Joel's Private Office Drum Beating, I love it

I wish everyone thought this way. Read it, the post is a nice, quick read. Plus, I almost fell over laughing when Joel tells you why you shouldn't fall for the "open space" as a "work space".

At my day job we've got the most unusual office space. The building we work in was formally a mental hospital. Which makes for funny jokes, but it also makes for a lot of "open space" work environments. Everyone deals with it by brining in their iPod, and cranking the tunes.

I suspect everyone will also be completely deaf by time their 40. :(

If your job involves any level of thinking, you should have an office with a door that shuts, and a window.

I wonder what percentage of "office" buildings are constructed to allow for that? I'm pretty sure us enlightened-office-people have to do a little extra looking to find one.... I'd love to be wrong on that one!

Paul Graham's RailsConf Keynote

For all my small software company friends out there, this is an entertaining and insightful speach by Paul Graham at this year's RailsConf.

There were a lot of interesting speakers at RailsConf. Dave Thomas, Martin Fowler, DHH, and Paul Graham. Thanks to ScribeMedia for hosting the video of all the presentations.

Just wanted to share, Refactoring to REST

Wow, take a look at what Scott Raymond did with IconBuffet.com. Massive simplification of his Rails application by following DHH's new REST/HTTP model.

I started developing my designer service application before Rails went 1.0. I wasn't sure how to structure everything when I first got started. I started to realize that having 1 controller for every signficant model makes things easier. And now having seen this new standarized way of building a Rails app I just want to re-write everything! (I won't, at least not before launch. ;)
)

In all seriousness, this new convention for Rails development seems like it has the possibity to greatly simplify application development. Developers that are just now discovering Rails will greatly benefit from the convention.

Awesome stuff.

MacBook Pro back, I wish I could buy OSX elsewhere

I got my MBP back today, the battery hasn't died on me yet, but I'm not sure what to make of the other two issues I was having.

The paperwork I got from Apple says they replaced the speaker assembly. But I still hear a fluttering sound when it starts up. (At the end of the startup sound.)

I thought I had a cluster of dead pixels on my display. Apparently it's a piece of dirt or dust. It seems that someone at Apple "worked the screen" to move the dust particle to the bottom of the display. The dark cluster I had has moved from the lower left portion of the screen to the very bottom of the screen. It looks like it's touching the very bottom of the display. AND when I move the laptop you can see some kind of weird distoration around the cluster. It's crazy weird. With the dock up and a light color on the background you can't see the distoration. I notice it when the laptop is starting up and I physically move the laptop.

Instead of swapping out the display and speaker, they've pissed off a "switcher" - with a blog.

If another company sold computers that ran OSX, I'd take a serious look.

Project Management Application, for the Mac

I was wondering when a serious PM app would arrive on OSX. Here's one.

At my day job I've hired someone with some in-depth MS Project knowledge, and once you learn a few of it's deeper features it becomes more and more useful (and less frustrating). It's a shame MS doesn't make Project for the Mac. When I use my Mac at work I've got to fire up Parallels to reach our Project files.

MacBook Pro is in the shop

Due to my problems with my MacBook Pro, I made an appointment with a "Genious" at the local Apple store today. My problems were a bad battery, the dead pixels in the screen, and a blown speaker. I told the Genious everything. She confirmed everything and said I should have it by the end of the week. Overall, a pretty painless expeirence. I just hope everything is taken care of when I get it back.

Apple's Computers Have Problems Too

I've got a Dell laptop at work (my day job). Actually, I don't like to refer to it as a laptop. It's closer to a paper weight. I could dedicate an entire blog post to my hatred of this laptop, and of the disease that is installed on it, Windows XP.

I ordered a MacBook Pro the day they were announced. I've now got issues.

I don't want to hear any sh!t about I should have known better than to buy a first run piece of hardware.

My MacBook Pro is now, when not plugged into the wall, shutting itself down randomly. Apparently other people are having issues (thanks for the link). It seems it could be the logic board, the battery, or the 10.4.7 software update. I've ruled out the 10.4.7 update because other people have 10.4.6 installed and are having the same problem. Also I was running the Apple hardware test, and everything went fine. Then I unplugged the power cord, re-ran the test, and the MBP shut itself off in the middle of the test. (The hardware test doesn't run in OSX. It boots off a DVD they give you with the Mac.)

The real kicker?

I started using my MacBook Pro at my day job because I was sick of all the problems I was having with my Dell laptop. (In the states they refer to that as having egg on your face.)

As soon as my paper weight (AKA, Dell laptop) is working again, I'm making a trip to the Apple store. I will refuse the urge to club one of the employees with my MacLemon...err.... MacBook Pro. Maybe they have some kind of special magic they can sprinkle on it and make it not be a piece of garbage.

I know, it's just one defect. Get over it.

Did I mention I've finally noticed that one of the speakers makes a fluttering sound when I turn it on? Oh, and I've got 2 dead pixels right next to each other. And that sometimes it just doesn't want to wake up properly from "Sleep"?

I should of known not to buy first run hardware.

(Try your hardest NOT to post lame crap like, "I've had my MacBook Pro for blah blah, no problems here! I've got an itchy delete key. ;) )

The Short List (items left to do)

From a development standpoint, I've got the following left to do.

• Add Server-Side Image Resizing - I installed ImageMagick & RMagick tonight. - Thanks Will.
  
• Add field width validation - I sooooo wish this was an automatic part of Rails.
  
• Write the Account Management & Licensing component - Thanks for the tip, DHH.
  
• Make the non-selected tabs a better color - Thanks everyone.

Now of course I've got a metric ass-load of testing and business stuff to do. But outside of the above items, I've got myself a functioning app. I'm sure as I wind down I'll find little features here and there that I've overlooked. At this point I think it's more about launching than making it 100% flawless in terms of the feature set. Just because it launches, doesn't mean it's done. :)

Just sharing, interesting blog posts

1. David Heinemeier Hansson's RailsConf 2006 Keynote (video, slides). This is a really good presentation.
2. There is something very interesting going on here. "8020 Publishing is out to create the ultimate web/print hybrid magazines."
3. Everyone needs to be reminded of this: Continuous Partial Attention

In a funk

I've barely written any code in the last month. I'm in such a funk. Every time I plan on doing some work, life smacks me in the head. (Not to mention I had Oral Surgery about 2 weeks ago, and I was in no condition to work for a solid week.)

I think my app is about 75% done. I just have to finish it.

I used to be able to come home from work, eat, and then work straight from 7:30pm until 1:00am. (With the appropriate ice cream break, of course. Ice cream is my vice. :) )

I wonder if I'm too happy with my day job right now. I'm making a descent living, I love the people on my team, and we're doing some interesting things. It's not exactly what I want to do with my life, but it's not exactly a bad career.

Though, I really do wish I could work on Ataraxis Software full time.

I got to finish the designer service. (Not to mention, name it. That, "pudding", name is growing on me. Damn you Max!)