Google does most things well, but a couple things really irk me when searching. For example, when I search for something like:
http://www.google.com/search?q=hashmap
... I'm expecting javadocs for the HashMap class. It's not like it has any trouble figuring that out - it has long since found the relevant javadocs. The problem is that it finds the wrong version. I mean, how many people are looking for javadocs for a JDK that has entered the end of its service life? When I do such a query, I expect the latest javadocs to appear. I mean, with all the collective google genius, it's hard to believe they can't figure out logic to rank the more recent of two "like" resources higher - popularity isn't everything after all.
The other annoyance at the moment is not really google's fault but they're the application that I'll blame anyway. I search for something and a result looks really relevant. Clicking on it leads me to a "Sign in to see the answer..." page. A site named experts-exchange.com is typical of just this sort of rude net-unfriendly behavior. I don't want to see any results for such bad web citizens. It's annoying. I don't care if they have an expert going to personally answer my question, I don't like it one bit.
So, what to do? It was searching for a filtering mechanism for this later problem that led me to stumble on Google Custom Search where one can create and customize their own search engine. Using it, led to curing both ills. I very quickly created my own developer friendly search engine wherein recent javadocs are ranked higher and bad citizens are excluded. Problem solved.
Google creates annoyances, and google provides a toolbox to fix them... nice work.
Now, if I could get you to quit goofing off with useless stuff like this and focus on getting Picasa for the Mac ... Please....
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Darth Vader Pumpkin
This evening we finally carved out some time to work on John's pumpkin - carved out time, get it? The hardest part of doing his pumpkin was decided what to do. He went from Spiderman and Batman to Bumblebee (a transformer) before finally settling in on Darth Vader. Fortunately for him, Becca got me some cool new carving tools from the craft store. They're intended use is clay, but they work well on the overgrown squash too.
And with the lights out...
Carving pumpkins directly, using the depth of flesh to manage light is a whole new experience for me. In many ways, its actually easier than typical carving, in that, typically for a reasonably complex pumpkin design you have to think in the "negative" to figure out what an "outline" going to look like in the end. By carving a full design directly in the pumpkin and using flesh-depth to manage the light, you can know what it's going to look like at all times by carving with a light in it and a dimly lit room. Darth was my first experience with this style of carving, motivated mostly by a Food Network Challenge. I'm already thinking about what we can do for next year's squash.
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| From Darth Vader Pumpkin |
And with the lights out...
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| From Darth Vader Pumpkin |
Carving pumpkins directly, using the depth of flesh to manage light is a whole new experience for me. In many ways, its actually easier than typical carving, in that, typically for a reasonably complex pumpkin design you have to think in the "negative" to figure out what an "outline" going to look like in the end. By carving a full design directly in the pumpkin and using flesh-depth to manage the light, you can know what it's going to look like at all times by carving with a light in it and a dimly lit room. Darth was my first experience with this style of carving, motivated mostly by a Food Network Challenge. I'm already thinking about what we can do for next year's squash.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Princess Pumpkin
Today we carved one of our pumpkins. John and I mainly. Grace saw the yukiness of the inside and was inclined to stay away - even though this particular orange squash was to be hers. In any case, John and I dutifully operated on it carefully cleaning its insides...
There's something really fun about squeezing that goopy mess between your fingers...
And after an hour or so with knives, files, drill bits, and a drywall saw, we end up with our princess pumpkin.
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| From Princess Pumpkin |
There's something really fun about squeezing that goopy mess between your fingers...
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| From Princess Pumpkin |
And after an hour or so with knives, files, drill bits, and a drywall saw, we end up with our princess pumpkin.
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| From Princess Pumpkin |
Pumpkin Pickin
There's an orchard to our west having fresh apples and a genuine pumpkin patch so the kids and I ventured there yesterday. After a couple years searching for our pumpkin at a local farm stand where loads of gorgeous pumpkins lay piled up on hay bales, I decided this year we should have the real experience. It's not that the pumpkin selection at the farm stand aren't great - they are, in fact, near perfect. There's something about romping in the real pumpkin patch in search of the perfect plump squash though. The pumpkin patch is just down the road from the orchard run by the same farmers. Upon arriving, John selected a solid Radio Flyer to accompany us on our venture.
Grace served the Pumpkin Pickin team as the Chief Pumpkin Inspector, carefully inspecting each stem for the proper curvature.
And, of course, you never know what villains might lurk in the local pumpkin patch so John prepared for the worst by practicing his super hero stance - maintaining the tightest grip on the Flyer all the while.
Occasionally, you just need to get down and check out the pumpkin vines themselves.
So many pumpkins, which one should we choose?
Pumpkin selected... and tired...
... so we head next door to the apple orchard, where the apples were freshly picked and the caramel was warm...
And of course they were yummy...
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
And of course they were yummy...
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| From Pumpkin Patch Pickin 2008 |
Friday, July 18, 2008
Summer Camping
John and I went camping and fishing at Burke Lake Park last Saturday/Sunday. He packed his backpack and sleeping bag and was well-prepared for the adventure.
We went to the sporting goods store and got him and I fishing poles and him a headlamp. He was pretty excited to have a headlamp just like mine (except his is brighter:).
Burke Lake is nice because it has a nice little train ride and a carousel right in the middle of the woods. I think both of us really enjoyed the train which went nearly roller-coaster fast. Next time, he'll ride the carousel solo though.
After making camp and riding the train and such, it was time for dinner. I brought the portable grill to make things easier and kept it simple with dogs and chips. John approved.
And of course, no evening camping would be complete without some s'mores.
I don't think John's quite ready for ghost stories by the campfire so we opted instead for silly faces into the camera while we're both wearing our headlamps.
I've got to say that I was reluctant to spend the extra money on the Weber Baby-Q but am now glad I did. It's proven itself with dogs, burgers, etc., but baking cinnamon rolls to perfection definitely makes it worth it.
They were *really* good too...
Unfortunately, the fishing part of the trip didn't go quite so smoothly. I went into the sporting goods store intending to get a cheap Zebco 404 because that's really all I've known. I think the guy in the fishing department must have thought it'd be funny to make me look like a complete idiot in front of my kid or something since he recommended an open real combo deal. Anyway, John and I get out there and he's happily fishing away with his new Superman fishing pole...
... while I'm in the background desperately trying to figure out how my reel works. It turns out the guy who put the line on got some wound up in the gear on the inside so I had to take it apart and clear the gear out, rewind a bunch of line, then spend another 10 minutes figuring out how to cast the silly thing. Meanwhile, John is looking back saying, "Daddy, why don't you just do it like me?".
Unfortunately, no fish were caught that day or the next morning but I caught part of someone else's fishing pole.
We both had a blast and are looking forward to taking the girls out and teaching them how to go camping like the big boys do.
We went to the sporting goods store and got him and I fishing poles and him a headlamp. He was pretty excited to have a headlamp just like mine (except his is brighter:).
Burke Lake is nice because it has a nice little train ride and a carousel right in the middle of the woods. I think both of us really enjoyed the train which went nearly roller-coaster fast. Next time, he'll ride the carousel solo though.
After making camp and riding the train and such, it was time for dinner. I brought the portable grill to make things easier and kept it simple with dogs and chips. John approved.
And of course, no evening camping would be complete without some s'mores.
I don't think John's quite ready for ghost stories by the campfire so we opted instead for silly faces into the camera while we're both wearing our headlamps.
I've got to say that I was reluctant to spend the extra money on the Weber Baby-Q but am now glad I did. It's proven itself with dogs, burgers, etc., but baking cinnamon rolls to perfection definitely makes it worth it.
They were *really* good too...
Unfortunately, the fishing part of the trip didn't go quite so smoothly. I went into the sporting goods store intending to get a cheap Zebco 404 because that's really all I've known. I think the guy in the fishing department must have thought it'd be funny to make me look like a complete idiot in front of my kid or something since he recommended an open real combo deal. Anyway, John and I get out there and he's happily fishing away with his new Superman fishing pole...
... while I'm in the background desperately trying to figure out how my reel works. It turns out the guy who put the line on got some wound up in the gear on the inside so I had to take it apart and clear the gear out, rewind a bunch of line, then spend another 10 minutes figuring out how to cast the silly thing. Meanwhile, John is looking back saying, "Daddy, why don't you just do it like me?".
Unfortunately, no fish were caught that day or the next morning but I caught part of someone else's fishing pole.
We both had a blast and are looking forward to taking the girls out and teaching them how to go camping like the big boys do.
Bean planting
Rebecca and I rode up to our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm last Saturday to help out a little. I love that we can get great quality organic produce picked the same day at prices that are at or below the supermarket. The idea is that we share the risk and reward with the local farmer - if it's a good season, we're all happy, if it's tough season, then the farmer is guaranteed income anyway. There's also the invaluable benefit of supporting a good hardworking local farmer too.
The idea of a CSA is that the community also comes out to the farm during the season to help out with the farm work. This serves several functions: it helps build the relationship with the farmer, it helps lower labor costs, and it helps us appreciate and be mindful of all the work going into putting food on our table.
Anyway, as I was saying, Rebecca and I went out Friday to help out. The job of the day was bean planting. It's amazing to me how much more thought and science goes into organic farming. I mean, with a chemical enhanced farm, you could just throw some seeds in the ground and compensate for soil quality by spraying. With organic farming, it's critical to factor in how you might inject nutrients into all phases of the growing cycle. With our beans for example, prior to putting them in the ground, we had to coat them with a thick sticky syrup (Yucca extract, I think) that will allow them to produce their own nitrogen and ultimately lead to a more productive crop. Of course, the downside is that it makes planting slow and difficult - imagine molasses covered seeds.
Farmer Allen has a cow down right now too. During the birthing process, it pinched a nerve causing its hind legs to be temporarily paralyzed. He thinks they're no longer paralyzed and that it's just afraid to try now so in the meantime, he's having to flip the cow over a couple times a day and give it physical therapy. We walked over to the pasture to help flip it over too. First time either of us has been cow-flipping.
All and all, it was an interesting experience. Now that we know what to expect, I'm hoping we can get out there with the kids a few times this season too. Rebecca and I were also hot after working for a few hours and needed a way to cool down. The farm is enticingly close to the Shenandoah River, so we found a tube rental place and took a couple hour lazy float down the river. It was a nice compensation for our earlier farm work:)
The idea of a CSA is that the community also comes out to the farm during the season to help out with the farm work. This serves several functions: it helps build the relationship with the farmer, it helps lower labor costs, and it helps us appreciate and be mindful of all the work going into putting food on our table.
Anyway, as I was saying, Rebecca and I went out Friday to help out. The job of the day was bean planting. It's amazing to me how much more thought and science goes into organic farming. I mean, with a chemical enhanced farm, you could just throw some seeds in the ground and compensate for soil quality by spraying. With organic farming, it's critical to factor in how you might inject nutrients into all phases of the growing cycle. With our beans for example, prior to putting them in the ground, we had to coat them with a thick sticky syrup (Yucca extract, I think) that will allow them to produce their own nitrogen and ultimately lead to a more productive crop. Of course, the downside is that it makes planting slow and difficult - imagine molasses covered seeds.
Farmer Allen has a cow down right now too. During the birthing process, it pinched a nerve causing its hind legs to be temporarily paralyzed. He thinks they're no longer paralyzed and that it's just afraid to try now so in the meantime, he's having to flip the cow over a couple times a day and give it physical therapy. We walked over to the pasture to help flip it over too. First time either of us has been cow-flipping.
All and all, it was an interesting experience. Now that we know what to expect, I'm hoping we can get out there with the kids a few times this season too. Rebecca and I were also hot after working for a few hours and needed a way to cool down. The farm is enticingly close to the Shenandoah River, so we found a tube rental place and took a couple hour lazy float down the river. It was a nice compensation for our earlier farm work:)
Friday, June 20, 2008
Axis2 and Rampart troubles
Trying to deploy the rampart-1.4.mar module within Axis2? You created
the axis2.war file using by changing to the webapps directory and
using the create.war ant task. It would seem that the Rampart people
didn't communicate with the Axis people the dependency on
'axis2-codegen-1.4.jar' for they explicitly exclude it in the
create.war ant task! Copy the previously mentioned jar file into the
WEB-INF\lib directory.
the axis2.war file using by changing to the webapps directory and
using the create.war ant task. It would seem that the Rampart people
didn't communicate with the Axis people the dependency on
'axis2-codegen-1.4.jar' for they explicitly exclude it in the
create.war ant task! Copy the previously mentioned jar file into the
WEB-INF\lib directory.
[ERROR] The rampart-1.4.mar module, which is not valid, caused
org/apache/axis2/wsdl/codegen/extension/ModulePolicyExtension
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:
org/apache/axis2/wsdl/codegen/extension/ModulePolicyExtension
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:620)
Someone apparently thinks its been fixed since the issue[1] has been
closed. One of us is doing something wrong I reckon.
Friday, June 06, 2008
First update
So we left out around 7 this morning heading west on 50. So far the
weather has been decent but just as we stopped for lunch here in
Huntington, WV its started to really heat up. The Ohio River Byway was
nice in parts - wasn't all that I'd hoped for though. We doing good on
time and will probably make the side trip Jenny Wile Park. Current
plan has us camping tonight in Breaks Interstate Park.
weather has been decent but just as we stopped for lunch here in
Huntington, WV its started to really heat up. The Ohio River Byway was
nice in parts - wasn't all that I'd hoped for though. We doing good on
time and will probably make the side trip Jenny Wile Park. Current
plan has us camping tonight in Breaks Interstate Park.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Preparations for a foul economy
So the state of our economy is a common topic around our house. Rebecca and I frequently talk about how bad it could get. For more than 5 years we've been saying that the irrational rise in housing prices and fascination with personal debt can only lead to one huge mess. We've been continually baffled that average people like us see this mess while economic experts are convinced it's somehow limited to the sub-prime market and worried about some artificial technical statistic that would indicate a recession. 
Anyway, I reckon an argument for how ugly this might get is a topic for another entry. This entry was meant to let everyone know that we are prepared - well, John is prepared anyway. Upon finding the right sized cavity, he enjoys attempting sleep.
Seriously, we're hoping that it's more a boy's fascination with doing weird stuff than an appreciation for where poor economic conditions could lead. In any case, Rebecca and I are boosting our savings so that we can afford larger, perhaps even wax-coated, boxes for everyone...
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
The plan
The current plan has us leaving San Francisco Saturday morning - after
one last trip through Little Italy for an espresso and pastries. We
head up to Napa Saturday and down to Yosemite Sunday. Then we'll
spend one last night in Fisherman's Wharf before flying out Sunday.
one last trip through Little Italy for an espresso and pastries. We
head up to Napa Saturday and down to Yosemite Sunday. Then we'll
spend one last night in Fisherman's Wharf before flying out Sunday.
I think the kids are enjoying the experience so far. Me and John were
the only ones capable of finishing our Ghiradelli Sunday. I think
we've earned a second trip to the ice cream shop but I'm not sure if
we're going to bring the girls since they had such a pitiful ice-cream
eating performance.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Eating well...
After starting the day eating an over priced hotel breakfast, we
headed to North Beach or "Little Italy". Leave it to me to drool over
tons of Italian pastries and settle on an apple fritter - not my
proudest moment. We then found a well-respected local cafe, Cafe
Trieste, where I enjoyed an excellent double espresso.
headed to North Beach or "Little Italy". Leave it to me to drool over
tons of Italian pastries and settle on an apple fritter - not my
proudest moment. We then found a well-respected local cafe, Cafe
Trieste, where I enjoyed an excellent double espresso.
After the coffee it became clear that we needed a stroller- ok, Becca
was right we should have packed the McLearen. So Becca took the kids
to the play-park while I walked through China Town in search of a
stroller. Proudly returning with my prize, I quickly learned Becca
had a double stroller in mind. Oh well, tomorrow.
From Italia, we took the Muni downtown to get me a fleece - its quite
a bit cooler than I expected.
After picking up the fleece, we headed to Pier 39 via the old style
cable car.. We saw tons of seals hanging out and even got to see one
rather rude seal pushing the other off into the water. I suspect
Becca and I were more excited about the seals than either of the kids.
After the seals we went into Pier 39 proper, where I had the good
fortune of helping a guy mount a six foot unicycle - I know, weird
huh? We couldn't miss out on an opportunity to make the parents dizzy
so we took a spin on the carousel.
Leaving the pier, we dined at Rainforest Cafe which we were familiar
with from Virginia but ours has closed down before the kids ever
experienced it.
We now sit tired in the hotel and debating whether a Ghiradelli ice
cream sundae is doable.
By the way, we got some cupcakes last night from karascupcakes and
they were phenominal. Becca went through a cupcake kick about a year
or so ago where we tried many different bakeries and they were all
only ok. Katas was great. The staff seemed to downplay the vanilla,
but knowing the challenges of making a really good and moist vanilla
cake, I think it was my favorite.
As far as the bridge, I'll let you know when the fog lifts or we get
closer to it. We're thinking about doing a fire engine tour tomorrow
which would get us close enough to appreciate it.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Mediocre eating...
Freshly arrived from a long flight,we were hungry and didn't want to
overthink the selection. So we picked pretty much the first sit down
restaurant we saw. Well, turns out we were sort of tricked into going
into the restaurant next door, Nonni Rose's, which was only alright
and that's being pretty generous. The bread was sub-par for San
francisco. The chowder was decent - everything else, not so much.
overthink the selection. So we picked pretty much the first sit down
restaurant we saw. Well, turns out we were sort of tricked into going
into the restaurant next door, Nonni Rose's, which was only alright
and that's being pretty generous. The bread was sub-par for San
francisco. The chowder was decent - everything else, not so much.
We're staying at the Holiday Inn, which we got for a ridiculously
cheap $89 - thanks Hotwire.com. The hotel is clean, decent, and
perfectly located. Highly recommended basically for being good in a
great location.
Virgin America
I'm impressed. I wasn't enthusiastic when Becca booked our flight on
Virgin America but am now pleasantly surprised. The coolness:
- media players in all seats with pretty good tv stations
- comfortable seats
- reasonably sized restrooms
- reasonable legroom
- flight crew seems genuinely happy to be onboard helping out. A huge
change from the bitterness I've experienced from other airlines' crew.
Virgin America but am now pleasantly surprised. The coolness:
- media players in all seats with pretty good tv stations
- comfortable seats
- reasonably sized restrooms
- reasonable legroom
- flight crew seems genuinely happy to be onboard helping out. A huge
change from the bitterness I've experienced from other airlines' crew.
The negatives:
- headphones are terrible. Sound was great from my iPod headphones
though.
Very enjoyable, good work Becca!
Sent from my iPod
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Taxing Fast Food
I never thought I'd actually say I'm supportive of a new tax, but here
it is, I think taxing fast-food might be a brilliant idea.
it is, I think taxing fast-food might be a brilliant idea.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
NJ Gas Pumping Safey
The transition to the new job was bittersweet - I'm going to miss the folks I worked with even as I look forward to the new challenges. To celebrate the past/future job situation, Rebecca surprised me on my last day with a trip to New York to see Cyrano de Bergerac. I'll try to write about that trip later, but the New Jersey gas pumping situation was so ironic that I felt compelled to write about it first.
Now, I'd seen him before walking around the line of cars, directing traffic etc. By his actions and the clipboard in his hand I assume he must be some sort of supervisor - presumably responsible for the smooth operation and safety of the gas pumps. Wait a minute, he's actually going to pump the gas too? 
Now, we've driven to New York across the turnpike a few times and I've always found it strange that I couldn't pump my own gas. So, this trip was no exception, we needed to fuel up on one of those service exits on the turnpike. While I was waiting in line - and Becca retrieved the Starbucks - I notice this fine fellow helping out.
What a good supervisor - helping out when things get really busy.
Now, I should pause a minute to give my understanding of the insanity that disallows people from pumping their own petrol. I have assumed all along that it is for our own safety. To protect us from ourselves. I supposed perhaps it could be just to employ more people so I figured I'd look it up. It turns out Yahoo Ask, agrees with me:
The ban on self-service gas stations is a highly combustible issue and makes for some heated debates. New Jersey passed the law making it illegal to pump your own gas in 1949. At the time, legislators felt it was too dangerous to have untrained people dispensing such a flammable liquid.Having said all this, let's take a closer look at the photo:
Ok, not the best photograph, but you can probably tell - it's a cigar. To be fair to the gentleman, I never actually saw him smoke it. Now each trip I live by the rules and let the clowns pump gas for me; making me feel about the same as I would in asking another man for directions. I understand that I may not be the safest person at the gas pump - heck, I don't touch metal prior to grabbing the pump to remove the static electricity - but I can do much better than this apparent supervisor. I'd really love to make a bold statement banning New Jersey from my future travel plans on principle but, unfortunately, it's the only reasonable way to get from D.C. to N.Y.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Taste tester extraordinaire
So I frequently get asked about "kid stories" and never come up with anything. It's not that they aren't doing funny/cute/adorable stuff all the time; it's that I'm not sharp enough to remember any of it. Occasionally, I'll even think about writing it down but then think - hey, there's no way I'm going to forget that. So, some small tid-bits of the day:
- I was baking a carrot cake for dessert tomorrow and Grace was my little helper. She stirred the dry ingredients for me as I creamed and mixed the wet. Every ingredient we'd add (cinnamon, flour, freshly ground nutmeg, etc.) she'd stop me and say, "taste." I now know to just offer a taste of all ingredients prior to adding them. When it came time to do the cream cheese frosting I was tweaking it a little because I wanted the cream cheese to be more apparent than the sweet. So each time I'd stop the mixer while I was making it she'd yell "Taste test" (I'm fairly confident where she got that from). Then after a while, as if sensing it was about to end - she would say "one more taste test".
- After working hard at the carrot cake, Grace and I sat down on the sofa - each with a little bag of Dorittos (her with Cool Ranch and me with Nacho). I was tired and not paying much attention apparently. She was eating out of my bag - "tasting" them I suppose. It's been a while since I've had a Cool Ranch dorrito so after mine were gone I reach over and grabbed one of hers. It tasted funny, bland really. I tried another. Same thing. Then I sat back and watched her "eat" her doritto. Her process involved sticking the doritto in her mouth, sucking off all the flavor and sticking it back in the bag. I love Grace, but I doubt we'll be sharing a bag of chips any time soon.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
iMac
One of the annoying bits of leaving a job is leaving behind a laptop that has accumulated mass amounts of data. I've spent a good amount of time this weekend sifting through what's mine/what's not and transferring to the new machine.
The good news is that the new machine is a beautiful new 24" iMac. I've wanted one for years but could never really justify the purchase for myself and Becca didn't want one as her computer. I purchased it through Amazon which allowed me to skip out on some hefty sales tax and overnight it for $3.99 (I love Amazon Prime).
The only semi-challenging part so far is getting a proper development environment set up. I've long used TortoiseSVN for version control with Forrest and I'm going to miss it for sure. I immediately began the hunt for a mac replacement for it. It didn't take long to turn up SCPlugin which hooks right into Finder. I had only one last hurdle to clear in using it. I attempted to check out the Apache Forrest trunk and immediately got a PROPFIND error:
After poking around a while, it seems you need to use the command line svn client (included in Leopard) to make an initial connection to the Subversion server to let it know that you trust the certificate (e.g. "svn ls https://somelocation/path" then, when prompted, type "p" to permanently accept it). Why SCPlugin couldn't simply do that for me? I haven't a clue but whatever. It's a small nit.
Ok, as I write this I realize there were some other challenges as well:
The good news is that the new machine is a beautiful new 24" iMac. I've wanted one for years but could never really justify the purchase for myself and Becca didn't want one as her computer. I purchased it through Amazon which allowed me to skip out on some hefty sales tax and overnight it for $3.99 (I love Amazon Prime).
The only semi-challenging part so far is getting a proper development environment set up. I've long used TortoiseSVN for version control with Forrest and I'm going to miss it for sure. I immediately began the hunt for a mac replacement for it. It didn't take long to turn up SCPlugin which hooks right into Finder. I had only one last hurdle to clear in using it. I attempted to check out the Apache Forrest trunk and immediately got a PROPFIND error:
PROPFIND of '/repos/asf/forrest/trunk': Server certificate verification failed: issuer is not trusted (https://svn.apache.org)
After poking around a while, it seems you need to use the command line svn client (included in Leopard) to make an initial connection to the Subversion server to let it know that you trust the certificate (e.g. "svn ls https://somelocation/path" then, when prompted, type "p" to permanently accept it). Why SCPlugin couldn't simply do that for me? I haven't a clue but whatever. It's a small nit.
Ok, as I write this I realize there were some other challenges as well:
- Quicken. I was a Quicken user on Windows and it's not exactly easy to convert the data to Quicken for Mac. It's odd that Quicken's internal data format is different for different operating systems. It's even more odd that they seem unable to create a loss-less conversion from one format to the other. Fortunately, they have at least documented the quirkiness.
- Picasa. This, I will miss. I've been a huge fan of all things Google but Picasa has to be one of my favorite. Folks seem to think iPhoto will fill the void but so far I have found it unsatisfying. No more simple enhancements. No more geo-tagging. Oh well.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Heading toward unemployment
It's true, beginning December 22d, I'll be officially unemployed. Assuming all goes according to plan, I'll remain in this state for four whole days. I've resigned from my current employer effective 21 December and will start the new one 26 December. I've had a good time over the past 6 years, worked with some great people and learned a lot. Now the time has come to move on and have a new experience. I'm heading to a small (~12 folks) company and suspect I'm going to like it.
Housing update
Well... it's been a while and most know the status of things but just in case...
We were excited about the house and agreed upon price. Then we let our trusty home inspector loose on the place and, well, he inspected really well. While he spoke really well of the double masonry construction of the place, he found the dreaded termites. I think we would likely have been able to overcome the termites with some treatment but it turns out there were also issues with the drainage, basement dampness, and roof fungus.
Given the issues and the seller's unwillingness to adequately compensate us for them, we decide the best thing to do was sign a release based on our inspection contingency.
We also briefly toyed with the idea of just moving into something safe in South Riding but quickly abandoned that idea and will eventually continue pursuing something in Arlington or Alexandria.
For now, we're going to decorate the rental townhouse properly and relax and enjoy the holiday season. We'll begin the search again next year with a keen eye on the poor state of this economy - assuming we're not in an all-out recession by then, in which case, we'll hold off indefinitely:)
We were excited about the house and agreed upon price. Then we let our trusty home inspector loose on the place and, well, he inspected really well. While he spoke really well of the double masonry construction of the place, he found the dreaded termites. I think we would likely have been able to overcome the termites with some treatment but it turns out there were also issues with the drainage, basement dampness, and roof fungus.
Given the issues and the seller's unwillingness to adequately compensate us for them, we decide the best thing to do was sign a release based on our inspection contingency.
We also briefly toyed with the idea of just moving into something safe in South Riding but quickly abandoned that idea and will eventually continue pursuing something in Arlington or Alexandria.
For now, we're going to decorate the rental townhouse properly and relax and enjoy the holiday season. We'll begin the search again next year with a keen eye on the poor state of this economy - assuming we're not in an all-out recession by then, in which case, we'll hold off indefinitely:)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Determination
It's been rare lately to see Rebecca as unwavering, resolute, and determined as she has of late. She's nothing short of marvelous when in that "mode." A real site to behold. I simply sit back and watch her work - like a skilled craftsman whittling fine details in some hand-crafted furniture - confident in every movement and knowing precisely what the next will be.
Least that's the way it seems from the peanut gallery - I was eaves-dropping while taking care of the kids.
It started Sunday when we decided to go take a look at a couple open houses. First on the list was a small Cape Cod in N. Arlington. This house, it turns out, was great but it was located alongside a fairly large street - making peace and quiet virtually impossible outside the walls of the house. On the way to the next stop we saw some FSBO properties where a guy named Wayne, it turns out, apparently owns or has owned the majority of houses in northern South Arlington. We've never really considered south Arlington because of the schools but these are really nice locations - unfortunately we found out after going inside that they were only two bedrooms.
After that short detour, we were at our next stop - a bit of a whim - in the City of Alexandria. We haven't really been looking in Alexandria either - again because of the schools - but decided to take a look at this one for various reasons. The house was well done on the inside and the kitchen totally renovated. It's a 1939 colonial just behind the Masonic Temple and it's gorgeous. Street's nice, house is nice, back yard is nice, basement is nice. From the house, we strolled across the deck and into the backyard where we were able to find some privacy to discuss what we'd seen so far. I told her I really liked it. Becca looked at me with a look unique to her and said, "I want this house." I looked back and smiling (half-chuckle) said "yeah, me too." She then looked back with an even more serious Becca look and said, "no, I mean I *really* want this house. I'll do what it takes, this is our house."
That kicked her into a mode I haven't witnessed in a while. Total focus. Total determination. She came home and spent the better part of the night wheeling and dealing. Going over the contract. Writing a depressingly large check. Waking up loan officers to generate a pre-approval letter to make the offer stronger. Will we end up with this house? I don't yet know, seems like the seller is a bit stubborn so far, but he may have just met his match in the captain of our team;)
** Just to be clear in case this entry leads to a different perception - we are very equal in our desire for the house.
Least that's the way it seems from the peanut gallery - I was eaves-dropping while taking care of the kids.
It started Sunday when we decided to go take a look at a couple open houses. First on the list was a small Cape Cod in N. Arlington. This house, it turns out, was great but it was located alongside a fairly large street - making peace and quiet virtually impossible outside the walls of the house. On the way to the next stop we saw some FSBO properties where a guy named Wayne, it turns out, apparently owns or has owned the majority of houses in northern South Arlington. We've never really considered south Arlington because of the schools but these are really nice locations - unfortunately we found out after going inside that they were only two bedrooms.
After that short detour, we were at our next stop - a bit of a whim - in the City of Alexandria. We haven't really been looking in Alexandria either - again because of the schools - but decided to take a look at this one for various reasons. The house was well done on the inside and the kitchen totally renovated. It's a 1939 colonial just behind the Masonic Temple and it's gorgeous. Street's nice, house is nice, back yard is nice, basement is nice. From the house, we strolled across the deck and into the backyard where we were able to find some privacy to discuss what we'd seen so far. I told her I really liked it. Becca looked at me with a look unique to her and said, "I want this house." I looked back and smiling (half-chuckle) said "yeah, me too." She then looked back with an even more serious Becca look and said, "no, I mean I *really* want this house. I'll do what it takes, this is our house."
That kicked her into a mode I haven't witnessed in a while. Total focus. Total determination. She came home and spent the better part of the night wheeling and dealing. Going over the contract. Writing a depressingly large check. Waking up loan officers to generate a pre-approval letter to make the offer stronger. Will we end up with this house? I don't yet know, seems like the seller is a bit stubborn so far, but he may have just met his match in the captain of our team;)
** Just to be clear in case this entry leads to a different perception - we are very equal in our desire for the house.
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