This year's "Summer of Biking" kicked off unofficially this weekend and I could not be happier about the results.
While the official kick-off to my regular biking schedule is in two weeks, two days of fantastic summer-like weather allowed me to put 31.6 miles on my bike this weekend.
Saturday was off to a rough start. My bike came out of storage this week but suffered from some mechanical problems which I addressed with the help of YouTube. After the necessary repairs, I set out on my first ride, which took me along my favorite route from 2011: through downtown Perrysburg, over the Maumee River, through Side Cut Metropark, down River Road, over U.S. 24, and out to Fallen Timbers Mall. Fourteen miles in total, round trip. I ended the ride just as I did many others last year: at O-Deer Diner in downtown Perrysburg. For me, yesterday was a huge reminder of just how awesome 2011 was.
I ended the day with a second, shorter bike ride in Bowling Green and ultimately ended the night with video games and the entire second season of "The Walking Dead." Oh yeah, fantastic show. Enough said.
Today started with more biking, a relatively-short 12-mile jaunt through Side Cut again. All told, I pushed enough miles this weekend to get me on the right track to a healthy, prosperous 2012.
B3 out.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Monster Is Coming
Well I was not expecting this: two new computers are coming into my life. It is like the birth of twins when you were expecting (and budgeting) for one child.
At the beginning of this year I decided to dump my aging Ubuntu web server and go all-in for a proper Windows-based web server. I certainly want to continue learning Linux to include in my toolbox of skills, but I feel like I would develop and deploy application and websites faster in a Windows environment.
There is no way I could install Windows on my current server box, however, so I decided to build a new server. After looking at my options and weighing the cost, an obvious upgrade path presented itself: buy new parts for my desktop computer and use the leftover pieces to build a decent web server. So instead of just getting a new web server, I'm getting a kick-ass desktop machine and a very competent web server.
My usual upgrade path for my computer is to alternate upgrades to my GPU and CPU/mobo/memory every other year. Because I upgraded my graphics card last year, this was supposed to be an "off" year. Truth be told, my current desktop machine is extremely capable. With a Core 2 Duo at 3.2 GHz and 6MB of L3 cache and a Radeon 6870, I have been able to play any game I throw at it without a hint of trouble. I am blowing this out of the water, however, with an Intel Core i7 2600K, a 3.4 GHz, 8-thread overclocking monster paired with a high-end Gigabyte motherboard and 16GB (!!!) of total system memory. As far as I am concerned, my upgrade process will be broken for at least two to three years as I enjoy having a top-end desktop system.
The parts are rolling in for this project in March. In the first week of April I will be building all these machines and by the end of May I hope to have my new web server operating in place of my current Ubuntu server. My new web server should be capable enough to handle Windows 7 and one Ubuntu virtual machine for hosting my legacy PHP applications until I can get them ported to a Windows environment.
All told, I am looking forward to a very good year technologically as I make these upgrades. For a tech-head like me, this is a very, very good year.
B3 out.
At the beginning of this year I decided to dump my aging Ubuntu web server and go all-in for a proper Windows-based web server. I certainly want to continue learning Linux to include in my toolbox of skills, but I feel like I would develop and deploy application and websites faster in a Windows environment.
There is no way I could install Windows on my current server box, however, so I decided to build a new server. After looking at my options and weighing the cost, an obvious upgrade path presented itself: buy new parts for my desktop computer and use the leftover pieces to build a decent web server. So instead of just getting a new web server, I'm getting a kick-ass desktop machine and a very competent web server.
My usual upgrade path for my computer is to alternate upgrades to my GPU and CPU/mobo/memory every other year. Because I upgraded my graphics card last year, this was supposed to be an "off" year. Truth be told, my current desktop machine is extremely capable. With a Core 2 Duo at 3.2 GHz and 6MB of L3 cache and a Radeon 6870, I have been able to play any game I throw at it without a hint of trouble. I am blowing this out of the water, however, with an Intel Core i7 2600K, a 3.4 GHz, 8-thread overclocking monster paired with a high-end Gigabyte motherboard and 16GB (!!!) of total system memory. As far as I am concerned, my upgrade process will be broken for at least two to three years as I enjoy having a top-end desktop system.
The parts are rolling in for this project in March. In the first week of April I will be building all these machines and by the end of May I hope to have my new web server operating in place of my current Ubuntu server. My new web server should be capable enough to handle Windows 7 and one Ubuntu virtual machine for hosting my legacy PHP applications until I can get them ported to a Windows environment.
All told, I am looking forward to a very good year technologically as I make these upgrades. For a tech-head like me, this is a very, very good year.
B3 out.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Sunday Update: The Big Warm Up
So I am pretty sure that spring is here. I know we still have about a week and a half until the calendar says so, but today has been so nice it really does not make a difference.
The big upcoming event this week: my return to biking. I took advantage of today's weather to clean and tweak my bike for the 2012 riding season. This week will be so nice, in fact, that I should be able to ride my bike to work every day.
Last year I dove into my "Summer of Biking" season around late April. This year I will be firing off the season at the end of March. Summer of Biking this year will be about more than biking. Along with a whole-foods-based diet and lots of hiking, I plan to spend as much time as possible outside. While I still want to do well at my job, learn new skills in my free time, and pursue a small photography side business, I intend to rigidly schedule these tasks such that I spend most of my free time on my bike or on foot. By the end of the biking season I expect more than 90% of my normal daily commute will be without my car. Given that gas is once again near $4 a gallon, I think this goal will help me financially as well.
B3 out.
The big upcoming event this week: my return to biking. I took advantage of today's weather to clean and tweak my bike for the 2012 riding season. This week will be so nice, in fact, that I should be able to ride my bike to work every day.
Last year I dove into my "Summer of Biking" season around late April. This year I will be firing off the season at the end of March. Summer of Biking this year will be about more than biking. Along with a whole-foods-based diet and lots of hiking, I plan to spend as much time as possible outside. While I still want to do well at my job, learn new skills in my free time, and pursue a small photography side business, I intend to rigidly schedule these tasks such that I spend most of my free time on my bike or on foot. By the end of the biking season I expect more than 90% of my normal daily commute will be without my car. Given that gas is once again near $4 a gallon, I think this goal will help me financially as well.
B3 out.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
The Sunday Update: The Search for a New Media Player
With all the haste of a 56kbps modem and hours of a busy phone line, I downloaded my first dozen or so MP3 files from a website illicitly hawking artists such as Smash Mouth, Alanis Morissette, and Meredith Brooks. Brooks' "Bitch" is the first MP3 that I ever downloaded - in 1998. This was the beginning of my own personal music revolution.
Now in 2012 I have thousands of songs that I replicate on an iPod, iPad, my phone, and in the cloud (Amazon, Google). From anywhere I travel for my day-to-day routine, I can have my roughly 25 gigabytes of music available for my listening pleasure.
Back in 1998, after downloading "Bitch," I was distraught to find out that I could not play the MP3 file. Windows 98 and its version of Windows Media Player were not equipped for this new kind of media file. Enter Winamp.
A Yahoo or AltaVista search (this is pre-Google, does anyone remember those days?) for "MP3 player" almost certainly turned up Winamp in the top-three results, and thus an era began.
I have been with Winamp since 1998. I played with dozens of plug-ins and visualizers over the years, upgraded to Winamp 2, survived the awful Winamp 3, and eventually grew to love Winamp 5.1 - easily the last great version of the player. Winamp 5.1 is a fine music player, but its age is apparent on Windows 7 and it is barely usable on Windows 8. It is time for me to retire my media player of choice for the last fifteen years and find something new.
So what can replace the super-awesome Winamp?
iTunes is out. While it has a few features that I enjoy (Genius is nice and the integrated store is a fantastic mess), it runs poorly and is overkill for my music-only needs.
Songbird is a potential solution. The open-source music player apes the iTunes music management model and focuses on a music-only experience. Plug-ins make it extensible and a built-in web browser make certain kinds of music queries to the web super fast.
Amazon MP3 Cloud Player is currently my main music player, simply because all of my songs are in the cloud and readily available. Unfortunately this is not a robust desktop solution since I cannot rip/burn CDs, manage portable devices, or have my music available offline. Integration with my phone is a huge plus, however, so I can be reasonably mobile as long as I have a solid 3G connection.
Google Music is under-baked and saddled with Google's increasingly-shitty Terms of Service. I feel like I lose control of my own music when I use Google Music's web player, and I don't intend to stay with the product.
Winamp 5.5+ is no longer the sexy, independent, developer-driven product that it once was, and feels just as bloated as iTunes. Up-sells to a premium version, video integration, and a cluttered interface with direct links to the big ol' evil music industry make the latest versions of this player make Winamp 3 look good (and that is saying a lot).
So what do I want in my ideal music player? A basic media library, smart playlists, global keys support, CD ripping/burning, mobile device management, and a slim, lean executable that doesn't bloat up my computer. In other words, I want Winamp 5.1 again. Hopefully I can find a viable replacement for this incredible music player sometime before Windows 8 hits.
B3 out.
Now in 2012 I have thousands of songs that I replicate on an iPod, iPad, my phone, and in the cloud (Amazon, Google). From anywhere I travel for my day-to-day routine, I can have my roughly 25 gigabytes of music available for my listening pleasure.
Back in 1998, after downloading "Bitch," I was distraught to find out that I could not play the MP3 file. Windows 98 and its version of Windows Media Player were not equipped for this new kind of media file. Enter Winamp.
A Yahoo or AltaVista search (this is pre-Google, does anyone remember those days?) for "MP3 player" almost certainly turned up Winamp in the top-three results, and thus an era began.
I have been with Winamp since 1998. I played with dozens of plug-ins and visualizers over the years, upgraded to Winamp 2, survived the awful Winamp 3, and eventually grew to love Winamp 5.1 - easily the last great version of the player. Winamp 5.1 is a fine music player, but its age is apparent on Windows 7 and it is barely usable on Windows 8. It is time for me to retire my media player of choice for the last fifteen years and find something new.
So what can replace the super-awesome Winamp?
iTunes is out. While it has a few features that I enjoy (Genius is nice and the integrated store is a fantastic mess), it runs poorly and is overkill for my music-only needs.
Songbird is a potential solution. The open-source music player apes the iTunes music management model and focuses on a music-only experience. Plug-ins make it extensible and a built-in web browser make certain kinds of music queries to the web super fast.
Amazon MP3 Cloud Player is currently my main music player, simply because all of my songs are in the cloud and readily available. Unfortunately this is not a robust desktop solution since I cannot rip/burn CDs, manage portable devices, or have my music available offline. Integration with my phone is a huge plus, however, so I can be reasonably mobile as long as I have a solid 3G connection.
Google Music is under-baked and saddled with Google's increasingly-shitty Terms of Service. I feel like I lose control of my own music when I use Google Music's web player, and I don't intend to stay with the product.
Winamp 5.5+ is no longer the sexy, independent, developer-driven product that it once was, and feels just as bloated as iTunes. Up-sells to a premium version, video integration, and a cluttered interface with direct links to the big ol' evil music industry make the latest versions of this player make Winamp 3 look good (and that is saying a lot).
So what do I want in my ideal music player? A basic media library, smart playlists, global keys support, CD ripping/burning, mobile device management, and a slim, lean executable that doesn't bloat up my computer. In other words, I want Winamp 5.1 again. Hopefully I can find a viable replacement for this incredible music player sometime before Windows 8 hits.
B3 out.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Welcome to The Sunday Update
In order to keep Critically Correct fresh and up-to-date, I will be posting every Sunday evening with at least one new topic or a week-in-review. So welcome to Sunday night.
As you may suspect from my lack of blogging, I have been extremely busy in the last few weeks. Work has been brutal (in a good way), although that is not my main excuse for neglecting my writing responsibilities. I have been working on a few personal projects. Some of these will continue to bake throughout 2012 and will keep my personally and financially busy. I am ready to talk about the first two projects.
Recipe Library 2.0 is a major overhaul of the recipe manager that my family and I use, located at www.brandonbruno.com/recipe. I am planning major changes to this site, namely native account creation, a community "pinboard" for recipes to be shared (yes, I know, "Pinterest" - blah), tablet support, and photo uploads. I am moving the full codebase from PHP to ASP.NET 4.0, which means this is a long-term project, most likely to launch in the summer or early fall.
In order to get all this up and running, my dinky little Ubuntu box will no longer suffice for my web server needs. Over the course of March I will be building a new dedicated web server based on and Intel/Win7 combination. This will allow me to run IIS 7.5, MS SQL Server, PHP, and MySQL all at once. This is a big win for me, since I can develop applications much quicker in .NET while supporting my existing PHP applications. I hope to use this server for a variety of tasks as well, keeping my busy throughout all of 2012.
I hope to be back on Critically Correct by the middle of this busy week, but if not, I will be back next Sunday evening for sure!
B3 out.
As you may suspect from my lack of blogging, I have been extremely busy in the last few weeks. Work has been brutal (in a good way), although that is not my main excuse for neglecting my writing responsibilities. I have been working on a few personal projects. Some of these will continue to bake throughout 2012 and will keep my personally and financially busy. I am ready to talk about the first two projects.
Recipe Library 2.0 is a major overhaul of the recipe manager that my family and I use, located at www.brandonbruno.com/recipe. I am planning major changes to this site, namely native account creation, a community "pinboard" for recipes to be shared (yes, I know, "Pinterest" - blah), tablet support, and photo uploads. I am moving the full codebase from PHP to ASP.NET 4.0, which means this is a long-term project, most likely to launch in the summer or early fall.
In order to get all this up and running, my dinky little Ubuntu box will no longer suffice for my web server needs. Over the course of March I will be building a new dedicated web server based on and Intel/Win7 combination. This will allow me to run IIS 7.5, MS SQL Server, PHP, and MySQL all at once. This is a big win for me, since I can develop applications much quicker in .NET while supporting my existing PHP applications. I hope to use this server for a variety of tasks as well, keeping my busy throughout all of 2012.
I hope to be back on Critically Correct by the middle of this busy week, but if not, I will be back next Sunday evening for sure!
B3 out.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
The Glorious Past Returns
Sometimes I forget where I came from. I do not mean where I was born, where I grew up, or who is my family. I sometimes forget what molded me into the person I am today - those friends and experiences that highlighted my high school and college years. This weekend I was reminded of who I am.
Friday evening started as a race against time. I was to meet some of my oldest Meijer-era friends in Akron, Ohio by 7:30pm in order to make dinner and a movie. I arrived early, although the five of us - Jason, Melissa, Austin, Korinne, and myself - were unable to eat. Melt Bar & Grilled, a restaurant that had been hyped all week, presented us with a three-hour wait. Instead we tried a sports-bar style place called Quaker Steak & Lube. I enjoyed some great boneless wings, although their 20+ sauce selection was underwhelming in punch but not flavor.
After dinner we set out for a nearby Cinemark theater to watch Star Wars: Episode I 3D. The movie was mostly unchanged from the 1999 original and the 3D conversion was well done. I left the theater with a small headache, though, most likely because the original film was never shot for 3D and the 3D contrasts between scene changes really hurt my eyes.
Saturday was spent traversing through blizzard-like conditions from the Akron area to Independence, Ohio for a second shot at Melt Bar & Grilled for lunch. We were able to get in after a half-hour wait, and I can only say this about Melt's: fantastic. More than just grilled cheese and fries, serves massive amounts of heart-stopping food that hits the spot for cheese, grease, and carb lovers. I intend to go back to Melt's very soon.
It was extremely fulfilling to spend the rest of Saturday in the comfort of friends, snacks, and video games while winter ravaged the landscape outside. GoldenEye 007 on the Wii was the highlight of the afternoon, and everyone seemed to have a good time through-and-through.
I left Akron Saturday night but brought a major piece of my missing past home. Something about me is a little different, a little wiser, and a little less lost now that I remember the people that made me who I am today.
B3 out.
Friday evening started as a race against time. I was to meet some of my oldest Meijer-era friends in Akron, Ohio by 7:30pm in order to make dinner and a movie. I arrived early, although the five of us - Jason, Melissa, Austin, Korinne, and myself - were unable to eat. Melt Bar & Grilled, a restaurant that had been hyped all week, presented us with a three-hour wait. Instead we tried a sports-bar style place called Quaker Steak & Lube. I enjoyed some great boneless wings, although their 20+ sauce selection was underwhelming in punch but not flavor.
After dinner we set out for a nearby Cinemark theater to watch Star Wars: Episode I 3D. The movie was mostly unchanged from the 1999 original and the 3D conversion was well done. I left the theater with a small headache, though, most likely because the original film was never shot for 3D and the 3D contrasts between scene changes really hurt my eyes.
Saturday was spent traversing through blizzard-like conditions from the Akron area to Independence, Ohio for a second shot at Melt Bar & Grilled for lunch. We were able to get in after a half-hour wait, and I can only say this about Melt's: fantastic. More than just grilled cheese and fries, serves massive amounts of heart-stopping food that hits the spot for cheese, grease, and carb lovers. I intend to go back to Melt's very soon.
It was extremely fulfilling to spend the rest of Saturday in the comfort of friends, snacks, and video games while winter ravaged the landscape outside. GoldenEye 007 on the Wii was the highlight of the afternoon, and everyone seemed to have a good time through-and-through.
I left Akron Saturday night but brought a major piece of my missing past home. Something about me is a little different, a little wiser, and a little less lost now that I remember the people that made me who I am today.
B3 out.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
So Let's Talk About This Spring
Despite being a technology-focused conference, the two most influential talks I attended at CodeMash 2012 had very little to do with technology. Scott Hanselman's "Dealing With Information Overload" and Leon Gersing's "Love" touched upon two areas of my life that could definitely use some restructuring. Scott taught me the importance of being organized and balanced between my personal and professional life, and how self-improvement is one of the most noble goals I could have for myself. Leon touched upon love, life, and the importance of making myself happy, relishing in current
relationships , and the joys of seeking out new relationships.
Okay, so, that was bit of a wordy introduction, but I wrote it to make one point clear: I am starting a bunch of new projects this winter and spring that focus on self-improvement, professional growth, and extending my current and potential new relationships.
Without further ado, here is a partial list of some major projects coming up:
Recipe Library 2
About two years ago I wrote a simple recipe manager for my family and I to use as a means of storing recipes. KISS was the founding principle of the project. This year I will be upgrading the application with new features, including a few social elements and a responsive design for iPad and mobile phone support. Perhaps more importantly, I will be expanding the audience for the application, hoping to get a small user base on the platform.
Photography Support and Services
I am already well-versed in the basics and intermediaries of photography, and I will be snapping pictures of just about everything over the coming months, and come spring and summer, I plan to offer a very basic photography service. While weddings (and similar events) are generally the bread and butter of local photographers, I am never once going to claim that my photography skills are worth thousands of dollars. Instead I plan to offer a cheap $50 to $100 "one-day" service: If you need high-quality photos, I will take those photos with my equipment for a reasonable price. Plain and simple.
Plan a Trip
I will be taking a series of short vacations this summer. One trip will see me going to Washington D.C. (during a primary year? Eek!), another south to visit family and a really huge cave, and a third to go hiking in either southern Ohio or northern Michigan. All three of these trips will require significant planning, all of which I plan to accomplish sometime this spring.
The Blackout
This is less a project and more of an ongoing experiment. Beginning next week, I will have one "technology blackout day," where 100% of my free time outside of work is spent without technology. No computers, no tablets, no mobile phones. I will be reachable via POTS-style voice calls, but that will be about it. I am not entirely sure how I will spend all this free time, but as warmer weather rolls in I am sure I will find plenty to do.
B3 out.
Okay, so, that was bit of a wordy introduction, but I wrote it to make one point clear: I am starting a bunch of new projects this winter and spring that focus on self-improvement, professional growth, and extending my current and potential new relationships.
Without further ado, here is a partial list of some major projects coming up:
Recipe Library 2
About two years ago I wrote a simple recipe manager for my family and I to use as a means of storing recipes. KISS was the founding principle of the project. This year I will be upgrading the application with new features, including a few social elements and a responsive design for iPad and mobile phone support. Perhaps more importantly, I will be expanding the audience for the application, hoping to get a small user base on the platform.
Photography Support and Services
I am already well-versed in the basics and intermediaries of photography, and I will be snapping pictures of just about everything over the coming months, and come spring and summer, I plan to offer a very basic photography service. While weddings (and similar events) are generally the bread and butter of local photographers, I am never once going to claim that my photography skills are worth thousands of dollars. Instead I plan to offer a cheap $50 to $100 "one-day" service: If you need high-quality photos, I will take those photos with my equipment for a reasonable price. Plain and simple.
Plan a Trip
I will be taking a series of short vacations this summer. One trip will see me going to Washington D.C. (during a primary year? Eek!), another south to visit family and a really huge cave, and a third to go hiking in either southern Ohio or northern Michigan. All three of these trips will require significant planning, all of which I plan to accomplish sometime this spring.
The Blackout
This is less a project and more of an ongoing experiment. Beginning next week, I will have one "technology blackout day," where 100% of my free time outside of work is spent without technology. No computers, no tablets, no mobile phones. I will be reachable via POTS-style voice calls, but that will be about it. I am not entirely sure how I will spend all this free time, but as warmer weather rolls in I am sure I will find plenty to do.
B3 out.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
A Moment Sixteen Years In the Making
Here is a little-known fact about me: in the summer of 1996, leaving the fifth grade and preparing to enter my sixth and final year at Haskins Elementary, I opted to take a basic two-week introduction to photography class at BGSU. This class was geared for young minds and was taught by Jeffery Hall, a local photographer in Haskins. My passing interest in photography was evident enough for my parents to agree to let me take the short class. I set off with my young peers for an hour every day for ten days and snapped pictures all over the BGSU campus. My parents let me borrow their 35mm film camera.
Fast forward to the present day. After fiddling on and off with photography over the past sixteen years, I finally took a major plunge: I bought a Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR camera. My interest in photography just got serious.
This is a major leap for me in two major ways.
First is a financial investment. While the camera itself was just about $700, I will be spending closer to $2,000 in accessories and lenses over the course of 2012. I plan on getting a few lenses to cover some of my basic needs (including at least one quality 200mm+ telephoto lens). Cases, SD cards, tripods, filters - I have plenty to stock up on.
Second is a time investment. Photography requires a fairly solid understanding of optics and the technology behind a SLR camera. I have spent countless days, weeks, and months researching and learning everything I need to know to get the most from my camera. I have also been preparing my computer to handle a huge influx of photos. All this is in addition to what is most important: going out and actually taking great photos.
Look for Critically Correct to explode with new images over the coming weeks. My camera arrives tomorrow.
B3 out.
Fast forward to the present day. After fiddling on and off with photography over the past sixteen years, I finally took a major plunge: I bought a Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR camera. My interest in photography just got serious.
This is a major leap for me in two major ways.
First is a financial investment. While the camera itself was just about $700, I will be spending closer to $2,000 in accessories and lenses over the course of 2012. I plan on getting a few lenses to cover some of my basic needs (including at least one quality 200mm+ telephoto lens). Cases, SD cards, tripods, filters - I have plenty to stock up on.
Second is a time investment. Photography requires a fairly solid understanding of optics and the technology behind a SLR camera. I have spent countless days, weeks, and months researching and learning everything I need to know to get the most from my camera. I have also been preparing my computer to handle a huge influx of photos. All this is in addition to what is most important: going out and actually taking great photos.
Look for Critically Correct to explode with new images over the coming weeks. My camera arrives tomorrow.
B3 out.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
CodeMash 2012: Day 2
What a doozy of a day. Let me just get this over.
I was up early this morning and arrived at Kalahari Resort around 6:45am - just in time to make the breakfast buffet. The meal was spectacular as usual: endless scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and other food filled me up only as well as a CodeMash breakfast can.
The 8:15am keynote speaker, Ted Newart, was a bit slow to start, but ultimately ramped up into an impressive talk about the virtues of individual programmers remaining in command of their own work, even in the face of a huge enterprise environment.
The first official session block of CodeMash kicked off at 9:45am, and I quickly got settled into "It's the Little Things" by Brad Colbow. The session focused on what makes good UX rather than how to make good UX. He presented lots of example of bad UX and UI, and while I did not learn any direct new knowledge from this session, I do feel like I can judge my own apps' UX much better than before.
The second session, at 11:00am, was "Introduction to Android Development" by Chris Risner. This was literally Android Dev 101, covering the very basics of the Android stack, including Activities, Intents, and Broadcast Receivers. I found the session informative but more of a review of the basics I already know.
Lunch was just after noon, and it too was pretty good, consisting entirely of Mexican-themed food.
The third session, "Hands-On Responsive and Adaptive Web Design" by Ben Callahan at 1:45pm was the highlight of my day. This session dove right into designing proper fluid HTML layouts using little more than clever CSS. I want to become an expert on fluid and reactive web design in 2012, and this session was a fantastic way to kick off this goal.
My fourth session, "Organized JavaScript with Backbone.js" by Joe Fiorini at 3:35pm was an all-code demonstration of how to potentially organized a large JS codebase within the MVC-style framework of Backbone.js. While the content was worthwhile, the speaker did not exactly enthuse or engage the audience. I found myself bored with the presentation pretty quickly, although I stayed for the whole thing just to take in what Backbone.js is all about.
I skipped the fifth session in favor of exploring Kalahari and practicing some of what I learned. I am really pumped about studying and practicing reactive web design.
Dinner was a delicious mix of meats, fish, salad, and dessert. Shortly after dinner, CodeMash's Pecha Kucha sessions fired up and entertained quite well. I hung around afterwards to work on some programming and attempt a few meet and greets, but everyone was pretty well distracted and scattered.
I am looking forward to a short third day of CodeMash. Assuming the weather does not derail my plans, I will be departing Sandusky around 4:00pm tomorrow to return to Perrysburg for a busy night in Toledo.
After that, an emergency Reboot Weekend will be effective Friday night after the concert, as I have a ton of shit to process and ponder. 2012 is off to a fantastic, if somewhat rocky, start. More to come.
B3 out.
I was up early this morning and arrived at Kalahari Resort around 6:45am - just in time to make the breakfast buffet. The meal was spectacular as usual: endless scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and other food filled me up only as well as a CodeMash breakfast can.
The 8:15am keynote speaker, Ted Newart, was a bit slow to start, but ultimately ramped up into an impressive talk about the virtues of individual programmers remaining in command of their own work, even in the face of a huge enterprise environment.
The first official session block of CodeMash kicked off at 9:45am, and I quickly got settled into "It's the Little Things" by Brad Colbow. The session focused on what makes good UX rather than how to make good UX. He presented lots of example of bad UX and UI, and while I did not learn any direct new knowledge from this session, I do feel like I can judge my own apps' UX much better than before.
The second session, at 11:00am, was "Introduction to Android Development" by Chris Risner. This was literally Android Dev 101, covering the very basics of the Android stack, including Activities, Intents, and Broadcast Receivers. I found the session informative but more of a review of the basics I already know.
Lunch was just after noon, and it too was pretty good, consisting entirely of Mexican-themed food.
The third session, "Hands-On Responsive and Adaptive Web Design" by Ben Callahan at 1:45pm was the highlight of my day. This session dove right into designing proper fluid HTML layouts using little more than clever CSS. I want to become an expert on fluid and reactive web design in 2012, and this session was a fantastic way to kick off this goal.
My fourth session, "Organized JavaScript with Backbone.js" by Joe Fiorini at 3:35pm was an all-code demonstration of how to potentially organized a large JS codebase within the MVC-style framework of Backbone.js. While the content was worthwhile, the speaker did not exactly enthuse or engage the audience. I found myself bored with the presentation pretty quickly, although I stayed for the whole thing just to take in what Backbone.js is all about.
I skipped the fifth session in favor of exploring Kalahari and practicing some of what I learned. I am really pumped about studying and practicing reactive web design.
Dinner was a delicious mix of meats, fish, salad, and dessert. Shortly after dinner, CodeMash's Pecha Kucha sessions fired up and entertained quite well. I hung around afterwards to work on some programming and attempt a few meet and greets, but everyone was pretty well distracted and scattered.
I am looking forward to a short third day of CodeMash. Assuming the weather does not derail my plans, I will be departing Sandusky around 4:00pm tomorrow to return to Perrysburg for a busy night in Toledo.
After that, an emergency Reboot Weekend will be effective Friday night after the concert, as I have a ton of shit to process and ponder. 2012 is off to a fantastic, if somewhat rocky, start. More to come.
B3 out.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
CodeMash 2012: Day 1
I have arrived at CodeMash 2012. Goddamn does it feel good to be back.
I am staying at an offsite hotel (a Hampton Inn in Milan, Ohio), which means I get to commute to Kalahari and work out of my car for the day. This is not as glamorous as having a room at Kalahari, it will have to do.
While it sucks that I was not able to attend today's Pre-Compiler sessions, I still took some time to check out the convention center expansion at Kalahari. To be short: the new space is huge. CodeMash feels infinitely larger than it was last year, and while I roamed empty hallways tonight, I still expect to be shoulder-to-shoulder with 1,200+ other developers tomorrow.
Tonight is the calm before the storm. I will be up a little before six tomorrow morning to shuffle off to Kalahari so I can be first in line for breakfast and the morning keynote. From there my day will spiral into the awesome chaos that is CodeMash: two sessions, lunch, another keynote, three more sessions, and then several after parties, waterpark parties, lightning talks - there is more to do tomorrow than I could possibly do in a week.
Follow me on Twitter (@BrandonMBruno) to keep up with my hourly updates from the floor tomorrow and Friday.
B3 out.
I am staying at an offsite hotel (a Hampton Inn in Milan, Ohio), which means I get to commute to Kalahari and work out of my car for the day. This is not as glamorous as having a room at Kalahari, it will have to do.
While it sucks that I was not able to attend today's Pre-Compiler sessions, I still took some time to check out the convention center expansion at Kalahari. To be short: the new space is huge. CodeMash feels infinitely larger than it was last year, and while I roamed empty hallways tonight, I still expect to be shoulder-to-shoulder with 1,200+ other developers tomorrow.
Tonight is the calm before the storm. I will be up a little before six tomorrow morning to shuffle off to Kalahari so I can be first in line for breakfast and the morning keynote. From there my day will spiral into the awesome chaos that is CodeMash: two sessions, lunch, another keynote, three more sessions, and then several after parties, waterpark parties, lightning talks - there is more to do tomorrow than I could possibly do in a week.
Follow me on Twitter (@BrandonMBruno) to keep up with my hourly updates from the floor tomorrow and Friday.
B3 out.
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