July 2005 Entries

So I'm sitting here at work this morning dreading the fact I will be working on the Physical Model to bind them all.  It's a stunning day outside and with the long weekend on us (one of only three each year where we northerners can hope for nice warm weather) I'm itching to be anywhere but here at my desk.  While I was sitting here trying to muster the energy to start being productive (some would say I need much more energy), I caught a glimps of some movement out of the corner of my eye. Floating over the river valley were two hot air balloons.  Occaisionally I see...

Today I heard a good one.  It's right near the end of the day and one of my coworkers (I think we'll call him TheUdderFeller) comes over to Slim and says something along the lines of "I've found a bug but it's not in my code."  Slim, looks at him and asks "What's it doing and where and when?"  TheUdderFeller says something that, to me in my concentrated state, sounds like complete jabberwackey.  Slim then pointed out a couple of possible things to look at and sent TheUdderFeller on his way. A few minutes later TheUdderFeller drops by Slim's desk again and says something about the error not...

After seeing what Rory did, and having a number of ideas for a number of years, I created a line of Igloo wear.

Have you ever had one of those days where an event sucks the will to live out of you? The type where if you got sucked into a toilet you'd flip the world the bird and leave with a smile? Well, today was said day. I had a meeting today that was set up to review the physical data model for the project that I'm on. It's not a big model. Actually it's a lot like Twiggy; lean. I wish it was more top heavy like Elle, but alas it's not. Anyways, back to the meeting. I had scheduled this little soiree for 1 hour as I...

I was out and about the other night after work.  Well, out and about in my own special way.  Fine!  I was walking home after buying groceries and yes, that is out and about. Anyways, back to the main train of thought here.  I was walking home and I inevitably ended up waiting for a street light to change.  So I'm standing there waiting for the little white walking dude to tell me to proceed into traffic at my own risk when this roller blader pulls up beside me.  I may be the Igloo Coder, but I'm not all frigid inside so I notice the nice legs attached...

I've worked in some environments that have tried to use a decentralized development team.  Perhaps it was the way that they were implemented, but none of them ever were successful. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have a team standup meeting first thing in the morning.  Yesterday, Buddy the programmer started the morning with a personal phone call.  He was kind enough to halt the call long enough to partake in the meeting and, upon it's completion, started the call again.  The call lasted at least for 2 hours, perhaps 3.  Today it was the same thing, except there was no meeting to rudely interrupt his phone call.  I...

So I've slowly decided that when people speak of patterns I'm not going to whip out my trusty Butterick Summer Dress cutouts. Instead I'll actually start to move towards these. Sigh.....I never got to make the clam diggers.

Yes, it's shocking, but MS is giving it away like a prom queen at her last dance. SQL Server 2005 Visual Studio 2005 ASP.NET Sigh....if only I could find a girl this morally corruptable. Well, one that doesn't farm sugar beets.....

I'm certainly a proponent of having the team work in a more "intimate" environment, but some days it's just makes it hard to hide and laugh. Yesterday Buddy and Slim had a very animated discussion about one of the coding standards that we are using. To set the stage, let's first realize that we inherited some standards when we all started on this project. They are standards. Rules to follow so that we are consistent. There is not necessarily a right or wrong, there just is the way. So, back to the story. Buddy has...

This is the second post in what I'm sure will become an ongoing serious about Buddy the developer.  Yesterday it was source control being unnecessary.  Today Buddy argued that using the web.config file to store the database connection string unecessarily tied the application to an external file.  Buddy's solution was to use a custom XML file.  Not only that, Buddy decided that he should hardcode the path for the XML file into the app.  Sooooooo......doesn't that method also tie the app to an external file?  Perhaps I'm over analyzing this. I'm really starting to like my mid afternoon task of controlling uncontrollable laughter.

Yesterday I heard on of the funniest things ever. I have a feeling that this will become a regular thing. It's just the way the guy is. He can't help it. He's funny when being serious. So Buddy decides to go to the guy in charge of the development team and archtecture (we'll call him Slim) and states "Having the code in VSS is such a hassle. When someone has a file checked out I can't work on it." Now let me kick back in my chair and think about this logic. Okay, I've thought about it and I can not find a good argument for that...

I just wanted to send out thanks to those people who don't know better.  I'm not supposed to be online in my new apartment until Tuesday afternoon (the phone jacks are just holes in the wall right now).  But, alas I figured that I should set up the 'puter and I'd quickly see what there was for wireless in the new building.  There were four networks and *gasp* one with no security setup.  Now I can surf. Again, thanks to the person in my new building with the network named Laurie (I'll go out on a limb and say that the person is Laurie).  You're a doll.  I owe...

I hope you all are having a great Canada Day today!  For you Yanks, Canada is the big party that we throw on the 1st of July (we just had to be drunk before you lot) where we barby and drink real beer while wearing the red maple leaf. I was out and about in my new neighbour hood today and noticed something that I felt was rather interesting.  I've had many discussions with one of my American friends about how we Canadians percieve Americans as being flag wavers and chest beaters.  He claims that, on average, you don't see the media version of a house with flying the...