Tom: April 2008 Archives

My 90 minute talk yesterday went pretty well.  I did run into one snag though.  I showed up to the room 30 minutes before my talk was scheduled to begin, and I spent 29.5 minutes wrestling with 2 different projectors to get my slides to display.  Luckily I was finally able to get it to work in time and I started on time and ended about 6 minutes early.  I talked about philosophy, what works for my team, did 2 demonstrations, showed source code, and showed some the artifacts of the test automation that my team does.  I'll have to find out if the slides can be made public.  I'm fairly certain that the source code and demonstration movies cannot be made public.  But if you are an IBMer I can share it all with you.  :-)  So overall I feel like it was worth the time and effort to give the talk because I think my team's work will help other groups to become more effective in how they test software.

Tomorrow is the testing conference that I have been preparing for.  I'm finishing up the last touches on my slides, and also getting the demo stuff ready.  I've decided to make videos of the test automation running instead of doing a live demo because I know from experience that something will break that will cause at best a delay or at worst the demo to not get done at all.  So after my slides and videos are done all I need to do is check out the room where I'll be doing the presentation to do a quick run through, make several backup copies of the slides in different formats, and then practice some more.  I feel like I am preparing to do a one man show on broadway.  :-)

If I didn't use a Mac (with Mac OS X) for everything at home I would be using Ubuntu (a flavor of linux).  As it stands, since I can't use a Mac for everything at work I use Ubuntu.  I've been using it every day for work for nearly 2 years now, and I have been happy to get away from Windows.  There are still some work things that are a little painful to do outside of Windows, but we have a pretty sizable ragtag Ubuntu support group that helps each other get things done.  That being said, the next major version of Ubuntu, which is 8.04 Hardy Heron, is due out tomorrow.  So if you want to get away from Windows and are not quite ready to buy a Mac you can take your PC hardware and install Ubuntu on it for free.  To get started downloading Ubuntu you can click here.

Home ice was worth it in this case.  The Sharks had a big 2nd period which ended up being enough to win the game.  They played some good D in the 3rd period.  Now we are moving on to host the Dallas Stars in the next round.

17:27 - Start of the 3rd period.  Sharks need to continue putting on the pressure.  20 minutes to a date with Dallas.  Not much going on Yet.  Flames put a shot off the post.  Sharks doing a better job with the puck.  Cujo gloves it.
16:26 - Puck up into the netting.  Sharks have to do a better job of getting the put out of their zone.  Murray needs to protect the puck better.
16:06 - Slashing on the hands by the Flames was not called.  Clowe is going beat someone up when this game is over.
14:57 - Flames with the puck in the Sharks zone and they score.  Lame.  Goal under review but again I think it is legit.  No surprise.
11:13 - Sharks need to have a good shift to get the momentum back.  Getting the puck deep.  Mike Grier with a good interception and shot.  Flames putting on some good pressure.  Still plenty of time in the game.  Both teams changing fast.  Clowe chipping it in.  No stoppages in a while.Biog Joe with the puck.  Sharks starting to get something going.  Tipped out of play.
Sharks cycling the puck, almost snuck it in the net.
8:57 - Flames win the draw on their own zone.  Patty had a nice shot.  Iginla is making things happen.  Flames are all over the Sharks right now.  They finally get the puck out of the zone.
7:43 - Penalty against the Sharks.  High sticking on Patrick Rismiller.  Bad call by the refs.  Losers...  Flames on the PP.  This is huge.  We HAVE to kill it off.  Patty got a breakaway and was almost able to ice the game.  Flames offsides.
6:13 - Flames putting in one last gasp for their PP.  PP is over.  We have to clear the puck.  We do.  sweet.
5:40 - The crowd is waving their towels and getting into the game.  Sharks iced the puck.
3:17 - They dump it into the Flames' zone.  back and forth a bit.  Playing tight D and being a little conservative offensively now.  Sharks playing alright now...  JR fires and Cujo makes a save.  This thing is almost over.
1:51 - Flames pulled their goalie, they are rolling the ice.  Patty Rismiller missed the open net!  Sharks failed to get it out of the zone.  Sharks ice the puck.
46 seconds - 17,496 fans on their feet.  Flames win the face off.  Thornton flips the puck out.  1 minute left.  It is just about over!  Nabby has the puck.
Under 30 seconds, sharks playing good D.  15 seconds.  Game over bitches.  Sharks win!  Now Ryan Clowe can beat somebody up.  Fans are loving it!  Dirty Flames go home!  Hand shake to finish things up.  Ah, it is nice to have the game over.  Reset the losses back to 0.   

Start of the 2nd Period.  Sharks have 2 periods to win the series...
19:17 - Nabby with a nifty save.  Flames with a few shots.  Sharks have to be a bit more agressive with their defense.
18:13 - Sharks need to get the momentum back, they are almost waiting around to get scored on...   Flames iced the puck.
16:26 - Sharks got a few decent shots.  As long as they keep putting the puck on the net good things will happen.  Patty had a nice shot.  Owen Nolan scored on a breakaway.  Boo!  Being reviewed, I think it is legit.
13:47 - working it, Devin Setiguchi gets an ugly 5 hole goal, but we'll take.  It is now tied up 2-2.
12:23 - A bit of back and forth, the Sharks are putting more hits onto the Flames.  We just have to stay out of the penalty box.  Penalty against the Flames.
10:54 - Sharks are 1/2 on the PP.  Good passing.  Need to shoot more.  Rivet had a WWE move put on him by Yelle and there was no penalty.  I don't get it.  JR with a freaking awesome goal!  bad angle top shelf rocket back post PP goal!  3 - 2
9:53 - Halfway mark of the game.  Not bad so far, I'd like to see us abuse the Flames.
9:28 - Good forecheck for the Sharks.
8:11 - Mikka stopped a slam dunk oppurutunity.  Sharks and Flames going back and forth.  This would be a great time for the Sharks to tack on another goal.  Penalty against the Flames for interference.  Sharks on the PP
5:50 - Sharks not getting much done on the PP.  Calgary almost got a shorthanded goal.  Not good.  Power play almost over and not much to show for it.  Penalty over.  Pavelski Scores!  Not technically a PP goal but right after the PP was over.  Lots of shots on net, working hard on the boards.  The puck was just sitting there for little Joe smack it top shelf.  The SJ fans are loving it.  Mikka got yanked.  Cujo is in as goalie.  Sharks now up 4 - 2.
5:10 - Devin Setiguchi rips one past Cujo.  It is no 5 - 2 Sharks.  Now let's keep pouring the pepper onto the Flames.
4:07 - JR is talking to the young guys.  Have to keep playing tough...  Flames are going out blazing.
2:57 - Flames with a good fore check.  Sharks making sure to change up often.  It is almost like a power play.  Patty Marleau had a good play driving it toward the net.
1:24 - Cujo blocked a shot with his mask.  Flames arestill getting changes.  Somebody needs to deck Jerome Iginla.
Clowe is chirping at the Flames.  Fairly quiet last minute.  2nd Period Over.  Sharks up 5 - 2.  

17:15 - Pretty good start for the Sharks, getting pressure into the Flames zone and the Flames have iced the puck a few times.
11:31 - Still good pressure for the most part, but the Sharks pressure waned a little bit until they put a big hit on the flames.
8:58 - Sharks get a power play.  Some good oppurtunities, and...  GOAL!  1-0 for the Sharks.  Thornton with a sweet wrist shot top shelf after a Cheecho pass.
7:50 - Penalty against the Sharks.  Holding by Mihalek.  goal by the Flames.  Boo!
7:14 - back to even strength.  Back and forth.  Sharks offside.  pushing and shoving so Clowe and Nolan both go to the sin bin.
6:05 - Not much new going on.  4 on 4 for 2 minutes.
2:40 - Penalty to Phanuf, holding onto Chechoo.  Sharks on a power play to pretty much finish off the 1st period.  Sharks didn't do much on the power play. 
1st Period Over.  Overall the Sharks outshot the Flames 14 - 5, but they have to kill penalties better.

Living in San Jose and being a hockey fan it is natural that I would become a San Jose Sharks fan.  And whenever the Sharks make the playoffs I grow a playoff beard to show my support.  And tonight is game 7 of the first round matchup between the Sharks and the Calgary Flames.  I've recorded the game and I'm just starting to watch it now.  I'm guessing that the Sharks are going to play with urgency and get a win tonight.  I'll probably add some entries along the way as I watch the game.

Happy Earth Day everyone!  For the past few years I've been looking at ways to lessen my environmental impact.  Over time I think I've gotten better, but a lot of this stuff really can't be tracked all that well, either that or I'm too lazy to spend much time tracking it.  :-)  Here are a few things I've added this year:

1.  Bring my own bags to the store 95 % of the time.
2.  Track water usage over time.
3.  Track electricity and gas usage over time.

Here are the things I'm already doing that I think are pretty good:

1.  Staying in my condo (instead of buying a big house) which reduces the amount of energy needed to heat and cool my living space.  And by having a patio instead of a yard it really lowers the amount of water I use since I don't have to water a lawn.
2.  Installed devices that save energy.  Examples include programmable thermostat, a ceiling fan, and other fans in the house.  That reduces the frequency of running the air conditioner.
3.  Live close to work.  I live 4.5 miles away from work, so I can ride my bike, drive the vespa, or drive my truck.  The benefit is that even if I drive my truck I save time and money as well as cabon dioxide emissions.
4.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  It is amazing how you can now recycle most of the packaging you get nowadays.  I don't waste any opportunity to recycle.  Even if I get a drink from starbucks while out and about I will take the cup home and recycle it instead of throwing it away.
5.  I use energy efficient light bulbs and natural lighting whenever possible.  This keeps the energy bill down.
6.  Drive slower.  I'm not in as big a hurry to get places anymore, so overall I've reduced my speed which improves gas mileage.  And no, I haven't gotten any speeding tickets.  I'll probably still pass gas mileage-obsessed Prius owners, who incidentally should not drive 55 mph in the fast lane, but my mileage has gotten a little better.
7.  Use rechargeable batteries.   Instead of buying the 500 pack of batteries from Costco I invested in a rechargeable battery infrastructure to power everything that needs batteries from remote controls to headlamps for camping.  It can be expensive at first, but over time it costs less and you don't go through as many batteries, and you can recycle them when they can no longer hold a charge.  It just takes slightly more discipline than throwing a battery away when it is empty, but I think it is well worth the extra effort.
8.  Eat only wild salmon.  I guess my growing up in Alaska has kind of made me a salmon snob.  I won't even look at Atlantic salmon at the grocery store and when I go to a restaurant I ask what type of salmon it is.  They generally give me a blank stare and say it is "Pacific" salmon.  My reply is, as nice and polite as possible, "What kind of Pacific salmon, King/Chinook, Coho/Silver, Sockey/Red, Pink/Humpy, or Chum/Dog?".  They generally have to go ask the cook who usually corrects them to say that it is in fact Atlantic salmon or it is King salmon.  But generally at home I'll only cook and eat salmon that is caught by my brother or myself.  If you want to see pictures of some Silver salmon that Timber, my brother, and I caught, click here.
9.  Eat as much locally grown food as possible.  This is one thing that I love about California.  I live fairly close to places that grow lettuce, spinach, strawberries, cherries, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, onions, and lots of other good foods.  So I can generally find high quality local foods at a local fruit stand or at a farmer's market.  And the summer is a perfect time for that.

Next Steps and Nice to Haves:
1.  I would love it if my condo association would start putting solar panels on all the units.  I think that would really help resale value as well as bring down our energy costs as well as switch from polluting electricity generation to zero emissions electricity generation.  The reality is that there are tons of logistical and cost issues to work out and I don't think my condo association is capable of handling it.  So I'm stuck on that front.
2.  Get a car with better mileage.  Obviously I'm not going to go out and buy a new car just because I want a vehicle with better mileage.  Talk about a waste of money and energy.  But when it is time for me to get another car I will give high credence to mileage.  I would also be awesome to get an electric car, but there aren't many reasonably priced ones on the market right now.
3.  Switch to more energy efficient appliances.  Again, I'm not going to just go replace my fridge, oven, etc...  just to save a little bit of energy, but when it is time to replace that stuff I will make sure those appliances are as energy efficient as possible.
4.  Grow more food in my garden.  I'm working on this.  I was going to start some seeds this week, but it has been getting cold at night again, so I'm going to wait a little while before starting the seeds.

Overall I think I am on the right track.  There is still more that I can do, but I think I've picked just about all of the low hanging fruit.

Well the pandering has begun.  Not too long ago John McCain suggested a holiday from the Federal gas taxes for the summer.  The summer is when most Americans take the majority of their vacations, and a lot of those vacations are road trips.  Here are a few reasons why I think it is a bad idea:
1.  Getting rid of the gas tax while not making up for it anywhere else will cause the budget deficit to get even worse.
2.  Once you get rid of the gas tax you will probably find it very hard to bring it back.
3.  It may not cause the gas prices to go down.  It would be a great way for the oil and gas companies to raise their prices even more without consumers complaining too much.
4.  You would be better off slapping the oil and gas companies with the profits tax that you threatened them with multiple times when you had congressional hearings about their record profits.
5.  None of this fixes the underlying problem that we Americans consume too much oil and need to work on alternatives to get to work, school, vacation or whatever.  If we keep the prices low there is virtually no chance that people will change their habits away from cars.
6.  No one seems to be talking about how the price of everything is going up fairly quickly.  By everything I mean airfares, gas, oil, food (rice, wheat, etc...), ice cream, clothes, cars, etc...  When the price of everything goes up fairly quickly that is generally referred to as a high rate of inflation.  I'm guessing we are going to see our inflation rate take a hike for 2008.  We are generally used to seeing high inflation in unstable countries or countries that manage their finances poorly.  Oh wait, we qualify for that second part.  Doh!  If we don't see a significantly higher inflation rate for 2008 then that means the accountants have buried it somewhere.

So overall I think it would be a bad idea to get rid of the gasoline tax for the summer.  If you want to get consumption down, raise the tax.  People will change their habits.  I started changing my driving habits back when gas first hit $3 a gallon.  But even at $4 a gallon we are still paying less than a lot of other places in the world.

A while back I submitted two abstracts to a testing conference, one about Test Automation and another about Continuous Integration.  I got word back that the abstract for Continuous Integration was accepted while the one about Test Automation was not.  Right on...  So late last week I got a copy of the agenda along with a request that I send in my bio and slides for my 90 minute presentation by this coming Friday.  So I started working on my slides for Continuous Integration and was almost done with them when I looked at the Agenda.  When I did, I saw that I was scheduled to speak about Test Automation.  I thought that was weird, so I emailed the coordinators and sure enough they made a mistake and I really am going to present my work on Test Automation.  Doh!  So I get to shelve my slides on Continuous Integration and get something whipped together to turn in by tomorrow.  So I guess I should stop blogging and finish up my slides.  :-)  I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to make them public or not, I'm guessing I will.  So if I am able to make them public and if my presentation is video taped I'll try to post them.

For the month of March I set a goal to lose 5 pounds. I knew I could do it, but the key was to find the right motivation. I was inspired by stikk to put some money on my belief that I was going to lose 5 pounds over the month of March. So the next question was how much and where would it go? I decided, unimaginatively, that if I did not lose 5 pounds I would have to give $100 to Timber. And wouldn't you know it, not only did I lose 5 pounds, I lost 6.5 pounds. Now I am setting a goal to lose another 5 pounds for the month of April, but this time I need a bigger incentive. And I found it! My punishment, if I don't lose 5 pounds over the month of April will be to do something with $50 that is worse than flushing it down the toilet or setting it on fire. If I don't lose 5 pounds in the month of April I'll contribute $50 toward Hillary Clinton's campaign. :-) And I really don't like Hillary...

On Sunday, to top off doing a 17 mile bike ride on Saturday Timber, Tom J, Dan, and me all went for a roughly 10 mile hike at Pinnacles National Monument, about 70 miles or so south of San Jose. It was one of the last days that the caves were open, so we made sure to do the hike in March. It was a cold and misty day for the most part, but the sun did peak out toward the end. Overall it was a nice hike and I would recommend doing a hike at Pinnacles in the spring or fall but not the summer because it can get really hot there. There are also lots of crags and spires for most rock climbers to enjoy Pinnacles as well. Here's a link to the pictures I took

Over the weekend I finally pulled the trigger and got a road bike. I had been looking off and on since last year, but I decided this year was the year to pull the trigger and get on with it. I did a lot of research and pretty much settled on the Trek 1000/1.2. The 1000 is last year's Trek entry level road bike and the 1.2 is this year's Trek entry level road bike. They are basically the same thing. Over the years, the 1000 and now 1.2 has won several awards for being the best entry level road bike for the money. And when it came time for me to get a road bike I wanted something that was entry level but still pretty decent because I can always upgrade later if it is something that I really get into. Some of the reviews I read can be found here, here, and here. The next step was to actually go for a test ride. So after several delays I went to the Trek Bicycle Store of San Jose to do a test ride. The day I went (Thursday), the shop was really busy and it was 10 - 15 minutes before someone asked me if they could help me. By that time I had found the Trek 1.2 and had gotten a chance to check it out. I told them that I was looking for an entry level road bike, and that the 1.2 fit the bill, and I wanted to test ride it. Unfortunately the only trek 1.2 they had in my size had already been sold, so they told me to come back tomorrow and they would have one ready for me then. So the next day (Friday), I went back at the prescribed time (and I brought Timber with me) and did a test ride on two sizes, the 54 cm and 56 cm. The 56 cm fit better, and I took it on a nice ride around the block. It felt really smooth, comfortable, and effortless. I don't know how fast I got it to go, but it felt pretty fast compared to my mountain bike. The shifting was not the smoothest, but from what I read the more you pay for components the smoother your shifting should become. So overall I was pretty happy with the bike. After the test ride I told the guy that I would want to think about it a little bit and would be in touch. After talking to Timber about it for a little bit it pretty much came down to two choices. (1) buy it from the bike shop or (2) buy it online (ebay, craigslist, etc...). I did some research online, and found a few of last year's trek 1000's in my size, and assuming the postings were legit I would save a decent amount of money by buying it online. So here are the pros and cons of each approach:

Buying from a local bike shop -> get properly fitted (pro), knowledgable staff to help guide you to the right bike (pro), warranty (pro), someone you can turn to in case of problems (pro), a couple of free tune ups and inspections (pro), higher price than found online (con), supporting your local bike shop (priceless)

Buying online -> better price than the local bike shop (pro), you may end up getting the wrong size (con)

In the end I decided to buy it from the local bike shop because I wanted to support the local bike shop and build a relationship with them. So on Saturday morning I gave them a call and told them I wanted to buy the 56 cm Trek 1.2 and that I would be there later in the day to pick it up. So after taking care of a few other things first Timber and I went to pick it up in the early afternoon. This time the bike shop was especially busy but we got helped right away. After the guy grabbed my bike I walked around the shop picking out the accessories that I needed to take it for a ride that day. I got a bag to go under my seat, an extra tube, water bottle cage, water bottle, and a bike computer. The bike computer was nothing fancy, just something to tell me the time of day, ride time, distance, speed, average speed, high speed, etc... After I picked everything out paid for it they took my bike in the back and put everything on it for me. After they brought it back out we made a few adjustments and off I went, a happy customer.

After we got home I took a few pictures for insurance purposes and got ready to go on a ride with Timber. We did a 17 mile ride with a decent uphill section. Overall the bike felt effortless compared to my mountain bike on the same ride. I even beat Timber to the top of the hill by a little over a minute, and on the way back down the same hill I hit a top speed of 32 mph. Overall it was a very good first ride. Going forward I think it will take a little while to get used to the difference in handlebars and gears, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'll eventually get some better pedals and riding shoes and a few other accessories. But there is no hurry. I will also ride it to work when my schedule and the weather permit. It will be interesting to see how many miles I put on it up through the fall.