iBrasten

Despite having the text pinned up in my cubicle (it’s inspirational!), I had never actually seen this TV ad until it came through one of my podcasts today.

Enjoy!

Another book suggestions coming at you.

If you’re into software development where you have more than one developer and have stakeholders (a boss, a customer, etc), then you are likely already practicing some form of development methodology, even if you don’t know it. Unfortunately, my current place of employment has next to no development methodology whatsoever, so I spend a LOT of time reading up on the various development styles to keep my brain fresh on that topic.

One of the more recent development methodologies is called Agile… Agile encompasses a larger group of methodologies including the more popular eXtreme Programming (XP).

So I picked up this book called Agile & Iterative Development by Craig Larman. I’m only 50 pages in or so, but it’s great thus far! Nothing mind-numbingly new, of course. I’m well aware of Agile development principles. But it does a great job of laying out a lot of the differences between Agile and Waterfall, as well as the different Agile flavors.

Worth checking out.

Ran into this little article during lunch. Good read.

David Mackintosh noted on my last posting that he was interpreting the numbers to mean something different than what I posted. After re-reading the article from a printout I had made, I concluded that David was full of crap.

Then I checked the online version. It has since been updated with the key paragraph reworded. And in fact, David Mackintosh’s interpretation of the new article is accurate.

From my printout: “The report found that in businesses with 250 employees or more, 17 percent of the employees were running Mac OS X on their desktop computer at work. In businesses that had 10,000 or more employees, 21 percent of employees used Mac OS X on their desktop work computer.”

The article’s revised wording: “The report found that 17 percent of businesses with 250 employees or more were running Mac OS X on their desktop computers. Twenty-one percent of businesses that had 10,000 or more employees used Mac OS X on their desktop.”

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, David.

Some new numbers just popped up showing Apple with a MUCH larger install base in corporate America than previously thought.

The summary: In corporations with 250+ employees, 17% of the employees use Mac OS X as their workstation OS. In corporations with 10,000+ employees, the number is 21%.

VERY good numbers for Apple.

I just realized this morning as Microsoft announced the official name for Longhorn (Windows Vista), that this is the first Windows release that I have no intention of installing on any machines. Since I switched the Mac almost two years ago now, Windows XP had been out for quite some time already and I had it on several machines, while I used Linux on my development machines. Now that I’ve made the switch, I had no need for WIndows (and very little use for Linux, though I still use it).

This realization is largely academic anyway, the feature set for Windows Vista looks about the same as XP, save for a new graphics engine.

Those not in the software business may wonder what exactly it is I do all day? Type?

Well, no… programming is like 80% thinking, 20% typing. Ratios vary.

Anyway, here’s what I’m working on today:

I never specified exactly what happened to my shoulder. I just over extended it during Racquetball on Tuesday. But the last couple days it’s been.. I dunno.. loose. Just feels out of sorts. But it’s getting better.

Went bowling last night. It was fun! But due to the previously mentioned problem with my shoulder, I was a little tentative with my swings at first. However, everything held up fine and I had a lot of fun. I ended up bowling worse once I started throwing harder. There’s a lesson there I’m sure.

You may remember that a few days ago I posted about sending my resume into a company called WhatCounts. I promised I’d keep you updated, so here’s the update! Those of you with great observational skills may notice that I received a comment on that entry by David Geller. David Geller happens to be the President and CEO of WhatCounts! :O Very exciting stuff!

So as it turns out, they don’t have an positions available and the moment, but I will keep in touch with them incase they do in the future. In the meantime, I encourage you all to check out WhatCounts.com. You probably don’t have a need for what they do, but their website is one of the best looking sites I’ve ever seen. Seriously, check it out.

James Doohan is best remembered for his roll as “Scotty” on Star Trek. His only other major TV roll was in the 1950’s, also a sci-fi, called “Space Command”.

I would like to highlight his life BEFORE being Scotty, however. Doohan fought in World War II, and was injured on Juno Beach on D-Day, losing the middle finger of his right hand. For his service protecting his country (Canada) and all free countries, we thank him. Scotty is how we’ll remember him, but Captain James Doohan of the Royal Canadian Artillery was his most important role.

I had a minor mishap last night with my shoulder (it scared me more than hurt), but I woke up this morning and it’s SOOOORE. ARGH.

Anyway, it’s 7:57am, and as I usually am at this time every day, I’m at Caffe Ladro doing some stuff on my computer. It’s mostly just a start-the-day routine. But today I have to finish some changes to my resume for Robert Half Intl.

Well, the interview went well I think. I should specify exactly what this was in case I haven’t yet. It wasn’t a JOB INTERVIEW, exactly… it was a pre-interview at a personnel agency. If they like me, and I believe they did, they will try to place me in positions going forward. I will still have to interview for those positions, however.

Anyway, this company (Robert Half, Inc) is in one of my favorite buildings in Seattle.. Two Union Square. The whole square is absolutely amazing. I wasn’t able to take pictures of the square, but I did take pictures of my drive over there. Seattle is hands down the best city in America.

Jessica recently sent me information on the city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While I’ve never been there, I will go someday. It looks wonderful also.

Today I have my first interview in over five years. With five years on this job I have no worries about my skills, and I think I’ll do fine with the interview process, but I’m quite nervous! Anyway, I’ll let you all know how it goes.

In other news, we’re only 73 days away from Serenity, the movie I’ve been anticipating the most for the last year.

I just sent my resume in to a company in Seattle that appears to do Java development on Macs. The company’s name in WhatCounts. They write some form of software for email publishing. It actually looks very interesting.

Anyway, I found them via an interview with their CEO where he mentions off-the-cuff that he just converted all his Java developers to Apple. (wide eyes). That would be too good to be TRUE! They must have some of the coolest developers in Seattle.

They don’t have any job openings listed on their website, but I’m hoping they’ll look over my resume and like what they see. Even if for some reason I misinterpreted their CEO’s statement and they DON’T use Apple, it still looks like a fun little company.

I’ll keep you all informed!

Apple is now the fourth largest computer manufacturer in the United States.

CNet did not say what Apple’s official market share was, but they saw a 36% increase in sales whereas the general US PC market only great by 11.7%. I’m guestimating that’s got to put Apple’s US market share in the mid 4% range (4.0-4.5)?? Official numbers are welcome.

Bill Gates was quoted today as saying that the high-tech industry isn’t attracting new young recruits because it isn’t doing enough to make technology exciting.

In other news, Satan declares “There’s too much evil!”

Apple’s iTunes Music Store crossed the 500 million songs sold mark over the weekend. I’ve done my small part, purchasing a total of 168 songs (equalling $168).

I’m one of those few people who don’t really struggle with getting enough water every day. I have a one-pint bottle here at work and I usually go through it between 2-4 times a day, and I have a 1-pint bottle at home that I usually drink 1-3 times an evening. So that’s pretty good. And I love it too! I love water! Not tap water, not MOST tap water at least… not MY tap water.

Anyway, it turns out that according to WebMD (take that for what it’s worth), you CAN overdose on water, and it’s an extremely serious situation (leading to death if not immediately treated). However, it would require the average person immediately guzzling approximately 3-quarts of water. Something nearly impossible to do, I would imagine.

Anyway, there ya go.

The figures are starting to come up… I will update this entry as more detail is available, but for now, here’s what we know.

Apple smoked their own estimates. Posting quarterly revenue of $3.52 billion, up 75% from the year-ago quarter’s $2.00 billion revenue.

Quarterly profit was up 425% from Q3-04 to $320 million.

Any concerns about a weakening iPod market were put to rest, as Apple shipped 6.1 million iPods, up from 5.3 million last quarter, and a 616% increase in units shipped from a year-ago.

Mac shipments also increased 35% from a year ago, and increased 10% from last quarter, to just over 1.1 million Macs shipped.

[Added 2:11pm]
Total iPod market share increased from 70% last quarter to 75% this quarter.

iTunes faces more competition today than ever before from Napster and MSN Music, yet iTunes Music Store market share INCREASED to over 80% (83% exactly—4:02pm).

[Added 4:02pm]
Apple now has $7.5 billion in the bank, up from $7.0 billion last quarter.

It’s that time again, where Apple announces it’s quarterly earnings. Specifically, they will be announcing the earnings tomorrow after the market’s close. As always, half the analysts are predicting doom and gloom, and the other half are bowing down to little dolls bearing the likeness of Steve Jobs (complete with jeans and black mock turtleneck).

So what are the predictions for tomorrow? Well, 3 months ago Apple themselves predicted $3.25 billion in revenue for this quarter—compared to $2.0 billion from the year-ago quarter. Analyst consensus, however, puts Apple’s revenue at $3.5 billion.

I’m more inclined to believe Apple than analysts, so I will predict $3.25 billion on slightly weaker demand for iPods, but higher-than-expected on some high-margin items like Mac OS X Tiger and iPod accessories.

I’m back up and running on 10.4.2. A couple fun changes. Nothing life-changing of course, except that it’s supposed to have fixed over 100 bugs, very few of which I’ve even noticed.

I’m downloading it right now, so wish me luck!  It’s supposedly quite major.

For those Windows users who don’t understand why one cares about a z release (xx.yy.zz), you have to remember that OS X is perpetually stuck at version 10, thus, 10.y releases are our new "versions" (think of 10.4 as version 14), and 10.y.z releases are one step below a brand new version.  In Windows land, they would be best though of as large service packs.  Except that we get about 9 service packs a year, and a new OS version every 18 months.  Details, details…

Or, “Attempting Dvorak.”

I’m pecking away at about five words per minute, so forgive my brevity.

Brought Dvorak keyboard to work. Thought it would be a good thing to try. Google Dvorak for info.

Just thought I’d update everyone on my most recent experiment at work. I think I mentioned a while ago that I had picked up a new desk for work. This desk is a stand-up desk, so I cannot sit down and work at it. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do at standing 8-hours a day when I’d been so used to sitting all day long. But I’m a couple weeks into it now and I can report that I’m doing okay! My feet REALLY hurt the first week or so, primarily my heels. After the first day they were pretty much sore ALL THE TIME. And they still do get pretty tender by the afternoon, but my endurance has developed quite nicely.

Furthermore, standing while I work DOES increase my focus and drive. As long as I have to stand, there’s no way in hell I’m going to not be productive. When you’re sitting, it’s easy to just “chill”, maybe browse the internet, read some email. Standing is a good motivator. Also, I just feel more engaged. Because it’s so easy to step back from the desk, when I am standing at the desk I’m doing it because I’m focused on the task at hand.

So, overall this little experiment has been a success—so far.

I decided to take some NetBeans screen shots. Because Java on OS X is so beautiful.

Click on any picture for a larger image.

Someone once told me that being a software consultant meant saying you’re an expert at something on Friday and actually being and expert at that thing on Monday.

I’ve never been an actual consultant, but I think I would like to someday. Anyway, along those lines, I’ve been pushing for our company to switch our Version Control Software (VCS) from CVS to Subversion. To say that I played up my abilities with Subversion would be an understatement. The only experience I’ve had with it has been attempts to install - all unsuccessful. However, empowered by a successful installation of Subversion on my laptop last weekend, I decided this was more than doable, so I went out and purchased HAVE a receptionist), so the front of our offices are always dark. Our head support person here is out on maternity leave, and we don’t know if she’ll even come back. It’s just… all so erie. To demonstrate my point, below is a picture I just took out of my cubical. You should know that what you see is what you get. That is our office. We have a small reception area just around that corner, but behind me is the end wall.