News flash - secret project soon to go public
I'm spending most evenings glued to my computer, working on the program I started two years ago, then set aside when I started working full time. Previous attempts to complete this program met with failure - whenever I got the urge to spent effort on it, the timing and/or motivation just wasn't right. This time, I've left myself ample time, and I'm highly motivated.
I expect to be done final redesign this week (two years is a long time to go between design sessions, and some of my ideas have changed in the interim), with coding proceeding through the next three weeks. Beta testing should be ready to go by late January with full trials beginning in mid-February. I'm looking at this as a business opportunity, not just a programming exercise, and I really want it to be successful.
My programming strengths are business logic and back-end stuff. I'm a fairly novice web programmer, and will be seeking outside help once I'm ready to put a face on this baby. Hopefully, I won't get bogged down in those details until the time is right - no need to think about anything potentially distracting at this point.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Revisiting Christmas Past
By sheer coincidence, my Daily Differential backup overflowed today. So what, you ask? Last Christmas, my wife bought me a DVD-Rewriter. As a computer professional, I'm keenly aware of the need for backups. And that meant that prior to last Christmas, I did DAILY differential backups that spanned many CD-RWs. Last Christmas day, I took a full system backup of my primary computer, and that took up three DVD discs. Since then, I've been able to do my Daily Differential backup on one DVD disc. This means it could run unattended. Well, this morning (or more precisely, yesterday morning), I was greeted by an unfamiliar dialog: "Please remove current disc and insert new disc to continue backup". Yup, I hadn't seen that message since last December 25th.
Tonight, I took a fresh backup of my system. This time, the backup required five DVD discs to store the 29 GB of stuff I manage. There's no music or movies included. It's all operating system, programming languages, source code, and databases. Now I'm ready to enter the new season with the knowledge that another full backup is again, about a year away.
By sheer coincidence, my Daily Differential backup overflowed today. So what, you ask? Last Christmas, my wife bought me a DVD-Rewriter. As a computer professional, I'm keenly aware of the need for backups. And that meant that prior to last Christmas, I did DAILY differential backups that spanned many CD-RWs. Last Christmas day, I took a full system backup of my primary computer, and that took up three DVD discs. Since then, I've been able to do my Daily Differential backup on one DVD disc. This means it could run unattended. Well, this morning (or more precisely, yesterday morning), I was greeted by an unfamiliar dialog: "Please remove current disc and insert new disc to continue backup". Yup, I hadn't seen that message since last December 25th.
Tonight, I took a fresh backup of my system. This time, the backup required five DVD discs to store the 29 GB of stuff I manage. There's no music or movies included. It's all operating system, programming languages, source code, and databases. Now I'm ready to enter the new season with the knowledge that another full backup is again, about a year away.
Monday, December 20, 2004
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas
Jessie's home! Let it be proclaimed from the mountain tops, or maybe the tree tops ... or maybe the top of the staircase. Whatever. She's home, and we're all happy to see her. Too bad she won't be staying more than a few days. She's scheduled to work Christmas Day, so it's going to be a short visit. But a good visit nonetheless.
Jessie's home! Let it be proclaimed from the mountain tops, or maybe the tree tops ... or maybe the top of the staircase. Whatever. She's home, and we're all happy to see her. Too bad she won't be staying more than a few days. She's scheduled to work Christmas Day, so it's going to be a short visit. But a good visit nonetheless.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Keeping my promises
I promised pictures! If you're using Internet Explorer, captions will appear when you mouse-over the pictures. For the more enlightened among you, I've included the captions below the photos as well.
The kitchen was very dark, with cheezy paneling and cheezier faux brick. Hard to clean, and dreary, my wife had decided the day we bought the house that eventually, this would have to go...
This picture shows the faux brick as it encompasses the entire dining area and extends around the wall into the living room.
By far the dirtiest part of the job was the initial stripping. Though not visible from this shot, the archway between the dining area and living room had been curved. My wife decided to square it off to make the area appear more open. In the process of removing the faux brick, some of the drywall panels were damaged, so they were torn down completely.
Our son wants to be a drywaller. What better vote of confidence than to let him practice on our walls? Here, he's being supervised by my brother-in-law, an accomplished do-it-yourself-er in his own right.
Ready to go with the mudding, my wife sports her favourite painting moomoo. This dress has seen more action than most paintball warriors.
Mudding was hard work, and here, she stops to wipe her brow.
Fast forward a few weeks...
Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the painting that proceeded after the drywall was done. My wife had decided to apply stucco paint to give the walls some texture. It turned out to be a marvelous idea. Not only was it not as important to do sanding, but we were able to incorporate some of the imperfections of the brick applique into the finished product, giving that much-sought-after distressed look.
The dining area is much brighter. The phone has been placed on a side shelf (instead of being on the dining table), and the dreary brick and dark paneling has been replaced by a gleaming white surface throughout.
The transition from living room to dining room is much brighter, giving the impression of a larger space. The squared archway looks quite impressive.
The olive green front door was repainted a deep green, more in keeping with the colour scheme of the living room.
Partial view of the dining area, from the vantage point of the front door.
And finally, a view of the kitchen backsplash, formerly faux brick, taken through the archway to the dining area.
That's it! All done and ready for the holidays. Now, my wife can take a well-deserved rest, and I can go about reconnecting all the surround sound equipment. I sure have missed it lately.
I promised pictures! If you're using Internet Explorer, captions will appear when you mouse-over the pictures. For the more enlightened among you, I've included the captions below the photos as well.
The kitchen was very dark, with cheezy paneling and cheezier faux brick. Hard to clean, and dreary, my wife had decided the day we bought the house that eventually, this would have to go...
This picture shows the faux brick as it encompasses the entire dining area and extends around the wall into the living room.
By far the dirtiest part of the job was the initial stripping. Though not visible from this shot, the archway between the dining area and living room had been curved. My wife decided to square it off to make the area appear more open. In the process of removing the faux brick, some of the drywall panels were damaged, so they were torn down completely.
Our son wants to be a drywaller. What better vote of confidence than to let him practice on our walls? Here, he's being supervised by my brother-in-law, an accomplished do-it-yourself-er in his own right.
Ready to go with the mudding, my wife sports her favourite painting moomoo. This dress has seen more action than most paintball warriors.
Mudding was hard work, and here, she stops to wipe her brow.
Fast forward a few weeks...
Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the painting that proceeded after the drywall was done. My wife had decided to apply stucco paint to give the walls some texture. It turned out to be a marvelous idea. Not only was it not as important to do sanding, but we were able to incorporate some of the imperfections of the brick applique into the finished product, giving that much-sought-after distressed look.
The dining area is much brighter. The phone has been placed on a side shelf (instead of being on the dining table), and the dreary brick and dark paneling has been replaced by a gleaming white surface throughout.
The transition from living room to dining room is much brighter, giving the impression of a larger space. The squared archway looks quite impressive.
The olive green front door was repainted a deep green, more in keeping with the colour scheme of the living room.
Partial view of the dining area, from the vantage point of the front door.
And finally, a view of the kitchen backsplash, formerly faux brick, taken through the archway to the dining area.
That's it! All done and ready for the holidays. Now, my wife can take a well-deserved rest, and I can go about reconnecting all the surround sound equipment. I sure have missed it lately.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Friday, December 10, 2004
Home Improvement
Things continue to improve on the home front. Where once bricks lay strewn and walls were bare, there is now wallboard, primer and stucco paint. I am amazed at what my wife has been able to do, virtually on her own. She accepted some help from her brother and our son putting up the wallboard, but beyond that, all the preparation and finishing has been done solo - with advice from Home Depot and HGTV.
Not wishing to be one who my wife ridicules for not lending a hand, I can say I dutifully performed all tasks assigned to me. So far, that includes moving a china cabinet TWICE (so paint could be applied to adjacent walls); unscrewing two screws that held up a curtain rod; and opening TWO cans of paint. Yup, I've definitely done my fair share of the work!
Pictures of the finished room will follow, though it will be difficult to find pictures taken before the work was done.
Things continue to improve on the home front. Where once bricks lay strewn and walls were bare, there is now wallboard, primer and stucco paint. I am amazed at what my wife has been able to do, virtually on her own. She accepted some help from her brother and our son putting up the wallboard, but beyond that, all the preparation and finishing has been done solo - with advice from Home Depot and HGTV.
Not wishing to be one who my wife ridicules for not lending a hand, I can say I dutifully performed all tasks assigned to me. So far, that includes moving a china cabinet TWICE (so paint could be applied to adjacent walls); unscrewing two screws that held up a curtain rod; and opening TWO cans of paint. Yup, I've definitely done my fair share of the work!
Pictures of the finished room will follow, though it will be difficult to find pictures taken before the work was done.