Thursday, December 31, 2009

A New Year: 2010

Well, tonight is the end of the worst year, of the worst decade, since the Great Depression. Cheery. It also ends the year I married my lovely wife, so 2009 was not all bad. But, in interest of looking ahead to the future I'm going to do something I often do this time of year, I'm making resolutions for the new year. However, unlike years past where I quickly forgot said resolutions I am committing this years to a digital immortality, a form of permanence, to both help remind me of my goals and to allow me to look back and see what was, or was not, accomplished come the end of 2010. So, without further ado, my resolutions.

Personal:

  • I will loose weight, with a goal weight of 250lbs.
  • I will achieve a 300lb squat and dead lift, and a 200lb bench press for reps, 5x5.
  • I will get the apartment clean, and keep it clean.
  • I will compete in at least 2 Judo tournaments outside of my club.
  • I will attain my Judo green belt, and blue belt if possible.


Professional:

  • will write, market, and sell a software product written wholly by me.
  • I will move towards attaining my Microsoft Professional Developer Certification.
  • I will decide on a masters program, and if necessary take the GREs.


Economic:

  • I will save $2,500
  • I will pay off at least $7,000 of my personal loan.


While I think some of these will be harder to attain then others I think all are doable. Let's hope I'm right.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Where's your belt?

I went lifting today, I've lifted at least twice a week for a few months now. However, as I was heading back to work a coworker stopped me and she asked me where my lifting belt was. When I told her I did not wear one she was somewhat surprised and provided the usual argument of safety, and not hurting your back, etc.

I don't lift with a belt, compression shirt, straps, gloves, or any other weight training safety aid. I don't use them because to use them is to gain a false sense of security. When in high school I wore a lifting belt and I lifted more weight, harder, with poorer form because I had the belt on and therefore was not thinking about my safety.

Without the belt I know I can get hurt, so I don't do anything stupid, if I loose a lift I drop the weight as opposed to trying to recover it. If my form deteriorates I either fix it or stop lifting, and because of this I've lifted for months without injury. My form has improved and with it my lifts themselves. I'm lifting more often, with heavier weights then I have before and I feel better knowing I'm doing so safely and with good habits. Habits I may have never developed with a belt.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Self Documenting Fallacy

I've been doing a fair amount of coding these last few days, both at work and at home, and the one thing that kept floating through my head was the idea of self documenting code.

According to this theory comments, that is non-compiled language, should not be needed because the code itself should tell any developer what the code does.

As a childish example we have this snippet of code:

System.Out.Println("Hello World");

This is the first line of code most programmers write in a new language, all it does it print the words "Hello World" to the screen. Now, let's add a comment:

//Prints Hello World
System.Out.Println("Hello World");

In this context the idea of commenting seems absurd. It's one line of code and the comment shares many of the same words as the line of code it's documenting.

However most sections of code are not one line, and they certainly are not as trivial as a print statement. yet the belief persists that if you write good clean code then comments are not only unnecessary, they are actually counterproductive as they clutter the code and make it less readable.

Bullshit.

I have a hard time remembering what I had for breakfast, if I even ate breakfast, let alone what I was doing with a piece of code six months ago. Comments, when used judiciously to document tasks left undone, or pieces of code that need work, or methods that have some special behavior simply make sense.

I don't advocate commenting every line of code, nor do I advocate not commenting at all, but I do feel they have their place and should be used in a professional environment. However, that's a stance that seems to be all too uncommon these days.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Budget Woes

I sat down today and looked at my budget.

It was not a fun exercise.

Based on my current income, and expenses, it will take me six years to pay my debt, not counting school loans, or interest. Figuring interest in maybe closer to seven years. It's not pretty. It's painful, and it really makes me hate myself for having gotten into this position. But, I know where I am, and I'm slowly digging myself out of the gaping hole I find myself in. I just wish it was easier, but I know it's not.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

E-Love is in the air!

It's so exciting, e-love is in the air!

Seriously. I recently had to experience what I have now termed e-love. E-love is when a couple spews their cutesy flirty shit all over the internet. This is made worse when it is done over a medium where I may have to actually read it, either intentionally, or inadvertently.

This is my first real exposure to E-love and I must say I don't understand. Call me jaded, call me out of touch, call me old and stodgy, I don't care. I simply fail to see the point of flirting in a public fashion that can be viewed by everyone.

Text, e-mail, phone calls, even IM's all make sense. It's a medium that allows two people, and only those two people, to converse, to connect, and in doing so their thoughts are shielded from the rest of the world. Carry on, well done. However E-love is conducted openly, usually on social networking sites, and frankly it disgusts me.

I don't want to know about you buying condoms, having sex, or how you miss your latest fling so much, that you can't stand to be apart. I, and I would hazard a guess that everyone else shares this opinion, do not want to know. Period, end of story, goodnight and good luck!