This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Brian McCallister. Original Post: Coming Up For Air Feed Title: Waste of Time Feed URL: http://kasparov.skife.org/blog/index.rss Feed Description: A simple waste of time and weblog experiment Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Brian McCallister Latest Posts From Waste of Time

<gasp /> Ah. I've been busy lately, it's been fun, but there is a backlog of stuff I have been wanting to talk about. Arugah! Forgive the topic hopping that is about to ensue.

Got google analytics set up on my blog. The fun part is looking at locations and trying to guess who was visiting. In many cases it is impossible, but for Melbourne I have an idea...

I had a fun morning up at Mash Pit. Sadly I could only stay for the morning. The fun part was starting up just as I left! One thing that came up to work on was non-geographic mapping, or at least non-earth mapping. There is actually a great package for doing this, in full Ajaxian glory, in MapBuilder. It uses OpenGIS compliant data to render maps. So, if you need a map of say, your building, or a campus, or wherever, it is an option!

About a week ago, we were declared dead. Umh, "I feel happy?" Now I need to look out for folks with clubs, I guess. Big hullabaloo about this, well, big in some circles. Anyway, for being dead, things are going along quite well. Well enough that we are hiring another senior developer =) Please ping me if I can answer any questions or whatnot. Despite this "being dead" rumor, it is a fantastic team doing really fun stuff at an amazing pace.

Finally, looks like I'll be heading east again for a visit in March. No details are up yet, but a former employer (whom I also believe are hiring at the moment, I'd try to poach a couple folks but I like them to much to do that when they are recruiting too) is sponsoring a second (annual it seems) emerging software development technology conference in Philly and I have been asked to speak about Rails there. Woot!

Okay, it wasn't really finally, I am writing more. I've been spending a lot of my time thinking and prototyping that devil of a brainsink, End User Development (or at least non-coder development), for (I hope) obvious reasons. I'd talk more about the style of design that is evolving for that through my ideas and prototypes, but it deserves a post of its own.

And, really, finally -- I got a nice point & click digital camera for Christmas. Photography is harder than I recalled. I used to do a lot with my fully manual Pentax, and this digital stuff is supposed to be easier, but I find the photographs I am making don't come out quite as I was planning. I have either gotten old and unsteady, forgotten how to frame things well, don't remember any composition, or these digital camera thingies are being mean to me. I need more practice, but hey, it's fun and pretty to practice! I managed to get one decent one, but am very unhappy with the focus on it. I need a greater depth of focus or a better depth to have focused on. This automagic camera will take some getting used to.