DevLife

Like most of you, I have been enjoying my holidays, and this I have received, or rather not received an endless tide of spam. Sure my email has been hit, but blog spam has been down dramatically over the past few days. I have not had to spend any time at all managing the blog for it’s spam content as I have received none.

It’s a pleasant change from the normal 10-15 pieces daily I normally get. Granted it’s not much given that maybe three people have ever read this blog, and that I am not a prolific poster by any stretch. There just isn’t much to interest a spanner, though when some of my plans come to fruitition then maybe this could be a destination blog on some level.

In any case, spammers, thanks for not spamming me during the holidays.

Posted in: Uncategorized by Bastien / Tags: spam blogging junk

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An excellent article on why APIs should be open. This was recently echoed by a blog post from Jonathan Rosenberg of Google on much the same topic.

Openness of standards and APIs will drive a lot of innovation. Twitter is one of the best examples of this. Their open APIs have allow a number of companies to build various clients for the site. Those clients also drive innovation within Twitter itself to provide and adapt to new functionality.

Then there are the apps that analyze the datastream and extract trends and other valuable data that can be sold to other parties again. An entire ecosystem built on being open, and it’s a very disruptive one at that, but also offers resounding opportunity to those with vision and ability to move quickly.

I am trying to build the things that I am working on to incorporate those ideals. It will be a challenge to get there and one that I relish. The end result will be better code and simpler growth patterns.

It will be a fun journey!

Posted in: on the job by Bastien / Tags: coding technology google

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I really enjoyed the new Star Trek movie. JJ Abrams did a fantastic re-invigoration of the franchise. It was a thoroughly entertaining flick ( all right, it was an on demand choice, but still a great movie despite me seeing it 3-4 months after the fact).

With a cast of relative unknowns and a great cameo by Leonard Nimoy, it took a fresh approach to the early days of Capt James T Kirk and the crew on the Enterprise. I am looking forward to the sequel, which I am sure are already in the works.

Posted in: movie reviews by Bastien / Tags: movies

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Well, foolishly, I bought another pair of Skechers today. Granted they were on clearance at Winners ( thanks TJX folks, see ya next year ) and a total steal at $23.

The big difference is that these are leather without the runner-like cushioned foam/fabric insole that so love to trap the odors from my stinky feet. The newer style insole, hopefully done to address those similarly afflicted by the lethal stench, should not hold odors but I guess I will need to test that theory.

Of course, they are a Christmas present, thoughtfully ‘chosen’ by the dog, so I will have to wait a few more days to excitedly tear into the box and try them on, again.

Damn, that dog makes good choices in gifts.

Happy holidays to all!

Posted in: gear by Bastien / Tags: shoes sketchers

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If you’ve not seen Terminal with Tom Hanks, it a movie about a guy trapped in an airport terminal due to circumstances beyond his control. I forget how long he was trapped for, but I am starting to know what he felt like.

I finished up the work for the clients and got to Boston’s Logan Airport around 2:30, could have been earlier, might have been somewhat later. It’s now 12:30am and I am still here trapped in the shoddy Air Canada lounge waiting for the plane to be fixed. Maybe them it will take off, but at this point I am not holding out much hope.

The days adventures started when I got to the airport to find that Delta had changed my reservation, offering to fly me direct to Toronto. This sounded good, I prefer direct flights and why spend more time in the air during bad weather than I have to? And right now the weather is bad almost across the continent. From the Midwest to the east coast, rain, wind and snow have played havoc with all forms of transportation.

So this flight change was to change from leaving at 5:00pm for JFK to 8:30 direct. Since the arrival time was only a half hour later, it seemed like a good deal.

So why am I still in purgatory, also known as the AC lounge? Well, the plane was delayed coming from Toronto due to weather. OK, I can accept that, it happens. The plane finally arrives and we all board like the good little sheeple we are, the plane taxis from the gate towards the runway at which point the pilot declared a mechanical issue with the brakes. Those need to be checked, which seems prudent as I sure don’t want to fly in a busted plane. Don’t think any one else does either.

The small brake issue has turned into an hour and half repair job which means the plane can’t leave until 1:00 AM at the earliest, if they get it fixed.

As cynical as I am, I don’t see the plane leaving tonight. Toronto is getting hammered with high winds. But Air Canada isn’t telling us that. What I see is that around 2AM they will pull the plug for the night and leave us all hanging. That means it’s not worth getting a hotel room for the next 2-3 hours ( that would be an expensive nap! ) and getting back here for 4 or 5AM to line up for the next flight out.

Well, there is no food other than some tiny airline packages of pretzels and only a water fountain for something to drink. I suppose I could drink the duty-free vodka, but I would have to drive home in the event the plane actually takes off, so I can’t do that.

Well and truly f@&ked at this point. I love air travel!!!!

[update]A little late (like a week) but the plane did finally leave around 2:00AM, landed in Toronto around 4:30AM and I made it in the door at 6:00AM on the nose. Definitely the most fun I’ve had in a while. On the other hand, I did get to watch District 9 again. What a great flick![/update]

Posted in: on the job, travel by Bastien / Tags: movies traveling work

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So I’m on the road again. Back to Boston to sort out some application issues. Always good to get some face time with the clients and re-establish those relationships.

For me, the joys of travel have been far outweighed by the inconveniences and annoyances of going. As the flights are often early, it means I have to get up, earlier. Novel notion but it does mean getting up around 330 am and dragging my ass to the airport. This doesn’t sound all that bad but I’ve never been a sound sleeper before a trip. Always in the back of my mind is missing the shrillness of the alarm so I toss an turn fitfully until the damn things sounds off.

At the airport it’s become an endless series of line ups and security checks. The stripping down, almost to the boxers, of the belt, shoes, coat, sweater. Take the electronics out, put it all inthe tray and 30 seconds later the rush to put it all on, pack it all up and try not to cause a jam up.

So what mad this trip so damn memorable? Well, as I got off the small regional jet that brought me on the first leg of my journey, I left my damn rolly carry on case at the gate, then I walked out of the terminal. Of course it wasn’t until I was standing in the cold waiting for the shuttle to the next terminal that I realized that I had forgotten the damn thing. So, I have to clear security again to get back to the gate only to have the agents tell me the bag was sent to the baggage claim area. I high tail it back to the claims area, root around for the bag, which was the lost luggage office, grab it and head back to the shuttle bus to grab the next flight. So I got to go thru security, again, though I took the road less travelled and chose the furthest checkpoint from the maddening crowd for a slightly speedier traversal of the security zone.

As I write this it’s about 1230 am, I’ve been up for almost 22 hours and I am tired. It’s been a hell of a travel day.

Posted in: on the job, travel by Bastien / Tags: travel work ckients

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What does it mean when the flag’s at half mast at the post office?

They’re hiring.

Posted in: jokes by Bastien / Tags: joke

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Did you hear about the dyslexic Satanist?

He sold his soul to Santa.

Posted in: jokes by Bastien / Tags: joke

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What did the elephant say to the naked man?

How can you breathe through that?

Posted in: jokes by Bastien / Tags: joke

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What goes “klip klop, klip klop, klip klop, BANG!!”? An Amish drive-by shooting.

Posted in: jokes by Bastien / Tags: joke

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