Part of why I love software development is that I get to make things. Through my efforts, something new has been created. It’s a pretty awesome feeling. As much as I love it, there’s something even better about building physical things. Even something as simple as an Ikea bookcase. You start with a box. It’s […]
Seemingly everyone has a Comcast horror story. No one likes the company and people who use their services do so begrudgingly. Except for me. Oh, sure, I know they’re ridiculously overpriced but I recognize that they can get away with that. I don’t expect them to charge less than market value out of the goodness […]
Given my recent history, it would seem that I’m contractually obligated to dislike any graphics package any team in the Detroit Red Wings’ organization puts out. I didn’t like the Red Wings’ Winter Classic jerseys in 2014 or their Stadium Series jerseys for this year. I don’t like their Hockeytown logo. I didn’t like the […]
Martin Biron was the last player in the National Hockey League to wear #00. It’s one of my favorite stories because it mixes hockey with the pitfalls of software development. Biron, then a rookie goalie for the Buffalo Sabres, appeared in three games in the 1995-96 season wearing #00, which he had worn during his […]
I love agile development methodologies. Specifically the ability to fail fast and adapt as necessary. I love cloud services for making failure cheaper and therefore easier. We can try new things because the risks are lessened. We have the process for failure figured out. We have the technology for failure figured out. I think we’ve still […]
It seems weird to justify what I write in my own blog but I was recently sent a piece by Mark Llobrera that resonated with me and I wanted to spin off of it. The fear of stating the obvious is one of my primary personal roadblocks to writing. I have a horrible time deciding […]
Like any self-respecting nerd, I have capital-t Thoughts on The Force Awakens. I didn’t see it on opening night but I did make it before the weekend was out. I’m sure my thoughts aren’t anything new but I want to get them out of my head so they’re coming out here. It should go without […]
I was in a pairing session with one of my teammates earlier today and we stumbled into an interesting little bit of inspiration. Working in Javascript, we were thinking about splitting some values while iterating through an array but that didn’t really feel like the right answer. Looking for some kind of better solution, my teammate Googled […]
When I started my professional career at Michigan State University’s Division of University Relations, I was a web developer. I wrote PHP and ASP and JavaScript and HTML and sliced up images in Photoshop and designed MySQL databases. I had to do a little bit of server management. I also trained clients in how to […]
When the Grand Rapids Griffins announced their alternate jersey design competition this year, I didn’t quite know how to feel about it. Last year I entered, posted my predictions on the winners, and was disappointed with the jerseys that were picked. Since then I’ve disliked the Griffins’ 20th Season logo, their new primary logo, and […]