Because ….

It's been a while since I posted anything and Kari bribed me by allowing me to purchase the new Lion upgrade of Apple's operating system. I really like the updates to Mail and iCal.

Not so much with Reminders as I had much higher expectations, I'm still using Things and trying to get my task list to sync across 2 macs and my iPhone. Cultured Code, will you let me into your stinking beta for cloud sync?!?! No goodness yet, but I fall apart without my task list to keep me on track.

I have a new job now, one which I really enjoy. I'm back building large websites and am running a development team responsible for keeping Zumiez.com alive and kicking. The current site is not a representation of my work, but I've managed to change a lot of things on the back-end which have improved the performance and stability of the site. At the moment, we're actually adding 8 new servers to the farm until we make the switch to the Amazon AWS cloud in the October timeframe.

I also enjoy working with Linux and OSX. It had been a long time since I'd lived most of my day in a terminal window and Vim, but it feels like coming back home after spending 9 years at Microsoft. I recall back in 2001/2 feeling like I was on top of my game and I could be proud as I'd architected and lead the development of some of the largest web sites at that time.

But then I took a detour into the Marketing and Biz Dev world working with and mentoring mid-size to enterprise ISVs. Looking back, I loved the work, but I lost my technical chops in the process and becoming a manager of a biz dev or marketing team was not on my Christmas wish list.

I am much happier now. Going 9 months without a stable job was tough, but I landed exactly where I want to be and can excel. I see myself as more of a software development manager/director who still cherry picks projects to maintain my technical skillz. I'd put myself at sub-God or maybe newb Guru status, (who am I kidding I am just a re-treaded wannabe). I tried emacs and reverted back to Vim…. I just feel much more at home in Vim.

I have to admit I was going to go python, but setting up virtualenv vs rvm for ruby was a real pain.  I did get code completion working for django in vim, but it is so easy in rails/ruby.  I've reverted back to ruby/rails - I'm not quite ready to join the cool kids on that front.

Just to be uber-geeky, I even threw up my .vim and .vimrc on github And here's a cool screen shot, which I grabbed with (CTRL-Shift-CMD-4) - (gotta love apple for this kind of stuf):

 

Alright, I think that is long enough to put most readers to sleep.  Maybe it will even deter Kari from asking me to post for a while.  Hmmmh, she could bribe me to post regularly if we bought a new camera with a nice zoom lense or two...

cheers,

James

 

Some things only males can do

I know my title is sexist, but let me continue.

My sweet beautiful wife can't seem to add wood to the fireplace without setting the smoke alarm off. I've had to quickly mute during several phone meetings this winter due to our fire alarm sounding off loudly, most recently this morning.

I'm the only one of the two of us that is able to drive through the gates to the local dump to deliver recyclables. I don't understand why, I'm told it is just the way it is.

I seem to be the only one able to open the fuel door to both of our vehicles and refill their tanks. I've been late more times than I can count because I've had to make an unplanned trip for fuel and of course it is my fault as I rarely attempt to arrive anywhere early as so decreed in my home.

I also have heard that it is my fault that our sons cannot hit the toilet when relieving themselves in a standing position and thusly, it is therefore my duty to clean our several toilets.

I could go on.... Perhaps others can add their own.

-james