June, 2007

Agile / Coding — 3 Comments
21
Jun 07

Application Naming

Yesterday I learned a very important lesson when naming a new application.  Make sure you say it three times fast to make sure you won’t end up in the HR office once it is released.

Often, in Agile Software Development, teams practice continuous integration(CI).  Often one person becomes the guru regarding CI  and is referred to as the Build Master.  This last sprint my team developed a primitive web application to make it easier to set up CI and nightly builds on Team Foundation Server.  I thought I would call this application BuildMaster.  And just to cover our asses I thought I would have Beta in the title (Google gets away with it, why can’t I?).  Nonetheless, I was confused when people on my team started laughing

when I said that BuildMaster Beta was ready for release.  Needless to say, our application got out of Beta status immediately and was fully released.

:)

 

Uncategorized — 1 Comment
14
Jun 07

Apple River

 This past weekend I had my first and last Apple River experience.  I had a pretty decent time, however I don’t think I will do it again.  We went very early in the year so it was pretty cold and there were hardly any people there.  From the stories I hear of people’s past experiences though, that might have been a blessing.  We got there around 5 PM Friday.  My cell phone coverage was really flaky.  I am sort of a homebody and when I am disconnected from the world, that multiplies that uneasy feeling.  On Saturday I started the day off with a Bloody Mary (Breakfast of Champions) and a bagel.  We went down the river twice.  The first time, while going through the rapids, my tube went over a large boulder which nailed me in the back.  The swelling is finally gone today.  The second time we went down, it was very cold.  We were all tired Saturday night and went to bed around 10:30.  Now, if that isn’t a sign that we are too old to go to the Apple River, I don’t know what is.  On Sunday morning, at 6 AM, Wes and I drove back to St Cloud and got a bike ride in.  Not before getting pulled over on 94 for speeding.  No worries though, I wasn’t driving.  My driving record is still free from any tickets or accidents.  My goal is too get to 30 without any.

Apple River (June 07) 011 Apple River (June 07) 009 Apple River (June 07) 010

Cycling — No Comments
14
Jun 07

www.mapmyride.com

If you are into biking I found out about a website from a co worker this week.  It is great if you are trying to to make new routes.  It uses google maps.  It has a feature that automatically follows a road and better yet, it shows elevation so you know if you are going to have a hilly workout.  I still think you would need to drive these routes once in a car to determine how busy the roads are, if there are shoulders and find pitstops.  It is easy to post a map to a blog and send to a friend.  This is a route my coworker sent me.  If you click on the link it will open it up in their web app.  Check out the elevation on this ride.  My legs already feel tired.



Uncategorized — 1 Comment
7
Jun 07

Police Department, Fire Department, Library……. Hospital

The first three items in this list are services that we have become accustomed to having.  Having to pay for theses service (besides taxes) or these institutions making a profit would be unfathomable.  Why is it that many Americans think it is acceptable to pay for healthcare and for hospitals to make a profit?  This is a point I heard Michael Moore making regarding his upcoming documentary, “Sicko.”  Love him or hate him, I think this movie is going to make more of an impact than his previous ones.  From what Michael says, this movie doesn’t only discuss the insured and the uninsured, it discusses problems that the insured have when they actually have to utilize their insurance.  The movie is out June 29th.

Uncategorized — 7 Comments
6
Jun 07

What’s Next?

So tonight I was doing my usually routine of laying in bed and catching up on some of my feeds when I hear a huge gust of wind up against my house.  Not just normal wind, but something I would expect if a tornado was outside.  I dismissed it.  A few minutes late I hear engines roaring.  WTF?  I finally get out of bed and go upstairs to find a few cop cars.  All of a sudden I smell smoke.  Double WTF?  Then a bunch of fire trucks show up a few seconds later.  It ends up the guys house right next door is on fire.  This is the same next door neighbor that died a little over a week ago in that shootout with the police on I94.  Triple WTF? I was on my deck and a cop told me it was a natural gas leak.  I don’t buy it.  A few minutes later two more cops come to my front door and question me if people have been in the house.  It seemed to me that they were focusing their efforts on the upstairs and if their house is designed similar to mine, there is not natural gas upstairs.  Call me crazy, but I think there is more to it.  On the other hand, I don’t know jack about fires.  I will post pictures tomorrow if they turned out, however, I am sure this will be in the times.

Cycling — 1 Comment
5
Jun 07

Summer Rides

This past weekend I did the Tour of Lakes.  Group rides are a lot of fun.  I thought I would try some new ones this year.  I also thought I would post them in case anyone is also interested in doing some rides.  There are a bunch of people at my work that are into biking as well.  Let me know if you recommend these or if there are any others that you have done.  A co worker of mine is also thinking about planning a century ride in August if anyone is interested.

  1. Watermelon Ride (800 riders, July 4th)
  2. Tour of Saints (1,200 – 1,500 riders, July 8th)
  3. St Paul Classic Bike Tour (7,000 riders, Sept 9th)
Cycling — 1 Comment
5
Jun 07

1015 down, 485 to go!

1432616881_m As many of you already know, I am doing the Red Ribbon Ride for the third year in a row.  One of the biggest challenges in doing this ride is raising the money.  Most charitable rides in Minnesota have 100-500 dollar requirement to ride, however this ride has a 1500 dollar requirement.  Today I have surpassed the 1000 dollar mark thanks to a few VERY generous donations from the company I work for, W3i.  I have been on edge lately  because I am having a more difficult time because my roommate, Eric (If you had a blog, this would be a link :) ), and I have a lot of friends in common.  Many people are splitting up their donations this year.  I hopefully will be able to make the requirement now and can focus on the training to ensure that I complete all 300 miles!

Cycling — 1 Comment
3
Jun 07

18th Annual Tour of Lakes

TOL 2007 004This weekend I participated in the Tour of Lakes ride for the second time.  This ride is known for the food and this year was no exception.  At the pit stops we had breakfast burritos (made to order), donuts, cinnamon rolls, tacos in a bag, hot dogs, root beer floats and much more.  Not to mention all the typical ride stuff such as granola bars, nuts, and bananas.  My roommate, Eric, and I left Sauk Rapids at 5:30 Saturday morning and we got to Garrison, MN, around 6:45 in the morning and started biking shortly after.  We met up with four friends from the Twin Cities area.  When  we started it was pouring out.  This is my third year riding and this is the first time I have rode in the rain.  Because of the rain, my friends decided to do the 35 mile option while Eric and I opted to continue to do the 70 mile option.  This sucked because we only got to ride with them for the first 7 miles before we went our separate routes.  I am glad we did the 70 though because it stopped raining about a half hour.  Unfortunately it rained enough that the worms made it out.  I discovered that the worms are the worst part about riding in the rain.  My bike looked like a kidney exploded on it!  I spent a good chunk of time last night cleaning up my bike so it should be ready to go next weekend.  We completed the ride by 1:45 PM.  We did an average of 14.4 MPH which I am ok with giving it is one of my longer rides of the season thus far.  I highly recommend this ride for any of you bikers out there.