Raible Designs

At the Giants Game

After Patrick's talk this morning, I attended Alex Russell's talk on Dojo in depth (download presentation, blog coverage). I didn't write up a blog post because the juice was gone on my laptop. After plugging in, I checked my e-mail to find a message from Patrick in my inbox.

Subject: At the giants game

Sucka! If you want to go, my buddy has two extra tickets just sitting here.

So now I'm at the game, using their free wifi to write this post. It's a beautiful day - warm in the sun and cool in the shade. We're in the shade, first level by first base, and I'm drinking a beer. Giants are up 9-0 over the Cubs. Life doesn't get any better than this.

Livin' it up in NYC

I'll admit, this week has been exhausting. There's nothing like doing consulting 9-6 everyday for a client - especially when you're presenting or talking 90% of the time. My final presentation I delivered to the client was 600 slides. Yikes!

Even while this week was tough, I did manage to have a good time. I have a couple college buddies that live here, so they're always fun to hang out with. Wednesday night, we all met up at one guy's house for dinner and reminisced about the good ol' days. Last night, I hung out with my relatives from Beacon.

After finishing up with my client, I met my Aunt Mary in the lobby of the New Yorker Hotel. We walked outside, and when I started hailing a cab she said "What are you doing? I got a limo!" "WTF?!", I said out loud. I turned around to see Mary had brought my cousins along and they'd rented a limo for the night. Needless to say, we had a great time riding around, eating a fancy dinner and ended the night with champagne and cheesecake in Little Italy. It was truly awesome and definitely made my whole week.

Now I'm at the airport bar in Laguardia, sluggin' down a few before I head back to Denver. The next couple weeks are guaranteed to be hectic - I leave on Wednesday for the Ajax Experience, followed by JavaOne the week after. While traveling to clients isn't the most glamorous job in the world, getting paid to learn about Ajax/Java for two weeks in San Fransisco isn't a bad gig.

Gas Prices

Apparently gas prices are way up. I wouldn't have known this, but the lady cutting my hair the other night mentioned it. I think I've filled up my car 5 times this year. The only thing I use it for now is Ski Trips and Airport Runs. Ahhhh, the joys of a bicycle commute and living in the center of town. Of course, on days like today (when it's starting to snow), it's nice to be able to work from home.

6 Years

Today is Julie and I's anniversary. It's hard to believe we got married 6 years ago. Actually, looking at Abbie and Jack, it's easy to believe it's been that long - they grow up awful quick. The fun part about this day is reflecting back on our wedding day. We got married in West Palm Beach, Florida - and had quite the turnout. It was a "destination wedding" as they call it, and we had friends and family fly in from all over the country. We made everyone fly down early (Wednesday) and had a golf tournament, went fishing on Julie's step-dad's boat, and lost money on a gambling cruise before our Saturday wedding. It was so much fun that we've been trying to think of an excuse to do it again.

Free Wireless along 16th Street Mall

First of all, I'm amazed that my Tips for Productivity and Happiness at Work generated so much traffic. It even ended up on digg.com for crying out loud. 800,000+ hits on Saturday alone. Yikes!

While today's story won't help you get disconnected and enhance your productivity, it might enhance your happiness at work. If you work in an office like I do, where you can work pretty much anywhere, you'll be happy to know that Denver's 16th Street Mall now has free wireless. That's pretty damn cool - especially since our offices are on the mall. Hat tip to Greg, who sent me this article in an e-mail.

Update: I forgot to mention, I'm pretty damn impressed that Roller was able to handle all the traffic this weekend.

Tips for Productivity and Happiness at Work

Every so often, I get asked what my strategy is for "getting things done". This morning, I had a short session of mass productivity, and on my ride into work, got inspired to jot down a few tips productivity tips. Keep in mind that I grew up in the back woods of Montana with no electricity and I'm mostly Irish.

• Write stuff down. The first and most important means to getting things done is to keep a todo list. I keep mine on Ta-da List and update it daily, if not hourly. My two most important lists are "When I have time" and "This Week". I regularly re-order "This Week" for the current day.
• Quit reading e-mail and blogs. One of the ways I can tell I'm in uber-productive mode is my unread (or starred) mail piles up and I haven't read any blog posts (or blogged myself) in a couple days. I like GMail because I can easily star an e-mail after briefly skimming it. For some reason, flagging e-mail in Thunderbird or Mail.app doesn't work for me - I rarely go back and find those e-mails. With GMail, I'm always conscious I need to revisit starred messages.
• Work on open source late at night, with a beer on your desk. While I do get the opportunity to work on open source at my day job, I still find that I'm most productive at night. Maybe this is because no one bugs me via e-mail or IM, or maybe it's just because the world is asleep. The strange thing is I often find myself motivated at 3 p.m. for my 11 p.m. workload. However, when I get to 11 p.m., I'm not motivated to work on anything. I've found that cracking open a beer at 11 when I start helps me focus and quit worrying about all the other computer-related tasks I need to do. Also, on beer #2 or 3, you'll start to forget what time it is and really start getting things done. NOTE: this isn't for rookies. If you're a lightweight and get hammered on two beers - just go to bed when you start coding with one eye shut. It helps to sleep in the next day after doing this. If you finish off a six-pack before going to bed, it's probably best not to check your code in - you're probably going to spend the next day fixing it anyway. Regardless, this is a great way to get started on a new feature because you're less concerned about the details and more concerned about the big picture. I've also found that "bug fixing juice" can be great for fixing bugs - it gives you a different perspective on the problem. I told you I was Irish didn't I? ;-)
• Work disconnected. To further facilitate not checking e-mail or reading blogs, I've found that going to a coffee shop w/o connectivity is my most productive environment. They have liquid motivation in the form of coffee, and you can feed your brain with breakfast/lunch or some kind of snack. My most productive days are the ones where I show up at my local Einstein's (bagel shop) at 6 a.m., have two cups of coffee, and work with my headphones on. After the coffee and uber-productivity, I often have an awesome ride to work and barely notice the miles. NOTE: I've found that I'm more productive writing code late at night and authoring articles/books in the early morning.
• Listen to music while you work. Some noise-cancelling headphones and your favorite music can do wonders for your productivity. Of course, earbuds work just as well - whatever makes the music sound good. Good music can really help you "get into the groove" of what you're working on, regardless of whether it's writing or coding.
• Work long hours on Monday and Tuesday. This especially applies if you're a contractor. If you can only bill 40 hours per week, working 12-14 hours on Monday can get you an early-departure on Friday. Furthermore, by staying late early in the week, you'll get your productivity ball-rolling early. I've often heard the most productive work-day in a week is Wednesday.
• Avoid meetings at all costs. Find a way to walk out of meetings that are unproductive, don't concern you, or spiral into two co-workers bitching at each other. While meetings in general are a waste of time, some are worse than others. Establish your policy of walking out early on and folks will respect you have stuff to do. Of course, if you aren't a noticeably productive individual, walking out of a meeting can be perceived as simply "not a team player", which isn't a good idea.
• Sleep. While working late nights can be productive in the short term, doing it consecutively will burn you out quickly. Getting a good night's sleep can often lead to greater productivity because you're refreshed and ready to go.
• Work on something you're passionate about. If you don't like what you're doing for a living, quit. Find a new job as soon as possible. It's not about the money, it's all about happiness. Of course, the best balance is both. It's unlikely you'll ever realize this until you have a job that sucks, but pays well.

To follow up on that last point, I think one of the most important catalysts for productivity is to be happy at your job. If you're not happy at work, it's unlikely you're going to be inspired to be a more efficient person. Furthermore, if you like what you do, it's not really "work" is it?

Here is some general advice I give to folks about jobs and careers. I realize that I'm biased here because I have a good job and I've been fairly successful in my career. However, I also grew up with virtually nothing, and learned all my computer skills on my own. Therefore, I believe that anyone can be successful (meaning: happy with that they do, and financially stable at the same time) if they put their mind to it.

• If you're not happy at work, quit. I got into contracting early-on in my career (6 months out of college), so I got spoiled with good rates early on. It was also the late 90s, so you could easily switch jobs if you didn't like the one you were in. However, I've always had the policy that if you hate your job for more than 2 weeks, quit. It's just not worth it. Some people enjoy bitching about their jobs and complaining about their co-workers, so this doesn't apply to everyone. However, if you're truly miserable - quit. I've done this a couple times, and it's always led to better opportunities (even if I had to wait 3 months). Julie's done it once or twice and it's always worked out for the better. Once she even got a 20% raise by quitting her traveling-consultant gig with KPMG and going back to her old company, Qwest.
• Always try to be a contractor before a full-time employee. This especially applies to younger folks who don't need the security of insurance for the family, stock plans, etc. Contractors typically make 50% more than full-time employees and tend to be excluded from company politics that might make the workplace difficult to deal with. While you won't get billable vacation time, you will get the freedom to take however much vacation you want - as long as you get your stuff done. The higher rates can generally make up for the unbillable time while on vacation. However, if you travel too much for fun (or conferences, etc.), it's likely your year-end salary will equal that of a full-time employee. If you make good money as a contractor, you'll also get the opportunity to start your own company (to save money on taxes). This can be a great learning experience. The biggest fear that folks have about "going independent" is they'll have a hard time finding their next gig. If you're productive and blog about what you're doing, this shouldn't be a problem. I haven't had an "interview" since 2002 and haven't updated my resume since then either. Networking at your local JUG and conferences is key.
• Don't work at a company with a two-week vacation policy. I've never worked at a company with a two-week vacation policy, and I hope I never will. The two full-time gigs I've had in my career have had no vacation policy. This is usually only found in startups - but it generally amounts to "get your shit done, and you can take off all the time you want". My parents both work for the BLM (government agency) and they get 6 weeks off a year. Furthermore, they can earn "comp time" (more days off) by simply working overtime. If you have the ability to take time off whenever you want, it'll likely lead to you being more motivated to work long and hard - b/c you know when you finish that project, you're heading to Cancun for a week.
• Don't travel if you have kids. If you're single, traveling for work is pretty cool. New places, new people to meet - and seeing the world can be very cool. If you have a spouse, it's likely your desire to travel will decrease, but it's still not that bad. If it helps your career, it's probably a good move. It also helps to save money since everything you do is generally expensible. When Julie and I first met, she traveled 100% and made $20K more per year b/c of it. When you have kids, everything changes and traveling sucks. You miss their first steps, and when they get to toddler-age, they'll want to go with you. Hearing your daughter say "Daddy, can I go with you?" can be heart wrenching when you're leaving on a Sunday afternoon to spend a week with people you've never met before.
• Ask for more responsibility. If your job sucks, but the company is pretty cool - you may want to ask for a shift in responsibilities. I was once an HTML Developer at a .com. It sucked because we were constantly waiting on the Java Developers to fix bugs we found in their code. Finally, I got tired of waiting and asked my boss to show me how to fix the Java bugs. Granted, I wrote some pretty horrendous code at first, but my boss and co-workers helped a lot and w/in a year I was doing 80% of the Java Development.
• Most things can be learned by reading. If you want to learn something new (for your current or next career), the best thing to do is read. The world's knowledge resides in books and you can learn a lot. Of course, the best way to retain that knowledge is by doing, but reading is a great first step.

Those are my tips, many of them off the top of my head. I may add more as time goes on - but hopefully this helps in the meantime. Please share yours if you have any.

First Avalanche Game

Last night, my mom and I took Abbie and Jack to their first Colorado Avalanche hockey game. Jack's a huge hockey fan - has his own stick and everything - so we figured they'd both enjoy it. We had nosebleed seats (2nd row from the top), but the kids definitely enjoyed the game. 6 goals in the first period probably didn't hurt. The only problem was they kept screaming "Go DU!" - much to the chagrin of the all-too-serious Avs fans around us.

Carpal Tunnel

Every month or so, after working a long-ass week, my left arm usually starts hurting as if I have carpal tunnel. Usually, I go get a massage and it feels better the next day, or a few days shortly after. The Massage Therapist always asks me if I've been diagnosed with carpal tunnel, to which I reply "No." They also ask me if I have tingling in my hands or forearms, and I always tell them "No, I just get a dull pain in my forearms when I work a long week." So I've never really had carpal tunnel AFAIK, just symptoms every month or so.

That all changed this week. I started noticing the dull pain in my left forearm at TSSJS, and I started noticing the tingling in my left hand yesterday. I've never had tingling before. Furthermore, last week was a pretty light typing week (but I might've played cards too much ). So now I'm worried; I'll probably get a massage this week and I have a chiropractor appointment next week. The only think I can think of that might be causing the tingling is: 1) riding my bike to work, or 2) the cheap-ass crappy keyboard I have at work.

I went to the Apple Store and CompUSA to get an ergonomic keyboard tonight, but had no luck. The Apple Store only sell the standard Apple keyboard and CompUSA only sells black Microsoft keyboards. The M$ keyboard's will work, but it seems wrong to hookup a Microsoft keyboard to a MacBook Pro with a cinema display. I have a meeting in South Denver tomorrow morning, so I'm going to stop by Micro Center. Hopefully they'll have something good.

Carpal Tunnel is a scary thing as a programming professional. It's one of the few things that can put you out of commission as a programmer. It looks like I'd better start taking it seriously if I want to keep slingin' code for the next 10 years.

Related: Carpal Tunnel in May 2004.

A Week Later: I went to a repetitive motion specialist yesterday. They said that hand surgeons hate them b/c they can solve most issues. They worked my left arm and hand, and expect everything to be better with a couple more treatments. It already feels a lot better, but I'm also doing stretches every hour - which helps a lot too.

Back from Vegas

This weekend was one of my smoothest returns from Vegas in my life. It probably helped that Julie joined me there on Friday and we flew back together on Saturday. My BOF on Friday night was very well received and I heard a lot of positive comments about it afterwards. What do you expect when you give people free beer.

After the BOF, the Virtuas Crew had a kick-ass dinner at BOA Steakhouse in Caesar's. Before we were done, a college buddy of mine arrived in Vegas, so Julie and I met him at Harrah's for some blackjack and craps. We had an fun night of gambling with my buddy, who started with $5K at the first blackjack table. Apparently, Julie brought him luck and he ended up winning a few grand by the time the night was over. We had breakfast and walked back to Caesar's as the sun was coming up. We saw Gier and Hani catching cabs as we were walking in. 5 hours later, we'd had a good night's sleep and headed to the airport. We got sidetracked at Emeril's for lunch and enjoyed some good laughs with a couple friends before leaving.

When we got home last night, both kids had just fallen asleep. Of course, we wanted to wake them up, but also realized that sleeping children is quite a blessing. They were tickled to death when they woke up this morning and we were home. Today was a great day, and a big reason why it was so easy to transition from Vegas to Denver. The kids and I let Julie sleep in a little and took a stroller ride to the local bagel shop (a mere 3 blocks away) for a couple hours. It was a windy walk and we arrived home motivated to do some kite-flying at the park. We had fun at the park and it was super cute watching Abbie fly her first kite. After that, we headed to Dave & Buster's for lunch. Abbie never let me sit down because she wanted to play games the whole time. 2 hours later, we were on our way back home.

The day ended with Jack and I running errands. I needed to buy a new laptop backpack since mine got shredded in the wash a couple of weeks ago. We headed to Gart Sports, where I shopped and Jack stabbed stuff with a tent stake he found. He was like a hunter on the loose, crouching, jumping and yelling at stuff throughout the corner of the store we were in. It's a good thing no one else was around.

I ended up with the only backpack that could fit my laptop, which seems quite strange. I've been to the Apple Store, REI and Gart Sports and I've found the laptop backpack situation is abysmal. A couple of years ago, the selection was quite good. Oh well, I only paid $35 and I'll probably look for one online this week. The ideal backpack would have a built-in camelback and laptop holder (since I use it primarily when commuting on my bike).

After Garts, we headed to the Apple Store in Cherry Creek. I had to buy a new power cord for my MacBook Pro. I left mine in Vegas, possibly at the BOF. The Apple Store is pretty close to the "breakfast playground" - so I had to let Jack play in it. 15 minutes of jumping on eggs, waffles, climbing on bananas and sliding down bacon made Jack a very happy camper.

It's great to be home. AFAIK, I'm not travelling for a couple weeks, possibly more than a month. My next big trip is to The Ajax Experience and JavaOne in May. This week is supposed to be in the 60s, so I'm looking forward to a nice week of Colorado spring weather. With any luck, I'll get a signification amount done on both AppFuse and Spring Live this week. It might take a couple of late nights to make it happen, but I feel pretty motivated right now.

Back from Boston, getting ready for Vegas

I had a fantastic time in Boston this past weekend. A college buddy of mine lives there with his girlfriend, and another college buddy flew in from NY. Friday night was a ton of fun, and I found it amusing that the bar we were at used the default background from Windows XP as their "mood setting theme" on many of their TVs.

We survived the night quite well thanks to Berocca and enjoyed our Saturday touring my friend's hometown, Gloucester. The flight home on Sunday was nice and it was awesome walking into a house with kids screaming "Daddy!!". I took the day off yesterday to spend some time with the fam. We made the most out of it with a trip to the Natural History Museum, and some sledding in the fresh snow.

Today, I'm back in the office with no motivation to work. I can't believe how many things I have on my plate right now. Unfortunately, the 100+ e-mails I need to answer, the AppFuse bugs I need to fix, and the Spring Live chapters I need to update will all have to wait. My schedule doesn't permit any real work this week. Instead, I have to fly out to Vegas tomorrow for TheServerSide Java Symposium. The schedule looks really good, so I hope to learn a lot at this show. Julie's flying in Friday night, so it should it be another fun week. With March Madness in full force this week, Vegas is sure to be a crazy place.