K A I Z E N

Aaron "The DIctator" Kagawa has suggested that I move into the fold.

So my blog will be moving here... http://87percent.blogspot.com/

See you all there !!!

I'm going to start blogging again.  I actually didn't really start.  I found it to be very difficult to blog during my first attempt.  I've finally realized why I was so reluctant to blog anything.  I think I felt that what I blogged about had to have substance and had to be interesting to other people.  I guess that is still the goal of my blog but I'm not going to stress about it anymore.
So from now, I am just going to blog about whatever is going on with me at the time.  Hopefully most of the content will be cool programming stuff and motivational things, which I am very passionate about.  But it will also include other things that interest me.
Anyway, I hope there are some people who are still subscribing.

Here are some of the interesting links that I came across for the week of 10.21.2007
(This is the first edition of weekly links so it'll be a bit light this week)

Eat Me Crunchy
Love the name.....I totally need to get me one of these.  The only thing better (this from steve) would be one that kept the milk cold.  Right on the verge of freezing would be absolutely perfect (that from Cryptonomicon).

Speaking of Milk
A cool way to manage your tasks.....and never forget the milk.

TV Guide
Maybe not the best one around, but it helps me figure out what my TiVo will be recording for me.

HeeeYaa!!
Haven't used this but it seems like a good resource if you are ever planning on taking a Java Certification Exam.  Or if you want to test your own Java knowledge....or maybe the knowledge of your software staff or peers :)

That's it for this week.  I'm hoping to have a lot more next week as I will actually start keeping track of this stuff.

Sometimes coding can be monotonous.  Right now I'm writing a database interface layer...coding inserts and updates and selects for all those objects to all those tables and columns.  Yeah, I know there are frameworks for that.  But I've been coding these from scratch (don't ask me why)....but its boooring.  It's times like this when I get into a coding rut.  Nothing cool or interesting to code, just mundane things that have to be done and take forever to finish.
I was holding off writing this because I was searching for the answer on how to work through the monotony.  I tried setting short term goals to strive for and giving myself a little bonus break when I reached milestones.  Those didn't help.  The work still sucked and the rewards were not really satisfying (although taking a break to watch The Office on Tivo was a little weak).  The only thing that made it better was when it was done and I could move onto something better.
I'm guessing that most jobs have these periods of monotony and the only thing you can really do is just suck it up and plow on through.

I was referred to Blog Action Day by a friend. 

Sounded like a great idea.  I'm all for it.  But then I thought about it for a bit and I realized....I don't really think too much about saving the environment.  I mean, I know saving the environment is a good thing but I don't really do anything consciously about it. 
I recycle my bottles and cans because I pay a recycling fee when I buy them, I use CFL lights because they were on sale, I try to use less water when I shower because my son learned in school that that was a good way to conserve water and I want to be a good example to him.  But nothing really big.  Nothing really out of my way.  I'm sure there are a lot of other things I could or should be doing.
But then I thought, maybe that's still good.  Maybe if I just do what I'm doing and learn and add more of these little things when I can.  Maybe that still makes a difference.  And maybe there are a lot of other people like me out there doing little things and feeling they aren't really doing anything.  Maybe we just keep on doing the little things everyday
....because every little bit must help....


Here's my newest idea for a product.

First of all...here is the problem that this product will solve.  I like having a laptop to travel with, but I also like having a faster, bigger machine when I'm at home.  Same as a lot of people.  But as we all know, switching between the two sort of sucks...keeping things in sync is just tiresome.

So this is what I want.  I want a laptop where you can eject this casing that holds your drive and processor and whatever other component that would be useful.  Then be able to insert this casing into a desktop machine.  The desktop machine will be able to sense that the casing is there and boot from it.  The desktop machine can still be booted without the casing but with the casing in, it can configure itself to utilize both drives and both processors.

How does that sound?  I'd buy it.....gotta work on the name though.

A question was put to me the other day.

What type of people would you want to put together to create the ideal software group.

I won't say that I'd want a team that wanted to change the world and work on projects that made a difference...that's just too cliche.  I will say that one of the by-products of working within a great team is the feeling that you are doing something important and meaningful.  So I guess that should be one of the end goals of this team.

Ok, so anyway, the team.  I'd want a couple of coding gurus.  The ones who are a sticklers for coding "the right way"...they're the ones with worn copies of Elements of Style Guide in their backpacks and talk about reading Effective Java Programming again for the umpteenth time.  I would want to pair these gurus up with another coders who are what I call 'Closers'.  These programmers know how to get things done and get them done on time.  They know what code can be refactored later, which enhancement can be placed on the back burner, and which pieces are critical to success of a project.  Put these types of programmers together and more times than not, you'll get an awesome product that is lean, extensible, functional, and on-time.
If you're dealing with UIs at all, I'd also want a graphic designer on the team.  The designer would understand usability issues and all that graphical stuff really well.  This person would not be a programmer.  What this person brings to the team and the quality that I would look for in this person is the ability to push the envelop in user design.  I'd want a design that the user will love....as opposed to a design that the programmers can easily code.  If pushed to the limits, programmers can and should always find a way to develop anything.

For this to all work, of course, everyone needs to be open minded.  No idea can be immediately dismissed, no technology can be scoffed at, and no limits can be pre-set.  And above all, each member of the team has to have an innate drive to alway make themselves and the people that they work with better.  There needs to be a drive to learn new things and to improve what they already know....and to do this every day.

If I had a team like this.....we could change the world.....all we'd need is....a....world.....changing.....idea....
...anyone?

I've been waiting a long time for something like this.  Google Custom Search
Google gives you the ability to customize your searches.  You give a list of urls that may have useful information that you want to search on or make more prominent in your search results.  Google saves all of that information and gives you a custom search box to do your searching.  There are also tools to help tweak and refine your searches and also html (and ajax) code generation to allow you to add the custom search box and results on your web page.
I gave it a shot and created a quick custom search for Java Coding.   Basically I want a custom search that will focus on Java programming...a search that will make it easier to find a code sample, an explanation of a design pattern, or just help with the general Java searching I do all day long.  I don't want to have to remember to always add Java as a keyword or filter through a bunch of stuff that is not relevant.  After a couple of tests, the custom search I built seems to have a lot of potential.
It obviously needs a lot of refinement but it's not bad for 2 minutes of tinkering and good enough for me to want to spend more time to make it better.  Some things I'd like to see if the custom searching can do is to have the returned pages be within a certain time range and also being able to figure out which of my search url sites have given me good results and which ones I never click on.

I found this link today...I think it was from Digg, so I'm sure many people have seen it and it's probably been talked about for years.   But I just saw it today and I think it's pretty cool.

Fibonacci sequence in Tool's Lateralus

I did a bit of searching and Tool hasn't officially verified this but I'd like to believe that they did it intentionally.  I think  it was totally cool that they worked the Fibonacci sequence so nicely with the music.  There was also mention on some website of a song that they did in 10/8 time....very cool.  I always wondered why music was in 4/4 or close derivations of that and why musicians didn't experiment with things like that...maybe they do and I've never noticed.  But I'm digressing. 

The thing that I found interesting and a fitting part of the first topic to my blog's second launch is the fact that it sort of ties into something that I strongly believe in.  Something that I try to do a little bit of everyday....to try to improve and better myself by learning something everyday.  Well, maybe not everyday, but I think it is very important to make that one of your goals in life.  It's an incredible motivator.

Anyway, I'll end here with a couple of lines from Lateralus:

I'm reaching up and reaching out.
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's ben.

Spiral out. Keep going....

So I've come to a conclusion about software people.  This may be a complete generalization but I think it's accurate.  Everyone thinks they are open minded to new tools and techniques, but they aren't.  It's very rare to find people who really truly try out new things that are presented to them when they think they have a way that works well.

Why fix it when it ain't broke...

Sure people find new methods on their own and give it a try, but see if you can make people change when they think there is nothing that needs changing.

So what I've learned today and what I will try to improve about myself is to not be so egotistical and set in my ways and really try to learn new ways to do things.....I might learn something great.....as long as the new way doesn't suck.