Older blog entries for ErikLevy (starting at number 176)

The break for the holidays was good. I needed it to re- center myself.

I've almost finished 2 books, and I received about six or seven that I look forward to perusing. Hacking at both Java and C at the same time is an interesting experience.

I started reading a new book on the Theory of Computation, which seems to be going well (with all that fun math some people seem to hate).

At work today I have been developing mainly software improvements that I've known I've wanted to do for a while but didn't have time to do. I finished one this morning and did testing on it, now it is a matter of trying to work on some small improvements in related areas.

Advogato's spammer is certainly annoying. However, it is manageable at the moment. It does show a weakness in the social constructs that are used to manage user activities. Actually, there is a more glaring problem with how certificates are used in the system but that is probably an issue of how users are using certificates versus how they were intended to be used...

Let's see.

Do you ever wonder if you are getting to the place you are aiming for or if you are just treading water? I'm a goal oriented person (GOP). I see something down the road and I work to get there. I try to see the logic al steps between point A and point C.

But some days it seems you have to feel like you aren't getting anywhere to actually realize where you are going.

You need downtime to realize you are having uptime.

Father, I wrote code today. Lots of code. And I got paid for it. Actually, what people pay for software is amazing. Open source is as amazing as the fact people will pay us to do something we love.

Okay, not everyone loves the pressure that goes with technology jobs, but some people look at it as a challenge. I believe, truly believe, the future will bring much more interesting challenges and that's a good reason to stay in the game. I don't know about you but my mind needs to be stimulated more than a lot of the people I seem to talk to. Filling out forms all day does not make work interesting. Dealing with problems I've never even knew existed and needing to get it done ASAP is interesting.

My statistical professor from college died, I just found out. Not only was he one of the rare professors that could make math more than just route, but he could make it fun.

My girlfriend just received a recommendation letter from him for her graduate studies...she was probably the last person he wrote one for.

Once again, life has thrown a curve ball that I couldn't have predicted. Today is going to be dark blue.

Work:

Still working on the internal/external use project. Found out that the company credit card network had some information that was setup improperly by a third party. Luckily, I corrected the problem before any clients used it.

Incompetence can be frustrating.

Otherwise, just trucking along. Same old, same old. Nothing to see here.

Other:

Had a relaxing weekend with much hacking.

Work:

It's been busy. I've been trying to work on some new software which is going to be used for internal (desktop) and external (e.g., online) use. It's not a project I am really enjoying because there are a lot of more interesting problems I could be working on but it's a necessary evil.

Life:

Things are fine here. Not much to really tell, I've been hacking when I get the chance and spending time with various family and friends.

The Smack down.

Work:

I will be flying to California in January most likely. Heading to a conference and a client. Things should start to pick up next year, as products mature.

Other:

I have been hacking a good amount this week. Looking forward to finish what I'm working on and moving to the next item.

Work has been going well. Mainly just fixing minor issues, adding better error handling, and adding features. I will probably be travelling in a bit to sell to clients the products I've lead the development and architecture on.

Still hacking away when I have the time.

I've been hacking C code today.

Mainly just doing some testing. Its been nice to get into some different code for a change.

I have a client coming on Thursday that could be a good revenue generator...but maybe a harder sell than some. Isn't that just how it is?

Frustration.

Well, it has been a bit. In the time since the last posting, the company has launched its e-business services that I, as the chief architect, designed and built. It is amazing to see your project actually get to the clients. The response has been incredible and things are going much faster than we originally anticipated.

Sure, I didn't get all the features into this release as I may have wanted (beware feature creep!), and I wish the testing period could have been as long as the development period. But the fact is, those two issues and many others are always there, and you need to get products out the door.