Raible Designs

2019-2020 Ski Season, Quarantining for COVID, and a Graduation

Every spring, I try to publish a blog post about our ski season adventures. As you can imagine, this year was a little different. This year, the ski season ended abruptly in mid-March due to COVID-19. Nevertheless, I decided it'd be fun to write about the ski season we did experience and our adventures since then.

The 2019-2020 ski season started off looking really good. The snow was good enough in October that I enjoyed a day at A-Basin - my earliest ski day ever! In December, I got a few days in. Skiing at Whitefish Mountain over Christmas vacation was a highlight. When I was a kid, it was called Big Mountain and it's where I learned how to alpine ski.

Secure by Design Book Review

I recently finished reading Secure by Design by Dan Bergh Johnsson, Daniel Deogun, and Daniel Sawano. I started reading it shortly after I received it as a gift from Dan Bergh Johnsson at Jfokus 2020.

Secure by Design hooked me from the beginning. Chapter 1 dives right in and shows why design matters for security and how security shouldn't be an afterthought. The authors show how developers will have a difficult time grokking security if you make them remember security-related API calls. However, if you bake security into your design and codify your security practices, developers will be more secure by default.

Dell UltraSharp U3818DW 38" Curved Monitor Review

A little over a month ago, I purchased a Dell UltraSharp U3818DW 38" curved monitor. Previously, I had two 27" monitors ‐ an Apple Thunderbolt Display and an Asus 4K. I wanted to return to a single monitor and asked Twitter for advice. Based on recommendations I received, I purchased a Dell UltraSharp U3818DW 38" from B&H on Sunday, March 29. It arrived two days later.

A Fantastically Fun February at Jfokus 2020 and the Rocky Mountain JUGs

Jfokus is one of my favorite conferences in the world. It takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, during one of the coldest months of the year. As a native Montanan, I love the winter season and skiing. It was with great pleasure that I returned to Jfokus as a speaker this year, after skipping the last couple of years.

True story: the last time I was at Jfokus was 2017, and Okta had just acquired Stormpath. I negotiated my Okta employment terms in the Radisson Blu lobby!

I gave three talks this year: two on the main stage during Jfokus and one at Jforum Stockholm on Tuesday evening.

January Jaunts to New Orleans and Jackson Hole

Trish and I started 2020 with a fun trip to New Orleans to meet up with my family. My parents wanted to get out of the snowy cold of Montana, as did Kalin and Mya from Washington state. My Aunt Mary from New York joined us, and we brought the kids. Trish even executed a trip to the Saints vs. Vikings NFL playoff game!

We celebrated "the superiors" birthdays, listened to lots of good music, hung out with our friends Jill and Brian, savored many excellent meals, and enjoyed each others company.

2019 - A Year in Review

It's time for my year-in-review post! This post sets the record for being the most delayed, ever. Usually, I'm able to get it published by the end of January. Oh well, I hope you enjoy it!

In 2019, I did my best to work hard, play often, and travel to interesting places. I took my Dad to Hawaii, drove through the worst blizzard of my life, traveled to India for the first time, did a UK + Ireland JUG Tour, and indulged in several fun vacations with my family.

We bought some additional rafts for whitewater, rafted in Montana and Colorado, and celebrated a family reunion in Cape Cod. Our classic VWs continued to perform well, and Hefe won his class once again at the 2019 VWs on the Green show. We did have to replace a clutch in Stout the Syncro, but I'm OK with that since he safely transported me through the most treacherous driving conditions of my life.

I'm going to look back on 2019 using the following categories.

• Professional
  • Speaking
  • Community
  • Projects
• Personal
  • Stout the Syncro and Hefe the Bus
• 2020

Happy Birthday, Abbie!

Abbie turns 17 today! It's hard to believe, but true. For those that've followed me since the early 2000s, you might remember I announced her birth on this very same blog. It's crazy to think that I started this blog just a few months before she was born. Enough about me, what about Abbie?

You could say she's all grown up. She has a part-time job at the Gap, gets excellent grades, and is thinking about college. She's done a couple of college tours in the SE region of the US, and we're touring Tulane when we visit New Orleans in January. She's had a steady boyfriend for a while now. He even joined us on our family vacation in Montana last summer.

Happy 17th Birthday, Abbie! You're awesome!! 🥰

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Wahoo! Jack turned 15 today and got his learner's permit for driving!! His first DMV experience was short and sweet, and the drive home was nerve-wracking (for both of us). He was terrified to be behind the while, during rush hour traffic, turning onto a three-lane road. I was determined to maintain tradition and have his first drive be down Parker Road to Dairy Queen. The good news is we made it, and I got to see a lot of emotions he's been suppressing in his teenage years. 😅

Jack is a freshman this year and he's adjusting to high school nicely. It helps that his sister is a junior and offers advice daily. You can tell they're pals in their first-day-of-school picture.

Jack is now taller than me by a couple of inches. I'm OK with that since he's been helping me record Denver meetups lately. I especially like the one he did of Venkat's talk on Kotlin for Java Programmers at Denver JUG earlier this month. He and Abbie also taught a Devoxx4Kids Denver workshop in July. What can I say ‐ I'm a proud dad!

Happy 15th Birthday, Jack! We had a ball celebrating with you tonight.

July 2019: Road Trips, Family, Van Life, Cape Code, KCDC, and NYC

This July was one for the books! I started traveling with JHipster Conf and kept traveling until That Conference in August. There was some vacation mixed in (Montana and Cape Cod), but I also worked out of my VW Van for a few days, spoke at KCDC, attended a family reunion, and did a NYC JUG Tour.

I flew home just in time for Devoxx4Kids Denver and Trish and my 6th anniversary. A dream came true for me when I watched Abbie and Jack teach the Devoxx4Kids workshop.

The beginning of August kept the travel rolling with a company shindig in Napa, a friend's wedding in Half Moon Bay, and a crazy flight schedule to THAT Conference and back.

Let's just say I'm glad to be home. 😊

You can find more pictures from my summer adventures on Flickr.

My Journey to JHipster Conf 2019

Last week was quite the whirlwind for me. On Monday, I released Ionic for JHipster 4.0, updated my get started with JHipster 6 tutorial, and recorded a matching screencast. Within an hour of recording, I was on my way to the airport to fly to JHipster Conf.

I edited the screencast on my flight and published it to YouTube on my layover in Reykjavík. I was impressed that it uploaded just fine over airport Wi-Fi.