Minus the Silencer

Italy in August

2008-08-15T20:27:00.000-05:00

The story starts in the summer of 1991 when I moved with my family to Naples, Italy for the sake of my father's job. We spent three years there and in the process I made a lot of great friends, most of whom I unfortunately lost contact with after moving back to the States. Only in the past few years with the help of MySpace and Facebook have I been able to reconnect with these folks. One of those I reconnected with was Veronica, a beautiful Italian girl who had moved to Alexandria, Virginia where I met up with her in the summer of 2006 shortly after I myself moved to nearby Arlington. Earlier this year she sent me an email with a whopper of a news item: she was getting married and would I be interested in attending the wedding? I immediately jumped at the opportunity.

With maps printed, itineraries checked and travel books in hand, Sabrina and I took off on a direct flight from Dulles to Fiumcino-Rome airport on August 6th. The plan was to pick up a rental car when we arrived, drive to Naples and spend the next three days there. After having attended the wedding and seen some of my old haunts, we would drive back to the Fiumcino-Rome airport, drop the car off and take the train into Rome, approximately 30 minutes from the airport.

You know what they say about the best laid plans. Veronica's wedding was spectacular and her and her new husband, Salvatore, were such wonderful hosts that we ended up staying another day. In addition I met up with an old classmate of mine from Naples, Deanna, who was one of Veronica's bridesmaids. Over the course of just a few days our tight-knit group of 10 people hit up some of the best that Naples had to offer including Solfatara, the Anfiteatro Flavio and Capri. These highlights in addition to the wonderful Neopolitan shellfish-based dishes that seemed to be offered at every restaurant in the area made for an amazing time.

Much later in the evening on the 10th of August than intended, Sabrina and I hopped in the rental car and headed to Rome. Tired from a full day of activities on the island of Capri, we nonetheless resolved to be in warm comfortable beds that night. We reached Fiumcino-Rome airport near midnight and found nearly all the nearby gas stations closed. The few that were open did not have diesel save for one, a Q8 station which did not like American credit cards. As a result, we burned through all our remaining Euros and still had only filled the tank to ¾ capacity. Rather than continue racing through traffic circles looking for open stations with diesel, we resigned ourselves to having to pay the rental car company to refill the tank completely and dropped off the car.

Unfortunately by this time the train to Rome had stopped service meaning we had to get a cab which was estimated to be about 50 Euros. Yet we had spent all our Euros on the gas and none of the ATMs in the airport were accepting my debit card. I then happened upon a car service which though they did not take credit cards would be willing to stop by an ATM in Rome to get the cash out. Naturally it would cost a bit more but their English was good (my attempt at speaking Italian had reverted to little more than gutteral sounds by this point due to frustration and general exhaustion) and it would be in style: a Mercedes-Benz. Our driver, sensing our mounting frustration, raced into the city at over 160 km/h. We had to make several stops before finally finding an ATM that would spit out cash. So we eventually did end up in warm comfortable beds as we resolved to do but a hundred Euros shorter than expected.

Our time in Rome, though longer than what we spent in Naples, seemed somehow shorter. By the end of the first day we'd seen nearly everything. The Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and the Colosseum were our first conquests. Our remaining days saw us going to the Vatican, the Palatine hill and even the Jewish Ghetto. Throwing away our Washington, D.C.-tuned sense of direction, we did as Romans did and picked a place and walked towards it, climbing over or going around whatever ancient ruins lay in our way. If a tiny alleyway branched off our current route that seemed to be better pointed in the direction we wanted, then we'd go down that, making sure to avoid the mopeds racing through it. And if we saw a gelateria with flavors we liked, then we'd stop and get some ice cream. What with its creamy texture and amazing flavor, Italian gelato is far superior to anything that can be found Stateside.

After having visited what seemed like every spot on our maps, the day arrived when we were to head back to the States. An early wake-up along with a quick breakfast saw us out the door and at the nearby Termini train station by 7am. The Leonardi da Vinci Express had us to the Fiumcino-Rome airport by 8am and our flight took off with just a slight delay. I'm writing this as we fly over the Atlantic and I can't help but think that we'll both miss Italy, especially Naples. Despite the inconvenience of having to search for an ATM that will take your card or the horridly high prices thanks to the state the dollar is currently in, it was an awesome trip and one that neither of us will soon forget.

San Diego, New York and back to DC

2008-03-27T12:39:00.007-05:00

Originally planned as a week long trip between Washington, D.C. and San Diego to see friends and family, my vacation was unexpectedly extended when my friend Adam from Melbourne informed me that he'd be in New York for a week. At first I was hesitant to give up what was essentially a free ticket bought with miles but after figuring that I would probably revisit San Diego later in the year anyways, I canceled my reservations and booked two one-way flights on different carriers. However I still had the issue of how to get from New York back to Washington, D.C., thus completing my isosceles triangle of travel. For that I turned to Amtrak, whose Carolinian service I am currently on as I write this blog entry.

Rising early on the morning of March 19th, I made my way down to the lobby of my apartment complex to wait for a cab. Normally I would take the Metro seeing as I live so close to Reagan National but due to the absurdly early departure time of 5:45am, there simply wouldn't be enough time given Metro's opening hour of 5:00am. With a single stop in Charlotte, my flight was uneventful and even arrived about 25 minutes early in San Diego. A short drive later courtesy of my dad and I was back in Carlsbad.

The time spent in my hometown was both enjoyable and relaxing. Hanging out with my friends Greg, Jeff and Nicole was a blast and I spent my evenings at watering holes both new and old. My main reason for returning was to attend an Eagle Scout ceremony but that was canceled. I did however attend the locally famous Troop 748 Pancake Breakfast. Fellow scouts that I hadn't seen in years were there and indeed, some had changed beyond initial recognition. Besides Scouting events, spending time with family at Easter was also a reason for visiting and my relatives did not disappoint. Throw in Dad's incredible smoked lamb and you had an Easter worthy of legend.

Tuesday came sooner than I thought it would but with only a four and a half hour flight separating me from the Big Apple, I was eagerly anticipating my travels. The flight was uneventful and taking advantage of the AirTrain service from JFK to Jamaica Station, I then boarded a LIRR train for Penn Station. I had originally planned on taking the E train but several web sources recommended the LIRR as it was faster and more convenient. I ended up booking my hotel stay in a recently remodeled room of the Ramada New Yorker located at 34th and 8th. If all you're looking for is a bed with attached bathroom, versus a communal bathroom, then this is a great choice. A sub $200 room in the heart of the city can't be beat.

During my time in Melbourne, I had the great fortune of befriending a very talented group of people who worked and volunteered at the local community theater known as the Henegar. In the course of the previous two years, several of them had managed to find their way to New York to pursue careers on the stage. One in particular, Vinny, was playing at a cabaret called Don't Tell Mama near 46th and 8th. A small yet cozy club, the show itself was a showcase of six different performers with each doing two songs of choice. Vinny's rendition of "The Best is Yet to Come" was in my mind the best performance that night but then I do admit to a bit of bias.

The next day found me in line early along with Adam at TKTS hoping to score tickets to a matinee show for a reduced price. As it was, tickets for Young Frankenstein were available so we scooped those up and then made our way up to Central Park where we spent a few hours rehashing old times. On our way back down to the Theater District we stopped off at Carnegie Deli so I could finally get that New York-style kosher tongue sandwich I'd been jonesing for. I was not disappointed. I think it's the idea of eating tongue that turns people off to the idea more than anything. But in fact, it tastes and looks similar to pastrami save of course for the still visible taste buds.

Showing at the Hilton Theater, Young Frankenstein absolutely floored both Adam and myself. Based on Mel Brooks' movie of the same name, it follows the comical adventures of a young Dr. Frankenstein (pronounced steen) upon his return to Transylvania. Played by Roger Bart, the part required energy and timing befitting such an amazing actor. Yet I think many in the audience would agree that the character of Igor is what really shone through. With his randomly appearing hump, witty lines and amazing voice, Christopher Fitzgerald, who played the role, stole the show. Despite the harsh critiques the show has received, I highly recommend this to both fans and non-fans alike.

Unexpectedly, Adam's friend Johnny managed to score us free tickets to an evening showing of Legally Blonde playing at the Palace Theater. Not being a show that I would ever buy tickets to, I went with an open mind hoping for the best but expecting anything. To say the least, I was throughly impressed. I had seen the movie once before but didn't have any particular attachment to it. The musical though brought an energy and audience rapport that simply doesn't translate to the silver screen. Armed with song, dance and love, the leading lady, Elle Woods, gains matriculation at Harvard Law to win back the affections of her now ex-boyfriend Warner. She soon realizes though that she will never be back together with him and dives into her studies for their own sake. Fending off unwanted advances from her professor, she strikes her own path and uses her Harvard-trained mind in tandem with her Malibu-honed social skills to win her client's trust and freedom. When the curtains came down, the audience was in rapturous applause giving the cast a standing ovation for some minutes. This is another show I would highly recommend.

Having made my goodbyes to Adam, I decided to make a stop before going back to my hotel. Junior's, famous for its cheesecakes, operates a restaurant at 45th and 7th in the heart of Times Square. Sidling up to the bar, I ordered an orange liquer and coffee concoction along with a lox and bagel sandwich. I topped it off with a chocolate swirl cheesecake, the same that I've enjoyed for years thanks to freeze-dried packaging and overnight shipping. Satiated beyond measure, I made my way back to the hotel and hit the sack. If there were a theme to this vacation, it would be friends and family both of whom I appreciate more and more in my life as I get older.

The Best SciFi on Television

2008-02-29T13:58:00.006-05:00

Having spent my formative years during a time when Star Trek had multiple shows running, my view of scifi was significantly influenced by it. For me, the future was supposed to be filled with humans and aliens working side by side while computers would take care of all the mundane paperwork. In fact, I can't recall seeing a single sheet of paper in any of the post Star Trek: TNG shows.

Standing in stark contrast is the future painted by the television show Battlestar Galactica. The Cylons, a race of humanoid robots created by Man, are the arch-nemesis of humanity and given the nature of their creation have a knack for messing with computer systems. Thus, paper abounds and even the most basic computer systems are treated with suspicion.

Being a fan of scifi television I'd heard many things about the show and had even tried watching a few episodes, albeit without any knowledge of the characters or their back story. It never caught my interest. But after starting work at Revolution, I quickly discovered that many of my geek colleagues were not only fans of the show, but downright passionate about it with some even downloading it to their iPods and watching it during their daily Metro commute.

On a leap of faith, I asked for season one on DVD for Christmas and by the time New Years rolled around I had finished it. This was an addiction I was not prepared for. Season two followed a few weeks later and then season three and finally Razor. In just a little over a month, season four will finally be debuting and I for one can hardly wait.

A trip to New York with the Brazilians

2008-01-25T14:09:00.000-05:00

Early last week I received an urgent message from my Brazilian buddy Tony imploring me to come to New York for the weekend to hang out with him and his brother Beto who had been working there for the previous six months and wanted to spend his remaining weekend there partying. At first I protested but by Wednesday I'd gone ahead and purchased a ticket for myself on the very convenient Chinatown bus.

As 2 o'clock on Friday afternoon approached, I quickly gathered my belongings for the short one block trip to where the bus would pick me up. A quick scan of the printout with my reservation number by the bus driver and I was in a comfortable chair awaiting the four hour journey to The Big Apple. Traffic coming out of Washington, D.C. was light and within the hour we were through the Fort McHenry tunnel near Baltimore, M.D.

Drifting in and out of sleep while reading the latest issue of the New Scientist, I awoke with a start to see the Empire State Building far off in the distance. Yet my excitement was quickly tamped down by the reality awaiting us outside the Lincoln Tunnel: traffic the likes of which I hadn't seen in some time. After nearly an hour of crawling through a jungle of blaring horns and red taillights, we emerged onto Manhattan and made our way to 34th and 8th near Penn Station to be dropped off. A short subway ride later to the 50th St. stop and I was standing outside Beto's corporate apartment.

Relatively speaking, my first night in New York was calm. We started off the evening at a nearby street vendor to savor what Beto called the best gyro in the city. Indeed, to judge by the line which stretched half a city block, this particular vendor had good reviews. I myself was quite impressed with the mixed combination gyro and the accompanying yogurt sauce. Eventually we made our way to East Village and after wandering through several bars in the area, we settled on a honky tonk joint called the Mason Dixon. After an hour or so there, we caught a cab back to Midtown and stopped in for a night cap at a place called Vintage not too far from Beto's pad.

The next day started around 1pm at a place called Nero's in the Meatpacking District. Barbara, a neighbor of my friends from back in Brazil and who was now working in New York, met us there along with her boyfriend Adriano. The brunch advertised was two hours of all you can drink with a choice of meal included for $20. Not bad for Manhattan prices. Well over two hours later, heads buzzing from copious amounts of champagne, we wandered out of the restaurant and into the nearby multi-story Apple store in Chelsea before finally making our way back north to the apartment where I enjoyed a much deserved nap.

That evening Tony insisted that we head to Central Park so we could ice skate on Donald Trump's famous Wollman Rink. Admittedly I was a bit hesitant to engage in an activity which a decade previous had left me with a slight case of amnesia after taking a fall and hitting my head. But I nevertheless took those tentative first few steps back onto the ice and was surprised at both the natural sense of balance I enjoyed and the speed with which my long-dormant skills returned. Within ten minutes I was racing around the rink relishing the feel of the cold air on my face.

Alas, after only an hour or so Tony and I were both tired and so we journeyed back to Beto's apartment for some rest before getting ready to go out again, this time to a place called Katra on the Lower East Side. A Middle Eastern-themed 'lounge', it was extremely crowded which made getting to the bar difficult at best. But seeing as I'd been drinking for the better part of the day, I wasn't interested in getting drunk. So after a few hours of that, we made the journey once more to Midtown.

Sleep came just before dawn but I wasn't asleep for long as we had made plans to head to Connecticut that day. My hosts, Brazilian to the core, were family friends of another Brazilian nicknamed Toninho (Little Tony) who lived in Westport about an hour north of the city. Dragging ourselves out of bed and down to Grand Central, we rushed to buy our tickets and hopped on the 12:07pm heading to New Haven. The commuter train itself was quite nice and proved a smooth enough ride for me to nap for a spell.

Shortly after arriving in Westport, Toninho was there to pick us up and take us to his exquisite house just a few miles from the station. In many ways, it reminded me of visiting my Brazilian friends' family back in Sete Lagos what with the chattering in Portuguese, the Samba music in the background and of course the feijoada. Brazilian beer in the form of Skol was also there in addition to several types of cachaça. Despite how wonderful it all was we couldn't stay there forever so when evening rolled around we hopped back on the train for the hour-long ride back to New York.

Our last night in New York was a poignant one and we spent it at an Irish bar just a few blocks away. Guinness and old stories were what was imbibed and we enjoyed each to the last drop. I called it early so as to avoid missing my bus the next morning and as I walked back by myself I couldn't help but think how much I loved this city, despite the 2°F wind chill. And I know that someday, hopefully when it's warmer, I will come back.

Latest going ons

2007-12-09T22:24:00.000-05:00

Where do I begin? I've had a lot of great ideas for blog entries these past few months but finding the time to enter them has been difficult to say the least. So I guess we'll start with the thing that has been eating up the majority of my time: work.

Two months ago things were going swimmingly well and then out of the blue came what is known in the industry as a strategic restructuring, a layoff. In this case it was about 25% of the workforce and despite my best hopes otherwise, several of my very good friends and colleagues were included in the cut. After all the sacrifices I'd made to get to this company and after all the 60-hour-plus work weeks, I'd begun to question whether it was still the right place for me.

Despite some tempting propositions from area recruiters who had heard the news of the mass layoffs, I decided to stay put and see if the situation would improve. Even with the loss of resources, I felt we still had the best collection of Ruby/Rails talent in the area. Within a month's time we were able to make a new post to our collective technology-oriented blog, one which happened to pertain to a project I was working on. So provided that things continue to go well and I am able to make viable contributions to our code-base, I see no reason not to stay put for the time being.

As to what takes up the next largest portion of my time, that would have to be WoW. A lot has happened since I last posted on the topic. In early June I took my then main character, a druid, over to Shu'Halo so I could game with a buddy of mine. But his interest in the game began to wane as did my interest in playing a Moonkin which is essentially a caster that can't really cast that well. This became only more obvious when I finally hit level 70 and I kept getting passed over to do instance runs in favor of mages.

As such, I decided to do a bit of research and came to the conclusion that if I really wanted to do pure DPS and have the benefit of crowd control and an aggro-dump, then I'd need to roll a mage myself. It also helped that a buddy of mine from work had a low-level warlock that he was interested in leveling. For me the change was not only in character class but also in play style. Whereas I had leveled my druid on a PvE server, this character would live on a high pop PvP server.

After dedicating several months of on-and-off play to her, my Dranei mage just recently hit level 63 and ought to be level 70 within a few weeks. By then my parents will be in town as they're visiting me for the holidays so my time online will be pretty much scotched until the new year. Hopefully in the future I will be able to juggle my time between work and WoW more effectively so that I can blog about events in my life closer to real-time.

Trip to California

2007-09-12T20:57:00.001-05:00

Day 1
Despite the early departure time from Washington, D.C. we arrived in San Diego fairly awake and ready to get on with our vacation. First time was Milton's, a wonderful Kosher deli and restaurant located in Del Mar. Over the past few years it has become my unofficial welcoming pad, the first place I stop at to address the hunger pangs a six hour flight induces.

Between my previous visit in December and now, my parents got what I thought they never would: a dog! And not just any dog mind you but a huge hulking Leon Berger mix. We immediately went for a walk on the beach so as we could all get to know each other better. Walking such a dog was a bit of a challenge at first. He kept wanting to walk directly in front of me thus forcing me to hold the leash to my left side. It's safe to say that after about 20 minutes of this anybody would feel some fatigue in their shoulders as a result.

Evening came quickly and with it, an incredible meal at Gregorio's, a local Italian restaurant situated in the Neiman's complex of shops. Since I hadn't seen my buddy Jeff in so long, I invited him to join us. Being the amazing agent that he is, he kept us enthralled with stories of heroism in the escalating real estate wars that are gripping this country. Afterwards Jeff gave us a brief tour of Carlsbad in his exquisitely maintained Lexus LS400, pointing out the best places in town to invest in for real estate.

Day 2
I hadn't been to the Wild Animal Park in several years so I was glad to see what changes, if any, this visit to the park would hold. Surprisingly enough, there were some big changes. The electrified tram which was a hallmark of the park was no longer there and had been replaced with a gas-guzzling tractor which pulled passenger carts behind it. The new setup wasn't altogether bad but was just different than what I'd been used to in the previous 20 years of visiting.

That night we went to one of Carlsbad's newest 'chic' restaurants. Honestly, when I walked in I thought I'd been teleported from my sleepy home town to some new dig in Midtown. My Grandpa Gene treated us to a fantastic dinner and several bottles of Mark West Pinot Noir, an excellent accoutrement to any meal.

Day 3
Our third day saw us jumping in the car in the morning for a trip south to Balboa Park near downtown San Diego. Having just seen the Wild Animal Park the previous day, we were not interested in the Zoo but instead the Museum of Man. I hadn't been there in decades at the very least and was looking forward to seeing what was in store.

Built in an old Spanish colonial style, the museum resembles many of the missions scattered throughout California. On display inside were mummies of various cultures throughout history, human evolution over the past 7 million years and a collection of life-sized replicas of Mayan stonework. Reaching several stories high, this latter exhibit was by far the most impressive.

Being only early afternoon and with no particular place in mind to go, we decided to take a leisurely drive up the coast. Starting in Torrey Pines and heading north on the 101, this is by far one of my favorite drives to do in San Diego and is rivaled only by a jaunt through the windy roads of Rancho Santa Fe.

Upon returning to Carlsbad we picked up my friend Greg for some drinks at Coyote's, a popular local watering hole. Afterwards, not wanting to return home without something to show for it, we made a quick stop by Greg's house to pick pomegranates, avocados and any other fruit that looked ripe enough to eat.

Day 4
We started out the day at the Carlsbad Outlets for a bit of shopping. This was followed by a requisite trip to In-n-Out burger where I fully enjoyed a cheeseburger, chocolate shake and fries. I'm not sure what it is about how they make their burgers, but In-n-Out's burgers are truly some of the best in the world.

One of the primary reasons we went to San Diego was for my ten-year high school reunion. Hosted downtown at the Bristol Hotel, it was only a 30-minute drive from Carlsbad. We arrived soon after it started and within minutes, ran into an old friend of mine named Derek. From there it was a whirlwind of mini-reunions as I met up with people I hadn't seen, nor heard from, in ten years.

By the end of the evening, I had reconnected with at least twenty folks that I had fond memories of from high school. In some ways it was rather cliché in that the jocks seemed to have ended up with the bleach blond bimbos and hadn't done much else with their lives. In contrast, my fellow nerds were all fairly successful or well on their way to it.

All in all, the evening went very well and though I had hoped to see a few more souls it was a great time nonetheless. It leaves me looking forward to the next ten year reunion.

Democracy

2007-08-11T09:33:00.001-05:00

Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, Democracy spans the years from 1969 to 1974 and tells the tale of two Germanies, East and West, locked together in idealogical battle for the soul of their country. Willy Brandt, newly elected Chancellor of democratic West Germany in 1969, had proclaimed a bold new plan in dealing with its implacable foe, communist East Germany. Rather than ignore their neighbor, as had been done since the demarcation following WWII, Brandt's government would engage them, a policy which came to be known as Ostpolitik.

The East Germans were of course apprehensive of this move but fortunately for them their spy service, the Stasi, was among the best in the world. They had managed to place an agent right where they needed it: in Brandt's staff. A spy by the name of Günter Guillaume, he arrived in West Germany in 1956 with orders to penetrate the political system. He rose through the ranks of the Social Democratic party eventually becoming Brandt's personal assistant.

Answering to two masters, Günter began to feel increasingly torn as his relationship with the Chancellor grew. He wanted to satisfy his Stasi bosses yet was inextricably drawn to Brandt's charisma and forthrightness. Through Günter's reports, it became clear to the East German leadership that this was not some ploy but a genuine effort at rapprochement and that truly frightened them.

The play does not make clear who was responsible although Stasi involvement was suspected. In either case, the result was the same. West Germany security services were tipped off to a spy in Brandt's office and from there the operation quickly unraveled. Brandt became a pariah in the public's eye and was forced to resign in 1974. Günter was arrested and sentenced to 13 years though he was sent back to the East through a prisoner exchange in 1981.

Following the upheaval which came to be known as the Guillaume Affair, each of the characters in the play laments on their role. Helmut Schmidt, heretofore Minister of Finances, nervously accepts the Chancellorship. Longtime rival and fellow Social Democrat Herbert Wehner washes his hands of the whole matter. Guillame is grief-stricken at having betrayed his friend and wishes that he could somehow make it right. Brandt himself recedes into the pages of history though he makes a brief reappearance during German reunification in 1990 when people look back and wonder if his policy of Ostpolitik is partly to thank for the ostentatious occasion.

More than just a play about a visionary leader and the spy within his own ranks, it is also a lesson for those who crave power only to have it unexpectedly pushed onto them. For more than thirty years, the Social Democrats could claim the mantle of defeat but upon winning the majority in 1969, they suddenly had to deal with all the problems of governing. Principles gave way to compromises while character flaws became national scandals.

Playing through August 12th at the renowned Olney Theater, Democracy tells the story of human beings, replete with all their imperfections, muddling their way through very dark and dangerous times. The quick interplay and political intrigue between characters will keep you spell-bound for the two hours and forty minutes runtime.

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

2007-08-04T01:12:00.000-05:00

Returning after a near 10-year hiatus, J. Michael Straczynski once again opens the doors to the Babylon 5 universe which first made its appearance in 1993 and became a weekly show. Through all the difficulties, such as actors walking off the job and network executives pulling the plug, the show soldiered on and eventually garnered a large and loyal fan base. Yet from the beginning, Straczynski made it clear that the show was not meant to last more than five years and so in 1998, we said a tearful goodbye.

Taking place 10 years after the events of the last episode of Babylon 5, The Lost Tales is actually two stories in one. The first concerns a demon-like creature which has taken possession of a crew member. Devoid of action, the story instead relies completely on dialogue and features Commander Lochley and a priest who is called in to exercise the demon. The interplay between the characters was a poignant reminder of a show far ahead of its time, one which used technology where necessary to enhance a story but never forgot what made a good story in the first place.

The second episode centers on President Sheridan, leader of the Interstellar Alliance. His leisurely journey to Babylon 5 for the 10-year anniversary celebration of the founding of that alliance is interrupted when Galen, a technomage from his past, gives him an awful choice: either kill a boy who has entrusted his life to Sheridan or watch Earth be destroyed by that boy's future fleet of warships.

In addition to the two episodes, there are also interviews with Boxleitner, Scoggins and Straczynski himself. Memorials to deceased actors Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs, who played Citizen G'Kar and Doctor Franklin respectively, are touching and reveal just how well the cast got along with each other.

My only complaint would have to be a technical one. During the second episode when Galen is talking to Sheridan in his dream, a boom mike suddenly appears at the top of the screen and stays for about five seconds before disappearing. Seeing the fourth wall so egregiously broken was a bit shocking, especially given Straczynski's penchant for perfection.

Overall, I would say that casual fans of the show probably won't get much out of this DVD. But for those who would consider themselves hard core, myself included, it's like stepping into a pool and finding the water warm and inviting. I just hope we get more than a toe-dipping with the next installment.

The Summer of George

2007-07-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

"This is gonna be my time. Time to taste the fruits and let the juices drip down my chin. I proclaim this: The Summer of George!"
-- George Costanza from Seinfeld

And so it began Friday night with the guys and I celebrating our own "Summer of George". We started out at Whitlow's with games of pool and foosball. Beer was ordered by the pitcher and for the better part of two hours we talked about all the things you'd expect to hear from a bunch of guys after a full week's work. Eventually we moved onto Mr. Day's just a few blocks up the road. Featuring a dance floor and an upper balcony running along the inside, we quickly got our drinks and staked out a claim with a good view of the action below. Being my first time there, I was impressed with the mix of people and made it a point to return.

Saturday was a real blast. To allow for any possible hangovers from the night before, we booked our reservations at Top Golf at 2pm. This is a driving range which features golf balls with RFID tags that can be tracked thus allowing for head-to-head competition depending on distance, accuracy or both. My first game was horrid but by the second and third rounds I was consistently hitting it about 100 yards.

Wanting to relax after several hours at the driving range, we headed over to the Bonefish Grill for some good food and wine. Around 7 o'clock we found our way over to the theater to watch Live Free or Die Hard. It was a great movie with lots of hard-hitting action though I was disappointed that it was set in D.C. yet very little of it was actually shot there. It took a keen eye but I actually recognized several L.A. landmarks.

Despite being pretty tired at this point, I was convinced to go to Sweetwater Tavern. Beer and light appetizers proved to be good for wrapping up the day. After two days of hanging out with these guys, I knew that the Summer of George had gotten off to a good start.

Trip to Boston

2007-06-29T16:03:00.000-05:00

Day 1
Our flight took off from Reagan at about 10:30 am and aside from some minor turbulence the flight was fairy smooth. Upon arrival at Boston's Logan International Airport, we immediately set about finding a shuttle that would take us to the nearest T station, which is how the subway here is referred to. As it turned out, the blue line would be our savior by delivering us to the green line via Government Center whereupon we would take that line for one stop before transferring to the red line at Park and heading out to Kendall/MIT where our hotel was located.

Looking at a map of the T, I was struck by how similar it was to Washington D.C.'s own hub-and-spoke Metro system. That's about where the similarities end though. Built just before New York started laying their own subway tracks, it's the oldest underground mass transit system in the country. Like the Big Apple's use of uptown or downtown to refer to train direction, all cars on the T are either 'inbound' or 'outbound'. Also like the New York subway, the stations that serve as transfer points are fairly complex to navigate thus demonstrating their iterative construction over the eleven plus decades the system has been in service. As well, some of the lines, such as the green line, share a fair portion of their tracks with street traffic meaning that both light rail (street cars) and heavy rail (subway) trains share the tracks making for a hodge podge of train types that can show up at any given platform.

Our first stop in Boston was the Samuel Adams brewery. Located just off the Stony Brook stop on the orange line, it is not, contrary to popular belief, run by descendants of the revolutionary himself. In fact, it was started in 1985 by a member of the Koch (pronounced 'cook') family which had made a name for itself in brewing during the 19th century. The tour itself was fairly informal and included a brief history of the brewery, a highlight of the four main ingredients of Samuel Adams beer (hops, barley, water and yeast) and finally a sampling of three different types of this native brew. Our tour was lucky enough to get a taste of their Boston Lager, Summer Ale and Märzen, the latter being unique to this brewery and not available to the general public.

Day 2
The morning started off at Boston Common, a public park of 44 acres set aside by the original Puritan founders. Our tour started from this central location and followed what's called the Freedom Trail, a path laid out nearly 50 years ago that traces Boston's historic moments. The tour guide himself was an older fellow dressed in the style of the late 1700s, tricorne hat and all, and emulating a minor player from the period who was friends with the biggest names of the revolution. Flair and knowledge combined to produce a tour that was both entertaining and enlightening. Though the guided portion ended at Fanuiel hall, we decided to continue on across the Charles river, stopping by the Bunker Hill monument and finally ending at the USS Constitution.

Walking the full length of the Freedom Trail didn't leave any time for a mid-afternon nap so immediately upon arriving back at our hotel in Kendall, we had to get ready to meet up with family that lived in the area. We rendezvoused at a place in Beacon Hill called Fig's which is known for its gourmet pizza. My choice was the spicy chicken sausage while the other types sampled included one smothered in portobello mushrooms, one crested with arugula and another known as the Red Sox which had its own spicy sausage topping. We did our best to work off the enormous meal by walking back to Cambridge via the Longfellow bridge over the Charles river instead of taking the T.

Day 3
The day started out bright and relatively early at the nearest Starbucks with a cranberry-orange muffin and a soy mocha. From there, it was a quick jaunt down to 3rd St. and over to Charles St. to get to the Museum of Science. We'd been warned that it was juvenile and outdated but I was interested in the Jane Goodall exhibit that highlighted the famous anthropologist's work with chimpanzees. Admission was relatively cheap at $16 and while much of the displays were indeed juvenile and outdated, there were also some real gems. The chimpanzee exhibit was interesting but I felt it was far outshined by the electrical exhibit. Every two hours, a show took place that used the world's largest Van de Graaff generator. Harmless and beautiful static discharges, lethal yet fantastic lightning bolts and even the eerie St. Elmo's fire were put on display with each being eloquently explained.

Our next stop was the Langham hotel which was hosting the Chocolate Bar. A local favorite among Bostonians, it features a buffet of nothing but chocolate. Some of the highlights were chocolate banana paninis, chocolate crepes, and chocolate fondue. Consisting of enough chocolate desserts to make a French pastry chef blush, it was a true chocolate lovers paradise. Three dishes in, I was feeling slightly woozy and had to resort to eating fruit, sans fondue, if I was going to avoid getting sick.

Early evening saw us wandering the Harvard campus taking in its beautiful environs. Despite being summer, it felt like a regular school day with college-aged kids packing the the streets and impromptu sidewalk concerts filling the air with music. Eventually we made our way over to a small restaurant called Casablanca. Located below street level, it was festooned with scenes from the famous movie and featured unique Mediterranean inspired dishes on its menu. While I had the venison rare with risotto, she ordered the soft shell crab on a corn and arugula base. We washed it down with an excellent 2005 bottle of zinfandel. After dinner we meandered through Harvard Square slowly making our way back to the T station.

Day 4
Being our last day, we decided to take things a bit easier. After having checked out of our hotel at a leisurely 10 am, we took the T to the New England Aquarium. The main enclosure was approximately four stories tall and consisted of a round central tank which was hugged by a spiral ramp that gave patrons an unfettered view of the countless fish that inhabited it. The main enclosure itself had a square ramp running inside of it and at each level, there were a series of tanks housed that highlighted a particular aquatic habitat. Contrasting it with the world-famous Baltimore Aquarium, it was quite a bit smaller but their penguin exhibit was worth the visit alone.

Being so close to Boston's historic downtown, we retraced some of our foot steps from the other day and made our way to the Green Dragon which had come highly recommended by my buddy Georgios, a native of the area. Established by a man named John Cary in 1657, its name was well-known as a local watering hole by the time the Sons of Liberty started using it for their secret meetings in the days leading up to the revolution. After a light meal of mussels and beer, we started back for the hotel so we could pick up our suitcases and head out to the airport.

My overall feeling about Boston is that it is a great town that would be a fun place to live. But because of the harsh winter it is unlikely you will ever find me living there. As well, the disorganized street layout can make navigation difficult as opposed to Manhattan where everything is laid out in a grid fashion. Yet it should be noted that the majority of Boston's activities are centralized making them easy to get to and completely negating the need for a cab. And the T, while older and somewhat more confusing than D.C.'s Metro, really does take you anywhere you need to go. So for those of you looking to spend some time in a classic American city without the hassle of renting a car, I would highly recommend Boston.

Prone to violence

2007-06-03T13:39:00.000-05:00

On a recent survey of my movie collection, it came to my attention that over 90% of my movies involve violence as a main theme. From A History of Violence to Full Metal Jacket, the sheer unabashed aggression on display in these movies is stark and unavoidable. But does a collection that encompasses three decades worth of some of the most violent movies indicate a violence personality?

Now I don't consider myself a very violent person. Save for the occasional brawl in elementary school, my youth was untarnished by physical encounters. Road rage led me on occasion to vent my anger at my fellow drivers through pointless screaming in the comfort of my own car but it never went beyond that. City life has taken some getting used to what with the constant crowds but again, it's never gotten to the point where I've actually attempted to knock another guy's block off.

Some would take this opportunity to suggest that watching violent movies might be alleviating that pent up aggression, thus saving me from a stint in jail or worse. But history shows us that engaging in violence often leads to more of the same. Witness the Roman gladiatorial contests which started small yet by the third century was consuming more than a third of the year in the form of state-sponsored holidays to view these bloody spectacles.

Yet a violent movie collection does not a violent person make. Hype in the media about violence in movies causing increased rates of murder and mayhem are just that, hype. The roots of violence are numerous and range from well understood causes like child abuse to lesser known factors such as brain damage. Movies however are not one of them.

So long 27

2007-05-17T16:48:00.000-05:00

"My name is Patrick Bateman. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine."

The opening lines to American Psycho have always struck a chord with me, more so after moving to DC. My age, lifestyle and habits, albeit with some stark differences such as not having a psychotic break with reality, echoed those of the main character in this cinematic masterpiece. An obsession with self-image like having the best job, best clothes and best hair is something many urban males deal with, myself being no such exception.

Yesterday marked my 28th birthday and while I don't feel any older, the inexorable march towards 30 is there in the back of mind, starkly contrasted as if it was written in bold black letters on a white background. There's nothing I can do to stop this progression so I might as well do my best to enjoy it.

Going with this philosophy, I started out my morning with an egg, bacon and cheese breakfast sandwich along with a soy mocha at Starbucks. Normally the cholesterol and sugar is enough to scare me away from such a meal but not today. Lunch was light in anticipation of dinner which, at that point, was still a mystery to me. But my girlfriend did not disappoint as she treated me to an incredible meal of Lamb Roganjosh at Rasika, a restaurant located in the Penn Quarter that serves haute Indian cuisine.

Gifts this year were all very useful and ranged from silicon-coated whisks to a subscription to The Economist. As well, my wish for the expansion pack to World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade, was granted. But gifts were not the only thing on my mind. I often found my mind wandering back to this time last year when I was contacted by a recruiter from Revolution Health who was interested in my Ruby on Rails skills.

Though I have no regrets about my decision to move up here I can't help but think about the people I have lost touch with, the friends that made Melbourne that much more bearable. My memories of that small Florida town will fade over time yet the events of May 2006 left an indelible imprint that will always be with me. In the year since that fateful decision I have come to better understand the sacrifices and gains made.

Yet I am buoyed by the fact that I've made new friends here while also reconnecting with old ones that have likewise braved the trek from Melbourne to DC. As well, despite the difficulty of adjusting to the environs of a big city, I can't recall a happier time in my life. I feel as if I've finally arrived.

Making the switch to Moonkin

2007-04-23T15:46:00.000-05:00

When I used to play Warcraft 3 a few years ago, my favorite character class to use against the enemy was the Druid. Their ability to shift into different forms gave them what I felt was a tremendous advantage. So naturally when I picked up World of Warcraft a few months ago, my first character was a Night Elf Druid. Fortunately they'd gained the ability to shift into other forms besides Bear.

Going on the advice of a friend and veteran of the game I decided to spec Feral. This turned out to be a pretty good choice given the peculiar difficulties that a Druid presents and since this was my first character. As I learned more about the game play, I became better at using my Cat form in conjunction with Bear form to shred and tank against mobs. Yet save for the occasional role as a healer in instance runs, I felt my spell casting abilities were being severely under utilized.

By the time I reached level 45, I'd invested nearly 10 points in the Balance tree. This worked well in that I could use my DoTs to wear down an enemy to half their HP before they even got close whereupon I could easily finish them off in Cat form. Unfortunately, this also drained my mana pool very quickly. After reading up on the latest patch changes and how it vastly improved the Balance tree, I decided to re-spec and see if that matched by playing style any better.

Within an hour of going Balance and gaining Moonkin form, I did an incredible instance run of Zul'Farrak with my guild buddies as a high DPSer. Though Cat and Bear form had both decreased significantly with regards to damage output, in a sticky situation I could still switch to the latter and perform Frenzied Regeneration. Gradually, I changed out all my gear as well and went for those items with high intellect. I also switched to using a two-handed mace as my main weapon which upped my attack power and thus my mana regeneration.

At this point, I am a level 52 Balance Druid who spends about 95% of his time in Moonkin form. I haven't regretted the re-spec at all and in fact, I have only come to enjoy it more. Recently I attained Force of Nature thus giving me three treants to fight on my behalf and allowing me to easily take on enemies three or four levels higher. In PvP, I now have Warlocks of equal level complaining that I'm overpowered.

In short, the Balance tree has long been overlooked for Druids in favor of the easier-to-solo Feral build. But with the right equipment, good mana management and a desire to play more like a mage than a warrior, the Moonkin Druid can quickly rise to the top and become an invaluable member of raids and instance runs.

Revolution Health launches!

2007-04-20T13:56:00.000-05:00

Three months after the initial beta release, Revolution Health launched yesterday to much fanfare and celebration. Yours truly is privileged enough along with 280 or so other employees to be a part of this incredible startup. To celebrate, the company rented out the Beacon Hotel just down the street and provided an open bar and appetizers. For some, it seemed like it was the first of the outside world they'd seen in several weeks after having worked furiously to get the site ready for launch.

Though I wasn't locked away I was working some pretty heavy hours to make sure that our group's section of the site was working seamlessly. It feels a bit strange to finally be on the other side of it all, as if we've stepped through some sort of door. One thing's for sure, there is no going back. From here on out, the health industry is going to wake up and listen and not just to us, but to consumers as well.

Our competition seems to be taking the hint. From imitating our look and feel (it's the sincerest form of flattery, right?) to adding a 'community' section, they are doing their best to keep up. Coincidentally enough, on the day of our launch they fired their CTO. Some people have theorized as to whether this was a signal to us but there's no way to be sure.

What is certain though is that we only needed to do something disruptive in either health care or technology to be revolutionary but we have instead chosen to take on both fronts. A brand-new approach to health care combined with the amazing Ruby on Rails framework means that we will be that much harder to beat. Let the race begin.

Back from hiatus

2007-04-16T13:22:00.000-05:00

Yes, so I know it's been a long time since I've posted here and all I can say is that I have some very good reasons for my hiatus. The big one would have to be work. In preparation for our launch this Thursday, our full site release mind you, I've been working 12 hour days. Trying to maintain even the shadow of a social life in light of these long hours has been difficult to say the least.

In addition, I have also been spending time building my character in World of Warcraft. I'll probably dedicate a full post to that sometime later this week. Needless to say, while some will point to this as evidence of WoW's addictive powers, I can assure you that a few hours spent gaming online every now and then does not make one an addict.

Thanks to work pressures I feel like my Ruby/Rails knowledge has increased exponentially in the past few months. From plugins to ActiveRecord, the need for efficient easily-maintainable code has forced me to dive into Rails' inner workings. It's been tough but I feel that I have a much better idea now of what's going on behind the scenes.

So in effect, work is the culprit. I can only hope that in the future I will be able to drag myself away from it to blog on at least a weekly basis.

First trip to New York

2007-02-21T14:10:00.000-05:00

Friday morning began early at 6am with a short Metro ride to Reagan National airport where we awaited our direct flight to LaGaurdia. Unfortunately icy weather kept our plane grounded longer than expected and what was supposed to be a brief journey lasted quite a bit longer, thus delaying our arrival in Manhattan until early that afternoon. Once we dropped our bags off at the hotel though we were off. As it turns out, we were located less than a block away from the U.N. which was a source of unmitigated joy for me. Those of you who know my penchant for politics should understand my reaction.

The late arrival of our flight meant that both of us were absolutely famished. Fortunately her friends Becky and Elliott were there to take us to lunch, a small BBQ place called Duke's. Afterwards, Becky gave us an afternoon tour of Midtown including such highlights as Grand Central, Times Square and the New York Public Library. The early morning wake-up combined with all the afternoon's activities required a return to the hotel followed by a brief nap. We then met up with them again that evening in the Upper East side at a place named, coincidentally enough, Becky's Pub.

Saturday began in earnest for us with a trip to the American Museum of Natural History. We'd used the Subway briefly the night before, thus giving us a heightened confidence in its use. This morning's ride would prove a much different beast. To start off, the orange 'V' line we had planned on taking was out of service as was the blue 'C' line, our backup plan. The downtown blue 'A' line was the only option left to us, but when we attempted to transfer at the 50th St. station we found ourselves in a bit of a pickle. Apparently, and this is something known only to New Yorkers and adventurous tourists like us, some stations require you to actually leave the station and walk a few blocks to get to the uptown line. This is something we discovered only after a lengthy and frustrating walk around the rather sizable station.

The museum was fun albeit very crowded. We actually spent the majority of our time there in the Hayden Planetarium. After leaving the museum we headed for Central Park looking forward to a leisurely afternoon stroll. Lazily we made our way towards the Midtown entrance on the East side stopping to snap photos of particularly picturesque settings. Eventually we came out near the Central Park Zoo whereupon we quickly headed towards the hotel to prepare for that evening's activities. Nighttime saw us at a nearby French restaurant called "Deux Amis" followed by a showing of Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic theater. It was an incredible show, one that I've always wanted to see. We followed up with dessert at Junior's, a local restaurant known for their amazing cheesecakes.

Feeling a bit stung by the previous day's issues with the Subway, I approached our trip to Lower Manhattan Sunday with a bit of trepidation. As it turns out, I had nothing to fear. The No. 6 Green line was operating just fine and took us to Canal St. without any issues. Upon exiting the station, we stepped into what was truly a foreign world. Everywhere we looked signs covered in Chinese characters and decorations for the Chinese New Year dominated the view. We wandered through what seemed like endless blocks of this vastly larger Chinatown in comparison to our own D.C. version. Lunch was had at a small seafood restaurant while just outside revelers celebrated with drums and poppers.

Ground Zero was our next stop. We approached from Broadway so the first thing we saw was the large memorial photo display at the PATH station. To see those photos with the very hallowed ground behind them was truly moving. As we made our way around the perimeter of the site we stopped at various places such as the Ladder 10 and Engine 10 firehouse which lost five firefighters on 9/11. After making a complete circuit we hopped onto the blue 'E' line running back uptown to our hotel.

Monday was President's Day as well as our last day in New York city. We had hoped to tour the U.N. but it was closed on this seemingly average American holiday. Therefore we decided to go to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). It was bitterly cold, much more so than it had been on any previous day of our trip. What were muddy slush puddles the previous day had frozen overnight to become well-camouflaged sheets of ice making walking all that much more precipitous. But the trip was well worth it as we were treated to such incredible pieces like Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans", Dali's "Persistence of Memory" and Van Gogh's "Starry Night".

That afternoon we had a wonderfully long lunch at a Greek restaurant called Meltemi located at 51st and 1st. I then hailed my last NYC taxi and we headed to LaGuardia airport. As I look back on our trip, it is the hectic pace of the city that stands out in my mind. This fast lifestyle that gives New York its motto as the "City that never sleeps" is what makes it so exciting and will keep people like myself coming back.

So long Battlefield 2. Hello World of Warcraft!

2007-02-06T13:15:00.000-05:00

In December of 2005, on advice from my buddy Brandon, I picked up a copy of Battlefield 2 and immediately immersed myself into a whole new world of gaming. Whereas my previous vice, Counter Strike: Source, was essentially a repetitive bloodbath this new game required strategy, cunning and teamwork. For about a year, this game kept me entertained what with learning new vehicles and gaining rank. From infantry soldier to general to J-10 pilot, I mastered nearly every aspect of the game and had a lot of fun while doing it.

Yet the entire time there were certain things that bothered me. While the online service was free to use, this also meant that anybody could run their own server. Once the official EA servers went offline, only these user provided ones were available and each had their own unique set of rules they expected users to follow. Oftentimes these rules were lazily enforced and instead used as justification to boot users that the admin simply did not like.

As well, the most important part of the game, teamwork, was one that the game's architecture did not easily facilitate. Users were encouraged to 'squad up' at the start of a round yet they rarely did. So getting on a good team depended more on finding one in the various Internet forums or bringing a group of your real-life friends with you into the game. The latter worked well for me until our group disbanded after which I can count on one hand the number of times I found a good squad to game with.

Contrast this with World of Warcraft, a game which has been out for longer than Battlefield 2 and which I have been avoiding because I've seen just how addicted my friends are. Yet after playing for several weeks, I can see why they are still playing this game over 2 years after it came out. The online service, while somewhat costly at $15/month, is operated solely by Blizzard and thus ensures that no arcane rules by a petty admin will get you booted off of a server.

As for the social aspect of the game, it is light years ahead of Battlefield 2. Support for parties (five people), raids (40 people) and guilds (unlimited) are built right into the game architecture along with easy ways to access them. Early on, the quests that you receive encourage group participation. Since starting play just a few weeks ago, I have lost count of how many times I've relied on complete strangers in my party to help me through a difficult quest. Many of them have ended up on my friends' list which notifies me when they are online. Thus an environment of camaraderie is built around teamwork and it is this feature that will keep users playing WoW for many years to come.

January comes and goes

2007-01-28T12:51:00.000-05:00

So the first month of the new year has been pretty crazy as you can guess by the lack of posts. It started off well enough with a party at my buddy Mike's place. He lives just upstairs from me and also works at the same company. It was a James Bond-themed party with all the guys done up like gentlemen and the women dressed to kill. Needless to say, we had an awesome time and I'm looking forward to the next event he hosts.

Work came at me without warning. I thought that with our product having launched in late December, this month might be a bit slower but that turned out to be a fantasy on my part. Unwittingly, I took on the responsibility of creating a browser-based rich text editor for use in many of our products. The one we had just didn't cut it due to cross-browser compatibility issues and customizing it for our needs. I can't say too much more about it now but if possible I would love to see us give back to the open source community by releasing this as a project on Ruby Forge.

But my life hasn't been all work. Play this week came in the form of a Washington Wizards game on Tuesday. My buddy Mario invited me and seeing as I had never been to a basketball game before, much less one in our nation's capital, I eagerly accepted. Mario's friend was the actual ticket holder and we had the benefit of sitting in the Lockheed Martin box right on the half court line. They were some spectacular seats and despite the loss to the Phoenix Suns that night, I nonetheless had a great time.

The end of January is nearly here and will mark the one-year anniversary when I came up to visit my (other) buddy Mike. My stay, brief as it was, left an indelible impression on me, one that would factor into my decision to move up here when a recruiter from Revolution Health came calling only three months later. In the time since, I have truly come to call this place home, more so than any other area I've lived in outside of Southern California. I'm looking forward to a spectacular 2007.

Installing Sirius into a Hyundai Santa Fe

2007-01-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

This install was performed on a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe. While my two previous installs had the benefit of being able to utilize the factory radio, the particulars of this vehicle prevented that. As such, it was necessary to replace the head unit with an after-market stereo. I ordered everything I needed from Crutchfield and I highly recommend going through them if you intend to do the same. On orders over $129, they include everything you need to install the stereo and this came in very useful.

Pioneer DEH-P3800MP stereo
Pioneer SIR-PNR2 Sirius receiver
Hyundai in-dash receiver kit (Crutchfield part no. 003HYK1118)
Hyundai wire harness receiver (Crutchfield part no. 120707301)
Extra wire (about 16 guage) and butt crimps
Wire connectors

The first order of business is to disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Next, remove the components from the center of the dashboard. Start with the environmental controls by removing the ashtray and screws located there. You should be able to reach up and pull this piece out disconnecting the various wires as you go. Now you can remove two vertically-oriented screws that are connected to the top piece. Once this is done remove the piece containing the vents and digital clock.

Taking out the radio is easy now. At this point you'll want to fit your stereo into the in-dash receiver kit and adjust the included trim if necessary. My particular setup required ¼" being taken off of each side in order to get the perfect fit.

Attach the Hyundai wire harness receiver to the plug that was originally plugged into the factory radio. Color match the wires to those on the new head unit and connect them using the wire connectors. Don't worry if not all of the wires are used, just be sure those particular ends are wrapped with electrical tape.

Now we will install the Sirius receiver. You have two options: 1) Place it underneath the passenger seat or 2) Place it underneath the rear passenger seat. There are pros and cons to each but placing it under the rear seat is much tougher.

Attach the blue end of the the IP-bus cable to the back of the receiver in addition to the wire harness and FM radio antenna cable. If are you going for just the passenger seat, route the other end of the IP-bus cable behind the glove compartment, down the side and underneath the door trim which you can simply tuck it under. For those who choose the latter option, the short length of the IP-bus cable requires that you instead route it underneath the center console and carpet leading to the rear passenger seat. You'll need to loosen the center console with a ratchet and run a coat hanger under the carpet if you go with this option.

With the Sirius receiver in place, you now need to hook it up to a power source. While it's possible to reuse the path followed by the IP-bus cable, I highly recommend routing it instead along the driver's side of the car to avoid any possible interference with the signal to the head unit. In addition, this has the benefit of placing the ends of the wire directly next to the fusebox located underneath the steering column on the left side. You'll want to splice in the extra wire at this point so that it is long enough to reach. The wire can tap directly into the fuse labeled "Audio" thus ensuring that the receiver remains on when the stereo is on.

From the rear of the car, route the Sirius antenna wire down through the small space between the rear hatch and the roof. Tuck the wire into the gasket running along the edge towards the passenger side. Have it enter the car through the trim running along the roof edge and snake the wire towards the front. Depending on where you installed the Sirius receiver, route the antenna wire out from the floor through the door trim.

Make sure all wires are attached to their proper components. Reattach the negative terminal on the battery and turn the key to accessory mode. The stereo should start with FM radio selected. Press the volume control knob to select the Sirius receiver as a source. If you see 'SIRIUS' displayed then congratulations, you are ready to activate your unit and listen to the best that satellite radio has to offer.

Questions?
Email me at sean.soper@gmail.com if you have any.

Legal stuff
All brands mentioned in this document are copyright of their respective owners. I am not responsible if your equipment or vehicle malfunctions after following these instructions. You may copy this information as you see fit but please cite this article as a source if you do so.

A Year of Change

2006-12-31T20:45:00.000-05:00

This year, if nothing else, has been one of change. In January, I was living in Melbourne, Florida working for a health insurance company. I knew full well that my job would probably be outsourced, or at the very least, reduced in scope but was determined to stick with it. In May, while at a particular low point with my job, I was given the opportunity to pursue my dream; to work in a big city doing software development using what I believe is the future of web application development. Less than two weeks after my interview, I was in Washington, D.C. building a health portal in Ruby on Rails.

The people in my life have also changed. For many of the friends I had in Melbourne, I no longer maintain much contact with them save for an occasional IM or email. But with others, the friendship has blossomed since my leaving and in at least one case, that person has also come to D.C. for economic opportunities, joining the other ex-Melbournites in the area.

But where I have lost friends as a result of my move, I have also gained many in the time since moving here. Work has been a great source of new friendships, one in particular which has blossomed into something unexpectedly beautiful. She has brought something into my life that I didn't think I was ready for, something which I needed more than I realized. I'm looking forward to what this year will bring for both of us.

As I walked down the jetway upon my arrival at Reagan, I realized that it was only six months ago that I left this exact same airport with aspirations of returning. I have, only this time from a place that I've always considered home. Now I have come to call this slice of urban jungle home and I feel more at home here than I ever have outside of California.

No doubt this year will bring more change, some bad and some good. But I will face it with the same tenacity, open-mindedness and positive attitude that I always have.

Blood diamonds and their impact on mainstream America

2006-12-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

The latest cause célèbre seems to be blood diamonds. Conflict diamonds, as they are more commonly known, constitute only 1% of the total diamond trade but lately they have been making quite the splash in popular culture. They have been mentioned in media as disparate as Kanye West's song Diamonds from Sierra Leone to Nicholas Cage's movie Lord of War. But none of these works has addressed the issue as directly as Edward Zwick's latest film Blood Diamond.

The film starts out with our archetype hero, Danny Archer, plying his trade in conflict diamonds. Through a series of mishaps, he becomes entangled with a native by the name of Solomon Vandy, whom he agrees to help on condition that he gets access to the near perfect pink diamond that Vandy discovered while working in the slave labor mines of the RUF. Danny will end up using all his contacts and ingenuity to get what he wants but eventually, he does find the diamond.

Yet instead of leading to great wealth, this leads to personal tragedy, at least for Danny. The true hero of this story comes to be Vandy, who escapes to London and eventually gives a speech to the U.N. on the dangers of conflict diamonds. The movie ends on a hopeful note and yet I can't help but be reminded of how similarly themed features were popular in the early 1990s.

At the time, the shrinking rain forest was a global concern and attracted a large amount of attention as a result. Various celebrities spoke out about the issue and some even made movies about it. Yet it hasn't been on the radar of the public for at least a decade. Recent articles suggest that the Amazon is disappearing at twice the rate as previously estimated. Being the perpetual optimist, I can only hope that the issue of blood diamonds is resolved rather than forgotten about as other important global issues have been.

A Tenacious D weekend

2006-12-10T23:58:00.000-05:00

With my company's product growing closer to launch, I was busier than ever the first full week of December. When Saturday finally came, it was a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of writing and testing code. This weekend was especially anticipated because it was set to be a Tenacious D weekend.

I don't consider myself a fan of the D but not because I don't like their music. In fact, I think it's great stuff but I've just never taken the time to listen to much more than what my friends have recommended. The first time I heard about their new song "Pick of Destiny" was on Sirius Alt Nation, which has been playing it seemingly non-stop for the past month in anticipation of the movie by the same title. When my friend Beth said she was getting tickets for their upcoming concert show at the GMU Patriot Center, I made sure to get my name in. She took it even further by organizing an outing on Saturday to go see the movie.

Despite being nearly 40 minutes late to the theater, I walked in right when the film started thanks to a series of delays on the part of the projectionist. I went into the movie with no expectations whatsoever and came out with a much greater understanding of what the D is about. The rock opera, for lack of a better term, is a fictional retelling of how Jack Black and Kyle Gass met, formed the band and eventually did battle with Satan. It had its share of laughs and featured cameos by the likes of Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins and several others.

The next night we continued our Tenacious D experience. First stop was Beth's new place in Alexandria which she shared with a roommate. This roommate has a fridge literally stocked to the brim with beer and a stand-up arcade machine with every awesome game on it from 1980 to the early 1990s. We whittled away the time drinking and playing video games from our childhood.

At about 7pm, we headed on over to the Patriot Center and got there just in time for the start of the opening act. It was Neil Hamburger, a somewhat well-known comic who goes for laughs in a roundabout way. Essentially, he told really bad jokes while loudly clearing his throat between each telling. This one was a real gem:

Why did the Taliban burn 200 copies of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album? Well, because their music sucked.

Ha ha! I consider myself a Pink Floyd fan and even I thought that was funny. Maybe it was the beer. Oh well, he wasn't on stage much more than 20 minutes and then the real act began.

Jack Black and Kyle Gass appeared with a couch behind them, acting for all the world as if they were in their living room. They played a few sets until quite accidentally, they were electrocuted and woke up to found themselves in the pits of hell. Once there, they decided to make the best of their situation and gather the most awesome band members they could. They went with the Antichrist, Charlie Chaplin and Colonel Sanders, all of whom were available and willing to play with them. Together they rocked the house, did battle with Satan and made prolific use of the F word. In a sense, the concert was a live version of their movie, albeit with less special effects.

Their encore performance included songs off their previous CD plus some covers of songs from The Who. In fact, the very last song they played was "Listening to you" off the Tommy album. Perhaps these musical geniuses were paying homage to the masterpiece that gave birth to the rock opera genre. Whatever their motives, it was an incredible concert that has left an indelible imprint on me.

Mario's last day at work

2006-11-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

When I first started at my current company, I was placed in the Ruby group working on community-oriented features. At that time we were a mishmash of Ruby, Java and Python but eventually the scope was reduced such that Java was nearly taken out of the picture all together. As a result, many of the Java programmers found themselves without much work to do and so they picked up a Ruby book and started reading.

Within a few weeks they were all up to speed and cranking out code. Slowly, we stopped seeing each other as Ruby vs. Java and begin to identify instead with the product we were working on. Old alliances gave way to new ones and people who I had once thought of as hostile seemed much more amicable.

One of these formerly hostile types was a guy named Mario. His height and booming voice combined to make him stand out in our colorless cube farm. He also had a strange occupation with a place called Java Green where he went everyday for lunch and returned boasting of their tofu chicken and rice bowl. I eventually accompanied him on one of these outings and offered him my advice on which Ruby book was best for a beginner with lots of Java experience.

That was nearly three months ago and in the time since we've become great friends. From late nights at work writing "f'ing migrations", as he so eloquently put it, to clubbing at 1223 across the street, we've certainly had an interesting past couple of months. And despite that his new job is way out in the 'burbs, I am confident that we will remain great friends.

Mario, you will be missed.

Hustle and bustle

2006-11-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

Last week was quite busy for me so let me see if I can provide a quick rundown. Monday I think was my only down day, if you could apply such a label to a day that starts at 7am and ends somewhere around 12am. The next morning I was up bright and early to go vote for progressive change at the ballot box. Though I was dismayed to see the amendment banning gay marriage pass, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jim Webb, a Democrat, would be Virgnia's newest Senator. He has an excellent record and I think he'll represent us well.

Tuesday evening I went see Death Cab for Cutie at DAR Constitution Hall. I didn't know very many of their songs aside from what I'd heard on Alt Nation but it was a pretty good concert regardless. Afterwards, while walking to the Archives metro stop, I spoke to my parents on my cell phone and learned of the Democrats impending victory just as I was passing by the White House. This caused me to make an impromptu demonstration right there, in the general direction of the west wing. It was a small "gesture", most likely noticed by no one, but it felt good nonetheless.

Wednesday looked to be winding down to a calm evening until Sanjeev, the recruiter that brought me to my current company and in general a cool guy to hang out with, invited me to a happy hour at Science Club just down the street. I figured I could go there for a few beers keeping in mind that I had a dentist appointment early the next morning. I ended up staying a bit later and having a really great time as many of the faces there were familiar. Jayashri was there too which was awesome since she lives all the way up in Columbia.

Finally, the day I had been dreading arrived. Two weeks previous, I had gone into the dentist for a routine cleaning only to find out that I had a slight case of gingivitis on my back molars. Now don't panic people, it's actually more common than you think. Probably even more so for those of us with less-than-stellar dentists who never alerted us to the issue. Fortunately, I'm with a great dentist now although I wasn't heaping such praise on them while they did what's called a "deep cleaning" on my gums. The local anesthesia helped but the best solution would have been a better brushing regimen so that I could have avoided the entire issue. So remember kids, don't forget to floss!

Any free time I had this past week was spent playing with my newest toy, a MacBook Pro. That's right, I've opted to convert to the "other" platform and I am not looking back. After hearing that such Ruby luminaries like DHH himself used a Mac and seeing so many of my co-workers using them, I decided to take the plunge. I'll write a full length article on it sometime in the next few weeks. For now, rest assured that this platform is absolutely amazing to work with for both development and daily computer use.

This week is looking to be just as hectic, though hopefully less painful, than last week. I just got back from seeing my buddy Steve out in Fairfax where he's staying for the next few days while he's in town for work. Tomorrow I'll be taking in an opera and Thursday through Sunday is booked solid with various dinner parties and get togethers. After that it's Thanksgiving and then onto December!

How to throw a Guy Fawkes party

2006-11-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

Remember, remember the fifth of November
The Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
I see no reason why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

401 years ago, a group of conspirators attempted to blow up the English parliament. Their demolitions expert, a man by the name of Guy Fawkes, was caught with several barrels of explosives beneath the building, ready to set them off. From there the entire conspiracy fell apart with most of the participants being hanged, including Guy Fawkes. I first read of the event on Wikipedia a few years ago but it wasn't until I saw V for Vendetta that I was inspired to do more.

By more, I don't mean anything political of course but instead something more celebratory. In this case, a dinner party. I prepared five separate courses and invited a gaggle of friends over. Authentic English beer in the form of Guinness and Boddington's Pub ale were made available. I had also planned on us watching the aforementioned movie but time constraints on a Sunday evening meant everybody leaving by about 9:30pm.

The courses listed above all turned out great and I ended up with tons of leftovers. It was my first time cooking authentic English meals and as one of my friends so assiduously put it, the food was 'quite dense'. Unfortunately some of the other things that go along with the celebration, such as fireworks and the burning of a Guy Fawkes effigy, were not possible due to local ordinances. But we had a great time nonetheless and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

The Drunk Train

2006-10-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

I've boasted before of being on the last train back to Virginia but in fact I was probably a good one or two trains ahead of the last one. But this past Saturday (or very early Sunday morning, depending on how you look at it) I truly was on the last one. I was out with a friend in Adams Morgan that night and while tucked away on a couch at Tryst, I suddenly realized what time it was and that we had to get back to the Metro ASAP lest we be at the mercy of the DC cab driver.

We got to the Dupont Circle station with only four minutes to spare before the next red line train, which would only take me as far as Metro Center. I wasn't even sure if there would be one waiting there to take me back to Crystal City. But as I stepped onto the train and waved goodbye to my friend on the opposite platform, I realized that I had stepped into a different world.

Now my time on the Metro is typically spent in either quiet solitude reading or conversing with my friends at a subdued volume level. By contrast, this train had the noise level of a rock concert. Just as many people were standing as were sitting, each yelling to be overhead above the din. Some were even doing shots which got whoops of encouragement and rounds of applause from the other passengers. I could not believe my eyes as I had finally arrived at the place I'd only heard about in legend: The Drunk Train.

Like freedom, The Drunk Train is more of an idea than an actual thing. It almost always inhabits the last train of the night and moves from line to line depending on where the crowd goes. Fortunately, the majority of them were heading towards Virginia and so at Metro Center we all got onto the orange line to continue the debauchery. The thick wall that city dwellers typically erect around themselves during normal hours had been breached by booze making conversation plentiful and enjoyable.

I didn't get back to my apartment until almost 3:30am thanks to delays and transfers but quite honestly I didn't care. I had such a great time just talking to people and getting to know them that I could definitely see myself doing it again. The Drunk Train is something that everybody should do at least once in their lifetime.

Capping off a great week

2006-10-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

So this week actually went pretty well. Work was a bit exhausing but the grind was interrupted on Tuesday when my co-worker Georgios suggested we hit Front Page just up the street after work. My friend Reshma had texted me just shortly beforehand curious if I was up for Gazuza, which of course I always am. So after about an hour at Front Page, Georgios and I headed over to Gazuza.

We had a great time there although we had somewhat of a strange conversation. Somehow we got on the topic of Freemasons, secret societies and their influence on Washington, D.C. Needless to say, several hours passed seemingly in the blink of an eye and before I knew it, I had to run so I could catch the last Metro back to Virginia. I woke up the next morning tired and bleary-eyed but not at all guilty about partying mid-week.

Friday started out in Alexandria with my friend Chelcia. We wandered around the King Street area but not for long as it was too cold out for these two recent Floridian transplants. She had to work early the next morning so we made our goodbyes at around 10pm whereupon I raced into the district to meet up with Georgios. He had been saving a parking spot for me near his place, literally fending off other potential parkers with the wild waving of his arms. After getting the parking situation settled, we headed off to McFadden's where we met up with Michael and had an absolute blast.

Saturday began at Rio Grande in Clarendon with Mike (not the same Michael previously mentioned) and his girlfriend Jocelyn. After a few margaritas, we took the Metro into DC to meet up with Greg, Teresa and her friends at Brickskeller. This is the place that has a thousand different types of beer yet that night I was in the mood for some Unibroue . I started off with a Maudite and then tried their Don De Dieu before moving onto some of their other products. I love high-alcohol content beers and Unibroue is especially talented at making them.

We ended Saturday night at Julia's Empenadas at around 1:30am where everybody scarfed down on the warm and tasty puff pastries. It seems that every week here in DC, no matter how planned it may seem at the outset, ends up completely different than how I envisioned. Yet my penchant for meticulous planning seems to not mind the random bar outings and meetups. In fact, it is the randomness that I have come to rely on for my nightlife.

Tanqueray Rangpur

2006-10-08T18:52:00.000-05:00

I first started drinking gin about six years ago while at Purdue. My friend Brent introduced me to it and we quickly went through an assortment of brands before finally settling on our top three. These were Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray and Citadel, all of them excellent gins. Over the years I eventually came to drinking just Bombay Sapphire while occasionally dabbling in other brands such as Tower of London.

But earlier this month it came to my knowledge that Tanqueray was releasing a new variant of their world-famous gin and only in Washington, DC with select areas in Maryland and Delaware. It was a sign from God if I'd ever seen one. So last week on my way home from work, I stopped by the liquor store across the street from my metro stop in the District and picked up a bottle. It was only $22 for a 750ml, comparable to my regular Bombay Sapphire, and as for the taste, well read on.

Gin truly is an acquired taste. Many of my friends have compared it to mouth wash, pine needles or jet fuel, all of them apt descriptions if you're not a fan of the stuff. And even for us connoisseurs, drinking it with tonic is seen as the best way to casually enjoy it. But Tanqueray Rangpur is different. Following the advice of a local blogger, I poured it straight over ice. The taste was much lighter than what I expected. I'd never had a Rangpur lime before but I imagine their complimentary flavors to gin was discovered early on. The whiff of botanicals was there but not nearly as strong as expected. Tastewise it was very smooth yet retained the characteristics of its worldly heritage.

Already my life has been subtly altered by the discovery of this new gin. While hanging out at a bar in Clarendon the other night I caught myself asking for a Tanqueray Rangpur straight up, momentarily forgetting that it was available only in DC until February of next year when it goes into general release. I, for one, will be counting down the days.

Dad at Fogo de Chão

2006-09-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

What started out as a promising week work-wise turned sour Monday evening when I had to stay until 8pm to help fix a bug. It wasn't a huge deal really but I don't like to leave a situation unresolved, even if I'm not the cause of it. I put in some long hours Tuesday as well but Wednesday I made a point of leaving early, around 5:30pm, so I could go meet my Dad for dinner.

He was in town for work so along with a co-worker of his named Ken, we met up at McCormick & Schmick's in Crystal City for drinks. I was thinking we could just do dinner in the Arlington area but Ken had heard about a Brazilian restaurant in DC that he wanted to try. Right away I knew what he was talking about: the famous rodizio Fogo de Chão on Pennsylvania Avenue. I'd actually been there before back in February when I was visiting the area and was quite fond of their authentic selection despite the lack of chicken hearts.

Rather than hop back on the Metro, we got in the Audi and headed over there where we spent a good 10 minutes looking for parking before finally giving up and just paying for a garage. The meal we had was truly sumptuous, fit for a king really. My Portuguese was a bit rusty but I managed to order a few things in the native tongue including one of the best caipivodkas I've ever had.

Dinner was followed by a quick tour of northwest DC and a discussion about why there were so many cops on Connecticut Avenue and 17th Street. My theory was that this was the route intended to take either Hamid Karzai or Perez Musharraf (or both) back to their residences as they were dining at the White House that night. We didn't stick around long enough to find out.

Though I was sad to see my Dad off at his hotel, I was also happy that I got to see him at all. Living so far away from California, it's not often that I get to see friends and family from home. This Christmas will mark the first time in a year that I've been back and I'm looking forward to it with great fanfare.

The Virgin Music Fest

2006-09-24T21:29:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, my friends Reshma, Shayan, Faheem and myself drove up to Pimlico field outside Baltimore, Maryland to attend the 1st annual Virgin Music Fest. We met up with another cohort upon arrival, Seema, who came in from New York, and made our way to the event. The venue was divided into three areas with the well-known acts happening at the Grandstand stage at one end and lesser known acts appearing at the Clubhouse stage on the other side of the track. A large tent called the Darkhouse Dance tent played host to various DJs while a smaller tent called the Freaklounge had a running show of sideshow-esque acts throughout the day.

Our first event was Wolfmother which came on the Grandstand stage at 1pm. I'd heard their song Woman a number of times on Octane but not much else. They were actually quite good and their hard rocking chords evoked a late 70s, perhaps early 80s metal sound. But we couldn't stay too long as Reshma wanted to go check out The New Pornographers on the Clubhouse stage. A fairly large band at eight members, they put on a great show and definitely got me intrigued in their particular style.

The next two acts we saw were the Raconteurs and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, both on opposite stages. I honestly lost count of how many times we went back and forth. It seemed that near the end of every show there was a great exodus to the other side of the field, followed by a reversal not long after. Anyways, the next band to come on the Grandstand stage was Gnarls Barkley and they were just amazing. Apparently they have a new theme for every show and this one was Chariots of Fire so they dressed appropriately in Roman-esque garb. They played a ton of great material and closed on Crazy, an absolutely fantastic song to hear live.

The Brazilian Girls were the next to appear on the smaller Clubhouse stage. Shayan is a big fan of theirs and he was bowled over by their performance. Contrary to their name, none of the members are Brazilian and only one, the lead singer, is a girl. During the performance, she had this white latex mask on and would apply make-up to it between songs. I only stayed for a few songs before heading over to see The Killers on the main stage. Now I'd been looking forward to this as they were played frequently on both Octane and Alt Nation. They played all the big hits from their first album like Somebody Told me and Mr. Brightside and even included songs from their upcoming one, most notably Bones. These guys were amazing and I would definitely pay to see them again live.

At this point, we headed back towards the smaller stage to see Thievery Corporation. After about 20 minutes there, Seema said that she wanted to go see The Who. Nobody else seemed interested so the two of us headed back to the big stage. We got there just in time to see Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, the only remaining original members of The Who, plus a bassist, keyboarder and drummer put on what I can only describe as the greatest rock show I've ever seen. I'm a big fan of the group but nothing could have prepared me for this performance.

The vocals from both Daltrey and Townshend were spot-on and whenever Townshend did his famous "windmill" on the guitar, the crowd went nuts. I found it gratifying that the same band my Dad was such a big fan of could still rock the hell out of a venue like this one. People young and old, myself and Seema included, were screaming at the top of their lungs. Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes and My Generation were just a few of the hits that they played. I'd been hoping for something from Tommy so when I heard the opening notes to Pinball Wizard I thought I was going to lose it. They closed the show on Listening to You/See Me, a truly mesmerizing performance.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers came on at 8:30pm and, including their encore performance, rocked the crowd for nearly two hours. They played a good number of hits, most of them from Californication and By the Way. The only disappointment was that they didn't play Under the Bridge. Otherwise though it was a great show and definitely a great closer to what was a top-notch music festival. This was the 1st one in the US but I hope Virgin continues to bring this great event stateside year after year.

Frankenstein

2006-09-21T22:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight my cousin Katy and I had the pleasure of watching Frankenstein on stage at the Kennedy Center. This interpretation wavered little from the original and the set itself was very minimal. A large chain-like mesh hanging from a drop and a small raised platform, both of which were far upstage, were the only permanent fixtures on the simple black setting. With the exception of the occasional prop that was rolled out, this left nearly the entire area open for the actors to perform. Dry ice was also put to heavy use.

The story starts out in the far north aboard Captain Walton's ship, beleagured by ice floes. Sighting a distant figure, he sends out a party to investigate and they return with Victor Frankenstein. The rescued man proceeds to tell the story of his fascination with medieval alchemy and how it led to the realization that he could apply his knowledge to create life from death. The resultant monster kills his mentor, Professor Waldman, and goes on a rampage through the town before finally making his way to Victor's home in Geneva, Switzerland. He then kills Victor's closest friends and family after having been refused by Victor the creation of a synthetic companion.

At this point, Victor gives chase eventually ending up on the same ice floes as the captain's ship. Shortly after retelling his tale, Victor dies of exhaustion and the creature, having lost his only connection to the world, recovers the body. The captain takes this as an omen and sets sail for home. The last thing the sailors see as they depart the forbidding waters is the creature mourning over the loss of his creator.

The acting was absolutely top-notch. Dan Istrate seemed born for the part of Victor Frankenstein. The energy he brought to the stage plus his haunting features created a performance matched only by his co-star, Irakli Kavsadze, who played the creature. Irakli's hulking appearance and heavy makeup didn't dull his obvious talent and stage presence. The only issue I might mention are the slow-motion bits, especially during the fight scenes, which seemed somewhat contrived. Otherwise, this was an awesome performance that I would highly recommend.

The beauty of Suse with XGL

2006-09-19T18:19:00.000-05:00

From the day I got my first company computer, I've always wanted the ability to put whatever OS I choose onto it. Naturally, certain elements within the IT department made it their goal in life to thwart such efforts in favor of uniformity. So when I started work at my current company, I was surprised to find out that I could install any OS I wanted though my PC came pre-installed with Windows XP.

Being a big fan of Suse, I immediately installed 10.1 in a dual-boot configuration but that was the extent of my efforts. By the end of my second day, I was already assigned a large task with a quickly approaching deadline and I simply didn't have the time to set up Suse the way I wanted. And so it languished like that for a few months until recently when it became imperative that I switch to a non-Windows OS.

The trepidation I had felt at having to setup my Linux environment dissapated as I rediscovered just how enjoyable it was to be using an industrial-strength OS again. Additionally, I became more productive thanks to quicker build times and a programmer-friendly interface. But not settling for just the basic setup, I went further and begin installing what could only be deemed as frivolous, though not unnecessary in my opinion.

MPlayer was one of the first optional components to get setup, quickly followed by Plugger and a few other goodies so that I could listen to Sirius. To complement my listening selection, I also downloaded Amarok thus enabling me to enjoy my personal music collection. So that I could make the most of my video card, I compiled the ATI drivers and setup a wicked screen saver. I even installed Google Earth so I could take full advantage of my newly enabled 3D effects.

But by far the coolest thing I installed was XGL. I had made a half-hearted attempt about a week ago at installing it but it wasn't until I walked in this morning and saw my co-worker Grant running it that I finally decided to 'git er done'. Knowing that he was running Gentoo, I figured it had to be much easier in Suse and indeed it was. After about 30 minutes of downloading packages and reading various docs, I finally had it up and running although it took another hour of configuration before I was truly pleased with the results.

Having used XGL for only about half a day, I can honestly say that it is quite possibly one of the coolest desktop experiences ever. Even my co-workers using Aqua on their Macs were impressed and made a point to stop by and check out what a true 3D desktop looked like. Back here at home, being on a standard '2D' desktop, I feel a bit constrained. So I think I'll sign off on this entry and go install XGL.

Teaching Ruby on Rails

2006-09-08T19:23:00.000-05:00

Despite nearly a year of programming with the Ruby on Rails framework, teaching the subject is quite a different beast. A few months ago I mentioned Ruby on Rails (RoR from here on) to my cousin who then mentioned it to her boss that runs a training center in Columbia, Maryland. The more he read about it, the more excited he became about its potential growth. By this time I had moved to the DC area and was just an hour's drive away so it wasn't too long before I got a phone call inviting me to talk to him about RoR.

Now understand that I am very passionate about programming in RoR, even to the point of being evangelical about it. Michael, who runs the training center, has a background in programming and he immediately latched onto the power of a dynamically-typed, very expressive language such as Ruby. The presence of the Rails web framework, which makes J2EE look like a Model T, was an added bonus.

My lesson plan was centered around a two-hour presentation split between Ruby and Rails. For the Ruby half, I used Pickaxe as my template. It's such a well-organized book in how it teaches the Ruby language. Yet translating that into a one-hour class gave me cause to worry for the entire week leading up to the session. Eventually I settled on a "write as you speak" approach. Seeing as I'm a better programmer than public speaker, I wrote a small application that hit on all the major points of the Ruby language and printed out the code as a reference. Then over the course of the first hour, I rewrote the program from scratch stopping to answer questions or to highlight anything that wasn't immediately clear.

The second half of the lesson centered around Rails though after a small break I had only 45 minutes left. I must point out here that even though an intimate knowledge of Ruby is not required for developing applications in Rails, on a personal level I think it helps immensely, especially if you need to roll your own plugins. But with less than an hour to show off the power of Rails, I decided to go with a simple CRUD application relying mostly on scaffolding to generate the controller and views.

I got the feeling that the audience came from a Java background and that the Rails portion of the class was really what they came for. So after creating my basic application, I opened it up to questions and boy did they have questions! They ran the full gamut and consisted of things like "How do layouts work?" all the way to "Is Rails ready for the enterprise world?" (such a loaded question coming from a Java programmer!).

All in all, it was a great experience and looking back it's strange to think why I was so nervous. Within a few minutes of the class starting I settled into a routine and when it was over it was difficult to imagine that those two hours had flown by so quickly. I look forward not only to continuing to evangelize RoR but to teach it as well if given another opportunity.

An interesting night in DC

2006-09-02T02:17:00.000-05:00

Late last night (or early morning, depending on how you look at it) my buddy Jeff arrived in Washington, DC. We met back in high school and have been friends ever since. Considering the late arrival of his flight, we had somewhat of a late start on the day and didn't get to the American History museum until 11:15am on Friday morning. There we met my cousin Katy and we explored the America on the Move exhibit. We also stood in awe of the American flag which had been draped over the Pentagon immediately following the attacks of 9/11.

Afterwards we headed over to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This was by far one of the best museums I have visited yet in DC. From the very beginning, you are made to feel as if you are in Dachau or one of the other hellish concentration camps located throughout WWII-era Germany. In addition, the cruelty and pure evil that pervaded that time truly came to life through photographs and other media presentations.

Having decided that Jeff needed to experience some more positive parts of DC, I figured that Les Halles would be the best place to show off the city. We had an awesome lunch that left me postively stuffed. After experiencing some nasty delays on the Metro, we finally saw my cousin Katy off at the Rosslyn station and headed back to my place in Crystal City to prepare for that evening.

At around 9:30pm we met up with Sally, a fellow graduate of Carlsbad High School that Jeff knew through friends, in Dupont circle. We began the evening at Gazuza, a favorite of mine known for its excellent drinks and hookahs. After a few hours the conversation turned intellectual and it was then that we decided to go to Kramer's, one of the most well-known bookshops in the area that also happened to have a full service bar. After a few more hours there, we were ready to head home on the Metro.

It was here that the night took a most interesting turn. While Jeff and Sally were firmly planted in their seats, I was indulging in an activity called 'Metro Surfing' which essentially involves trying to stay upright on the Metro without benefit of handholds. It's more difficult than it sounds, especially when drunk. Little did I know that a small man sitting nearby was taking notice.

Now I'm not sure what set this individual off but when he moved to exit the Metro at Rosslyn station, he suddenly turned to look at me and assaulted me with every verbal invective known to Man. Most of it involved the words queer, faggot and homo. My inquiries as to why he was so angry at me invited only more hate speech. After 30 seconds of this, I suddenly came to feel very sorry for this person. My initial anger turned to a light-hearted form of sympathy and I began to taunt him, definitely not one of my brighter moves. I asked him where his local Klan meeting was and and told him that I consistently voted Democrat which only seemed to agitate him more. Eventually Sally made it clear that she did not feel comfortable with the situation so I shut my mouth until he stepped off the Metro, the doors closed and we continued on our way.

When I was in the Holocaust museum earlier that day, it was difficult to understand how someone could hate someone else so much without knowing that person. Tonight on the Metro, that exact kind of hatred was directed at me. This person was obviously a small-minded and deranged individual but he is not the only one. We must always be aware of people of like this and realize that it can spring up in even the most diverse and tolerant of places.

Cold brewed coffee

2006-08-28T20:31:00.000-05:00

For over a thousand years, coffee has been the beverage of choice to countless millions for getting a start on the day. Brazilians love their coffee so much that the term for breakfast there is café da manhã, literally translated as coffee of the morning. The method of brewing coffee has changed only slightly in the past millennium and remains much the same across cultures: steep the beans in hot water to extract their caffeine and flavor.

That changed in 1964 when a graduate student by the name of Todd Simpson developed a method of cold brewing coffee. He went on to develop the Toddy Coffee Maker which at its core is a gravity-fed brewing system. The resultant coffee is much more potent than a normal brew and has nearly 70% less acidity.

My inspiration for trying this method of brewing was my co-worker and friend Lizz. She swears by her Toddy but I wasn't prepared to drop $40 on it and besides, as Alton Brown is fond of saying, there should be only one device in your kitchen that has a single use and that's the fire extinguisher. Determined to find an alternate means of brewing this wonderful concoction, I came up with the method described below. You will need some tools first.

French press with at least an 8-cup capacity.
A strong or medium whole-bean coffee. I used a Columbian blend from Starbucks.
A coffee grinder.
Coffee filters.
Frother (optional)
Purified water (optional)

Fill the grinder with a cup of beans and set it to espresso fine. Pour the resultant powder into the French press and fill it with cold or room-temperature water, preferably purified. Cover the top with Saran wrap and put it in the fridge for 10-12 hours. For the first few hours I used my hand-held frother to keep the grounds from getting too coagulated. When ready, take the French press out of the fridge, and affix at least 2 coffee filters to the reusable metal filter. Slowly push down on the plunger. Due to the amount of grounds, it will probably take up to a minute to push it down completely. Slow is key here.

The resultant coffee will have a higher caffeine content and so it is recommended that you mix at least 1 part coffee with 3 parts cream such as milk or my personal favorite, soy. With just a dash of your favorite flavored syrup you will have a concoction that is on par with what your barista can make. Also, you can store this coffee for much longer so long as you keep it in the fridge. I used a glass container to avoid it picking up any plastic taste.

In my opinion the results have been stellar. My two to three cup per day habit is now just one. And to say nothing of the flavor which is just amazing. I'm looking forward to experimenting not only with its preparation but with its use as well. Coffee martinis anyone?

What a week!

2006-08-21T21:40:00.000-05:00

Last week started out innocently enough but by the time all was said and done, I didn't get home before 10pm one single night. On Monday, my buddy Steve from Melbourne flew up on business. Though he was a good hour away in Chantilly, I was more than happy to drive out and meet him. It was my first time since moving to Arlington being out that far and quite honestly, it was a bit strange being out in the 'burbs again. Nevertheless, we met up for beer, football and trivia at a local sports bar and had a great time catching up.

Tuesday night I went out with my cousin Bruce. With his Australian accent and effervescent personality, he's always the life of the party at family get-togethers so I knew we'd have a blast. Our first stop was Oyamel, this great Mexican fusion place nearby my apartment where we had margaritas. Next up was McCormick & Schmick's, an awesome seafood restaurant down the block. After downing a bottle of Chardonnay, slurping raw oysters from their shell and basically stuffing our gullets, we meandered back to my place and crashed for the night.

Now I headed into Wednesday fully expecting to get home by a normal time but instead found myself out with co-workers at Brickskellers until much later sharing the day's events over good beer. I might also add that nearly every lunch this week was spent out at a various restaurant enjoying what's known as Restaurant Week. For only $20.06 ($30.06 for dinner) you got a world-class 3-course meal with all the fixings.

Thursday evening, while working late and looking forward to a relaxing night at home, I received a phone call from my buddy Shayan. A spot had opened up on his reservation at Charlie Palmer and did I want to go? Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity. Only steps from the Capitol building and boasting an elegance that puts some of my past experience at high-end restaurants to shame, this was hands-down my favorite Restaurant Week spot. We even ordered a bottle of a pinot noir from Mark West Winery which went quite well with my Angus sirloin.

On Friday my buddy Mike decided to come into the District to party. We started out at Raku in Dupont Circle, just a few blocks away from my work, where we ordered a seemingly endless number of Asian-inspired tapas before heading off to Lauriol Plaza for pitcher fulls of maragaritas. After an hour or so there we headed back into the circle to meet up with friends at Gazuza for drinks and hookah. I definitely didn't get home that night before 10pm.

This week will be comatose by comparison by that's quite alright with me.

A Friday night tour of DC

2006-08-11T23:08:00.000-05:00

For the first time in weeks I didn't have a plan in place for Friday night. This is most likely due to the fact that I have been sequestered in a basement for the past four days working 12 hours at a time. It's been crazy busy but the company catered all our meals and today our efforts paid off. Everybody was pretty tired though afterwards and left for home which left me wondering what to do tonight.

Rather than go through my phone list to see what people were up to, I instead decided to take the night off from partying and do that nighttime walk that I'd promised myself. I was not to be disappointed. I started in Dupont Circle and headed south on 18th until I hit Constitution Avenue, essentially the north side of the National Mall. Along the way I snapped a picture of the Octagon House, one of the stranger architectural icons of DC. I then headed west until I found a path leading into the park and followed that.

Unknowingly, this path led straight to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. It was truly awesome to come around the corner and see that stone structure etched with the names of so many fallen soldiers. From there I headed up to the Lincoln Memorial all the while looking over my shoulder at the beautiful panorama displayed with the Washington Monument juxtapositioned in front of the Capitol building.

The Lincoln Memorial was a very impressive site. Its white exterior, made from Indiana limestone and Colorado Yule marble, shines spectacularly under the blazing lights. Inside, the mood is decidedly somber. There were a large number of tourists there tonight but they spoke mostly in hushed tones, reading the inscriptions on the wall or simply looking at the gargantuan-sized image of Lincoln.

My walk from the far end of the mall to L'Enfant Plaza to catch the Yellow Line was no less impressive. I had the opportunity to stop by the Korean War Memorial which is haunting in its imagery. After making my way to Independence on the south side of the mall, I headed east until I hit 7th street about 12 blocks distant. A short Metro ride later I was back home in Arlington.

Screen on the Green

2006-08-01T23:01:00.000-05:00

On Monday evening I went with friends to an event called Screen on the Green. For the past eight years, movies have been shown on a huge screen at the National Mall right in front of the Capitol building. It's an impressive sight but doesn't take away too much from the fun of watching a movie with friends.

This week's showing was Bullitt starring Steve McQueen. To be quite honest it was not that great a movie. It oftentimes delved into details that could have just as easily been glossed over. McQueen's character had a gritty underside to him yet at times appeared flat and uninteresting. But then the real reason people came out to see this was for the awesome car chase scene. Like so many I had only heard about it but was not disappointed when I finally saw it. The throaty roar of the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Charger, both 1968 models, set the scene for the entire nine minutes that it lasted. The streets of San Francisco never looked so fun to drive!

One of the strange things though was the segue between the introductory cartoon and the movie itself. Since the event is partly sponsored by HBO, they have a small promotional spot that appears at that point yet it is an old clip from about 20 years ago. Seeing it though brought back a wealth of memories of watching TV with my parents when I was a kid. I've snagged it from YouTube and present it below for your viewing pleasure. Another thing that is strange is that during the end of the music riff, people get up and start dancing.

So even though the movie wasn't all that great, I still had a good time and met some new folks. Now I just need to go pick myself up one of those nifty camping chairs.

Punch's Progress

2006-07-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

Another night of Fringe Fest brought another excellent show. This one was called Punch's Progress: A Pulcinella Story and concerned the infamous Pulcinella himself. Having lived in Naples for several years, I had a faint memory of the Pulcinella imagery but felt that I needed a real Neopolitan with me to truly appreciate it. Thus I invited my friend Veronica that I went to high school with while living there but who now lives just a few miles away in Alexandria.

The venue was a far cry from my previous Fringe Fest experience and from the very first scene I knew the show was going to be 180° different. For starters, it was a one man show created and performed by Aaron Cromie, a big-hitter from the Philadelphia theater scene. He came out dressed in the typical Pulcinella fare and spoke completely in Italian, at least for the first scene. He introduced his imaginary family while cursing quite prolifically, most of which I could still understand despite having not spoken the language for quite some time. Eventually he came to see that the audience didn't speak Italian and switched to American English and spoke as such for the rest of the show.

He then gauged the "moral barometer" of the audience through a series of dirty limericks, the filthiest of which went as follows:

I'm told of a Bishop of Birmingham,
Who buggered young boys while confirming them,
To roars of applause,
He tore down their drawers,
And pumped the Episcopal sperm in 'em.

At this point, there was no mistaking that the show was about the one and only Pulcinella, the true representative of the working man's humor. What followed was a series of acts that highlighted Pulcinella's contribution to comedy, including a show about Punch and Judy and ending with the classic standup comedian. It was during this part of the show that the audience was invited to tell jokes of their own which made it even more enjoyable.

This show explored not only the character of Pulcinella, but also the origin of the 'dirty joke' and why this type of humor has survived to this day despite the enormous pressures to be politically correct. In a sense, Pulcinella represents the facet of ourselves that will laugh at anything no matter how inappropriate it is.

The Escapists

2006-07-24T22:02:00.000-05:00

Just a little over a week ago while surfing the Internet late at night thanks to jet lag-induced insomnia, I stumbled upon the Washington Post's 2006 Fringe Festival site. I couldn't believe it! While living in Florida I'd heard about this week-long venue of experimental theater but never made an effort to go see it in Orlando. Now though with it being only a 15-minute Metro ride away there was no excuse.

My first Fringe Fest experience was watching a performance of The Escapists, an improv group based in Portland, Maine. I went with my friend Reshma who was also new to the whole Fringe scene. This particular show was at the Warehouse Next Door in Chinatown. The venue was small but fitting for a 4-person troupe.

It started off with an a capella-like song followed by quick introductions. The first bit was a classic improv game whereby one of the members waits in a soundproof area off-stage while the remaining members gather responses from the audience. Upon their return, the now ignorant player must figure out what those responses are solely through charades. Typically a running monologue accompanies the bit and in this case it was an entertaining Baptist sermon.

They performed several other classic improv games but there was a lot of sketch comedy in between the bits, more than I expected. My previous experience with improv, The Blue Show in Arlington, Virginia and Not Quite Right in Melbourne, Florida, were solely games-based so the sketch comedy, while fairly funny, took some getting used to.

All in all though it was a great show and the audience was constantly laughing, especially during those acts were they used all of their input. They even came out to do an encore performance which got them several more rounds of applause. If the rest of the shows are as good as this one then I will have thoroughly enjoyed the first annual DC Fringe Fest.

Pedro on the Metro!

2006-07-17T00:44:00.000-05:00

On July 8th my buddy Pedro that I've known since college was in town and I met up with him and his folks in DC. Thinking that I would have to meet them at the Jefferson Memorial, I took the yellow line in and popped up at L'Enfant Plaza. Being as it was my first time at that particular stop I was a bit bewildered at first but eventually got oriented and started off. As luck would have it though, Pedro and family were still up at the mall. So I jumped back onto the Metro, the orange line this time, and met them just outside the Smithsonian station.

The last time I had seen Pedro was several years earlier when he visited me in Melbourne and we saw Return of the King together. He looked just about as I remember him and I also had the pleasure of meeting his father and step-mother. Naturally our talk soon turned to programming. It sounds like his doctoral studies are going well at University of Florida and he was impressed by my recent conversion to Ruby. Purdue of course also came up and what our mutual friends from college were up to.

We talked a lot while walking over to have lunch at Les Halles located on Pennsylvania Avenue. It was an awesome meal and to boot Pedro and I shared a 750ml bottle of Chimay, one of my favorite beers. Afterwards we walked to the Federal Triangle Metro station since Pedro and family were going to spend the rest of the day in Springfield and I figured we might as well all take the blue line. I got off at my stop wishing I could have spent more time with them but time constraints being as they were prevented that. Still, I was glad to see an old friend again.

My first day at work and other news

2006-06-19T20:36:00.000-05:00

As first days go it was actually somewhat productive. But let's start at the beginning. I got up around 8:10am and hopped on the metro around 8:40am. From there it was about 25 minutes from Crystal City to Farragut West on the blue line, no transfers necessary. After a 10 minute walk I was in front of my building whereupon I happened to meet up with Aaron, one of the guys that interviewed me. He took me directly where I needed to go.

My co-worker Lizz gave me a tour of the place and introduced me to everybody. They were of course super friendly and eager to add a new member to the team. I also got the low-down on what the company is building. Without revealing too much, all I can say is that it is going to be a kick ass Ruby on Rails application that will redefine how Americans choose their health care.

My computer was setup fairly quickly and from there I installed Suse Linux 10.1 (dual-booting with Windows XP) and followed up with Eclipse 3.1.2 on both OSes. I was surprised to see most of the people running MacBook Pros, even the programmers! I opted for a Dell desktop which amazingly came with an ATI x600 video card. Hmm, perhaps work could double as a LAN gaming center.

So while work is going great there is still a bunch of mundane stuff that I need to take care of. The movers won't be showing up for another few weeks still (never use Allied!!) and I need to take my car in to be smog tested. I should probably try to do some more stocking of my cabinets while also making time to explore the local area. All in all though, I am getting on well here. It will just take some time before I am settled in.

Changes

2006-05-31T19:50:00.000-05:00

Looks like I'll only be posting twice for the entire month of May. Believe it or not, I have a very good reason for my absence. About two weeks ago I received a call from a company based in Washington, D.C. that wanted to interview me. What attracted them to my skillset was my time in the healthcare industry and my hands-on experience with Ruby on Rails. I did the necessary interviews and lo and behold, they offered me a job which I eventually accepted.

So after less than a year at Health First Health Plans I find myself packing up my cube to move to a different company. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with the company and value the friends I have made. On a larger scale, I'm going to miss the friends that I've made here in Melbourne, Florida. It is nearly four years to the day that I started work at Harris and embarked down my career path of web application development. It has had its ups and downs but overall I'm satisfied with the direction it has taken.

The next time I post here, it will be from the heart of our nation's capitol. In the words of Douglas Adams, so long and thanks for all the fish!

Is Blogger the right choice for me?

2006-05-11T17:28:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago I attempted to put up a blog about how one could easily make form buttons that look like the buttons standard in Windows XP. That is, they have gentle curves, a pleasing color palette and in general are damned good looking. Windows XP users will get these buttons standard if a web developer doesn't fool around too much with the underlying CSS on their form buttons but everybody else will just get the standard grey squares. Anyways, I spent nearly two hours battling with Blogger's idiot-proof composer before I finally gave up. The raw HTML code that I spent so much time crafting was no match for Blogger's voracious parser which chewed up my work and spit out something barely resembling the original.

I have decided to keep blogging here despite Blogger's limitations, at least for the short-term. Long-term though, I am considering a move to put the blog on my own site where I can control all aspects of it. And considering the amount of work I've been doing lately in Rails, I would probably convert my site to use that instead and run Typo. I'd also have to find some new software for my galleries but that ought not be a problem considering Rails' ever-increasing popularity.

Simple Single Sign-on Scheme

2006-04-25T15:03:00.000-05:00

Single sign-on, or SSO, has become the Holy Grail of enterprise web applications and indeed, just like the mythical quest taken up by knights in medieval times, so there has yet to be found a unified standard to allow users to easily login across trusted web sites. The battleground is littered with the corpses of failed initiatives such as Microsoft's Hailstorm. The Liberty Alliance has churned out a number of PDFs but that seems to be the extent so far of their effort. On the open-source side, LID shows a lot of promise but without any major corporate sponsors, it's difficult to judge how successful it will be.

So lacking a working foundation to go on, I decided to strike out on my own. My requirements were simple in that a user would not have to create a separate account, the login procedure would not be a hindrance and above all it had to be secure. Too often in my dealings with vendors I've seen login schemes that easily allow a malicious user to spoof another user's identity and masquerade as somebody else on the site. With this lesson in mind, I went about detailing how it would all work.

We'll need to make some assumptions first. This scheme requires at least two entities. Entity A is the main organization, the one that holds all the users' account info. Entity B is a vendor that has agreed to interface with Entity A so that users will not have to create a second account to utilize Entity B's services. We must also assume that a user logs in with a user ID and password to access Entity A's site. That user ID must be unique and can be an email address or something auto-generated. As well, Entity A must have a service visible to the outside that can validate a user with their ID and password. The easiest method would be to have a web service that checks against an LDAP, RDBMS or some other data store.

The process begins when a user logs in to Entity A's site with their user ID and password. Once validated, a string is generated containing the user's ID and any other meta information Entity A may want to pass along to Entity B. This string is then encrypted using a key that has been pre-shared with Entity B. The resultant encrypted string is put through a Base64 encoding function and then URLEncoded to ensure that no characters are lost. This string is appended to a URL pointing to Entity B's site using an agreed upon CGI variable. This URL can be displayed as a link which the user can then click on.

Upon arriving at Entity B's site via the URL, the appended string is put through a reverse process (URLDecoded, Base64 decoded, decrypted using the same pre-shared key) and from that the user ID and any other attached meta information is made available. At this point, the user should see only an input field requesting their password. The other data can be put into hidden form fields which will be passed along when the user submits the form. When that form is submitted just the user ID and password will be passed back to Entity A but this time to a published web service to authenticate against. If the web service returns success, then the user is logged in. Otherwise, the user is routed back to Entity B's site but with an appropriate error message.

Simple really was the theme of this SSO implementation. Though it lacks the features of some of the more mature setups, it does have the advantage of being relatively easy to deploy. As well, the requirement that a user resubmit their password at Entity B's site means it can withstand a replay attack. And provided that employees at Entity A do not have direct access to users' passwords, they would not be able to login as another user either. You could increase the security even further by changing the pre-shared key every 90 days though even with the most basic Triple DES encryption a brute force attack would be impractical.

This scheme has been in production for over a month now on our member portal with no complaints or reported errors. This feat would not have been possible though without the help of some talented individuals. My colleague John K. proved invaluable when it came to brainstorming on this issue. And were it not for Mark H. at Workmode, my point man at the vendor, this project would not have gotten off the ground. Lastly, the encryption functionality was provided courtesy of DevX.com and was extremely easy to implement and use.

Please feel free to comment on this or email me if you have any questions.

Pretty URLs for SPGM

2006-04-18T13:13:00.001-05:00

Since putting a photo gallery on my site I have always used SPGM, the Simple Picture Gallery Manager. It's a great application in that it does not require a database, is totally configurable and is very easy to manage. The latest version, 1.4.4, is mature and stable and I look forward to many more years of using it.

However, one thing that's always bugged me about it, and for that matter many other web applications, is the lack of pretty URLs. Now my favorite web framework does away with this issue entirely but web applications written in other languages such as PHP typically do not take this into account. Ugly URLs often do not get indexed by search engines, are more prone to linkrot, and just look darned ugly. So I decided to do something about it.

First, I went about upgrading my version of SPGM. Wow what a difference a year can make! Version 1.4.4 was quite a jump with newly updated themes and a really cool shadow effect that makes my pictures seem as if they are floating above the page. Aside from some minor stylesheet integration issues that I eventually fixed, the upgrade went very well.

My next task was to change the output of SPGM itself so that it would make every link a pretty URL. I started out by replacing every instance of '&', '=' and '?' with constant values named SEP_AMP, SEP_EQL and SEP_QM, respectively. I then defined a constant called PRETTY_URLS which, if set to true, would create URLs that looked like /spgm/spgmGal/gallery_name/spgmPic/picture_id. This modified version of the SPGM engine can be found on my website.

Lastly, I had to put my mod_rewrite skills to use to direct these pretty URLs to their correct locations. For instance, a link to /spgm/spgmGal/Spring_Break/spgmPic/3 would actually be a link to /spgm/index.php?spgmGal=Spring_Break&spgmPic=3. Also, because SPGM relies on relative links, mod_rewrite had to redirect image links from within the galleries in order to display the thumbnails properly. Eventually I was able to accomplish everything with just six RewriteRules in my .htaccess file.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ([a-zA-Z0-9,_]+)/gal/(.*)$ /spgm/gal/$2
RewriteRule ([a-zA-Z0-9,_]+)/flavors/(.*)$ /spgm/flavors/$2
RewriteRule spgmGal/([a-zA-Z0-9,_]+)$ /spgm/index.php?spgmGal=$1
RewriteRule spgmGal/([a-zA-Z0-9,_]+)/spgmPic/([0-9]+)/spgmFilters/(.*)$ /spgm/index.php?spgmGal=$1&spgmPic=$2&spgmFilters=$3 [L,QSA]
RewriteRule spgmGal/([a-zA-Z0-9,_]+)/spgmPage/([0-9]+)/spgmFilters/(.*)$ /spgm/index.php?spgmGal=$1&spgmPage=$2&spgmFilters=$3 [L,QSA]
RewriteRule spgmFilters/$ /spgm

Both the .htaccess file and the modified version of the SPGM engine can be found bundled on my site. Please email me if you have any questions or comments on using it.

The Importance of Teamwork

2006-04-12T18:52:00.000-05:00

What a cliché title that is. Unfortunately, I just couldn't come up with anything that was short, witty and as descriptive of the subject matter of this blog entry. Time and time again, teamwork has proven to be the most invaluable and yet undervalued resource. My college curriculum, great as it was, tended to focus on individual projects. The idea was that group projects encouraged laziness on the part of some allowing them to skate through the class without learning the material. To a certain degree that fear is realistic. But it also handicaps many graduates who end up working for companies where group projects are the only way to get things done.

With my former employer, I did not get into any major projects requiring the skills of multiple people. Most of my projects were small and specialized and could be accomplished in just a few months time by myself. But upon arrival at my current employer, it was clear that I had to throw out the old rules. My task was to give them a portal for our members that worked and there was no way I could learn a platform, much less an industry that was entirely new for me, in just a few months.

So I enlisted the help of analysts, data integrators and others from departments as varied as marketing. My address book quickly became quite the motley collection of contacts. But the synergy that developed between us enabled much more than just a quick turnaround on what seemed an impossible deadline. It created something that I had only dreamed of.

Nobody likes to see their work lambasted and I had to bite my lip several times when criticisms were aimed at what I thought were great ideas. Yet by incorporating this feedback into the product, I gained not only a better product but a group of people ready to evangelize the other departments on the quality and usability of it. For me, this automatic buy-in from the people on the team was quite the shock. It makes sense in retrospect but was not something I had personally experienced before.

The Joy of Blogging

2006-04-05T20:46:00.000-05:00

I've been blogging for nearly six months now, much longer than I had anticipated I would still be doing it. I have found it to be a source of joy that I had previously all but forgotten about, namely writing. I used to do quite a bit of it in high school and in my early college days. But as my studies in computer science took up more and more of time, so my devotion to writing began to wane. The well-formed multi-page essays gave way to quick reactionary comments on Internet message boards. Quality gave way to quantity.

But now that trend has begun to reverse itself. While I still prowl my favorite boards sporting for indepth political discussions, I also make sure to set aside at least a few hours each week to blogging. Some of that time is spent pondering my next piece but a good chunk of it is used on editing what I've written. Spelling errors, grammar mistakes and misused tenses pepper my first drafts. Not only that but simply getting the wording right can take up to five or six drafts. Usually by then though, I feel that it is as polished as it's going to get.

I have also been putting my writing skills to use in the workplace. What should sound like dessicated documentation instead reads like a strange mixture of prose and programming. Though I doubt many will ever read those particular works, if I can manage to bring even a hint of a smile to some future employee who expected something much blander then I will be glad for it.

One other aspect of blogging that I've experienced firsthand recently is notoriety. It seems that some of my former co-workers have discovered the site and while most just lurk, one took the opportunity today to attempt to anonymously post a nasty and rather personal comment. I bolded anonymously because the Internet is anything but. Thanks to some excellent logging utilities I was able to get the physical location of the IP address and from there it was as simple as cross-referencing it with the Yellow Pages to discover the true identity of the culprit. What's funny is that this person had claimed to be my friend yet I knew otherwise. I can only hope that posting meaningless comments to my blog doesn't become a habit for her.

But let's not end this entry on such a down note. As it is, I shared this information with some of my other former co-workers and we all had a good laugh about it. It just goes to show that you can't take the Internet too seriously. The things people say from behind the thin veil of their browser window is rarely anything like what they would say to you in real life. So laugh about it and move on.

Here's to another six months of blogging!

Accident on the I-95

2006-03-29T17:28:00.000-05:00

John·ny-on-the-spot (noun, informal): A person who is available and ready to act when needed.

Lately that's how I've been feeling with my new Samsung A900 phone. Florida has plenty of strange daily happenings to keep me busy with the camera features of this wonderful gadget but today my phone had a much more serious role to play. On my way home from work at about 4:45pm, traffic on the I-95 came to a standstill. Now its not uncommon for traffic to slow down drastically due to the natives' driving habits but a complete stop is rare at that time of day on that particular stretch so I knew something had to be up.

Immediately I turned on the camera on my phone just in time to catch black smoke rising over the car in front of me. From there the situation only got more serious as firetrucks and ambulances raced by me on the shoulder. As I inched my way forward I knew that this was going to be bad. By the time I got to the scene of the accident the fire had been doused, leaving only the smoking hulk of what looked like a Nissan or Toyota truck.

None of the local stations are reporting anything yet on their websites although it's been over an hour since it happened. I sent in one of my pictures to the Florida Today but there's no telling if they'll use it. I can only hope though that nobody was seriously injured in this accident, or worse yet, killed.

Bring on the Balkanization!

2006-03-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

For years now we've been told about the benefits of combining functionality in an effort to do more with less. This has been especially common in the world of software development where once scattered systems now fall under the umbrella of a single system. Generally, this has meant greater functionality at a lower price. I myself have done this with various web components albeit on a much smaller scale. This trend is referred to as Walmartization and socioeconomic considerations aside, it will continue to have a large impact on software development for some time to come.

Yet despite the good intentions companies may have in providing an all-in-one solution, there are some things that simply cannot be predicted as a need when developing the software. More of a hinderance still, they cannot engineer a product so generalized as to allow somebody to easily add powerful features without requiring a basic knowledge of information sciences. The closest I've seen to this laudable goal is the Google Mini which utilizes XSLT so that a customer can render their results however they'd like.

Reality does not seem to faze large software companies though, or the managers with large budgets who purchase from them. Case in point, I am currently at an impasse with management over the direction of our customer portal. While I fully believe that an integrated back end is a great idea, I also feel that our front end should be controlled by us. The customization that has gone into our current product in just over a year is extreme and to expect a vendor to match it would be overreaching to say the least. Not to mention that we are at the whim of our marketing department which expects changes in days, not the months-long timescale vendors commonly adhere to.

For this reason I say bring on the Balkanization! One piece of software shouldn't do everything. Some tasks are just too specialized to incorporate into a product meant for widespread use. Add onto that the fact that IT organizations often serve departments which expect changes quickly and you can see why such control would be better placed in-house.

Mid-week happenings

2006-03-21T23:24:00.000-05:00

My Dad arrived in Melbourne yesterday though not for familial reasons. Strangely enough, he is here for meetings with my former employer. So far he hasn't run into anybody on campus that I knew but then a lot of them have quit since I was there. We've managed to go out to dinner every night he's been here and that's saying a lot considering how busy I've been. This was definitely not the best of weeks to show up but I've got to play the hand I've been dealt and I'm super happy to have him here. I just wish we could spend more time together.

The theater is where I've been spending the majority of my time lately. I volunteer at the Henegar Center in downtown Melbourne and our latest show Once Upon a Mattress has proven to be quite taxing from a technical standpoint. I am running the lightboard while also calling the show and though we are still in rehearsal, it is fairly stressful. For instance, I thought everything was going along swimmingly when I walked into the booth this evening but as it turns out, Hell was just about to be unleashed. From burnt out lights to messed up cues, it was a miracle we even got through the first act. Tomorrow is our last rehearsal so it had better be as close to perfect as possible.

On the work front I am busier than ever. I finalized the demo product today and begin working heavily on the presentation materials. Everybody who has seen the demo in action agrees that even in its nascent state it far surpasses our current version in every category. This is probably the first project where I can truly feel I have relied on others' expertise. So regardless of how management views it, I know that I will be able to take something positive away from this experience.

New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals

2006-03-15T19:27:00.000-05:00

On March 15th, 2006 I accompanied my fellow employees to a match of wits and strength between the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals, formerly known as the Montreal Expos. This has been a yearly event for the organization although this was the first year my particular department was invited.

This turned out to be a real learning experience for me. Firstly, I learned just what the limits of my new camera phone were. But more importantly, I gained valueable insight from my co-workers that would not be so easily accessible at work. As it turns out, several people have put faith in my design for a new web portal and are rooting for my success.

More importantly though, it has become clear that there are many opportunities out there for an IT worker such as myself. I have always managed to inadvertently pick fights with my most immediate supervisor and this organization is no different. My vision for the future differs from management's and I believe mine to be the correct one. I hope to persuade my bosses of the same yet the knowledge that there are companies out there that desire a new and efficient solution has given me a confidence that I haven't felt before. I have no intention of leaving my current organization but it makes me feel better to know that other opportunities exist.

In the meantime, please enjoy the impromptu gallery I have put together. This is my first time using Blogger in conjunction with my cell phone to create one but I think it will more than suffice.

Installing Sirius into an Audi A4

2006-03-10T20:14:00.000-05:00

This project was originally posted on my website in September of 2005. I am reposting it here for posterity's sake. The experience I gained during this install was put to good use when I installed a Sirius receiver into my Dad's Silverado.

Project Requirements

This needed to be easy to moderately difficult
It needed to be simple to remove as I didn’t want to have to rip up the carpet or take half the car apart.
The implementation had to look good/invisible.

Items needed
(All items listed unless noted are the Radioshack brand)

JVC Sirius receiver (KT-SR2000)
JVC Sirius car kit (KS-K6012)
Blitzsafe 13-pin auxiliary adapter (AUDI/AUX DMX V.1)
Panavise dash mount (75102-600)
20 ft. of stereo audio cable with male jacks on either end (42-3501)
Stereo Y-adapter (1/8” phone plug to dual phono jack, 42-2542)
Radio removal kit for Symphony radio
10 ft. of spiral cable wrap (278-1638)
3-amp fuse (250V, 5x20mm, 270-1054)
Crimping tool
2 spade tongues
2 butt connectors
Inline fuseholder (27-1238)
6 ft. Adaptaplug Cord (273-1641)
Adaptaplug “B” (273-1705)
3/8” ratchet with 8mm socket and extension
Phillips head screwdriver
Small flathead screwdriver
Duct tape

The total cost should come in under $300.

Slip the Sirius antenna up underneath the hat shelf as shown. With only cardboard and glass between it and the outside this is as good a place as any to put it without the hassle of having to put it on the roof or on top of the trunk. Note that it will not work underneath the trunk. Thread the wire over to the driver’s side.

Take one end of the stereo cables and thread them from the rear-seat to the trunk using a coat hanger. You will need to remove the rear seat by pulling up hard from underneath the front edge. After this you will need to remove the rear driver’s side shoulder by pulling up and out and then down. Attach the stereo cables to the Blitzsafe adapter’s phono plugs. Attach the 13-pin adapter to the CD changer’s plug.

This shows the rear driver’s side shoulder removed with the stereo cable and antenna wire running down.

With the rear seat removed and both cables coming out of the trunk, we now put them underneath the driver’s side kick panel. Use your fingers to pull the kick panel up in sections and simply push the wire up underneath. I used some spiral cable wrap about every foot to keep the wires nice and neat.

Up near the front on the driver’s side is where our cables will come out. Remove the kick panel here with the Phillips head screwdriver. In this picture you can see our cables near the door trim routed around the fuses using duct tape.

Before moving onto the next step be sure to remove the plastic piece underneath the steering column. First remove the side panel (not pictured) facing the door by slipping the small flathead underneath it and pulling it off. Remove the bolt there using the 8mm socket. Use the flathead again on the two removable plastic covers on either side of the steering column and remove those bolts. There is one more bolt that needs to be removed on the right side farther up underneath. Once these four bolts are out the piece should come off easily.

Now it’s time to make our power adapter. Crimp a spade tongue on each end of the inline fuse holder wires on one side and crimp butt connectors on the other end of the wires. Cut off one end of the Adaptaplug cord then split and strip the wires. Attach the positives (white stripe -> red wire) using the butt connector and do the same with the negatives. Don’t forget to put the 3-amp fuse inside the fuse holder.

Next attach the negative from the inline fuse holder to the ground shown in the picture above. Since we’re using a spade tongue you will only need to loosen the bolt a bit whereupon you will slide in the spade tongue and retighten the bolt. Our positive from the inline fuse is shown in the foreground.

Attach the positive from the inline fuse to the post marked 75X using the spade tongue. This is “switched” power from the battery. That means that it receives power when the car is either on or in accessory mode. Use a zip tie to keep these wires up and out of the way as we don’t want them getting tangled around the hood release. Take your new power cord and attach it to the Adaptaplug “B” plug. Using a straightened coat hanger push the Adaptaplug cord, the antenna cord and the stereo cables behind the console through to the passenger side.

Using your radio removal tools, take the Symphony radio out and attach the Panavise mount as shown in the instructions which come with it. The angled ends of your four removal tools should point inwards. Grasp the radio by the tape deck and give it a good yank to pull it out. It should slide out with no problem. After you have replaced the radio and the Panavise mount is firmly in place, screw the receiver mount to the Panavise mount using the four small screws that came with the car kit.

Plug the phono jacks into the stereo cable. Wrap the visible part of the wires in the spiral cable and attach each plug to its complimentary jack on the receiver mount.

You may have to press the power button on the Sirius receiver the first time it is attached with the car turned on but afterwards it should turn on and off with the car. If everything is working properly then congratulations, you now have Sirius!

Questions?
Email me at sean.soper@gmail.com if you have any.

Legal Stuff
All brands are copyright of their respective owners. I am not responsible if your car malfunctions after following these instructions. There may be more ‘professional’ methods of installing this unit but after two weeks of various attempts and many trips to Radioshack, I believe this to be the best layman’s method.

'Drawn Together' is filthy, disgusting and absolutely hilarious

2006-03-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

Having been an avid watcher of South Park for some time, I am surprised I did not stumble across this show earlier. I had always considered South Park to be somewhat of a guilty pleasure, especially with episodes like Fat Butt and Pancake Head and Bloody Mary. But upon my first viewing of Drawn Together I knew that I had never seen anything quite like this.

First, the cast of characters is quite diverse. In terms of animation styles, they range from the 1920s black and white cartoons to the two-dimensional graphics common to Flash videos. And as for personality types, they range from uber-gay to uber-conservative. Inspired by the mind numbing reality shows on TV, this production violates every taboo of modern society (and not just American society) in garnering its laughs.

Last night's episode was about Clara's hentai-ish vagina and her desire to get an "extreme makeover" ala Ty Pennington's show on ABC. Disgusting as this may sound, last week's show about Xandir coming out to his parents and how they would respond was even worse. While play-acting the possible consequences of his decision, he ends up in a house of ill repute servicing perverted Japanese businessmen, eventually killing one by accident that was underneath the shitting table he was squatting over. If you don't understand the last part of that sentence then please, don't concern yourself with it. It is a revolting thought.

But it's also damned funny. Not gay cartoon characters killing people with shattering shitting tables but the fact that traditional celluloid animation has been used to convey such a perverted act. By some small miracle, the same medium that entertained me as a child with shows like Transformers can still keep my attention, albeit with productions of a more depraved nature. Here's to many more seasons of Drawn Together and their lewd form of humor.

The Samsung A900

2006-03-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

Until quite recently I was the proud and happy owner of a Samsung vi660. It was a simple phone in terms of features but had color graphics, was fairly compact and got great reception. Yet as with all clamshell designs, the hinges were susceptible to wear and what started out as a hair thin line last December become a full blown crack earlier this week. Shortly thereafter parts started falling out and thus I was involuntarily placed on the warpath for a new phone.

Because I still had four months until my two-year contract with Sprint matured I was only able to get $75 off any new phone I purchased. My journey started at the Sprint store and as I made clear with the automated survey I responded to earlier this evening, the experience could have been a lot better. The salespeople were not at all knowledgeable about the product as they made several promises, such as being able to transfer the contacts from my old phone, that turned out to be completely based in fantasy.

That leads me into my major complaint about this phone. Though the camera, multimedia capabilities and enhanced web access are all new, the basic applications such as the calendar and address book are virtually unchanged from the vi660. For instance, transferring contacts stored on your computer requires a Bluetooth connection despite the presence of a USB connection. And even then it's considered a small miracle when it works. If you're thinking about synching the phone with your calendar, forget about it. The capability simply does not exist.

Yet despite these glaring feature omissions, this phone is simply amazing in terms of multimedia support, ease of use and looks. And by looks I mean it looks damn fine. In my opinion it's the best looking phone out there, even more so than it's inspiration the RAZR. The swivel camera is a definite plus as it allows you to take pictures or videos of yourself while previewing. And with the USB connection I can easily transfer items to and from my computer without the need for a 3rd party vendor.

Indeed, the past few days have found me using the A900 to watch videos, play games and in general do much more than just call people. It is truly a multimedia wonder for such a small size. And yet I know that I probably haven't even touched on half of the available features. No doubt I will be spending the next month grokking this phone in an effort to maximize its capabilities. I look forward to the surprises in store for me.

Nothing personal, it's just business

2006-02-22T21:58:00.000-05:00

So for the past three weeks I have been working my tail off to do by myself in Ruby on Rails what took my predecessors years to do in J2EE. That is, rewrite my company's web portal, albeit only a portion of it, which will be shown at a demo. Thanks to Rails' fully featured stack and the wonderful simpleness that is Ruby, I'm nearly done. The hard part has been getting some of the team members to get their tasks done. They're not lazy, they are in fact very hard workers but they are absolutely swamped with other stuff and this is at the bottom of their priority list. I'm quickly finding out that managing a project and doing just the programming as I am accustomed to are two very different things.

Sometimes I wonder if all this hard work is really worth it. Only a month ago management was touting my proposal as the panacea to their problems. Costing only $15,000 and taking less than six months to complete looked very appealing. Of course, the more conservative members of the corporate IT team didn't think it could be done, hence the reason for this one month frenzy of coding to get a working demo out there.

Yet while I'm performing this Herculean task, management is actively seeking external solutions, i.e. vendors. Ugh, the "V" word. It's not that I hate vendors per se, that's too strong a word. It's just that they tend to promise the world and rarely deliver on it yet get away with charging an outrageous sum of money. Colleagues with more experience in the industry than I have tried to explain it using terms like "mitigating risk", "outsourcing experience", and "long term management". But when a product costs 100 times more (that is not an exaggeration in this case) , won't be delivered for at least a year and has little to no customization available, it really makes you wonder what sort of solution management is looking for.

On the plus side though, it's good to know a manager and their fiscal year's budget are so easily parted. It ensures that the smartest workers of this country's growing knowledge-based economy will always have gainful employment provided they charge the "right" price.

Edward Murrow's dream fulfilled

2006-02-12T20:04:00.000-05:00

Having recently seen a viewing of Good Night, and Good Luck I was impressed by the passion and diligence with which Edward R. Murrow, host of the show See It Now which is often credited with helping to bring down Joseph McCarthy, approached his job. After revolutionizing radio broadcast journalism during WWII, he went on to develop CBS's television news services. But it was during the McCarthy hearings that Murrow's genius really shined.

Nearly every school age child in this country knows of the dangers of "McCarthy-ism". It is synonymous with the Salem witch trials yet even today people of influence make unabashed accusations against those who they disagree with. They do this without even a shred of evidence yet they have audiences numbering in the millions and it is this blind faith in that bright box that sits in our living room that Edward Murrow warned us about.

In one of his most famous speeches, Mr. Murrow told the members of the RTNDA convention in Chicago in 1958 about the dangers of filling the airwaves with simple minded programming. His show, though not the highest in the ratings, nevertheless performed a valuable duty by giving Americans a larger view of the world around them. People might forget what the question was a few hours after watching The $64,000 Question but it would be hard to erase the memory of Joseph McCarthy publicly humiliating innocent Americans to satisfy his own personal lust for power. Education and enlightenment were Murrow's goals and he achieved them beautifully.

Unfortunately the major networks were not along for the ride. They preferred the moneymaking shows, the sure bets, the kinds of shows that didn't strain Americans' comfort levels or push them intellectually. Fortunately for Americans, technology doesn't stand still. In 1985, the Discovery Channel first aired and since then television hasn't been the same. It has been joined by other educational channels such as the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel and my personal favorite for world issues, the Discovery Times Channel.

On the future of television Edward Murrow had this to say:

"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful."

But before enlightening television can be appreciated, it first requires the use of Man's greatest tool, his brain. So even if all three networks were to air educational and political shows 24/7 I don't think it would do much good unless people actually wanted to see it. Thankfully in today's age we now have that choice.

Two week hiatus

2006-02-08T19:34:00.000-05:00

The hiatus was not intentional, more just the result of being extremely busy. Work last week was hectic especially in light of all that's going on there with my proposal to use Ruby on Rails. As it turns out my charm offensive was not nearly as effective as I hoped it would be. After taking the time to setup the accounts for the guys so they could try it out I get a snide email chiding me for going with non-standard software. And to add insult to injury my logs show that none of them have even logged in. I've only got one thing to say to that: don't knock it till you try it guys.

I was also super busy last week getting ready for my big trip to Washington, D.C. and oh boy was it big! I went up there to see my good friends Mike and Shayan. Brazilian restaurants, trendy clubs and hookah bars made up the majority of our nighttime activities. But by far the high point of the trip was the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. I absolutely love airplanes, jets, rockets and anything else that leaves this earth under its own power. I probably get it from my Dad who works on aircraft for the Navy.

So though I may have been derelict in my blog duties these past few weeks I can't say that I wasn't busy doing something else. And though I would like it to be higher, I seem to have found a balance with one or two postings a week.

Stepping over the stones

2006-01-26T17:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I headed on up to what's affectionately referred to as the Business Center. It's where a lot of our hardware is located and also serves as offices for some of my colleagues who aren't quite in the same organization as me yet I have to deal with them regardless. They're nice enough folk but their mindset is a bit different than ours. They would argue that we don't necessarily "get" the grand plan while we would counter that our direct interaction with customers, as opposed to just fellow employees, doesn't allow us such a luxury.

So in the bi-weekly meeting that I attend up there I dropped the bombshell that I was planning on using Ruby on Rails in the rewrite of our web portal. Now understand that our current version, which was written before I started working there, is nowhere near what was promised to upper management in terms of capability and speed. Add onto that the enormous costs and the fact that the final product still hasn't been delivered and you can see how the people I answer to would be a bit anxious to get something rolling.

But naturally my colleagues didn't see it that way. Immediately a furor was raised over how I was going against the ingrained standards of the company and how difficult it would be to support an application written in an "alien" language. They made it seem as if it was Sean vs. The Holy J2EE Standard. Regardless, I know that the way to get Ruby through the system is not with direct confrontation. I did plenty of that at my last job and would much prefer to build bridges here. So I'm going the other route: I'm gonna charm 'em.

Upon return to the sanctuary of my cube I immediately set about creating accounts on my Linux box for each of those programmers who raised an objection. I then gathered all the helpful tutorials and links that I used when I was learning Ruby on Rails and put all the information into a nicely formatted, kindly worded email. The idea is that once they see the true power of this amazing framework they will better understand why I am going this route. I don't expect to make converts out of them overnight but I do hope that they drop their blind reluctance to it and give it the chance it deserves.

Detective Robert Goren, modern-day superhero

2006-01-18T17:35:00.000-05:00

Superheroes amaze our senses and make us question what's possible. Detective Robert Goren, the star character of Law & Order: Criminal Intent is no different. He makes intellectually Herculean tasks look like child's play. From the very first episode where he connected a suspect's sexual habits to their need for control to his colossal battles with arch-nemesis Nicole Wallace, Goren is constantly observing and putting together the puzzle that will eventually solve the crime.

But with this highly developed ability comes some peculiar habits. For one, there is the famous "head-cock" which is employed in nearly every episode and to great effect. It allows him to get in the suspect's face without having to come down to their level. And his penchant for stopping mid-sentence while digesting a new piece of evidence causes everyone to look in his direction in an attempt to glean any information from whatever new insight has just come across. These habits may put off those unfamiliar with his style but to his immediate colleagues they have become endearing.

The famous Goren "head-cock"

There is no doubt that the fictional streets of New York are safer thanks to this police detective's hard work and dedication. But without that uncanny instinct for deciphering a case, the sense that guides him down the true path to solving a crime, he would be just another member of the Major Case Squad. Hats off to Dick Wolf for creating a superhero that lives and breathes as we do.

Back in the saddle again

2006-01-11T19:17:00.000-05:00

Whilst some people like to keep their computers on the cutting edge constantly upgrading it, I have always tended to do mine in large leaps. My current setup is a real beauty: 2.8GHz Intel-based product with 1.5GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon X700 video card all wrapped up in a Shuttle form factor case by Chenming. Up until very recently this computer had actually become somewhat of a bane. It had a funny habit of rebooting whenever I turned it off. It required me turning off the monitor beforehand so that it would not randomly restart.

All this changed two days ago when I replaced my old & busted 9600 video card with the X700. Not only did Counter Strike Source look 100x better but the random rebooting stopped as well. And when I played Battlefield 2 for the first time with this beast, I was absolutely blown away. Details that had remained hidden from me jumped out in full vivid color at 1024x768 resolution. With this setup, I finally feel like I have the gaming box I have always wanted. Now the question is, how long until it becomes outdated?

Compiling MPlayer on SUSE 10

2006-01-03T18:19:00.000-05:00

For those of you brave enough to have installed SUSE 10 you are no doubt getting increased productivity thanks to better apps, a well-thought out interface and nearly seamless integration with 3rd party software. I say nearly because in attempting to compile MPlayer for SUSE 10, I came upon the problem of having GCC 4.0 installed by default. Being as it is such a new compiler, most dev teams haven't had the time to fully test and integrate with it. Remember the 2.96 debacle? I just hope the SUSE team's enthusiasm for cutting-edge software will not cause their product to get slammed like RH7 was.

So the first order of business is downloading everything you'll need. Go to the MPlayer homepage and grab the source tarball and a skin tarball. I chose proton although I'm thinking of going back to the classic Blue theme. If you'd like to play Windows media files then download the 'all codecs' package as well. In addition, you will need to download an older version of GCC. I chose 3.4.5 as that was the last stable version in the 3.x tree.

Once you get yourself a previous version of GCC downloaded and untar'd, create a directory titled gcc-3.4.5 in your /opt directory. Assuming you are in the newly untar'd directory, configure your build of GCC with the following command:
shell> ./configure --prefix=/opt/gcc-3.4.5

If everything goes well, you should get no errors. Follow up with the requisite make and make install commands. To test your new version of GCC out, cd to /opt/gcc-3.4.5/bin and type ./gcc. The help screen for version 3.4.5 should thus be displayed.

Now that we have our previous version of GCC up and running, it is time to compile MPlayer. Untar each of the downloaded files. Copy all the files in the directory which contains the Windows codecs into /usr/local/lib/codecs if you will be using them. Change back to the MPlayer untar'd directory and type the following command:
shell> ./configure --enable-gui --cc=/opt/gcc-3.4.5/bin/gcc

This tells the compiler to enable the GUI and to use the older version of GCC that we installed. Again, follow up this command with the requisite make and make install to complete the installation of MPlayer. As well, be sure to copy the contents of the downloaded skin directory into the installed mplayer/Skin directory, by default located at /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/. Type gmplayer at the shell to bring up the graphical version of MPlayer.

Installing Sirius into a Chevrolet Silverado

2005-12-27T02:07:00.000-05:00

This install was performed on a 2000 Chevy Silverado using the KTC-H2EC kit from Kenwood which includes the Sirius receiver and car installation accessories. In addition to this package you will also need:

Panavise dashmount 751101799
PIE GM9-AUX converter
6-ft shielded audio cables (Radioshack part no. 42-2483)
Four 16-gauge butt crimps
At least 2 ft. of 16-gauge wire

Wiring that allows for a direct connection to the vehicle's switched power is included but the included wire is too short for the Silverado's dash length. Therefore you will need to splice in an additional foot of wire using the 16-gauge wire listed. You will also use the butt crimps in this step. Be sure to splice it on the side between the in-line fuse and the connection to the car so as to not interfere with routing through the dash and into the receiver.

After splicing, you will need to open the fusebox located on the lower part of the dashboard on the driver's side. It is accessible when the door on that side is open. Attach the negative lead to the lower bolt on the inside of the fuse panel. Wrap the positive lead around one of the posts of the fuse labelled RDO #1. This will allow the unit to perform just like the radio, even staying on when the car is off until the door is opened. The labelling for the fuses can be found on the plastic piece covering the fuses.

This shows the fusebox covering removed

Next we'll want to attach the antenna for the receiver to the roof. Remove the third brakelight above the rear window using a screwdriver. Thread the antenna wire over to the passenger side using a coat hanger. On the passenger side of the car you will need to pull out the tabs holding the overhead handles in place. Once these are loose you can pull down on the handles to remove the edge of the headlining. You can then push the coat hanger through and thread the antenna wire the rest of the way down past the A-pillar and just below the glove box.

The tabs on the handles need to be pulled out

Now we'll want to get the audio portion hooked up. Make sure that the vehicle has the parking brake on and is on a flat surface. Put the key in the ignition and turn it once so that you can put the vehicle in 1st gear. As well, move the steering wheel into the lowest position. Remove the ashtry and feel underneath the bezel of the dashboard. Pull gently until you hear a click and it comes away from the rest of the dash. Continue in this fashion counter-clockwise around the edges of the bezel until you have completely removed it.

The stereo headunit is held in place by a clip on either side. Remove the unit and do the same for the environmental controls located just underneath it. Using the harness that comes with the GM9-AUX, route the end with the 9-pin connector up behind where the stereo would go leaving the other end to come out in the space below. Put some strong adhesive tape, such as duct tape, on the bottom of the GM9-AUX unit itself and place it just behind where the environmental controls would go. Plug the clear plastic connect on the harness into the GM9-AUX and plug the other end of the harness into the 9-pin connector on the back of the stereo headunit. Then plug the stereo plugs of the 6-ft. audio cable into the other side of the GM9-AUX and route the stereo wires into the compartment just right of it.

The harness included with the GM9-AUX plugs into the back of the stereo headunit

The GM9-AUX fits snugly behind the environmental controls

Now you'll want to route the power cable and antenna cable into the same compartment as the stereo cables were routed. Eventually these three cables will come out of the right side of the bezel via a drill hole. When drilling the bezel, keep in mind you will need a 1/2" drill size for a 3/8" grommet. As well, a small notch will need to be cut out next to the hole to fit the wires through since the right-angle plugs make fishing them through the hole impossible. At this step you will also want to finish up the antenna installation. Center the Sirius antenna on the roof using the length of the wire protector as a guide. Be sure to wipe down the area where the wire protector will go with isopropyl alcohol so that it will adhere cleanly. Reattach the third brake light after you are finished with this.

The power, stereo and antenna wires will exit the bezel on the right side

The Sirius antenna with a clean centered look

Using the bolts found on the upper right edge of the dash where the bezel would be attach the Panavise dashmount. Reattach the bezel to the dash by gently pushing in the edges of it and moving in a clockwise fashion around the rest of the bezel. Cut the 3/8" grommet in half so you can put the wires through it. Using a small jeweler's flathead screwdriver, gently push the grommet into the 1/2" drilled hole in the bezel making sure the wires are long enough to reach the dashmount. Attach the Sirius receiver's dock to the dashmount using the four small screws provided with the H2EC kit. Plug the wires into their respective inputs and plug the receiver into the dock. Provided the radio is on then your Sirius receiver should be on too though you may have to press the power button (the small upside-down red triangle) the first time. You may also need to press the CD/AUX button to select that audio input. Congratulations, you are now ready to activate your Sirius receiver and enjoy radio again.

Final installation

Questions?
Email me at sean.soper@gmail.com if you have any.

Legal stuff
All brands mentioned in this document are copyright of their respective owners. I am not responsible if your equipment or vehicle malfunctions after following these instructions. You may copy this information as you see fit but please cite this article as a source if you do so.

'Syriana' proposes bold changes for US foreign policy

2005-12-22T02:09:00.000-05:00

The mechanisms of terrorism are complex and interwoven but capturing that interplay is what Steven Gaghan attempts with his latest film Syriana. It starts out in modern day Iran showing a beautiful and scantily-clad young Persian woman preparing to leave a Western-style party by covering up in the heavy dress required by that country's religious leaders. This stark contrast between appearance and reality sets the tone for the rest of the film.

The opening scene is not the only one where a hijab and abaya are present. Much of the movie takes place in the Middle East and concerns the plans of Prince Nasir Al-Subaai, played by the very talented Alexander Siddig of DS9 fame. Throw in a CIA agent who has outlived his usefulness, a genius economist, a no-holds barred lawyer and some greedy oil executives and you get a full-blown Parallax View-like movie revolving around our ever-increasing need for oil.

Now this movie is not for those looking for cheap thrills or a sultry love story. It requires intelligence and quickness to keep up with the tempo. The scenes come at you at a fairly brisk pace and the large number of seemingly extraneous characters can be confusing. But the payoff at the end of the film is well worth any resultant head-scratching for with this movie comes a powerful and very real message: the US substitutes short-term gain for long-term prosperity and in the process creates its own enemies.

The worst part of it is that there are well-meaning people working against our best interests without even knowing it. A lawyer fighting to put corrupt oil executives behind bars can't possibly be expected to know that their actions are helping to create suicide bombers on the other side of the globe. And thus it is with this powerful imagery that we are shown how a contradictory foreign policy works against our long-term interests.

If we are to survive the next century, what with being sandwiched between China's growing need for oil and the Middle East's increasingly turbulent atmosphere, then we will need to have a unified approach to foreign policy. The doctrine that gave the mujahideen arms to defeat the Soviets but not the means to rule themselves democratically once the Soviets left will not pass muster in this new century. We must stop seeing only the short-term gains. Our long-term survival depends on it.

Howard Stern's last day on Earth

2005-12-16T17:19:00.000-05:00

Today was Howard Stern's last day on terrestrial (or as Sirius puts it, boring and old-fashioned) radio. Being as my commute is only 30 minutes I didn't get to hear alot of it and certainly not any of the show that he did out in the street. But all-in-all it sounded like a great time was had by everybody. What is curious though is that I wouldn't have really cared much a few years ago about what was going on with the Stern show.

Back then I was only a casual listener, tuning into him when the other stations went to ads. It seemed repetitive what with the Whack Pack always on. That and it appeared that the show existed just to get the biggest gross-out [nsfw] possible. But then the FCC clamped down on him and the pro-censor activists came out in force to push him off the air. They'd been trying for years but now they had the federal government on their side.

In what has turned out to be a stunning move, Howard took what he'd been fighting nearly since the show's inception and turned it into a cause célèbre that people could rally around. Suddenly he was the symbol of a generation tired of having government censors dictate what they could hear. And our weapon of choice was not here on Earth but high up in space.

Before Howard's announcement, satellite radio was a steady but slow-growth technology for tech watchers. But since that fateful day 14 months ago (I remember every detail of what I was doing when I heard the news) satellite radios have skyrocketed in popularity. Like Prometheus bringing fire to Man, so Howard has brought censorship-free radio to America.

Let us hope that he escapes Prometheus' fate.

SUSE 10 and a glass of gin and tonic

2005-12-12T20:08:00.000-05:00

For the purpose of installing Battlefield 2 onto my computer, I had to create more room on my Windows partition. I had considered simply attempting to resize my existing partitions but was advised against this by a friend familiar with fsck (pronounced f-suck due to its unwieldy interface and ability to induce psychosis). So it appeared that I would need to reinstall Linux if I were to expand my Windows partition. Having just found out that SUSE 10 was released via openSUSE, I now had a good excuse to spend my evening installing the latest version of my favorite distro.

But I was to be disappointed because SUSE 10 practically installs itself. After downloading the boot ISO image and burning it to disc, I then copied down all the relevant information about my chosen installation server. In this case I chose suse.mirrors.tds.net (path to install is /pub/opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source). The partitioning took a few minutes to set up properly as I ended up having to delete all the Linux partitions, expand the Windows partition, and then recreate the ones required for SUSE 10. Package selection hadn't changed since 9.1 (my first experience with SUSE) and hardware detection got everything. It even got my 11-in-1 card reader which 9.1 had refused to recognize.

Upon reboot, my system came up quickly, much quicker than it had with the previous version of SUSE. Within 30 minutes I had Firefox, Thunderbird and my ATI drivers all installed without any issue. Hence the reference to gin and tonic in the title. It really did take me less time to install SUSE 10, package download notwithstanding, than to drink a 10 oz. glass of my favorite mixed drink. And now that I can get my camera's pictures without having to boot into Windows, the only reason to keep that OS on my hard drive is to play sweet games.

Using CSS constants with PHP

2005-12-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

I ran across an article the other day using my favorite Web 2.0 app that described how to use constants in CSS with PHP. The author's method I felt was a bit overly complicated however since it required the use of an additional file that would essentially replace the embeded PHP variables with their respective values. I think there is a much easier way to do this which I will demonstrate.

** file: mycss.php **

<? $mycolor = "blue"; ?>

.myclass {
font-size: 12pt;
color: <? echo $mycolor ?>
}

** file: index.php **

<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="mycss.php" type="text/css">
<body>
<span class="myclass">Hello world!</span>
</body>
</html>

This works because PHP is interpreting the CSS file as if it were PHP code. After it interprets it, what is left is CSS code and thanks to the type directive in the link tag, that is how it is rendered by the browser. Hence, no need for an additional file that does a massive search and replace. An online example can be found at my site.

The next challenge for me is to get something like this working in Ruby on Rails.

A reason to hope

2005-12-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

First, I would like to try and explain my previous post. I wrote that after having a great evening at my company's Christmas party hosted at the Suntree Country Club. In only the few months that I've been here I have made so many friends and learned so much. I suppose looking back on where I was last year at this time, desperately searching for a new job, and comparing it to now, things have definitely changed. And this came out a bit stronger than I had anticipated. Regardless, I don't regret writing any of it.

Now I was going to use this space to write about the contribution that Open Source software, or OSS, has and will continue to make to our society at both the commerical and public sector level. But today I found out some news which really disappointed me. My friend and boss has decided to move on. Now it's not exactly public info quite yet but since nobody reads my blog I think I'm in the clear.

The last boss that I can really remember liking was five years ago when I worked for a company called ID Training. I only worked there for a few months during the summer of 2000 but I had a great time and really got to know the people there. It was painful to hear that just a few months later nearly everyone was laid off and the company was literally scrapped for parts. Anyways, my boss's name was Andy and he was super laid back. He kept me on track to finish my projects but also gave me my creative space to explore new forthcoming technologies.

My bosses of the past few years have not had such great track records. My last one liked to square the peons, namely us, off against each other in a vain effort to raise their own status. The one before that made a habit of sleeping with team members. Neither of these methods are what we would call good for 'team building'. So as you can see, my view of management had been greatly diminished by the time I arrived at my current employer. But within a short amount of time, I had a whole new perspective.

My boss Ryan never pretended to be above us but the way he treated the group got us to give him our respect. We could always count on him to get us what we needed to do our job and to those requests that were out-of-scope he gave us an honest answer. And he always put the welfare of the team above his own. I do not hand out praise like this lightly. He truly is a great manager and he will be sorely missed.

However, I must also look to the future and that means dealing with his replacement, for better or worse. In my limited experience with upper management, I think I have a lot to be hopeful for. Procedures are firmly in place within this organization and training for managers is required. Such assignments are not handed out solely based on time served. As well, yearly surveys are issued to employees to measure their managers' abilities and these results are pored over for signs of weak leaders.

So even though the best manager I've had in a long time has decided to move on, I'm not sad. I am happy that he is pursuing what is essentially his life's dream. And I am also confident that whatever person does come in to fill those very large shoes will have the training and experience necessary to do the job.

The importance of camaraderie in the work environment

2005-12-02T23:46:00.000-05:00

I just got back from a Christmas party thrown by my company and let me tell you, it was a blast. In over three years of working at Harris I never had as good a time as I did tonight. Everybody was there from customer service on up to the executives and nobody was made to feel left out. Throw in the great food and the 'liquid' refreshments provided and it made for the best company Christmas party that I've ever been to.

Truth be told, this is the first company Christmas party that I have been to as Harris never threw one. It might have been because of the number of people in the organization but it was probably more likely due to the fact that the previous company I worked for was run by a bunch of cheap bastards. From shitty pay to horrible management, Harris has shown itself as a company unwilling to make the necessary investment to keep its employees truly happy.

The thing that brings employees together is not the common banner under which they provide labor for but instead the goal that will bring them a sense of satisfaction in their lives. Naturally this was something that Harris was never able to provide but they attempted to make up for it by always having a plethora of projects available for me to work on. Yet with my new company, despite the large number of projects that need attention, I always know that the goal of helping people is there just waiting to be attained. It must sound cheesy for those of you reading this but from my point of view it's an absolutely novel concept.

My division provides first rate medical care for those in Brevard county and will most likely enjoy many more profitable years. Their goal is not the largest profit nor the lowest operating cost but instead it is to have the happiest customers. This might sound like a strange goal for an insurance company but it's true. After bullshitting with the guys from claims and boogying with the ladies from HR, I really feel like a part of the family.

This company has treated me better in the past five months than Harris ever did in the previous three years. As a result, I will work harder and more diligently for this company than I ever have before. I want this company to succeed and my work will show that.

The upper-limit of skill

2005-11-28T22:47:00.000-05:00

After having not played CounterStrike for nearly 2 weeks I hopped back on tonight for almost 3 hours. It was great getting to play again but with every missed shot I made I wondered if there was an upper-limit to my skill with this game that I will never surpass. I've been playing this game on an almost weekly basis for the past four months yet it seems I am just not getting any better.

Some of it had to do with my mouse acting funky but now that I've replaced it, I can't claim that as the sole cause anymore. Sometimes it's as if I will aim at somebody, shoot, and then watch them slowly look towards me, point their gun at me and plug one right in my head. All this time I am continuing to unload my clip on them with no negligible effect. It is quite irritating!

Not to worry, the M4A1 is still my weapon of choice but lately the AK-47 has found its way back into my regular arsenal along with the Desert Eagle as a handy sidearm. Three shots to the head (when I can aim properly) and they go down. Speaking of AK-47, I find it rather odd that the primary firearm for the new Iraqi Army is in fact this fine example of Soviet engineering. Media has portrayed this weapon as that used by terrorists and now our newest ally is training to use it in everyday operations. I suppose the choice has more to do with cost and interoperability with existing arms but still, it is a bit disconcerting.

Continuing on my political angle, my former representative, congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, admitted today to accepting bribes from various defense contractors in exchange for furthering their interests with the Department of Defense. These charges are quite egregious, carrying a prison term of 10 years and a fine of $500,000. This story hits somewhat close to home as Mr. Cunningham sponsored my application to the Naval Academy in 1997. Though I ended up going to Purdue instead, at the time it was my hope to become a Navy Ace just like he had.

Regardless, crooked politicians deserve jail time. Though Washington may be well known for it's insidious lobbying and downright nasty politicking, there is no excuse for degrading an office of Congress in this manner. If he was unable to handle the pressures and temptations of such a place then he should not have been there. To survive in Washington takes both luck and skill.

The cutting-edge and its place in production environments

2005-11-15T18:45:00.000-05:00

The software developer constantly balances on the tip of a sword in their daily job. On the one hand they need to write production-quality applications in an efficient manner. But on the other hand, new tools and products are coming out every day that can help developers speed up their coding and also make their projects that much better.

These new tools however are not always ready for the production environment. I am especially wary of relying on products that are not v1.0 yet. But even those tools that are supposedly mature can introduce an untold number of bugs. When my former employer decided to go from ColdFusion 5.x to MX 6.0, the number of bugs doubled overnight. What had once worked in the old version, such as loosely-typed date formatting, no longer worked in the Java-powered strictly-typed 6.0. A minor revision a few months later helped in some places yet caused even worse bugs in others. But because in that few months time we had written applications that took advantage of all the new features there was just no going back.

In retrospect it was a good decision to upgrade however, certain steps should have been taken beforehand to analyze what changes a major upgrade would bring. This is why it is so important to have both a testing and development server in addition to a production server. With both of these tools we could have continued to develop in ColdFusion 5 while testing version 6 on a limited basis. When we made the switch to version 7, much more precaution was taken and though I was no longer employed there to see the final push I can only hope that the extra servers helped ease the transition.

Currently I am toying with the idea of using Ruby on Rails as the platform on which to build the next incarnation of my company's health portal. Whereas the accepted standard at the company is J2EE, recent articles have convinced me that the Ruby path is the true path though it may be harder in the short term with regards to management. In actuality, management at my company is fairly progressive and has never given me reason to think that they doubt in their programmers' abilities. And now that Rails is approaching the big 1, it will make adoption of it as an enterprise-capable platform that much easier.

Do not be afraid of something simply because it is new. The future is coming regardless of how we feel about it. Just as Java was once at the forefront of web application development, so I believe that Ruby is in that position today. But before you make that leap to a new technology make sure you have your contingency plan in order and are ready to put in some long hours if necessary.

Assumptions and their impact on software development

2005-11-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

The rhetoric we usually hear about assumptions is that they "make an ass out of you and me". But I've heard another one that I think is more fitting in a lot of circumstances: assumptions are the mother of all fuck ups. This was proven beyond a doubt today when a vendor professed to us in a meeting that he had made certain assumptions about our product and that he would now need much more time to take these new 'facts' into account.

It's funny the way facts and assumptions work. For most, an assumption is a fact until it is proven otherwise. This is especially true in software design where there are so many variables that to take them all into account can cost an exorbitant amount of time. As such, programmers tend to focus only on the big ones leaving the smaller assumptions to sort themselves out. This can and often does spell disaster for large projects.

One of the ways to help minimize such dangers, besides increased communication between team members, is to decrease the complexity of a project. Remarkable advances have been made in software development to facilitate code testing without sacrificing budget, time or scope. On the Java side, I've been hearing great things about JUnit from my friends. But unfortunately for J2EE development, overall complexity still remains a huge hurdle to overcome, even for small to mid-sized projects.

Enter Ruby on Rails. This is the most ambitious project I've seen to date to try to tackle the problem of increasing complexity and overhead with regards to web application development. I've worked in many languages over the years: Perl, ColdFusion, PHP and Java just to name a few. When I saw what Ruby was capable of I didn't believe my eyes. But after I installed it and had a web application running in under 15 minutes, I knew that this was something big.

So many of the modern web application languages available today require assumptions to be made. Configuration settings, typically stored in large and difficult to read XML files, are assumed to be static but RoR makes no such assumptions. Using inspection and reflection, Ruby can change its configuration settings at runtime so that changes made to a database structure are promulgated to the application itself without having to do the reconfigure, recompile and redeploy dance so many J2EE folks have gotten used to. And most important of all, less assumptions equals less fuck ups.

Today is the first day of the rest of my web development life. I had two books waiting for me when I got home and I can hardly wait to crack them open. So after I sign off here I'm off to dive into my new RoR books. Look for more articles here on this subject as I learn about this amazing new framework.

Close Encounters of the Third Post

2005-11-07T20:46:00.000-05:00

I remember reading somewhere a few years ago when blogging was all the rage that on average a blogger only posted twice before losing interest and moving onto something else. Twice is precisely the number of posts I made at my previous blog attempt before losing interest. But I am determined that this time will be different. It seems that I'm thinking about this blog all the time. Whether I am at work, driving or at home playing Counter Strike, I am thinking about what I could write about in my blog. Tonight I got some real inspiration so here goes nothing.

First off, I love the DVR. Some might know this technology better as TiVo but for all intents and purposes, DVR is a step ahead. It works interchangeably with your cable provider so that the same box you record shows on is the same one you can order movies from. I've taken advantage of this fact several times and my cable company has proven to be an excellent provider.

So knowing that I use the DVR for everything I'm going to also let you in on the fact that I never watch commercials. If I have to wait an extra 20 minutes to watch a show without interruption then I'll do it. I've come to absolutely despise commericals. Most of them lack any value whatsoever and I figure that I get bombarded with enough commercials as it is surfing the web.

Tonight I saw the two-hour Law and Order: Criminal Intent movie and was absolutely blown away. It had suspense, storyline and more. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, guess who walks in: Colm Meaney. In case you aren't a huge Star Trek fan like myself, that's Miles O'Brien of TNG/DS9 fame. But my obsession for Star Trek can be saved for another blog entry.

Anyways, so Colm Meaney walks in and his character is a complete 180° from those that I remember him in. He is a salacious and repulsive character, absolutely disgusting. But he played it so well that after the show, it was difficult to imagine him as the mild-mannered Chief Engineer of Deep Space Nine. But without giving too much away, let me just say that it was a great episode and that without DVR I would have a lot more time on my hands to write in my blog.

Sushi rocks!

2005-11-04T18:39:00.000-05:00

With nearly all of my fellow co-workers out today due to various circumstances, I ended up going to lunch with just the boss. His name's Ryan and he's a pretty cool guy. He's not much older than me, likes to party and totally understands the direction that the web is going. Oh and he also likes sushi. And not just the California rolls but octupus, tuna, crab, et al. He even had the sushi chefs whip up a special roll for us. It had tuna, cream cheese and all sorts of spices and was fried in tempura. Mmmm, so good. I had that meal over seven hours ago and not even a single pang of hunger.

Looking back on my blog from yesterday, I still didn't fully explain the meaning of my blog's title. So in addition to the M4A1 being my weapon of choice on Counter Strike, it is also a gun that I make no effort at concealing whenever I have posession of it. It comes with a silencer that you can attach but that just slows down the rate of fire and besides, it makes pretty colors without it. So hence the blog title.

There are some other topics that will come up in my blog from time to time. I'm a huge political junkie and a progressive. So whenever this administration makes a gaffe, which seems to be happening with increased frequency, don't be surprised if I comment on it. Actually, the Senate, House and silly politicians in general are all fair game as far as I'm concerned.

Com os belos companheiros

2005-11-03T19:06:00.000-05:00

The title of this (my first!) blog comes from a Brazilian drinking song and means "with my beautiful friends". I've only managed to memorize the first and last verses but I keep trying. Hmm, I suppose folks might be wondering what I intend to write about in this space. Brazil definitely. Audis. Sirius. Counter Strike. Oh and my newest love: Ruby on Rails.

I actually had a blog about a year ago. I set it all up on my own personal website and made my best attempt to keep it up to date. But the time between updates got longer and longer. I just figured it wasn't worth it anymore and that it was more of a blight than a nice looking feature so I took it down. Lately though I've had a lot on my mind, things that I want to get out and I figure that this is as good a place as any where the entire world can read it ;-)

I've actually been surfing the web for 10+ years now. I started with a dialup account at an outfit called CNS in my hometown of Carlsbad. I was only 16 at the time and I remember having to go out and buy an additional 8MB of RAM so I could browse the Internet graphically. I'd been using BBSes for a few years at that point so the transition was fairly gentle. But once I made it there was no turning back.

High school graduation happened a few years later followed by college graduation and recruitment by a central Florida-based company called Harris. Times were good at Harris for awhile but then things turned sour. To save this space from becoming a rant against bad management (and a few bad managers in particular) let me just cut it short by saying that I ended my tenure there to begin working at a great local company called Health First Health Plans.

In the three months since I started there I have come to love programming again. I was put in charge of taking a barely functioning web portal written by three wannabe CS guys (actually I think wannabe CT would be more apropos) and turning it into something that my company could market as a feature of their health plans. We're a lot closer to making that a reality, a month away perhaps, and the future is looking very bright.

Oh, you're probably wondering about the title of my blog. It comes from the fact that my favorite weapon in Counter Strike is the M4A1 (pictured right). It's a wonderful weapon only available to Counter Terrorists but whenever I play Terrorist I always take the opportunity to steal one off the dead body of a CT. That's short for a Counter Terrorist player, not somebody degreed in Computer Technology as it was referenced above.

Anyways, I've rambled on far too long for a first blog. I will do my best however to keep this space updated, unlike some certain other bloggers I know.