Man, I am on a *roll* this week! I think it’s taken me this long to overcome the incredible inertia imposed on me by our build, defect tracking, and release systems, because there are umpteen steps with each that you have to stop and think about. Well, after a year and a half, I finally have enough experience with each that I don’t have to think about them any more. And now, I can think about *coding*! Imagine that!
{ Monthly Archives }
April 2007
Once, long ago, I attempted writing a brief treatise while drunk. I’m sure the file is long lost, and I have a substantial buzz going (one tequila shot and one beer. Sad, huh?) and so here’s another attempt.
Shit, I started this with no idea what I was going to write about. Well, I’ve got a glowering baby on my lap (no risk of dropping him, we’re on a couch buried in cushions and blankets), so I guess I’ll write about him.
This guy is a little shit. He’s spent substantial portions of the afternoon and evening shrieking his head off for no apparent reason. I suppose it’s gas or some such, but it’s very frustrating.
Well, he’s being angelic right now, at least. The worst thing he’s doing is flopping his head onto my typing hand, and as light as his head is, that barely disrupts me. In fact he even just cast me one of those grimaces that can be mistaken for a smile. (There are a couple points I’m certain he’s actually smiled, and no, that’s not just a proud parent talking. Regardless, it’s the most magical moment in existence; this creature that has done nothing but distress and annoy you smiles at you, and suddenly it’s all OK.
Meh, that’s all I have for now. Somehow I doubt this post will seem at all out of the ordinary, except for a total lack of narrative flow. Oh, well.
From baby to kid…
Lenny had a karate “recital” today, where they basically get up on stage and show off for a room full of parents why they’ve been paying $40 a month. It was basically the same routine I’ve caught glimpses of week after week when dropping him off, but getting 15 four-year-olds all doing the same moves at the same time was a pretty impressive feat.
He’d stayed over with his friend Madison the night before, and afterward both families went to lunch at Denny’s. It was kind of a preview of what we were in for the next few years… “No, you two are going to sit on opposite sides of the table.” “There, you have the exact same crayons, now you have nothing to complain about.” Considering their lack of sleep, though, they were cute and well-behaved.
Very mundane, middle-class-family stuff, but of course it’s all novel to me. It was kinda fun, a reminder of my own childhood.
Yeah. something like that.
> From: [my boss]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007
> To: [me]
> Subject: FW: question
>
> Jay, the award program question has arisen again. I know
> you are busy with [project x] and [project y] work. Do you
> have time to look this over and come by to discuss it?
>
> > From: Liz
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007
> > To: [A lot of people, including my boss]
> > Subject: RE: question
> >
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > We’ll need to get some input from our technical team on
> > this one, since it was my understanding that the system
> is
> > set up so that 2005 awards automatically expire on
> December
> > 31, 2006 unless the property is a repeat winner in 2006.
> > Could someone please look into why the 2005 award winners
> > are still displaying award logos on [our].com?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Liz
I fished through my e-mail archive, and dug this out…
> From: Liz
> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
> To: [my boss]
> Cc: [me]; [somebody else]
> Subject: RE: [xxx] Awards Mystery
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> [snip]
>
> If we were to update the business rule for these
> properties, what would the timeline look like for making
> the change (see below)? [snip] I realize this isn’t
> ideal, but it is urgent that we address the issue because
> properties are noticing every time their award logo
> disappears from the site.
>
> The business rules for the 2006 program are:
> [xxx] winners with 2005 dates expire on 12/31/07
> [xxx] winners with 2006 dates expire on 12/31/07
> [yyy] winners with 2005 dates expire on 12/31/07
> [yyy] winners with 2006 dates expire on 12/31/07
> Please let me know how you think it would be best to
> proceed.
>
> Thanks,
> Liz
Released my first Ruby app last night…
http://code.google.com/p/itunes-control/
…it’s just a simple command line controller for Windows iTunes, but the groundwork is laid for much cooler stuff. After jumping through some hoops I was able to make it a standalone app (no Ruby installation required), in addition to an ordinary Ruby gem. Future releases will likely have installers for Mac, Linux, and Windows alike, with no additional switch-flipping on my part.
Did anyone ever actually *try* to build an app with JAX-RPC before it was unleashed on an unsuspecting world? You wouldn’t believe the contortions I have to go through to do a simple thing like altering SOAP headers.
I desperately want to switch to the newer JAX-WS, but that framework no longer allows the message format that our vendor wants. (Yeah, there’s a good sign.)
*&*&$&%*&*%*&*&$&%*&*%*&*&$&%*&*!!!!!
You’ve probably seen “purewhitenoise.com - Distant Thunder” as my currently playing music a few times… it’s simply an hour-long recording of a thunderstorm. I have it set up to loop on my MP3 player, and I listen to it through the most soundproof earbuds I can find, for my entire workday.
Do you know why I go to such lengths to block out external noise? I mean, aside from the constant blabbing emitting from my neighboring cubicles? I’ll tell you:
CornNuts.
There is a lady a couple cubes over. She meets the Webster’s definition of “cat lady”: single, probably always will be, owns multiple cats, and likes to bore people with stories about them. And aside from constantly coughing like she’s going to die tomorrow, she chews CornNuts. She does so loudly (for there is no other way to consume something so crunchy, except maybe swallowing them whole).
So in addition to the yammering, coughing, and banging of drawers by my neighbor (who I think takes his aggression out on his furniture so he doesn’t go postal, but that’s another post), I get to listen to loud chewing noises all day. This is not a recent development; she’s been grinding away on these things for the year and a half I’ve worked here, probably longer.
What I *really* want is a ban on open-plan offices, but failing that, I would settle on a ban on CornNuts. I’d just ask her to stop, but I’m afraid I’d look crazy.
Maybe I am crazy. But it’s the CornNuts that made me that way.
Guess when we re-implemented this process in JAX-RPC.
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2003-06-25
record [Update successful.]
[Thousands of succesful updates snipped.]
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-18
record [Update successful.]
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-19
record
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-19
record No action found for property ‘NOYB’
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-19
record Unknown record type: ‘airport’
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-27
record Couldn’t create SOAP message factory due to exception: javax.xml.so
ap.SOAPException: Unable to create message factory for SOAP: Provid
er org.apache.axis.soap.MessageFactoryImpl not found; nested except
ion is:
Couldn’t create SOAP message factory due to exception: ja
vax.xml.soap.SOAPException: Unable to create message factory for SO
AP: Provider org.apache.axis.soap.MessageFactoryImpl not found
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-27
record java.net.URL
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-27
record HTTP transport error: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
: connect; nested exception is:
HTTP transport error: java.net.Co
nnectException: Connection refused: connect
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-03-30
record HTTP transport error: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.secu
rity.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.s
ecurity.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to fi
nd valid certification path to requested target; nested exception i
s:
HTTP transport error: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun
.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed:
sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable
to find valid certification path to requested target
…
prop NOYB
sent_dtime 2007-04-05
record JAXRPC.TIE.04: Internal Server Error (JAXRPCTIE01: caught exception
while handling request: javax.xml.rpc.JAXRPCException: SOAP Header
element not found.)
…And I *still* don’t have the connection working. All this is in the dev environment, at least. Gods help me if it went to production like this.
To Do…
-Reach the top 10 on FreshMeat/SourceForge.
-Give a talk at OSCON.
-Get a book published by O’Reilly.
-Have at least 10 developers ask for autographs of said book.
-Have lunch with Yukihiro Matsumoto.
…At least, that’s the current plan.
