| Frustrations |
[18 Jul 2008|02:57pm] |
Professionally: I gave up on Flex on Monday for various reasons I won't get into here. I've been trying to figure ways to possibly use it for various bits and pieces in the future as to not have wasted 1.5 weeks of my life exploring it as an RIA option.
This leaves me back in GWT land, a place I explored for about a week when I first started, in between getting settled/bearings. GWT is very Java, and I'm learning that I don't like Java very much. The entire experience is almost the exact opposite of Flex--Flex was easy to get off the ground and have some early success with, but fell flat on its face when trying to implement a second level of complexity (as well as having some high level issues for which there weren't obvious work-arounds). With GWT, deviating from the prescribed quick start guides or tutorials is met with a quick inability to even run the code. We have a GWT demo already built--by consultants before I joined--and I can't get it to run locally at all.
It feels like a lot of these high level OOP languages have traded a complexity in the code (and that is relative IMHO--chasing function calls or chasing function calls in objects...not that much of a difference...the stuff we're talking about for the web here isn't rocket surgery) for complexity in configuration. This code calls an object in this library that is referenced in these three places plus another place for the actual debugger plus another for the compiler. Move the code or rename its folder and you're focked. Anyone who can point me in the general direction of some insight in this area would be greatly appreciated.
Personally: Deadbeat dads are still dads, and that's frustrating. I've blogged about it before in an undisclosed location, but still...
|
|
| a break from the doldrums |
[17 Jul 2008|06:50pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
i need to shower |
] |
So far, this has been the best week I have had in a long time... and it is not over yet. Let's hope this trend continues, and it also ends on a good note.
|
|
| Trip Log part two the half way point |
[16 Jul 2008|07:49pm] |
Monday, July 15
We finally got to sleep in. We headed in to Boston around noon. Boston is incredible right up until a fucking idiot taxi driver hit us. Matt may have to loose his arm...Actually he just scratched the car but the incident was so ridiculous. Oddly enough during the whole ordeal I didn't cuss. After the stress of trying to deal with insurance companies, and finding a garage to park in we let out on a walking tour of the city. Seriously we must have walked 20 blocks. We walked up and down Newberry (Sp? It's kind of like city walk in West Palm basically the hot shit trendy street in the city) St. the Boston Commons, the Garden, Harvard Sq. Faniel (sp?) Hall...we saw a statue of Sam, hundreds of years old cemeteries and churches, had dinner at a Whole Foods and had a beer at cheers, (the one that served as the inspiration and exterior for the show). I also blew it at a 3 story Best Buy, and got a call from my Parisian friend Antonio/Jesus. We wearily walked back to our car and drove back to the hotel. We tried to get beer at a whole foods in town that didn't have any beer and I told one of the employees that they should be ashamed of themselves.
Tuesday, July 16
We gloriously slept in again. We had plans to go to the Sam Adams Brewery (I wanted to bring a razor to change my appearance so I could go through the tour 5 times and get a bagillion samples) unfortunately Matt's phone was up all night s'ing some d and it took us to Sam's corporate office. Oddly enough we stumbled on another brewery called Harpoon and got free samples. We drove back into town and went to M.F.A. (Museum of Fine Arts not mother fucking asshole), and saw an exhibit of early 17th century Spanish Art. It was pretty awesome. We had some mediocre pizza across from North Western University. Then we walked up a few blocks to a bar called the Pour House (get it? pour house/poor house). We had 24 ounce pints. We continued our now somewhat buzzed journey and walked all the way up and down Newberry and back around Boylston. I blew it a little in Newbruy Comics and tried to convince Matt unsuccessfully to buy the new I-phone in a 3 story Apple Store.
|
|
| What am I trying to say here? |
[15 Jul 2008|11:48am] |
I was going to post this to twitter, but I'm curious how it will be "read" so I'm posting it somewhere with more linear comments:
strength < coffee < world < people < power > anger > disruptive
|
|
| trip log first 5 days |
[15 Jul 2008|09:52am] |
Thursday July, 10
We left from Deerfield around 12:30 about 30 min later than we planned. We to Woolbright and I yelled fuck realizing I left about half my cloths. We turned around and went back to Deerfield. We left again around 1:30, and took 95 N to Orlando. In Orlando we stopped at movie stop (it's like game stop for movies). I accidentally knocked over a rack of dvd's with my movie boner. We went to Calvin's around 5. Though his apartment was nice the outside of the complex was 1980's Miami pink. We hung out with Calvin for a few minutes, and then the three of us went to winter park to whole foods. We awkwardly ran in to Aaron and his wife who were originally suppose to hang out with us, and then bailed out to have a date night. A 5 min process of picking out and buying beer inexplicably turned into a 30 min process wasting valuable drinking time. On the way back we stopped and saw Calvin's fiancee Jess at her work, ended up being drafted into helping the employees put away everything from a sidewalk sale and I was all like, "here comes the add ons." We knocked a few back at Calvin's watching Family Guy and eating Chipolte. We went down the street to and Irish pub. We did some moderate to heavy drinking (when I saw we I mean me of course). Though the place kind of had a business crowd, my dreams of landing a cougar remained unfulfilled. We went back to Calvin's watched Airplane and passed out.
Friday July 11
We bid Calvin a fond farewell, and got on the road around 9. We get moderately lost for the first time (expletives). I drove through N. Florida and Georgia. Matt attempts a peeing in a bottle experiment and mostly succeeds (mostly). Matt took over driving and we got to his brother Ben's house around 6. The Bubar's and I went to whole foods for dinner, and somewhat to Matt's chagrin their whole foods was way better than the Boca store. I remind him so several times. We had a quiet night. I had a beer and read a little "Day of the Locusts," and passed out.
Saturday, July 12
We woke up early once again. Matt spent some time with his family. We got back on the road. We each drove a tank of gas. I went first. Matt attempted a second peeing in a bottle and wasn't quite as successful. Matt drove and I got peanut butter all over my pants. We drove from N. Georgia through S. Carolina, N. Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and finally Pennsylvania. All the while driving to Craig's whom I couldn't get a hold of until the last minute. We met up with Craig at one of his friends house. A few beers after not eating since 8:30 am goes right to your head. We met up with two sisters who were friends of Craig's and went out in his town. We went to a bar called the Grog's. I insulted a few locals and unsuccessfully tried to smuggled half a beer out under my shirt. We went to another bar where I think I might have payed $9 for a beer. We walked back to the sister's apartment. I was peer pressured into taking out a street sign, and ate it so hard into the street. We all stopped at a Wawa to get some late night food (A wawa is a a sort of quick mart only in Penn and N.J. that has a 24 hour deli where you order hoagies on a touch screen, they're amazing). We ate and passed out.
Sunday, July 13
I woke up in some serious pain from my sign tackling misadventure. We sluggishly showered, drove around town, saw the first peace a pizza ever, got ready and went into Philly. Craig took us on a walking tour of the city. We walked up and down S. Street, and got an amazing slice of pizza for lunch. We went down town saw some sights. We went to the art museum (with the Rocky steps). I ran up the steps. Then I passed out for awhile. *Note a walking tour of Philly in the summer after a night of moderate to heavy drinking isn't recommended. We followed Craig to his buddy's place on the Jersey Shore. For those of you are unacquainted with the Jersey shore, it a string of small towns on the coast Jersey where one month in the summer people from the tri-state area rent houses, drink, smoke, surf, fuck and completely isolate themselves reality. It's kind of like The Endless Summer by way of Animal House with a touch of The Real World. There was 15 people living at the house we stayed at. We got more pizza for dinner. Then stayed at the house drinking beers. Craig's friend Trevor's cousin's came over who were definitely doppelgangers of the Latos sisters (the oldest looked a little different and was smart and sarcastic, the middle one was fashionable and was just back from living in Paris, the youngest was a little wild for her age). We passed out and I somewhat awkwardly slept head to head on a couch with someone I'd just met and my legs hanging over the arm rest. I was accosted by a severely drunken roommate at 4 in the morning (mind you she's in her 20's teaches at a Catholic highschool and has a masters, her nickname is party girl and she said fuck more time in one sentence than I've heard outside of an HBO show). And I intermittently slept and watched the Tour De France.
Monday, July 14 (Bastille Day)
We woke up, and got back on the road just before noon. I drove through Jersey (which you're not allowed to pump your own gas in, New York (we brushed by the city), Connecticut and Mass (I almost fell asleep 3 times). We have yet to get a hold the person we were suppose to stay with, so we're staying in an Econolodge 30 min fro downtown Boston. We went near the city to Matt's friend Alicia's place (we got lost on the way and I said fuck and cock sucker 9 times in one sentence). They were having a going away party for a friend, and playing a somewhat awkward game where they wrote shenanigans on jinga pieces. We played their game reluctantly. We went back to the hotel room and passed out...
|
|
| UM OMG ok I'm just going to go back to bed now |
[14 Jul 2008|04:15pm] |
RA DIOHEA_D / HOU SE OF_C ARDS - Google Code:Radiohead just released a new video for its song "House of Cards" from the album "In Rainbows".
No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes.
|
|
|
[13 Jul 2008|11:55pm] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Salim Nourallah - Everybody Wants to be Loved |
] |
everybody wants to be loved
because, because
Life is a lot different now. Overall much better than ever. I had way more thoughts earlier. But they've escaped me and I am exhausted. I am now that guy. It is a season. More quiet. More waiting. More conga lines in the living room.
|
|
| do you know that feeling |
[13 Jul 2008|06:57pm] |
when your getting played
and you like the person
but everything seems so sketchy
i dont know what to do
richie p
and the thing is i could be
sketchy now and im not
i dont think i have it in me
|
|
| QotD & MotD |
[11 Jul 2008|01:42pm] |
Said the Gramophone: Priority on Your Attention:I might have Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder. Or I might not get along with heat waves.
Everything romantic happens in the Fall. Nothing romantic, and I mean romantic, happens any other time.
My car won't start. That is because God is fed the fuck up.
Self-righteousness is the breakfast food I am addicted to. Every morning, without fail, even sometimes at night. This is very close to my mood, save for the car, but no doubt God is fed up, so I'm about to listen to the tune recommended there. Can't vouch for it yet, but the whole record is available for download, so what the heck.
|
|
| Be afraid. Be very afraid. |
[10 Jul 2008|07:39pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
Procrastinating the Flex hell |
] |
You can’t destroy or diminish Deep Ellum. It was here long before all of the shiny shopping malls, the overpriced corporate live music venues and trendy “red velvet rope” clubs with their snooty bottle service. As was referenced time and time again last night, the area is the cradle of this city’s creative sensibility.
If you’re content to live in a vacuous, benign existence with little sense of purpose or meaning, then stay at home and jerk off your X-Box.
If you wanna break out of a routine that offers little or no spiritual or creative inspiration, then know you will be embraced and made to feel part of this very eclectic creative community.
...There’s nothing to be afraid of. -- Jeffrey Liles via finelinelive.com
I'm all for a little button-pushing, as anyone who knows me or reads this blog will know, yet I find myself scratching my head at the angry young man stuff coming from the D-town art crowd. I was totally down with the finger-pointing and looking-down-on, even just a few years ago. But now I consider all the things that have changed in even just the last half decade:- Sociopolitically. Let's face it, thinking about this category will send you into the fetal position. We don't need to be reminded.
- Economically
- Technologically
- Generationally. Generation Xers are no longer the taste makers. And FIIK what the youngins are into these days
Technology is obviously the category that most interests me, as the Web has obliterated any and all mediated communication forms that came before it. And yet, when someone blasts the web--or XBox--in their defense of old-school mediations like the stage or the gallery wall*...well, their dearth of logic is the source of some serious eye-rolling.
* And on myspace.com FFS! The irony!
And it makes me not want to join that conversation. Me, the one who was a professional art advocate for years.
Lots more to say on this subject. This is just a placeholder.
I'm reminded of something I wrote in 2004:We rail against suburbia, but it is not the enemy: it is only our version of the enemy.
|
|
| Writing Code Comments as Cognitive Emergence |
[10 Jul 2008|10:51am] |
{ I'm not sure if this actually qualifies as Cognitive Emergence--in fact it might be the opposite of--and I'm not sure if it might apply to other/all forms of writing. Feel free to steer me right. }
I had my daily reminder of how smart I'm not while writing some code comments. I started to write something like, "A requirement of..." and then thought, "Wait, is it?" Turns out, it wasn't. I was putting a (rather large) extra step in my code, which was adding complexity that might have been (I'll confirm soon) the source of many headaches yesterday.
{ And that extra step is still in the app/code I posted the other day. Not sure many readers know Flex, but a gold star if you find it. }
{ Update: I quickly realized the step was still necessary* for my actual demo. The app I posted the other day still does not require it, however. }
{ * Update: Sort of. Not really. Good honk. Are we having fun yet? }
|
|
| I can think of about 1,000,000 uses for this GIF |
[10 Jul 2008|10:27am] |
 icon_throbber.gif (GIF Image, 16x16 pixels)
Also, Twitter was written in Rails, but uses JQuery for (at least some of) their AJAX calls. Interesting.
|
|
| watching clocks |
[09 Jul 2008|12:35am] |
|
What a boring, unproductive night I am having.
|
|
| What I Read |
[08 Jul 2008|05:47pm] |
I exported my Google Reader subscriptions to create some straight-forward XML to build the beginnings of a demo Flex app with, so I thought I would share: Google Reader Subscriptions OPML. ("OPML?" you ask?)
And here is the app, if you are interested. It loads that very OPML file in order to create the list to the left, then just loads the site's URL into a new tab on the right. If you right-click w/in the Flash bits (that is anywhere outside of the iframe beneath the tab bar), you can view source. It took about 6 days, from first downloading Flex Builder, through much head-on-desk pain, to what you see. The good news is, I think I have the heavy lifting done. Now (after maybe another day's tweaking) to re-create the same demo in GWT.
|
|
| WotD |
[08 Jul 2008|02:10pm] |
| [ |
music |
| |
The Decemberists - Song for Myla Goldberg |
] |
Funicular. I rode this one a bunch of times during a very interesting week of my life. See also. via
|
|
| WotD |
[08 Jul 2008|01:53pm] |
This is really critical to understand about why both of these guys are so smart: both of these people put aside dogma and made decisions that were all over the map, sometimes pragmatic and hackish, sometimes very rigorous and disciplined, depending on their assessment of the particular issue they were addressing at the moment. They weren’t subscribing to any particular software development philosophy...nor did they just choose the most hyped architecture of the day and blindly stick with it, but freely mixed and matched whatever they thought was appropriate given their perspective on the situation. #
|
|
| Pavlov |
[05 Jul 2008|11:41pm] |
Couldn't resist, had to blog this one too!
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
_no_good_news's Friends Page
