CompuLounger 1000

Experiment: 20100903

It’s been a point of geek pride for me to be able to say that except for my very first (A Power Macintosh 6100 bought in ‘94.) I’ve always built my own home workstations.  That being said, in recent years I’ve noticed a trend in my improvements where I have been moving away from attempting to build high-end computers, and focusing more on comfort and usability.  I believe I may have reached the culmination of this trend with the build I have dubbed the “CompuLounger 1000”.  Over the last several months I have been experimenting with the “living room computer” concept, and thanks to a very understanding wife and the purchase of a few final extended length cables I think I have found the right mix with a Lane Bandit Snuggler recliner and a Easy Chair Mount bolted to the floor for stability.

SQLSaturday #51

Adventure 20100821

This last weekend I drove over to Nashville State Community College to attend SQLSaturday #51.  This was my first time at a SQLSaturday conference and I had a great time.  The staff was very friendly and the site was quite comfortable.  The drive from Knoxville to Nashville was pretty good, just plugged in my audiobook (The Hero of Ages: Mistborn, Book 3 by Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Michael Kramer) and drove, but I had to get up really early to make the three hour trip in time for the 8:30 AM first session.  My timing for the trip also ended up being a little closer than I would have liked as I barely had time to go through registration before the first session started.

Here are the sessions I attended:
XQuery Basics - Allen White
Design and Implement like Edison - Bill Pearson
Fundamentals of SQL Server Internals - Jeremiah Peschka
From Access to SQL Server - Jack Cannon
Fortress SQL Server - Brian Kelley
Introduction to SQL Server Statistics - Andy Warren

My pick for most informative session would have to be Allen White's XQuery Basics.  His example of extracting XML mapping data from his Garmin Forerunner was particularly awesome.

I have to say that I was most pleased with my swag from this conferance.  Beyond just the normal promotional items I also came home with copies of Being Geek by Michael Lopp and Beginning T-SQL 2008 by Kathi Kellenberger, an Apress ebook gift voucher, and I won a copy of Blueberry FlashBack Pro screen recorder in the raffle.

In contrast to the drive to the conference the trip back to Knoxville in a rainstorm was an exercise in white-knuckle terror.  It was partially my own stupid fault though.  I actually got ahead of the storm for a while just before Cookeville and made the mistake of stopping at Jack in the Box to feed my addiction to their tacos.

Arduino Dubious Chef Countdown Timer v0.2

Experiment: 20100806

I have successfully constructed my first “hey, I wonder if I can just make that” Arduino project using a for loop to light LEDs in sequence, then turning them off in 5 minute intervals over a 60 minute period.  I’m inordinately proud of myself, despite the simplicity of the project and the fact that I had to toss out the buzzer feature I had first envisioned.  (I’m guessing I got the wrong kind of buzzer at Radio Shack as it sounded like a congested squirrel.)  My gaming group and I will be using it as the official countdown timer for our home-grown RPG themed cooking show tomorrow.

Shopping List:
12        220Ω Resistors
3        Red LED - 5mm
3        Green LED - 5mm
6        Yellow LED - 5mm
1        Arduino
1        Half-Breadboard

CodeStock

Adventure 20100625

Time for another CodeStock round-up!  I have no idea why I typed that sentence, but it sounds funny inside my head, so I'm going to go with it.  Yeehaw!  Or some such.  Anyway, had a great time at CodeStock again this year.  Once again Michael Neel did a fantastic job of leading the effort to keep everything organized.  The move to the University of Tennessee Conference Center was a huge success in my opinion, considerably more comfortable and well worth the small rise in registration cost.  The sponsor teams were also all very friendly and helpful.  Unfortunately due to some timing and personal health issues I only got to see about half of the sessions I wanted to, and didn't make it to any of the after session fun, but I still got to listen to some absolutely great speakers:

• How we made Windows 7 Fasterer? - Brian H. Prince
• A Little Lean with Kanban - Tim Wingfield
• A Field Guide to Moving to the Cloud - Michael Wood
• CodeStock Keynote - Rachel Appel
• Introduction to iPhone Development - Gun Makinabakan
• What's happening on the legal side of technology - John Petersen
• iPhone or Windows Phone 7: How Do You Choose - Robert Shoemate
• Getting Started with Arduino - Jim Christopher

My top pick for "Best of CodeStock" this year is a tie between Tim Wingfield's session for providing the most useful breakdown of Kanban I've ever encountered, and Jim Christopher's session as the most fun performing as his assistant during the live wiring of his Arduino Build Status Indicator.  (Yeah, I'm hooked and next paycheck already know which Arduino kit I'm ordering....)

Jon and Laura's Wedding

Adventure 20100612
My latest adventure involved driving up to Detroit for my friend Jon's wedding.  I moved out of Detroit back in the Fall of 2001 and I have to say I was rather shocked by how much it has changed in the last nine years.  Jon is the only friend I have kept in contact with from my time up in Detroit, but a few people remembered me (I tend not to be an easily forgettable person) and other than the driving time itself it was a pleasant little trip.

ScrumMaster Certification

Adventure 20100514
I was recently lucky enough to be able to attend a two day ScrumMaster certification training session led by Michele Sliger and gain my certification from the Scrum Alliance.  Michelle did a great job of making the information interesting and understandable.

Sam and Greg's Birthday

Experiment: 20100507
Greg and I decided to share a birthday celebration this year.  I asked Kathy to make me a huge peanut-butter chip cookie and I made Greg a very colorful Red Velvet Cake.  Considering this is actually the first real cake I've made this year I was a little disappointed, but I suppose I've just gotten out of practice.