June 01, 2008

The next post will be better.

I’ve been out in Oregon at RailsConf. As you might have noticed from twitter, I’ve been here three days now. The Conference has been outstanding, and the people here make up one of the coolest communities I have ever been exposed too. The problem with the first few days out here was the happening going on back home. Three things really sucked the joy out of this otherwise awesome geektopia, a client at work who thinks fire alarms are the proper way to do business, getting my credit card number stolen, and the programming contest at work.

Lets touch on these in reverse order. The contest was optional, but I have a teammate who worked very hard and I was not about to leave him hanging. Unfortunately I was out of town (here, in OR) when they were presenting the projects in the office. To handle this I created a screen cast. Which is not the quickest or easiest thing in the world to do. I quickly got a copy of QuickTime Pro and iShowU and threw something together. A few tries through and I was pretty happy. Figured one more try and I’d be set. But nothing worked that time, it was 4 AM my time, and I had a decent run. So I uploaded it and crashed. It was just time to be done with that.

It sucks to get your CC stolen. If the thief reads my blog: I canceled the account. And you are a mean jerk.

The fire alarm as a development methodology is really starting to wear me out. I had been running strong with with the “my project, my baby” feeling, but as I have been reminded it isn’t. Which really removes the desire to meet the–artificial–deadlines at all cost. I still want to succeed, but it is hard when the people who are helping you don’t help. Sorta like the curly haired helper, but not cute nor do they give out hugs so happily.

I am just burnt out on the project, and need something fresh. Or a vacation. Or a few weeks paternity leave.

OK, a much happier post on the way, stay tuned.



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