Erator's Sandbox

As if it wasn't obvious, I haven't been updating my blog as often as I should or would like to. So in order to save face, I usually update my twitter account . You can also stalk--err follow me on friendfeed . I need to reconsider the purpose of this blog and if I'm really going to follow up on it. Until then, happy browsing -- you know where to find me.

So just the other day I was talking about technologies and frameworks with a fellow engineer and then the million dollar question came up after much debate: "What have you done?" And I just sat there, trying to come up with an answer to justify my points and where I was coming from, but I couldn't respond with anything recent. I read about emerging technologies in the software engineering field. A lot. I think that's a double edge sword too, because as one keeps reading about the best practices here and there and what others have used and plan to use, you just sit there, wishing and planning on doing so many great and awesome things, but as time goes by, nothing gets done! So my advice, which I am going to eat my own food in this case, is to learn, but above all, START SOMETHING. A popular slogan comes to mind...

I was creating a group with Google Groups for a weekly programming meeting I am a part of, and after filling out the first page, which asks for the group's name, email address, description and other settings, this CAPTCHA came up: It appears the CAPTCHA's service was unavailable, and so the challenge image was unavailable (I typed the error's sentence just in case I could continue), so I, a real human, was unable to create the group, and had to postpone my attempt until some other time. I wasted time in the previous page, writing the name of the group, email address, description; all content I had to come up with was to be wasted (though I saved it to a trusty text file). So here's my suggestion: why not verify "humanness" first -- before the user has to even start thinking about group names and descriptions. Get the "verification" out of the way first so that this doesn't happen to anyone else, because it was truly frustrating. This may soun...

First of all, you have to setup the blog, but that's not really hard, because in this case Blogger makes it super easy to create a blog and get going in no time. Personally, the hardest part is actually blogging. Yes, I'm talking about clicking on the "New Post" link and actually writing something to share with whoever happens to find your blog. Then there's the actual reason of blogging (btw, not sure if it's "blogging" or "bloging"). Most friends couldn't care less about reading blogs or blogging themselves, and generally dismiss them, but in today's age, where blogs are so common and plentiful, I think they're great, because now I can have conversations and read information that other people took the time to type and share with complete strangers, and I think that has a lot of value in today's small world. It's not often you hear a stranger tell you, "Hey, check out how I turn this Diet Coke into a geyser!"

What have I been doing lately? Well when I'm not at work, I'm usually at home with my wife playing with our daughter. Lately I have been playing Counter-Strike on weeknights and just yesterday started playing Call of Duty 4 online. As an ex-WoW addict, my coworkers don't make it easy to leave the habit behind, and so I've been contemplating playing WoW again, but am actively trying not to due to the time it consumes and may keep me from doing other things. Other than that, life is pretty stable, watching movies via-Netflix and repeating the cycle. What about you? What have you been up to?

So a friend and I are going to start a group blog, which hopefully will allow us to both gain experience blogging and knowledge about sharing ideas with people we don't know. The blog is going to focus on software, because we share some of the same interests about best practices, user experience, design philosophies, etc. I'll post here when we get it setup and going, so that the few (if any) that read this blog, can find me --unless you already follow me on Twitter .

I think the main reason why I haven't posted anything new to my blog in a while is because I really don't think anyone else reads it. Then I ask myself: "Am I writing this for other people to read, or am I writing this for myself, because I feel 'hip' and 'in' when I do?" Honestly, I would love to have an active blog, where I don't feel this immense feeling of futility when I bother typing something up, and where "readers" interact and post comments (aside from the casual family member that checks out my blog after mentioning it). That being said, I think I'm a Grammar-Nazi .

Accidents, car accidents in particular, are very common. But unless you're in it, you really don't care or become affected by them. Today, on my way home from work, I was about half-a-mile from my front door, and out of nowhere a car runs in front of me at the intersection and although I slam on the brakes I hit the car. I was going north on Custer Road, and the other car was going east on El Dorado Road, but the light was green for me, as 5 or 6 other cars in front of me had already gone through the intersection, so of course I'm unsuspecting of any person at this point thinking of running the red light. It was around 6:30pm CST, and by then it was already dark, since we just switched DST, so the street lights are pretty easy to see and to notice what color they are. So what the heck happened? After the impact, I scream in frustration, look around and try to turn my car off, but it is already off, but I am unable to pull the key out. I finally get out of the car, and sev...

Some days, it's easy to get into the work I have laid out in front of me. I think of it as interesting or worthwhile and I finish it as fast as I possibly can. Other days, I have a really hard time getting started. I know I have a pile of work to do, and that it's not going away, but unconsciously I find myself distracted away, looking for a new subject of interest online, or getting caught in the "Option Loop." The loop is simply thinking about all the options, but getting stuck not starting or finishing any of them. It's almost like a mental deadlock. Most of the times I am able to regain focus and productivity by: Getting a cup of coffee or a high-caffeine soda Turning on the lights Adjusting my chair Walking around a little bit Talking to someone else about my projects Unfortunately, there are times when none of the above works. The biggest problem is I know the best time to start is now , so I have no excuses. How do you get into your work when you'r...

I must say I am impressed with Blogger. I love being able to customize things, and Blogger seems to give me enough bells and whistles to play around with to make me feel happy and in control. Thanks Blogger for giving us so many knobs, switches and buttons to tinker with, you've come a long way.