For those of you who don't know i play in a regular garage hockey league on saturday nights ( this is the reason why i'm usually online working at 2am, we get off the ice at midnight ).
Well this week, i was the unfortunate one to get injured. I took a weird fall that had me going backwards neck first into the boards. I was lucky it's nothing major, just a kink, but for the past three days or so, i've been walking around like someone straped a cross between my shoulder blades and to the back of my head. I've been moving my head by turning my shoulders.
Everyone knows that there are risks in playing sports, but it's always unfortunate when someone gets hurt. I'm just glad it's nothing major.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sick Kids, Overtime, and the toll it takes on someone
Well, i am officially starting to feel the exhaustion set in from several weeks of pretty intense overtime, and for the last couple of days, both my kids are sick.
As someone in IT, the last couple weeks of a project are usually pretty hectic, chaotic, and rushing to get stuff in. So you end up doing overtime ( if you care about the project/product), it's only a question of when/how much.
As a parent, you know that when kids get sick ( especially young ones ) that you lack sleep, because they are awake crying during the night, and you can't help but go to them, and do what you can. When the problem is congestion and respitory, you can pretty much just hold them up against you to help them breathe.
well i am currently living a double helping of both, major crunch time at work, and two sick kids. It's finally taking it's toll. I can simply feel the fatigue taking over. The light at the end of the tunnel for me, is that the kids are starting to feel better, and the project is going pretty good, still some kinks, but we are getting there.
more to come.
As someone in IT, the last couple weeks of a project are usually pretty hectic, chaotic, and rushing to get stuff in. So you end up doing overtime ( if you care about the project/product), it's only a question of when/how much.
As a parent, you know that when kids get sick ( especially young ones ) that you lack sleep, because they are awake crying during the night, and you can't help but go to them, and do what you can. When the problem is congestion and respitory, you can pretty much just hold them up against you to help them breathe.
well i am currently living a double helping of both, major crunch time at work, and two sick kids. It's finally taking it's toll. I can simply feel the fatigue taking over. The light at the end of the tunnel for me, is that the kids are starting to feel better, and the project is going pretty good, still some kinks, but we are getting there.
more to come.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Blast From the Past
OK, i just had an episode of "deja vu". I am working remotely on a machine that is running a headless Linux installation. I was forced to execute a few "batch" jobs ( also known as hacking your way through the back door of an application ). I just spent the last hour writing java code from vi, compiling command line, and running command line. Oh the days when this was how we worked.
I know most people these days, couldn't imagine writing code without an IDE, most wouldn't even know how to compile recursively through the directories, and manually set the classpath. It's a lost art and skill.
enough reminiscing, and back to work. it's crunch time.
I know most people these days, couldn't imagine writing code without an IDE, most wouldn't even know how to compile recursively through the directories, and manually set the classpath. It's a lost art and skill.
enough reminiscing, and back to work. it's crunch time.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Teaching
Lately I have been called to give a few lunch and learn sessions where I work. Teaching newer developers isn't something completely new to me, I've mentored co-op students several times over the last 9 or 10 years. But actually taking a specific topic and explain to a group of individuals, is quite new to me.
It can be quite a daunting task to give a presentation of a topic to a bunch of people who know nothing ( or relatively nothing ) about a topic and be responsible for how they perceive and learn a topic. I find myself taking a few steps back to make sure i am completely neutral, and factual, just to make sure that i am explaining facts ( and giving opinion) and not just giving opinions.
I've always enjoyed sharing knowledge, it does two things, one it helps others do the same, which benefited me in my early days ( having people take the time to teach me ), and it forces me to actually understand what i am talking about. Now don't get me wrong, you can understand without having to explain stuff. But in my case, i tend to understand better when i try to explain something to someone else.
For a long time, teaching was something i was HORRIBLY ( and i do mean horribly ) bad at. Ask anyone that worked with me the first couple years of my career. i had that typical "If i understand it, why can't you understand it mentality". After having done 3 separate session since the beginning of 2009 and 1 or 2 late 2008, i got some feedback from the attendees, and the feedback has been pretty positive. I guess as i have matured in my career, i have learned some different skills passively.
anyways, this was one of my goals anyways, to help my team learn some new skills, i guess i am taking advantage to improve on my teaching skills.
It can be quite a daunting task to give a presentation of a topic to a bunch of people who know nothing ( or relatively nothing ) about a topic and be responsible for how they perceive and learn a topic. I find myself taking a few steps back to make sure i am completely neutral, and factual, just to make sure that i am explaining facts ( and giving opinion) and not just giving opinions.
I've always enjoyed sharing knowledge, it does two things, one it helps others do the same, which benefited me in my early days ( having people take the time to teach me ), and it forces me to actually understand what i am talking about. Now don't get me wrong, you can understand without having to explain stuff. But in my case, i tend to understand better when i try to explain something to someone else.
For a long time, teaching was something i was HORRIBLY ( and i do mean horribly ) bad at. Ask anyone that worked with me the first couple years of my career. i had that typical "If i understand it, why can't you understand it mentality". After having done 3 separate session since the beginning of 2009 and 1 or 2 late 2008, i got some feedback from the attendees, and the feedback has been pretty positive. I guess as i have matured in my career, i have learned some different skills passively.
anyways, this was one of my goals anyways, to help my team learn some new skills, i guess i am taking advantage to improve on my teaching skills.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Python
Well, as is my habit, i force myself to learn a new technology. Sometimes this is programming, sometime this is a software, sometimes this is just a theory. This time, i decided i would take a look at the hype that is Python and Django. I have a former colleague that used to be a java programmer for me, and switched to python and Django. It sounded cool, so i started taking a look.
this is my opinion so far, it's pretty good. Flexible enough to do pretty much anything, structured so i'm not completely thrown for a loop and the syntax is easy enough to learn.
I'm still trying to get a good understanding about packaging, and deployments, but i think it is a good language to learn.
this is my opinion so far, it's pretty good. Flexible enough to do pretty much anything, structured so i'm not completely thrown for a loop and the syntax is easy enough to learn.
I'm still trying to get a good understanding about packaging, and deployments, but i think it is a good language to learn.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Holidays
Well Christmas has come and gone for yet another year. I hope everyone did/received whatever they hope, be it family time, presents, a break from the daily grind.
For me this year, the holidays were both good and at the same time bad. Before you go off thinking, this guy is off his rocker again, let me explain. It was a good holiday season, because i got to spend it with my family, my wife and two sons. Everyone was relatively healthy ( ear infection, and minor cold for my kids, but hey they go to daycare, this is pretty good ), but at the same time, these holidays felt like something was missing, and i came to realize, it isn't something, it's someone. My Dad.
My dad died in July of 2007, so you'll say why this year more than last, we'll the only thing that makes any sense, and it is probably accurate because my wife suggested it, is that last Christmas with the expectation of my second son, and him coming 1 month early, i didn't have time to miss him. Where as this year, things were quite, and i had time to notice his absence.
Well I guess this post is just to some stuff sorted in my head, i didn't actually have a plan for it, and the only thing that makes sense, is that i miss him, and didn't realize how much i would.
Merry Christmas Dad, you are forever in our thoughts.
For me this year, the holidays were both good and at the same time bad. Before you go off thinking, this guy is off his rocker again, let me explain. It was a good holiday season, because i got to spend it with my family, my wife and two sons. Everyone was relatively healthy ( ear infection, and minor cold for my kids, but hey they go to daycare, this is pretty good ), but at the same time, these holidays felt like something was missing, and i came to realize, it isn't something, it's someone. My Dad.
My dad died in July of 2007, so you'll say why this year more than last, we'll the only thing that makes any sense, and it is probably accurate because my wife suggested it, is that last Christmas with the expectation of my second son, and him coming 1 month early, i didn't have time to miss him. Where as this year, things were quite, and i had time to notice his absence.
Well I guess this post is just to some stuff sorted in my head, i didn't actually have a plan for it, and the only thing that makes sense, is that i miss him, and didn't realize how much i would.
Merry Christmas Dad, you are forever in our thoughts.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The big change
Well, it's now official, so i guess i can talk about it. Some people have been asking me about this for a couple of days, but since i was not allowed to announce it, i have to "avoid" answering.
What is the big change you ask? Well, as of October 1st, my employer spun off the R & D group into a separate private company. There were many factors ( I am told ) why this is a good move. Most of them, are very theoretical, but the main one is that this new company, being private is able to get better subsidies from the Canadian government in the form of R & D tax credits.
What does this mean? Well "officially" me and my team no longer work for the same employer, in reality, we are doing the same thing as before, just costing less to the company.
What else does this mean in the long run, is that it may be an opportunity for me, the day to day managing of this new company is the responsibility of me and one other person. I'm here for the technical stuff, and my partner in crime is responsible for business planning and analysis ( our respective skill sets ). However, i hope that we can learn from each other to both be more cross-functional.
This opportunity is a chance to move my career to the next level, and bring my highly skilled colleagues with me.
What is the big change you ask? Well, as of October 1st, my employer spun off the R & D group into a separate private company. There were many factors ( I am told ) why this is a good move. Most of them, are very theoretical, but the main one is that this new company, being private is able to get better subsidies from the Canadian government in the form of R & D tax credits.
What does this mean? Well "officially" me and my team no longer work for the same employer, in reality, we are doing the same thing as before, just costing less to the company.
What else does this mean in the long run, is that it may be an opportunity for me, the day to day managing of this new company is the responsibility of me and one other person. I'm here for the technical stuff, and my partner in crime is responsible for business planning and analysis ( our respective skill sets ). However, i hope that we can learn from each other to both be more cross-functional.
This opportunity is a chance to move my career to the next level, and bring my highly skilled colleagues with me.
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