Mike,
I was checking out the Manning site, thinking about learning Silverlight (but that is another story), and saw that the sample PDF’s included the back-cover of the book. The back cover includes quotes from readers of the book. I had provided a quote for Hibernate Search in action, so I downloaded one of the sample chapters. Anyway, my quote was included on the back cover.
Yeah, I know… it is just a short quote, but it is still cool. I guess I just like seeing my name in print.
Hi Deb,
I have always had goals for myself, mostly my professional life, but it has been a year or so since I had any that I really believed in. I guess I got lucky, because the major goals that I gave myself 10 years ago have all come to fruition. I thought my goals were rather lofty at the time, but who knew that a book deal would fall into my lap.
Anyway, to the point. I have some short term goals for the new year that I wanted to share with you.
1. From the technology side, I want my combined websites to fetch 100,000 visitors per month. That is actually fairly lofty considering the current numbers, but that won’t stop me from trying.
2. I need to be healthier. Not that I am unhealthy, but I could stand to lose some weight. I have been blessed with good health so far, and now that I am 40 I don’t want to push my luck. I have wanted to do this for awhile now, but I always had other priorities. Time to push this one to the top of my list.
Did you have any resolutions for the new year?
Talk to you soon.
Rob
Mike,
I had this idea that I wanted to bounce off of you. I don’t know if you ever used it, but there is a Java code example site that I frequent on occasion. I like that it has lots of short targeted examples, so I don’t need to “waste” my coding time wading through a text article in order to find that one JTable example that I need. JTable is a good example, as the site has 62 table examples.
This is somewhat related to a video site that I was thinking about starting. The core offering for the site would be short videos that show you how to do a specific developer task. A “task” might be setting up a web project with SiteMesh, or using Spring-Security with the basic auto-config option, or coding a regex to match phone numbers. Each video would be less than 3 minutes, and there would be lots of them.
I have really wanted to do a pod/video cast/show, and this might be an easy way to get into it. Because there would be a large number of videos on a lot of topics, it serves my ADD well. All I need to do is find the right CMS, and get the production time for a single video down to under 10 minutes. I might even use YouTube if it makes the process quicker. This works for me because the goal isn’t high quality video, it is high quantity of informative videos that will make this work.
So let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Rob
Brian, did you happen to catch CNN Heroes? The show was dedicated to your average person that went out of there way to affect change in the world. It was interesting as a program, but more so as a theme.
In the last month we saw Obama win the bid for President of the United States. Some see this as a victory for minorities, others see it as a victory for the Democrats. I see it differently. I voted for Obama not because of his race or party affiliation, but because he talked about hope and community.
I feel like I have been without hope. I have felt like most others I think in that we are merely pawns, along for the ride, heading to wherever the politicians want to take us. With Obama I feel different. I feel like he is asking me for help. And I feel like I want to help.
I am still waiting for the right opportunity, but I want to volunteer to make my community, my state, and my country a better place to live. I am not sure how I can volunteer yet, but more than ever in my life I am looking for opportunities.
I hope all is well.
With hope,
Robert
Dear Brian,
I have been watching the events in Mumbai unfold, and I now see that the number of dead has risen to 183. I have been watching the news quite a bit. In fact, with the prevalence of media on the net, I found myself watching three news streams, scanning Twitter for live news, viewing the city on Google Earth, and checking out various non-traditional media sites. At some point I was overloaded and have only checked back occasionally.
I have been watching the politicians extress their “outrage”, but I don’t feel the same. I am dissapointed, but not angry or outraged. Perhaps terrorism has become so common that it no longer makes me angry. When I was watching the news they were describing other terror attacks in India, and they seem to occur almost monthly now. At some point you ave to start viewing it like a car accident where someone dies. You express your condolences, and then move on with your life. Besides, what does anger really solve?
In the midst of all of this I had received a newsletter from Jason Calacanis. It was regarding the violence. In the mailing he provided an essay and a video link for a gentleman named Mr. Pinker. In the video Mr. Pinker provides an argument that violence is at an all time low, and that violence is on the decline. It is hard to argue with his evidence. Based on his argument, perhaps there is a reason for hope.
With hope,
Robert