OK. I have not been updating very frequently. I just let myself get so overbooked at life and work. But, let's see if I can get caught up.
Traveling
Work Project Won an Award
One of the projects I am working on won one of the biggest awards offered by my company so, I traveled to Scottsdale, AZ (May 20-22) and Atlanta, GA (June 2-June 5) to participate in celebrations and conference type activity. I got to meet 2 colleagues on the project that I had only known online. That was awesome. They are both very bright women from India. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and getting to know them in a way that is only possible face to face. Both are beautiful people. We talked about work, philosophy, approach to life, food, and all kinds of things. I have memories I will never forget and forged relationships that have enriched my life and will benefit our work, I'm sure.
Hummer tour
We got to on an excusion to the desert in Hummers. Lots of memorable things to see, but the most interesting was the Saguaro which has an amazing method for procreation. From bats, to doves, to droppings by trees, to very long lives (check it out). Our guide said the seeds must go through a white-winged dove to remove a coating from the seed so that it will germinate. Further, there were 2 critical times zones during which the seed must be exposed to water, else it will not grow. The desert was awesome.
Picture on flickr:
Washington DC with the Family
Most of recent Memorial Days have been spent in Chattanooga, TN. While we love Chattanooga, we were ready for something different. My son is in love with Dinosaurs. So, we went to Washington DC to see the Dinosaur Museum (you now, the Smithsonian). We stayed very busy and he loved every bit as much as he hoped. We also got to see "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" at the Smithsonian IMax theater. We visited as many things as we could squeeze in. Lots and lots of fun of course. One of the high lights for me was lunch at the Central Cafe. I can't describe food like a food critic, but I can tell you that if your tastes leans towards what I call European Continental and you like American cuisine, this places offers a very appetizing fusion, IMHO. There are pictures of what we ate in the show below. They are the only ones with food (IMG_6257-6261).
Here's the pictures from flickr:
Podcast Listening Update
Phedippidations- Fdip186: A Life of Present Defense
- Fdip187: The Running Evolution
- Fdip188: John Michaels Puppy
- Fdip189: The Other Newton’s Laws
- Fdip190: A Longer Life with Purpose
This American Life
No Agenda
- #097 No Agenda For Thursday May 14th 2009 Brain Damage
- #098 No Agenda For Sunday May 17th 2009
- #099 No Agenda For Thursday May 28th 2009
Adam Curry getting divorced and suing a newspaper for
Creative Commons violation after posting picture. The story seems to be
that Adam fell for a younger Dutch actress. I have to say I'm a little
shocked after hearing him go on about Patricia and them together. But,
one should not be judgemental. There is always more to know than one
can know from the outside. - #100 No Agenda For Sunday May 31st 2009
- #101 No Agenda For Wednesday June 3rd 2009
- #102 No Agenda For Sunday June 7th 2009
- #103 No Agenda For Thursday June 11th 2009
IT Conversations
- Bill Coleman - Green Data Center
- John Fowler - Innovation That Drives Opportunity for the Web Infrastructure
Use of open source routines for managing typically proprietary concerns like RAID and such. Good overview and insight on web infrastructure with a view to the future. - David Glazer - Google and OpenSocial: Let's Get This Shindig Started
- John J. Barton - Profiling Dynamic Web Applications with Firebug
This brief podcast demonstrated how Firebug continues to be enhanced and used in innovative and helpful ways. I love Firebug. - Alan Boss - The Crowded Universe
Searching for planets with a new satellite and expecting to find many, too cool. - Michel Bauwens - Middle Way Between Open and Closed
- Chris Messina - DiSo and The Web Citizen: Distributed
Social Networking Starts Here - Tony Hsieh - Building A Brand That Matters
- Jeremy Kemper - Optimizing Performance
Learned about YSlow which sounds like a very cool tool that I can't wait to use. - Episode 55 - StackOverflow
- Mark Callaghan - This is Not a Web App
Running MySQL at Google scale. This was packed full of interesting and deep
details of using MySQL at huge scale. - Mark Baker - REST
- Carl Zimmer - On Ecoli
Software Engineering Radio
- Episode 132: Top 10 Architecture Mistakes with Eoin Woods
Slides at http://www.eoinwoods.info/doc/JAOO2008-Top10Mistakes.pdf
Dot Net Rocks
Accident Hash
Running, Cycling, and Swimming Data
 June 11, 2009: Blythewood, SCRunning | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.23 Miles |
| Time: | 59:52 |
| Heart Rate: | 135 |
| Pace: | 9:36 |
| Weather: | Overcast Temperature-72° Humidity-100% |
| Route | |
| June 10, 2009: Blythewood, SC Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.12 Miles |
| Time: | 57:15 |
| Heart Rate: | 141 |
| Pace: | 9:21 |
| Weather: | Clear Temperature-72° Humidity-100% |
| Route | |
 June 9, 2009: Columbia, SCYMCA Swim | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 400 Yards |
| Time: | 13:11 minutes |
| June 07, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 11.14 Miles |
| Time: | 1:44:40 |
| Heart Rate: | 139 |
| Pace: | 9:23 |
| Weather: | Clear Temperature-69° Humidity-90% |
| Route | |
 June 6, 2009: Birmingham, ALOak Mountain State Park Cycling | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 24 Miles |
| Time: | 1:19:18 |
| Heart Rate: | 134 |
| Speed: | 18.09 mph |
| Weather: | Clear Temperature-74° Humidity-64% |
| Route | |
| June 5, 2009: Atlanta, GA Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.25 Miles |
| Time: | 57:35 |
| Heart Rate: | 142 |
| Pace: | 9:12 |
| Weather: | Overcast Temperature-67° Humidity-97% |
| Route | |
| June 4, 2009: Atlanta, GA Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 7.07 Miles |
| Time: | 1:07:55 |
| Heart Rate: | 147 |
| Pace: | 9:36 |
| Weather: | Mostly cloudy Temperature-70° Humidity-88% |
| Route (looks funny because I got lost) | |
| June 2, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 3 Miles |
| Time: | 29:00 |
| Heart Rate: | 137 |
| Pace: | 9:39 |
| Weather: | Clear Temperature-70° Humidity-84% |
| June 1, 2009: Birmingham, AL YMCA Swim | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 400 Yards |
| Time: | 12 minutes |
| May 31, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 11.14 Miles |
| Time: | 1:45:13 |
| Heart Rate: | 144 |
| Pace: | 9:26 |
| Weather: | Clear Temperature-67° Humidity-87% |
| Route | |
| May 30, 2009: Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain State Park Cycling | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 24 Miles |
| Time: | 1:18:30 |
| Heart Rate: | 142 |
| Speed: | 18.25 mph |
| Weather: | Clear Temperature-72° Humidity-64% |
| Route | |
| May 29, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.21 Miles |
| Time: | 58:28 |
| Heart Rate: | 143 |
| Pace: | 9:24 |
| Weather: | Overcast Temperature-65° Humidity-90% |
| May 28, 2009: Birmingham, AL YMCA Swim | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 400 Yards |
| Time: | 12 minutes |
| May 27, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 8.04 Miles |
| Time: | 1:18:47 |
| Heart Rate: | 141 |
| Pace: | 9:47 |
| Weather: | Overcast Temperature-70° Humidity-88% |
| May 26, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.15 Miles |
| Time: | 1:00:01 |
| Heart Rate: | 141 |
| Pace: | 9:45 |
| Weather: | Overcast Temperature-70° Humidity-94% |
| May 26, 2009: Birmingham, AL YMCA Swim | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 400 Yards |
| Time: | 12 minutes |
| May 22, 2009: Scottsdale, AZ Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.08 Miles |
| Time: | 55:45 |
| Heart Rate: | 149 |
| Pace: | 9:10 |
| Weather: | Light rain Temperature-68° Humidity-84% |
| Route | |
| May 21, 2009: Scottsdale, AZ Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 8.11 Miles |
| Time: | 1:16:02 |
| Heart Rate: | 142 |
| Pace: | 9:22 |
| Weather: | Mostly cloudy Temperature-79° Humidity-45% |
| Route | |
| May 20, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.14 Miles |
| Time: | 56:59 |
| Heart Rate: | 145 |
| Pace: | 9:16 |
| Weather: | Clear Temperature-60° Humidity-53% |
| May 18, 2009: Birmingham, AL YMCA Swim | |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 400 Yards |
| Time: | 12 minutes |
