"fallenrogue" Under Leon's hat.

ingridmichaelson: New Song Demo- Walk Away i was there to...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:40:53 -0400

New Song Demo- Walk Away

i was there to comfort you to tell you things that were not true like love and how its always here and never goes so don’t you fear
but i really know that forevers they come and go so i hold on tight to letting go because i dont know when this, when this, love will walk away.
i am here to see us fall to see us slide right down the wall i give up and take on something new take on someone who is just like you

Official Google Blog: Mowing with goats

Sun, 03 May 2009 14:13:03 -0400

Official Google Blog: Mowing with goats

Since everyone else is talking about it...

Sun, 03 May 2009 14:07:54 -0400

It’s Sunday. I’m looking through my RSS feeds enjoying the sun on my face and listening to Dire Straits thinking about an old girlfriend, Brenna, when it hits me. People really have their drawers matted to their ‘taints about the dude, Matt, who did a talk about CouchDB. I’ve come to some conclusions too regarding this event that I’d like to share.

I get it. Some people found it offensive. Some people thought it was fine. Some people used it as a means to expound on social-politics, alienation, of hell, you name it, this presentation brought out something very real in people. Who are you? Who are you “allowed” to be? Where do you draw the line and should you?

The thing I’m still curious about is the over reaction. Cause it really is an over-reaction. This was one dude. One presentation. He wanted to be edgy. He wanted to be funny. He wanted a reaction. He, most likely, wanted to (?:be|feel)+ cool. That’s ok. Either way, everyone’s talking about Matt and I’m sure that’s pretty cool to him. It sure as hell would be cool to me. Everyone listening. Everyone waiting to see what you say next…

Here’s the thing. Matt’s entitled to be whomever he chooses to be. That may prove to be a career limiting move. Certainly that will be the case if he wants to have a public speaking career in this tone. (Although if he’s got some lessons learned following this, this would be a great talk at SXSWi next year… just sayin, Matt.) But it’s his choice.

People fall along a spectrum of behavioral patterns. Some of those are more on the fringe than others. We publicly humiliate or shame them to identify where the line is again (always pushed a little further out than where we started) and go on believing we’re better than the martyr we just… well… you get my hyperbolic, sophomoric point.

In the end, Matt needs to take an improv class. The concept was good but the material was stale and end the end he misread the audience. Geeks are much more into binary jokes, Microsoft digs, and geek chic. Self deprecation would also have been a good choice, like shoot all the pr0n pictures with your Battlestar Galatica action figures. That way, you’re seen as edgy and creative and everyone does that with their starbuck and apollo dolls… I mean, Action Figures. … you see what I did there? Word.

"Don't be a plumber" is horrible advice.

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:23:46 -0400

I’m pretty sure that this can’t be a ubiquitous phrase across platforms and doing some searching as revealed that perhaps this is a regionalism that has, for better or worse, infected the .net community. The phrase is “Don’t be a plumber” and it’s meant to say, don’t waste your time building something that someone else may have already built for you.

This is true… to a point. But, if you believe that you can do better than the available tools, or if you have a different idea than what is presented in the world and you have a project in which to dogfood your new “plumbing” then by all means, why in the world wouldn’t you be a plumber? I mean, there were plenty of web stacks out there when DHH created Rails in Ruby does that mean that he should have listened to this sage like “wisdom” and not created Rails? I think not.

A pal and ex-co-worker of mine Nate Kohari, was the epitome of someone who loved to think of alternative ways to crack a nut. He never claimed they were better or worse, just that they were alternatives… alternatives that used paradigms that he enjoyed. Should he “not be a plumber” and use Swing? Wouldn’t we be without the beautiful Ninject without his skill/desire to pave new/old roads. I love that Nate’s a plumber and have always encouraged his intellectual pursuits; after all, I get to benefit from them! :)

I heard this over and over again at Central Ohio Day of .NET. Each time I died a little. If we all wait for someone else to be our plumbers then we’ll inevitably lose out. the plumbers will leave .NET (much as I have…) and you’ll end up with more awesome OSS projects like Lucene.NET… and automated port of the Java version of Lucene. Awesome. Please folks, take wisdom and dogma with a grain of salt and decide for yourself what’s appropriate. And please, please, please, be a plumber from time to time.

Men have got to do better.

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:30:06 -0400

I tend to be a gregarious person. I’m ok talking with new people, even those with differing opinions and personalities. I enjoy meeting people. The thing I find discouraging about people’s “outward” personas, especially men but not limited to them, is the objective of fitting in.

The way that many will try to fit in is to belittle those around them. They mistake superiority with friendship. They are feeding into a vicious patriarchy that has existed for hundreds of years. It’s subconscious behavior playing out the sins of our fathers as well as the traumatizing isolation of adolescence which might as well take place in a jungle.

I’ve made a conscious choice now to understand my own behavior and make a choice of inclusion and support. I’m more interested in helping people be their best through encouragement and positivity. Does that mean I’m not up for a little playful banter? Of course not. There is a subtle difference and the difference is usually in the face of the target. You know when you may hurt someone’s feelings. It’s not the same trigger that hurts your feelings or makes you uncomfortable but that’s the art. Learning where the line is.

Men have to be better at relating to one another without resorting the petty power plays and ego maniacal chest thumping. It’s ok to let the bear get his paws around you. :)

Central Ohio Day of .NET

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:32:15 -0400

Hell yeah!!! I’m going to be there talking about JavaScript! So, go, let’s have a beer and enjoy ourselves through the wonderful art of communication. I’m not shy but I can easily become distracted so if I haven’t found you and said hi, make sure to find me and say hi! Man, I’m soooo stoked!!!!

this is one of my favorite songs… ever. I just learned it...

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:16:39 -0400

this is one of my favorite songs… ever. I just learned it on the uke.

Size Matters

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:00:23 -0400

There’s a common question that’s asked when there’s an event I’m speaking at. The question is “will this work for large development groups” or some variation on that phrase. The question is an interesting one because I almost always reply with “Of course it does”. The notion of TDD MUST scale, right? Right?!

Over the years, I’ve come to believe my own hype, lies and hyperbole. I’ve come to say wonderful things are possible no matter what your scenario is. That is simply not true. I’ve come to the conclusion that additional indirection clouds communication and hierarchy suppresses the natural instinct to innovate. I’m currently at a large corporate client that has recently embraced Agile. They’ve hired the right people, they’ve taken the training and they’ve made had courage from the top to the bottom and anything that gets in the way of open communication is brought up as an issue and removed. This team is top notch and they get it. They’ve sacrificed broken culture and traded it for communication, transparency and craftsmanship. And it’s working. That project is one of the best I’ve been on and it’s a testament to their courage.

So, the issue is not about “size”. And the fact that it’s asked is actually a red herring that the asker believes in. Agile, Craftsmanship, XP, Scrum, none of it has anything to do with size. the real question they are asking is “My company is stuck culturally. How do I have this culture shift take place at my company?” Here’s my official answer:

You have a problem and you need help. Changing culture is nearly impossible and when there is not a fit between you and your employer then the real question is “Do I change where I work or simply change where I work.” This is a personal question to be answered by the individual but in my experience… Leave.

You’ve got a small window of influence before you’re a lifer. You’ve got a small window in which your passion and desire to grow can be mitigated by the lack of responsibility. If you’ve tried to make change in your culture and it’s not happening then the problem is you.

When I was laid off from Telligent, I was not worried. I really enjoyed the folks that I was working with but I was having increasing doubts about the platform that they target (Microsoft .NET) I was also not a fan of the remote based culture that they were accustomed to working in. When I joined there were no unit tests, only a smattering of integration and functional tests that had been left by the way side. They did not pair and had a loose “run-n-gun” attitude around developing software. Just so that we’re clear: NONE OF THIS IS BAD, it’s simply not how I like to do things. I forced the issues of XP like Pairing and TDD and I had some influence but most of my struggle was around the process of writing software and NOT actually writing software. While I’m not sure why my name was the only one from the product team to be selected for RIF, if I had to venture a guess… my heart was not in it anymore and it showed. It was the right choice for them and the right choice for me.

Which brings me to the point. The point is that while you can teach and old dog new tricks, you can’t teach an entire kennel of old dogs at once and if you don’t get some help in the form of EVERYONE WHO WORKS THERE then you’re destined to have some value-less half assed version of what ever it is that you wanted to do.

Jesus, Mental Health and now, corporate cultural change, are for those who want to help themselves. If they are not ready for that change and you are or you have already made the change then you have to ask if that’s the right opportunity for you. For me, I’d rather be small, fast and happy than rule the world.

Hyperspaces FTW!

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:37:17 -0500

So, if you’re a mac user and you’ve got 12 bucks laying around and you think that the “spaces” feature in Leopard leaves a little to be desired well then you’re in luck. you can get a fully functional version of the app during the MacHeist3 event and if you love it, just buy a damn license and enjoy the awesomeness. Here’s some linkage for my rambling…

[MacHeist3](http://www.macheist.com)

[Hyperspaces](http://hyperspacesapp.com/)

If you don’t like the idea of getting it for free on Macheist, then buy it. It’s pretty sweet.

Death Cab For Cutie :: Media

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:13:53 -0500

Death Cab For Cutie :: Media

Trying out MarsEdit again

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:03:57 -0500

Well, now that I’ve officially gone off the custom weblog application kool-aid, I’ve decided to see what native apps out there have to offer. An app that I’ve tried before (years before Red Sweater got it) was MarsEdit. It was always one of my favorite mac apps, really simple, easy to use, etc.

I suppose my complaint was that I always made my admin pages simple and I never really wrote posts over a number of days, well, that’s beginning to change as my time is shortened with life and getting old. Therefore I’m back to MarsEdit.

I tried Posty, which has Tumblr support, but I found it just as garish as most AIR apps and quickly removed it. So far, I’m in love the experience of MarsEdit and will use it for a few weeks to decide if I’m going to pony the money up for a license. It’s pretty cheap if I remember, like 25 bucks or something but I don’t want to get more software I have no intention of using.

Anyway, if you’ve got some MarsEdit tips, I’m listening. :)

A conversation with Sophia.

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:52:53 -0500

A conversation with Sophia.

Sophie shines!

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:52:16 -0500

Sophie shines!

Sean Fournier : Oh My

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:09:10 -0500

Sean Fournier : Oh My:

Why not check out some free indie music? :)

Gotta love the inter-tubes!

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:43:00 -0500

< Jax184> I finally got the windows embedded platform builder installed
< Jax184> so I can now make a version of XP that'll boot off of a 128 meg CF card
< moshez> jax184: my condolences
< moshez> why do you want to develop on crap xp platforms and stuff
< moshez> that sounds unfun
<@khmer> i love it when people ask windows questions or talk about windows dev and someone's very serious answer to the question is "use linux, noob"
< moshez> khmer: it's worked for me so far...
<@khmer> hurr hurr! you guys are aweosme!!!!!!
<@khmer> here's my impression of you
<@khmer> SCENE: Mission Control. Apollo 13 is spinning out of control.
<@khmer> All right, we've evacuated the command module and we're sealed in the LEM, but the oxygen filter is broken! we need another!
<@khmer> All right, Captain, we'll put together a team.
<@khmer> Team, here are the supplies they've got. We need to build an air filter for the LEM socket, right now.
<@khmer> They shouldn't have gone into the LEM.
<@khmer> We're kind of past that, moshez. They've evacuated all the oxygen from the command module.
<@khmer> Well it's just the right answer, they shouldn't have gone into the LEM.
<@khmer> All right, anyone else? We have to make sure it doesn't take sharp movements, because a good kick could tear right through the aluminum wall.
<@khmer> Well, you shouldn't have used aluminum.
<@khmer> All right, you know what, dickhole? That's not problem solving. They're in the LEM, the walls are aluminum, and they're in fucking space, so we need to solve this problem!
<@khmer> Well, they shouldn't have gone into space. I never need to.
<@khmer> What? This isn't about you. This is their situation and their problem and we need to build this air filter!
<@khmer> Well don't get mad at me for having the right answers.
<@khmer> I just drive to my house and I never have air filtration problems.
<@khmer> So, the astronauts have holed up in the LEM and they want us to build an air filter, and your solution is for them not to go into the LEM, not to build it with aluminum, not to go into space, and to drive to your house?
<@khmer> You're not thinking about this rationally.
<@khmer> TELL MY WIFE I LOVE HER
<@khmer> That radio is probably just picking up Casablanca.
<@khmer> --SCENE.--
< moshez> khmer: ok
< moshez> khmer: now I feel bad about myself
< moshez> no wait, I don't
< Beelzebub> moshez: you should.

Delish

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:39:18 -0500

frants:

Baconnaise, anyone?

My good pal frants found what is going to be at the top of my Christmas list this year!!!

My new title is an EdgeCase Software Artisan!

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:33:46 -0500

I can’t think of a better company to align myself with in my next opportunity than the fantastic folks at EdgeCase! It was made official yesterday and today I’ve been slowly going through the paperwork, dotting my i’s crossing t’s, if you will, to ensure a quick transition.

The first thing to note is that this is a professional shift from my last job at Telligent which was mostly .NET on Windows now I’ll be focusing my craft around my favorite language, Ruby. Word on the street is that my first engagement will be a lot of pure Ruby development and in the future I’ll see a lot of Ruby on Rails work, which means that the Ruby on Rails 101/201 articles will be back in the fore front of my mind! I haven’t blogged about it in a very long time and I’m excited to bring my career to a Ruby specific focus for a while now. I’ve been quite schizophrenic when it comes to languages and platforms and it will be nice to finally dedicate myself full time to my favorite.

It honestly feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. It feels like I’m truly moving on to something new, exciting and fresh. A time and place where I can learn more than I have in a long time while providing value and expertise to clients, partners and my community.

One thing is for sure, I will be happy to get away from Visual Studio for a while. No offense but that thing LOVES RAM and… well, I have other apps I want to run too! ;)

Goodbye Telligent and Thanks for all the fish!

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:25:00 -0500

The only constant in life is change. Change comes to us every day in many different way. Some times they are big changes like a death in the family, the birth of a child and sometimes they are small, subtle changes like the change in the tide or the swift change in the direction of the wind in summer. It is our nature to change and evolve as much as the body continues to look for stasis, the world tries to continue to remind us that the only constant is change.

Last Friday I was let go from Telligent during the unfortunate RIF and in that time I’ve had a LOT of support from my community. That community was Twitter, which ironically was where I learned about some of he layoffs before my time came.

It was certainly a sad day for me. Just that we were talking about all the work that I was about to begin and it was sad to shift focus from the items that I knew that I was about to knock out of the park to looking for the next thing. But, there in lies the truth about life. We are meant to change and I’m happy to do so. Change means being uncomfortable. Change means being daring. Change means learning something new. I expect that Telligent has learned a lot this weekend and in that time grew as a company while getting smaller.

It’s never easy to let go of top talent, no more so is that apparent when everyone under your employ is “top talent”. People think there are evil reasons why some people get caught in the cross hairs but the truth is usually much more simplistic: Sometimes change needs to occur in order to prosper.

I believe that there is no such thing as “losing a job”. A former mentor of mind said that when it comes to life and work there are 3 states.

Working a Job.
Having a Career.
State of Being.

He would then say: “There is nothing wrong with any of them, but you’re always in just one.” I never understood quite what that meant. I think I do now.

My state of being is “software artist”. I’ve defined what that term means for me and there is no doubt that I will continue to exist in that state no matter what company I work with and what problem set I encounter. I look at this as the next step in my journey. I can’t wait to meet new people with new ideas; with big problems to solve.

I wish Telligent all the luck in the world. I know they are seeing results. After all, the work that I did there helped them at least gain some recognition and legitimacy behind the firewall and even if that code goes away, the impact of it will live on without me. I’m proud of that and the work we did together as a team. It’s with an open spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship that I take my leave as a Telligenti in search of my next canvas to paint.

Leon Gersing is available for hire!

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:57:08 -0500

Hello all! I hope that this message finds you well. Basically, I’m writing this to say that I’m officially on the market again. Friday was my last day with Telligent Systems and I’m on to the next best thing.

I’ll surely do a write up of some of the great things that I learned while working with Telligent but the #1 thing that I think I’m going to miss is the people that I worked with. If I named them now it would be a who’s who of Microsoft MVPs, authors and community leaders. Needless to say I was in great company and I’m happy to have worked along side them and would do so again in the future if given the chance. I miss those guys already!

But that was then and this is now. So, the big question on my mind, my families mind and various other folks on twitter is “What next?!” Well, I’m ok to let that one resonate in my head for a little while longer. I’m talking with anyone who’s got a story to tell and a problem to solve. I’ve already met and talked with some wonderful people and I can’t wait to see where I land!

So, if you’re in the market for a creative developer who will code in C#, Ruby, Python, F#, Erlang, wow, it just keeps on going… send me an email fallenrogue [at] gmail.com and let’s talk about what we can build together! (or what we can repair… :) )

I’m at chuck e cheese with the family down in Cincinnati....

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:05:44 -0500

I’m at chuck e cheese with the family down in Cincinnati. I’ve got a blog post coming regarding my job transition coming very soon. I have got some if the beat tweeps on the planet and the well wishes and job leads have been fantastic. More details to come but for now pizza!!!