darkmethod.com

Cryptic Goals

2011-12-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

This is for me. It isn't meant to be understood. ;)

L--
F++
$+
F--
!++
!--
!
$+
L++

Programming is nothing like playing with legos.

2011-11-03T13:55:00.000-04:00

If I'm going to use an analogy of building with legos to describe the process of programming, I'd rather describe it like this.

Programming is like building your own machine that makes the legos. Then telling all your friends and family, co-workers, etc that you built a new lego. Afterwards, most of them will simply ignore you and your shiny new legos and walk right by them and head to the train set sitting on the table, or the puzzles, or blocks. A few of them will pick one up and look at it closly, and say, "this isn't a lego at all". And maybe, just maybe, one guy you've never met will pick it up, take a look at it, see your vision or their own, pick up more legos and build something with it.

Getting Real + A random group of web developers = ?

2011-11-02T13:20:00.000-04:00

I'm excited. And when I get excited, I tend to talk a lot... and fast.

There is a group stirring in Buffalo, NY that is business focused, interesting, and potentially life changing. That is, if part of your life involves running a business of any size. Here is to hoping for time well spent on topics that matter. And I hope it goes beyond just a mere book club into interesting debates and perspectives. We'll see.

Celebrating Steve Jobs at RPCI.

2011-10-25T16:21:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs day for employees at Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Committing to Ideas.

2011-10-25T10:31:00.000-04:00

This is my pledge to make a difference. To take a stand. To do rather then just think & dream. My time is an expensive commodity that isn't renewable and so easily wasted. I'm going to make every moment count. I propose to intentionally take breaks in a coordinated effort only to renew my personal effectiveness. Create more and consume less. Get organized, stay organized. Stay on task. Embrace others and their ideas and experiences; and share my own.

Dealing with different opinions and the resulting arguments.

2011-10-11T12:14:00.000-04:00

Dealing with the technical nature of something often leads to different opinions on the way it should be handled. This can lead to discussions and constructive arguments. Which is the goal when two or more developers are discussing a topic. However, at the end of the argument/discussion, a decision has to be made to move forward. If a decision is not reached do to interpersonal conflicts, something is amiss and needs to be worked on between the two parties involved. I have found that when in these situations (although rare) it is best to try to be empathetic with the other party and honestly try to see the different view point. Then contrast and compare and form an opinion. And in a sense measure if that final opinion is worth the effort to discuss further. By simply trying to see the argument in light of the other's perspective, I can come to an amicable conclusion.

Dealing with people is the tough part, but I believe the most important part. Forgiveness and grace play their role here. Dealing with a difficult person, although rare, makes forgiveness and grace necessary even if not reciprocated.

Music: Zoe Keating. Cello + IA

2011-10-10T10:55:00.000-04:00

I really enjoy the way she describes her music in the video and compares it to information architecture. I'm incredibly impressed with her style and composition. Looking forward to seeing her performance in the future.

www.zoekeating.com

Into The Trees by Zoe Keating

Google + Dart = wait and see.

2011-10-09T21:55:00.000-04:00

I'm looking forward to learning more about Google's upcoming Dart programming language. However, I totally get the gist that it will be yet another web programming language to learn. I'll reserve my judgement until I am able to further understand the problem it is looking to solve regarding its goal to leap frog JavaScript instead of pushing Harmony. I've read the leaked letter, but I still want to get my hands dirty with Dart before making a judgement call. I wish I could attend the Gotocon keynote, but I'll have to settle for Twitter feeds and live blogs. Only a matter of hours now till we get a look.

Marketing Mix - Back to Basics.

2011-10-09T15:51:00.000-04:00

I recently ran across a Wikipedia article regarding the Marketing Mix which I remember learning about in one of my business classes in college. The Marketing Mix is a term which was coined way before my time and can be summed up as the Four 'P's and the Four 'C's:

Four 'P's:

Product
Price
Promotion
Place

Four 'C's

Consumer
Cost
Communication
Convenience

The difference between the two above categories being that the 'C's are for niche marketing and the 'P's are for mass marketing.

I think startups looking to jump the gap from early adopters to mass markets make the mistake of overlooking the differences between these two. From my limited observation, it appears most startups fail to implement new marketing strategies aimed at mass markets and continue to target individuals. Or to put it another way, mass markets looking at B2B startup offers are looking to manage a pain point for others/managers/bosses, while B2C startups are looking to pinpoint a specific need or pain which a consumer is looking to solve. I wonder if B2Cs and B2Bs recognize the differences. I think it comes down to understanding your audience

My five step plan for prioritizing, organizing, and executing. #getthingsdone

2011-10-08T15:35:00.000-04:00

In an effort to set my own priorities straight and get things done. I decided to evaluate and automate everything I can for my life both online and offline. In retrospect, this has been something I've been gearing up for some time now. For instance on my whiteboard at home, I have a list of small little projects to complete which are a balance of physical projects around the house, startup ideas, and for-fun projects

I quickly realized that to execute my overall plan and accomplish something to be proud of, I would require a concerted effort on my part to get organized and stay organized.

Phase 1: Write out everything I want to accomplish. Anything and everything even remotely worth while.

Phase 2: Set goals and prioritize the master list by items which require a date of completion, then those which would potentially make money, then lastly the for-fun projects.

Phase 3: Create a master plan which includes a sprinkle of pet projects mixed in for good measure.

Phase 4: Before staring an item on the list, write out a hypothesis and simple metrics which need to be achieve to consider it a success.

Phase 5: Execute the plan in order, and ruthlessly abandon a project if it no longer proves viable.

Repeat as necessary. Since I can assuredly say that my master list is incomplete and will morph over time, I need to give myself a little grace as I proceed. Failure is inevitable, but my goal is to get over it quickly.

Question: Is my MacBook 64 bit or 32 bit?

2011-10-07T17:56:00.000-04:00

I ended up playing with some software that asked if I was running 64 bit on my MacBook Pro.

I found this article on the Apple support pages which led me straight to what I wanted to find out.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3696

RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011

2011-10-05T20:14:00.000-04:00

I'm in awe of a man who has single handily made so many people's lives better by simply not settling for anything other then the absolute best.

RIP Steve.

Everything I use should be a web app.

2011-05-23T12:27:00.000-04:00

Everything that could be a wep app, should be a web app.
Ideas are abundant.
Execution is key.

Tweak about:config in FireFox 4 to enable "pinching".

2011-05-05T16:10:00.000-04:00

browser.gesture.pinch.in cmd_fullZoomReduce
browser.gesture.pinch.in.shift cmd_fullZoomReset
browser.gesture.pinch.out cmd_fullZoomEnlarge
browser.gesture.pinch.out.shift cmd_fullZoomReset

New ideas tend to be slightly expensive for me.

2011-03-17T10:13:00.000-04:00

I'd say at least once or twice a week, out of now where I'll get hit with an idea for a web application. I get so excited when this happens, I scribble it down on whatever I have available and then transfer that idea to my moleskine which I carry on me 50% of the time. After a day or so, if I'm still excited about the idea I'll go to Godaddy and see if I can find a suitable domain name. I figure that if my idea was worth remembering and writing down then it is worth $10, and it is worth getting a MVP (Minimal Viable Product) or sudo-MVP (fake it till you make it) up and running.

The catch is, now I have nearly 70+ ideas, 1/2 of which have domain names. Time to start cranking out some apps! The fun part is building them out.

If I make a buck, awesome. If not, oh well I'll learn something.

Use Nano to goto a specific line of code in a pinch.

2011-03-15T09:50:00.000-04:00

This command opens Nano to line number 150.

sudo nano +150 /path/to/file.php

Force Mac Address Book to sync with Google contacts.

2011-03-11T21:14:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to merge my Google contacts across my different computer systems I ran into a snag. It appeared that I couldn't force the Mac Address Book to sync after connecting it to Google. I thought, "Syncing Google's contacts on my iPhone and iPad was a fairly straight forward process... why is this a problem?" I spent 15 minutes wondering why Apple didn't include any settings in the UI for reoccurring connections, or a "force sync now" button. Until, at last I found out that they did. Here is how to force it (see the pic.) I willing to bet many others have had the same problem and simply overlooked it.

PHP Frameworks

2011-02-27T20:31:00.000-05:00

I've been playing around with a bunch of different PHP frameworks for fun.

Zend Framework
CakePHP
Codeigniter

The way Codeigniter impliments activerecord leaves much to be desired. However, I enjoy its simplicity.

I think I'm going to start using CI to build some "for fun" pet projects.

MYSQL dump to file

2011-02-18T11:01:00.000-05:00

Seeing as this is a bit of a pain to find, the correct syntax for exporting data and tables from a database is:

mysqldump -u username -p [database name] [table name] [filename]

mysqldump will then ask you for a password and will then create the output file for you.

NOTE: mysqldump puts the file into the folder you’re executing from unless you specify otherwise.

Choosing an IDE for PHP development.

2011-02-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

In my search for a new IDE to play with I came accross the post below which does a better job describing why and which IDEs to use then I would be able.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/11/the-big-php-ides-test-why-use-oneand-which-to-choose/

That article contains a link (which I provided below) to an excellent breakdown of features between some of the more popular IDE chocies for PHP:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pV8XyUSUOM7ET07rn4n7NYA#gid=0

As for my choice for IDEs: I use TextMate for most languages. And Netbeans for PHP; specifically due to the ease of code completion and phpDocs integration. I'm more productive in that IDE then others.

As for command line editors. Vi has such a steep learning curve. I gave it a go, but fell back to TextMate. And I'm a bit disappointed that Netbeans won't have RoR integration in the future. I'm considering going exclusively with TextMate for a couple weeks to test if my productivity remains the same without Netbeans. We'll see.

I have to remember to take breaks.

2011-02-09T10:43:00.000-05:00

I just moved my coffee cup around my desk thinking it was my mouse. Time to get it refilled. Obviously. And it won't hurt get up and stretch a bit.

Keeping the money game together with a simple plan.

2011-02-03T14:40:00.000-05:00

Occasionally I have to verbally remind myself out loud that "I need to save money". This applies when I look at either my personal finances or my business goals. I know this isn't a revelation. I figure if I post it here I'll have a record of it.

How To Save Money:
1) Spend only when necessary.
2) Stay within my means.
3) Minimize the use of credit.
4) Buy stuff on discount.
5) Make the most out of opportunities.
6) Profit!

I really enjoy the simplicity of About.Me

2011-02-01T23:11:00.000-05:00

I was taking a look at different sites that offer profile pages. In particular I was looking for a short yet descriptive text about an individual with a social flair. About.me is impressive. So simple. With a dashboard. I'm in. www.about.me/jonkiddy However, there appears to be an issue with the fonts I chose which is undesirable. Once they get that under control it may be time to broadcast the new look.

I'm all about simplifying my "online" life. Get organized. Get moving. Get productive. Move forward with my own projects without wasting time reinventing the wheel.

Setup syntax code highlighting within Blogger.

2011-01-11T09:51:00.000-05:00

I figure at some point I'm going to start sharing code here.
I did a quick Google search and came up with the following.

I followed this step by step tutorial. This made it really simple. (Thank You!)
http://heisencoder.net/2009/01/adding-syntax-highlighting-to-blogger.html

<pre name="code" class="php">  
...Your html-escaped code goes here...  
</pre>

I used this tool to escape the various code syntaxes (namely HTML).
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/developer-tools/quick-escape/default.php