fresh in your mind.

My last activity, every day, is to make a short, prioritized, list of the things I intend to accomplish tomorrow. Often it’s nothing more than a list of things I couldn’t finish today. Some from yesterday’s list, others that were assigned to me during the day. It takes no more than 10-20 minutes, but in the morning, I’m working, productively, about as fast as I can get logged in.

Can you say that? Or are you spending the first 15-45 minutes in the morning ‘getting organized’? Reading email to determine the ‘hot list’ from over night… reacting to that, rather than adjusting your plan to place those things properly on your priority stack?

I have more of these thoughts, and I’ll be sharing them as I can get them written up.

As always, please leave me a note, let me know if I’ve struck a chord, if what I’ve said hits home for you, or is totally off base from your perspective.

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Management - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Management - FoxPro

Employee, Contractor, or Self-Employed…

2006-09-02T14:13:00.000-04:00

That folks is the eternal question, for me anyway.

I’ve got about equal experience in all three, and while each has advantages, there are unique drawbacks as well.

As an employee, I almost automatically slip into that ‘comfort zone’ I recently wrote about. Especially as the length of time I’ve been with the company grows. As that first year turns into a second, then a fifth and a tenth or more, I begin to ‘settle in’ and begin to allow myself a shot at believing retirement from “this” job might even be possible.

In my experience however, that just doesn’t seem to be the case, usually. Somewhere along the way, the markets shift, management changes bring on changes in corporate direction, and ultimately some folks are let go in the transition.

I personally think this is about the toughest situation to be in. Out of work after a long time at the same company and finding yourself woefully ill equipped for a job search!

As a contractor, you know the length of the contract. So you, in effect, know the day to expect you’ll be out of work. While for some, this knowledge is more than a little unsettling, to me, it’s far less anxiety producing than that “We’re eliminating your position” speech.

Also, given that you know, with reasonable certainty, you’ll be looking for work again in the near future, you’re far more likely to keep your resume ‘tuned up’, and current with the various job boards. You’ll also reply to emails from headhunters, and in general keep those avenues of communication open, so when the contract ends, you’ll have current names, phone and other contact information readily available.

Being self-employed on the other hand, may be the worst of all possible avenues. While I’ve loved being the owner, the ‘boss’ and having a fairly large say in the direction the company went, I’ve also been at the mercy of the customers.

You’re constantly looking for that next ‘project’, either from existing customers, or attempting to find new ones. The time you spend doing that is rarely productive, in the sense you’re not ‘earning’ while doing that.

Now, instead of one boss, you have several, or in the case of my last venture, several hundred. Each customer with their own agenda, time frames and cost model, which is rarely the same as yours, is. It’s not for the faint of heart folks, if you have trouble budgeting money and building a ‘set aside’ to cover you through the inevitable up, and down, cycles, you’ll find yourself in some very tough financial, and anxiety producing, spots over time.

As I see it there’s no perfect scenario. I have one in my head where I get hired, get paid what I deserve/need, and continue to work (on challenging projects) there, until I decide I’d like to retire. I’m just not so sure it’s not just a fantasy, as opposed to a possible scenario.

Even the possibility of doing what I love until I can retire seems, at times, a fantasy.

I do keep hoping though, that I’ll be able to… I can’t imagine what I’d do, work-wise, if I can’t… I’ve tried just about everything else in the IS/IT field… and frankly, programming, building applications and systems, is what really fires me up.

I do a considerable amount of data ‘mining’, and statistical generation, and I like that, but I need the development aspect to stay enthused.

So, knowing this, I’ve decided to start taking on ‘extra’ projects again. I met with some folks this week about a web project, and from the way things went, it appears I’ll be getting the project. It’s not huge, maybe a week or two in length, but the fellow who brought the project to me, had a number of web clients, and I can see that he might want to have someone like me available to his customers.

I’ll let you all know how the project goes (if, in fact, it materializes). It should be interesting, a mix of Java, PHP, MySQL and CSS. Something I’ve never combined into one project before.

The difference is that this time I don’t intend to go directly to the customer, but, instead to utilize other vendors who already have a relationship with the customer. Leverage that relationship and let them earn some money for bringing me into the customer. Earn from not only the original project, but from everything I (we) ever do with that client.

It’s a new model for me, but I’m hoping it will evolve into something sustainable. At the moment, it seems about the only way I’ll get to do, what I love to do, for as long as I want to do it!!

----------------------------------

On a related, but different topic…..

Jaro Winkler revisited. . .

About fifteen or twenty folks a week, stop by here looking for free code in either VB.Net, or Visual FoxPro to implement the Jaro-Winkler algorithm.

I’ve got a small application done that illustrates the string comparator’s actions and the results it returns. I’ve also finished a DLL, in Visual FoxPro that can be used in a .Net application to deploy my POL (Percentage of Likeness) utility.

I intend to place both tools on the new ASP.Net website when I get them finished, but in the interim I’ve been thinking I’d like to make the code more easily available, at least for the JW algorithm.

I want to make the code available for a couple of reasons. First, it’s not “my” code; it’s simply my implementation of someone else’s code. Considering that William Winkler was generous enough to share his code with me, I feel it’s only fair I share my implementation to anyone else who might want it.

If I knew more about Sourceforge, and I’m thinking more and more in that direction, I think I’d like to post it there with an open license.

Does anyone reading this know what the process is to do that?

Along those lines, while I love SourceForge and all of the available open source software, there’s a distinct shortage (in my mind) of available VFP code available there. There’s some, but considering the huge amount of code written in Visual FoxPro, I wonder sometimes why there isn’t more there.

In the middle of my pondering, it struck me that it’s probably for the same reason(s) I’ve never placed any out there.

I’ve always considered my ‘tool kit’ something proprietary to me, my ‘edge’ if you will in the marketplace.
Is my code ‘strong enough’ to hold up under the scrutiny of the open source community?
Does anyone else really want, or have use for, these utilities I consider crucial to my development efforts?
Can I stand the scrutiny of others going over my code and critiquing it?

I’m going to put all of that aside and look into posting some code there.. I guess we’ll see what happens.

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Comfort - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Comfort - Visual FoxPro

Management? Not me, not any more. . .

2006-08-27T10:57:00.002-04:00

Now that I’ve had my little (Ok, verbose) management rant, I need to say that I have no interest in ever managing, anything or anyone, ever again.

A recruiter called me this week, and while we were talking he wanted me to explain to him how it was possible for me to be ‘just a contractor’ after having been a CFO and a CIO.

There were a couple of seconds of silence from my end as I pondered the question, yet again, and before I answered.

In those few seconds, a couple of things became very clear to me, in fact you could say I had a genuine “moment of clarity”, one is that I'm not "just a contractor", the other had to do more with what it is that gets me out of bed each day.

I’ve never sought out a management position, not once, in any of my various careers.

In each and every case, management was 'forced' on me. You might be thinking that forced is a strong word, but in retrospect, there really was no other choice if I wanted to stay employed.

By the way, to set the record straight, I’ve never considered myself a great, or even a good manager. Hell, I’d fail my own tests!

Regardless though, in every job I’ve ever had, eventually there was the conversation where I’d be told I was being moved, or asked to move, into management. Early on, I was flattered (impressed with myself even) and leapt at the opportunity. Initially I’d “set the house on fire” making changes. I would work hard to make things more efficient, better organized and to foster a better sense of ‘team’ within the department.

Once I got through that process however, I’d find myself bored. Anything that remained to do seemed only incremental; inversely proportionate the effort required to bring the change about… in short, it just wasn’t worth the effort, to me, or to the company.

For quite some time, when that happened, instead of simply finding a new job, I’d find a whole new career.

Then, in the early 80’s I discovered computers, and in particular, programming. There’s been no turning back for me since.

Most would say, or think, that I hit the pinnacle of my career when I became CIO. It’s the top gig in the IS/IT field, when you’re CIO, you’re definitely the top dog in the yard.

What I found though is that despite being the top dog in ‘my world’ I was still not the top dog. Also, once I would make the jump from actually doing, to managing, for me all the fun was gone.

Well not all the fun, but a big chunk of it anyway. I’ve tried, in every management role I’ve had, to take pride in leading my team, and I’ve had some great teams. Most were not comprised of stars, but of folks who had a passion for software development, or infrastructure building and simply needed a place to exercise that passion.

While I’d like to think I provided that, within either my abilities, or the available funding. I do know for certain that I’ve seen some folks, who couldn’t catch a break job-wise, shine once they were given an opportunity.

It wasn’t what I wanted though. I’d find myself envious of their being able to be ‘doing’, to be building the things I’d (or we’d) designed. To be pushing the envelope, finding new and innovative ways to utilize not only new technology, but even the tools we already had.

So, to me, the pinnacle of my career was when I had my little company, in Upstate NY, and Ken and I developed software, together. I never ‘managed’ Ken, he didn’t need managing. Like me, all he ever really needed was to know what was needed; he’d take care of the rest. I definitely wasn’t making much money, in fact most years I paid him more than I had left for myself. It never mattered though, because the truth is, I loved, and I mean loved, going to work!!

If I’d been born with any athletic ability, I would have been a player, not a coach. I know, given my track record I might have coached, but I would have always wanted to play the game.

There’s been some talk recently, of having me manage a project or two at work. While once again I’m flattered that I’m being considered, I’m pretty sure I’d decline the offer. Even if it meant I’d have to find a new gig. I don’t want to manage anything, any more. I want to be doing, building, troubleshooting, debugging, data mining, data manipulation, inventing… I don’t want to manage anything, people or processes, I want to design, and then build them.

I could be happy just building teams, but once they were built, I’d want to be able to turn them over to someone else to manage, and move on to building another.

I’m a builder, not a manager. It’s taken me a while to discover this about myself… I’m almost embarrassed at how long it’s taken… when I look back, I can see, and very clearly, that the points in my life where I was happiest, involved building things. Cars, trucks, buildings, software... it really hasn’t mattered, it’s been the building, the creating, that’s always ‘lit my fire’.

Along with that, has been the team, Ken and I were a team, at times it was difficult for folks to know which sections of an application Ken, or I, wrote. We’d often arrive at the same solution to a problem, at times with nearly identical processes. We had a synergy that I’ve rarely had since. The times I did have it again, we were always following someone elses agenda, so it wasn't quite the same.

So, as I look forward to the closing years of my career, I’m seeking to back up, not move up. I’m trying to get back to doing those things that bring me joy and happiness. I find myself wondering if it’s a good plan, as ‘common sense’ says I should be looking to maximize my earnings now, not seeking ‘fulfillment’…

But, in the end, what good is status, or money, if the price you paid for it was not doing what you love, or enjoying the process of obtaining it?

So.. what is it that gets you out of bed each day and headed for work? Is it just the money, the paycheck? Or is it the "what", of what it is you do?

Technorati Tags: Careers - Comfort - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Comfort - Careers

Management, Managers, Part#2

2006-08-26T10:15:00.000-04:00

Before I get started, Tamar left a link in her comment and I followed it. Joel definitely has some interesting things to say on management. I definitely like his take on things. His company and their basic business plan sound solid as well. I hope he finds all the success he hopes for. You can read his Identity Management piece here.

Here’s the short version of his business model. You can read more about how he puts it into practice here.

Best Working Conditions

→

Best Programmers

→

Best Software

→

Profit!

So… back to qualities of a good manager… or at least those I think are found in great managers.

The last three items on my list are:

Knowledge not only of those being managed, but their jobs as well
An understanding of the company, it’s revenue sources, and how their department aids in revenue development
Remembering that everyone, including their ‘stars’ makes mistakes, often at the worst possible times.

Knowledge of those being managed, and their jobs

This is something that never ceases to annoy me. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times I’ve poured over requirements, tweaked functional design to arrive at what I truly believe is a realistic time line, only to have some non-technical manager toss it back to me with a “It can’t possibly take that long” dismissal of the project timeline.

I don’t care what the ‘job’ is, there are always hidden, often costly (especially in terms of time) needs in getting the job done.

In software development, one of the biggest is integrating new features into an existing application. In order to accurately estimate that, the person (or better yet, persons) responsible for the estimate, must have an excellent understanding of the existing application, the proposed new features, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the development team.

It takes all of that knowledge to properly estimate the project.

Now I’m not talking about shifting a deadline a day, or even a week… I’m talking about a project that has say a 6 month timeline, and management cutting into 3 months to fit some budget number they invented prior to actually scoping the project.

In my experience, this is a classic means to development disaster. Initially, the development group will take on the challenge, as most love a challenge. However, as things progress, and about 30 days into the project the realization will hit them, that, regardless of what they do, they’ll never hit the target.

Inevitably, there’ll be some adjustment, attempts to better allocate the right individual to the right tasks, possibly add two weeks, maybe even a month to the deadline… but eventually, if the original estimate was properly done, everyone will see the ‘light’.

What happens next can often demoralize a previously productive team, and their manager. In order to focus ‘blame’ the other managers will often cite the developers, or their manager as being inept, unable to code to the requirements, or worse as totally incompetent.

Eventually, after things shake out, depending on how mission critical the project was, it will be scrapped, or the developer team will be scrapped and the project restarted. I’ve actually been called in to projects that were on their 3rd iteration of this cycle.

How their department aids in revenue development

Believe it or not, I’ve met managers, especially IS/IT managers who had no idea what the company’s primary revenue source was, or, the belief they did have was about as far from reality as it could have been.

Let’s face it, every company (yes, even a ‘not-for-profit’ company), is in business to make money. It’s not an altruistic endeavor, it’s a money making process.

It’s a huge mistake for anyone, especially a manager, to not fully understand what drives the company’s cash flow, how’s it’s gathered, how it’s spent and how much is left over as profit each year.

It’s an even bigger mistake to not fully comprehend where you, and your team, fit into that equation.

Are you helping drive revenue generation?
Are you providing tools to the sales folks to facilitate revenue production?
Is your group seen as an expense, or a capital investment?

If you’re in a situation where your efforts are viewed simply as a business expense, you’ll be subject to the same cost cutting strategies used to cut the cost of coffee in the break room. On the other hand, if you’re group is seen as an investment in the future of the company, and you produce as though the life of the company depends on it, you’ll be treated as the valuable asset you are.

It’s that simple really… Act like an asset, get treated like one. Behave like an expense, and you’ll be treated as a cost to be minimized where ever possible.

To be treated as an asset, you have to understand the fundamental difference between assets and expenses, to not do so, is corporate suicide.

Remember that everyone makes mistakes, usually at the worst possible time

This item, while it’s last, is certainly not least. I’ve seen some stellar performers just beaten into the ground over a single mistake. I’m talking about someone who’s produced quality work, day in, and day out, for say six months. Then, usually trying to meet one of those imposed deadlines, they miss a crucial test step, and a bad piece of code makes it out of development and into production.

Certainly they didn’t do it ‘on purpose’, if that’s suspected it’s an entirely different matter. No, in this situation it was a mistake, pure and simple, an oversight, a lapse in judgment, or even possibly the incorrect assumption that there was someone else doing sufficient testing ‘down stream’.

I’ve heard the same manager who last week was recommending this same person for a bonus, or some other company perk… screaming the next that “I don’t know why I let you stay on the team!”, “Why is it you never get anything right?”, “You’re damn lucky I’m not firing you over this!”, and on an on…

Look folks (especially if you’re a manager) let’s just set the record straight.

People, make mistakes.

It’s that simple, no one, not even the greatest of the great are ‘perfect’ every single day, at every single thing they do. Jerry Rice is arguably one of the best receivers to ever play professional football. Even he dropped the occasional pass, misread a signal and ran the wrong route… it happens.

A great manager knows this, and works with it, adjusts. Even the best of plans can’t include every single possibility, cover every aspect of potential failure, or test every possible key stroke a user might enter within an application.

The best managers I’ve worked for used every failure as a learning opportunity. They adjusted their overall plan, from start to finish to take this new knowledge into account and to minimize the chance it could happen again.

Notice I said ‘minimize’, not prevent, it from happening. There is no plan that’s 100% perfect in eliminating possible points of failure. The best plans though, are constructed to be flexible, and to look for, and catch as many as possible before they can leave the ‘shop’ and get to a customer.

I’ve got some more to say on management in general, but let’s just say for now, that I believe that having the right working environment, the right staff, and clear well defined (and communicated) goals are the core to making people productive.

Once again, I invite you to share your experiences, and thoughts, good or bad. If you’d rather not post them publicly, go to my profile and drop me an email.. If you email me, put “CCW Management” in the subject line so it doesn’t get caught in my spam filter!!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Management - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Management - Visual FoxPro

Management Style….

2006-08-20T15:52:00.000-04:00

Is that sort of like “Jumbo Shrimp”? A classic oxymoron?

At times I think so.

Most managers have about as much ‘style’ as a laundry bag.

I talk (or write) a lot about bad management, so I thought it was about time I put some words together about what I think makes a good manager. What separates the good from the bad, those with style from the ugly?

It’s a combination of elements actually, not simply one thing.

staying cool in the midst of disaster
fostering teams, as opposed to superstars
ability to see both the big picture, and the details as well
an understanding that while deadlines are important, so are resources to meet them
knowledge not only of those being managed, but their jobs as well
an understanding of the company, it’s revenue sources, and how their department aids in revenue development
Remembering that everyone, including their ‘stars’ makes mistakes, often at the worst possible times.

Stay cool

One of the best Unix guys I’ve ever known used to compare working at a client site to being a concert pianist. That regardless of the obstacles or set backs, you could never let the client wee you sweat.

The idea behind it was if the client saw that you, the ‘expert’, were concerned, or flustered, it would affect their confidence levels. That if they lost confidence, it didn’t much matter what happened next, you were doomed with respect to any ongoing client relationship.

I felt it was a pretty apt analogy, one that also applies to managers. Workers look to the manager in times of trouble to gain a perspective, to understand the extent of the emergency and to be reassured that everything will get resolved. Not only that it will get resolved, but what they need to do to aid in that resolution.

A good manager will rally the troops around a problem, hand out assignments (to everyone not just one or two key players), as well as assist where they can, and monitor the progress. In short, involve the entire team in achieving a resolution, giving each team member a stake in solving the problem.

There won’t be any yelling, screaming or finger pointing. There will be an ability to focus on the problem, and how to fix it, rather than finding an individual to ‘blame’ for it.

There’s plenty of time, after the problem is resolved to take those involved in creating it aside and determining what went wrong, and if there’s a ‘responsibility’, to determine where the breakdown was that created it. Once that’s done, to act swiftly to do what’s required to ensure it will not be repeated.

Foster teams, as opposed to superstars

This one is tough for many managers. It seems that anyone can manage superstars, but it takes a real manager to turn a group of average or above average folks into a superstar team. I suppose if it was easy, there be a league wide tie every year in the NFL.

Any manager can shine with ‘superstars’… the fact is though, that for every one true superstar, there are 100 maybe a 1,000 of the rest of us. If you want to manage people, to do it effectively you need to learn how to play to the strengths of each of the individual players. Learn to maximize their efforts, and therefore their contributions, to their strengths, not their weaknesses.

That might seem like a no brainer, but I’m willing to bet everyone of you has seen a manager assign a task to someone not at all well suited to it, simply because there was ‘room on their plate’. The harder call is to reallocate some of the existing tasks, to get the right person on the right tasks, so that everyone is playing to their strengths where ever possible.

Fostering teams, also means doing more than just saying you want everyone to work as a team. It means encouraging team meetings, both formal, and informal. Encouraging, no, expecting, that the team members talk to each other, toss around ideas, argue, and find the best solutions, together, not as individual components.

I’ve seen too many managers focused on the ‘head down’ mentality, and in virtually every case, the team suffered. The results of their efforts where diminished, and deadlines loomed, had there been a little more communication, a lot more could have been accomplished, with a lot less stress.

See both the big picture and the details as well

Most managers can see the big picture; the best managers see each of the details as well. They understand the whole model, front to back, end to end and everything in between.

Some managers focus solely on one, or the other, the best give appropriate focus to both the overall plan, and the details involved in achieving that plan as well.

I’ll admit it’s a delicate balance, and often a tenuous one at best. Regardless though, to be a truly great manager, that person has to strike the balance, often rebalancing several times a week, or even a day, as events dictate. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the plan itself and lose sight of the obstacles facing your team. Those little details that seem fairly unimportant today, if left to resolve themselves, can end up tripping up the entire team’s progress. The good managers know this and attend to not only the big issues, but the details as well.

This does not involve ‘micro-management’ however. It’s more a role of facilitator, spotting those obstacles as they arise, listening to the team when they talk about the issues their facing. In fact, it’s a culture of encouraging these issues to be raised. Not simply accepting the “no problems” response, but actively looking for and eliminating roadblocks to the team’s success.

While deadlines are important, so are resources to meet them

I wish I still had a dollar for every ‘deadline’ centric manager I’ve worked for. I could retire now.

I don’t want to diminish the importance of deadlines, and meeting them. Rather to point out that a team can’t meet their deadlines if they don’t have all the resources they need to do so.

One of my favorite sayings is:

“I’ve done so much, with so little, for so long, that now, I can do anything with nothing.”

That, unfortunately, is the plight of the average worker these days. Increasingly tight deadlines, diminishing resources, more pressure for flawless performance and increasing expectations for the finished product.

The great managers see all of these changes, weigh them and determine the best way to meet them. Either head on, or in a flanking maneuver, one way or another they must be met, and overcome. They understand how to most effectively deploy the team, maximizing their strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses as they address every obstacle to success.

It’s another delicate balance this mix of deadline commitments and resources, but one a manager has to master to be good, or even great. Without mastering it, they’ll just be another manager, who’s managing, to get by. They’ll never be one of those managers who always seem able to rise to the challenge, and where everyone is striving to get on their team.

That’s it for today… next up, the rest of the list!
As always, leave me a comment, tell me what you think. What made your best managers, the best, or the worst, the worst?

Technorati Tags: Management Style - Managers - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Managers - Management Style

Living, on the edge, of security. . .

2006-08-19T20:38:00.000-04:00

Firehawk mentioned in a recent comment that he’s been feeling like employers enjoy keeping their employee’s, on edge, perpetually uncertain about what tomorrow will bring.

I find myself holding typically, for me, diametrically opposing views on this.

I’ve had the experience of working for employers who seemed almost fixated on getting employees to feel very safe and secure, others, who definitely liked everyone to be concerned about their job security, and yet others who seemed not to care either way.

Admittedly, the bulk of my career has been spent either as an independent contractor, or working for smaller, family owned operations, so my take on things is probably a little skewed as a result.

With that said, I think there are definitely three distinct employer types.

Those who:

- Use ‘fear’ to manage the person, and the job
- Attempt to only manage the work, not the person
- Build in a ‘secure’ feeling to manage the person, and the job

I would like to think that the second out numbers the 1st and 3rd combined, but I’m not so sure that’s true. I do know that those companies I’ve been involved with who limited their efforts to managing the work, were better run over all, than those who fell into category 1 or 3.

The folks I’m currently contracted to fall into that 2nd category. They waste little time attempting do much more than what I’d consider standard things with respect to managing the ‘fear’ factor. When they went through a fairly large directional change, they notified all employees by email of the change. They’ve continued to hold informational meetings every other week as the new directions for the company are mapped and decided upon.

I’ve had the misfortune to also be employed by companies in categories 1 and 3 as well though.

I think the worst of those was the company in category 3. One of the favorite sayings of the owner involved the phrase “job for life”. He would tell people as they were hired that there had never been, and most likely would never be, a ‘lay-off’, that once they were ‘on board’ the company would work to ensure they’d always have a job.

Today, that company is a part of history. Although I don’t doubt the sincerity of the words; they still served to build a false sense of security in everyone who worked there. I know from talking with those folks who’d been let go as various divisions closed, that they’d never expected to be told they were no longer needed, or that their jobs were being eliminated. I say worst, because there was no anticipation, no expectation that ‘they’ would ever be effected, it was only happening to other people.

Category 1, the ‘fear’ folks however, in my mind, are the real management disaster.

The fear they attempt to keep alive, tends to be tied to several other management idiosyncrasies as well. But, the real problem is that in perpetuating the fear, they also hamper the very productivity they really are trying to improve.

It’s my contention that people, in general want to be secure, and feeling like they’re doing a good job, and are a valuable resource to the organization, are key to that security. That a culture of uncertainty takes workers focus off the job at hand, and places it on staying out of ‘harms way’. Avoiding any behavior that might ‘rock the boat’ or bring them into the spotlight.

The ‘fear’ managers, actively work to disrupt that secure feeling, preferring instead to keep the employee feeling like they’re ‘not quite there’ yet. There’s always one more thing the person needs to do, one more effort to be made, one more something. I’ve actually had this done to me, at different levels, by the same company.

When I first went to work at the company, I was constantly being told how ‘important’ my contribution was… interestingly enough, I was also renting a home at the time. The fact that I was able to simply pick up, and move, with no tangible ‘roots’, unsettled the employer.

Once I’d purchased a home however, things changed, and rapidly. Within a week, I started what I called “my turn in the box”, the same work that had been great a month ago, was now not enough. Phone calls on weekends, demanding requests that always had to be done before Monday… impossible end of day demands… requiring me to stay (like a lot of others) after the end of the regular work day to achieve them.

I doubt that I would have ever put it together, had my 1st wife and I not separated.

When I was temporarily renting again… amazingly enough… all of that stopped. Suddenly I was the ‘Golden Boy’ again and the accolades returned. Initially, I thought I’d somehow just earned my way back into the ‘good graces’… However, over the course of the next year or so, I began to see a pattern in the bosses behavior, and began to think that as long as he thought I could just pick up and leave, I’d be ‘safe’.

Now I would have thought it was all in my head, if, it hadn’t happened, all over again when I once again purchased a home. I left shortly after that, as I realized that success there, was fleeting (at best) and my temperament did not lend itself to those conditions.

I respond much better to thanks than to threats, in fact a threat is very likely to be met with me calling out the person making the threat. In fact, one of my favorite memories is the expression on a boss’ face as he yelled “Tell me! Who should I fire over this!?”

I replied simply, “If you think that firing someone, will solve anything, just go ahead and fire *me*.” In the end, he didn’t fire anyone; he was just looking to create fear that he would.

I liken what’s happening out there in the workplace today; to times most folks think are long past… what I like to call the “Ebenezer Scrooge” style of management. There was so much progress in ‘management theory’ in the 70’s and 80’s it looked like there would be only stories to remind us of how things once were.

Unfortunately, once folks stopped looking closely at management styles again, all the old ways began to creep back in. The difference is, this time; they’re being applied by folks with a lot of psychological behavior exposure.

My advice? Pay attention, know what you will, and will not accept. Always be prepared to walk away, have a cushion, a set aside, for those times you do walk away. The one thing I’ve discovered is that, for me, there’s no amount of money that will compensate me for bad working conditions.

Tell me what you see… what kind of boss do you have? What kind of boss are you? What’s the corporate culture where you are?

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Comfort - Management - Software Development
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One more old friend deserves a mention. . .

2006-08-18T21:12:00.000-04:00

I’ve mentioned my good friend, collaborator, business associate, antagonist, instigator, and fellow revolutionary Greg Gusse here before.

The adventures he, and I, have had could fill a small book… then again if either of us wrote it, it would be a large book.

Why Greg today you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. I was on line last night IM’ing with some of the developers from the job when Greg messaged me… About the first thing he typed was “take a look at this http://npca.org/alaska/wildlife/ .

So, of course I did.. and so should you! There’s a link on the page to a report on Alaska, and while there’s a ton of information on the state in the report. There are a number of beautiful pictures that capture the natural beauty of the place as well. Many of them were taken by Greg in his travels around the state.

If you find you like the pictures, visit his photography pages, listed under the ‘Some Friends Sites’ section in the right sidebar. There’s a ton of great pictures there.

He was as excited as I was last year when my first article got published… it was great to see him that excited.

We did a lot of great work together back in the day… we had a synergy… a synergy that fueled my creative side… and caused me to write some exceptional pieces of code. Well, actually he called them exceptional, and as we chatted I found myself agreeing with him.

He mentioned one piece specifically that I’d nearly forgotten, a tool that allowed the storage of formatted SQL (sequel) statements in a database for later retrieval and execution. It wasn’t exceptional, in and of, itself, but for what it made possible.

At the time I wrote it, it was more of a work around, than a crafted masterpiece. I hated trying to read long strings of SQL that had no format, or ‘structure’. So I wanted to build and test the SQL, assign it a name, and store it in a table for later retrieval.

The problem was, that with the line feeds, carriage returns and ‘tab’ characters, it would choke the runtime. So, I wrote a small, fast little ‘c_ClnStr’ routine that would remove all the unacceptable characters and then hand it off for execution.

Greg used that piece, in a project for a large bank in New York, and that app has been running, everyday now for six and a half years.

Today, with the fast rise in affordable databases, complete with triggers and stored procedures, it’s probably not nearly as useful as it once was. At the time though, it was a solution, to a problem, most folks hadn’t yet contemplated, at least in FoxPro.

There was also a report generation process I had, that allowed multiple ‘bands’ within a report, much in the same way you can drop multiple ‘frames’ in a CSS template today. Back then though, you had a Header, a detail and a footer band. That little app allowed multiple sections within the detail band and really let you treat data very differently and dynamically.

Almost all of that code is stored away somewhere, untouched in many years, mostly because the features available in the languages, became much better, and there were now simpler ways to do those things.

Many of the smaller functions that were part of those tools are still in my code “tool box”, and I still use many of them nearly every day. I guess I’m still a mechanic at heart, because there’s not a mechanic I know who would part with one of his favorite tools, unless it flat out did not work any longer.

I use some of them, so often; I sometimes forget they’re not part of the Visual FoxPro language. Most of those I’ve also ported to VB and C# .Net, or placed in my VFP library for .Net.

Talking to Greg, is almost always good for my soul… it was a rough week at work… long days, lots of pressure. It was made a bit easier because of the great team… but running into Greg, just as we were putting the finishing touches on a new deployment really was a nice finish to a long day!

So, if you haven’t yet… click the link to either his photography site or go check out the Report on Alaska, and make his day!

As always…. Thanks for stopping by!!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Friends - Memories - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Memories - Friends - Visual FoxPro

One more tree, from the forest…

2006-08-17T19:37:00.000-04:00

First, on a totally unrelated topic… it seems the “droneMatrix” (originally coined by Richard over at FoxProCatalyst) has drawn some interest. For those of you who’ve stopped in for that, scroll down! Like Richard, I’ve got more to say on that subject, but on another day.

I’ve failed to mention, in the last few posts about firefighting, my friend Greg Campbell. He’s the guy who called me to let me know what had happened at the fire in Cleveland.

Back in the day Greg was the Chief of the McConnelsville FD. He was a young buck back then, and as dedicated as anyone to the ‘art’ of firefighting. Like the Cleveland and North Bay Departments, he’d managed to put together a tight knit core group of hard core folks and pushed hard for better, well, better everything.

Greg was nothing if not resourceful though. I remember when his department really needed another tanker to haul water to our rural fire scenes (and the vast majority were rural, no fire hydrants, all the water is trucked in). He managed to get his (or the department’s) hands on an old tank truck, a retired fuel oil truck I think it was. I have fond memories of Greg, Larry Flint and I (along with some other MCFD folks) cutting out the internal baffles, opening up the ‘dump valves’ and turning that old truck into a nice, useful, piece of equipment.

I remember wiring up red lights, behind the grille in his Dodge (a retired Police Cruiser) in the driveway at my house, in the snow. Lest you think it was all ‘work’ I also remember drinking strawberry daiquiris on the deck at his house on a summer afternoon after either training all morning in the heat, or returning from a fire.

Greg made a big difference, one that I’m sure is still being felt today for the MCFD, and then went on to help engineer a real turn around in the Vienna FD as well.

He’s ‘out of the game’ now, like I am. He got married, has a family, home and all the responsibilities… but when we talk, I can still hear the love for it in his voice. He’s still got the FD in his blood though… just like I do.

I was thinking, just yesterday, that I don’t know where I ever found all the time for the department, and managed to earn a living as well. I know that early on I was teaching, and only had classes on either Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday depending on the semester. That certainly made ‘being around’ a bit easier, but on the off days I also had free lance work for my customers as well.

I have distinct memories of 2:00am fires, getting off scene in just barely enough time to shower, change and get to the school before my first class, teaching all day, getting home and getting another alarm within an hour….

I wasn’t alone. We all had ‘real jobs’, and then we had the department.

I really do wish I could remember all the calls, all the drills and re-tell the stories to you all. I might just have to take a tape recorder if we ever have that ‘reunion’ we’ve been talking about. I’d have something to write about for at least a year!!

So Greg, just in case you somehow didn’t know, and you read this, please count yourself among those I feel blessed, to have had the opportunity to know, and work with. That you thought of me, and knew, even after all these years that I’d want to know… means more than I have words to express.

I’m looking forward to us all getting together, and, as soon as I can, I’ll be headed your way!

Technorati Tags: People - Firefighting - Decisions - Volunteer Firefighting
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The Forest For The Trees. . .

2006-08-15T22:49:00.000-04:00

A week or so ago I posted about an accident that occurred while some old Fire Department friends of mine were fighting a house fire.

Since then I’ve spoken several times with folks still there and trying to keep up with how everyone is doing. Fortunately, they’re all recovering, slowly, but recovering.

Among the things that have struck me is how Jack Cottet has really been struggling with this. I fully understand why, it’s in his nature. He’s so concerned, about the crew, all the time, that an incident like this just rocks his core.

You see, the thing is, I don’t think Jack really understands how instrumental a role he played in saving the lives of each of the firefighters injured that day. Now I, and I’m sure he as well, know he didn’t do it all by himself. The fact remains however, Jack was the catalyst, the activator, the spokesperson for the revolution.

What revolution?

A revolution in how Volunteer Fire Departments are run, the equipment used, the funding obtained and how it’s obtained, the training, in short, everything.

This guy was the ‘go to guy’ for the leaders in most, if not all of the neighboring departments. He always had time, made time to share what he knew. You see firefighting was not only a volunteer activity for Jack, it was also his career. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I don’t know exactly what Jack did for a living, as it never really came up.

I know he worked for a large insurance company and that he also set up internal fire departments for companies like Miller Brewing. Other than that, I really don’t know.

I do know he brought innovative techniques for supplying water at rural fire scenes. Ran seminars that dispelled long held myths about how equipment could, and would work. He also helped many departments understand what was required to get their department, and it’s funding, into the town budgeting process.

One of the more important things he did, in my mind, was to push relentlessly for and getting, gear for his crews that rivaled that of any paid department.

He was so convincing that when I initially signed on with North Bay, I went out and purchased my own gear as there wasn’t money in North Bay’s budget for it. Today I’d expect that there’s an actual budget item for gear, and gear replacement in that budget.

The point here is that has he not been there, those firefighters that were injured, most certainly would have been more seriously injured, or worse, killed.

I got an update on John Hinds a day or so ago, and in that conversation a couple of things were said, that reminded me of why I still hold all of these folks in such high regard.

John is burning up his vacation time as he recovers, and knows he’ll use it all, and most of his ‘sick time’ from work as well before he’s able to return to work. You need to remember, these guys are all volunteers, they have regular jobs to pay the bills, they fight fires for their neighbors, for free.

John was quoted as saying two things that really stood out to me.

“It could be worse; my wife could be looking at an empty chair”

And…

“We’ve never been beat, set back a little, but it’s never beat us.”

The “it” he’s talking about, is fire. Even now, as he endures daily bandage changing on the burns, he’s still not beat.

There’s a lesson in here folks. One man can make a difference, a real difference, in the lives of other people. If he manages to gather a couple of other ‘revolutionaries’ he can change entire communities.

I remain honored, to know, and have worked with, these men.

Technorati Tags: People - Firefighting - Decisions - Volunteer Firefighting
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Why the model is collapsing….

2006-08-14T19:01:00.000-04:00

In the last post I mentioned that being in a comfort zone is what drives our country’s (and to a big extent the world’s) economy.

Collapsing might be a bit strong for what I think is happening, but the model is certainly shifting.

Why?

The way I see it, the very folks who rely on the model (employers) are making it increasingly difficult for the average person to find, and remain in, the comfort zone (or the droneMatrix if you prefer).

Unlike previous generations, there’s no longer the real security, or even the perception, or expectation, of security, in a job that once provided it. More and more as I talk with folks I’m hearing phrases like “It’s all about the money now…”

In many cases these same people, as little as 5 years ago, were intent on working for, and retiring from, their current job, with their current employer. Today, despite being in the same job (in some cases) they no longer expect that will happen.

Employers, in a never ending quest for increased profits, have started treating employees like ‘inventory’. As if their employees are simply an asset to be managed, adjusted, and obtained at the lowest possible cost. In decades past, if there was a shift in the volume of business, employers would ‘hang on’ to employees so that they would have trained people available when things picked up again. I don’t see that as being the case any longer.

Today, with the availability of contractors, outsourcing, remote call centers, and temporary clerical help, the trend seems to be towards companies trying to build a “Just In Time” work force to coincide with their JIT inventory and equipment contracts.

Personally, I think it’s a disturbing trend.

On one hand I should be elated, right? It should mean there’ll be more work for me to choose from, more opportunities.

Not exactly….

Today, technology workers (in America) are among the most threatened. Low cost offshore programmers are regularly brought on, as needed, to fill slots that used to be solely an American worker’s role.

The work that’s left here is often good work, but in order to compete with offshore pricing the average hourly wage has been driven down for home grown developers.

Before you think this is going to descend into a rant about “offshoring”, let me set the record straight. Offshoring is here to stay, and for good reason. Despite the many barriers, language, distance, time zones, etc. offshoring allows a company to get certain things accomplished, quickly and at a lower cost than most other means.

So, with that as the reality, we (those of us affected by it) need to accept it, and adapt.

After all, we, and especially technology workers, made all of this possible. We built the internet, expanded the bandwidth, drove the demand for more and better connections worldwide. We got them. However, in expanding and improving connectivity for ourselves, we also constructed the infrastructure for others as well.

In the long run… a very good thing. In the short run, it’s certainly led to a considerable amount of instability in the US technological employment situation, while opening doors for tens of thousands of capable folks around the globe.

In the end, everyone will benefit from that. Those new folks will bring additional solutions, ideas and talent to the markets that they’re now able to reach. It’s the next 10 years or so that will be rocky, especially in America, and why many career IS/IT folks are now answering “No” to the question “Would you advise your child to look toward the IS/IT field for a career?”

The bigger picture, in my mind, is how it affects the economy. How folks are less comfortable. In being less comfortable they’re also less willing to sign for the mortgage, the car, the new washer/dryer and so on. They’ll be less willing to take on long term debt, choosing to wait, instead of getting it ‘now’.

If that happens, the economy, as we know it, will change. It will not be sustainable in its present form.

Some of you may recall that a month or so ago I was considering buying a new tractor. I decided not to. There were several ‘reasons’, but, as I really examined my decision over the past few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that it was uncertainty, not anything else, that led me to that decision.

You see, when I was thinking about that gig in CT, one of the thoughts that would creep into my mind was… “with the extra money I could….” One of the “I could’s” was “get that tractor”….

I still have use for it, and would use it every week; it’s not that I don’t have the need. It’s that I don’t want that ‘payment’ to deal with if I find myself between gigs. So, instead of that dealer selling me a $20,000 set up, and the everyone, the dealer, the manufacturer, the finance company all making some money… no one made any money.

When I had my last “job”, and I was fully immersed in the droneMatrix, I know I would have bought the tractor. It would have been a bad move (in retrospect), but I would have felt safe, and secure, in my decision then.

I’m betting that uncertainty about your employment has caused you to either delay, or abandon, a ‘big ticket’ purchase as well.

Leave me a note, let me know if I’m on the mark here, or off base somehow.

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Contracting - Decisions - Software Development
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The ‘droneMatrix”…. Hmmmmmmm

2006-08-11T21:10:00.000-04:00

Richard over at FoxProCatalyst mentioned the term in reference to my last few posts.

I had not heard the term before, and I kind of like it. Although he sort of blended the “Matrix” alien aspect into his definition I was thinking of it in an entirely different context.

There’s a difference between being an employee, and being a contractor, often it’s subtle, on some rare occasions it’s glaringly obvious. Regardless it’s always there.

Having spent the past 25 or so years almost evenly divided between being an employee, self employed and a contractor I’ve got some thoughts of the differences. For those of you who stop in fairly regularly, that I have more than a ‘few’ won’t really be all that much of a surprise.

Most folks are most familiar with being an employee.

When you think about me, or when you comment, there’s often an under current of ‘how do you live with the uncertainty?’ Working everyday, knowing that the gig is temporary, and that you could well be looking for another in a few weeks, or months, is just very foreign to most folks.

My experience is though, that while a “job” tends to make us feel safe, secure and able to relax, that the reality is far from the feelings. My Dad worked for one company for his entire career. He started there in high school, went back after college and worked there until he died. He held various position, but with the same company, for his entire adult working life. I suspect that many of his peers had pretty much the same experience.

How many of you can say the same thing? If you’ve changed companies, was it your choice? Was it something you planned to do, or was the change forced upon you by some change within the company?

If it wasn’t your choice, did you see it coming, or was it pretty much a surprise?

For a lot of folks, let’s take those at Enron, or Worldcom for example… had no clue there was a problem, until the bottom fell out.

Like thousands of other employees they went to work every morning, did their job all day, and returned home each night, feeling safe, and secure. Why? Because they did their job, and felt that as long as they did their job, they’d get to keep their job.

It didn’t quite work out that way though, did it?

They al fell victim to the ‘droneMatrix’, allowing themselves to be blind to any, and everything except doing their job, and letting their good work contribute to their feelings of security.

Now, don’t get me wrong here… I’m not saying I’m immune, quite the opposite, I fall into the same trap. The droneMatrix is a very comfy place. It has to be, the entire country’s economic model is based on it! As a byproduct of feeling so comfortable we buy houses with 30 year mortgages, cars on 60 month payment plans and on and on. If we all were wondering if we had a job tomorrow, I doubt we’d do that, well, at least to the extent we do as a society.

So what about those of us who aren’t ‘employed’… who are self-employed or are contractors?

Most find a balance. We find a zone, within which we have that comfort and the droneMatrix is with us again. I think feeling comfortable is a basic human need. We don’t want to live with uncertainty, we seek ways to allow ourselves to feel like everything is “Ok”, and will continue to be. It’s how we get through the day, day after day.

I’ve fought against the droneMatrix most of my life, seeking change, finding it in new gigs, new careers, starting businesses and so on. Eventually though, I find myself living in the matrix again, and wondering how I got there, yet again.

That’s right, even with what most would consider the uncertainty of contracting, I still manage to find a comfort zone, my own droneMatrix. I strive to get a ‘cushion’ of cash for the down times, attempt to keep our debt levels manageable and convince myself there will always be ‘another gig’.

Even though I don’t have my cash reserve set, and our debt levels are far higher than I’d like, I still manage to convince myself things will be “Ok”.

How do I know that? That I’ve convinced myself of that?

Well, if for no other reason than the fact I didn’t take the gig I’ve been writing about. If I was out of that zone, I would have taken the extra money and just jumped to up my ‘earning power’.

So where are you? Do you live in the droneMatrix? Your own personally contrived comfort zone, convinced things will continue as they have, that next year will be just a little better than the last?

Next… Why the model is collapsing….

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Comfort - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Comfort - Visual FoxPro

Negotiating 101. . .

2006-08-09T20:47:00.000-04:00

One of the first rules of negotiation, is that you have to be willing to walk away.

That’s right, fold your tent, pack up your briefcase, and say “No deal”. If you’re not willing to do that, you’re pretty much at the mercy of the other party, you’ll end up taking whatever is offered, simply because, you’re not willing to walk away.

Why am I mentioning this?

Well today, the recruiter called me and asked if more money would change my mind. I thanked him for calling, but that no, money was not the issue. I reiterated that what had interested me in the project was the ability to work it remotely and to play a large role in the redesign.

That they were unwilling to commit to that, and as long as that was true, I was not willing to ‘get on board’.

So, since last Friday, when my rate was going to “leave him awfully thin” once he paid me, he’s offered a plane ticket home every two weeks, and now to pay me even more.

I’ve got to admit, I have re-thought my decision several times. Each time though, the potential downsides, have out weighed everything else.

At the end of our conversation he asked, what will you do if the current contract isn’t extended? What if that happens?

What if indeed… What if:

I get on site and they decide they’re paying me too much?
it ends up to be a “no end in site” maintenance gig?
the working conditions really suck
I hate living there
Their idea of ‘casual’ is a two piece suit
My wife becomes unhappy with me being gone 24 out of 28 days?

I’m much better at the ‘what if’ game I told him, I do ‘what if’ for a living!

I did counter his offer though. I offered to take on a piece of work, on spec, to be done remotely. That if I couldn’t deliver, they’d owe me nothing. If I do, they cover any and all travel expenses for any time they want/need me in CT. If I were a betting man, I’d bet he won’t even mention it to them.

I do want to say one thing here, this recruiter, has worked his butt off trying to make this deal come together, it’s not his fault the client can’t commit to a plan, and a process. I’d love it if he were able to place me as I can’t remember a recruiter who’s ever worked harder.

Also, I’d be a bit remiss if I didn’t mention Andrew McNeill he not only commented on my last couple of posts here, he also gave me a mention at his place and on Microsoft blogs Canada yesterday, and left a couple of links at JobSyntax as well. Thank you Andrew for all the kudos!!

One of the things I love about blogging, is I find that despite feeling like the ‘only one’ this stuff happens to, I’m not. That there are many, many folks out there dealing with these same kinds of decisions every single day. They may not all be contractors, but they have to make career decisions regardless.

I hope that something in all of this helps you the next time you’re struggling with a decision about a job change.

As always, thanks for stopping by… If anything strikes a cord, leave me a comment so I’ll know!

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Contract programming - Visual FoxPro - Software Development
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Plan?… We don’t need no stinkin plan!…

2006-08-07T20:24:00.000-04:00

That’s about the size of it, the answer I got when asking the folks at the potential new gig what the plan was. The plan was, there was no plan.

Now I’m certainly not the highest paid contractor out there, but I’m also not the least expensive option either. When a project falls back on my desk after the company originally went with a lower cost option, two things happen at my end.

First, a red flag goes up. Why? Well, in my experience, often times the original contractor didn’t ‘cut it’ because the company is in a very, very, bad spot, and the person was in way over their head. Back in the day, I lived for those gigs, I loved being able to shine where others hadn’t.

Those days however, are long over.

The other thing that happens is that the project also catches my interest. I know that’s a bit twisted, but it’s true. My interest gets peaked because it’s also possible the company has a very challenging project, one that will not only use all of my skills, but have me learning new ones as well.

So, when this company decided I was the guy they wanted, I started asking questions.

Not extremely difficult questions, or so I thought.

I asked:

How long will I be required to be on site?
How many days, weeks, months did they expect me to need to be there, before switching to working remotely (as in from my office in NC)?
What did they plan to have me doing? What portion of the project?
Was there a copy of the project plan available?

All reasonable questions, or so I thought.

As it turned out, they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, actually fully answer them.

I spoke at length many times with the recruiter, attempting to explain to him that I was not about to travel 600 miles to jump into a project with no scope, no plan, with no idea what I’d be doing, or how long I’d be expected to be there.

One of the answers I did get, sort of, had to do with the length of the contract, as in 3 months, 6 months, a year, longer? The answer was, “This is forever” – That concerned me as well… red flag… what kind of project brings people on board, contractually, with no idea for what length of time they expect to need them?

The more I talked with the recruiter, the more it became clear that he just didn’t seem to understand that I’ve been exactly here, many, many times before. In each and every case, everyone involved all assured me it would all get ‘worked out’ once I was there, and in every case, it never did get worked out.

There were impossible deadlines, long hours and no appreciation for the effort, just demands for more, and more, production.

There were attempts today to explain that the new project had only been granted budget approval in the past couple of weeks, that there hadn’t been ‘time’ to develop a scope, or requirements, document.

That simply raised another question… how does a public company, grant budgetary approval, or properly allocate funds, to a project with no formal specification? Once again, a red flag… a huge, waving, red flag.

In the end, at about 4:30 this afternoon, I simply took my name out of the game.

Too many questions, and not enough answers for me to seriously consider taking the project on.

I write quite a bit about why I like contracting, it’s probably time for me to talk some about the down sides.

Often, a company will start looking for contract help, when their project is in trouble. Hoping that if they just throw some bodies at the problem it will go away, and, if it doesn’t they can always blame the contractor(s) in the short run.

Many times, they’re looking to bring in a ‘rain maker’, a contractor with a track record of success in hopes he, or she, will just put their head down and make it happen. There was a time when I would have done that. Jumped in with both feet and done whatever it took to get the project done, on time, and on budget. Not any more.

I’ve seen far too many poorly planned projects, too many managers who felt the existing application was well enough known that no formal requirements needed to be drawn up, and too many failed projects (and failed companies) to want to go down that road again.

For those of you who’ve never been involved with building a new version of an existing product it’s a bit like building a new house. Except you need to live in the existing house, and the new one is being built around, and over it!

The old application is generally full of problems, things that were discovered after the application had been started, and were never fully addressed. Usually this is addressed using what I call the ‘code around’ method. It involves wrapping enough code, around the problem(s) to mask, and or get them out of the way.

In addition, there are also many ‘had to have’ features, that are no longer needed, and several new features that many of the users know are sorely needed, but that IS/IT has never been informed of, at least in any formal way.

In short, if you’re building this new house, and there’s a problem with the existing plumbing, from and to the street, you need to get that into the project plan early, not allow the builders to think they’ll be using the existing lines!!

I am strangely disappointed though… this gig sounded so good during the initial interviews and technical discussions; I was genuinely excited about the possibilities. The company is a major player in the financial marketplace, doing a booming business, and has little or no real competition in the areas it serves.

Fortunately, I wasn’t banking on this gig to pay the bills!! I know in my heart, that had I needed the gig to put food on the table, I’d be packing, regardless of the red flags. I’m feeling fortunate today to have the gig I have, and also very rededicated to my efforts on the current gig. In fact, with all of this going on today I made real progress on the testing of the VFP 9.0 conversion.

I have all the menus modifications done, and several of the front line form changes tested out and regression tested as well.

I hope your day was a little less ‘involved’ than mine!

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Contract programming - Visual FoxPro - Software Development
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Oh yeah… this is a blog about contracting. . .

2006-08-06T07:42:00.000-04:00

I got a call late on Friday, that a Visual FoxPro gig I interviewed for over a month ago and had all but written off, is suddenly a reality.

That’s right, after hiring a couple of folks who turned out not to be up to the task, the company has decided they’d like to bring me in.

Well, now the money discussion starts, and for the first time, the rate I’ve told them I want, is a bit of an issue.

There are several issues actually.

There are several ways to be paid as a contactor, the two most popular are W-2 and 1099. You may recall I’ve been on a W-2 plan since last October, with partially paid health coverage, 20+ paid days off a year and full withholding. I can certainly “do” 1099, which is what the recruiter would prefer, but as a 1099 (independent) contractor, I’d lose the health plan, the PTO, as well as company paid FICA.

FICA for those of you who don’t know is a two part tax. As an employee, you pay half and your employer pays the other half. Once you’re self-employed (1099 is normally considered self-employed), you become responsible for the entire amount. The last ime I checked that was between 13 and 14% of the gross wage.

Those lost benefits translate into dollars, about a multiplier of 1.17, so when I ran the numbers and told him what I’d need, things got pretty tense. We’ve been playing phone tag ever since, ostensibly to ‘work out’ the numbers, but in my mind there’s nothing to work out.

Initially, during the interview process, it was inferred to me that I’d be able to work this project remotely. That there’d be a short period at the onset where I’d be on site (the company is about 800 miles from here) and that once I was up to speed, I’d be able to work for them from home.

Now, the ‘initial period’ is of indeterminate length, and, the recruiter wants me to ‘work that out’ once I’m on the job.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been through way to many, “we’ll work it out” projects where, after I was working the gig, none of my needs were ever “worked out”. I’ve come to the conclusion, that if it’s important to you, it has to be in the initial contract.

So while there are a couple of real ‘got me’ points with this gig, namely the opportunity to re-architect a major financial application, as well as the chance to be able to work from home (where, in all honesty, I’m about 40% more productive than I am in an ‘office’). There’s this downside as well.

I have no real interest in a long term ‘relo’ to a site 800 miles away for the duration of the gig, or, maybe more importantly, to move there permanently. I got the sense, during that last conversation that the company is really looking to bring in a ‘rain maker’ to clean up existing issues quickly and then “ride herd” on the continuing development effort while completing the design of the “re-platform” of the application. They want this person to be in their house, and available daily.

The recruiter called again yesterday in an attempt to ‘wrap things up’, but I think I raised more questions than he was prepared for. All of which I’d raised before, and he’d dismissed with a we’ll work that out once they express interest. It looks like the money will work out, but the sticking point remains where I’ll be required to work, on-site or remotely.

I’d expect that with a project of this size and scope, a certain amount of on site, face-to-face time will be required. It would be much faster for example to get up to speed if I have access to the existing developers to get any questions I have answered. Once that’s done though I see no real reason I’d need to be physically there.

So, he’s trying to set up a phone call on Monday between myself and the development manager to see what her take on things is. When I interviewed with her a month or so ago, she seemed to be fine with me working remotely when we talked then, but subsequent conversations with others have not given me the same feeling.

So, I need to confirm that after an initial onsite period, of say 30, to maybe 90 days, I’ll be able to work from North Carolina.

This project could be 2, maybe 3, years or longer in duration… a great contract by nearly anyone’s standards, but, I find myself strangely filled with reservations about it.

I guess I’ll know, by Monday, if I can work out an acceptable contract. Acceptable to me anyway, what the company is willing to accept remains to be seen.

It’s more than a little amusing to me though, as little as 10 years ago, I would have gone anywhere, at anytime, as long as the money was right. Sometime I the past decade I’ve gotten a bit more selective. I still have the “Have Fox… Will Travel” slogan on my business cards, and I am willing to travel, long term relocation however, is a bit different in my mind.

You see, if I was to relocate, I’m pretty sure I’d want to go back to Central NY, and the North Bay area. With a remote work contract, I could definitely do that, should Maryan and I decide that was right for us. Setting up shop 800 miles away, just doesn’t seem all that attractive, right now.

So, there ya have it folks, one more of the decisions you’d face as a contract programmer. Yes the money is better than the average full time employee would earn, but there’s the constant negotiations over gigs, and those negotiations are usually with three parties, each with their own, needs, and agenda.

The company wants the best talent, for the least money. The recruiter wants to close the deal and get me earning for them. Me, I want to earn as much as possible, doing what I love, at the smallest possible cost to me, on the longest contract term possible.

When I think of it, it’s amazing that anyone ever closes one of these deals!!

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Contract programming - Visual FoxPro - Software Development
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Firefighting is a dangerous game. . .

2006-08-04T22:13:00.000-04:00

I know I’ve waxed poetic about firefighting in the past here, but I got a call today that reminded me, that despite the love, support and camaraderie I so fondly remember, there was real danger underneath it all.

I was checking my cell phone this morning (for an entirely different reason) and noticed I had a voicemail. I clicked to check, and, to my surprise, it was Greg Campbell. Long time readers may remember Greg as I wrote about he and I sitting around, and reminiscing over beers, while I was back in the area last summer.

This was not a “what’s up” call though.

It seems that last Wednesday the Cleveland Fire department was on the scene of a house fire, had ventilated the house and was looking for the source of the remaining smoke. From everything I've learned this was not a serious fire, mostly smoke and they'd just issued the 'drop mask' order as there was so little smoke remaining. They continued to look though and eventually, they found it. In a crawl space under the house, as the crew moved in to extinguish this ‘dinner plate’ sized fire, and began to address it with the nozzle, suddenly, the entire first floor exploded.

Thirteen firefighters were injured, one was treated at the scene, the other twelve ended up going to local area hospitals for treatment.

Fortunately, no one was killed, and as of today everyone has been released from the hospital and is home again.

After Greg and I hung up, I called Jack Cottet to see how he was doing. You may remember Jack, if you don’t, click the link and refresh your memory. As I suspected he was taking it pretty hard. He was the Chief on scene, and as such felt the safety of these folks was his responsibility.

That sense of responsibility, is one of the many reasons I always was glad to see Jack on the scene. The only thing he took more seriously, than the fire itself, was our safety. He was always pushing for better gear, more training and better leaders. He was, and is relentless, both about fire fighting, and about keeping the crews safe.

We talked some, mostly I listened, and as we were wrapping up our conversation the one thought I left him with was this.

An incident like this just shows that despite all the best preparation, firefighting is still, at the core, a very dangerous job. That despite having more experience than many leaders, not even he can control everything. I suggested that rather than focusing on the injuries, he might want to think how much worse things might have been had he not led the charge decades back for more, and better protective gear, more training and inter company cooperation.

I know he wasn’t really listening; things are still to close in. Hopefully, in the days, and weeks ahead, as the injuries heal (and as I understand it no one is permanently injured either) and the event gets discussed and the stories told, he’ll be able to see that in the end, this too is a triumph, not a defeat.

One other thing Jack and I talked about was the extended ‘family’ that is volunteer firefighting. I know I’ve talked about it before, but what Jack told me today, drove the point home.

Since Wednesday, there’s been a truck, and a crew, in his firehouse, standing by to answer any and all calls. Not just one truck, from one neighbor, but a different truck, different crew, 24/7, Sandy Creek, Redfield… from 30 miles and more away. They heard about the situation, and just showed up to help.

That’s the fire service folks, one big family, and like any family, they may bicker at times, but when there’s a problem all of that gets set aside, and everyone pitches in to help.

Once again I’m reminded of how much I miss those days, those men, and that family.

If you’d like to read a little about the event, you can go here.

Firefighters injured in house explosion

Camaraderie contagious at explosion site

Lightning strike leads to house explosion

I also realized, that regardless of the time, or the distance, the bond from those days, is still very much with me, and I still feel like they’re my family!!

I don’t think, the average person has any idea what a bargain they get in volunteer firefighters, or paid departments for that matter. It takes a special person to run into a burning building, not everyone can, or should do it.

The ones that do, paid or not, don’t do it for the money. I’m sure it’s something else. I recall running for the entry into more than one building thinking “There must be something wrong with me; most people would be going the other way!” But it never stopped me, or any of the other initial attack crew, we just went in and did our jobs.

Most of those fires are memories now, some I’ve related here, some I haven’t taken the time to write up. This event, like all of those in my mind will become a memory for those folks as well, the story told, and retold over coffee, or maybe an adult beverage or two, getting better with each telling.

What won’t get lost though, is the message. That you can never relax, fire is always dangerous, it’s a war, and it will kill you if it can. The other thing that will be remembered is the camaraderie… the other departments pitching in, the other members of the department helping out the families of those injured, everyone working to ‘fill in the gaps’… it’s something I never experienced, before, or after my time in the fire service.

The next time you get a chance, thank a firefighter, for all that they do!

Technorati Tags: Firefighting - Emergency - Fire Service - Life
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Visual FoxPro is in 14th this month. . .

2006-08-02T22:41:00.000-04:00

It's time for the monthly update.

The Tiobe index came out today…and VFP dropped one from last month to 14th.

Some folks who know me might think I find that a bit disappointing after it’s rapid climb to a peak of 12th this year. The truth is though, I remain very optimistic.

First, VFP is still up 7 places from last July and as long as we’re improving on the previous year I’m happy!

Yes I still do some things in .Net, and remain very excited about that product as well. Visual FoxPro though is a “data guy’s” dream language. I thought that 20 years ago,and I still think so today.

I know VFP doesn’t have the ‘cool’ factor of some of the other, newer, languages. Java seems to hold the ‘cool’ slot these days, and is enjoying a nice ride in 1st as well. However, for those of us who’ve continued to stay current with FoxPro may be discovering, as I am, that demand for our skills is returning.

The best part is, because so many of the other FoxPro developers have abandoned it, there are fewer of us competing for those new openings. As a result, the rates are going up as well.

Let’s talk a little bit about my 20 year love affair with VFP, or probably more correctly, what we used to call “xBase”.

I can still remember that first dBase gig. I’d been primarily a mainframe guy up until then, had decent COBOL, RPG and 360 Assembler chops, but this was a whole new world.

I’d learned BASIC, first on Apples, then a Commodore and actually wrote an entire academic registration system for a local school in BASIC. Like the mainframe languages, BASIC was a capable tool, but it didn’t really shine when it came to handling data. Especially large amounts of data.

dBase on the other hand, was, for the time, extremely capable at data handling. It made everything else available an ‘also ran’.

In addition, it had all the string manipulation tools most BASIC guys had come to love.

I can clearly remember thinking as I was developing that first dBase application, that if dBase was a compiled language, I’d never want to write in anything else.

Like a number of the original ‘killer apps’ from the early days, the dBase folks (Ashton-Tate) started taking their number one position for granted. Along came Fox software, and their new ‘clone’ FoxBASE+… and the guys from Nantucket with their ‘Clipper’ product. Fox had an interpreted product, Nantucket, well they’d upped the ante a bit and their product was compiled. Now, suddenly, the xbase (we called it all xBase as they all copied the original dBase, and added new features as well) folks were starting to be taken seriously.

Now we skip forward a decade or so, and while there are still several competitors, Microsoft Visual FoxPro is the standard. It’s also the only one included in the category in the Tiobe index.

It would be interesting to see where the combination of all the various ‘flavors’ of xBase would sit if they were all combined, like say Java, COBOL or “C” are.

Me, I’m just glad to see my favorite tool with an “A” rating. That it’s still in front of VB.Net, which also lags in the ‘cool’ factor by the way, although no one I’ve talked to can give me any defensible arguments as to why they’d use C#.Net instead of VB.Net.

I got a call today, on that contract I mentioned in June… seems the two guys they initially brought in just couldn’t get the job done… and now they want to talk to me again. I’ll admit I’m having mixed feelings about even considering the gig at this point, but, the recruiter has worked so hard on this that I need to at least take the call.

I’ll keep you posted as to the outcome.

Also, and old friend has taken over the reigns at www.PCTechGuide.com and has asked me to possibly write an article or two for the site. I’m pretty excited about that! He and I have talked, on a number of occasions, about doing something together; this might be a chance for us to do just that! If you get a chance, surf on over and check the site out.

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Microsoft - VFP - Software Development
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FoxPro and the Windows API…

2006-07-30T09:31:00.000-04:00

I’ve known for a long time that I ‘could’ leverage the Windows API (as can just about anyone) from within FoxPro, VB.Net and a score of other languages.

I just really haven’t done much with it until the past couple of weeks.

I’ve managed to pull together enough API functions to actually accomplish some things on the job that have been not only a problem, but a roadblock to progress as well!

One of the tasks, that has t take place monthly is the download of several files, some from FTP locations, and some from websites, these files are then parsed, massaged and utilized to produce the monthly supplements to the publications I’ve mentioned before.

At one time, a previous programmer had employed the object model from a mainframe connectivity product called “Extra!” to do some of this.

Unfortunately for me, and the users, somewhere else in IS the decision was made to switch to another product as the corporate standard.

Not that this is a bad thing, but, as part of the rollout each PC that had the new product installed, also had the old one removed. A very efficient, very common, practice, but it can also lead to some dependency issues. What I found was that with each of these changes, the application would cease to run on yet one more desktop.

So, I first looked for the manuals on the object model for the new product. Turns out the version in common use was no longer supported… I was however able to download a trial of the newer version, and began changing the code sections that involved communicating with, and downloading files from, the Mainframe.

In the middle of that I discover that the ‘trial’ version I’m using is being replaced by a new release… great! Now I’ll be building for the latest and greatest version!

Not so great, all of the functions did not work in exactly the same way, and required that I determine the version involved, and shift between now two separate sections of code to use the same product.

Needless to say, I got fairly frustrated.

For the most part I’ve automated the process to run on one PC from my “Automation Console” and have relieved the users of the responsibility.

Then about two weeks ago (around when I vanished from blog-land) I had a new problem.

We purchase a subscription to postal code databases. These are updated monthly and to retrieve the updates requires navigating to a website, logging in and starting the download process, individually, for each of the three files.

Now, in and of itself, this is not that big a deal, it only takes about 15 minutes in all to do so.

The bigger problem however is dependency. Several jobs, both on the Mainframe, and on the network, as well as the company’s interactions with an industry depend on the postal updates.

So, it’s either find a way to automate the process, or never be away from the office on the 1st of the month.

Necessity they say, is the mother of invention, and in this case at least it’s true!

I started doing a little research, and became very interested in a couple of Windows DLL’s called WinINet.dll and kernal32.dll.

A little more research and I found this site, which besides having a ton of free information on correctly using the Windows API from within FoxPro (well Visual FoxPro to be more specific), there’s also a membership (yes there’s a fee) option that opens a much wider group of code examples and ideas.

The best thing about it is that the code I received from them, was 100% royalty free, and I’m free to use it as I see fit. My mention of them here is one way for me to ‘give back’ a little, as their set up covers some very technical ground very nicely, and for a very reasonable price!

Now, on to the good stuff.

The problem:

I knew I could use the Internet Explorer object to navigate to the website in code, and possibly pass the username and password, but, when you do that you do not get an opportunity to pass a ‘local’ destination. As a result the “Save As” dialog box pops up, once again requiring user intervention to continue.

What I needed was a way to bypass that step and allow this process to be 100% automated.

The other issue was that the particular files I question are also “Zipped” and require “UnZipping” before the subsequent processes can utilize them.

I also needed an easy, and free, method of unpacking these files

The Solution

I employed functions from the WinINet.DLL to resolve the first issue. I’ve included a piece of sample code for those of you who aren’t completely bored with all of this, and might actually like to try something similar.

The second issue was a bit more difficult, I found a nice, free, unzip utility that runs from the command line. The problem was knowing when each process finished. A timer could be employed, but it’s fairly inaccurate, and the amount of ‘time’ would have to adhere to a ‘worst case’ scenario… Not something I like to do.

So, to solve that issue I turned again to the API kernal32.dll and a 32bit CreateProcess function that allows monitoring for the processes completion.

*---The sample for the HTTP download process---


*--WinINet FoxPro Option example
#DEFINE INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_DIRECT    1
#DEFINE INTERNET_FLAG_NEED_FILE     16

DO DECL   && declare external functions

PRIVATE hOpen
*--Make sure WinINet is available
hOpen = InternetOpen ("w32vfp=110", ;
  INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_DIRECT, 0, 0, 0)
IF hOpen = 0
  ? "GetLastError:", GetLastError()
  ? "WinInet is not available on this computer"
  RETURN
ENDIF

LOCAL lcUrlBase,lcFileName, lcPathDst, lcFileDst, ;
  lnCaSize, lnUaSize, lnMxSize, lcUserName, lcPWord

lcUserName = "Your User Name"
lcPWord = "password"
*--Basic URL
lcUrlBase  = "http://www.SiteName.com/"
*-- remote file with UserName and password
lcFileName = "download.asp?file=114&login=" + ;
             lcUserName + ;
            "&password=" + lcPWord
*-- assign a destination directory
lcPathDst  = "F:\DownLoads\"
*--&& assign a destination FileName
lcFileDst  = ALLTRIM(STR(YEAR(DATE())))+CMONTH(DATE()) + ;
  "CanadaPostalFile.zip"
lnCaSize = GetPostalData(lcUrlBase,lcFileName, ;
  lcPathDst, lcFileDst, ;
  "DownLoading Canadian Postal " + ;
  "Codes File. . .", 20)

*--release Session handle and library
= InternetCloseHandle (hOpen)

*--Now Extract Downloaded File
=Run32Bit("F:\UnzipUtility\7za e F:\Downloads\" + ;
  ALLTRIM(STR(YEAR(DATE())))+CMONTH(DATE()) + ;
  "CanadaPostalFile.zip -of:\Railinc Postal*.* -y")

RETURN

*--------------------------------------------------------

FUNCTION GetPostalData (lcBaseUrl, lcFile, lcDstPath, ;
    lcDstFile, lcProgMess, lnProgMax)

  * get a handle of the remote file
  hFile = InternetOpenUrl (hOpen,;
    lcBaseUrl + lcFile, "", 0,;
    INTERNET_FLAG_NEED_FILE, 0)

  IF hFile <> 0
    * even if there is no such file, the most evidence
    * you will get is an ASCII file in response
    * (404 error page)
    lnFileSize = 0
    lnProgVal = 0
    lnByteCount = http2local (hFile, ;
                   lcDstPath + lcDstFile, ;
                   lcProgMess, lnProgMax)
    = InternetCloseHandle (hFile)
  ELSE
    ? "Unable to open source file"
    ? "GetLastError:", GetLastError()
  ENDIF

  RETURN lnByteCount

  *------------------------------------------------------

FUNCTION http2local (hSource, lcTarget, lcMess, lnMax)
  * reads data from a remote file
  #DEFINE TransferBuffer   4096

  *-- Progress Status Bar ------------
  *---Note, if you have your own insert it here
  *   If you'd like this one, drop me an email
  *--If you don't want one, comment this out
  DO FORM cpsProgstat NAME wlStatBar
  wlStatBar.Label1.CAPTION = lcMess

  *--as we don't know the exact file size, we'll
  *  use what was passed or, if nothing default
  *  to 40K and reset as required
  IF VARTYPE(lnMax) = 'N'
    wlStatBar.ocxProgressBar.MAX = lnMax
  ELSE
    wlStatBar.ocxProgressBar.MAX = 40
  ENDIF
  *-------end progress/stat init

  * create the target file
  hTarget = FCREATE (lcTarget)
  IF (hTarget = -1)
    ?? "invalid target file name"
    RETURN -1
  ENDIF

  LOCAL lnTotalBytesRead, lnBytesRead
  lnTotalBytesRead = 0

  DO WHILE .T.
    lcBuffer = REPLI (CHR(0), TransferBuffer)
    lnBytesRead = 0

    IF InternetReadFile (hSource, @lcBuffer,;
        TransferBuffer, @lnBytesRead) = 1

      = FWRITE (hTarget, lcBuffer, lnBytesRead)
      IF lnBytesRead = 0
        EXIT
      ENDIF

      lnTotalBytesRead = lnTotalBytesRead + lnBytesRead
      IF MOD(lnTotalBytesRead,1000) = 0
        lnProgVal = lnProgVal+1
        *--Reset bar if required
        *  Comment this section out if not using
        *  a progress bar
        IF lnProgVal > wlStatBar.ocxProgressBar.MAX
          lnProgVal = 0
        ENDIF
        wlStatBar.ocxProgressBar.VALUE = lnProgVal
        *-- end progress bar
      ENDIF
    ELSE
      EXIT
    ENDIF
  ENDDO

  = FCLOSE (hTarget)

  *-- More Satus/Progress Bar updates
  wlStatBar.Label1.CAPTION=LTRIM(STR(lnTotalBytesRead))+ ;
    " bytes Ok"
  wlStatBar.RELEASE

  RETURN  lnTotalBytesRead

  *--------------------------------------------------------

PROCEDURE  DECL
  DECLARE INTEGER GetLastError IN kernel32

  DECLARE INTEGER InternetOpen IN wininet;
    STRING sAgent, INTEGER lAccessTypem,;
    STRING sProxyName, ;
    STRING ProxyBypass, STRING lFlags

  DECLARE INTEGER InternetCloseHandle IN wininet ;
    INTEGER hInet

  DECLARE INTEGER InternetOpenUrl IN wininet;
    INTEGER hInternet, STRING lpszUrl, ;
    STRING lpszHeaders,;
    INTEGER dwHeadersLength, ;
    INTEGER dwFlags,;
    INTEGER dwContext

  DECLARE INTEGER InternetReadFile IN wininet;
    INTEGER hFile, STRING @lpBuffer,;
    INTEGER dwNumberOfBytesToRead,;
    INTEGER @lpdwNumberOfBytesRead

  DECLARE ;
  INTEGER InternetQueryDataAvailable IN wininet;
    INTEGER   hFile,;
    INTEGER @ lpdwBytesAvailable,;
    INTEGER   dwFlags,;
    INTEGER   dwContext

----------------------------

Last, but certainly not least the 32bit comand line process to allow us to know when each process completes, and return control to VFP when it does.

----------------------------


* Function Run32Bit
PARAMETERS pcFile2Run, plShowDone
#DEFINE NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS 32
#DEFINE IDLE_PRIORITY_CLASS 64
#DEFINE HIGH_PRIORITY_CLASS 128
#DEFINE REALTIME_PRIORITY_CLASS 1600

*-- Return code from WaitForSingleObject() if
*   it timed out.
#DEFINE WAIT_TIMEOUT 0x00000102

*-- This controls how long, in milli secconds,
*   WaitForSingleObject()
*   waits before it times out. Change this to
*   suit your preferences.
#DEFINE WAIT_INTERVAL 200

*--Declare the required kernal32 items
DECLARE INTEGER CreateProcess IN kernel32.DLL ;
  INTEGER lpApplicationName, ;
  STRING lpCommandLine, ;
  INTEGER lpProcessAttributes, ;
  INTEGER lpThreadAttributes, ;
  INTEGER bInheritHandles, ;
  INTEGER dwCreationFlags, ;
  INTEGER lpEnvironment, ;
  INTEGER lpCurrentDirectory, ;
  STRING @lpStartupInfo, ;
  STRING @lpProcessInformation

DECLARE INTEGER WaitForSingleObject IN kernel32.DLL ;
  INTEGER hHandle, INTEGER dwMilliseconds

DECLARE INTEGER CloseHandle IN kernel32.DLL ;
  INTEGER hObject

DECLARE INTEGER GetLastError IN kernel32.DLL
*---------------------------------------------

*-- STARTUPINFO is 68 bytes, of which we need to
*   initially populate the 'cb' or Count of Bytes
*   member with the overall length of the structure.
*   The remainder should be 0-filled
START = long2str(68) + REPLICATE(CHR(0), 64)

*-- PROCESS_INFORMATION structure is 4 longs,
*   or 4*4 bytes = 16 bytes, which we'll fill with nulls.
process_info = REPLICATE(CHR(0), 16)

*-- Start the program that was passed in
*  (EXE name must be null-terminated)
File2Run = pcFile2Run + CHR(0)

*-- Call CreateProcess, obtain a process handle.
*  Treat the application to run as the
*  'command line' argument, accept all other
*  defaults. Important to pass the start and
*   process_info by reference.
RetCode = CreateProcess(0, File2Run, 0, 0, 1, ;
  NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, 0, 0, @START, @process_info)

*-- Unable to run, exit now.
IF RetCode = 0
  =MESSAGEBOX("Error occurred. Error code: ", ;
              GetLastError())
ELSE
  *-- Extract the process handle from the
  *   PROCESS_INFORMATION structure.
  hProcess = str2long(SUBSTR(process_info, 1, 4))

  DO WHILE .T.
    *-- Use timeout of TIMEOUT_INTERVAL msec
    *  so the display will be updated.
    *  Otherwise, the VFP window never repaints until
    *   the loop is exited.
    IF WaitForSingleObject(hProcess, ;
       WAIT_INTERVAL) != WAIT_TIMEOUT
      EXIT
    ELSE
      DOEVENTS
    ENDIF
  ENDDO

  *-- Show a message box when we're done,
  *   If desired
  IF plShowDone
    =MESSAGEBOX ("Process completed")
  ENDIF

  * Close the process handle afterwards.
  RetCode = CloseHandle(hProcess)
ENDIF

RETURN


********************
FUNCTION long2str
  ********************
  * Passed : 32-bit non-negative numeric value (pnLongVal)
  * Returns : ASCII character representation of passed
  *           value in low-high format (lnretstr)
  * Example :
  *    m.longval = 999999
  *    lnLongStr = long2str(m.long)

  PARAMETERS pnLongVal

  PRIVATE i, lnretstr

  lnretstr = ""
  FOR i = 24 TO 0 STEP -8
    lnretstr = CHR(INT(pnLongVal/(2^i))) + lnretstr
    pnLongVal = MOD(pnLongVal, (2^i))
  NEXT
  RETURN lnretstr


  *******************
FUNCTION str2long
  *******************
  * Passed:  4-byte character string (lnLongStr)
  *          in low-high ASCII format
  * returns:  long integer value
  * example:
  *   lcLongStr = "1111"
  *   lnLongVal = str2long(lcLongStr)

  PARAMETERS lcLongStr

  PRIVATE i, lnRetVal

  lnRetVal = 0
  FOR i = 0 TO 24 STEP 8
    lnRetVal = lnRetVal + (ASC(lcLongStr) * (2^i))
    lcLongStr = RIGHT(lcLongStr, LEN(lcLongStr) - 1)
  NEXT
  RETURN lnRetVal

----------------------------

Well, I hope that helps you with a problem you might have in the future. Again, if you really want to get a 'handle' on integrating API funtions into your VFP applications, check out News2News!! They've got the goods!!

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - WinINet - Visual FoxPro - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Visual FoxPro - WinINet - FoxPro

Time just slips away…

2006-07-29T12:36:00.000-04:00

I know it’s been forever since I’ve blogged anything. My wife even commented yesterday that it’s been nearly a month!

I know, at least part of, the reason is that much of what I’ve been thinking, feeling and therefore tempted to write about, is geopolitical in nature, and I’ve tried, for the most part to leave that out of my blog posts.

In my mind, the last thing the blog world needs is another amateur geopolitical analyst, lord knows there’s no shortage of them.

Today however I found myself sitting in amazement as some guy on the news was talking about how Israel is ‘over-reacting’… That the war in Iraq and elsewhere in the middle east is primarily George Bush’s fault and the US’s “Cowboy Diplomacy”.

So if you’d rather not read a geopolitical rant from me, you should stop here.

Is the memory span of these “news” folks really that short? That not even five years after the September 11th attack, they’ve managed, in the interim, to rewrite history such that the events on that day were somehow *our* fault? Was I the only person who clearly saw that a “Global War on Terror” would not stop in Afghanistan, or Iraq, for that matter?

Do they really think that if we just go up to the likes of Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda folks and give them a hug they’ll stop hating us? Have they forgotten that to these folks we’re ‘non-believers’ and that it’s their duty to rid the planet of any, and all, non-believers?

Is it clear only to me that this wave of Islam inspired terrorism, that hides behind calling it a “Jihad” or holy war, is a fanatical splinter of the Islamic faith, and that no amount of reasoning, or rational discourse is about to sway their beliefs?

Sometimes I wonder if folks are just so obsessed with their lawns, cars and the next trip to Starbuck’s that they just can’t see past their own little private reality.

Do I think that Bush, or Israel for that matter has done everything right so far? No I don’t. Do I have a better feasible, workable solution? No, I don’t. Thankfully, it’s not my job to do those things. I promise you I’d be far more aggressive than anyone has been so far!

I know people are dying, on all sides, and in my heart I wish that wasn’t happening. But as my grandmother used to say, “Wishing don’t make it so”.

The sad reality is, when wars are waged, good people die. Civilians, and military alike, the fact remains, people die. There’s no such thing as a ‘clean’ war where only combatants, or even enemy combatants, die. Non-combatants have been dying as battles are fought since the beginnings of time and it’s not likely to change in our lifetime.

These terrorists don't want to convert or to rule us. We are a vile infestation of Allah's paradise. They don't care how "progressive" we are, how peace-loving we might be, or how much you sympathize, and/or empathize, with their cause.They want you (and I) dead, and think it is God's (or more precisely Allah’s) will for them to do it, and, that they’ll be rewarded in the afterlife for giving up their life to do so.

In that way, these folks are not all that different from the ‘Crusaders’ of times past, where wars were waged simply because one group believed differently from another, each staunchly believing theirs was the true, and proper religion. The only thing that’s really changed is the ability to kill on a broader scale and from greater distances. The reasons however, remain the same.

There will be no peace, not as long as these folks have access to weapons, explosives and other “war resources”. Those resources will always be available as long as there are nation states, sympathetic to their cause.

I do know this, the solution is not to stick our heads in the sand and ‘wish’ it all away.

We live in an ‘accepting’ society, one where our right to worship is protected and I know, that for some, it’s difficult to imagine a world where those rights don’t exist. But, that world exists, and we see it everyday on CNN, Fox and MSNBC. Yes, they’re killing American soldiers, but if you look at the numbers, they’re killing far more of their own countrymen (and women and children). Why? Simply because they’re Shiite instead of Sunni, Sunni instead of Shiite, or that some other, similar difference exists between them.

I fear that the only way this will ever ‘end’ is when folks like Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah no longer exist, or when they’ve succeeded in eliminating those of us they view as the ‘infidels’ are gone.

God forgive me, I pray it’s us, and not them, who survive.

A writer who I’ve found to have both a historical, well read, and a very balanced perspective on all of this can be found here.

A couple of the articles I really enjoyed were his strategic overview of the war on terror and his essential library.

If you’ve managed to stay with me this far, thank you, I appreciate it. Hopefully, getting this written will free up my mind for some other, less serious thoughts to emerge!

As always, your thoughts, comments and ideas are welcomed!

----------------------

Technorati Tags: War On Terror - Middle East - Decisions - Life
-IceRocket Tags: Life - Decisions - Middle East - War On Terror

Hurry up and wait. . .

2006-07-09T07:44:00.000-04:00

I think the first time I ever heard the phrase was shortly after I hit the ‘Boot Camp’ in 1971, I may have heard it before that, but I don’t recall it that way.

The Navy seemed famous for demanding we be somewhere, at some particular time, usually under threat of disciplinary action if we were not there at the assigned time. We’d go through whatever was necessary to get there, on time, and nearly always would end up standing around, waiting for who ever ‘demanded’ we be there to show up and let us know ‘why’ we were there.

It’s funny, I don’t recall ever having to be anywhere before that, except to work, at a specific time, and for me anyway, when I got to work, there was no waiting around, there was always something to start right in on. The concept of hurrying, to later wait, never even crossed my mind until my stint in the military.

It’s returned intermittently over the years, but lately it seems to have invaded everything I end up involved in!

The latest was a series of interviews I did, through a recruiter, for a company looking for a FoxPro expert. Prior to the first interview, there was a lot of discussion about ‘how fast can you start’, ‘the client isn’t going to want to wait’, etc… as there often is, but this time things progressed past that stage and on to the second interview.

In the first interview the call was within a minute of the time they’d agreed to call, the second was 15 minutes after the agreed upon time…. The interview went well, and I got a sense that the manager was looking at me for a broader role than the one I’d originally started interviewing for… after the fact, the recruiter confirmed that the person interviewing me had actually indicated exactly that in her summary of our interview.

Again there was a ‘you will be ready to move on this’ type of discussion, and again I’d confirmed my timeframes.

It’s been two weeks today since that interview, last week the company said we’d all talk on Wednesday, then on Wednesday moved that discussion to this morning… and today, it’s been moved off until next week.

I’m not quite sure what to make of all of this, initial urgent, pressing needs talk…. Followed by a rather lengthy ‘lull’ period post interview… the recruiter assures me I’m still in the game… that it’s not a matter of if, but when… If that’s true, I’m wondering now how ‘urgently’ I should be willing to transition… 2 weeks? 3 weeks? 4?

It’s not just this one incident; by the way, it seems life has taken that course over the years.

Doctor’s offices complain if you’re late, but if you’re on time, they have no problem letting you sit for an hour or more because the “Dr is running late”… if they expect a call from me, if *I’m running late, shouldn’t they extend the same courtesy to the Doc’s patients? After all we *are the ones paying the bill… and their salaries, the office rent etc…. Hell, if my cable company is running late, not only do they call, they give me a $10 credit on my account for my inconvenience!!

I find myself wondering when this shift occurred. When everyone, especially business folks, became so ‘all important’? I know it wasn’t always this way.

When I was a sales rep, my customers would almost always apologize if they’d kept me waiting when we had an appointment. I know that if I was running at all late, I would find a pay phone (remember those?) and call in, even if it meant I’d be a few minutes later. If for no other reason, than to let them know I respected their time at least as much as they respected mine.

When my wife was in the hospital recently, and she’d been instructed to not get out of bed without one of the nursing staff present, I went out to the nurse’s station (after pressing the call button and waiting 5 minutes) to request someone come to assist her to the bathroom… when I made my request I was told, and I quote

“Someone will be there as soon as we finish our reports”

I looked at the nurse who said that to me and replied

“I’m sorry, I must not have made myself clear, someone, will come with me, right frickin NOW, or I’ll have the hospital administrator up here explaining to me why reports are more important than you caring for my wife!”

Amazingly enough, ‘someone’, came right to the room with me.

Why were those reports more important than the patient? How many other calls were going unanswered? When did it become acceptable to provide care when it was convenient? I know it hasn’t always been that way.

Have we all become so disconnected in our electronic ‘space’ that we’re forgetting those intrapersonal skills we learned as kids? Do kids today learn those skills? Have video games, the internet, email, cell phones, text messages and the like so disconnected us from being human that we fail to see the ‘human side’ any more?

If so, then the promise of a smaller world as the result of ‘connectivity’ is a long way from fruition… the world may be ‘smaller’ in that we can reach out and touch folks around the globe almost effortlessly… if we lose sight of who’s on the other end of that contact though… what’s the point?

I’m waiting patiently to hear about the gig… patiently because I’m working… if I wasn’t I’d be snatching up the first gig that came my way. I wouldn’t be telling the other client to ‘hurry up’ though; I’d just take the first solid offer that came my way.

I remember the day I came to this gig, earlier in the day, I’d had another interview. At the close of the interview the fellow said:

“You should be aware I’ll be interviewing other candidates”

To which I replied:

“Thanks for making me aware of that, you should also be aware I’ll be interviewing other clients as well”

When they called me back in 10 days, I told them I’d already taken an assignment. The client (as well as the recruiter) was pretty upset, inferring that I should have ‘waited’ while they made up their mind. I remember thinking that had I waited, they might have never called back. They were, after all, interviewing others.

I don’t really have any answers, just more questions about this issue. I’ve thought about it quite a bit lately, but no clear, “ah-hah!!” has come to me… maybe it’s the general continuation of the *me generation sliding into more of the fabric of daily life… maybe it’s just the over all pace of life in general… I just don’t know.

I do know, I don’t like the trend though!

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Life - Trends - Observations - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Observations - Trends - Life

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem….

2006-07-06T21:08:00.000-04:00

So I’ll admit it, I’m addicted… hopelessly, utterly and completely under its spell… from the way it sounds, to the way it smells… I’m flat out a horsepower junkie.

Cars, trucks, motorcycles and outdoor power equipment… tillers, mowers, blowers, chain saws, weed eaters, generators, splitters, tractors, chippers… beg, borrowed, purchased or rented… I just love using gasoline powered equipment.

I know, the price of gas is close to $3/gallon, and we’re “running out” of oil… (Except there seems to be no shortage once the price goes up… ever wonder about that?)… and folks seem to think that electric powered stuff is ‘cleaner’ more environmentally ‘friendly’… which of course means the polluting is being done in someone else’s backyard…

But, folks, the hum of an electric motor does absolutely nothing for me.

There’s no thrill of that first ‘cough’ as the motor tries to fire on the first pull… no satisfaction in the way it settles in at speed… or the sweet smell of the two cycle engine on a chain saw or weed eater as you fire it up first thing in the morning…

Then there’s the difference in raw power… the shear volume of work, the right small engine, paired with the right pulleys and belts, or better yet the perfect hydraulic pump, can do is astounding… Despite having owned, rented, and borrowed all sorts of equipment over the years, I never cease to marvel at what can be accomplished by one man with one of these tools.

I mean I’m amazed at what *I* can do… but seriously, I’m amazed at what someone truly talented can do as it’s always three to four times what I get done.

I’ve tried to quit, go cold turkey, those were not happy times….

I sold my 18Hp, 3 cyl diesel tractor, along with the 50” mower deck, 48” roto-tiller and rear blade… got rid of the big Toro weedeater (brush cutter actually)… the lawn mower, almost everything actually… even went so far as to hire a ‘service’ to come in and take care of my lawn…

Those were dark days indeed… I’d find myself in the garage looking over the new models in catalogs from Stihl, Troy-bilt, John Deere, Homelite, etc… hiding the catalogs so my secret wouldn’t be discovered….

It was all in vain… the first time I fired up the chain saw here (which was the one piece I didn’t sell… hey, you never know, I might have needed it for protection)… the ‘thirst’ was back…. And I’ve been battling, albeit losing, with it ever since.

Maybe if I'd sold the chain saw... a Stihl 041-Farm Boss... I bought it nearly 30 years ago this year... after a lawn mower it was the first, "just for me" piece of outdoor power equipment... Since then it's cut at least 200 *full*, not face, cords of wood... trimmed untold limbs and help clean up dozens of yards, and a couple of roads after bad storms... A true friend in need.... how could I sell it?

I get my ‘fix’ every so often by renting something… but the real juice is in buying, loading up and bringing home a new piece of power equipment!! Saturday… I fell totally off the wagon… and bought a new Troy-bilt Chipper/Shredder… 6.5Hp of pure gasoline fired Intek power… RR…RRRR….RRRRRRRR!!!

Can you guess what I’ll be doing next? Well, as time and temperatures permit anyway… that’s right…. making mulch of the read falls, low hanging limbs and other ‘yard waste’!!

Hey, I know, I’m being eco-sound… after all isn’t it better to make my own mulch than to send this stuff off to a land fill?

As always I’ll post some before and after pics in the albums as I progress… I’m sailing now… cruising on that gasoline fumed crest … and all is right with the world… What I fear though… is what it will take to feel this way the ‘next’ time…

If you ever see a bearded old fart, on the street, and begging for spare tractor parts… take pity on me, throw me a spark plug or something… I tried.. I really, really tried… but the jones is back… with a vengeance!

------------------------

Note: I hope my attempt at humor isn’t lost… while I do confess to a long standing love affair with gasoline powered anything… and it does border on an addiction… it really is under control.. honest!!

Technorati Tags: Power Tools - Outdoor Equipment - gasoline - horsepower
-IceRocket Tags: horsepower - gasoline - Outdoor Equipment - Power Tools

FoxPro Moves to 12th… No, Stays in 13th!

2006-07-04T12:04:00.000-04:00

See the actual chart here

It moved up one more spot in the past month, although temporarily to 12th, but as of today, it’s in 13th again.

That said, at this time last year it was in 35th!! That’s right, it moved up 22 spots over one year ago. In contrast, VB.Net was in 16h at this time last year, and is now in 19th.

Visual FoxPro is now listed as an ‘A’ language, VB.Net, a ‘B’.

Java remains at number one again this month, moving up one spot from the #2 slot it had last year.

I remain exited about FoxPro’s climb this year. I know part of it is due to the number of us out here posting about our success stories as well as doing a bit of ‘evangelizing’ about the product. I also know that a good part of it is also due to the fact that it remains a solid business tool.

FoxPro was one of, if not the, first of the MS languages with the ability to consume web services. It’s got an extremely versatile language that’s been tuned over 20+ years to provide incredible data manipulation capabilities.

Couple that with the ability to work easily with Oracle, DB2, MS-SQL or the native VFP database container (DBC) and you have a tool that exceeds TOAD, or Squirrel in not only working with ‘raw data’, but as a front end to those stores as well.

I know Microsoft will never give the press to FoxPro it gives to Access or SQL Server, as they see it as competing with both of them (something it does very well by the way), and as the pricing model does not separate the ‘data engine’ from the language, and provides the developer the ability to distribute their application without the end user needing a copy of VFP there’s just no profit motive for them to start doing so.

I am seeing a growing community of FoxPro ‘bloggers’ though… and some talented ones as well. I read a discussion this morning about some of us creating a site that showcases Visual FoxPro success stories. I think that’s an excellent idea, and one I think I’ll incorporate into the revamp of one of my sites I’m currently working on.

For those of you who are not ‘techies’ or programmer types, think about it this way. Imagine you spent 10, or 20 years of your life, learning how to use a tool, or better yet a ‘set’ of tools to do your job. Then, one day, you’re told the ‘tool set’ you’ve invested time, and money, to become expert at…. Is no longer an acceptable tool set for you to use.

To me, it’s similar to telling a mechanic, who’s managed to become proficient, and make a living with, sockets, ratchets, screwdriver and hammers, being told those tools can no longer be used, and they now have to use an ‘new and improved’ tool set. Never mind that most of the new tools don’t look, feel or work like the old ones, but in many cases require more time, money and effort to not only use, but to master as well.

I’ve made a fairly big investment in .Net, and while I’m far from the expert I am in FoxPro, with .Net, I’m certainly proficient.

Unfortunately, even if I was to purport .Net expertise, the going rate for .Net programmers is about half what I’d earn on a similar project in VFP. Like that mechanic, I still need to feed and provide for my family, so I’m going to take the work that will allow me to do so, all other things being equal.

In addition, in the right hands, VFP is still one of the fastest development platforms around allowing a VFP guy like me to model, and present an interface to the customer, complete with a basic data model, in days, not weeks or months.

I’m taking steps to get my blog ‘googlized’ so it’s included in the “Tiobe Index” calculations… the way I see it, FoxPro needs all the free press it can get.

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Microsoft - SOA - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - SOA - FoxPro

A Little Manual Labor Is Good For The Soul. . .

2006-07-03T10:02:00.000-04:00

Or in this case, a lot of manual labor!

I took the concept of ‘Labor Day’ and decided to embark on another labor intense weekend project.

About half of our lot is ‘overgrown’… I’m sorry, it’s a “Natural Area”.. in current landscape speak.

One of the reasons I believe it was being kept as a natural area, instead of as lawn, is that much of it is so steeply sloped as to make it difficult to mow. One of the reasons I’ve let it stay ‘Natural’ is that I liked the fact that from the street, it’s very difficult to even see our house.

Why, well from the house, it’s also very difficult to see the street, or most of the neighboring homes, so, despite living ‘in the city’ it can feel like we’re ‘in the country’.

Unfortunately, as anyone who lives in or around wooded areas can attest, these areas also are a breeding ground for all sorts of summer insects, and I decided that this year I was going to attempt to reclaim some of that land. While I want to keep it ‘natural’, I also want to be able to walk around on it and not have to fight my way through brush, mosquitoes and all other sorts of annoying insects.

Also, in the center of this area is a drainage conduit (otherwise known as a “ditch”) that needs some attention. There are some washed out areas and one ‘hole that needs to be filled in. Last year when I’d rented the tractor I tried to get back in there with it, but the undergrowth was so thick, and there were so many deadfalls that it was close to impossible to find a direct route in.

So, as phase 1 of my reclamation project I decided to see what I could accomplish with a day and a half and a walk behind brush cutter. I’m sure you’ve seen them advertised, the most common is the DR field and Brush Mower, and there are other, similar ones as well. The one I rented was made by Murray, who makes most of the Lawn and Garden equipment you see with a ‘store’ brand on it.

It was 15HP, had 4 forward speeds, and one reverse speed. Al I ever used was 1st, and reverse… and often I was wishing 1st was even slower than it was. This area was very, very overgrown, and while the going was slow, this little machine did (what I think) is an amazing job.

I had to enlist the chainsaw, and a pair of heavy duty loppers to help get though some of the thickest stuff, but over a day and a half I managed to really make some headway.

I’ve posted some before and after pics here and as you can see I knocked down a lot of brush.

One of the things I liked best was that the machine essentially mulched everything up into fairly small pieces, leaving the area looking like I’d actually mulched it (I didn’t).

It was tough work though, and with the temps here in the 90’s and the humidity fairly high as well, it was hard on this old body of mine. It’s much tougher work than it looks on TV, when working through the heavy stuff. On the other hand in the couple of small areas where I had mostly tall grass and ivy, it was about the same work as mowing the lawn.

It cost about $80 to rent the machine for Saturday afternoon and Sunday, considering one of the machines costs about $2,000 to buy, it was a bargain in my book. I would only use one once, maybe twice a year, so owning one doesn’t make much sense to me.

Oh, if you plan on renting one, a tilt bed, or ramped trailer is the way to go… it’s far to heavy to lift in and out of a pickup bed!!

I’m off today and tomorrow as well, but I think I’m going to find something less, labor intensive to do!!

Enjoy the 4th!!!

Technorati Tags: Yardwork - Brush Mowing - Weekend Project - Natual Area
-IceRocket Tags: Natual Area - Weekend Project - Brush Mowing - Yardwork

We live in very strange times. . .

2006-06-25T12:56:00.000-04:00

I read this today… and I find myself thinking more and more about it.

You can see a 'G' rated pic here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48600077142@N01/166601565/

What is it with our society?

A teacher can spout anti-government rhetoric, or take and promote a “kill ‘em all” line with respect to the war on terror, and there’d be no ‘outcry’, no out right ‘dismissal’ and a call for a revocation of his/her teaching certificate.

Show a nipple however, and well…. You can’t be teaching art to students in Austin...

What is it anyway about the female nipple that makes it such a ‘forbidden’ item? I watch the Discovery Health channel from time to time and I’m always amazed that while they can show a flaccid penis, they always ‘blur out’ a woman’s nipple. They’ll show the rest of the breast… and just blur out the nipple.

Is there some sort of secret, uncontrollable ‘urge’ that drives, other men, but not me, insane with lust at the sight of a nipple? Did I miss some instant nipple arousal genetic trigger in my DNA?

While I’ll admit I’m as big a fan of the female body as anyone, I’m not instantly aroused to the point of distraction at the sight of a naked female, unless it happens to be my wife… and she’s ‘nekked’ as opposed to ‘naked’ (Nekked for those of you who don’t know, is naked, with “intent”)

At what point does the nipple cross the line from its utilitarian function of nurturing an infant, to being something that MUST remain hidden at all times lest it unleash a torrent of unmanageable arousal in all who see it?

I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that there are just as many women who like to see a bare male chest, as there are men who like to see a female one. Somehow though our society has deemed that women are far more ‘in control’ of their hormonal ‘urges’ than we men are, regardless of age. I think I’m more than a little offended by that assumption.

I think also that this has far deeper reaching aspects than just this one teacher, and these pictures. Could an employer of mine find my blog (it certainly wouldn’t be difficult) and decide that, this post for example, violates some ‘decency’ clause in the employee handbook, or a contract? Could I be blacklisted as a contractor, potential employee, or dismissed from the job?

It’s possible, and while I could probably win a wrongful termination suit… it would, no doubt, be an expensive legal battle, and once won would certainly narrow my chances for future employment.

Most of you who stop in here are also bloggers, your lives are out here, a diary for all to see, have you ever posted anything that could be viewed the wrong way?

So what do you think? Is the simple depiction of a woman, without clothes, or semi-clad, pornography? Or is it, as she claims, art?

I’ve not seen the actual pictures in question, but as I understand it, these were candid shots of her doing everyday things, like laundry, changing her clothes, etc. They did not depict any sexual acts, either alone or with others.

You, my readers, are a pretty level headed bunch so I’m asking you, does this strike you as an overreaction, or is management doing the right thing here?

--------------------------------------

I’ve scanned a dozen or so ‘Before’ outside photos of the house and I’ll have them posted today at www.thecoupes.org . As always, you’re welcome to drop in there and take a look.

I may have to turn off the public viewing in the next day or so as the pics begin to hit the google image search, I don’t need the additional traffic! Once again, I offer you regular readers the opportunity to register for the site, it’s free and you’ll never receive any spam I promise. If you’re concerned about divulging personal information, just place gibberish in those fields, we’re just gathering it for family mailings etc anyway.

As always, thanks for stopping in.

Technorati Tags: Society - Porn vs. Art - WTF - Choices
-IceRocket Tags: Choices - WTF - Porn vs. Art - Society

Well… it’s certainly been a week!

2006-06-24T12:14:00.000-04:00

One of ups, downs and turn-arounds…

Work-wise… things went pretty well. I managed to get everything out that had to go out, despite a server crash that disabled my access to the data. Only a (clever, if I do say so myself) workaround got me access and allowed me to hit the deadlines.

I got the ASP application working and the financial group signed off on the results (it’s always good when the financial people need your help!) I’ll document the changes, and hand everything off to the Business objects folks early next week.

Professionally I had a second interview with the folks in Connecticut, this time with the Development Manager. It turns out she lives in Atlanta and works 100% remotely managing the various developers. She indicated that, should I get the job, a remote assignment was possible.

In the course of the interview she also indicated that she (and the company) were looking to me specifically become a ‘big picture’ person in their move to a multi-tiered approach to data management and a tightly integrated mixed architecture.

Once she said that our discussion took on a whole new dimension… remote work… help with architecting the transition, proof of concept models… now they have my interest! This is the sort of thing that really gets my juices flowing creatively. Now all that has to happen is for the dream, to become a reality!!

I’d love to be a part of something this big, this state of the art and with a company that’s not only a leader in its field, but one with virtually no competition… sweet.

I’m trying to keep my hopes realistic as I’m not sure moving to Connecticut is a long term solution for us, I’d miss the weather here too much! Time will tell I guess, and I’ll make a decision when there’s one to make… for the moment I’m just enjoying being ‘in the hunt’.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Camaro pictures; there are some others various pics out there as well, with more to follow soon. In fact tonight and tomorrow with whatever time I have I’ll be scanning the photo album of our remodel of the house a few years back. I’ll most likely post them in sections, like before, during, after and current… the place is very much still a work in progress.

Micah is still talking about coming up on Sunday, but, considering he’s got a late day wedding to be in on Saturday, and remembering how I was at his age, I’m not counting on it!

As I was typing this yesterday, we had one of those signature North Carolina summer thunderstorms, incredible lightning, heavy rain and high winds… it knocked out power for a little bit and cable/internet access for several hours.

As a result I’m just starting to work on the scans, it’ll be Sunday before they’re posted for sure.

Also, Micah called last night, and as expected the heavy rains (5” + in many areas) the company he works for, and therefore he, will be very busy this weekend doing water removal.

I’m off to do some yard work, trimming mostly as I managed to get the yard mowing done before the storm actually got here yesterday.

So what are you doing this weekend?

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Work - Life - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Life - Work - FoxPro

I know I'm late. . .

2006-06-21T23:43:00.000-04:00

I promised you the Camaro pics yesterday and I didn't post them.

I tried, honest! Blogger just wouldn't allow me to upload any pics at all!!

So, now, for a limited time only you can go to my family website www.thecoupes.org and click on Family Photos, go to the album named Bill & Maryan and then click on the album 'Camaro Rebuild'.

I say for a limited time because normally you'd have to be a registered member to view the photos. Feel free to register if you'd like, you're more than welcome as you all feel like family to me. I thought you might not be comfortable giving me personal information so I made the album 'public' for the time being.

I hope you enjoy them, I had almost as much fun scanning them as I did doing the project!

Things do change it seems. . .

2006-06-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

Micah did come by on Father’s Day, and took me to a late lunch, early dinner. We had a really nice time, talking like we used to, about any and everything, from how work is going for each of us to cars, trucks and bikes… relationships and so on…

He and I always had a sort of easy communications style. Nothing was ‘out of bounds’ and we’d often talk for hours at a time. Yesterday served to remind me of those days, and how sad I was when he let me down.

I have this one ‘thing’ that’s really important to me and I’d stressed it to him many, many times… and that’s “Don’t make promises to me, that you can’t keep”

I don’t know when, or why really, that it started being so important to me, but it really is the one thing that will light my fuse like nothing else.

When he took off, and in the process neglected to make good on several promises to me, I worked up a righteous ‘ticked-off’… and then set about attempting to convince myself that I was angry, not hurt.

I mentioned in the last post, that despite what I’d tried to tell myself, in the end, I was just flat hurt.

We talked some about that as well… I let him know why I’d gotten so upset, and that, in retrospect; once again, I saw some of ‘me’ in his actions. Not something that was easy to talk about (for me) or to listen to (for him), but just like old times we managed to get through it… and came out the other side better for it. (or at least I think so)

One thing that came out was that he really does want to get square with me (us, his Mom and I) financially, and in the process also get back involved helping me with the truck project. I’d love to have his help, as I love teaching him things and we always have fun thrashing on things.

So, all in all… definitely the second best Father’s day ever, that first time he ever called me ‘Pop’ will be pretty hard to displace I think!

Work, has been a flurry of activity… I was asked to look into an ASP application that had been functioning fine for about a year, and suddenly this month was refusing to calculate the financial results for the period.

Once again, I’m tweaking and application that’s officially ‘not supported’, but serves a crucial purpose and causes a number of things to grind to a halt if it doesn’t function. The difference is, this time; the person who called on my expertise is one of the financial gurus in the company.

One of the things that struck me as I worked on this application was *why* we’d jumped on ASP.Net when it was released. In ASP, you had no ‘debug’ mode, it was a ‘through back’ to the days before integrated development environments and a total pain to work with. If there was one thing that launched Java, and JSP it was how poorly ASP was implemented in the first go around.

Even with all of that said, not only did I find, and fix the problem, in less time than it would have taken for them to find an ASP consultant, but I also fixed two other ‘core’ problems in that same section of code.

I love wins like that!!

The down side is that I have at least three other deliverables for Tuesday, and one of them I haven’t started on! I’ve got two PC’s though, and I can let one of them run the two processes I’ve got queued up, while I use the other to work up the third one… with any luck at all I’ll knock it all out!

Maryan continues to improve, slowly, but visibly everyday. She’s a bit frustrated that it’s taking time for her to ‘heal up’, but from what the Doc told me, she’s right on schedule, if not a little ahead of schedule.

It’s tough to see her still in pain, but encouraging to me that I can see her moving better than she has in over a year, and starting to sleep through the night without the pain waking her up… I may be crazy, but I’m holding out hope we’ll get at least one bike ride in together this year.

Tomorrow, I’m going to post some pictures of the IROC. It used to be mine, when I bought the Passat for work commuting I sold I to Micah. Shortly after he’d got it, he had an accident that crumpled up the front end.

Over one weekend we stripped off the front clip, cut out the damaged frame sections, welded in new ones, rebuilt the battery box, reassembled and aligned all the sheet metal and he was back on the road… I hope y’all enjoy the pics.

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Microsoft - ASP - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - ASP - FoxPro

Put away the hurt….

2006-06-18T09:21:00.000-04:00

That’s what I’m working on today.

I mentioned around Mother’s Day how one of my wife’s children had initiated a re-entry into our lives. It was a particularly emotional period as this kid (young man) had really hurt us both by his actions.

I find myself dealing with putting the hurt away today. He called last night, wanted to know if I was aware that today was Father’s day, and would it be alright if he came up to spend some time with me.

I’ve spent a lot of time, and energy, over the past couple of years (which is how long it’s been since we’ve heard from him) convincing myself that his Mom was the one he hurt, not me.

I should have spent more time and energy because I didn’t manage to convince myself. I did tell him it would be fine for him to come up though. First, because I definitely don’t want to get in the way of he and his Mom putting their relationship back together. Second, because I miss having him in my life too. Not necessarily in that order either.

He and I had a great discussion a week ago last Wednesday (the day after Maryan’s surgery) she asked us to leave her room so she could sleep and he and I sat outside the hospital and talked for over two hours… like we used to do.

We covered a lot of ground too… and unless he’s picking up acting as a second career, he really seems to have grown up a ton in the last couple of years.

One of the things about Micah is how much he’s always reminded me, of myself, at his age. In thinking about that, I remember joining the service to just get away from my parents and begin ‘making my own mark’ on the world. He went off and found himself a job/career and is doing pretty well… he’s recently been reviewing his life and found himself thinking about how selfish his actions were a couple years ago.

It seems he’s discovered that being a ‘man’ is more than just doing what you want to do, but involves finding ways to live your own life, and yet retain room in there for your family as well.

So today will mark the beginning of our reconciliation as well…. Or at least I hope it will. Micah and I sort of ‘adopted’ each other. He’s definitely the closest thing to a son I’ve ever had, and he’s told me that I’ve been a better Dad to him than his biological father… So, if this works out, and we actually put things back together, it will definitely be the best Father’s day I’ve ever had… Previously, it was the year he started calling me ‘Pop’…

I’ve missed that…

Technorati Tags: Family - Life - Decisions - Fathers Day
-IceRocket Tags: Fathers Day - Decisions - Life - Family

I don't know where the time... days... went

2006-06-17T11:15:00.000-04:00

Strangers are stranger….

Well, the last week or so, felt like a month or so!!

First, and probably most importantly, Maryan came through her surgery just fine. In fact the Doctor’s words to me immediately following the surgery were “It could not have gone better”.

She’s recovering slowly, but on a very steady track. Although she’s still pretty uncomfortable, I believe she’s already in less actual pain than she was before the surgery. I could be wrong as she’s (understandably) a bit “guardedly optimistic” with respect to her pain levels. She’s definitely moving around like she’s in less pain, despite moving slowly, the limp she’d developed prior to surgery is gone, and has been since she started walking after the procedure!!

Thank you all for your well wishes, thoughts and prayers, they were very, very appreciated!!

I’ve been very busy with taking care of Maryan, keeping up the household, dishes, laundry, housecleaning, cooking meals, grocery shopping in addition to having an added work load on the job… there’s just not been any left-over time for blogging. I’ve missed you all and hope starting this week to get back on a more ‘normal’ schedule.

Now… on to some of the strange parts of the past few days….

Motorcycles… helmets…

What in the hell is the matter with “Big Ben”?

I heard on the news that, Ben Roethlisberger (the 24-year-old Steelers quarterback) was in serious but stable condition after a motorcycle wreck on Monday, and then later in the week that he’d been released.

It turns out he rarely, if ever wears a helmet. As I was watching the newscast, I found myself wondering what would compel someone, who wears a helmet “at work”, to not wear one when riding?

I suppose, under it all is some sort of misguided macho bullshit, where it’s ‘Ok’ and plenty masculine to wear a helmet on the field, but where just the opposite is true when riding his bike.

That thought got me thinking even more about why one would be ‘Ok’ and the other not so ‘Ok’…. Maybe it’s because the dangers of the ‘game’ are perceived as real and less controllable… going back to what I’ve said before about perception, and reality… it would make some sort of twisted sense I guess.

‘Big Ben’, fell victim to what is probably the single largest cause of Car/Motorcycle accidents (without alcohol involvement), and that would be where the car turns left, into the path of the approaching motorcycle. Had he been wearing a helmet, he would have spared himself a lot of pain and suffering.

According to the article I read:

“He broke his jaw and nose in the crash. Doctors said the multiple facial fractures were successfully repaired during more than 7.5 hours of surgery”

Seems like something *I* would want to avoid, but then again, it’s much, much more cool to ride without a helmet.

There are many, many reasons for motorcycle accidents, among them:

• Lack of basic riding skills
• Failure to appreciate the inherent operating characteristics
• Failure to appreciate the limitations of the motorcycle
• Failure to use special precautions while riding
• Failure to use defensive driving techniques
• Lack of specific braking and cornering skills
• Failure to follow speed limit

Of course, virtually all of these would be contributing factors in any accident involving a motor vehicle.

One thing is universally true however in motor vehicle accidents.

“The larger, heavier, vehicle usually wins”

If you’re going to ride a motorcycle, and you all know how much I love to ride, you absolutely must be aware of this fact of life.

You are usually the smaller, lighter vehicle. You have to ride defensively and you should always be ‘geared up’. No amount of ‘cool points’ will make up for a road rash that covers 40% of your body, or several skull fractures.

The whole point is to arrive alive, motorcycling, the more you know, the better it gets.

If you break this down logically, the helmet on the field would probably be less ‘important’ as everyone involved is a professional… there are very, very few professional drivers on the roads with us everyday. Things are a lot less ‘controllable’ out here, in the real world, than they are on the game field. On the field, there are many, many rules and a whole staff watching each play to be sure everything meets every rule… not quite the same out here…

Folks, control is an illusion… anyone who rides a bike and thinks they can control everything, is operating in an altered reality. You see, in the past month, one of the safest riders I know of, died, while riding back from a conference.

His bike and he had an incident, with a deer, and, he lost.

Larry Grodsky, who wrote a column, "Stayin' Safe," for Rider Magazine was the “father” of safe motorcycling as far as I’m concerned and wrote a number of articles every month on riding safely. If an accident (and a deer) can get him, it can get any of us.

I’ll miss Larry and his insight. I’ve learned as much about riding a motorcycle from reading his articles, as I have actually riding, or taking courses.

I’ve also been getting set up for a possible gig up in Connecticut. It seems there’s a shop there getting ready for a major forward thrust with an xBase/FoxPro initiative. I had my phone technical interview on Friday.

The interview was scheduled for 30 minutes, and it went on for over an hour. The recruiter seemed to think that was a very good sign, as always at the end of an interview, especially a technical one, I never have a clue what they thought.

I have no problem with the technical aspect of the interview, hey if I can’t ‘tech out’ after doing this for 20+ years I should find something else to do! It’s the application of the knowledge aspect that is the issue. There are probably at least a 100 ways to do anything, it’s knowing ‘how’ you might choose to approach a problem, and a solution, that is fairly subjective sometimes.

I have very strong opinions about the how and why, and I can tell in the interview that my feelings do not always agree with the company’s existing tech folks. Interestingly enough, that’s been a good thing, as often as it’s been a bad thing… so, like I said, I rarely have any idea how the interview went.

Time will tell I guess.

I’d like to be part of a forward push in the FoxPro arena… it’s been a long time since I’ve been heading into anything FoxPro related that wasn’t an ‘upgrade’ so simply straight up maintenance coding.

I’ve done a ton of interesting things (in FoxPro) on the current gig; unfortunately none of that development gets to be part of the actual production systems. It’s used to ‘front end’ things, but not to actually be a component of the day-to-day operations.

I’m actually on the fence about the Connecticut project as I have no real desire to move north again, however, if the money’s right and I can make it work so that I can be home say one week out of four or five, it might be just the ticket to replenish the reserves, and get things moving forward again.

A contractor friend of mine stopped by today ad we discussed a number of things, personal and business. It turns out he’s got a car project he wants some help on, and would like to swap some time and help on my project, which would be nice. Also, he thinks he can help me with some ‘grading’ I want to do, if I can be patient, and we can split some equipment rental costs after he’s done with the equipment on his work site.

That would be a very welcome deal! We’ll see what happens there as well.

All in all that’s about it, thankfully Maryan is continuing to recover, she’s a little better every day, and in less ‘discomfort’ every day too!

I’ll try to keep y’all posted as things progress!! I’ll be stopping by your blogs as soon as I can!!

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Microsoft - Surgery Update - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - Surgery Update - FoxPro

Well… Finally We have a Date…

2006-06-03T10:53:00.000-04:00

For Maryan’s surgery that is… We met with the spine surgeon yesterday, Dr. Hey, and we’re on the schedule for Tuesday June 6th!! That’s right next Tuesday!

If I’m sounding a little excited, well I am. The waiting is finally over, and I believe this time we’ve got a surgeon that understands her situation, knows what needs to be done, and, has the knowledge and skills to do it!

You can read some about Dr. Hey here. He’s actually a pretty nice guy, which, considering many of the other medical folks we’ve met along the way, was a very nice surprise!

It’s been a very long 18 months for her. A lot of false hopes, and encounters with medical folks who had less than what I’d consider simple human kindness. Her original surgeon actually looked at her xRays and MRI and said (and this is an actual quote) “I don’t see anything orthopedic wrong with you”

Dr. Hey on the other hand, took one look and pointed out the same areas I’d pointed out to the last Dr and said you’ve definitely got a ‘pinch’ here and several smaller ones, here, here and here….

I learned a lot about what a ‘pinch’ looks like when I suffered two separate ruptured disks in the same year back in 2003. She had the same types of visible ‘stenosis’ that got me sent to a surgeon, yet this other ‘Dr’ was claiming there was nothing wrong.

The point in all of this is what a wonderful woman I’m married to. Never once did she ‘give up’… or accept that ‘it was all in her head’… that’s right, in her head… it was suggested she see a psychiatrist to see why she was imagining the pain.

I’ve lost a lot of faith in the medical profession over the past couple of years. I’ll never again take on face value what a physician tells me. I’ll research, get second opinions, and as long as what I’m being told doesn’t agree with what my body and brain are telling me, I’ll continue to fight for and find a proper course of treatment.

I’ve met a few, very compassionate and caring physicians too, it’s not that I think they’re all bad, it’s just the way some of these folks simply ‘dismiss’ what a patient is telling them… as if it’s not possible the patient could have a clue what’s going on.

One thing seems to distinguish, for me anyway, the ‘good ones’ from the ‘bad ones’ and I’m going to share that tidbit with you.

I sincerely hope you never find yourself in a similar situation, but if you do, one of the things you need to do is:

Put together a medical ‘notebook’
Keep all of your medical test results in it (ask for copies, you paid for them!)
List all the medications you’ve tried and may be on, how they worked or didn’t work.
Also keep all Xrays, MRIs all of it, together with your notebook, as well as anything else you feel is pertainent.

Take this with you whenever you go to see a new Doctor for the first time. If they dismiss, or otherwise disregard what you’ve brought them, leave and never go back. These types believe that only what ‘they’ do is relevant, they’re not going to help you much.

There will be Doctors though, that when you bring this with you, will actually got through it, page by page, ask you questions, get feed back from you as they read the materials and utilize it in their search for what’s wrong. These are the medical professionals who know enough to know, that they don’t know everything. That knowing what’s been ruled out, how tests have been interpreted, right or wrong, the effects of previous medications and so on could put them much closer, much faster to determining what might actually help you.

I credit Dr. Mark Phillips with helping us turn the corner. He’s also a great, very human, physician and practices in the pain management area of medicine. He’s on the board of directors for the “North Carolina Society of Interventional Pain Physicians” and extremely talented in his chosen field. While he doesn’t have an impressive web site (and I may have to change that for him) he’s a very impressive physician, and a truly compassionate human being.

He agreed with us, that for her to be in as much pain as she was in, there had to be an underlying cause. He’s known Dr. Hey for years, and they’ve worked together at different times in their careers. He made a call for us, and got us in to see Dr. Hey, for that alone I’ll always be grateful to him.

I finally feel like we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Switching channels….

It’s raining here today, so my continuation of the brickwork project is on hold for at least another week So with that plan held up, my plan today, is to finish up the electrical repairs to the bike (remember the bike?), and do some general cleaning and organizing in the garage.

In addition, due to the Dr’s appointments and the surgery next week I need to see if I can get a little bit ahead on some of my projects at work so I don’t hold anyone else up. Fortunately, what I’m doing right now, business rules, field validation properties and designing the ‘packaging’ aspects of the new equipment database I can do without much interaction with others.

I’ll post some pics of the joys of motorcycle electronics and of a clean garage tomorrow, if time permits I might also ‘plumb’ some of the new steel air distribution lines I’ve been planning to install, with pics of course!

Technorati Tags: Doctors - Medical Problems - Back Pain - Decisions
-IceRocket Tags: Decisions - Back Pain - Medical Problems - Doctors

Visual FoxPro Moves into 13th !!

2006-06-01T20:19:00.000-04:00

See the actual chart here

Now 13th might not seem like a particularly ‘good’ thing to many folks. To those of us earning a living with Visual FoxPro (VFP) however, it’s a very big deal!!

If you look at the charts, a year ago, it was in 33rd place, five places behind Microsoft’s new baby VB.Net. Now, just one year later, not only did Vb.Net move up 11 places to number 17, but VFP caught, and passed it in the past year!!

I’ve said here many times that VFP is, hands down, the single most versatile and productive language I’ve ever written code in. Seeing it decline in popularity over the past decade has been, well, disappointing, to say the very least.

That I’m the sole VFP programmer working out of the contract house, and also the only one in an IT/IS focused company is a total reversal of my experience in contracting 15 years ago. Back then, the demand far outstripped the supply and I was getting paid to teach classes in FoxPro development by the contract house.

Today, I get brought in for a specific, targeted task in most cases, and both I and the headhunters know that when it’s over I’ll be looking for that little nugget of a contract elsewhere as they, in all likelihood, will not have anything for me.

News like I saw today however, gives me hope that the market, as well as the language are making a come back. Worse things could happen to those of use contracting (in VFP) for a living than to have demand spike!! There are few, maybe only 25-30% of the FoxPro coders left, the rest have move on to some other platform (probably Java) where the work is more plentiful, even if, the rates are a bit lower.

Why do I think it’s making a come back?

I’ve got a few ideas:

Many of the remaining VFP coders, like me, have started blogging.

.Net, and Visual Studio in general, have not made the inroads Microsoft was betting on in the developer community.
There are 100’s of thousands of solid, reliable FoxPro and VFP applications out there, and the cost to re-architect them is just too high, when compared to upgrading to VFP 9.0
VFP has ‘caught up’ to the object oriented world in some ways, and in others OO has come around to VFP.
Many OO developers and architects are still talking about ‘data driven’ applications. They just don’t actually know how to do it. It’s been done in VFP by me, and others, for years.

Also, by issuing two major version releases in about 18 months Microsoft gather up some industry steam… and folks are already talking about the next release… always a good thing!

Work-wise things are still busy, They’ve put enough on my plate to last well into the fall and gathering the business rules and designing the rules engine is a major component of a major project I’m on… the ‘old system’ had a 155 page ‘item specification’ manual and the details were not granular enough so virtually every component is being ‘refactored’ to identify its components as well…

The whole process reminds me of a system I did to build computers, and computer networks from inventory by selecting ‘kits’ or ‘packages’ of other inventory components at the time things were ordered… We also applied it, as I recall to building plantation shutters for a company in Florida, I modified the concept last to build a call accounting/payroll application…. I think I’m going to enjoy seeing where this information gathering process takes me!!

I can’t believe it’s Thursday already… the week has just flown by, and two days for the weekend will be over in a heartbeat!!

I hope this finds you all doing well!

Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Microsoft - VFP - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Microsoft - VFP - Visual FoxPro

Sorry about the unexpected sabbatical. . .

2006-05-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

It’s been a busy week.

Despite all the activity, the phone calls, opportunities, dreaming, scheming and in general feeling sort of “popular” contracting wise… The current company extended my contract through the end of the year this week. As I mentioned, all other things being equal, or maybe even not so equal, I’d rather just keep doing what I’m doing here, and be home every night, than head off 700 or more miles to a gig in another city.

So, the drama is over, we’re back on an even keel (or as even as it ever gets when you work under contract), and I feel like we can move forward with the rest of our lives once again. Not that life actually ‘stops’, but as the end of the contract draws near, there’s certainly a lot more scrutiny of the finances, worst case scenario planning etc, that doesn’t seem to happen when we’re on the front end.

We’re always working to get a 90-120 day reserve of ‘cash’, money we can access readily should I be without a contract for any period of time, but over the past couple of years, that reserve has been tapped for medical bills, prescriptions, doctors visits and a couple of large and very unexpected car repairs. So while we’ve got about 30 days of funds in our emergency account, I’m very sure this upcoming surgery will deplete that once again.

That’s probably my biggest worry, that we’ll hit the end of a contract without the reserves to weather a 3 month down cycle. For now anyway, that worry is history, at least for another six months!

I’ve also been pretty busy around the house.

You may recall in my last post that I’d intended to clean the gutters. As I prepared to do that, I found that my pressure washer would not fire up. I initially suspected that it wasn’t getting any fuel, but soon ruled that out as the problem. After a bit more tinkering on my part I decided to have a professional look at it. I’m very glad I did! I loaded it into the truck and dropped it off at Graham Tractor. For about $50 I got back a pressure washer that runs better than it ever did new!

About an hour after I dropped it off though we got this (a wind gust actually blew the spreader into the patio from the yard!):

I’m glad I wasn’t standing on a ladder when this freak storm rolled on through!!

When I started cleaning the gutters (shortly after I retrieved my pressure washer) I noticed there was some rot on a couple of the fascia boards, and that at least two sections of gutter were in pretty bad shape. I thought about replacing them, but I really had ‘heavy equipment’ plans for the holiday weekend. So, I thought, I’d just let them wait another few weeks.

However, then my first set of plans fell through (the equipment I’d been planning on renting was already promised) and the next two plans on the list involved having some additional materials hauled in, which I couldn’t get scheduled right before a holiday weekend...

I ended up replacing those fascia boards, as well as hanging some new guttering to replace the damaged sections. Amazing to me though was the fact that the downspouts were a special order thing.

What sort of sense does it make, here in North Carolina, home to monsoon type rains on a regular basis on summer afternoons, and a place that’s regularly visited by hurricanes, to only stock the small size downspout materials in brown? They only stock small downspout materials in brown, both sizes in white… who knew?

So those are ordered and should be here by the middle of next week.

I also tackled, and finished, resetting some brick in the first of three sections of a walkway behind the kitchen, this weekend. It was, however, quite a bit more work than I anticipated!

Here are a couple of before shots of the problem:

Obviously, if you notice the missing brick, the walkway was never finished when the previous owners had put it in, either due to the missing brick, poor drainage, loose materials, whatever, the walkway had also developed a nasty pitch and collected water every time it rained… not good

Just pulling up and cleaning off all of the old brick took me nearly a day. Well, a day and a half in actual time, as another Carolina summer shower shut me down on Friday afternoon, mud is not the ideal material for setting stone.

Thankfully things dried up quite a bit overnight.

On Saturday morning I set about re-grading the section by hand... well, that also took longer than I’d thought it would. In all I used 9 bags of sand, 7 bags of ‘redi-mix’ concrete and 2 bags of mortar mix, just to get the grade close to where I thought it needed to be.

I’m not entirely happy with the end result, but, it does shed water both away from the house and the wall and, maybe equally as important, away from the other section of patio as well.

I found myself having to think about level, and pitch in four directions, and the fact that I didn’t want anything exactly ‘level’, but with a slight 1/8th bubble pitch away from the house and the wall, as well as about a 3/16th bubble pitch away from the other patio.

I also wanted to retain the ‘old’ look to the walk, slightly crooked lines and some bricks a little lower and higher than others. (Hell the perfectly level and aligned thing is way too easy!)

Well, I’m nearly there… once the mortar mix dries and sets (by tomorrow morning) I can run the pressure washer over it all one last time, sweep in some final sand to fill any remaining gaps and water it all in once again.

Then, for the next two or three weekends I can continue on down the sidewalk and out into the future patio/garden area outside the kitchen window.

There’s something about working with brick, stone, mortar and the hand tools that go with that, that’s very ‘elemental’… it’s good, honest, heavy, hard work. You’ll break a sweat, especially in the sun, and pretty much keep sweating all day. There’s not much need to ‘run to the gym’ when you’ve moved around several tons of stone all day!

I wrote most of this up last night, and this morning things were still a bit too damp to work on today, so, as I usually do on this day, I've spent it remembering comrades from day gone by, and thinking about the sacrifices that have been made, so that I, would have the privilege, and freedom, to live life the way I see fit.

300,000 killed or missing in WWII, 54,000 in Korea, 58,000 in Vietnam… At least double, possibly triple those numbers in wounded… all in the belief that our way of life is, and was, worth preserving, at all costs.

On this day, I take the time to silently give thanks, to those who’ve paid the price for what I get to enjoy. Please set aside any political differences on this day, remember those brave men, and women, boys and girls really, who have made the life you live possible.

We may, or may not agree, with the actions and decisions of our political leaders, but these folks in uniform, and believe me, once you’ve worn it you never really fully take it off, deserve at least this one day, without rhetoric, of thanks.

I, for one, salute you all.

Technorati Tags: Life - Home Repair - Memorial Day - Thanks
-IceRocket Tags: Thanks - Memorial Day - Home Repair - Life

And Suddenly, I’m Popular…

2006-05-21T11:17:00.000-04:00

I know I mentioned in the last post that I had intentions of doing some much needed brick work this weekend, that plan did not come to fruition.

It seems my resume has been popping up lately on the radar screens of several recruiting firms.

Friday night, and Saturday morning I received no less than 15 emails from recruiters for one sort of FoxPro gig or another. Now, let me say first off, I’m very glad when any recruiter contacts me, without me first contacting them. However, this is a fairly strange time for me professionally, and responding to all of these took a little more than a ‘thanks’ email.

First, there’s that possible gig in Orlando, which would definitely be my first choice if I get the offer. But for a week now the folks at that agency have been making themselves ‘scarce’ so I have no idea where that stands at the moment.

Second, there’s the current gig, slated to run through the end of June, but, even that isn’t certain. Nor is the earlier ‘offer’ of employment if I’d take on an analyst role and document a second tire support position. There’s been no further mention of the actual job offer, nor, any mention of extending the current contract. So with less than six weeks remaining on this contract, I find myself somewhere between feeling the need to put on a full court press for a new gig, and adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude.

Perhaps if Maryan wasn’t facing another major surgery, or we had 6 months of cash ‘reserve’ stockpiled I wouldn’t be as torn as I am. I normally like to have a little downtime, to decompress from one gig before jumping full on into another. That’s not the case right now though. Between paying off the medical bills, having a higher than anticipated tax bill and several large and unanticipated ‘repair’ expenses over the past year, we’re just not where I’d like to be.

So I spent most of yesterday updating my resume on the various contract sites and crafting responses to the inquiries I had. Have you ever tried to tell someone you’re interested in their opportunity, yet have to place a ‘but’ in there, without it having to sound like a ‘but’? I’ve done it before, yet every time I have the need to do so, I find myself really stretching to put a positive ‘spin’ on my availability.

I’ve also scheduled a meeting with my project manager(s) next week to see if I can get a more definitive answer than “we plan on keeping you around”.

I do love contracting, and I especially love this gig I’ve been on, but, the hard cold truth is, it’s my living and I need to be working to keep the bills paid and the fridge full!

So, as always when I get to this point I find myself wondering about the sanity of ‘contract’ work… suddenly all of those folks with ‘regular’ jobs seem to have it so much easier. Then I remind myself that the only difference between them, and me, is that I’m going through this, because I know. I know the contract term, I know when I’ll be out of a job and can make plans to find something else before that day arrives. It doesn’t make it less stressful though. I should be used to it by now, I’ve spent most of my life going from one project to another, either with my own clients, or for those a recruiter set me up with.

I’m not though, and I think, that regardless of the number of times I do it, I’ll still stress over the available opportunities, lament that I don’t have the particular ‘skill set’ that is the one ‘de jour’… and feel like all of the good gigs for my skill set have ‘dried up’.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re not looking, there seem to be hundreds of jobs for what ever it is you do… then, when you are looking, they appear few and far between? I have… every single time I start looking!!

I almost wish I had the resources to take 4-6 months and just concentrate solely on some projects I have in my head, but, that’s not going to be the next six months, that’s for sure! We’re just not in a financial position to let me do that right now.

Not that the process is ‘all bad’… there’s a certain sense of excitement each time I review a new project, an anticipation of digging into something new, learning about a new business, their processes, rules and industry. How what they do is unique from others in a similar field, or is one that’s totally unique regardless of the industry. I know the fun I’ll have digging in, getting up to speed and discovering new and better ways to do what’s been done, finding and fixing bugs that have plagued a system for years, or any of a hundred other things I could be asked to do.

In the end, one thing is sure. I’ll find something to do to pay the bills. If I’m lucky, it will also feed my need to find happiness in what I’m doing. If it doesn’t, the one good thing about a contract is, I know when it will be over!!

Me, I’m off to mow the yard, run the ‘weed-eater’ and other manly ‘more-power’ pursuits!!

I hope you all have a great day!

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Contracting - Job Search - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Job Search - Contracting - FoxPro

The Strangeness Continues. . .

2006-05-19T17:10:00.000-04:00

Work this week has reminded me why I never wanted to move into a ‘Business Analyst’ role.

You see, I think that one of the best ways to analyze a process is to actually experience the process. So for the past several weeks I’ve been signing up for the various applications and roles I’m reviewing.

To say it’s been frustrating, would be understating the situation. Now I realize, not every user who signs up for one of these accounts are attempting to become an ‘Administrator’ for the application, but let me tell you, it’s been an exercise in futility. I’ve talked with, met with, and explained the situation to no less than nine separate individuals, not including the management folks I’ve also talked with.

I spent the better part of the past day and a half focusing solely on straightening out my access permissions for the area I’ve been charged with administering until I can get the process documented. At the end of the day today, I was referred back to the person who explained he couldn’t do what I needed done in the first place.

I’ve now kicked it all up a level to my manager and his manager. Everyone agrees it’s a concern that needs to be addressed, but, as yet, there’s no resolution in sight.

I’ll find the resolution though and get it done. That is after all what I do, get things done. For those of you outside the IS/IT realm, you should know, this is an all too common event.

Dozens of folks arw involved in most projects, the existing users have become ‘used to’ the way things are, or have been told ‘that is how it is done’ and have never pushed for an actual process to resolve their needs as long as they have 'some way' to get their job done.

All of this results in a geometric increase in the calls to the Customer Service Center, and in my case those calls being kicked up to level 2 (me) and landing square in my lap.

So what do I intend to accomplish? It’s simple really. Outline a plan to simplify the sign up process, make all data that’s actually required to grant access to an application a required field on the signup form(s), and once all the required data is in place, allow the ‘system’ to actually grant the user access. Remove the ‘approval process’ from the hands of the folks in CSC or tier 2 support and let the rules engine of the system handle it.

Now all I have to do is document it, submit the plan, and then get it approved. Of course all of that is predicated on me actually signing up successfully, eventually!

On a personal side I mentioned that last week I received two strange phone calls, both from individuals who’d ‘dropped of the radar’ in my life, through their own choice.

My stepson actually made a number of calls all in an attempt to arrange a visit on Mothers Day. In the end I told him he needed to call on Sunday morning to determine first, if Maryan was feeling well enough to have company, and second, to nail down a time as he was unsure as to when he could actually get here. He ended that call with “I’ll call between 8 and 9am on Sunday”.

Well Sunday morning came and went, as did Sunday afternoon, and evening. No phone call….

We went to bed around 11:00pm Sunday night, at some point after that, he evidently showed up and left some flowers and a card on the front porch… I have no idea what goes through his mind, but, if he’s trying to repair a relationship that he abandoned a year and a half ago… it’s a very strange start indeed. Does anyone have a clue what could be going on in this young man's head?

The other call last week was from an old friend, and co-worker. We’d not spoken in some time… His call this week came while I was in meetings and I didn’t get his message asking if I wanted to get together on Tuesday, until late Tuesday night.

I returned his call on Wednesday though, and told him I was sorry I missed the call, but he was free to stop by the house after work if he’d like. He did. I think he got here around 5:15, maybe 5:30… we sat and talked, had a few beers and in general just got “caught up”, until around 9:30 that evening. Fairly late for both of us on a ‘school night’.

It was a good evening, we cleared the air on a number of issues, and, as he was leaving, I was thinking that we'd ended up talking like we used to, almost as though there had never been a gap. Good stuff this.

Then, last night I got a gift, from Liz and her husband Steve. It’s an older pic of the ‘Blue Max” funny car, from before I hooked up with them at Indy, when CAM2 was one of their sponsors and not Amalie… Very sweet stuff… and something I believe I’ll put in the frame with the Indy pic!

So, while I’m glad this week is in the books… and the weather this weekend should let me start in on some of the stone work I want (need) to do…. I find myself wondering about the ‘flow’ of things. How one thing gets better, another seems headed down a slippery slope… yet another seems headed into the fog… and then there’s that pleasant unexpected surprise..

I guess I’ll just keep putting one foot in front of the other and taking everything one day at a time and see what happens!!

I hope you all had a great week… any interesting weekend plans?

Mine include tearing up some brick pavers, adding some drainage and then resetting them, as well as giving the bike a serious wash and wax, and a minor tuneup.

Technorati Tags: Friends - Relationships - Decisions - Business Analysis
-IceRocket Tags: Business Analysis - Decisions - Relationships - Friends

A Belated Mother’s Day post. . .

2006-05-15T14:41:00.000-04:00

Yes I knew Sunday was Mother’s Day, and yes I called my Mom and we had a grand chat until one of the other siblings was ringing in via ‘Call Waiting’… so, as is usual, our call ended with “Oh, Billy I have another call”… some quick “I love you’s” and a promise to call again soon.

For what it’s worth, I try to call once a week, but I usually actually call about 3 times a month.

Mom’s are pretty special and mine is no exception. She’s as full of commentary and her wry sense of ‘right’ in the world as ever, but, in the past year or so it seems she’s found herself finding out that some of the things she always took for granted, may not always be 100% true.

That gives me hope, as odd as it sounds, that we continue to learn, if we stay open to it, as long as we live.

There are seven of us kids in all, and I’m sure we call, or send cards with varying frequency… I’d guess the younger ones, in the midst of raising their own families are often hard pressed to find time, at a reasonable hour, to make the call. I know we all rally to her aid though, when ever there’s reason to, (like during her heart surgery last December) although, with only a couple of exceptions, in the 50+ years I’ve known the woman she’s been amazingly self reliant.

I wonder though, about the younger folks these days, if they hold their folks in the same regard my siblings and I held (or hold) ours?

I don’t think so. While the way we are was the ‘rule’ (I think) for folks of my generation, it seems to me, the current generation did not pick up that trait. Maybe we didn’t teach it to them? Maybe it’s a cultural thing? That there’s been a shift there somehow?

All of the young folks I know, with rare exception, once they’re out from the nest, rarely look back. They call when it’s convenient, find excuses to not attend family functions, and, when they do attend, are often the first to leave. My personal favorite excuse… “I had an emergency and didn’t have my cell phone, or I would have called” These same kids, are never, and I mean never, without their phone.

I see the hurt that causes to the parents, even when their lips are saying “He/She is just so busy” their eyes tell the true story. The true story is, parents, miss their children.

Maybe I was blessed in growing up in a small town, with a fairly close knit extended family, and that my parents had a lot of contact with their folks, so I just assumed it was the normal thing. Maybe it was just the normal thing in the small town I grew up in… maybe; our family was an exception, rather than the rule? I guess I’ll never really know that answer.

What I do see today though is a distancing of children from their parents that I didn’t see with my hometown friends, or my siblings.

If what I think I’m seeing is true… well, I feel sorry for these kids. Sorry they’re missing out on the great learning experience I had. I’ve said before that once I got into my mid-20’s my relationship with my Mom and Dad got really, really good. We could talk about anything; they gave advice, insight really, and stopped giving ‘orders’… They became more of a mentor in those years… I’ve wondered hundreds of times where my life would have gone without his, and my Mom’s advice.

My parents made a lot of mistakes, most of them with me, and my sister Kathy. We were the eldest boy and girl, they were learning on us. Maybe I understand that because I saw how much better they got with my younger siblings. I know I didn’t understand much prior to age 19, especially about being an adult, let alone a parent, and all the pressures and responsibilities that went with it.

I really didn’t like my parents as I was growing up, they seemed intent on “ruining my life” as I saw it, and, could not understand for the life of me, why they just couldn’t see things my way. I know I enlisted to get away from their oppression, in retrospect had I known what I know now… they had nothing on the drill instructors… no that was oppression!

Somehow, at some point, I got over feeling that way and started seeing all the good they had actually done me.

Today, when some 20 something who’s been ‘on their own’ for several years starts telling me how ‘rough they had it’ growing up, and how their parents ruined their life… I often stop them and ask... “so who’s been making the decisions in your life for say, the past five years?” They invariably answer that “they have”... to which I always respond with… “then if you’re unhappy, right now, you have no one to blame… but yourself.”

So thanks Mom, for passing on your amazing self reliance… for instilling in me a sense that I’m responsible for my life, and my actions… no one else, me. In short, for giving me the building blocks for life. Sure, you made mistakes, but somehow, along the way… “you did real good”.

I love you!

Technorati Tags: Mother - Parents - Decisions - Growing Up
-IceRocket Tags: Growing Up - Decisions - Parents - Mother