Speaking of Bob Balaban... (2nd Time Post)

I mentioned talking to Bob Balaban a few posts ago. I am thrilled to say my employer was lucky enough and smart enough to hire him for a bit. I have gone from self-taught-struggling-newbie to self-taught-struggling-newbie who is working with Bob Balaban!!

Can you tell I’m excited? It’s like a dose of Lotusphere every week for me!

The best part is that he hasn’t looked at my applications and said “Oh my god, you’re a complete moron, this is crap”. Not that I was afraid that was what he would say or anything…

[ETA: Sorry, again, this was another post that didn't make it to Planet Lotus, reposting - I think blogger.com must take weekends off]

Half Marathon Coming Up (2nd try)

So I suddenly realized today that the Great Bay Half Marathon is 9 days away (now 6 due to repost). That’s coming up quick! It’s close enough that there are weather forecasts! Not that they’ll be accurate, but still, there are forecasts! (High of 50F and “Few Showers”, if you were wondering).

[ETA: Apologies to those that have already seen this post, but Planet Lotus didn't pick it up for some reason and I am such an ASW that I am re-posting it).

This will be my second half marathon. My first was the Seacoast Half Marathon, last November. My time was 2 hours, 11 minutes, 45 seconds. I way overtrained for that race. It was much warmer than expected that day. I only drank the water I brought, and none from the water stations. I made the BIGGEST newbie mistake, I drank a cup of Gatorade even though I had never had it during a training run. RULE #1: Don’t try anything new on race day. I knew that, and in my dazed state at mile 11, did it anyway. I felt horribly sick the entire last mile of the race. Anyway, excuses aside, even though my time was right in line with what I wanted to run that day, I felt like CRAP. It wasn’t enjoyable. Mile 8 I think I started hallucinating. Mile 10 to the end was terrible.

My goal this race is simple: enjoy it. I am going to run slow. I am going to drink lots of water. I am NOT going to try anything new on race day. I am going to run with my sometime running partner, which should really help in the enjoying myself category. I will probably have a slower time than last race, and I am completely fine with that.

That all being said, it doesn’t mean I won’t panic between now and 9 days from now! :)

6 Days to Half Marathon

Eek. 6 days left. Weather forecast for 56 and Sunny. Just a few "short" runs between now and then. Deep breaths. I need to figure out what I'm going to wear. Not so much from a fashion standpoint as from a comfort and the weather standpoint. I *am* going to be wearing these clothes while running for two+ hours!

And there WILL be professional photographers there. Let's just say last half marathon, I looked like I felt. :P

Defensive Programming

I need to improve my defensive programming. This kind (the third bullet from Wikipedia): “Making the software behave in a predictable manner despite unexpected inputs or user actions.”

I use the tools that are available to me. I make fields that should receive numbers into number fields. I make required fields, well, required. I use field validation and translation. I don’t allow pasting or deleting in applications where users shouldn’t be pasting or deleting. I use drop down lists where possible and don’t “Allow Values Not in List” wherever possible. I use Julian Robichaux’s awesome OpenLog for error handling. The list goes on.

I test the applications. I test them myself first. I test them with actual users. I BEG them to try and do what they would normally do. I ask them (dare them) to try and break the application during testing.

And STILL those pesky users find ways to break the application *after* the final release.

I swear the UI could include a blank screen with a giant button in the middle that says “Click Here” and users will still say it doesn’t work because they clicked on the menu, and tried to select “Create” and do five other things besides hitting the giant button. . Maybe it’s my fault. I told this to Bob Balaban and he said the button should say “Click Here TO DO EVERYTHING”. :)

So my goal is to improve the ways in which I can program defensively. Yes, the onus is on me. I have to get better for a couple of reasons. 1) It is actually my job. 2) It makes my life easier (less complaints, less training, less calls).

On the other hand, complaining about users is a lot of fun. ;)

Help me find new music!

So I’ve realized that since I’ve had an ipod, I rarely listen to the radio, which means I don’t really hear new music. I put my CDs on my ipod and I listen to them. I don't hear any new music. The only new music I buy is new music from the artists I already listen to. Occasionally, the iTunes store makes a recommendation that I might try out, but not usually.

Oddly, I don’t listen to music while I run, but I do listen to music at work. It does not have to be work appropriate. :)

So, what new music should I be listening to?

My music taste is all over the place. Really. On my ipod right now, in the order they appeared on shuffle…

No Doubt
The Police
U2
Cake
Marvin Gaye – seriously, is there anything funnier than listening to your ipod at work and hearing the first few bars of “Let’s Get It On”?
Tenacious D – always makes me laugh
Bruce Springsteen
Weezer
Bob Marley
Dave Matthews
Eagles
Kid Rock
Simon & Garfunkel
Stevie Wonder
Wham!
INXS
Sheryl Crow
Daughtry
Live

Like I said, all over the place. Given that, got any suggestions?

Only 10,000 hours to master Lotus Notes!

I just finished reading Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell. I’ve been obsessing a bit about the 10,000 hours thing. I'm not doing the book or the idea justice, but he asserts that most “masters”, regardless of what they are master of, have amassed around 10,000 hours at their specialty. He uses violinists, computer guys, hockey players, etc. as his examples. This is actually good news for me. I’ve been doing Lotus Notes development full time for four years now. Let’s see…four years, 48 weeks (gotta subtract out vacation), 30 hours per week (that’s probably generous, although I’d like to say I devote all my time to development, I don’t, I can’t, there’s meetings, helpdesk calls, etc.)…that’s 5,760 hours. Sweet! I’m halfway there! That's actually encouraging.

Poor Twitter

I coincidentally got two new followers (that appeared to be junk) seconds before Twitter died today. And is it just me or does EVERY TV show/news broadcast mention Twitter in an effort to come off as cool? Doesn't that mean Twitter is completely lame?

I hope not because I am totally addicted to it. I love that I get both useful information and entertainment out of it. I have nothing insightful to say about it. Just that I love it and am sad that dorky "newscasters" think they are cool because they mention that they were Twittering the other day.

Why I Love Running *This Time*

I think I've mentioned this before, but prior to September 2007, I HATED running. Really. I wouldn't have run unless a bear was chasing me. So, now I'm running half marathons. Lots of people ask me, HOW?

I think a HUGE part of it is starting slow. A few times in my life I've tried to take up running and hated it. I got stitches in my sides, couldn't run more than 1/2 mile without feeling like dying and just generally felt miserable.

This time I started with a program called the Couch to 5k. The program starts you out with just 60 seconds of jogging. Anyone can do that! Especially if you take it slow. I ran sooooo slowly. Seriously, I'm pretty sure little old ladies in walkers could have walked faster than I was running. I started off around 12-minute miles (or 7:30 kilometers, I think if I did that right). It seemed really slow, but that is what allowed me to complete the program.

The program works you up to running a full 5k in 9 weeks. I took 10 weeks, but who is counting? :) The program works by building up your confidence and your stamina. Knowing you can do it is almost (maybe even more) as big a part as physically being able to do it.

Also, I think a huge part of my success this time was stubbornness. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but I really wanted to do it. I didn't want to quit. I realized that a few minutes of discomfort wasn't really that big of a deal. I picked a 5k race to sign up for and there was NO WAY that I was going to miss it. There was also no way I was going to walk. See, I told you. Stubbornness.

After my first race, I was hooked. I also knew I had to sign up for more races, so I would stick it. I signed up for, what else? A 10k. After a couple of 10ks and several 5ks, I decided to sign up for a half marathon. The great thing about running 13.1 miles is that a 5k seems a lot smaller! Of course, I still have bad days. I still have runs where I just have to force myself out and tell myself how great I'll feel after. I still have spells where I don't run as often as I'd like. Races really keep me motivated.

Just like anything in life, I think you have to find what works for you. Some people like to run with music. Even though I love music, I personally can't stand to run with music. Some people like the convenience of the gym or a treadmill. While I would love to get out of the snow and cold of New Hampshire, I hate the treadmill. I would never run if that was my only choice. Some people like to run with a group, and that is what I did for my first half marathon. I also started the Couch to 5K program with a friend. I also have a GREAT running partner that I run half of my runs with. HOWEVER, I love running alone, too. It's my me-time, my "inbox back to 0" like I mentioned in my last post. You just have to find what works for you.

Why I Love Running

I ran nine miles yesterday. My thoughts right now as I try to write this are all a jumbled mess. I want to type out as quickly as I can a thousand different things that all have to do with running, but none of the thoughts are in order. Or would make sense to anyone but me.

There is something about running nine miles (or an hour and a half), that takes you from jumbled thoughts that scramble through our brains a million times per minute to ... nothing. It sounds silly, but I love when I hit that point in a long run in which the thoughts just shut off. I'm just me, just running, just putting one foot in front of the other. I'm not thinking about work, or people that annoy me, or the thousand things that need to get done, or money, or cleaning the house, or anything. I'm just running.

Plod, plod, plod, car, plod, plod, plod, pretty tree, plod, plod, plod, dog, etc. That's all there is. In our crazy busy lives when we're all working on ten different projects at once and we need tools to manage our to-do lists, it's nice to think about nothing for a while. It's like getting my mental inbox to 0. A clean slate to start from, when the thousand thoughts come flooding back.

Admin for Developers

I definitely NOT an Administrator. I occasionally become acutely aware of that fact whenever I have to do something Admin-y.

Now, I am not completely inept. For my first couple of years in IT, I actually did some basic administration for our Domino server: create users, manage mailboxes, etc. However, I only know what I’ve been taught. In other words, my admin said “create a new user, here, this is how you do it”. See, I am not completely inept, just mostly inept.

So, imagine my delight when I saw Jess Stratton’s Lotusphere session “Administration for the Developer: Build and Secure Your Own IBM Lotus Domino Server Playground in an Hour!”. Fabulous, just what I need and now I can do it on my own. No need to bother the admin. Great! She made it look so easy, too. Her slide deck was terrific with step by step instructions. Yeah!

Of course, I come back from Lotusphere (and back to reality) and get busy with work, so I don’t get around to trying it until this week. Okay, download VMWare. Got it. Hmm, which VMWare product? There are approximately 500 of them (I’m exagerrating a little). Well, let’s see, this Workstation thing looks good, and I can download a free trial, let’s give that a go…downloading…installing…hey, look at that! It created an image of the computer it’s installed on. Fantastic. Jess said we could use Windows 2000 since it’s free and Domino 8.5 server works on it. But, look VMWare Workstation made a virtual machine of my XP workstation. We have the licensing, so I’ll just go with that. [Mistake #1]*.

Okay, that worked, let’s install the Domino server…installing…pretty…hey, that worked! Woohoo! Now, go to host machine, launch Notes client, make a connection doc, and a location doc. Umm. Hello? Nothing. Crap.

I then dig out Jess’ presentation slides. Prior to that I had decided to ignore them, since, you know, I know what I’m doing! [Mistake #2] Flip through the slides. Oh look, she recommended pinging between the host and guest BEFORE installing Domino. Hmm. Oh well, no biggie. I’ll just ping now. Ping from guest to host. All good. Ping from host to guest. Nothing. Crap. So then I start playing with the Network Adapter setting on the virtual machine, thinking maybe I just have the wrong setting. Which each time (I think) requires me to shut down and restart the virtual machine. Since I installed Domino as a service, this means I get to watch my Domino server start up and have to shut it down each time. [Mistake #3].

Still no go. Okay, next I Google my problem. No one ever seems to have a problem pinging the guest from the host. Lots of people have problems the other way, and lots of people have solutions, but nothing for my problem. Crap. Again.

Finally, something goes off in my brain that I remember something somewhere about XP and ip addresses. Oh yeah, and Jess said she uses Windows 2000. Hmm. Let’s try that. Dig out old Windows 2000 Server CD. Install…hey! Look at that! PING! PING! PING again, just because I can! Success. Now I install my Domino Server. Ah, look at that. A thing of beauty.

Launch the Notes client. Make a new connection doc and a new location doc (because now I’ve moved on to a new machine, new installs, etc. out of sheer frustration). And…crap. Still can’t see my server. Ping again. Yep, that still works.

Finally, I ask my admin. What the heck am I doing wrong? He comes over, tells me to put the ip address in where the connection doc asks for the server NAME. Not the tab that asks for the Server Address, I had that right, but the tab that asks for the Server Name. I do that, and sadly (because I am now embarrassed in front of the admin, who thinks I’m an idiot), but happily…it works! I make a joke about how long this took me and the following conversation occurs:

Admin: Why didn’t you ask me?
Me: Well, it was really the whole thing about XP and the virtual machine ip address that took so long.
Admin: Oh yeah, XP [blah blah] ip address [blah blah] I could have told you that wouldn’t work.

Sigh.

Moral of the story: Don’t use XP for your virtual machines and read the instructions.



*Admins may argue my FIRST mistake was actually trying to do anything adminstrative to begin with, since I am just a lowly developer. ;)

I’m in love with Big Red

Big Red, of course, being the nickname I’ve given my Garmin Forerunner 305. I’ve had it over a year now and I love it. NOTE: I get nothing in return for writing this entry. I simply love my Garmin and can’t live without it. I recommend it to all of my running friends, and wanted to share that with all of you (you know, all three of my readers).




For those that don’t know, the Garmin Forerunner 305, is a watch-styled GPS for runners. It tracks location, distance, pace, heartrate, time and probably 50 other things. The really cool thing for geek runners is that you can upload all of the data to your computer.

I love to have a running log, but I have a terrible memory. Before Big Red, I would always try to remember to write down all of my runs, try to remember the time and the distance. HA! I would forget have of the runs, or forget one or two important details.

Not just that, but in order to figure out distance, I had to either drive the route beforehand with my car, or try to use Google maps. Google maps can have a lag however, and I often found I was running on roads that didn’t exist according to Google maps. I also had to run to particular points (such as road crossings) that I could easily remember (there we go with that memory thing again) in order to plot them later on. And forget being spontaneous. If I wanted to run a particular distance, I had to run the route I planned, no matter what. I couldn’t change my mind and run a different route, unless it was one I had already plotted.

Then came Red. Now, I can run wherever I want and know exactly how fun I have run. Not only that, but I can see my pace while I’m running, not just after. You can set the Garmin to “auto-lap”, which means every mile (or kilometer, your choice), it marks a new lap. Then when you view the uploaded data, you can see how long each lap took.

Red also tracks elevation changes. Really nice when you see mile 3 took you the longest, and oh, look at that, it’s because there is a giant hill at mile 3. I found out some interesting tidbits about my running that I never realized before Big Red. I run faster uphill than downhill!

Different models come with different options, mine is the 305, so mine came with a heartrrate monitor. I wore the strap in the first six months or so of use. It was very useful for seeing how much farther I could push my running than I was at the time. Now, I’m not so into pushing, so haven’t been wearing the monitor, but it is a nice tool to have.

When I first got Red, you could upload your data to www.motionbased.com, Garmin’s site. Now you can upload your data to www.runningahead.com, my all time favorite running website, which has a really cool running log and great forums.

The Garmin Forerunner 405 is the latest model. Although it is a little smaller, I have heard some complain that it is too small, i.e. it’s too hard to read while running. People always ask me if it bothers me to wear Big Red. NO! I am very finicky about what I wear while running, too. I hate to even wear sunglasses and usually skip them, unless it’s a bright sunny day after a big snowfall and the snow glare is so bad I’ll go blind. So even though sunglasses bother me (and headbands and gloves), Big Red doesn’t bother me at all. It did take some adjustment, but I don’t even notice it now.

Anyway, I love my Garmin. If you are a runner, I recommend getting one. If you are a runner and a tech geek, then I HIGHLY recommend you get one. :)

Overwhelmed - In a GOOD way

Okay, I am once again overwehelmed. But this time, in a good way. I posted earlier how I was overwhelmed with what I DON'T know. The comments, on my post and on Twitter, by people considered gurus was really wonderful to see.

To know that the gurus don't always feel like gurus, makes us little guys feel so much better.

I feel so much better, in fact, that I downloaded some VMWare, installed a sandbox Domino 8.5 server, and started in on Declan's XPages "book". That should get me better acquainted with Designer 8.5!

Of course, I can't get my laptop to see my VMware server, but I'm sure I'll figure it out, right? :)

Overwhelmed – please tell me other people have felt like this!

Okay, so I’m a middle-bie. Not a newbie, but not an oldbie either. However, I’ve recently become acutely aware of how much I do not know.

There are times when I attend a Lotusphere session, or read someone’s blog and I feel like I could sit and read books, read code, take classes, develop, etc. for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for YEARS and still never feel up to par with these people.

I have good days, too, where I figure out some cool way to accomplish what I needed in LotusScript and I stand up and do a little dance at my desk, but today, I am just feeling overwhelmed. I don’t know Java. I don’t know Javascript. I don’t design websites, I’m not Web2.0-cool. I’ve looked at the 8.5 Designer and freaked out because it just looks so different from what I am used to. I don’t have a computer science degree and sometimes I think that fact can erode whatever confidence I may have had in myself.

I know this feeling will pass. I will take a few hours (days?) to get acclimated to the new Designer. I will someday learn Java and Javascript. I know I have to be patient. But right now, I just want to know it all, and know it all now, and feel comfortable and confident in what I know.

Anyone else ever feel that way? Anyone? (Feel free to lie and say yes to make me feel better).