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A tweet down memory lane–an experiment in recording personal history

Posted by on 27 August 2011, 10:24 pm

I posted mid-week on “Railroad Crossing,” my history, nostalgia, and trains blog, about my plans to apply social media in order to record some of my personal experiences and introduce others to history and railroading in Fremont. I plan on using my @rrx_clk Twitter feed to live tweet as I “go home for the last time” and share pictures and memories as I tour town.

My boyhood home is being sold and as I head down this week to clear it out before it changes hands I want to capture and share my memories. In a week from now, my Nebraska visits will no longer have a “home to be going back home to.” I spent 18 years in Fremont, 13 of which were spent in that green, ranch style home on the east side. I have lots of memories not only in the house and neighborhood, but also in schools and stores I frequented, history I learned, and trains I watched.

This will definitely be a fun experiment as I log my last visit home in real time and come away with pictures and stories to pass down to future generations.

Anyone wishing to join along live is welcome to do so by following @rrx_clk on Twitter or text “follow @rrx_clk” to 40404 (United States) to receive text updates. I will also post nightly updates to my Railroad Crossing Facebook page and Google+ account.

I expect to live tweet Wednesday, August 31, through Friday, September 2, as I visit Omaha, downtown Fremont, and watch the trains go through on the busy Transcontinental Route.

Again, I hope you can join in either via Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Feel free to spread the word and message me as well.

Filed under Application, Web, and Media Development, Deep Contemplation. Tagged , , ,
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New Android phone is now sync’d!–My iPad was faster, just say’n

Posted by on 21 August 2011, 10:42 pm

It is finished! It took me 30 hours to figure out how to finally get my new T-Mobile Exhibit phone to sync with my work’s Exchange server. Getting contacts and calendar was so essential that it delayed me several months in getting a new phone, potentially without a data plan. T-Mobile’s new $49 unlimited text, talk, and data finally pushed me into getting data, but I could do without texting (so don’t text me, I’ll ignore it).

I must say, getting my iOS device (iPad) to sync only took one minute, whereas getting my Android phone to sync took 30 hours of pain, torture, and forum look-ups. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. I really love my iPad, and I really hope I can love my new (first) smart phone too!

Filed under Home Computing and Security, Usability and User Experience.
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User experience when iterating quickly

Posted by on 14 August 2011, 6:00 pm

Here’s a good user experience quote from a UserTesting.com article “7 Facebook Usability Mistakes That Drives Users Crazy, Part III” when talking about Facebook search and the new chat feature:

Move fast and break things works well when you are a start-up. But it just seems like when new features are released by a very successful company that lack usability – the general sentiment of the proletariat is, “They don’t care about us.”

So true.

I believe in getting new product out and quickly iterating though improvements based on user feedback, but that is for new product. For well-received, widely used products it is key not to break an already existing implementation and and confuse your wide user base.

Filed under Usability and User Experience. Tagged , ,
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With my grad work complete, now what?

Posted by on 27 May 2011, 7:33 am

Last week I graduated with a Master of Science in Software Engineering and am still waiting for the grades to be posted and the ink to dry on my diploma before everything is verified. This has not stopped me from taking time to change my LinkedIn profile, work email signature, business cards, and to begin contemplating what to do with my time.

This actually is very monumental and somewhat challenging to me as it brings to an end 29 consecutive years of structured education since pre-school that has led me to achieve an Associate of Applied Science, Bachelors, and now Master’s degree. Only 2.2% of my life has been spent not learning. Realizing this, many have asked, “What’s next?” and I  think I now have a better idea of what is to come. Feel free to check back in a year and see if I pursued any.

Be with family

My mind is now clear and it is not thinking about the chapter to be read, homework to be done, and tests to be taken. Now my mind will only be focused on appliances to fix, shelves to hang, and wash to be done. Luckily my son can help me out with these home projects as he hasn’t been so helpful with Java coding, security, and forensics… yet.

With the clear mind I am looking forward to improving my son’s batting practice and helping him ride without training wheels this summer.

Read

I’m done reading textbooks. For the past five months since I received my Kindle I’ve been scoping out a few works of fiction and have really gotten into reading books about being relevant in today’s technological environment. Over the January break I read Jeff Jarvis’s book What Would Google Do?, last week I finished reading Fortune’s “Inside Apple” article by Adam Lashinsky, and next on my list is Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul, and Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.

Of course I have fun books too. I’ve already downloaded Willa Cather for the Kindle and started My Antonia over spring break and hope to resume where I left off. Next is Zero Day: A Novel by Mark Russionovich  (recommended by Steve Gibson on Security Now), and then back to Willa Cather with O Pioneers. I have some Jules Vern and Agatha Christie lined up as well.

I really want to get back into writing too.

Research

I would love to apply more time researching local history and investigating possible area historical societies to join. I have a long list of possibilities and just need to find one that will best combine research, technology, and railroads. I, of course, plan on further developing my blog and wiki related to history, nostalgia, and railroading and taking more pictures of subjects.

Storm Spotting and Radio License

Several years ago I took a weekend class to be a card carrying member of Metro Skywarn, the people referred to as “trained spotters” by local newscasts during severe weather. Due to time constraints I let the membership lapse but have anxiously been waiting to go back and renew.

I never actively sought out severe weather, and probably still won’t, but being from Nebraska and now living north of the Twin Cities, it seems severe weather finds me. Just last Sunday I watched as a wall cloud–that moments before spun off a tornado devastating parts of North Minneapolis–pass just north of us. As long as I can identify what is coming at me and understand what to be aware of and look out for, I am content in feeling that my family is in good hands.

Though not within the next year, I’d like to look into pursuing an amateur radio license. I really have more of an interest in being licensed to carry a railroad scanner with me while train spotting, but having a two way license wouldn’t be bad if I were weather spotting.

Structural Engineering

My son and I often create large towers with Lincoln Logs and wooden blocks. We also enjoy watching building demolition and implosions on YouTube. However, he nor I can master our calculations on Angry Birds. I’m interested in completing a degree in structural engineering so I can better myself when attacking the pigs, or at least prove the developers’ idea of structural integrity is flawed. I’ll also combine my MS in Software and Structural Engineering to develop code to correct the flaws.

Filed under Deep Contemplation.
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Get the algorithm right

Posted by on 17 May 2011, 6:16 am

Recently, while stopped at a traffic light, I noticed the familiar motto “24/7/365″ on the back of a taxi. This has always bugged me in many ways.

First, adding 365 only restates the number of days the business is open and adds nothing to the value if 7 is already stated. “24/7″ or “24/365″ should suffice.

Secondly, shouldn’t it be “24/7/52″ As there are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 52 weeks in a year?

The final way this bugs me applies to the standard “365 days a year” statement. What happens on the 366th day during leap year? If they were so thorough to mention the number of hours, and number of days (twice), why not specifically state “24/7/if year mod 4 = 0 then 366 else 365″?

However, we still don’t have all of the facts here. Though it won’t affect us adults, only centuries divisible by 400 are leap years. 1900 was not a leap year even though it is divisible by 4. 2000 was a leap year but 2100 will not.

If you have young children start teaching them the correct leap year algorithm now. If you are a coder make sure you check leap year correctly or we could pass a Y2100 bug on to our children.

Filed under Application, Web, and Media Development. Tagged 
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