A bit of sporadic work over the holidays. Mostly logistical stuff. I really wanted to make a dent in some software tasks, but alas when you sit in front of a computer, a sea of other items come flooding into your plans. Looking a bit at office space today.
Whoa - taking me two days to get this small entry typed and onto blogger. Indicative of my focus trying to get some work done over the holidays. I'll stop now and submit!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Time-Accomplishment gap
An xmas break quick blog. It's eve of the big day, but I'm not nearly ready. Sounds like I need to go get more gifts so will need to dig out AGAIN. Snow continues to make me miserable. Also need to get wiper fluid as it sounds like a big freezing rain day, and driving to inlaws tomorrow will probably be messy and treacherous. We've delayed our intended departure from today 'til tomorrow.
I'm wracked with miserableness due to the number of things I need to do, and the fact that time has pretty much run out. My project needs another day or two of effort still this year, plus some proposal writing.
I do not look forward to mall transversal today. This will be a most miserable day. Funny how days that are supposed to be cheery and bright thereby impose a tyranny of expectations into which we are railroaded, making them the most miserable of days.
Such is life of the under-resourced visionary :)
I'm wracked with miserableness due to the number of things I need to do, and the fact that time has pretty much run out. My project needs another day or two of effort still this year, plus some proposal writing.
I do not look forward to mall transversal today. This will be a most miserable day. Funny how days that are supposed to be cheery and bright thereby impose a tyranny of expectations into which we are railroaded, making them the most miserable of days.
Such is life of the under-resourced visionary :)
Friday, December 19, 2008
Brief Start to the Morning, Interrupted by Sausages
Just getting the morning starting... but immediately leaving to walk somewhere in the cold for breakfast...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Diverse Goals for Today
Need to jump straight into it this am. Had decent success at stabilizing things yesterday, but now I need to resurrect the javascript side of the project to fully demo. I'm using django, and the addressing for shifting from the dev server to apache is a bit challenging. Do I always need a prefix to trigger apache, otherwise I'd need to update apache configs for specific page structures. Hmmm.
That's where I'll spend my next 2hrs, then off for a lunch demo and some volunteering time this afternoon. But hey, the latter will involve making a batch of beer.
Researchinator managing the software to beer transition...
That's where I'll spend my next 2hrs, then off for a lunch demo and some volunteering time this afternoon. But hey, the latter will involve making a batch of beer.
Researchinator managing the software to beer transition...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Pushing Ahead
So is that the kind of year its going to be again? Another morning to dig out. Last winter was like this - constantly digging snow. Lost a good hour or so again, plus its a migrainey morning.
I had good progress yesterday. Was porting a routine from ajax to python, and also have to rework the flow based on local data versus client/server approach. But it's roughly working now, though some additional feature enablement is required. This work allows my backend people to scrutinize stuff that would normally be sent to users on the web, so it should be a good productivity feature to quickly do what would normally take some setup.
Plus it's a good check for browser side guys to verify performance and behaviour.
So push ahead and try to overcome the challenges of the day.
Researchinator has wet ankles...
I had good progress yesterday. Was porting a routine from ajax to python, and also have to rework the flow based on local data versus client/server approach. But it's roughly working now, though some additional feature enablement is required. This work allows my backend people to scrutinize stuff that would normally be sent to users on the web, so it should be a good productivity feature to quickly do what would normally take some setup.
Plus it's a good check for browser side guys to verify performance and behaviour.
So push ahead and try to overcome the challenges of the day.
Researchinator has wet ankles...
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Economic Conditions This Morning
Taking stock of the world this morning, the first issue that comes to mind, on a local perspective is that our city remains paralysed with a transit strike. This makes me cite again those words that so often one hears in the context of city government: 'what a bunch of idiots'. Usually its quoted in reference to the quality of 'leaders' that take up residence at city hall, but in this case you can throw the transit union in there as well.
I'm amazed with all the unions pushing hard on their employers to get big raises and 'job security' as the world economy goes into a spin. There seems to be a brazen disregard for their own future as they try to drive their own organizations into the ground.
And let's not forget other folks as well. Every morning the radio news is full of the hardship being caused by this strike, as the most vulnerable sectors continue to suffer the most - all (apparently) because the workers want to be able to pick and choose which shifts they work. Well nobody else does that in the world. Oh wait, yes they do. "You want me to work at a 7-11 from midnight to 6am? I think I'll work elsewhere." There, someone just chose their own shift.
One finds the work that matches their abilities, and its proportional to the skills and effort they've put into their own future. However, too much of our society is full of this concept of entitlement. "I'm 22 and have finished my MBA, so I'm ready to run your billion dollar company. I've no experience or knowledge, but hey, how hard can it be?"
We don't teach the concept of repercussions for your actions. If you don't put the work into learning skills, you can't get a job requiring skills. If times are good, and you're raking in better pay than most of the people of your background, it's probably a good time to develop skills for when you don't have that position. As the auto-sector falls apart, I've seen lots of interviews with auto workers facing the loss of their jobs, singing sob stories. Then it comes out that three generations of the guys family have worked on the same mindless assembly line. You'd think the first guy would have said, "Hmmm, maybe my son should get some skills to do better than this." But I guess humans become complacent too easily.
Kids should be encouraged to first develop interests then find skills and education that support those interests. Too many people seem to have no interests at all. That must start at childhood when their parents fail to be encouraging and support expressions of interest.
My sense is that the average adult male, given $10k to pursue an interest, would basically get a bigger TV and maybe put a gaming console in each room of his house. TV - yeah, that's my hobby. "I want to develop skills and confidence in my ability to watch TV. And those bastards are going to lay me off too, or take away my right to choose the shift I work in my job."
Well, I think those things might actually be related.
Researchinator turns toward the skills and interests that currently consume the hours of the day...
I'm amazed with all the unions pushing hard on their employers to get big raises and 'job security' as the world economy goes into a spin. There seems to be a brazen disregard for their own future as they try to drive their own organizations into the ground.
And let's not forget other folks as well. Every morning the radio news is full of the hardship being caused by this strike, as the most vulnerable sectors continue to suffer the most - all (apparently) because the workers want to be able to pick and choose which shifts they work. Well nobody else does that in the world. Oh wait, yes they do. "You want me to work at a 7-11 from midnight to 6am? I think I'll work elsewhere." There, someone just chose their own shift.
One finds the work that matches their abilities, and its proportional to the skills and effort they've put into their own future. However, too much of our society is full of this concept of entitlement. "I'm 22 and have finished my MBA, so I'm ready to run your billion dollar company. I've no experience or knowledge, but hey, how hard can it be?"
We don't teach the concept of repercussions for your actions. If you don't put the work into learning skills, you can't get a job requiring skills. If times are good, and you're raking in better pay than most of the people of your background, it's probably a good time to develop skills for when you don't have that position. As the auto-sector falls apart, I've seen lots of interviews with auto workers facing the loss of their jobs, singing sob stories. Then it comes out that three generations of the guys family have worked on the same mindless assembly line. You'd think the first guy would have said, "Hmmm, maybe my son should get some skills to do better than this." But I guess humans become complacent too easily.
Kids should be encouraged to first develop interests then find skills and education that support those interests. Too many people seem to have no interests at all. That must start at childhood when their parents fail to be encouraging and support expressions of interest.
My sense is that the average adult male, given $10k to pursue an interest, would basically get a bigger TV and maybe put a gaming console in each room of his house. TV - yeah, that's my hobby. "I want to develop skills and confidence in my ability to watch TV. And those bastards are going to lay me off too, or take away my right to choose the shift I work in my job."
Well, I think those things might actually be related.
Researchinator turns toward the skills and interests that currently consume the hours of the day...
Friday, December 12, 2008
End of the Week
Friday - feeling sleepy in spite of being up for hours... or maybe because of? Anyway, digging into the next steps after a reasonably productive day yesterday.
Researchinator not feeling very verbose...
Researchinator not feeling very verbose...
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Garbage day and associated tasks chewed up my first hour this morning, just like snow removal yesterday. Man I hate winter. That's a sign I'd better get out skiing or snowshoeing or something soon to stave off the despair. Plus the darkest days of the year are well underway now, and how I hate that crap. I type away at my desk all day and occasionally glance over my shoulder to discover that it's dark already, and it's only 4:30.
Today, more work on the app. Collabguy1 wants to meet tomorrow. He's still gainfully employed, so I don't expect much in the way of spare MIPs. But I'm happy to just have his thoughts on my project in general as a background task until or if the opportunity to join in comes about.
Plus it will be nice to catch up over lunch.
OK back into the tough slogging.
Researchinator turns to the challenges of realtime XML parsing...
Today, more work on the app. Collabguy1 wants to meet tomorrow. He's still gainfully employed, so I don't expect much in the way of spare MIPs. But I'm happy to just have his thoughts on my project in general as a background task until or if the opportunity to join in comes about.
Plus it will be nice to catch up over lunch.
OK back into the tough slogging.
Researchinator turns to the challenges of realtime XML parsing...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Chorey Day with UI-ish Overtones
We are really buried this morning, and my SO comes home from the UK later today, so I do need to get out and move some snow around. Looks like about 30cm out there at least. Shades of last year.
I suppose there's a bit of cleaning up to do around the house too :) Anyway, it's not looking good for productivity today. Luckily yesterday was fruitful at getting lots of the pieces in place for the tougher coding job today.
User Interface design is a challenge for any company, but it's also tough to start from a blank sheet. My experience is that its important to think before coding, yes. Think about programmatic structure as well as UI organization. I think too often companies depend on non-programmer UI designers who don't have a good sense of how the code comes together. Yet other companies think that their programmers can design the UI. Both are mistakes.
A UI designer has choices and sometimes two different approaches are both viable, yet one may have substantially different impact on both effort and resource cost/complexity than the other. Having the understanding to pick the right direction is the challenge there.
I think a good approach is to understand the coding constraints, and 'toolbox' of whats available, then craft a walkthrough, then implement a first draft approach, test that for efficiency and usability and evolve it. You may need to rip some stuff out, but it avoids situations where UI's are designed without code awareness, and some programmer spends 50% of the effort on trying to get a pulldown list to work when a radio button would have met the UI design intent just as well.
Anyway, that's well underway, and I see some changes that will be necessary, but I'm persevering to get through to something functional so that other development can proceed before trying to make the app look pretty and perfect.
Plus it's easier to find people with the skills to criticize and fix than it is to find ones who can visualize and implement.
Researchinator seeks to find a balance...
I suppose there's a bit of cleaning up to do around the house too :) Anyway, it's not looking good for productivity today. Luckily yesterday was fruitful at getting lots of the pieces in place for the tougher coding job today.
User Interface design is a challenge for any company, but it's also tough to start from a blank sheet. My experience is that its important to think before coding, yes. Think about programmatic structure as well as UI organization. I think too often companies depend on non-programmer UI designers who don't have a good sense of how the code comes together. Yet other companies think that their programmers can design the UI. Both are mistakes.
A UI designer has choices and sometimes two different approaches are both viable, yet one may have substantially different impact on both effort and resource cost/complexity than the other. Having the understanding to pick the right direction is the challenge there.
I think a good approach is to understand the coding constraints, and 'toolbox' of whats available, then craft a walkthrough, then implement a first draft approach, test that for efficiency and usability and evolve it. You may need to rip some stuff out, but it avoids situations where UI's are designed without code awareness, and some programmer spends 50% of the effort on trying to get a pulldown list to work when a radio button would have met the UI design intent just as well.
Anyway, that's well underway, and I see some changes that will be necessary, but I'm persevering to get through to something functional so that other development can proceed before trying to make the app look pretty and perfect.
Plus it's easier to find people with the skills to criticize and fix than it is to find ones who can visualize and implement.
Researchinator seeks to find a balance...
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Plodding and Pushing Forward
A decently productive day yesterday. Today, it's snowing in a big way, and I have nothing on my schedule except pushing ahead. Oh, I guess I do have to get some stuff mailed and there's that constant concern about xmas shopping.
Oh well, lets get some acheivements under my belt for the morning anyway. Then maybe out to shovel snow, and mail some stuff at lunch time.
Researchinator sets to it...
Oh well, lets get some acheivements under my belt for the morning anyway. Then maybe out to shovel snow, and mail some stuff at lunch time.
Researchinator sets to it...
Monday, December 8, 2008
Battling the Expected Boogieman or Boogiemen
My productivity is waning a bit under the pressure of a) the onset of winter b) more awareness of competitive projects out there c) lack of a peer group.
But these are all boogiemen I expected, luckily, having been through them before. The work at home curse.
The good thing is that I'm financially stable for a good year anyway, so I should be able to the keep the pessimistic worries at bay. Of course, there is an inverse relationship between my ability to stretch my salaryless existence out perpetually and my ability to invest in my company to any great extent.
But I'll keep pushing on these things and see where I end up. I think if I can end up with a roughly workable application on the one side of the package, I'll get enough of a boost that I will be able to push through to the next milestone.
My biggest 'ugh' feeling is the pending Xmas period. I need to do a bunch of shopping and I really don't feel like I have the spare time. Then again, I don't have time to do a bunch of blogging, so lets put this to rest for now and get something done before lunch.
Researchinator squeezes the clock to get an extra few minutes out...
But these are all boogiemen I expected, luckily, having been through them before. The work at home curse.
The good thing is that I'm financially stable for a good year anyway, so I should be able to the keep the pessimistic worries at bay. Of course, there is an inverse relationship between my ability to stretch my salaryless existence out perpetually and my ability to invest in my company to any great extent.
But I'll keep pushing on these things and see where I end up. I think if I can end up with a roughly workable application on the one side of the package, I'll get enough of a boost that I will be able to push through to the next milestone.
My biggest 'ugh' feeling is the pending Xmas period. I need to do a bunch of shopping and I really don't feel like I have the spare time. Then again, I don't have time to do a bunch of blogging, so lets put this to rest for now and get something done before lunch.
Researchinator squeezes the clock to get an extra few minutes out...
Friday, December 5, 2008
Hand Candy
Oh the world of distractions I've opened up for myself. I am currently syncing an iPod touch. Candy for the eyes, ears and with that sleek package, for the hand too.
It's an impressive package, and implementation is quite good. I'm a bit disappointed that the syncing process is poorly handled, in that there's just a flickering hashed-progress bar, rather than an actually functioning progress bar. I always held out apple as the company that understood progress bars, but this seems to be an exception. Sure there are a few gigs of data move, but really, couldn't the progress bar reflect some sort of, well, progress?
Apparently not.
Oh - spoke too soon, it seems to have figured it out after 10minutes and is now showing progress allong with how many songs are being loaded.
But alas, a new issue - oops, that one is being addressed too. I was going to say it's on "copying 15 out of 250:" while I know I have upwards of 900 songs. But nicely, it is copying before it knows how many songs there are to copy.
That's a good thing. This purchase is rather venture related, so I'll have to write it off, so I don't feel too back about doing this when I should be coding my system software. Plus it's got over 800 songs to copy still, so I think it will be a while.
Meanwhile, I think I'd best try to clean up my code before the end of the day. I hate to leave something half-coded.
It's an impressive package, and implementation is quite good. I'm a bit disappointed that the syncing process is poorly handled, in that there's just a flickering hashed-progress bar, rather than an actually functioning progress bar. I always held out apple as the company that understood progress bars, but this seems to be an exception. Sure there are a few gigs of data move, but really, couldn't the progress bar reflect some sort of, well, progress?
Apparently not.
Oh - spoke too soon, it seems to have figured it out after 10minutes and is now showing progress allong with how many songs are being loaded.
But alas, a new issue - oops, that one is being addressed too. I was going to say it's on "copying 15 out of 250:" while I know I have upwards of 900 songs. But nicely, it is copying before it knows how many songs there are to copy.
That's a good thing. This purchase is rather venture related, so I'll have to write it off, so I don't feel too back about doing this when I should be coding my system software. Plus it's got over 800 songs to copy still, so I think it will be a while.
Meanwhile, I think I'd best try to clean up my code before the end of the day. I hate to leave something half-coded.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Refocus Attempt, Still a Bit Blurry
The afternoon brightened up yesterday, so I suppose I should have just blogged later. And I did get out for a brief power walk, and that felt better. I talked to an alternative patent guy, one from my distant past, though it sounds like he will be too expensive. Plus he has a bit of a habit of telling me the obvious sometimes, which isn't stacking well in his favour.
This morning though, I'm migraining again that's twice in three days. Crap. At least I had several good weeks prior to that. So my productivity will perhaps suffer today. I did a fair bit of patent searching yesterday, and was unable to find anything close to what I'm doing. I came across one that briefly scared me, but upon closer reading got a better sense that it was doing something completely different, which was reassuring. There was a big sinking feeling there for a moment.
So far so good. Hmmm, wonder if I can maintain focus enough to do a bit of coding now, in spite of my head and my challenges.
Researchinator tries again...
This morning though, I'm migraining again that's twice in three days. Crap. At least I had several good weeks prior to that. So my productivity will perhaps suffer today. I did a fair bit of patent searching yesterday, and was unable to find anything close to what I'm doing. I came across one that briefly scared me, but upon closer reading got a better sense that it was doing something completely different, which was reassuring. There was a big sinking feeling there for a moment.
So far so good. Hmmm, wonder if I can maintain focus enough to do a bit of coding now, in spite of my head and my challenges.
Researchinator tries again...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Miserable Entrepreneurs Unite
This isn't feeling fun today. I'm tired of slaving away in oblivion. This feels like a rut day.
Snowing too, so walking it off is going to be a tougher proposition.
Better load up on the tea.
Snowing too, so walking it off is going to be a tougher proposition.
Better load up on the tea.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
One of Those Mornings
A brief visit to University and an interesting presentation attended which was rather related to my venture. But alas, a migraine kicked in last night and lingers into the morning, robbing me somewhat of my morning initiative.
I rebooted my computer, but it didn't seem to help.
Yesterday I made some programming progress, but not enough. It's been a couple of weeks since I had worked on that element of the system, and getting back into it is always somewhat challenging. My migraine headaches often end with a period of positivity, so I'll have to be poised and ready to make use of that when it shows up - probably early afternoon or late morning today. Good to make the best of a miserable situation.
Meanwhile I still need to find a suitable networking opportunity around the city. I guess I'll have to start digging some more.
Researchinator says hello to Mr. Google....
I rebooted my computer, but it didn't seem to help.
Yesterday I made some programming progress, but not enough. It's been a couple of weeks since I had worked on that element of the system, and getting back into it is always somewhat challenging. My migraine headaches often end with a period of positivity, so I'll have to be poised and ready to make use of that when it shows up - probably early afternoon or late morning today. Good to make the best of a miserable situation.
Meanwhile I still need to find a suitable networking opportunity around the city. I guess I'll have to start digging some more.
Researchinator says hello to Mr. Google....
Monday, December 1, 2008
Goal Setting Becomes Graphically Gratuitous
Launching into my week with a desire to move things forward substantially. That means these goals
1. A clean set of slides for presenting my premise.
2. Incorporate any bizplan feedback
3. Add another name to my collaborators
4. Move the application side ahead substantially, based on workpath
5. Work plan for people added - incl a list of prime questions for each to solve
6. Patent resolution - need to deal with the illness of my patent guy somehow.
Lets see where these stand at the end of the week. I figure with some clearly enumerated goals, I should be able to move things forward more measurably. Can I keep up on that process - listing goals for the week and scoring myself against it on Friday or Monday? We'll soon find out. Those of you joining us late can probably just skim ahead to future blog posts to see how it all turned out.
Cool - I'm writing messages to people of the future, where there are flying cars and robot maids and stuff.
Researchinator gets to work on the future stuff, like a full turkey dinner in a pill...
1. A clean set of slides for presenting my premise.
2. Incorporate any bizplan feedback
3. Add another name to my collaborators
4. Move the application side ahead substantially, based on workpath
5. Work plan for people added - incl a list of prime questions for each to solve
6. Patent resolution - need to deal with the illness of my patent guy somehow.
Lets see where these stand at the end of the week. I figure with some clearly enumerated goals, I should be able to move things forward more measurably. Can I keep up on that process - listing goals for the week and scoring myself against it on Friday or Monday? We'll soon find out. Those of you joining us late can probably just skim ahead to future blog posts to see how it all turned out.
Cool - I'm writing messages to people of the future, where there are flying cars and robot maids and stuff.
Researchinator gets to work on the future stuff, like a full turkey dinner in a pill...
Friday, November 28, 2008
Putting Pieces together
Comparing the google IM tool versus the yahoo one, there is certainly a crisper delivery of the google one. Plus the responsiveness is better, whereas I see some lag-time in typing into the yahoo tool. The UI is also rather cheap looking. Google really understands crisp clean interfaces.
My team development and contacts seem to take a step forward, then another one back. I have a couple of reasonably firm collaborators, but my guy on patents has taken ill, and so I'll need to drum up someone else.
Going to try to move things along enough today that I will be able to a) get a collaborator to try my app remotely, b) get a better version of my biz overview presentation together c) polish my biz plan enough that I can start to share it and get input.
Finding time for some outdoor walking is getting tough with crappy weather - it's snowed continuously and things are slushy. Not great for my productivity when I can't walk outside.
Researchinator walks to window to see what the odds are for a walk today...
My team development and contacts seem to take a step forward, then another one back. I have a couple of reasonably firm collaborators, but my guy on patents has taken ill, and so I'll need to drum up someone else.
Going to try to move things along enough today that I will be able to a) get a collaborator to try my app remotely, b) get a better version of my biz overview presentation together c) polish my biz plan enough that I can start to share it and get input.
Finding time for some outdoor walking is getting tough with crappy weather - it's snowed continuously and things are slushy. Not great for my productivity when I can't walk outside.
Researchinator walks to window to see what the odds are for a walk today...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Pieces of the Biz Plan
Market assessment work and proforma revenue reports, there's a world of assumptions wrapped up there. And though everyone puts up their slide showing $B with a few numbers around them for the market size, it's still gotta be there. Truthfully, though, with a few active brain cells, if you describe a product, one should be able to estimate for themselves whether the market is a few million, or billions. That's mostly the deduction that needs to be made. But I've seen some crazy perceptions from the start-up crowd, so, nothing can be taken for granted I guess.
My other big challenge is to start to weasel my way into my designated market area in the community. I need to scan the events calendar for sessions where these people get together, and find out what they're up to, then go and horn in on those activities. A few charity dinners perhaps, and a few hand shaking opportunities, and I can hopefully start to build some contacts. That could be tough, but I need to find out where the deep pockets are. I need contacts not only from a potential funder point of view, but also potential partnering opportunities.
On the patent side - still no call on my write up, but at least a ping from my guy saying he's out of the office ill, and will be in touch in a few days. Just as well I didn't see him in person. That's my first test point, and it will be interesting to see if there's anything salvageable (ie fileable) in my disclosure.
To be able to refer to patented technology will be a big help.
Talked to an foreign affairs guy today - he had suggested they were super helpful for startups - but as a test, I asked for some source of market sizing information in US and Europe, and he came back with suggesting a website and a google search. Duh - thanks for the professional assistance.
I've already got some good estimates, though they are a 3-5years out of date. That's not a big issue really, and it's enough to have put together a first draft biz plan. I couldn't help but feel a bit pumped and optimistic after completing that. It sure looks positive - no doubt I'm horribly misinformed. Sadly if the venture fails, I'm sure (as has happened so often before) I'll see the business emerge elsewhere 5 years from now, and swearing will ensue.
Anyway - off to an industry talk tonight and again an opportunity to chat and press the flesh.
Researchinator practises his hand shaking with the cat...
My other big challenge is to start to weasel my way into my designated market area in the community. I need to scan the events calendar for sessions where these people get together, and find out what they're up to, then go and horn in on those activities. A few charity dinners perhaps, and a few hand shaking opportunities, and I can hopefully start to build some contacts. That could be tough, but I need to find out where the deep pockets are. I need contacts not only from a potential funder point of view, but also potential partnering opportunities.
On the patent side - still no call on my write up, but at least a ping from my guy saying he's out of the office ill, and will be in touch in a few days. Just as well I didn't see him in person. That's my first test point, and it will be interesting to see if there's anything salvageable (ie fileable) in my disclosure.
To be able to refer to patented technology will be a big help.
Talked to an foreign affairs guy today - he had suggested they were super helpful for startups - but as a test, I asked for some source of market sizing information in US and Europe, and he came back with suggesting a website and a google search. Duh - thanks for the professional assistance.
I've already got some good estimates, though they are a 3-5years out of date. That's not a big issue really, and it's enough to have put together a first draft biz plan. I couldn't help but feel a bit pumped and optimistic after completing that. It sure looks positive - no doubt I'm horribly misinformed. Sadly if the venture fails, I'm sure (as has happened so often before) I'll see the business emerge elsewhere 5 years from now, and swearing will ensue.
Anyway - off to an industry talk tonight and again an opportunity to chat and press the flesh.
Researchinator practises his hand shaking with the cat...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Making User Tools a Delight, Not a Pain.
The fateful day that the snow arrived. It's white outside, and the forecast sounds pretty relentless at providing us with a constant replacement for anything that melts during the near zeroC temperatures. I'll have to find some time to go do some shovelling. And it's the heavy stuff too, at this temperature, and with drizzle mixed into the rain. The sound of the obsessive guy's snowblower is rumbling outside. This is the guy that mows his lawn and his neighbours lawn every day during the summer. In winter, the slightest dusting of snow means he's blowing as well. He's a one-man green-house gas king. Still, it's not helping with shortening the winter for us at all.
Yesterday on my project I started into a next phase. Planning the evolution of my tools to make them more functional, now that I've got a basic proof of concept in place. I'm employing a technique that works very well for application design in the past, so I'll share it.
Assuming you are an experienced user of applications of the type you are designing, you have expectations about how such a tool will work. Thus, to help the user discover that the tool responds as he would expect, a good approach is to think of the task you want to acheive - the end goal you are shooting for- and then imagine opening and using a finished tool to accomplish that. Write out each step, ignoring whether its possible or easy to program it or not, until you've described a full funciton.
That's the tough part - and many programmers are too close to their craft to pull it off successfully. You have to forget what you know ('everyone knows that file modes are set with control-alt-F9') and concentrate on making something that is as easy as possible for a non-programmer, intelligent, but novice user. Later, one can consider expert modes and such things, but concentrate first on the learning curve, and getting the task done effectively.
The next stage is to move those walk through steps into a table, and create another column for resources - these are UI resources. What things will be needed for what you
described. Mode menu entries, text entry areas, file open or file save capabilities, timer displays etc.
Make another pass through after that, to indicate how often each of those elements will be used. Is it a setting tweaked at the first use, and retained forever, rarely adjusted by the user again? Is it a button that will get clicked every few minutes. This will guide placement as to whether something can be in a pull-down menu or should be front and centre.
A good tip here is to think also about anything that is dangerous. Is there a delete-everything button mentioned? You'll want to remember to not place that beside the quick-save button. That's a rule violated by many UI's - yes I'm talking to you microsoft with your delete email button beside the send email button. "Yikes, what was I thinking I can't send that email to bob" *click* "Oh crap!"
Following that step, then create another column in which you can look over the previous column's elements and group things together into sensible places. IF you have 3 or 4 file configuration widgets needed, those might fit well into a "file config" menu, or a config menu under file, or into a configuration panel.
Lots of erasing and rejigging is useful there, and finally you have a rough idea. Then take a pencil and paper and sketch out a rough view, and imagine yourself following the steps laid out earlier. Some adjustments are likely.
Switch back to the programmer mode, and think about how you'd code it now. Are there some impossibilities? Sometimes a minor element might take 80% of the effort, so you have to rationalize the usefulness - but don't compromise on quality if you can help it. An elegant, intuitive user interface is a beautiful think. Nothing encourages a user more than guessing where a feature might live, and finding it there exactly as expected.
Some adjustments might be possible that both preserve intent and make programming easier, but be prepared to work a bit harder to preserve the user experience.
Anyway, that's what I'm into just now - and there's a whole lot of work ahead of me.
Researchinator returns to crafting a UI plan...
Yesterday on my project I started into a next phase. Planning the evolution of my tools to make them more functional, now that I've got a basic proof of concept in place. I'm employing a technique that works very well for application design in the past, so I'll share it.
Assuming you are an experienced user of applications of the type you are designing, you have expectations about how such a tool will work. Thus, to help the user discover that the tool responds as he would expect, a good approach is to think of the task you want to acheive - the end goal you are shooting for- and then imagine opening and using a finished tool to accomplish that. Write out each step, ignoring whether its possible or easy to program it or not, until you've described a full funciton.
That's the tough part - and many programmers are too close to their craft to pull it off successfully. You have to forget what you know ('everyone knows that file modes are set with control-alt-F9') and concentrate on making something that is as easy as possible for a non-programmer, intelligent, but novice user. Later, one can consider expert modes and such things, but concentrate first on the learning curve, and getting the task done effectively.
The next stage is to move those walk through steps into a table, and create another column for resources - these are UI resources. What things will be needed for what you
described. Mode menu entries, text entry areas, file open or file save capabilities, timer displays etc.
Make another pass through after that, to indicate how often each of those elements will be used. Is it a setting tweaked at the first use, and retained forever, rarely adjusted by the user again? Is it a button that will get clicked every few minutes. This will guide placement as to whether something can be in a pull-down menu or should be front and centre.
A good tip here is to think also about anything that is dangerous. Is there a delete-everything button mentioned? You'll want to remember to not place that beside the quick-save button. That's a rule violated by many UI's - yes I'm talking to you microsoft with your delete email button beside the send email button. "Yikes, what was I thinking I can't send that email to bob" *click* "Oh crap!"
Following that step, then create another column in which you can look over the previous column's elements and group things together into sensible places. IF you have 3 or 4 file configuration widgets needed, those might fit well into a "file config" menu, or a config menu under file, or into a configuration panel.
Lots of erasing and rejigging is useful there, and finally you have a rough idea. Then take a pencil and paper and sketch out a rough view, and imagine yourself following the steps laid out earlier. Some adjustments are likely.
Switch back to the programmer mode, and think about how you'd code it now. Are there some impossibilities? Sometimes a minor element might take 80% of the effort, so you have to rationalize the usefulness - but don't compromise on quality if you can help it. An elegant, intuitive user interface is a beautiful think. Nothing encourages a user more than guessing where a feature might live, and finding it there exactly as expected.
Some adjustments might be possible that both preserve intent and make programming easier, but be prepared to work a bit harder to preserve the user experience.
Anyway, that's what I'm into just now - and there's a whole lot of work ahead of me.
Researchinator returns to crafting a UI plan...
Friday, November 21, 2008
Job Creation Standing By
Friday leading into a cold weekend, but thankfully the snow remains at bay for now. I hope we can carry this on into December, and maybe even get a thaw in the interim.
I received my final paperwork from the oceanographic research behemoth, and so should swing by the employment office to register for the dole. The money isn't a really important factor currently, but given that I paid into it for a decades, it's good to get something out of it occasionally, at least until I can get something else off the ground.
You'd think that a government concerned with creating jobs would help small firms get started - I mean my intention is to create 15-20 full time, permanent jobs with this thing, and no doubt generate a lot of taxes. But nope - there's no path to help out on that front.
Meanwhile I've got a writeup on my intellectual property front in for scrutiny, and hopefully it will get some support to get filed. That could form the foundation of moving everything forward, or be some means to get a little revenue from my explorations in the past, or it could go nowhere and demoralize me so that I don't much pursue this thing any longer.
Researchinator says such are the challenges of the 9th week of freedom...
I received my final paperwork from the oceanographic research behemoth, and so should swing by the employment office to register for the dole. The money isn't a really important factor currently, but given that I paid into it for a decades, it's good to get something out of it occasionally, at least until I can get something else off the ground.
You'd think that a government concerned with creating jobs would help small firms get started - I mean my intention is to create 15-20 full time, permanent jobs with this thing, and no doubt generate a lot of taxes. But nope - there's no path to help out on that front.
Meanwhile I've got a writeup on my intellectual property front in for scrutiny, and hopefully it will get some support to get filed. That could form the foundation of moving everything forward, or be some means to get a little revenue from my explorations in the past, or it could go nowhere and demoralize me so that I don't much pursue this thing any longer.
Researchinator says such are the challenges of the 9th week of freedom...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Finer Things Required
It's hardly morning, in fact it sure gets dark quick these days, and there's another month to go before we start to spin back the other way. These are the toughest days. Somehow, I think if we had a fireplace for a roaring wood fire, it would be less difficult - you gotta work the cozy thing I think to compensate. And lots of comfort food.
Hence I'm doing a long slow chicken bake today. 5 hours at 275F should about do it, with a jerk-style rubbed seasoning: Alspice, sage, soya sauce, salt,pepper and ginger. Then stuffing the cavity with star anise tarragon sage and garlic - lots of smashed garlic. Then half a can of beer in the roaster and let her rip for 5 hours or so. That should make for a decent supper and given the organic, local free-range chicken we are using up, it's pretty enviro friendly and healthy too.
Also nipped out and got a hair cut and picked up some new shoes. I've been thinking the wardrobe needs a bit of a refresh in preparation for more meetings on the project and selling the concept. I've been able to let the beard go a bit and wear the same old shirt and jeans for days at a time while coding like crazy, but I need to change gears and get ready to spend more time with the outside world.
As a bonus, the SO has her xmas party coming up shortly, so that will be good shoe-break-in time.
Now, if I could just find a decent dark brown, quality jacket. I'm very particular about suit jackets. I do not care for the conventional navy blue, black and grey options. Well, a decent charcoal might be okay. But so many men wear the same marginal stuff - and there is way to much polyester out there. Nope - give me all wool or silk, natural fibres, and a 3-button blazer... though a decent 4button would be nice too. But finding what you want can take forever. And when I saw a decent suit in Paris last year, I didn't buy it and have regretted it ever since.
Oh well, so thus the hunt goes on. The many varied challenges of the modern researcher - from how to properly slow-cook a chicken to finding a good quality suit jacket, we have so many mountains to climb.
Researchinator sips a whole leaf ceylon-darjeeling blend and ponders his wardrobe options...
Hence I'm doing a long slow chicken bake today. 5 hours at 275F should about do it, with a jerk-style rubbed seasoning: Alspice, sage, soya sauce, salt,pepper and ginger. Then stuffing the cavity with star anise tarragon sage and garlic - lots of smashed garlic. Then half a can of beer in the roaster and let her rip for 5 hours or so. That should make for a decent supper and given the organic, local free-range chicken we are using up, it's pretty enviro friendly and healthy too.
Also nipped out and got a hair cut and picked up some new shoes. I've been thinking the wardrobe needs a bit of a refresh in preparation for more meetings on the project and selling the concept. I've been able to let the beard go a bit and wear the same old shirt and jeans for days at a time while coding like crazy, but I need to change gears and get ready to spend more time with the outside world.
As a bonus, the SO has her xmas party coming up shortly, so that will be good shoe-break-in time.
Now, if I could just find a decent dark brown, quality jacket. I'm very particular about suit jackets. I do not care for the conventional navy blue, black and grey options. Well, a decent charcoal might be okay. But so many men wear the same marginal stuff - and there is way to much polyester out there. Nope - give me all wool or silk, natural fibres, and a 3-button blazer... though a decent 4button would be nice too. But finding what you want can take forever. And when I saw a decent suit in Paris last year, I didn't buy it and have regretted it ever since.
Oh well, so thus the hunt goes on. The many varied challenges of the modern researcher - from how to properly slow-cook a chicken to finding a good quality suit jacket, we have so many mountains to climb.
Researchinator sips a whole leaf ceylon-darjeeling blend and ponders his wardrobe options...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Meetings and Presentations - the Pitfalls
Skipped an entry yesterday, due to a morning meeting. It was a meeting billed as a breakfast meeting, but turned out they didn't have any breakfast. Nice. They also said it was from 9:30 to 12:00, then it turned out they were serving a lunch after the meeting at 12:00 - also great, as it looked like a decent lunch, but of course, I had planned to get back to work for noon, and have lunch at home. Left-overs in the fridge can't always wait.
I'm not sure why they insisted on misrepresenting the meeting so badly, but I wasn't impressed. The content itself was related to international trade stuff, and two of the four speakers were pretty lame. It's hard to believe there are senior people in significant roles who are unable to put up slides and talk. They actually stand there and read the full text of their presentation. Not only does it show a lack of confidence in the subject matter, but an inability to think on their feet.
So not a stellar event - a bit of networking opportunity there, and I'll follow up on that I think. And really, that's pretty much the only reason for going there.
I like the idea of breakfast meetings - I just wish that they would involve breakfast :)
Researchinator goes looking for a second cup of tea...
I'm not sure why they insisted on misrepresenting the meeting so badly, but I wasn't impressed. The content itself was related to international trade stuff, and two of the four speakers were pretty lame. It's hard to believe there are senior people in significant roles who are unable to put up slides and talk. They actually stand there and read the full text of their presentation. Not only does it show a lack of confidence in the subject matter, but an inability to think on their feet.
So not a stellar event - a bit of networking opportunity there, and I'll follow up on that I think. And really, that's pretty much the only reason for going there.
I like the idea of breakfast meetings - I just wish that they would involve breakfast :)
Researchinator goes looking for a second cup of tea...
Monday, November 17, 2008
Carving out some intellectual property
Each week loads up pretty much like the one before. A bunch of days ahead, so me huge goals that seem to never get closer, like mountains on the horizon. But once you dig into your projects and think more in terms of short-term accomplishments, it's easier to notice the changing landscape around your feet than the distant hills.
I was doing patent document stuff last Friday, and making good use of my tablet and stylus. It's quite surprising how much quicker things are when you don't need to move your mouse about. I bought a wacom Bamboo which is very thin, and about the size of an letter sized sheet of paper (the active surface a bit smaller). It works well with my 20" monitor.
Hopefully I can finish the patent document today and get it off to the legal folks for a go-over. Hopefully this will be economical. I'm used to big-corporate patent development - and this would be patent #5 for me... but it will be my first which I actually own myself, so it would be nice if it has some marketability, and some licensing potential.
The challenge with patent writing is keeping it focussed on solving a problem, and describing a well-bounded space. Not vague business plan stuff, but a series of functional elements and algorithms that comprise what can be called an invention. That is a little more difficult for an architecture than it is for a widget. But I think of patents for things like voice-mail, caller ID and IPTV and think about the structure of those. My own patents range from circuits to broad information presentation architectures for retail spaces, or failure control in routed networks. I need to keep focussed on how those came together to ensure my current system patent fits into a structure that is both valuable and defensible.
Researchinator returns to stylus and keyboard patent crafting...
I was doing patent document stuff last Friday, and making good use of my tablet and stylus. It's quite surprising how much quicker things are when you don't need to move your mouse about. I bought a wacom Bamboo which is very thin, and about the size of an letter sized sheet of paper (the active surface a bit smaller). It works well with my 20" monitor.
Hopefully I can finish the patent document today and get it off to the legal folks for a go-over. Hopefully this will be economical. I'm used to big-corporate patent development - and this would be patent #5 for me... but it will be my first which I actually own myself, so it would be nice if it has some marketability, and some licensing potential.
The challenge with patent writing is keeping it focussed on solving a problem, and describing a well-bounded space. Not vague business plan stuff, but a series of functional elements and algorithms that comprise what can be called an invention. That is a little more difficult for an architecture than it is for a widget. But I think of patents for things like voice-mail, caller ID and IPTV and think about the structure of those. My own patents range from circuits to broad information presentation architectures for retail spaces, or failure control in routed networks. I need to keep focussed on how those came together to ensure my current system patent fits into a structure that is both valuable and defensible.
Researchinator returns to stylus and keyboard patent crafting...
Friday, November 14, 2008
Calendar Fixation
Morning ritual well underway, and this mornings distraction was the inability of my calendar (iCal in 10.4) to put a default alarm on new events. Wouldn't you know it, this was enough of an annoyance that someone (mr Blum) wrote a utility that integrates very nicely to take care of that.
Interesting as well though, is reading the comments. It's a good microcosm of the development process. Feedback, the odd bug, changes, upgrades, migration path issues, copious feature requests, a new environment from Apple kind of obsoleting the software, but still lacking, so the search for a way to bridge the add-on into a new life.
It's a great case-study if someone out there is looking at the socio/cultural aspects of software development... which nobody does of course, but interesting none the less. In big companies this all happens, but with many more people, a much more complex ecosystem and big pallet loads of money involved.
Researchinator looks to clean up his calendar...
Interesting as well though, is reading the comments. It's a good microcosm of the development process. Feedback, the odd bug, changes, upgrades, migration path issues, copious feature requests, a new environment from Apple kind of obsoleting the software, but still lacking, so the search for a way to bridge the add-on into a new life.
It's a great case-study if someone out there is looking at the socio/cultural aspects of software development... which nobody does of course, but interesting none the less. In big companies this all happens, but with many more people, a much more complex ecosystem and big pallet loads of money involved.
Researchinator looks to clean up his calendar...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Catch Phrase Research Ensues
Chatting with the neighbours this morning, doing garbage day chores, looking at the looming sky with freezing-rain on its way. It's the urban living experience in a Northern clime - but I'm glad the heading to work process doesn't involve getting in a Buick and driving down a freeway. Instead, just a brief walk upstairs, and no worries about the pending ice-coating headed our way. My SO is already into the office, so should be no issues with that drive (a long one) either.
I've got a thousand other things to do, but I'm still plugging away on the technology. I guess I'm motivated to see that working smoothly as a fire beneath the pot that is the business side.
Meanwhile the worldwide recession and economic crisis (wrec) is winding up. Hey, I should go and broadly scatter that acronym to see if it catches on. There is no handy catch phrase being used yet - maybe I can be the infamous creator of an historical phrase? I came up with that as I made my morning tea, listening to the radio and realizing they didn't have a suitable moniker yet. Hmmm, sounds like a project. I still feel burned by my "span of green cables." I came up with that just after the bridge to PEI was built, and threw it around liberally in the work place and with friends. Then when I heard it on the radio a few months later it floored me. Is it possible that it could travel so widely so fast? There was no question that I came up with it on my own. I remember the thought process thinking first about joking that Anne of Green Gables could now take the bridge and get the hell off the island, 'they should call the bridge Anne's bridge of green cables I thought - then I noted the rhyme between "Anne" and "span" and the phrase came together with a laugh of discovery. I suppose others could have come up with it on their own as well, but I like to take credit for it still :)
Now if we could only get the WREC acronym started. First I should google to ensure it doesn't exist already - trying a search with quotes...
Ha! Google comes back with: No results found for "worldwide recession and economic crisis". The acronym? Only places like "Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative" and "World Renewable Energy Congress" are using it currently. Sounds ripe for the coining to me!
I can check that again later and see if it catches on.
Researchinator imagines global catch-phrase domination [evil laugh on].... [evil laugh off]
I've got a thousand other things to do, but I'm still plugging away on the technology. I guess I'm motivated to see that working smoothly as a fire beneath the pot that is the business side.
Meanwhile the worldwide recession and economic crisis (wrec) is winding up. Hey, I should go and broadly scatter that acronym to see if it catches on. There is no handy catch phrase being used yet - maybe I can be the infamous creator of an historical phrase? I came up with that as I made my morning tea, listening to the radio and realizing they didn't have a suitable moniker yet. Hmmm, sounds like a project. I still feel burned by my "span of green cables." I came up with that just after the bridge to PEI was built, and threw it around liberally in the work place and with friends. Then when I heard it on the radio a few months later it floored me. Is it possible that it could travel so widely so fast? There was no question that I came up with it on my own. I remember the thought process thinking first about joking that Anne of Green Gables could now take the bridge and get the hell off the island, 'they should call the bridge Anne's bridge of green cables I thought - then I noted the rhyme between "Anne" and "span" and the phrase came together with a laugh of discovery. I suppose others could have come up with it on their own as well, but I like to take credit for it still :)
Now if we could only get the WREC acronym started. First I should google to ensure it doesn't exist already - trying a search with quotes...
Ha! Google comes back with: No results found for "worldwide recession and economic crisis". The acronym? Only places like "Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative" and "World Renewable Energy Congress" are using it currently. Sounds ripe for the coining to me!
I can check that again later and see if it catches on.
Researchinator imagines global catch-phrase domination [evil laugh on].... [evil laugh off]
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Mediocrity to Which We Must Conform
I fear that the cold weather is on its way. There is definitely an extra chill to the air, and if some precipitation comes this way, we could be in for another bout of snow. Tomorrow is sounding like freezing rain - one of those days that it is great to be working in a home office.
Yesterday I had some good success. I was trying a new structure of content on the web-side of my project. Microsoft's terrible Internet Explorer product doesn't support the canvas entity, so I needed a different means to do the graphical things I need to do on the browser. I managed to do some javascript that creates, styles and moves graphics as per my desire. Took lots of googling and querying experts, but I think it is potentially usable now. Just need to try it out with a PC.
It's an ongoing weirdness that something so bad still has such a dominant place in the world. I guess the power of pre-installing the browser and the fact that people won't take 15seconds to find out how to install Firefox or Safari or Opera is overwhelming. So mediocrity rules. I call this the Tempo effect. A crappy car if ever there was one, but it was the best selling automobile in Canada for years, and that was used as an argument about how good it was. Meanwhile they swarmed the roads - rusty, unreliable hulks of chugging mediocrity. Such is IE, and with 80% of the users, we need to ensure they can use your product, or you are toast. Hence mediocrity is further spread into our world.
I had hopes of a get together last night for a certain software interest group meeting, but it seems to be a random occurrence. Events like that and others are good networking opportunities, and I really need to do more of those. As the technical challenges get put to bed, the organizational ones and business ones will take more precedence.
Researchinator plans the morning's tasks....
Yesterday I had some good success. I was trying a new structure of content on the web-side of my project. Microsoft's terrible Internet Explorer product doesn't support the canvas entity, so I needed a different means to do the graphical things I need to do on the browser. I managed to do some javascript that creates, styles and moves graphics as per my desire. Took lots of googling and querying experts, but I think it is potentially usable now. Just need to try it out with a PC.
It's an ongoing weirdness that something so bad still has such a dominant place in the world. I guess the power of pre-installing the browser and the fact that people won't take 15seconds to find out how to install Firefox or Safari or Opera is overwhelming. So mediocrity rules. I call this the Tempo effect. A crappy car if ever there was one, but it was the best selling automobile in Canada for years, and that was used as an argument about how good it was. Meanwhile they swarmed the roads - rusty, unreliable hulks of chugging mediocrity. Such is IE, and with 80% of the users, we need to ensure they can use your product, or you are toast. Hence mediocrity is further spread into our world.
I had hopes of a get together last night for a certain software interest group meeting, but it seems to be a random occurrence. Events like that and others are good networking opportunities, and I really need to do more of those. As the technical challenges get put to bed, the organizational ones and business ones will take more precedence.
Researchinator plans the morning's tasks....
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Pat-a-Cake Pat-a-Cake
Squeezing in too many things this morning I think. Noticed the bread is getting low so started a couple of loaves worth of 8grain stuff, which is now rising. Up to the office to get started on some coding for the day, but planning to zip back down in about 15min to move the bread into pans and then get out for a brief walk while it proofs. I hope I can make all that happen.
Also it's remembrance day, so I expect to alter my morning walk to swing by the local memorial area with a nod to those who gave it all up for what we've got.
My project moved forward somewhat yesterday. I keep expecting to spend a big chunk of the day on patent polishing, but always have another pressing thing to do. The good thing, I suppose, is that the wheels are turning and there are additional ideas in mind.
But at least I've satisfied myself (I think I have), that I should be able to make the craptacular MS IE work with my concept. We'll see for sure sometime soon.
Okay, off to further flesh that out. Hope it all comes together and I can again shift my attention from the client side back to the application side of the project, with a bit of business thrown in there for good measure.
Researchinator smells the bread a yeasting, while tapping out some magic...
Also it's remembrance day, so I expect to alter my morning walk to swing by the local memorial area with a nod to those who gave it all up for what we've got.
My project moved forward somewhat yesterday. I keep expecting to spend a big chunk of the day on patent polishing, but always have another pressing thing to do. The good thing, I suppose, is that the wheels are turning and there are additional ideas in mind.
But at least I've satisfied myself (I think I have), that I should be able to make the craptacular MS IE work with my concept. We'll see for sure sometime soon.
Okay, off to further flesh that out. Hope it all comes together and I can again shift my attention from the client side back to the application side of the project, with a bit of business thrown in there for good measure.
Researchinator smells the bread a yeasting, while tapping out some magic...
Monday, November 10, 2008
Motivated to Proceed
Watching some TV this weekend I saw a news bit where a university research group was exploring an area very close to my concept. The result is a bit of enthusiasm deflation, but I think it's passed. I had been unable to find anyone treading in my space much, but have been expecting a stumble across something soon. Sure enough, this is such a discovery.
But at closer look I see that they are focussed on single potential application of the concept which is not my primary market. I have the space charted already, and think I've got the more attractive niche. Plus I'm focussed on a full solution, rather than a component technology. Plus I can potentially acquire or license some of their stuff if it holds any promise later on. For now, they seem to be doing something very compute intensive. And if my past experience with univ researchers holds up, usually they take an approach that is overly complex when some easier path will suffice.
Anyway, a walk out in the cool sunny morning and an few hours of hacking done, I'm still moving forward, slaving in obscurity towards a goal. If nothing else, I'm keeping my skills up and will learn some stuff along the path to my next adventure. After all, it is the journey not the destination - to haul out an old cliché.
My focus right now is trying to find an alternative means of doing some web-based stuff given that Microsoft, whenever they get involved in an area, generally screws up everything. It's quite interesting how they are so good at wreaking havoc on all things they touch. Anyway, as all web-developer types know - there are ways to do things, then other things you have to do to make them work on IE. Such is my challenge now, since, though I have proved my concept works, I know have to find a means to make it work with an IE front end involved. No doubt lots of bailing wire and chewing gum.
Well, I'm on a cliché roll today, so I'll stop there for now.
Researchinator pulls out the Rube-Goldberg toolbox.
But at closer look I see that they are focussed on single potential application of the concept which is not my primary market. I have the space charted already, and think I've got the more attractive niche. Plus I'm focussed on a full solution, rather than a component technology. Plus I can potentially acquire or license some of their stuff if it holds any promise later on. For now, they seem to be doing something very compute intensive. And if my past experience with univ researchers holds up, usually they take an approach that is overly complex when some easier path will suffice.
Anyway, a walk out in the cool sunny morning and an few hours of hacking done, I'm still moving forward, slaving in obscurity towards a goal. If nothing else, I'm keeping my skills up and will learn some stuff along the path to my next adventure. After all, it is the journey not the destination - to haul out an old cliché.
My focus right now is trying to find an alternative means of doing some web-based stuff given that Microsoft, whenever they get involved in an area, generally screws up everything. It's quite interesting how they are so good at wreaking havoc on all things they touch. Anyway, as all web-developer types know - there are ways to do things, then other things you have to do to make them work on IE. Such is my challenge now, since, though I have proved my concept works, I know have to find a means to make it work with an IE front end involved. No doubt lots of bailing wire and chewing gum.
Well, I'm on a cliché roll today, so I'll stop there for now.
Researchinator pulls out the Rube-Goldberg toolbox.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Snipping Wires
Foggy again today. Yesterday was a tough slog - I'm glad I got out for a walk in the morning. I'll do so again shortly. Made some good process on my software, but also had to change my approach in one application for the second time. I preserved most of the code, but re-arranged it in a big way.
It's kind of like opening a hole in the ground where there are hundreds of wires going through. You want to connect them differently, but once you get started, it's pretty tough to do a one at a time cut and splice. Each time you cut a wire four others are getting disconnected as well. Pretty soon you have dozens of cut wires and you need to keep in your mind that the blue one's going to connect with the green one, the striped one will get ripped out, you'll run a new yellow one. Oh, and each wire needs to have a connector wired into it to connect it into its new partner.
So with all this stuff in your mind trying to not to forget it, soon the end of the day is creeping nearer, and you really don't want to try and leave it half completed overnight. The odds of remembering anything the next day seem slim.
I got most of the connections made, and today I just have to test all the connections and see if the desired result is the outcome. So far, just tidying it up, and its not working yet, but I talked it through out loud as I was feeding the noisy cats at about 5:30 yesterday aft, and I think it makes sense. We'll see in the next couple of hours.
This is the hairy edge of research, where a vision of a capability is tried with a few different approaches, and you always seem just on the verge of the breakthrough that makes it all work. Fingers crossed.
Researchinator seeks to preload brain before going for a walk&think...
It's kind of like opening a hole in the ground where there are hundreds of wires going through. You want to connect them differently, but once you get started, it's pretty tough to do a one at a time cut and splice. Each time you cut a wire four others are getting disconnected as well. Pretty soon you have dozens of cut wires and you need to keep in your mind that the blue one's going to connect with the green one, the striped one will get ripped out, you'll run a new yellow one. Oh, and each wire needs to have a connector wired into it to connect it into its new partner.
So with all this stuff in your mind trying to not to forget it, soon the end of the day is creeping nearer, and you really don't want to try and leave it half completed overnight. The odds of remembering anything the next day seem slim.
I got most of the connections made, and today I just have to test all the connections and see if the desired result is the outcome. So far, just tidying it up, and its not working yet, but I talked it through out loud as I was feeding the noisy cats at about 5:30 yesterday aft, and I think it makes sense. We'll see in the next couple of hours.
This is the hairy edge of research, where a vision of a capability is tried with a few different approaches, and you always seem just on the verge of the breakthrough that makes it all work. Fingers crossed.
Researchinator seeks to preload brain before going for a walk&think...
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Type and Trail
Well, some additional success yesterday, making some substantial changes and they were working out okay. I'm not sure whether to be positive and expect that to continue today, or pessimistic and expect a major issue to arise. My expect the worst, hope for the best typical demeanour suggests the latter tack.
Stepping on the scales this morning, I noted that I've hit a new high weight! That coupled with more aches and pains from simple weekend chores means I've got to put some effort into staying active. I've been lamenting my serious drop off in daily steps since moving to an office a few metres from bed. My stepcounter,which my SO and I have worn for the past few years, has been down in the 2500-3500 range for a few weeks, with a few forays into the 10k range when I can do something in spite of weekend weather.
Trying to find a good timing for getting walks is hard. Walking for lunch in the neighbourhood worked a bit, but even then, only gets me into the 5k range that a sedentary work-day used to give me. I'd like to keep my days over 8k, with a couple of 10k days where possible. I'm already eating well, so a diet change isn't a big priority. I suppose a smaller volume would be good, as the energy output below the neck has been pretty low.
Maybe one of those exercise ball seats would be a good start - though I don't know if my bad back would appreciate it.
Well, out for a walk then - my theory is that rather than start my day with a walk, I'd do a little work first. This avoids an issue I found before. You'd get out and start thinking about what stuff you'd need to do today, then cut the walk short 'cause you were eager to get to the strategy developed in the first 10min of walking. Plus, if you do a bit of work, your thinking should be more focussed on the details of what you are going to do, problems you may immediately be facing and such. That should make for a more productive return to the desk.
So I'm going to shoot for 20min of walking, following the first 30min of work.
Researchinator laces up his trainers...
Stepping on the scales this morning, I noted that I've hit a new high weight! That coupled with more aches and pains from simple weekend chores means I've got to put some effort into staying active. I've been lamenting my serious drop off in daily steps since moving to an office a few metres from bed. My stepcounter,which my SO and I have worn for the past few years, has been down in the 2500-3500 range for a few weeks, with a few forays into the 10k range when I can do something in spite of weekend weather.
Trying to find a good timing for getting walks is hard. Walking for lunch in the neighbourhood worked a bit, but even then, only gets me into the 5k range that a sedentary work-day used to give me. I'd like to keep my days over 8k, with a couple of 10k days where possible. I'm already eating well, so a diet change isn't a big priority. I suppose a smaller volume would be good, as the energy output below the neck has been pretty low.
Maybe one of those exercise ball seats would be a good start - though I don't know if my bad back would appreciate it.
Well, out for a walk then - my theory is that rather than start my day with a walk, I'd do a little work first. This avoids an issue I found before. You'd get out and start thinking about what stuff you'd need to do today, then cut the walk short 'cause you were eager to get to the strategy developed in the first 10min of walking. Plus, if you do a bit of work, your thinking should be more focussed on the details of what you are going to do, problems you may immediately be facing and such. That should make for a more productive return to the desk.
So I'm going to shoot for 20min of walking, following the first 30min of work.
Researchinator laces up his trainers...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Yes They Did
Well radio this morning was a bit repetitive. Last night I began to doze off just before the big acceptance speech, but I did hear the gracious concession speech, with that chilling threat about not having seen the last of the Palin chick and her biker dude husband looking husband.
The Obama speech, having heard it this morning must not have lent itself well to sound bytes, as the ones I heard are fairly lackadaisical. Predictably filled with 'yes they can's', but never the less, it's still inspiring and positive. Now comes the tough part, but hopefully they will make good use of these next few months to figure out how to pull this off. Their country is pretty well screwed financially, morally etc, and 50% of the people still have that huge deficit of being able to look at a couple of weeks worth of Sarah Palin and still think to themselves - "yup that would be a good thing for our country - that's the most capable person to fill that role." That's a huge issue for them. When you've got half of your people with that kind of a judgement impairment, you have to wonder how well they will do with other decisions.
But it's quite inspiring to see them having made a positive choice, and ready to try and move in a positive direction. Not sure what it will mean for their neighbours to the north, or for the global financial markets, but I guess I'll find out about the latter at least in the next couple of minutes.
Meanwhile, I've got work to do for my own project. Yes I can!
The Obama speech, having heard it this morning must not have lent itself well to sound bytes, as the ones I heard are fairly lackadaisical. Predictably filled with 'yes they can's', but never the less, it's still inspiring and positive. Now comes the tough part, but hopefully they will make good use of these next few months to figure out how to pull this off. Their country is pretty well screwed financially, morally etc, and 50% of the people still have that huge deficit of being able to look at a couple of weeks worth of Sarah Palin and still think to themselves - "yup that would be a good thing for our country - that's the most capable person to fill that role." That's a huge issue for them. When you've got half of your people with that kind of a judgement impairment, you have to wonder how well they will do with other decisions.
But it's quite inspiring to see them having made a positive choice, and ready to try and move in a positive direction. Not sure what it will mean for their neighbours to the north, or for the global financial markets, but I guess I'll find out about the latter at least in the next couple of minutes.
Meanwhile, I've got work to do for my own project. Yes I can!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
A Very Ordinary Day
I reached my first major milestone yesterday, able to do an end-to-end system walk through on my concept. There's much that remains to be done, but having that path through is an accomplishment. Today I hope to make it cleaner, and enhance the experience somewhat, and plan the path forward.
But there's something much bigger going on today. Something that has a lot of attention and will change things from how they've been to how they will be. Yes, that's right, I'm speaking of the change I need. The change from my summer tires to my winter ones.
Oh yeah, there's also that crazy spectacle to the south. It's a battle where on one side, people think that it's best to have 'someone like me' running their country, though they would readily admit that they have no skills or knowledge to run their country. 'I'm a plumber, a soldier, or a housewife or a hockey mom, and I'm so happy to see someone like me running for office.'
On the other side people are excited to a frenzy because they have someone who can form a complete sentence, and whose skin is a different colour. 'Yay,' they exclaim 'I think we can actually do this. It's 2008, so we can almost, just maybe, allow another human with a different skin pigmentation to be considered for a leadership role.' Pretty crazy stuff, but very entertaining when you don't have to live there and have day-to-day decisions made by these folk.
Oh yeah, then there's the other element of the challenge today. Big teams of legal experts will work to try to stop people from the other camp from disenfranchising many voters in areas based on their perceived preferences. Also, big teams of party workers have been working on schemes to jam phone lines of the democratic party, to send notices telling voters that if it rains, they vote next week, to tell them they can get a discount and vote or register for only $49. Others have been working at purging names from voters lists in a hope that they can reduce the numbers in certain areas. 'If we can just stop or destroy or disallow enough voters in certain areas, we can win this thing, and our freedom and liberty will be safe!'
All this from the self-professed bastion of democracy. Then those who do get through to vote, face a sheet the size of a billboard, and crazy, wonky apparatus that is different in every county. The ballot has confusing voting schemes like completing a line with a break in it, or punching a hole with a sharp pin. Of course, the idea of putting an 'X' in a box is unworkable. How people with little or no education, the most marginalized in their country can figure out the process is beyond me.
Security precautions are in place, to avoid violence at polling sites - much like Zimbabwe, or Haiti for example. The leading candidate will be protected by bullet proof glass when he speaks. The other one will do it over a CCTV link rather than face humans.
Where is the UN in all of this? If ever there was a country that needed UN observers during an election, this is surely one.
Oh yeah - freedom. That's the other claim to fame. Freedom of religious perspective, of thought, of assembly, of speech. Yet they can speak with derision to dismiss half your nation as 'liberal' - what a dirty word that is; what unacceptable thoughts they have! People who espouse ideas based on political principals considered 'liberal' seem as though they truly could be rounded up for special 'camps' if some of their leaders and pundits who speak with such hatred had their way. How is that one word label to categorize and reject a group of people any different than a racial word?
Oh and those that consider using tax money to guarantee health care to everyone, social programs for the poor, and structure that stops banks from failing - those ones are socialists. We can similarly indicate our hatred for those thoughts with a single word.
And someone who doesn't put a flag on their house, or lapel, well, we'll force them to put one on. 'If they don't want to embrace our freedoms, we'll make them. That's how free we are here.'
I hope their election goes well, and hope that more than the usual 30% show up to get all free and democratic on us. It will certainly be great TV entertainment with drama, craziness and shenanigans. Once it's all wrapped up they can get back to spreading freedom and democracy to the third world. Maybe they'll be ready to adopt a bit of it themselves...
My one day of political ranting. I sure hope that stuff doesn't get across the border and erode our society like it has theirs.
Researchinator returns to apolitical software development...
But there's something much bigger going on today. Something that has a lot of attention and will change things from how they've been to how they will be. Yes, that's right, I'm speaking of the change I need. The change from my summer tires to my winter ones.
Oh yeah, there's also that crazy spectacle to the south. It's a battle where on one side, people think that it's best to have 'someone like me' running their country, though they would readily admit that they have no skills or knowledge to run their country. 'I'm a plumber, a soldier, or a housewife or a hockey mom, and I'm so happy to see someone like me running for office.'
On the other side people are excited to a frenzy because they have someone who can form a complete sentence, and whose skin is a different colour. 'Yay,' they exclaim 'I think we can actually do this. It's 2008, so we can almost, just maybe, allow another human with a different skin pigmentation to be considered for a leadership role.' Pretty crazy stuff, but very entertaining when you don't have to live there and have day-to-day decisions made by these folk.
Oh yeah, then there's the other element of the challenge today. Big teams of legal experts will work to try to stop people from the other camp from disenfranchising many voters in areas based on their perceived preferences. Also, big teams of party workers have been working on schemes to jam phone lines of the democratic party, to send notices telling voters that if it rains, they vote next week, to tell them they can get a discount and vote or register for only $49. Others have been working at purging names from voters lists in a hope that they can reduce the numbers in certain areas. 'If we can just stop or destroy or disallow enough voters in certain areas, we can win this thing, and our freedom and liberty will be safe!'
All this from the self-professed bastion of democracy. Then those who do get through to vote, face a sheet the size of a billboard, and crazy, wonky apparatus that is different in every county. The ballot has confusing voting schemes like completing a line with a break in it, or punching a hole with a sharp pin. Of course, the idea of putting an 'X' in a box is unworkable. How people with little or no education, the most marginalized in their country can figure out the process is beyond me.
Security precautions are in place, to avoid violence at polling sites - much like Zimbabwe, or Haiti for example. The leading candidate will be protected by bullet proof glass when he speaks. The other one will do it over a CCTV link rather than face humans.
Where is the UN in all of this? If ever there was a country that needed UN observers during an election, this is surely one.
Oh yeah - freedom. That's the other claim to fame. Freedom of religious perspective, of thought, of assembly, of speech. Yet they can speak with derision to dismiss half your nation as 'liberal' - what a dirty word that is; what unacceptable thoughts they have! People who espouse ideas based on political principals considered 'liberal' seem as though they truly could be rounded up for special 'camps' if some of their leaders and pundits who speak with such hatred had their way. How is that one word label to categorize and reject a group of people any different than a racial word?
Oh and those that consider using tax money to guarantee health care to everyone, social programs for the poor, and structure that stops banks from failing - those ones are socialists. We can similarly indicate our hatred for those thoughts with a single word.
And someone who doesn't put a flag on their house, or lapel, well, we'll force them to put one on. 'If they don't want to embrace our freedoms, we'll make them. That's how free we are here.'
I hope their election goes well, and hope that more than the usual 30% show up to get all free and democratic on us. It will certainly be great TV entertainment with drama, craziness and shenanigans. Once it's all wrapped up they can get back to spreading freedom and democracy to the third world. Maybe they'll be ready to adopt a bit of it themselves...
My one day of political ranting. I sure hope that stuff doesn't get across the border and erode our society like it has theirs.
Researchinator returns to apolitical software development...
Monday, November 3, 2008
Thinking Connections and Progress
A freezing rain warning morning - it's a start to your day like this that makes work from home a positive thing. Meanwhile, I adjust my position in my seat due to a sore back, exacerbated by the lack of exercise I get with not having to walk around much to get to work. After today's rain, some good weather, so I can really step up my getting out for a walk I think.
I've lost track of a few contacts recently, so I made the effort over the weekend to pull out an old Outlook Mail pst file and try to get it incorporated into my Mac environment. The procedure that seems to hold promise, according to some googling, is to use Thunderbird on a PC to import the outlook messages, then get them onto the mac in that format. I've done half of that, but we'll see if I can push it the rest of the way through to see the results. That will revive some connections.
A big goal in these last two months is to dig deep into my previous contacts and try and get some semblance of a team together. I'm nearing the point where I can sit down with someone and walk them thru the vision that lies behind my venture. Meanwhile I see local tech media talking about the total lack of venture funding in the area.
That's not totally a bad thing - in that I was hoping to avoid the VC for this project. I think my current concept lends itself much better to angels, or novice angels in a field that produces wealthy people who may be low on other skills (ie sports) and also lends itself well to strategic funding, ie investments from firms who have a vested interest in my target market.
VC's are a strange lot. Following the bubble of the 2000 era, they have a bizzare approach of investing only in 'ventures' that have customers and revenue already. My perception is that if a company is in that situation, and needs VC funding, they probably lack the ability to make a go of it anyway. If they have a compelling business proposition, I'd think a frugal, innovative team could make a go of it as soon as they some people to put in a bit of effort. So there they are, looking for risk-free companies who don't need money to show up and ask for money. Meanwhile, nascent companies that need initial bootstrapping have no avenue to get off the ground.
Oh well, I'm still optimistic that 'our' concept will fly without those risk-averse, idea-less 'captains of industry'.
Researchinator contemplates who knows who...
I've lost track of a few contacts recently, so I made the effort over the weekend to pull out an old Outlook Mail pst file and try to get it incorporated into my Mac environment. The procedure that seems to hold promise, according to some googling, is to use Thunderbird on a PC to import the outlook messages, then get them onto the mac in that format. I've done half of that, but we'll see if I can push it the rest of the way through to see the results. That will revive some connections.
A big goal in these last two months is to dig deep into my previous contacts and try and get some semblance of a team together. I'm nearing the point where I can sit down with someone and walk them thru the vision that lies behind my venture. Meanwhile I see local tech media talking about the total lack of venture funding in the area.
That's not totally a bad thing - in that I was hoping to avoid the VC for this project. I think my current concept lends itself much better to angels, or novice angels in a field that produces wealthy people who may be low on other skills (ie sports) and also lends itself well to strategic funding, ie investments from firms who have a vested interest in my target market.
VC's are a strange lot. Following the bubble of the 2000 era, they have a bizzare approach of investing only in 'ventures' that have customers and revenue already. My perception is that if a company is in that situation, and needs VC funding, they probably lack the ability to make a go of it anyway. If they have a compelling business proposition, I'd think a frugal, innovative team could make a go of it as soon as they some people to put in a bit of effort. So there they are, looking for risk-free companies who don't need money to show up and ask for money. Meanwhile, nascent companies that need initial bootstrapping have no avenue to get off the ground.
Oh well, I'm still optimistic that 'our' concept will fly without those risk-averse, idea-less 'captains of industry'.
Researchinator contemplates who knows who...
Friday, October 31, 2008
All Hallowed Development
So lets talk about goals. Okay, this is not so much a conversation as a monologue. My recent goal on my 'project' was to achieve an end-to-end walk through of my system by last Friday. I'm one week past my goal, but in truth, it was a goal set about 3 weeks ago when it seemed possible. I'm pretty close, may even get there today. Pumpkin shopping might get in the way though. Yesterday I had to bail early to go buy some Halloween candy too.
A quick review. My architecture involves three pieces: an application, a server-side framework, and a client-side AJAX software element in a browser. So for the non-technical folk, let's say a program that does stuff, like MSWord or Excel, some technical program stuff that makes a website work in a certain way, and a browser-loaded web-page that does a bunch of stuff from within your computer as my ultimate target user.
This is the end-to-end piece - the idea of running that application, generating stuff that the website provides to people who are using a browser and doing so in a smooth way so that it can be done thousands of times a day.
But I'm getting close. Spates of trick-and/or-treating, poetry outbursts, musical interludes and a pair of cats that need to spend time on my desktop notwithstanding, I should get there soon. I'd really like that to be today! So let's get to it.
A quick review. My architecture involves three pieces: an application, a server-side framework, and a client-side AJAX software element in a browser. So for the non-technical folk, let's say a program that does stuff, like MSWord or Excel, some technical program stuff that makes a website work in a certain way, and a browser-loaded web-page that does a bunch of stuff from within your computer as my ultimate target user.
This is the end-to-end piece - the idea of running that application, generating stuff that the website provides to people who are using a browser and doing so in a smooth way so that it can be done thousands of times a day.
But I'm getting close. Spates of trick-and/or-treating, poetry outbursts, musical interludes and a pair of cats that need to spend time on my desktop notwithstanding, I should get there soon. I'd really like that to be today! So let's get to it.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Weather Observance
Sun is streaming in through the window which yesterday
Was caked in snow blown horizontal in vigorous winds.
A crusty drifting shroud stretches taught across lawns and shrubs
Which the day before called like sirens to gardeners
To provide one final trim, one more going-over
Before the calendars cogs switched from colours and damp
To powder and wind.
But the hurdling
Cold iron
Train
On jetstream rails
Came down upon us
And bore tanks of moisture from the south
To the steely grey frozen air from the arctic.
And as yesterday's yesterday sun sank below the west's suburban sprawl
A crystalline blanket of deathly white
Was woven, and sewn, and laid at our feet
To a morning of somber grey, dripping, barbed wind
Though the worn brass and ivory, bolts and cogs of the calendar
Told us only crunching leaves, and gilded sunbeams, and scarlet kerchiefs
Should greet us in the fresh, sweater and cap mornings
Still, rails - though spiked to creosote timbers - always go somewhere else
And they took our rumbling tempest off to the west
Where the conspiratorial sun had set two nights ago
And where todays golden friend will wend its way soon
After it again finds the scarlet, the green, and the gold
From under the dissolving spun-sugar shrowd
Was caked in snow blown horizontal in vigorous winds.
A crusty drifting shroud stretches taught across lawns and shrubs
Which the day before called like sirens to gardeners
To provide one final trim, one more going-over
Before the calendars cogs switched from colours and damp
To powder and wind.
But the hurdling
Cold iron
Train
On jetstream rails
Came down upon us
And bore tanks of moisture from the south
To the steely grey frozen air from the arctic.
And as yesterday's yesterday sun sank below the west's suburban sprawl
A crystalline blanket of deathly white
Was woven, and sewn, and laid at our feet
To a morning of somber grey, dripping, barbed wind
Though the worn brass and ivory, bolts and cogs of the calendar
Told us only crunching leaves, and gilded sunbeams, and scarlet kerchiefs
Should greet us in the fresh, sweater and cap mornings
Still, rails - though spiked to creosote timbers - always go somewhere else
And they took our rumbling tempest off to the west
Where the conspiratorial sun had set two nights ago
And where todays golden friend will wend its way soon
After it again finds the scarlet, the green, and the gold
From under the dissolving spun-sugar shrowd
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Grey Here Too
I was pretty productive yesterday, even thought I didn't move the big boulder much further forward. I got to know the boulder quite well, and figure out a few good hand-holds, so that's something.
This morning has not been so good so far from a productivity point of view. Perhaps it was the forecast that took the wind out of my sails so far, but I am planning to really push forward today. But looming over the horizon is the first snow of the season - sure it will disappear in a day or so, as temperatures are still pretty good, but just the symbolism of it is tough.
So the morning started out with a quick look through email, a reply to a friend and then as I stared at my work, my brain was playing Louden Wainwright's "Grey in LA" in my head, so I needed to hear it through my ears. That achieved, I then needed to check the name of the chick mentioned in the middle - Laurie David - an Environmentalist I hadn't heard of before, probably big in LA. (I thought I had heard Maury David! Ha!) In verifying the lyrics I ended up at a site with a hilarious rendition of the song. Kudos to the guy for giving it a whirl!
It's funny, in the first few seconds, I thought "man, that piano sounds choppier than I remember it." Then the singing started and I realized it was an amateur cover. He starts out in a key that his voice isn't going to be able to handle, and gets himself deeper into the hole as the song goes along. Quite entertaining to listen knowing there are some real good Wainwright runs in there from "you won't be surprised" down to "your wet dog".
Then, I thought, hey lets find the chords and play it myself. Then I recorded it for playback fun (never to be shared with other souls, however). But that seems to have satisfied my interest in being distracted. So I'm about to jump back into real work... though I do need to go outside and drain the rain barrel which we've forgotten, and I'm afraid will freeze sometime soon, especially if packed in snow.
Sigh. The challenges of working in a home office :)
This morning has not been so good so far from a productivity point of view. Perhaps it was the forecast that took the wind out of my sails so far, but I am planning to really push forward today. But looming over the horizon is the first snow of the season - sure it will disappear in a day or so, as temperatures are still pretty good, but just the symbolism of it is tough.
So the morning started out with a quick look through email, a reply to a friend and then as I stared at my work, my brain was playing Louden Wainwright's "Grey in LA" in my head, so I needed to hear it through my ears. That achieved, I then needed to check the name of the chick mentioned in the middle - Laurie David - an Environmentalist I hadn't heard of before, probably big in LA. (I thought I had heard Maury David! Ha!) In verifying the lyrics I ended up at a site with a hilarious rendition of the song. Kudos to the guy for giving it a whirl!
It's funny, in the first few seconds, I thought "man, that piano sounds choppier than I remember it." Then the singing started and I realized it was an amateur cover. He starts out in a key that his voice isn't going to be able to handle, and gets himself deeper into the hole as the song goes along. Quite entertaining to listen knowing there are some real good Wainwright runs in there from "you won't be surprised" down to "your wet dog".
Then, I thought, hey lets find the chords and play it myself. Then I recorded it for playback fun (never to be shared with other souls, however). But that seems to have satisfied my interest in being distracted. So I'm about to jump back into real work... though I do need to go outside and drain the rain barrel which we've forgotten, and I'm afraid will freeze sometime soon, especially if packed in snow.
Sigh. The challenges of working in a home office :)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Crashes and Trying to Ignore the Shrapnel
The Stock Market ride is nuts - today it's started down, but there was expectation that it was going to drop off a cliff - as if the 40% drop in my portfolio wasn't cliffy enough. Anyway, it's down, but not as bad as expected. But the days not over yet.
The media loves this shit -they are just hyping the crap out of the negatives. Don't any of those monkeys have savings an RSP (IRA) or other retirement savings? Whose writing the copy and planning the news cycle for those outlets. They seem oblivious to what they are doing. It's a subtle thing, in choosing adjectives and focus for a story. If the markets are down sharply, and there are a mix of new indicators - they will instead call it a bloodbath, show pics of horrified looking traders, and focus on the most negative numbers. Why not temper the language, highlight that there are some good numbers (e.g. home sales weren't as bad as expected today) and move on.
I think a good 50% of any financial crisis is driven by confidence and hype issues.
Meanwhile, I'm a long way from worrying about stuff like that. So I'll keep plugging away on my project. I'd hoped to do an end-to-end trial today. Using my application for creating situational data, delivering the data to my server, and making the data available and delivering it to a browser. Right now I'm doing some substantial code cleanups for a good archive, and will see where I get today.
I should also be a good little developer and update my documentation to make absorbing real developers later a much easier process.
Researchinator ignores phone ringing with 1-866 numbers (soliciting and robots no doubt) and turns back to getting somewhere today...
The media loves this shit -they are just hyping the crap out of the negatives. Don't any of those monkeys have savings an RSP (IRA) or other retirement savings? Whose writing the copy and planning the news cycle for those outlets. They seem oblivious to what they are doing. It's a subtle thing, in choosing adjectives and focus for a story. If the markets are down sharply, and there are a mix of new indicators - they will instead call it a bloodbath, show pics of horrified looking traders, and focus on the most negative numbers. Why not temper the language, highlight that there are some good numbers (e.g. home sales weren't as bad as expected today) and move on.
I think a good 50% of any financial crisis is driven by confidence and hype issues.
Meanwhile, I'm a long way from worrying about stuff like that. So I'll keep plugging away on my project. I'd hoped to do an end-to-end trial today. Using my application for creating situational data, delivering the data to my server, and making the data available and delivering it to a browser. Right now I'm doing some substantial code cleanups for a good archive, and will see where I get today.
I should also be a good little developer and update my documentation to make absorbing real developers later a much easier process.
Researchinator ignores phone ringing with 1-866 numbers (soliciting and robots no doubt) and turns back to getting somewhere today...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Dove Rescue
Started off the morning with rescuing a dove trapped in netting above our pond. The netting keeps the leaves off, but since the leaves have dropped the pond is more attractive to birds who didn't know it was there before. I think I'll keep it on to ensure that fish-eating birds don't get a crack at them. I assume doves don't eat fish, but I did notice that no fish were around to see. Hopefully they are just hiding at the bottom due to the commotion.
So, I guess I can say it was a productive day so far, given my rescue this morning. If only that made my start-up project any more marketable!
Researchinator looks around the office for additional wildlife in trouble...
So, I guess I can say it was a productive day so far, given my rescue this morning. If only that made my start-up project any more marketable!
Researchinator looks around the office for additional wildlife in trouble...
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Old Green
Waning cold symptoms means a return to some level of productivity. I suppose yesterday wasn't too bad, as I did get a few things done. Progress on the software front and even outside briefly for a short walk to a store.
I was reading a bit of web content about some people's routine when they have to persevere to bang out some serious code. One fella doing mobile apps advocated an early rise, a run, some meditation, and power through code with lunch thrown in. The notable thing is that he had it very structured - which I think is a key element.
Part of my structure is to get a good breakfast and cup of tea to start the day. Try to remember to get on here for some free-form blog-thinking, and each morning involves reading a few pages of something totally un-work-related. That has been Chekhov plays for a while now. I just finished Uncle Vania, which was interesting.
Uncle Vania follows the structure of many of Chekhov's plays: a mix of classes, destitute poor and insanely bored wealthy. The wealthy are usually functionally poor - or at least they think they are. Pretty much each play ends with someone killing themselves. In UV, Vania takes a pot-shot at his brother in law, but doesn't manage to do him in.
They purge their lives of the ivory-tower professor and his luscious wife who is like siren attracting productive men to their complacent doom. But most interesting for me is the character of the doctor who is in this complacency zone, but still has some long speeches of a very modern environmental nature. Now, the destruction of the landscape happens to parallel the destruction of their productivity at the hands of the luscious Yeliena, who doesn't reciprocate anyone's interest, but still sucks them into her vortex.
The enviro speeches though are quite great, a real testament to how the 'green' perspective is nothing new. In 1890's Russia, there were people who could see the impact of industrialization and creeping farmland into the wilderness and express concern about it. Interesting stuff. Someone should co-opt that speech for a modern event and point out how long it has been an issue.
Anyway...
Researchinator is off to read a couple of pages of the next Chekhov play 'Three Sisters'.
I was reading a bit of web content about some people's routine when they have to persevere to bang out some serious code. One fella doing mobile apps advocated an early rise, a run, some meditation, and power through code with lunch thrown in. The notable thing is that he had it very structured - which I think is a key element.
Part of my structure is to get a good breakfast and cup of tea to start the day. Try to remember to get on here for some free-form blog-thinking, and each morning involves reading a few pages of something totally un-work-related. That has been Chekhov plays for a while now. I just finished Uncle Vania, which was interesting.
Uncle Vania follows the structure of many of Chekhov's plays: a mix of classes, destitute poor and insanely bored wealthy. The wealthy are usually functionally poor - or at least they think they are. Pretty much each play ends with someone killing themselves. In UV, Vania takes a pot-shot at his brother in law, but doesn't manage to do him in.
They purge their lives of the ivory-tower professor and his luscious wife who is like siren attracting productive men to their complacent doom. But most interesting for me is the character of the doctor who is in this complacency zone, but still has some long speeches of a very modern environmental nature. Now, the destruction of the landscape happens to parallel the destruction of their productivity at the hands of the luscious Yeliena, who doesn't reciprocate anyone's interest, but still sucks them into her vortex.
The enviro speeches though are quite great, a real testament to how the 'green' perspective is nothing new. In 1890's Russia, there were people who could see the impact of industrialization and creeping farmland into the wilderness and express concern about it. Interesting stuff. Someone should co-opt that speech for a modern event and point out how long it has been an issue.
Anyway...
Researchinator is off to read a couple of pages of the next Chekhov play 'Three Sisters'.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mid-Cold Progress
It was a short day on the R&D front yesterday! Some progress on drafting my patent document was good, but that was about all I could muster as my cold rose to a crescendo; the rhino-virus stomped all over my plans for lots of accomplishments this week. So, on one hand I'm happy that I managed to accomplish something, but on the other it's so much less than I thought. My goal for an end-to-end demo is diminished somewhat.
On a less studious front, I'm also disappointed as I recall my last late winter cold that seemed to persevere for many weeks. I was really hoping for some more late-season camping. Don't particularly want to brave the cold with a cold and make it worse.
Well let's see what I can accomplish today...
Researchinator drains the dregs of tea and turns attention to work...
On a less studious front, I'm also disappointed as I recall my last late winter cold that seemed to persevere for many weeks. I was really hoping for some more late-season camping. Don't particularly want to brave the cold with a cold and make it worse.
Well let's see what I can accomplish today...
Researchinator drains the dregs of tea and turns attention to work...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Drip, Drip, Drip...
The monday morning slog - compounded by a cold and a poor night's sleep. On one hand you would assume working from a home office with limited human contact would be a good thing in terms of avoiding the perils of rampant viruses. However, my SO continues to fraternize with employed, mobile people and can thus transport such infectious agents to our abode. I must go ahead with the bubble I had planned and separate my living space with three layers of polyethylene film and a separate air supply! Only then will my precious bodily fluids be sacrosanct.
Okay, perhaps this focused project development is wearing on me a bit.
I actually have high hopes for this weeks progress. Can I pull it all together and achieve the first end-to-end demonstration of capability this week? It seems like it should be do-able.
In parallel, I'd love to get a first draft patent, and a first complete summary presentation in place. Other wanna-do's are a pro-forma financial statement, a first cut valuation, and a draft business plan doc.
Okay - sounds like a bit much for the week. But during this past weekend I was successful in accomplishing all my weekend chore goals, so who knows maybe I can keep up the achievement track record. But oh, this cold!
Well, best refill the tea-cup and push valiantly ahead in spite of it all.
Researchinator tries to keep a stiff upper lip, in spite of the drippy nose directly above it...
Okay, perhaps this focused project development is wearing on me a bit.
I actually have high hopes for this weeks progress. Can I pull it all together and achieve the first end-to-end demonstration of capability this week? It seems like it should be do-able.
In parallel, I'd love to get a first draft patent, and a first complete summary presentation in place. Other wanna-do's are a pro-forma financial statement, a first cut valuation, and a draft business plan doc.
Okay - sounds like a bit much for the week. But during this past weekend I was successful in accomplishing all my weekend chore goals, so who knows maybe I can keep up the achievement track record. But oh, this cold!
Well, best refill the tea-cup and push valiantly ahead in spite of it all.
Researchinator tries to keep a stiff upper lip, in spite of the drippy nose directly above it...
Friday, October 17, 2008
Casual Day
Yay, it's casual day around the office. Don't have to wear that dang tuxedo to work like I normally do. The cats are happy too, they're going around in their casual fur.
Not too productive today so far. Posted some questions on a discussion board to solve a couple of my minor programming issues.
Need to persevere to get something substantial done before lunch, which is about 4 minutes away, technically. Oh well, late lunch today, then perhaps I can get out and put some steps on my legs so that it's not a day of sitting in a chair. Such are the hazards of working from a home office.
Researchinator needs some serious cardio...
Not too productive today so far. Posted some questions on a discussion board to solve a couple of my minor programming issues.
Need to persevere to get something substantial done before lunch, which is about 4 minutes away, technically. Oh well, late lunch today, then perhaps I can get out and put some steps on my legs so that it's not a day of sitting in a chair. Such are the hazards of working from a home office.
Researchinator needs some serious cardio...
Thursday, October 16, 2008
People and Places - Crucial Start-Up Decisions
During the stealthy ramp up period, an entrepreneur needs to make a many important decisions. Having been through it before, I have a bit of an insight into how to go about it, but there are no easy answers in this game.
Two of the questions that I want to touch upon briefly are a) when to start growing the team and b) when to to move into corporate digs.
On the first question, and important truth is that having the strongest people possible is always a key goal. If you read the 'Good to Great' exploration of this area, the premise there is that it is the be-all, end-all of corporate success. I'm not sure I agree with that, as I've seen successful organizations where there were some sub-optimal people in some non-critical roles. They would meet the needs of the position, though one could imagine someone more optimal excelling beyond the strict needs of the situation. A much worse situation would have been to have such roles unfilled while waiting for an optimal candidate, resulting in other people being dragged down by the missing skill-set.
In a start-up situation, the needs are all multiplied three fold. When you are doubling your staff on a monthly basis, every position is critical. By the same token, there is both a propensity for people to stretch to cover holes, as well as a need to acquire people with that ability.
Now where the question above comes in is that with each added person, there is administrative and orientation effort added to the leadership positions to absorb those people. At the wrong time, that can pull you away from progress, crucial decisions and foundation building and may mean the difference between success and failure.
My current approach is to concentrate on building the initial framework before pulling in other people, and thus hope to have some structure and some direction established before distractions and dissenting opinions start pulling at me.
On the second question, I'm still not settled. When you first get commercial space, you begin to burn cash, and keeping the burn-rate low is so important before you have funding. When you have more than one person working, space becomes more important. I've come to develop a pretty good work ethic in a home office environment, but what I've noted over the years is that many, perhaps most people find that difficult. Thus it's good to create a traditional workplace environment as early as possible, to ensure that you get the focus which might be lacking if your collaborators are in their home environment.
While on my path toward a first demonstration of product concepts though, I'm leaning toward staying in the home office and keeping costs at next to nothing. It's a fine line, though, between the easily accessible work environment here, and need for something more formal, and I'll have to be sure not to hesitate when the need becomes apparent.
For now though, my days are well defined - simply push ahead and try to progress quickly enough that the proverbial iron is still hot enough for blow or two.
Researchinator winds up for another strike...
Two of the questions that I want to touch upon briefly are a) when to start growing the team and b) when to to move into corporate digs.
On the first question, and important truth is that having the strongest people possible is always a key goal. If you read the 'Good to Great' exploration of this area, the premise there is that it is the be-all, end-all of corporate success. I'm not sure I agree with that, as I've seen successful organizations where there were some sub-optimal people in some non-critical roles. They would meet the needs of the position, though one could imagine someone more optimal excelling beyond the strict needs of the situation. A much worse situation would have been to have such roles unfilled while waiting for an optimal candidate, resulting in other people being dragged down by the missing skill-set.
In a start-up situation, the needs are all multiplied three fold. When you are doubling your staff on a monthly basis, every position is critical. By the same token, there is both a propensity for people to stretch to cover holes, as well as a need to acquire people with that ability.
Now where the question above comes in is that with each added person, there is administrative and orientation effort added to the leadership positions to absorb those people. At the wrong time, that can pull you away from progress, crucial decisions and foundation building and may mean the difference between success and failure.
My current approach is to concentrate on building the initial framework before pulling in other people, and thus hope to have some structure and some direction established before distractions and dissenting opinions start pulling at me.
On the second question, I'm still not settled. When you first get commercial space, you begin to burn cash, and keeping the burn-rate low is so important before you have funding. When you have more than one person working, space becomes more important. I've come to develop a pretty good work ethic in a home office environment, but what I've noted over the years is that many, perhaps most people find that difficult. Thus it's good to create a traditional workplace environment as early as possible, to ensure that you get the focus which might be lacking if your collaborators are in their home environment.
While on my path toward a first demonstration of product concepts though, I'm leaning toward staying in the home office and keeping costs at next to nothing. It's a fine line, though, between the easily accessible work environment here, and need for something more formal, and I'll have to be sure not to hesitate when the need becomes apparent.
For now though, my days are well defined - simply push ahead and try to progress quickly enough that the proverbial iron is still hot enough for blow or two.
Researchinator winds up for another strike...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Day Without Constraints...
Post election day, and the turmoil of the Canadian political system has not really changed much. Restructuring of some of the centrist party leadership is yet to be resolved, but at least now should be able to go ahead.
Meanwhile, I'm looking at a full day ahead of me, without much in the way of distraction expected, so I hope I can make some progress on a few fronts. I should take a couple of hours in there to advance some of the business collateral stuff, as well as progress on the software side.
And, I should get out for lunch somewhere perhaps... though the fridge contains leftovers of various sorts of which I should partake.
Researchinator turns pointy two-holed face lump to grind stone...
Meanwhile, I'm looking at a full day ahead of me, without much in the way of distraction expected, so I hope I can make some progress on a few fronts. I should take a couple of hours in there to advance some of the business collateral stuff, as well as progress on the software side.
And, I should get out for lunch somewhere perhaps... though the fridge contains leftovers of various sorts of which I should partake.
Researchinator turns pointy two-holed face lump to grind stone...
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Propensity to Progress Today?
For maybe a week each year you get the chance to see some pretty amazing colours in the landscapes across Canada. Some years it's a bit of a let down, but this year has been spectacular. A few hundred clicks south, and they are back a few weeks in their timing, but a drive this weekend was a real highlight, during our Thanksgiving long weekend.
I thanked my computer for not crashing in the interim while I was unprotected by a RAID server to back up my data.
A long weekend is passed, and my project progressed quite well in the final days of the last week. I had to persevere through some challenging goals, knowing that come the next week, it would be hard to pick up where I left off due to brain fade over the ensuing days. So I did, and I recall some reasonable success. But, true to form, I don't recall too well what I was working on. Late morning now and I guess I've cleaned up enough other stuff, and have a few minutes before lunch, and before a doctor's appointment to look at where I am. A first day after long weekend, and an election day to boot. Something tells me progress will be small.
Researchinator says research ya later...
I thanked my computer for not crashing in the interim while I was unprotected by a RAID server to back up my data.
A long weekend is passed, and my project progressed quite well in the final days of the last week. I had to persevere through some challenging goals, knowing that come the next week, it would be hard to pick up where I left off due to brain fade over the ensuing days. So I did, and I recall some reasonable success. But, true to form, I don't recall too well what I was working on. Late morning now and I guess I've cleaned up enough other stuff, and have a few minutes before lunch, and before a doctor's appointment to look at where I am. A first day after long weekend, and an election day to boot. Something tells me progress will be small.
Researchinator says research ya later...
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Small Scale Goal Setting
A strategy for successful home office work approach: when you have a success, immediately stop and savour it for a while. Good time to go get another cup of tea, I thought to myself this morning when I clicked 'run' on my software and tested a new feature and it worked cleanly as I expected.
Reward yourself with something you were contemplating doing instead of working, like getting a snack or a cup of tea.
While we all know that we need concrete goals and timelines, there are some good techniques I've found to deal with the day-to-day effort. I like to set small short term goals often. It's just before noon now, and my SO is awaiting a connecting plane from Toronto to get home. Given that we'll go get some lunch after she makes it here, I have a good short term goal to get the next element of that successful feature working before then.
A midday goal, I find, is more successful than an end-of-day goal. Why? Because if you miss it, you still have some productive time to put it in the bag. If you miss an end of day goal, you then either have to persevere (while already mentally fatigued) to get it done, or quit for the day with the failure on your mind. Neither is a very positive outcome.
So a goal for completion before my late lunch should work out. Then the end of the day work can be seen as bonus time. Or, it can be used to address another, different aspect of your project - ie multi-tasking time. I'll probably use it for more business plan editing/creation. Thus the day can end with both an R&D success, and some business development progress.
Speaking of which, if I don't get on to it, I won't have either.
Researchinator: Nose approaches grindstone.
Reward yourself with something you were contemplating doing instead of working, like getting a snack or a cup of tea.
While we all know that we need concrete goals and timelines, there are some good techniques I've found to deal with the day-to-day effort. I like to set small short term goals often. It's just before noon now, and my SO is awaiting a connecting plane from Toronto to get home. Given that we'll go get some lunch after she makes it here, I have a good short term goal to get the next element of that successful feature working before then.
A midday goal, I find, is more successful than an end-of-day goal. Why? Because if you miss it, you still have some productive time to put it in the bag. If you miss an end of day goal, you then either have to persevere (while already mentally fatigued) to get it done, or quit for the day with the failure on your mind. Neither is a very positive outcome.
So a goal for completion before my late lunch should work out. Then the end of the day work can be seen as bonus time. Or, it can be used to address another, different aspect of your project - ie multi-tasking time. I'll probably use it for more business plan editing/creation. Thus the day can end with both an R&D success, and some business development progress.
Speaking of which, if I don't get on to it, I won't have either.
Researchinator: Nose approaches grindstone.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Timing is Everything
Okay so I'm not real good with the morning thing. But my routine is holding together. One more day till the SO returns and some structure from someone other than myself returns. But I've worked a solid day not on infrastructure and setup, but rather on the project itself. Having some success, but it's all on minor stuff just now.
I've had many visits from Cat number 1. She's been up on my desk 4 times, and just returned for a fifth now. She's spread out on my notebook, so there will be no notes for a while.
Got out at lunch time for a bite. Rather than walk somewhere and lose an hour or so, I decided to ride my bike. My destination was a small mall 2.3km away, in the direction opposite from where I went for carribean food last week. It only took about 35min total, but the food selection at this place has really dropped off. Had a shawarma, which I could easily have had with a 10min walk up the street in the other direction.
Oh well, I'll stay away from that food court. I imagined a stir-fry thing a la japponaise. But it was not to be. This is a good enhancement to the work environment - alternate days out for lunch. It's more economical than an office caffeteria, and better variety too.
I need to rework my schedule sometime soon - but I'm still hoping to get through a full proof-of-concept first path in the coming days - maybe early next week. Then a flurry of documentation, some biz plan work and plan the next, bigger project steps.
A big distraction is the constant melt down of the financial markets. I've lost a good third of my investment portfolio. What a joyful way to spend your first weeks on your own without an income! Seems to me this happened last time I did this as well - anyone remember 9/11?
Researchinator seeks to make use of the last hour remaining in the day.
I've had many visits from Cat number 1. She's been up on my desk 4 times, and just returned for a fifth now. She's spread out on my notebook, so there will be no notes for a while.
Got out at lunch time for a bite. Rather than walk somewhere and lose an hour or so, I decided to ride my bike. My destination was a small mall 2.3km away, in the direction opposite from where I went for carribean food last week. It only took about 35min total, but the food selection at this place has really dropped off. Had a shawarma, which I could easily have had with a 10min walk up the street in the other direction.
Oh well, I'll stay away from that food court. I imagined a stir-fry thing a la japponaise. But it was not to be. This is a good enhancement to the work environment - alternate days out for lunch. It's more economical than an office caffeteria, and better variety too.
I need to rework my schedule sometime soon - but I'm still hoping to get through a full proof-of-concept first path in the coming days - maybe early next week. Then a flurry of documentation, some biz plan work and plan the next, bigger project steps.
A big distraction is the constant melt down of the financial markets. I've lost a good third of my investment portfolio. What a joyful way to spend your first weeks on your own without an income! Seems to me this happened last time I did this as well - anyone remember 9/11?
Researchinator seeks to make use of the last hour remaining in the day.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Don't You Hate it When...
I guess in doing support for a product, you get a lot of questions, not all of them coherent or soluable. However, that's no excuse for providing crazy responses.
I contacted a vendor about a product they sold and provided a very concise, polite, perfectly grammatical question. To use a car analogy (don't we love those) "When I turn the car on, there is a beeping sound from the dashboard. What is it" It's summarized in two brief paragraphs.
The response 2 days later is often unintelligible, and you have to wonder if they've actually read your actual question. It will be something like "You can find the jack in the trunk under the rug" or, "Unleaded gas is provided by gas stations across the country"
This often seems to happen - I have no idea how these responses are supposed to be related to the question, but presumably there is some crazy logic path.
That's my morning email checking story, for what it's worth. It's not a car, its another thing, but don't you hate it when support groups are unable to provide a coherent answer? I responded with a thanks for the effort, but it seems to have nothing to do with my question... We'll see if they just ignore me now, which seems the usual response.
Another sunny day, but cold last night. Can I actually get some work done today? Yesterday finished up with trying to get revision control (SVN) installed on my mac. Seems to have installed fine, and now I have to see if I can use it easily without messing anything up. There seems to be a bit of a cryptic behaviour happening, but I'm sure I just need to read more. I haven't used a revision control system since CVS many years ago.
I'm also thinking I need to spend a bit of time each day digging for meet-up opportunities. That whole networking thing is going to be a key element of success.
Researchinator tries to remove some of the dozens of open windows from his screen.
I contacted a vendor about a product they sold and provided a very concise, polite, perfectly grammatical question. To use a car analogy (don't we love those) "When I turn the car on, there is a beeping sound from the dashboard. What is it" It's summarized in two brief paragraphs.
The response 2 days later is often unintelligible, and you have to wonder if they've actually read your actual question. It will be something like "You can find the jack in the trunk under the rug" or, "Unleaded gas is provided by gas stations across the country"
This often seems to happen - I have no idea how these responses are supposed to be related to the question, but presumably there is some crazy logic path.
That's my morning email checking story, for what it's worth. It's not a car, its another thing, but don't you hate it when support groups are unable to provide a coherent answer? I responded with a thanks for the effort, but it seems to have nothing to do with my question... We'll see if they just ignore me now, which seems the usual response.
Another sunny day, but cold last night. Can I actually get some work done today? Yesterday finished up with trying to get revision control (SVN) installed on my mac. Seems to have installed fine, and now I have to see if I can use it easily without messing anything up. There seems to be a bit of a cryptic behaviour happening, but I'm sure I just need to read more. I haven't used a revision control system since CVS many years ago.
I'm also thinking I need to spend a bit of time each day digging for meet-up opportunities. That whole networking thing is going to be a key element of success.
Researchinator tries to remove some of the dozens of open windows from his screen.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Bad Day in Rome?
Sunny and cool go the October days. Monday comes again. My SO is off on a biz trip, hence all elements of structure disappear from my life. I could sleep for a week and nobody would notice.
But I'm working away, diligently to make some progress. The prospect of all my research work happening without any backup or safe copies was wearing on my, so I acquired some 'network storage' to back up all my files on.
The thing is a bit flakey - it's a Buffalo Linkstation pro duo by the way. A little google bait. Occasionally it will take one of my files or directories which I've just written to the disk and rename it something like NJGHK~K instead of "contracts". Just what I want.
Hopefully I can find a way around that. For now, I've managed to load it up and I feel a bit better protected. Still about 400GB or so of space.
Getting out of the home office everyday is a must-do. It's easier with the good weather. However, I'm dealing with a migraine from a couple of days ago that echos occasionally for an hour here and there. That's a demotivator. But the exercise is also a big issue. If I don't think about it, I could find myself amassing only a few hundred steps a week.
So these are the adjustments I deal with. The biggest challenge I can see ahead is building up the appropriate team. That means I've got to network my ass off to find some people with the right skills.
Meanwhile I'm also listening to some audio from the book "Good to Great" while also watching the stock market fall apart. It's quite hilarious, as the very pompous sounding American author goes on about how well run various US banks are, throwing in pithy comments about Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae and such, as that entire industry falls apart due to bad management that not only trashed its own sector, but the entire world economy. Ha! What a juxtaposition.
Anyway, the world seems to be burning, but for now, it's sunny and cool and I'll try not to pay too much attention.
But I'm working away, diligently to make some progress. The prospect of all my research work happening without any backup or safe copies was wearing on my, so I acquired some 'network storage' to back up all my files on.
The thing is a bit flakey - it's a Buffalo Linkstation pro duo by the way. A little google bait. Occasionally it will take one of my files or directories which I've just written to the disk and rename it something like NJGHK~K instead of "contracts". Just what I want.
Hopefully I can find a way around that. For now, I've managed to load it up and I feel a bit better protected. Still about 400GB or so of space.
Getting out of the home office everyday is a must-do. It's easier with the good weather. However, I'm dealing with a migraine from a couple of days ago that echos occasionally for an hour here and there. That's a demotivator. But the exercise is also a big issue. If I don't think about it, I could find myself amassing only a few hundred steps a week.
So these are the adjustments I deal with. The biggest challenge I can see ahead is building up the appropriate team. That means I've got to network my ass off to find some people with the right skills.
Meanwhile I'm also listening to some audio from the book "Good to Great" while also watching the stock market fall apart. It's quite hilarious, as the very pompous sounding American author goes on about how well run various US banks are, throwing in pithy comments about Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae and such, as that entire industry falls apart due to bad management that not only trashed its own sector, but the entire world economy. Ha! What a juxtaposition.
Anyway, the world seems to be burning, but for now, it's sunny and cool and I'll try not to pay too much attention.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Moving and/or Shaking About Town
A very networky day so far. Lunch with an old colleague who seems is also well plugged in around the tech community. Lots of talk about ventures, and ideas and future projects. Who knows if either of us will ever do any of them.
Also met with a patent lawyer to compare notes and build a bit of a relationship for the future filing of some stuff. Seems a decent fellow, and there might be some low-cost filing opportunities in there somewhere.
Discussed also the opportunity for provisional filing. I'm aware of that approach - but it's not without its risks of course.
Then some interaction with the old corporate monster to close of some intellectual property stuff there as well. Not sure if the normal monitary stuff will come through but, if nothing else the extra item for my resume is worthwhile.
Even dropped by a bank on my way back to explore biz banking opportunities and got a freebie thumbdrive for my questions - suck-up bastards. :)
So overall, I feel like I've actually been doing stuff. Should do more yet though the day is getting later now. Next priority would be mid afternoon tea.
Researchinator ponders a broad selection of leafy delights...
Also met with a patent lawyer to compare notes and build a bit of a relationship for the future filing of some stuff. Seems a decent fellow, and there might be some low-cost filing opportunities in there somewhere.
Discussed also the opportunity for provisional filing. I'm aware of that approach - but it's not without its risks of course.
Then some interaction with the old corporate monster to close of some intellectual property stuff there as well. Not sure if the normal monitary stuff will come through but, if nothing else the extra item for my resume is worthwhile.
Even dropped by a bank on my way back to explore biz banking opportunities and got a freebie thumbdrive for my questions - suck-up bastards. :)
So overall, I feel like I've actually been doing stuff. Should do more yet though the day is getting later now. Next priority would be mid afternoon tea.
Researchinator ponders a broad selection of leafy delights...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Analysis of the Home-Office Challenges
Must improve me routine, I guess, as it's not really morning anymore.
Plodding ahead. Boy, I'd forgotten how tough it is to work with no other humans around... but I'll slog it out, and cat's are annoying today, either on my desk too much or meowing incessantly downstairs for extra food & attention.
Making good use of news groups and mailing lists to get programming bug help. Appears there are some UI related bugs in the system I'm using. Not too impressive. Well, for demo purposes, it should suffice. I'll need to make some big platform decisions later on.
Ordered a backup network drive (NAS). That should lighten the risk of losing my laptop or destroying my only copy of my software by accident. The added bonus I suppose is potential for external access outside my network and streaming music through iTunes perhaps!
Had a good kebab sandwich for lunch. One of the benefits of working at home is a whole new array of lunch options from low-budget make-a-sandwich to trying all the myriad of other options around. Lunches are also a good networking time, scheduling connections with other people.
Anyway, the prototype exploration continues. I'm in the tough slogging portion, with potential for much more effort. My SO is imminently going on a biz trip, so I'm going to be left without structure in my day, and could conceivably work for days straight day and night. However, this will require that I impose even more effort to find structure and exercise beyond the walk from bed to desk to kitchen to bathroom.
Researchinator yells at cats....
Plodding ahead. Boy, I'd forgotten how tough it is to work with no other humans around... but I'll slog it out, and cat's are annoying today, either on my desk too much or meowing incessantly downstairs for extra food & attention.
Making good use of news groups and mailing lists to get programming bug help. Appears there are some UI related bugs in the system I'm using. Not too impressive. Well, for demo purposes, it should suffice. I'll need to make some big platform decisions later on.
Ordered a backup network drive (NAS). That should lighten the risk of losing my laptop or destroying my only copy of my software by accident. The added bonus I suppose is potential for external access outside my network and streaming music through iTunes perhaps!
Had a good kebab sandwich for lunch. One of the benefits of working at home is a whole new array of lunch options from low-budget make-a-sandwich to trying all the myriad of other options around. Lunches are also a good networking time, scheduling connections with other people.
Anyway, the prototype exploration continues. I'm in the tough slogging portion, with potential for much more effort. My SO is imminently going on a biz trip, so I'm going to be left without structure in my day, and could conceivably work for days straight day and night. However, this will require that I impose even more effort to find structure and exercise beyond the walk from bed to desk to kitchen to bathroom.
Researchinator yells at cats....
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Readjusting to New/Old Environs
I have molasses on my feet. I guess it's going to take a few days of this to get into the swing of jumping into morning work. I was distracted this morning by my guitar, then the BeeGees, Jeff Goldblum, wikipedia and CBC's Jian Ghomeshi's show QTV - the youtube version, not the live one that is going on just now if I were to turn on my radio. Then I was distracted by my dislke of Naomi Klein and I had to look for some video to reassure myself that I actually do dislike her so much - and found it on the Bill Maher talk show. Yeesh.
I do in fact have some will power but you'd never know it. I should refill my tea cup and get another crack at starting this.
I am also trying to get my neice's address to send a baby gift outfit that is now only big enough to fit around the kid's wrist, but nobody seems to have her address.
Uh-oh, I just thought of facebook as a way to contact her - I'm sure that will eat some more time.
Well, there you go - it certainly did - connecting with neices and such. Better wrap this up and get that tea. Morning is almost thru!
Researcher laments his distracted work day...
I do in fact have some will power but you'd never know it. I should refill my tea cup and get another crack at starting this.
I am also trying to get my neice's address to send a baby gift outfit that is now only big enough to fit around the kid's wrist, but nobody seems to have her address.
Uh-oh, I just thought of facebook as a way to contact her - I'm sure that will eat some more time.
Well, there you go - it certainly did - connecting with neices and such. Better wrap this up and get that tea. Morning is almost thru!
Researcher laments his distracted work day...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday - Black Monday
I must have the worst timing for venture launching. Well, maybe this won't affect the venture markets as much as the banking markets. As a start-up I don't expect to get any bank help anyway.
But the Americans have sure screwed things up. I've been trying to think of the best analogy for what they're doing. Their house has currently rejected the bailout package as they are afraid of the optics for their constituents.
But it makes no sense, because by not putting this support in place, their constituents will have get severely hammered as a result. Are people really that incapable of seeing the big picture? There were stupid deregulation moves made, which made the finance industry crash, and as it threatens to take down the rest of the economy, the people refuse to shore up the remains.
Analogy one. Lawmakers remove speed-limits on all highways. A bus immediately crashes, all the people are pinned under flaming wreckage, and the townsfolk refuse them ambulance aid because the speed limit removal was a stupid idea.
Not bad, but missing the grander repercussions.
Analogy two: A city's building codes are eliminated. Some idiot builds a 30 storey sky scraper in a residential neighbourhood. As the building starts to crumble, the neighbours stop the city's rescue trucks and work crews from stabilizing the situation because it was stupid to remove the building code. "Why should we use city taxes to fix that crappy building" they exclaim. Instead the building falls over and wipes out most of the neighbouring houses sets the rest aflame.
That's pretty good. It has both the stupid initial situation and the damage to both the bad guys and the innocents who are too stupid to allow the remedial action.
Anyway, I guess we need a good, nasty correction to the economic world every decade or so to scare another round of people.
I wonder how many politicians sold short before going in to vote, and are now covering their positions and picking up long positions before going back in for another round of voting and approving it. They'll make money on the way down and back up as the rich get richer and the poor get further hosed.
Meanwhile, lil ol' me is working away in my tiny office, minding my own business. Had a tasty goat roti for lunch, and got some decent exercise in as well. That should make up for some of this incessant desktime my project inflicts upon me.
Researchinator watches the world burn.
But the Americans have sure screwed things up. I've been trying to think of the best analogy for what they're doing. Their house has currently rejected the bailout package as they are afraid of the optics for their constituents.
But it makes no sense, because by not putting this support in place, their constituents will have get severely hammered as a result. Are people really that incapable of seeing the big picture? There were stupid deregulation moves made, which made the finance industry crash, and as it threatens to take down the rest of the economy, the people refuse to shore up the remains.
Analogy one. Lawmakers remove speed-limits on all highways. A bus immediately crashes, all the people are pinned under flaming wreckage, and the townsfolk refuse them ambulance aid because the speed limit removal was a stupid idea.
Not bad, but missing the grander repercussions.
Analogy two: A city's building codes are eliminated. Some idiot builds a 30 storey sky scraper in a residential neighbourhood. As the building starts to crumble, the neighbours stop the city's rescue trucks and work crews from stabilizing the situation because it was stupid to remove the building code. "Why should we use city taxes to fix that crappy building" they exclaim. Instead the building falls over and wipes out most of the neighbouring houses sets the rest aflame.
That's pretty good. It has both the stupid initial situation and the damage to both the bad guys and the innocents who are too stupid to allow the remedial action.
Anyway, I guess we need a good, nasty correction to the economic world every decade or so to scare another round of people.
I wonder how many politicians sold short before going in to vote, and are now covering their positions and picking up long positions before going back in for another round of voting and approving it. They'll make money on the way down and back up as the rich get richer and the poor get further hosed.
Meanwhile, lil ol' me is working away in my tiny office, minding my own business. Had a tasty goat roti for lunch, and got some decent exercise in as well. That should make up for some of this incessant desktime my project inflicts upon me.
Researchinator watches the world burn.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Back from Hiatus
A brief hiatus comes to a close. What an awesome couple of days it was too. Rather than worry about research goals, threw a canoe on my car and was off the the Canadian wilderness for some solo canoe camping.
It was everything that it should be. Being autumn and midweek, it was very quiet, with the whole 5km lake paddle to myself. It was pristine and perfect. I did forget my camera at home, but as usual the world is well documented by others already, so what the heck. Here are some pictures from flickr - not sure if blogger will support showing these - but if not, just click on the resulting graphical detritus:
The photos are a credit to their respective photographers. :)
Back in the saddle on a Friday, I'm hoping to clean up some underlying plumbing. I want to dump my ISP and get a new one, and in preparation, I have to move lots of email addresses in various locations, to a final, lifelong location. This will no doubt blow lots of my time, but it's a necessary evil.
Also, I have an old website for my previous consulting business. I need to update that to something suitably shell like, and use it as a thin means to connect should I wish to do some consulting for cash along the way.
Lots of housekeeping to do before I can move onto my real work. Ugh - I need some staff!
Researchinator picks up a broom and gets down to it.
It was everything that it should be. Being autumn and midweek, it was very quiet, with the whole 5km lake paddle to myself. It was pristine and perfect. I did forget my camera at home, but as usual the world is well documented by others already, so what the heck. Here are some pictures from flickr - not sure if blogger will support showing these - but if not, just click on the resulting graphical detritus:
The photos are a credit to their respective photographers. :)
Back in the saddle on a Friday, I'm hoping to clean up some underlying plumbing. I want to dump my ISP and get a new one, and in preparation, I have to move lots of email addresses in various locations, to a final, lifelong location. This will no doubt blow lots of my time, but it's a necessary evil.
Also, I have an old website for my previous consulting business. I need to update that to something suitably shell like, and use it as a thin means to connect should I wish to do some consulting for cash along the way.
Lots of housekeeping to do before I can move onto my real work. Ugh - I need some staff!
Researchinator picks up a broom and gets down to it.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Off Topic!
Morning was a bunch of baking for me today. I guess I've pretty much had the day off. Then again, I was working on 'the project' yesterday evening somewhat, so I don't feel too bad.
So I made several loaves of bread in the morning, then started gathering stuff for camping tomorrow. I also altered my canoe a bit to include tie-downs for gear. Also sewed some straps for holding the canoe on the roof of the car more securely.
Then some shopping - dealing with someone who showed interest in an appliance we've listed for sale. And a bit of organizing food for the trip.
Got an evening meeting I should really start walking toward. Then tonight, I need to remember to make some pancake batter and freeze it over night. Tomorrow, out I go. Hmmm. Also want to fix my axe handle. Do you think I'll remember all this stuff? Seems unlikely.
Researchinator isn't doing any just now...
So I made several loaves of bread in the morning, then started gathering stuff for camping tomorrow. I also altered my canoe a bit to include tie-downs for gear. Also sewed some straps for holding the canoe on the roof of the car more securely.
Then some shopping - dealing with someone who showed interest in an appliance we've listed for sale. And a bit of organizing food for the trip.
Got an evening meeting I should really start walking toward. Then tonight, I need to remember to make some pancake batter and freeze it over night. Tomorrow, out I go. Hmmm. Also want to fix my axe handle. Do you think I'll remember all this stuff? Seems unlikely.
Researchinator isn't doing any just now...
Monday, September 22, 2008
A Weeks Worth of Open Space in Front of Me
Got the day started off with appt's - but ones I'd have done if I were still in corporate environment. Part of my annual (okay triennial) physical to go get tests for the usual stuff (cholesterol etc). Then back to my home office and digging into the programming.
The challenge at this point is to move my applications along toward full demo capability. It should be easier now with fewer distractions. My work so far today has been focussed on platform related UI presentation. Font sizing and positioning take too much time with this process. I wish there were a better way!
The day is sunny and cool. Shaping up towards a good mid-week break - when I throw a canoe on the car and head out for a spot of camping. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to paddle my through the autumn weather and enjoy the time communing with nature. Of course, getting time alone is hardly a central value now, so that part of it is not so much of a goal. But the getting out into the bush is a high value for me, given my childhood in such environs. I miss it when I'm away for too long.
I should take some time to plan my food for the trip and gather some gear together.
Researchinator works at tuning time and task constraints...
The challenge at this point is to move my applications along toward full demo capability. It should be easier now with fewer distractions. My work so far today has been focussed on platform related UI presentation. Font sizing and positioning take too much time with this process. I wish there were a better way!
The day is sunny and cool. Shaping up towards a good mid-week break - when I throw a canoe on the car and head out for a spot of camping. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to paddle my through the autumn weather and enjoy the time communing with nature. Of course, getting time alone is hardly a central value now, so that part of it is not so much of a goal. But the getting out into the bush is a high value for me, given my childhood in such environs. I miss it when I'm away for too long.
I should take some time to plan my food for the trip and gather some gear together.
Researchinator works at tuning time and task constraints...
Friday, September 19, 2008
Free at Last, Free at last
The tyranny of freedom. The structure is imposed by myself - but I've been through this before so know what to expect. And there is now shortage of stuff to do. Keeping a balance of home-related chores and start-up focussed activities is the tough part. The weather is changing, and last night was a cold night. I've been thinking I should get the furnace ready - just a quick vacuuming, clean the filter and keep a close watch over the first ignition, check the flame colour etc.
So I did that as my first, and very symbolic, chore this morning. Some warmth spread through the house and symbolize the stoking of the flames under my ass to get going.
Here I am now at a restaurant enjoying a leisurely breakfast, and catching up on the first 'each morning' blog of the latest phase of my life. I have lunch today with an old friend and former colleague. I had some conversations yesterday with a very experienced start-up guy who put together a successful company (before being pushed out at some point), and a patent lawyer for my old firm, with some ideas about where to get some cheap patent work done.
A chat with another old friend a couple of nights ago might lead to some space where I can put down some daily roots.
Then, on the other side of the 'life balance' I'm going to enjoy myself too. I need to get a bit of paraphernalia for my canoe, and perhaps even take it out for a brief paddle today to test it out, and again perhaps tomorrow with my SO.
So the first day unfolds (hmmm, why is unfolding good, but unravelling bad?).
Researchinator explores folding and ravelling options.
So I did that as my first, and very symbolic, chore this morning. Some warmth spread through the house and symbolize the stoking of the flames under my ass to get going.
Here I am now at a restaurant enjoying a leisurely breakfast, and catching up on the first 'each morning' blog of the latest phase of my life. I have lunch today with an old friend and former colleague. I had some conversations yesterday with a very experienced start-up guy who put together a successful company (before being pushed out at some point), and a patent lawyer for my old firm, with some ideas about where to get some cheap patent work done.
A chat with another old friend a couple of nights ago might lead to some space where I can put down some daily roots.
Then, on the other side of the 'life balance' I'm going to enjoy myself too. I need to get a bit of paraphernalia for my canoe, and perhaps even take it out for a brief paddle today to test it out, and again perhaps tomorrow with my SO.
So the first day unfolds (hmmm, why is unfolding good, but unravelling bad?).
Researchinator explores folding and ravelling options.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
A final day at the bastion of oceanographic research. The desk is clear. I have a couple of folders worth of stuff to take home, but mostly it's all cleaned up. A bit of final use of my computer before sacrificing it to the asset redistribution gods.
As I free myself from these shackles I will impose new ones of course. More financial than hierarchically obligatory; more self-imposed than imposed through the structure of an organization. Sending notes to various colleagues is kind of fun. Being careful not to burn any bridges, though I can't help but think about the people here whose motivations are totally self-serving, empire building, and adversarial. Perhaps I just havn't been here long enough, but I can't imagine taking such a negative approach to my daily job.
Still, the experience has been fun. The opportunity to explore a new organization entertaining and one cannot help but learn stuff in such an environment.
Researchinator signing off - changing gears - starting a new chapter.
As I free myself from these shackles I will impose new ones of course. More financial than hierarchically obligatory; more self-imposed than imposed through the structure of an organization. Sending notes to various colleagues is kind of fun. Being careful not to burn any bridges, though I can't help but think about the people here whose motivations are totally self-serving, empire building, and adversarial. Perhaps I just havn't been here long enough, but I can't imagine taking such a negative approach to my daily job.
Still, the experience has been fun. The opportunity to explore a new organization entertaining and one cannot help but learn stuff in such an environment.
Researchinator signing off - changing gears - starting a new chapter.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Big Cleanout
The challenge of going through a big pile of files - both paper and digital - is a daunting one. When you know that each sheet - each megabyte - was a significant effort. Sometimes involving days to get the wording right, it makes it all the more tough to throw them into the recycling bin.
But such is my lot today. However, I've left jobs before, and don't kid myself about the opportunity to either a) reuse any of this stuff in the future, and b) find someone else that will value the work. So into the dumpster it all goes.
My environment is pretty much down to bare bones now. A few file folders of stuff I'll keep. Actually one of them peeking out at me is full of maps for various cities I've visited in this job. I suppose with google maps etc I can just toss those as well.
The challenge of getting rid of old computer files is a bit more substantial. Especially as some of them are software developments. I suppose a big chunk of the effort there was learning environments, languages etc, and the loss is not total, as I retain some of that. However, it's still tough to flush the bucket on those files too.
Tomorrow we'll do a kind of half day. I'm certainly thinking about my new venture. I need to do some incorporation stuff - and I should probably limit what I do on my biz computer, as I don't want to leave any files behind by accident. It's easy to get into the habit of storing a copy of things you do for safekeeping. Post cleanup, I don't want to do any of that.
I think my final step will be to reformat my hard drive perhaps.
For now, I think I'll do some surfing to answer a few questions in my head. Maybe plan my canoe route for next week. Then I'll be on my way. Tomorrow - the end is nigh!
It seems that whenever I change jobs, the stock market takes a significant plunge. So, perhaps it's not the sub-prime mortgage crisis afterall, but rather just my change of employment that's caused this!
Researchinator tries to look forward rather than backward.
But such is my lot today. However, I've left jobs before, and don't kid myself about the opportunity to either a) reuse any of this stuff in the future, and b) find someone else that will value the work. So into the dumpster it all goes.
My environment is pretty much down to bare bones now. A few file folders of stuff I'll keep. Actually one of them peeking out at me is full of maps for various cities I've visited in this job. I suppose with google maps etc I can just toss those as well.
The challenge of getting rid of old computer files is a bit more substantial. Especially as some of them are software developments. I suppose a big chunk of the effort there was learning environments, languages etc, and the loss is not total, as I retain some of that. However, it's still tough to flush the bucket on those files too.
Tomorrow we'll do a kind of half day. I'm certainly thinking about my new venture. I need to do some incorporation stuff - and I should probably limit what I do on my biz computer, as I don't want to leave any files behind by accident. It's easy to get into the habit of storing a copy of things you do for safekeeping. Post cleanup, I don't want to do any of that.
I think my final step will be to reformat my hard drive perhaps.
For now, I think I'll do some surfing to answer a few questions in my head. Maybe plan my canoe route for next week. Then I'll be on my way. Tomorrow - the end is nigh!
It seems that whenever I change jobs, the stock market takes a significant plunge. So, perhaps it's not the sub-prime mortgage crisis afterall, but rather just my change of employment that's caused this!
Researchinator tries to look forward rather than backward.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Transition is Palpable
The shape of things to come. Left the office a bit early today for a Dr's appointment (long delayed physical). So with that and a rather leisurely afternoon afterward, it's a bit of a hint of my next week, and several months afterwards - free-form working. Take time if you want it.
Of course, leading oceanographic research is much like that anyway. I mean there is nobody cracking a whip. But still not reporting to anyone is a feature I will enjoy.
Then again, in my interactions there becomes much more of a sense of trying to get someone to buy into our religion. Well, lunches and beers are scheduled. Starting with a close circle of contacts and gradually growing from there. I need to shake the bushes for all the contacts I can get in the venture related area. Already I've described some of my ideas with folks, and more of that as my stealthiness gradually dissipates in coming months perhaps.
But now, my biggest concern is the cat that is moaning for food. Poor starving, chubby cat.
Effort-wise, I've been slogging away. Moving development tools onto a Mac OSX platform. Some of it has been good (e.g. the Unix-like environment is so refreshing after winpc), but others a challenge. I've totally bogged down with trying to build a little piece of junk called psycopg2 which just totally refuses to come together on the Mac 'tiger' platform. I junked that puppy in favour of SQLite - which was pretty painless to build and install.
Well a bit of time still left in the day. I think I'll google some camping options for next week. I hope to take one night, and the days on either side for a little communing with nature.
Researchinator stops to smell the trees.
Of course, leading oceanographic research is much like that anyway. I mean there is nobody cracking a whip. But still not reporting to anyone is a feature I will enjoy.
Then again, in my interactions there becomes much more of a sense of trying to get someone to buy into our religion. Well, lunches and beers are scheduled. Starting with a close circle of contacts and gradually growing from there. I need to shake the bushes for all the contacts I can get in the venture related area. Already I've described some of my ideas with folks, and more of that as my stealthiness gradually dissipates in coming months perhaps.
But now, my biggest concern is the cat that is moaning for food. Poor starving, chubby cat.
Effort-wise, I've been slogging away. Moving development tools onto a Mac OSX platform. Some of it has been good (e.g. the Unix-like environment is so refreshing after winpc), but others a challenge. I've totally bogged down with trying to build a little piece of junk called psycopg2 which just totally refuses to come together on the Mac 'tiger' platform. I junked that puppy in favour of SQLite - which was pretty painless to build and install.
Well a bit of time still left in the day. I think I'll google some camping options for next week. I hope to take one night, and the days on either side for a little communing with nature.
Researchinator stops to smell the trees.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Wilderness Retreat?
The transition to mac from PC for work activities is going ok. Hope to complete it today. The work I'm doing has lots of bits of open source applications required, and getting them all installed and mutually connected takes some work.
I'm contemplating my activity for next week. I am seriously thinking of taking a day or two to go camping. Load up the canoe and veg out in the Canadian wilds. Actually, I'd probably go nuts thinking of all the things I should be doing, and end up on my cell phone making cold-calls to VC's from beside a fire on a Northern lake.
Then again, I realized my laptop matches my canoe - a white macBook and a white 'Bob Special' Hmmm I wonder if they make laptop holders for canoes?
Researchinator anticipates decompression lakeside.
I'm contemplating my activity for next week. I am seriously thinking of taking a day or two to go camping. Load up the canoe and veg out in the Canadian wilds. Actually, I'd probably go nuts thinking of all the things I should be doing, and end up on my cell phone making cold-calls to VC's from beside a fire on a Northern lake.
Then again, I realized my laptop matches my canoe - a white macBook and a white 'Bob Special' Hmmm I wonder if they make laptop holders for canoes?
Researchinator anticipates decompression lakeside.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Migration in Progress
This may seem counter intuitive, but my blogging has suffered today from having too much computer time. I have my home mac laptop here with me in the workplace as I try and get an equivalent environment in place for development work at home. With all the machinations it's kept me away from more frivolous activity, such as keeping the blog up to date.
Yesterday a group of us went out for lunch to acknowledge our departure - that was nice. A card signed by all and sundry. Many unknown folk, but that's fine. A lunch today with my irrational republican friend. :)
Over to my left disk space continues to ebb away from my mac's hard drive as I install things and I cringe each time. Ugh - I'm going to need some more storage.
This is kind of a good example of what's ahead of me... resources eroding away as I prepare to move out of one work environment into another. Oy.
Researchinator prepares for the big departure week...
Yesterday a group of us went out for lunch to acknowledge our departure - that was nice. A card signed by all and sundry. Many unknown folk, but that's fine. A lunch today with my irrational republican friend. :)
Over to my left disk space continues to ebb away from my mac's hard drive as I install things and I cringe each time. Ugh - I'm going to need some more storage.
This is kind of a good example of what's ahead of me... resources eroding away as I prepare to move out of one work environment into another. Oy.
Researchinator prepares for the big departure week...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Old Corporate Slog
Nothing worse than meetings when you're on your way out of a company. Oh wait, yes there is. I can imagine that having your departure cancelled when you're already in the mindset of moving on would be pretty rough. Well, for a dysfunctional organization anyway. If it were a hard hitting, success story of an oceanographic research organization, it would be exciting to be kept on. But when it's crumbling around those who remain... well, that would be deflating.
And I've got a meeting about the hand-off of our old work - which was stopped months ago, and in which I have totally lost interest. That's going to be a tough session.
Anyway, presentations are flying around with big plans for the future. High tech lobster traps, levitating ocean skimmers and autonomous diving robots. In the background there's always mention of the big inventions of the past... like from the 40's and 50's that the organization did. Like the discovery of whole new species of mollusks and the first crab tagging apparatus. The ivory tower is shored up by old logs and duct tape, but it's still there.
Meanwhile I'm getting my own tower built. Well, it's more of a foundation, a platform perhaps. Got my URL and place holder web page in place. The first step for any modern company, even before incorporating. We'll see if it ever gets much further than this, but for now it's a start.
Researchinator wishes this last week was over!
And I've got a meeting about the hand-off of our old work - which was stopped months ago, and in which I have totally lost interest. That's going to be a tough session.
Anyway, presentations are flying around with big plans for the future. High tech lobster traps, levitating ocean skimmers and autonomous diving robots. In the background there's always mention of the big inventions of the past... like from the 40's and 50's that the organization did. Like the discovery of whole new species of mollusks and the first crab tagging apparatus. The ivory tower is shored up by old logs and duct tape, but it's still there.
Meanwhile I'm getting my own tower built. Well, it's more of a foundation, a platform perhaps. Got my URL and place holder web page in place. The first step for any modern company, even before incorporating. We'll see if it ever gets much further than this, but for now it's a start.
Researchinator wishes this last week was over!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Theme Songs Embellish Daily Life
Just noticing that I provide theme music between scenes in my life. I finish a task, and turn to the kettle behind me to make some tea, and a short jingle emits from my whistling lips.
Thinking about the tune, I'm not sure what it is. My life-guiding theory is that all behaviours come from prototype events in your first 5-10 years, so I suspect that these happy little 4 second tunes I use for such transitions are from Gilligan's Island, or Partridge family or something.
Ah, how we are defined by the popular media of our childhood.
The day's a wasting, but I've been pretty productive. The little tasks on my project today have advanced me surprisingly close to a demonstrable proof-of-concept path. I have crafted a tool that allows me to create some stuff that gets handled by a server to deliver to people over the internet. There, that's vague enough I think. Well, the stuff I create is taking shape pretty well. A big chunk of it was created with a few lines of code today, which kind of surprised me. Ah the beauty of Python. I'm working a bit without a schedule: well, I have a high level one here, but it's pretty loose. It's nice to work with such constraints... but achieving one's goals is then driven primarily by your enthusiasm. There's a lot of that in the early days of a project. But I'm a good one for losing interest along the way... so I need to ensure there's a bit of structure in place.
Well, back to work.
Researchinator: "Doo be do, do, do, do, dum dum, dum dum" (transistion music)
Thinking about the tune, I'm not sure what it is. My life-guiding theory is that all behaviours come from prototype events in your first 5-10 years, so I suspect that these happy little 4 second tunes I use for such transitions are from Gilligan's Island, or Partridge family or something.
Ah, how we are defined by the popular media of our childhood.
The day's a wasting, but I've been pretty productive. The little tasks on my project today have advanced me surprisingly close to a demonstrable proof-of-concept path. I have crafted a tool that allows me to create some stuff that gets handled by a server to deliver to people over the internet. There, that's vague enough I think. Well, the stuff I create is taking shape pretty well. A big chunk of it was created with a few lines of code today, which kind of surprised me. Ah the beauty of Python. I'm working a bit without a schedule: well, I have a high level one here, but it's pretty loose. It's nice to work with such constraints... but achieving one's goals is then driven primarily by your enthusiasm. There's a lot of that in the early days of a project. But I'm a good one for losing interest along the way... so I need to ensure there's a bit of structure in place.
Well, back to work.
Researchinator: "Doo be do, do, do, do, dum dum, dum dum" (transistion music)
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