Summer’s Here and the Time is Right

The season has progressed to full on summer. Finally made it to a long weekend, a much deserved and needed break after rather chaotic spell at work. Been trying to get our software release out the door, filling in for my boss who was on vacation, as well as running things since our project manager was gone too. Dealing with uncooperative directors of other projects, and that all-time favorite of software development, fixing other people’s bugs. Well all’s well that ends well I suppose and we met our deadline.

We went upstate to see Martin and Kathleen and Charlie over the weekend. Very nice hang. Went swimming, which was great for my back; the first time since the winter it really felt good. Unfortunately the car ride home undid that. We also watched the Queen open the British parliament on CSPAN. This was pretty random, but the girls are Anglophiliac these days because of Harry Potter, so we thought they like to see a real Queen in action commanding the Lords and Commons. The weirdest part was when the chief constable shouted “Hats off, strangers” before the Queen entered Parliament, predicted beforehand by a very blasé announcer.

I did some research into the wacky traditions of British government, and learned some interesting factoids. There is a movement afoot to replace the phrase “strangers” with “visitors” to be less anachronistic. The word strangers dates from the time of Cromwell. Smoking in parliament was banned in 1696, although snuff is available to all members at the public expense. Wearing of armor was banned in 1313. There’s a list of words banned from discourse that includes “blackguard”, “git”, and “traitor”.

Here’s some pictures from my yard and garden from 2 or 3 weeks back. The roses and fig tree are doing awesome, and we even have some ripe strawberries.

ZMP Site Update

If you’ve been clicking around my site recently, you may have noticed another round of changes in the ongoing redesign. I’ve been converting more pages to php to take advantage of modular inclusion of subpage elements. I’ve updated these too, with a new navigation element which the header and footer include by reference. I’ve taken steps towards a more modularized and visually streamline page style. All that’s left to go for this round is including these new elements in the blog home page.

The next round of work will further parameterize the pages styles to the point where I can change around the styles of the pages without having to touch the page code. After that is fully parameterized, template driven, on the fly page generation, but that may still be a ways off.

Workin’ Man’s Blues

I haven’t posted in a while. Last week I was feeling pretty burned out and dragged down by life and work in particular. In younger days this may have precipitated a semi-major existential crisis, but I’ve learned I usually just needed to unwind and catch up my rest, so I spent my evenings last week watching a movie or going to bed early rather than trying to get stuff done.

You may remember the management consultants skulking around my office a while back. Our corporate overlords want us to learn Agile since they don’t really understand software development or how to manage it. It should be said that we’ve been doing Agile for a few years now and we’re actually pretty good at it, and as far as it goes Agile is fine, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. The cultishness surrounding it is pretty silly and tiresome, and of course the problems in our organization have nothing to do with us not “doing Agile right”.

Nevertheless, the consultants were prized for their supposed Agile expertise. When they around to interview me I mentioned that I’ve seen a lot of management fads come and go. (Humans have been working together for more than 6000 years, so the idea that suddenly the One True Way of Project Management has been divined is kind of absurd.) We had several meetings in which developers raised legit issues about or process and the limitations of Agile, and the consultants gave us weak and unsatisfactory answers. Then they went off and wrote up a report and it’s been circulating our department. The consensus was that it was about 1/3 okay but that part was so generic they could have pasted it in from some web site, about 1/3 dead wrong, and 1/3 complete bullshit that couldn’t even be evaluated for correctness. Among the gems it contained was the bullet point “Developers think that Agile may be a management fad.” which is of course true, and if you reduce this to its essence, they have a problem with the fact that “developers think”.

My boss and the other tech directors, and basically everyone who read it had the same reaction, a combination of disgust and outrage. Even the VP’s of project management who commissioned the report were embarrassed to stand behind it. So they set up a meeting with the consultants and basically went over the report point by point tore them apart. I’d imagine that’s not the end of it, but it makes me feel better after having my professionalism slagged by some clueless wonks. One positive thing that was in the offing anyway is that we have a new VP to oversee our group and sibling projects. He made a good first impression on me and is well regarded by people who’ve worked with him. He’s now the new boss of the Bad Manager, so that will go a long way to solving that problem.

On top of this, we had to get a release of our product out the door last week. We just finished a major launch, and this was pretty much an unexpected follow-on to accomdate a new client. The Bad Manager wanted the release “immediately” so we had to call a meeting to explain to him what it all it would take to build, deploy and test the app. It’s a few days work, partly because we’re doing alot of the deploy stuff for the first time, and partly to allow for a full QA. At one point I’m enumerating the steps to the Bad Manager, and he says “Somebody ought to be writing this down.” So I handed him a pen and pad of paper. Yeesh.

Friday I stayed home from work because Michelle had to get a tooth pulled. I was totally burnt out, so it was just as well. She had a baby tooth that was fused to her jaw, so it was nontrivial surgery. I drove so Jeannie could hold Michelle’s hand in the backseat of the car. We’d known she’d need this for quite some time and Jeannie has been really dreading it. But it turned out not to be so bad. The tooth’s root had begun to dissolve and the x-ray didn’t look anywhere near as scary as the one from a year ago. The doctor and nurse were very nice and put Michelle at ease and the operation took only maybe a half hour. She was kind of woozy afterwards no major pain over the weekend.

So shaw’nuff life gets better. We had a fantastic weekend with beautiful weather. Took care of the yardwork, went skating, feeling rested again. The highlight was Jeannie and I went into the city last night to celebrate our friend Lisa’s birthday. (Lisa it’s your birthday, happy birthday Lisa.) We went to some crazy trendy Japanese restaurant in Chelsea. Fantastic food and drink and a really good time.

This n’ That

Things are pretty quiet here now. We took last weekend off after all the activity of the past few weeks, and basically hung around the house and caught up on work and on some household projects. I’m redoing supports for the curtain in our family room. The old one was bent and drooping from years of kids pulling on the curtain, put the real problem was the supports weren’t strong enough in the first place. This was on the todo list over the winter but it was one of the things I had to let slide after I hurt my back. But now it’s the season for using the patio door so the time has come. Even a small project like this takes time and effort though. Multiple trips to the hardware store, drilling holes, spackling, sanding and painting, etc., it all adds up. Today I’m mostly finished, but I’m going to wait a day or two to install the last bracket over the spot where I repaired the wall.

The other good news is that today the roofers came and replaced the shingles on our roof that had blown off in the storm a couple months back. It only took them an hour so, and while they were up there they cleaned out the gunk that was clogging my gutters. So the todo list clicks forward three notches, but lots and lots of tasks in the offing keep me from getting too excited about it.

Sunday was Mother’s day and Michelle was very excited about it. Together with Lizzy we made Jeannie brunch, and later in the day she put on a special show. She wrote two songs especially for the occasion, and had me help her out on piano. She’s been working on these songs for a couple weeks now, trying to keep it a secret from Jeannie so it’d be a surprise. One is called “Love” and the other “Now and Forever”. It was very sweet. Then she had Jeannie and me dance while she played one of the songs of my new record. This is funny because most of the time when Jeannie dance or hug and kiss, she’ll wedge herself in between us and insist we stop.

I’ve been getting back into diagramming origami after taking most of the winter off. Closing in on finishing my 100+ step dragon. Boy, I sure hope when I finally publish my book people like it.

After the big heat wave a last week it turned cold, and I mean cold. Down into the 30’s every night and maybe up into the 60’s in the day. It’s also been pretty windy and lots of rain off and on.

Summer Warmup

The weather last weekend was actually hot for the first time. Really feels like summer. Saturday we had a birthday party for Michelle, and Martin, Kathleen and Charlie came down for a visit on Sunday and it was up in the 90’s and we had a good ol’ barbeque. Last night we had a pretty heavy rainstorm, and today it’s hot and steamy in the city.

Over the weekend while we were enjoying ice cream and birthday cake out in the ‘burbs, some nutjob parked a bombwagon literally right under my office window. Luckily the thing fizzled and no one was hurt.

New Recording: Green Glove v2

Here’s a new version of the song Green Glove. I wasn’t satisfied with the sound of this song when I had finished it last fall, so I retracked quite a bit of it. I redid the lead and backing vocals. I changed the bass line and added a guitar part. I changed the horn section arrangement around and added a flute part (played by Lizzy) as the top voice. The final thing I did was to re-track that bari sax. The original take was out of tune and made the whole thing sound a bit off. The new version is spot-on, plus has a great feel and energy.

I had been waiting to redo that part because the baritone saxophone is such a giant beast. It’s heavy and takes a lot of strength just to hold it and a good deal of power to play. I’ve been getting over a back injury, but last week was the end of my physical therapy and I’m pretty much better. I’ve changed my whole workout around to incorporate the exercises my therapist gave me, and have mostly worked most of my old exercises back in. It will still take a while to be completely back to a hundred percent, but I can do most everything normally at this point. Still I was a bit hesitant about doing the bari part. It turned out well enough, but after an hour of playing I could really feel the gathering soreness in my lower back. I felt fine the next morning, so I guess that it was OK.

So this is it. All the recording is done for my record; just the finishing remains. The mastering sessions are past halfway. We’ve done five of the nine songs, including the two longest ones, or about 27 out of 47 minutes worth of music.

Spring Activities and a Visit

The mild spring continues. I’m wondering if we’re in for a cool summer this year because of the volcano in Iceland. But for now we’re off to a fantastic start.

Last week I got chance to adjust the brake on Lizzy’s bike. I also got my Mustang on the road for the first real drive of the season. The engine runs great, smooth and with good power. The front end has a little rattle when you get above about 85 or 95 MPH, but I don’t think that’s a major concern since it’s rare to have to opportunity to do that.

My Mum and Dad were in town for a visit last weekend, and it was an excellent time, full of activities for the kids. Friday night was Lizzy’s school science fair. It was cool to see all the different projects. A lot of the kids did demos, but not all of them did actual experiments with collecting data over multiple trials. Lizzy’s team did, and they won for her grade with her Gravity project! Good to see her hard work pay off. I think was the word “Data” written in glitter on her display really put her project over the top.

Saturday Michelle had her dance recital. It was very nice and had a circus theme and different sets of kids putting on dances at their level. Michelle’s group did “The lion tamer and her cubs.” Some of the older kids were really pretty good and had several number’s worth of stage time. The whole thing hung together as a show and was pretty entertaining, and Michelle was thrilled.

Saturday we were planning on a barbecue, but by the time we started cooking the weather was cooling off so we ended up eating inside. Sunday and Monday it rained all day, so that was the end of our warm and sunny spell. Cold and rainy today too, but at least it’s good for the allergies. And hey, look, the sun is coming out again.

Spring Outing With Origami

We had another fantastic spring weekend. The weather has been great but that means we’re having an early allergy season this year. My hay fever has been going on for a couple of weeks and is peaking right about now, so I can expect them to diminish soon. Compared to other years it’s not that bad. I never had pollen allergies until they year 2000, but then last year they were a lot less severe and this year the same. Weird.

Saturday we helped Lizzy with her project for her school’s science fair. She was wondering if heavier things fall faster than light things (like a rock compared to a feather) and designed an experiment to test her hypothesis. She and a classmate filled out several water bottles with different materials: sand, water, cotton balls and empty (air), and dropped them out of a window two at a time, and observed which landed first for numerous trials, basically recapitulating Galileo’s classic experiment. To her surprise, they all pretty much fell at the same speed, except the empty one, which seemed to be slowed down a bit by the air. This got us into a whole discussion of weight vs. air resistance and shape, and turned out to be quite a good experience for her. She’s already thinking of ideas for her next year’s project. I’m trying to convince her to build a Tesla coil.

Sunday was an origami Special Sessions event at the Museum of Natural History in the city, and I volunteered to teach a class. We made the day into a family outing with the kids. Took a walk thru Central Park to Strawberry Fields (Michelle’s request in keeping with her current Beatles obsession) and to the Belvedere weather station. In the museum Lizzy asked to see the hall of minerals, which was a very cool thing to see, and something we usually overlook when we’re there.

The model I taught was my Turkey, which I developed over the winter. I have not diagrammed it yet and it had been a few months since I folded it, so I was a bit concerned if I needed to be more prepared. It took me a couple of minutes to remember the first few folds that set up the geometry for the whole model, but once I got that we were off and running. The folding sequence for the feet is pretty complicated, but I remembered that as I went and it worked out fine. The tail and head were a bit tricky. I never really worked out a single best folding sequence for either; it’s always a bit improvisational. The class turned out to be a success, but I feel like I should drill down on these details and nail down the best way to do the sculpting. This will be necessary when I get around to diagramming it anyway.

Meanwhile the girls took a class to fold flowers out of ribbons. After the class we headed back into the museum and checked out the marine hall under the life sized whale replica.

Today I used my new library card for the first time. The real library (where all the books are) is across the street from the main library. I have a long list of books I want to read, but I soon discovered the card catalog system there is kind of a mess. It’s all computerized and the listing mixes books from the two buildings. So in the end I just walked over to the fiction section and borrowed a bunch of books from authors whose names are in the S – Z range. Mostly 100 year old science fiction: Shelly, Stoker, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, with some Steinbeck and Terry Southern thrown in for good measure. I told Jeannie I borrowed seven books and she said “You’re just like Lizzy. Make sure you remember the due date.” Heh.

New Recording: Making Miles v2

I have new version of the song Making Miles. You may recall that last summer I recorded it with just piano and vocals, but after listening back for a while I decided it needed something more. The new mix retains the heartfelt simplicity of the first one but evolves into a something much more powerful. I redid the lead vocals, added some harmonies, drums, bass guitar and synth pads. I expanded the song with a solo section and reprise of the chorus, making it closer to Martin’s original arrangement. For the solo I used the Yamaha woodwind synthesizer. That thing has such great sounds and is a lot of fun. The solo started off as an improvisation, but with each take I converged a little more on what became the only solo it could be.

Now eight songs completed in terms of arranging and tracking. The last one, Green Glove, just requires a few punch-ins on the horn section and it’ll be good to go too. I’ve gotten back into doing mixdowns at my friend Erik’s studio this week too. We had to take a few weeks off while he built out a new mixing room to take on a new client. But now we’re back at it and have four songs polished off. I will post these mixes soon too. Soon it will be time to start thinking about finishing the album: the track order, cover art and that sort of thing.

More Spring Things

Lots has been happening the last few weeks, and things are coming to fruition. Here are some of them.

One big piece of news is the my project at work has shipped our first working release of our software to a customer. Almost a year of effort went into it and everyone stopped arguing and pulled together as a team for the final haul, which was good to see. Of course they started up again as soon as we began planning the next cycle of work, but the group feels less dysfunctional. And, with this major milestone met I feel a bit more relaxed, at least for time being. Back to straight-up coding again, as opposed to all this config, build and deploy stuff.

I got my old Mustang to a mechanic earlier this week. Last fall I had a problem when I stepped on the gas and engine dropped in power before it accelerated. It had me kind of worried, but it turned out to be a problem with the vacuum pump in the carburetor that was petty easy to fix. My garage has a new chief mechanic who is enthusiastic about working on a classic car. He gave it a good looking over and everything is sound. So the car is back in action, purring like a kitten and roaring like a lion. Gonna give it the first real drive of the season out on the highway this weekend if it doesn’t rain. The only other thing I want to do with mechanically it is to maybe get new shocks. I think this will be year that I’ll finally get it painted, so I’m going to start shopping around for body shops. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I’ve also been making a lot of progress on origami, part of which is explained in the last post, and on music. More on that later.