Heatwave '07, kinda

I don't really think it was a heatwave. It was more of an unusual spike in temperature that caused everyone to be a tad uncomfortable in the Pacific Northwest. For a single day, that is.

So Miranda got to try out her new Dora the explorer sprinkler and she was not at all happy about it. I don't know if Michelle got any pictures but she might have. If she did, I will post them up for all to see. Also decided that I would bring up our Whirlpool Portable Air Conditioner and try it out. Installation was a bear and the instructions were pretty horrible. But once installed, it worked like a charm. A 90lb charm that I had to lug up the stairs.

An attempt on large scale entertainment

How can people do entertaining? If you know, could you tell me? That being said, I think it turned out well. We had (including us) 9 adults and 2 children. I think I made enough food for 30 people though. Food turned out good. I think I was being a little to over critical of my pork tenderloin and ribs. The ribs I had were good, but a little on the chewy side. The sides were mostly store bought and what others could bring along.

So in the past, when we would go to summer family gatherings, I would be stationed at the grill doing the cooking letting who ever wanted to chat with me, swing over. Not to mention it was usually burgers, brats, and dogs so if you wanted it piping hot, or specially cooked, you had to come see me. This time, I was doing much slower cook items. In the smoker, I started 2 3lb pork loins at about 11am which I pulled off the smoker around 3pm. At about noon, I added 2 3lb pork spare ribs. For some reason the ribs caused the smoking process to be inhibited slightly. In the grill, I had 3 additional 3-4lb racks of ribs. These sat on the grill from about 1:30 to 2:30. Side wise, Michelle had me covered since I felt near wits end just trying to balance these large, slow cooking items.

During this time, though I felt less able to talk. I am thinking next time that we try this to go with the old standby of burgers, brats, and dogs (we will include some vegetarian options for those of that inclination). Otherwise, between cleaning, cooking, and tracking a very speedy 1 year old, I felt a tad hurried. I really hope all that could attend, had a good time. I know I really did enjoy the company.

As for Miranda, she was a complete doll. Started a little shy, but slowly opened up and had some fun. Landscaping was done about 3:30pm and looks great. As with all functions, I forgot to take pictures. Sigh.

You think you got it bad. Feel bad for Finland.

Heh!

First of the link to The Great Pyramid of Agile. This article was fairly amusing. Covers many of the issues of good platforms/architectures. Also takes into account that agile allows for many deviations from the original plan (basically an allowable form of scope-creep if you ask me).

As for the cases of failure, the answer is overwhelmingly, "of course it didn’t work; the project didn’t have enough good people."

This is of course followed with:

Good people can build good software no matter what methodology they use.

I think though that one of the things they miss that agile gives you the opportunity to do is fail fast. This is a tremendous advantage in helping predict paths features that customers won't find useful and to also determine when a particular technical path is the wrong way. But knowing this, if you decided you need to scale or need a platform, you are talking now of a major undertaking that won't really fit in the "Agile" world.

So if I were to say what the best software development process would be, I have to say that it has to be something that results in quick iterations for the design and experiment phase which would be followed by a planning process to convert this prototype into something becomes maintainable and meets more rigorous production requirements. Maintainability is key. Along with good documentation.

Halo 3 beta redux

Since I didn't sign an NDA on this I assume we are good talk. Although, I am not one to tempt fate, so I will not be talking in any specifics. Overall, I am having fun. There is little difference between Halo 2 and Halo 3. That is a pretty bad sticking point for someone the folks in my clan that think the graphics are so first gen Microsoft console... Not really a sticking point for me. It is fun and that is what matters.

I would like a better lobby though. It feels not friendly... Not sure how else to describe it. We all show up, and pray that they don't start matchmaking because once the party leader does, then those outside the party have to wait. Not very good. To be honest, I would be willing to wait or better yet just be a spectator on a match. Well, here's to future improvements!

That is what friends are for

It looks like some pictures of me from one of my college plays has surfaced again on the web. In particular, Princess Blogonoke's site is not holding pictures of me playing Virgil from Bus Stop. Although, I never did know that people questioned the moustache.

Most of those pictures bring back excellent memories. Of all that though, I always feel a tad down that I did not take all the plays that I worked with seriously. Whenever I was given leeway with the dialog, I tended to foul it up and move it out of character. So in that sense, it is bittersweet. But there are so many more good memories and thoroughly fun times that I can sometimes forget I said, "I am too busy scratching myself."

Loading Halo 3 Beta

Thank you Bungie.

love, Reverend0

Miranda chilling with Dad

Miranda finally cut a top tooth which puts at a grand total of 3 teeth. She is still whining a bit, so I am wondering if she is cutting another one.

Wil "Freakin'" Wheaton

It looks like Wil Wheaton will be speaking at the Penny Arcade Expo. Maybe I should get him to sign my Wesley Crusher picture a second time. Maybe he will sign it as the evil Wil Wheaton?

Picture of Miranda

Noticed it had been a while since I posted a picture of Miranda...




Basically she has decided that she wants to have her own seat. We were down in the family room, she saw her old bouncy seat and just climbed and sat for a while. We really never put her in it when she was a baby, but now she is interested in it.

Lakeshore takes first in regional Botball competition!!!

I got the call from Jason and John on Saturday telling mention of their win. (I can't link directly to his May 5th post because his site is broken...)

<snip>
Lakeshore BotBall Team Takes Home First Place in Midwest Regionals

First Place in Documentation
First Place in Double-Elimination Competition
Third Place in Seed Round
First Place OVERALL for Midwest Region!!!!!!
</snip>

So it looks like they are headed to nationals!!! Good job Lakeshore.

Pardon the last depressing post

Sometimes things don't go well. Sometimes you get a little run down. I am pretty run down today, but spirits are good. Miranda slept all night long (9 to 4:30) so that is good. Yesterday we stopped by the used bookstore in Kent and I was able to pick up my second out of print book there. The first one I picked up (about 2 months ago) was Destination Void by Frank Herbert which takes an interesting look at the creation of synthetic intelligence. The one I picked up yesterday is more of the pulp variety in The Lost King by Margaret Weis (of Dragonlance series fame). I read it years ago and enjoyed it immensely. It tells the tale of young boy and his hidden kingly heritage. It definitely falls in the Fantasy Science Fiction sub-genre as it is more like Star Wars than anything else.

So besides that Miranda spent some time playing with blocks and flipping through pages of a book. So yesterday was a good day.

I am a bad father...

I let my child cry too long. She threw up. It is all my fault.

Good vs. Dumb

Been thinking of making this a series. But saw two links that I felt fit those categories fairly well. But I will let you be the judge.

Good vs. Dumb

Zero is lonelier than One

I will eventually get around to talking about day 2 of the NFL draft, but I just saw a good article on signal vs. noise about how Trent Reznor is marketing his new album. In general, there has been lots of talk about viral marketing as a good way to cheaply get interest drummed up about a product. To be honest, I really don't think it works. At best, it takes the folks that were already interested in your product and whips them into a fervor. At worst, you get arrested. I think in most cases it just doesn't connect with those that are unfamiliar with your product, to your product. The examples used for NIN about the two websites really show little connection with the product or NIN. This to me is confusing. How can you call that marketing? What that is to me is an extension of the entertainment value of the product.

That said, I will likely pick up the new album. I have listened to it completely on the Year Zero website (for free) and was very happy with what I heard. I would be even happier if I could directly buy the mp3's on the web, which I might, I just have checked.

The other things that Trent is doing in terms of offering of the tracks via GarageBand and no DRM, I think are so pro-consumer that the even those that are not fans should buy in. This feeling for me is only made worse by the fact that the RIAA collects royalties for songs that it doesn't even own that are played on the internet.