A personal status update mentioning working on Heroku application, continued interest in Node.js projects, and ongoing Ruby work including MongoDB database activities. Notes that posts are coming after period of focusing on learning new technologies for job transition.
A brief personal update about transitioning to a new job which has kept me busy and unable to write blog posts. Mentions acquiring O'Reilly videos on Mastering Grails 101 and Agile Engineering Practices to watch and review during the transition period.
Report from fourth No Fluff Just Stuff Boston conference attendance. Covers Java-based technologies, JVM languages like Scala and Groovy, NoSQL databases, Sonar for code quality, and project lifecycle management. Emphasizes finding interesting talks across technology stack even in Java-focused conferences.
Travel diary of anniversary trip with wife to London and Edinburgh. London highlights include Stonehenge, Doctor Who Experience, and Trafalgar Square. Edinburgh became a favorite destination featuring Royal Mile tours to Edinburgh Vaults and Mary King's Close, Edinburgh Castle with daily cannon firing, and Holyrood Palace with hike up Arthur's Seat. Noted iPad 2's suitability for travel.
Solving Project Euler problem 001 in multiple programming languages to maintain skills. The problem asks for sum of all multiples of 3 or 5 below 1000. Includes solutions in JavaScript (both original and ES6), Ruby, Groovy, and Python, with plans to add Clojure solutions for cross-language functional programming practice.
An exploration of NoSQL databases as 'apophatic' term meaning databases without SQL interfaces. Compares document-oriented CouchDB and MongoDB, plus key-value Redis, with real-world adoption examples from major sites. Discusses MongoDB's BSON and sharding versus CouchDB's HTTP/RESTful API and replication, concluding with preference for CouchDB due to being 'built of the web'.
A brief personal review of Team Fortress 2, a free-to-play cartoon-styled first-person shooter on Steam built on the Half-Life 2 engine. Noted for its variety of classes allowing role and playstyle flexibility, ability to drop in and out freely, and preference for the Heavy class.
A review of Tom Hughes-Croucher's O'Reilly video series on Node.js, which provided excellent introduction and inspiration leading to installing NodeJS and experimenting with projects immediately. Strongly recommended for anyone getting started or wanting to understand the concepts behind Node.js.
A personal update on technologies being explored for self and work, including NodeJS for scalable real-time web applications, NoSQL databases like MongoDB and CouchDB for web-specific data challenges, and Continuous Integration with Jenkins CI plus code review tools FishEye and Crucible from Atlassian for quality control.
Report from first conference attendance, No Fluff Just Stuff Boston, focused on enterprise software development technologies and best practices. Highlights include Venkat Subramaniam's JVM languages talk with live coding, keynote on programming language evolution, emerging trends in HTML5, distributed version control with Git, and JVM languages like Groovy, Scala, Clojure, and JRuby.
Thoughts on adopting Git after previously using only SVN, including moving blog code to GitHub for open source sharing under GPL. Reviews O'Reilly's "Mastering Git" video series by McCullough and Berglund, which covers setup, branching, tagging, and merging while noting Git's benefits for workflow and code quality beyond just version control.
A review of the top three blog posts of 2010 based on Google Analytics: Fun with ZFS send and receive for powerful filesystem commands, Stopping SSH Brute Force attacks with PF for server security, and Pulling data from Warcraft Armory with Groovy which gained attention from the Groovy community including Project Manager Guillaume Laforge.
The final leg of the honeymoon in Sydney, visiting Opera House, Royal Botanical Gardens, and Sydney Zoo across the harbor by water taxi. Ate at fancy restaurants Quay and Yukis with views of the Opera House, but found Sydney similar to other big cities and less impressive than Queenstown's natural beauty.
Exploring Queenstown with its stunning mountain views, restaurants, and variety of activities from extreme sports to scenic gondola rides. Took a day tour to Milford Sound with stops through Fjordlands and a boat ride that included getting drenched at a waterfall, plus an evening on the historic TSS Earnslaw steamship for a farm dinner with sheep shearing demonstration.
The final day in Auckland featuring visits to the War Memorial Museum, Victoria Park, and a ramen restaurant that exceeded expectations, followed by discovery of Sansui sushi with excellent service and presentation. Flew to Queenstown on a small plane with spectacular Lord of the Rings-like mountain views on arrival.
A guided tour from Auckland visiting Waitomo glow worm caves for a magical boat ride under starlight-like worms, and Rotorua hot springs to see impressive geysers and experience geothermal activity, plus learning about Maori culture and welcoming ceremonies.
A day exploring Auckland's city center, starting with eggs Benedict room service, a haircut with conversation about American car imports, a spa visit, and visiting Sky Tower with its glass floors and bungee jumping observation, ending with Thai dinner.
Arrival in Auckland for honeymoon with reflections on United Airlines service, 22-hour LAX-Auckland flight, and customs wait. Mentions nice gestures from passengers, rugby team sighting, and meeting friends before honeymoon trip.
Preparing for a 22-hour flight to New Zealand and Australia by loading up on ebooks from ThriftEBooks. Focusing on Manning Publications' "Groovy in Action" and "Grails in Action" to gain expertise for demonstrating rapid web application development with Grails at work.
A music recommendation for cellist Zoë Keating, whose soothing classical compositions are ideal for focus while working. Discovered through a Wired video, with albums available directly from her website in multiple formats and samples on Amazon MP3 and iTunes.
A brief personal update explaining a hiatus from blogging due to busyness with work and wedding preparations, including a photo of the Friendship ship at Derby Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts, taken during a break from the computer.
A personal recommendation for "Collide by Beats Antique," an album with minimal vocals and strong beats that helps with focus while coding. Also notes preference for Amazon MP3 over iTunes for the flexibility of MP3 files for backup and portability.
A brief personal update about the web hosting company migrating clients to newer, more powerful servers with updated versions of PHP, MySQL, and other tools, including being a test subject with 128bitstudios.com as the first site on the new infrastructure.
A personal post about a relaxing weekend spent working around the house and enjoying time with my fiancée, including a photo taken at Salem Willows looking toward Beverly, Massachusetts, and the Salem/Beverly bridge.