Man these all night coding sessions are killing me, I find myself sounding like my parents more every day. I guess this is the life of a middle aged man. I am trying to be more active, I am going to buy a mountain bike and start hitting the local trails. I went to the sporting good store to price them. Bikes sure cost a lot more then I remember, no way I am spending $300 or more on a damn bike I ain't trying to be no Lance Armstrong beside I can't afford the drugs, LOL. Oh well let me get up and FD ave the day.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
I Needs My Freedom!
As I was surfing around the "internets" to quote George W. Bush I came across a really inspiring blog post I thought I would share it. I have been feeling this way for quite sometime, I know when God is talking to me.
10 Reasons Why you Have to Quit Your Job This Year
10 Reasons Why you Have to Quit Your Job This Year
Sunday, February 10, 2013
It's 6:14 am Sunday morning and I am all Sprung Out!
Not what you think folks been up all night with my head down in a Spring Frameworks manual deciphering the ins and out of Web Services design choices.
Warning geek talk below!
<geektalk>
Do I implement a regular WSDL based service or RESTFUL? I think I will do both. Develop an implementation base upon both and use it as a learning opportunity, how else can I comment on the merits one versus the other unless I have actually coded both!
I must I say how much I love open source software. I love the fact that I can stand on the shoulders of giants and use their great works to help jump start my own ideas. I can remember a time when being an independent single one man development team would have been extremely hard, time consuming and expensive to do. For instance there is no way a such a comprehensive and full featured software tool like the java Spring Framework would have been affordable and available to me 20 years ago. And no way I could have afforded such a great IDE as Eclipse I remember using some of the earlier java IDE's like Borland's JBuilder, NetBeans and such. They were good but weren't cheap and at the time not near as feature rich as Eclipse. So I value the time and work folks have put into these efforts and I pledge to give back to the open source community whatever I end up developing in this effort of mine. Hopefully it will be something useful to somebody. Don't get me wrong I ain't no socialist or nothing I am a capitalist! I just also believe in reaching back and helping the little guy. Sometimes the big guys forget what it was like to be a garage based business or entrepreneur trying to create something that might change the world. Of course I don't expect I am doing anything that important but I want to contribute something of my own and do it in my own way.
Google is one of the big companies that is doing it right, tons of tools and services priced free or very affordable you can see that Sergey and Larry remember what it was like in the beginning. Microsoft has come around and they are now better at making development tools accessible to all types of developers not just big corporations.
Well enough on this topic back to work you bag of lazy bones.
</geektalk>
Warning geek talk below!
<geektalk>
Do I implement a regular WSDL based service or RESTFUL? I think I will do both. Develop an implementation base upon both and use it as a learning opportunity, how else can I comment on the merits one versus the other unless I have actually coded both!
I must I say how much I love open source software. I love the fact that I can stand on the shoulders of giants and use their great works to help jump start my own ideas. I can remember a time when being an independent single one man development team would have been extremely hard, time consuming and expensive to do. For instance there is no way a such a comprehensive and full featured software tool like the java Spring Framework would have been affordable and available to me 20 years ago. And no way I could have afforded such a great IDE as Eclipse I remember using some of the earlier java IDE's like Borland's JBuilder, NetBeans and such. They were good but weren't cheap and at the time not near as feature rich as Eclipse. So I value the time and work folks have put into these efforts and I pledge to give back to the open source community whatever I end up developing in this effort of mine. Hopefully it will be something useful to somebody. Don't get me wrong I ain't no socialist or nothing I am a capitalist! I just also believe in reaching back and helping the little guy. Sometimes the big guys forget what it was like to be a garage based business or entrepreneur trying to create something that might change the world. Of course I don't expect I am doing anything that important but I want to contribute something of my own and do it in my own way.
Google is one of the big companies that is doing it right, tons of tools and services priced free or very affordable you can see that Sergey and Larry remember what it was like in the beginning. Microsoft has come around and they are now better at making development tools accessible to all types of developers not just big corporations.
Well enough on this topic back to work you bag of lazy bones.
</geektalk>
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Another busy work week coming to an end.
Well folks another work week has ended. Man what a busy one! As much as I love what I do (I am a software developer) I am starting to really dislike corporate America. Not that I was ever in love with it but I am the type of person who wants to get shit done, not play games and partake in office politics. I am sure many of you reading this would agree.
On that note besides blogging about my trip to Africa the other thing I will be discussing on this blog is my business plans. I am working on a software product. I am attempting to build an application that will do for grocery shopping and meal planning what Mint did for personal finance. The idea sprung out of the frustration I have had trying to organize my grocery shopping and also coming home and deciding what meal to prepare. First I will say I hate sitting down trying to organize a grocery list, even though I am one of those anal list creators. I mean I create lists about lists I need to create. But creating grocery lists has always been something I hate doing. It isn't really interesting to me and I hate having to drudge around the house checking the pantry, fridge and cabinets trying to figure out what items I need to buy. And of course I inevitably get home after a shopping trip and realize I forgot to buy something. Similarly I also hate trying to figure out what to cook. Don't get me wrong I rather enjoy cooking and ladies I love preparing a romantic meal for some hot sexy women I am hoping to ...... well you get the drift! But I have trouble deciding what to make. I want to be able to "say" what can I make given these ingredients or being able to ask what should I make if I only have this in the house. So to sum it up I am creating a software application the can automate grocery list creation and also use the list of groceries I have in the house to suggest what I can prepare, i.e. suggest recipes. So you may say there are programs that do this. Yes but like I said I want something that requires the smallest input from me. After all computers are suppose to make life easier not create more work for us. I don't use these other applications simply because they are not smart. What I love about Mint is that it looks at your bank statements and automatically enters all your transactions into the application and then automatically shows you how you are doing against your monthly budget in real time. Admit it, most people don't use budgeting applications because they don't want to take time out of their life sitting at a computer entering in their daily purchases and categorizing them into budgeted expenditures. So I am not going into too much detail, hey I did say I would like to make a business if not from this then from what I learn creating this. One last note it will be a Web service application with mobile application clients. So as you can see this is a extremely bold effort on my part, but even if this is a dumb app no one wants to use I will use it and more importantly I am looking to gain tons of technical experience which will only make me more competitive in the job market.
Also I have had a few people comment on how am I going to afford this adventurous trip I am planning. Well on of the advantages of working for an airline is a great perk called non-revenue travel. Essentially airline employees, their spouses children and parents can fly space available (stand by) on other airlines for essentially peanuts, I mean insanely cheap. In fact I suspect I will spend way more on lodging and food than I will on my airfare. However one of the perils of non-revenue traveling is that you don't have an assigned seat in fact you don't even know if you will be getting on the flight until the gate agents have boarded all the paying passengers. But as long as you have flexible travel plans and a adventurous attitude it's not too bad. I am an adventure traveler. I say all this to say, don't be surprised if you are following along in my blog and I report that my plans changed and I am on my way to Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa. Hell I might switch it up and go to Asia instead. I have been thinking of Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand for next year maybe even India!
Stay Tuned Folks!
On that note besides blogging about my trip to Africa the other thing I will be discussing on this blog is my business plans. I am working on a software product. I am attempting to build an application that will do for grocery shopping and meal planning what Mint did for personal finance. The idea sprung out of the frustration I have had trying to organize my grocery shopping and also coming home and deciding what meal to prepare. First I will say I hate sitting down trying to organize a grocery list, even though I am one of those anal list creators. I mean I create lists about lists I need to create. But creating grocery lists has always been something I hate doing. It isn't really interesting to me and I hate having to drudge around the house checking the pantry, fridge and cabinets trying to figure out what items I need to buy. And of course I inevitably get home after a shopping trip and realize I forgot to buy something. Similarly I also hate trying to figure out what to cook. Don't get me wrong I rather enjoy cooking and ladies I love preparing a romantic meal for some hot sexy women I am hoping to ...... well you get the drift! But I have trouble deciding what to make. I want to be able to "say" what can I make given these ingredients or being able to ask what should I make if I only have this in the house. So to sum it up I am creating a software application the can automate grocery list creation and also use the list of groceries I have in the house to suggest what I can prepare, i.e. suggest recipes. So you may say there are programs that do this. Yes but like I said I want something that requires the smallest input from me. After all computers are suppose to make life easier not create more work for us. I don't use these other applications simply because they are not smart. What I love about Mint is that it looks at your bank statements and automatically enters all your transactions into the application and then automatically shows you how you are doing against your monthly budget in real time. Admit it, most people don't use budgeting applications because they don't want to take time out of their life sitting at a computer entering in their daily purchases and categorizing them into budgeted expenditures. So I am not going into too much detail, hey I did say I would like to make a business if not from this then from what I learn creating this. One last note it will be a Web service application with mobile application clients. So as you can see this is a extremely bold effort on my part, but even if this is a dumb app no one wants to use I will use it and more importantly I am looking to gain tons of technical experience which will only make me more competitive in the job market.
Also I have had a few people comment on how am I going to afford this adventurous trip I am planning. Well on of the advantages of working for an airline is a great perk called non-revenue travel. Essentially airline employees, their spouses children and parents can fly space available (stand by) on other airlines for essentially peanuts, I mean insanely cheap. In fact I suspect I will spend way more on lodging and food than I will on my airfare. However one of the perils of non-revenue traveling is that you don't have an assigned seat in fact you don't even know if you will be getting on the flight until the gate agents have boarded all the paying passengers. But as long as you have flexible travel plans and a adventurous attitude it's not too bad. I am an adventure traveler. I say all this to say, don't be surprised if you are following along in my blog and I report that my plans changed and I am on my way to Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa. Hell I might switch it up and go to Asia instead. I have been thinking of Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand for next year maybe even India!
Stay Tuned Folks!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Planning a Trip to The Motherland
I am excited y'all! I am planing a big trip for myself this year. I am planing to travel to Africa for vacation. As of now I plan to travel to Ghana and Ethiopia. I do have a dilemma though I only have about 10 to 12 days max so I know I can't do both countries justice as far as experiencing what they have to offer. So take a look at my plans below and if you have traveled to either one of these places or if you are from either place please leave some comments or Email Me and give my your advice!
Ghana Info
I plan to fly into Accra and spend three or four days there. Of course I will visit the slave castles on the coast .
Definitely plan on experiencing the open markets in Accra.
Looking forward to the food which I heard is amazing.
I would also like to visit the Mole National Park, This is where I have the dilemma I am not sure I will have time to travel to that part of the country and then travel back to Accra and catch a flight to Addis Ababa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_National_Park
Ethiopia Info
My plan is to fly from Accra to Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
There is so much ancient history in this country I want to see it all. So my plan is to spend a couple of days in Addis and then hopefully purchase a guided tour of Axum the holiest city in Ethiopia. Legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant is stored in this church. I checked and I think the best way to get to Axum is to take a flight from Addis, as much as I would love to travel over land I just won't have the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_Mary_of_Zion
http://wikitravel.org/en/Aksum
Well like I said I am still planning and it looks like I will be traveling in early May or June. More to follow folks!
Ghana:
Ghana Info
I plan to fly into Accra and spend three or four days there. Of course I will visit the slave castles on the coast .
Definitely plan on experiencing the open markets in Accra.
Looking forward to the food which I heard is amazing.
I would also like to visit the Mole National Park, This is where I have the dilemma I am not sure I will have time to travel to that part of the country and then travel back to Accra and catch a flight to Addis Ababa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_National_Park
Ethiopia:
Ethiopia Info
My plan is to fly from Accra to Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
There is so much ancient history in this country I want to see it all. So my plan is to spend a couple of days in Addis and then hopefully purchase a guided tour of Axum the holiest city in Ethiopia. Legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant is stored in this church. I checked and I think the best way to get to Axum is to take a flight from Addis, as much as I would love to travel over land I just won't have the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_Mary_of_Zion
http://wikitravel.org/en/Aksum
Well like I said I am still planning and it looks like I will be traveling in early May or June. More to follow folks!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Day One
OK, so after lurking around the internet for upwards of twenty years I finally decided I might have something interesting to say. In the past I thought that I really didn't have anything interesting enough to say that would warrant someone out in the cyber world spending their time reading about me, my ideas and my life. Honestly I never really spent much time reading other's blog either. But recently while researching topics and goggling concepts I have ended up on personal blogs and web diaries of what turned out to be just average folks whose stories I became fascinated with. I mean these haven't been people that were living particularly exotic lives or had terribly important things to share that would with the world. But they were real people, just like me and I found the things they had to say enlightening. I mean they were just plain folks like me but who were living life, experiencing ups and downs just like me and I was learning things from them and enjoying reading about them and what they had and were doing, where they were traveling to, learning about what they thought about things. So I decided I would attempt to share who I am, what I think and what I like and dislike about my life. So I hope anyone out there who stumbles on this blog reads something, or sees a picture the touches them in some way or learns something from what I have experienced in my life. OK, well enough of the self absorbed drivel and onto the act of living out in the open!
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