Mishkin Berteig - Just Some Random Geek.

20030630: So I gave Melanie her gift: a music cd with six songs I have composed myself and a cover with her name in Arabic calligraphy similar to mine:

If you happen to know Arabic, there is the miim, laam, nuun and yaa' to be pronounced "ma la nee". She liked it :-) Maybe she will put it on her web site. I wrote a postscript program to render the name. That was fun! I haven't done postscript programming for close to a decade... stack based languages are fun. You can find the source code for both my name and Melanie's name. I've spent many hours with Adobe's "PostScript Language Reference Manual" (CA$). I used to do it all on the NeXT because it used display postscript and had a great Preview program for rendering .ps and .eps files. Now, I use GhostScript.

As for Arabic, unfortunately I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would like with the Rosetta Stone software. I'm in the midst of much personal upheaval so learning a second language doesn't get much room on the priorities list (but updating my online journal does :-).

Today I am also trying to finish up my personal taxes... ug.

One of the people who has responded to a recent diary entry on kuro5hin knows postscript. He also plays with Lego... just like me.

20030629:

It's 2:46am and I'm ready to go to bed. However, given that I haven't updated this in a few days, I thought I should give it a small effort.

I finished creating my gift to Melanie for our sixth wedding anniversary. This is the first time in a long long time (before Melanie) that I have put so much effort into a gift. Funny thing is, I'm not even so sure that she is going to like it that much. I know already that she likes some things about it from stuff she has said, but... we'll see in a few hours.

Chris and Jeanne came over today. It was so great to see them again. We spent about 45 minutes saying prayers together since Saturdays are our regularly scheduled devotional gatherings. Then we spent some time talking about finances and the stuff that Melanie and I are learning from "Rich Dad's Guild to Investing" (CA$). I took a brief break to wrap up some stuff with the daily rent situation at my apartment. Then Chris and I spent a couple hours discussing a design for a security system for a web services app that he is working on. It got late, we got hungry, so we broke to make dinner. By time we finished dinner, it was 9:45. The kids were exhausted.

After the kids went to bed, Melanie and I made a very high-level first draft (using OpenOffice.org's Calc program) of our personal balance sheet. It looks something like this (all figures fictionalized):

We also spent some time discussing the money that my other company owes me. It may be possible for me to get it back with interest... I'll have to speak with an accountant about that. (For what it's worth, MyMIND.net Inc. is currently inactive, but I hope one day to re-launch Oomind.)

20030626:

Well, we're in Markham now. We've finished the gross level of unpacking, but I still have lots of computer stuff to deal with including hard drives, two machines, two lcd monitors, three keyboards, a switch, three mice, and lots and lots of cables!!! The drive went very well - from 10:30am to 9:30pm and with pretty close to exactly one tank of gas. Haifa had a little trouble with the long ride, once actually getting out of her car seat! But mostly the kids watched Dinotopia (twice). Melanie read to me from "Rich Dad's Guide to Investing" and we talked at length about it. One very interesting thing was our analysis of our rental situation. We discovered that the rent just barely covers our pure expenses (good) and leaves us a few dollars extra. However, we are still putting about 4 or 5 hundred dollars against the principle of our mortgage ourselves each month....

Again, I'm writing just after midnight. Today we finished packing our stuff into the car (except for a small number of things for tomorrow morning before we leave). The apartment is looking pretty barren. I've packed all the computer stuff in, and we only have larger furniture left behind for my trip in mid-July. At work, I didn't really say goodbye to anyone except Anna Moiseyev and Tom Cooper. Melanie and I put up advertizements for the apartment in all the buildings here that had laundry rooms.

I've started catching up to Melanie a bit in Rich Dad's Guide to Investing. So far I am really enjoying it.

20030625:

I wrote a tiny journal entry on kuro5hin.org about reading this book. There are two really good comments that people made - thanks!

It's just after midnight so really I'm writing about the 24th. Today I spent some time doing wrap up work to get ready for my leaving Jersey City. I put an add on craigslist for my apartment. I'm offering $1000 cash for the person who moves in and takes my one year lease off my hands! I also got a real estate agent to handle it as well.

Melanie has been going through Rich Dad's Guide to Investing (CA$) quite quickly. She is very inspired. Last night we set goals for what we felt security, comfort and riches are for us:

Goal: Security
Life insurance ($600/year)
Disabilty insurance ($1200/year)
Health insurance ($3000/year)
Will and testament
6 months of $8,000.00 in rotating GIC's for loss of employment ($48,000)
Plan for retirement savings at age 70 ($100,000 equivalent in interest = 1 million in investments)($500/month invested at 10%)
Huquq paid ($7000/year)
No short term or unsecured debts
$12,000/year Donations to Baha'i Fund
Net Income: $8,000/month = $150,000/year
2200 sq. ft. home = $350,000 ($35,000 down payment)

Goal: Comfort
3500 sq ft home on large city lot in or near major center ($700,000)
full-time housekeeper/cook ($20,000/year)
no need to work, financially independent (5 million invested = $500,000/year income from interest)
4 kids
2 cars
1 – 3 week vacation per year ($25,000/year)
one major visit with family per year ($6000/year)
$50000/year Donations to Baha'i Fund
continual deputization of 2 full-time travel teachers ($36,000/year)

Goal: Riches
support families (Berteig, Senyk, Chan, Andersen)
15000 sq ft mansion with household staff on estate with resource rights and perpetually pre-paid property taxes (independent nation? :-)
minimum $1000000/year Donations to Baha'i Fund
continual deputization of many full-time travel teachers
produce Alexei's movies
establish educational research institute
2 – 3 week vacations per year

We aren't even at the level of security. The exercise of defining these goals was very very interesting. We discussed what exactly security meant, what were the moral implications of an extremely large mansion (originally I had suggested a 100000 sq ft mansion for riches), what it means to support our families, the difference between charity giving, patronage giving (as in the arts), and investing. One other really cool thing is that Melanie is finally learning about business in a way that is very interesting to her. She didn't know what a dividend is. This book may be a catalyst that brings us together about finances in a way that is satisfying to us both. Previous attempts with such books as "Your Money or Your Life", got us agreeing on some of the basics, but not all, and they certainly didn't inspire us to a common goal. We have always (conditionally) agreed that getting rid of debt is important. But Melanie puts absolutely top priority on that for security reasons.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I read Kent Beck's Test Driven Development ($CA). It is an excellent book. It has two main sections: a detailed multi-chapter example of test driven development (TDD), then a catalog of patterns. The patterns tend to the very insightful. I highly recommend this book, particularly for people whose main task is coding. I've updated my software resources page to include this book.

20030622:

I've started re-reading Software Craftsmanship (CA$) by Pete McBreen. This is an excellent book about using the idea of craftsmanship applied to software development. On my second round through I am finding things about it that I don't quite agree with as much (for example the complete repudiation of licensing and certification). Nevertheless, the premise is sound: master-level software craftsmen will always be able to do the work of several, if not tens of, junior and intermediate developers. Using the craftsmanship methodology also implies the soundness of reputation as a serious and legitimate measure of a developer. Developers should be able to "sign" their work and use that in a portfolio to present when interviewing. One other thing that I really like: pay the masters ten times as much as the junior people!

Today we bought "Rich Dad's Guide to Investing" (CA$) - looks good, but we haven't read any of it yet. Lots of good reviews on Amazon.

20030621:

Melanie's cousin, Francois recently got married. He and his wife, Brenda, went on a cruise. Looks like they had fun!

Melanie and I are researching financial stuff including investing. Here is an online accounting tutorial.

20030620:

Today I got my final assignments at SCM...

I've been looking around at various software industry stuff. I really need to write a book :-)

Here is a great introduction to programming.

20030619:

Some links: Agile Modelling, Agile Data, Enterprise Unified Process.

I found out today that several other contractors at SCM have also been let go.

Melanie and I spent about an hour this evening sorting and entering receipts into a spreadsheet. I'm behind on my financials for my company. It is very frustrating that I never seem to have time for details. Melanie is much better at it than I, and that's why I pay her the big bucks!

Having Melanie and the kids here with me has been really great. Every day when I come home for lunch and at the end of the day, the kids run into my arms and give me big hugs, kisses and smiles!!! It is SO NICE!

20030618:

Lots happening: presentation to CIO moved to the 30th, got my month's notice at Schwab Capital Markets, discovered a new concept in the computer field... holding my hat tight on that... found a whole bunch of desserts that are sugar and carb free.

20030617:

Today I got a very interesting email from Chris Pheonix regarding a recent Slashdot comment I made about technology. He had the patience to read a few things that I have written and actually make some comments about them! He has written a very interesting paper about systems of ethics and in particular about a newly identified system of ethics relating to information that is very inexpensive to duplicate. He is also one of the co-founders of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. I have not yet read through all the material on that site, but it looks very interesting because it is trying to deal with some of the ethical issues surrounding nanotech before nanotech becomes widely used and available.

I just read a really interesting excerpt from a book: Evangelism is War. This article is about how Microsoft creates and evangelises new technology platforms. It is short, but very insightful and with a little thought can provide some real concrete guides to evangelising almost anything. Expect to see my name in headlines (in a good way :-) in a few years!

I think my current heros of the software industry are Martin Fowler, Kent Beck and Alistair Cockburn. I have a great deal of respect for them because of the books they have published. As well, Martin Fowler in particular has an excellent set of web pages. I would love a chance to spend some time with these people...

I have decided to start a site dedicated to links about agile software development. For now, there is not much there, but it will come.

20030616:

Just finished watching "The Cider House Rules" (US$, CA$) - very nice movie. A little sad. The ending is very satisfying.

I've updated my resume to include a little more about extreme programming and agile methodologies.

20030615:

Today we went to the New York Aquarium on Coney Island. It was quite a trip: it took two hours to get there by car since we encountered about 3 major traffic jams. It also cost about $16.00 in tolls to go there and back! The aquarium itself was quite good, although not up to the standard of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. In particular, there was a performance of trained sea lions that was entertaining and impressive. If you get to go, make sure to try to sit in the very front row so that you can get a kiss from one of the sea lions! The other exhibits suffered a bit from poor lighting and old slightly hard-to-read labels.

Yesterday we took a day trip to the Crayola Factory. It was lots of fun and we managed to only buy a few dollars worth of Crayola products afterwards :-) But then we stopped at a Target and bought about eight DVDs!

Today on Slashdot: an article about the introduction of television to Bhutan and the corresponding increase in violent crime. I have made a backup of the page here. I would like to note that I have lived close to television-free since I was 13 years old (18 years in total). As I mentioned below, I recently watched about 12 or 15 hours of television over 3 days. It sucks. It made me feel like shit, and it made me realize how much I dislike the culture I live in. It also made me understand a little better why people are so incredibly screwed up. Try to imagine what your life would be like with no television. Now try to imagine what your kids would be like without any television. Don't just wave your arms and say "that's impossible", give it a good effort. You might start to get a tiny glimmer of what is wrong with television.

20030612:

Today I fixed a little logic bug in my test harness code. Now it works quite nicely. There is still a more insidious intermittent bug that I have to work out, but that will come.

So on June 23rd, I'm going to go do a presentation to a CIO of a well-known financial company. The topic of the presentation is Extreme Programming and Rapid Application Development. I am doing the bulk of the work preparing the presentation, and I will probably do the bulk of the work presenting it. This opportunity comes out of a three page executive summary I wrote for another CIO recently.

This evening Melanie went out for an hour and I put the kids to bed. It was very nice. For prayers, I tried something new. The kid really have a hard time sitting still even for five minutes while we say prayers. It is often a bit of a fight trying to get them to sit still and behave respectfully - which just never feels right. So tonight, I got them to say their prayers first. After that, I said three short prayers. First I said the "Remover of Difficulties". However, before I started, I showed the kids how to hold their hands folded with their fingers interlaced. I told them that they had to do that while I said my prayer. I watched them as I was saying it and if their hands came apart, I stopped my prayer and helped them to replace their hands. Then I started again. I think it took about five tries before they made it through the prayer without letting their hands come apart. Then for the next prayer, "O God Guide Me", I showed them how to sit with their legs folded and told them to sit up straight. Again, any time they slumped or uncrossed their legs, or let their hands come apart, I would stop my prayer, show them patiently how to behave, and start again. This prayer also got started four or five times before I made it through. Finally, for my last prayer "God Grant that the Light of Unity", I got them to sit perfectly still in addition to all the other things. This time it only took three tries to get through the prayer. I think they learned the "game" and tomorrow night will be able to do it much better.

20030611:

Last night I had a really great Ruhi class.

20030610:

Well, I finished the training camp. All is well as I passed my exams. So, pending actually getting confirmation from Microsoft, I am now a Microsoft Certified Application Developer for .NET (MCAD .NET). This isn't really that exciting. As an MCAD, I have demonstrated some basic knowledge in windows, web, and web services development using the .NET frameworks and tools. But I can also see how some people don't consider such certifications to mean much.

Yesterday, Melanie and the kids and I packed up the van and drove to Jersey City. Along the way, we stopped at the training camp because I had forgotten to pack three pairs of pants that were hiding in the bottom drawer of my dresser in my villa. The drive was nice: the landscape was beautiful. Melanie and I fantasized about buying land in upstate New York. We left at about 9am and arrived about 9pm. We bought groceries and unpacked and then slept rather early.

So good developments in work: I will likely be getting some more training, this time IBM MQ Series Workflow. That's going to happen sometime at the end of July. As well, there is a good chance that I will be doing a presentation on agile methodologies to one of the senior executive staff at a major financial institution...

Melanie likes it here in Jersey City :-) The kids seem to like it as well.

20030606:

I watched some TV last night. It is horrible - I can't believe that people watch that stuff. It really makes me understand the continuing moral degredation. I wish Jerry Mander would update his book. Check out turnoffyourtv.com, an interview with Mr. Mander, another interview with Jerry Mander,

The class continues. I showed up at noon, and by 12:30 we were finished going through the slides for the 3rd book. Suffice it to say, we didn't really learn anything in class. My only hope to actually learn anything is to go through the test king questions and refer back to the texts for each question. Maybe I can read several pages for each question or something and get through most of the content of the book...

20030605:

Last night, instead of studying, I ended up reading a novel, cover to cover. The novel is called "Helm". I make that a link sometime. Christian lent it to me. I stayed up until 4am reading it.

Doesn't seem to have affected my studying effectiveness though. I'm going to take my second MCAD exam in a few minutes... and I passed. (35 minutes to do this one.)

20030604:

Today we start our second book for the MCAD training: "Developing Web Applications with Microsoft VB .NET and Microsoft C# .NET". So far, not so different from Struts/JSP/Servlets, although the tool support is excellent. Lots of the good things about ASP .NET are related to various shortcuts that are provided by various properties etc.

Last night, due perhaps to exhaustion, I only did my sit-ups, but I did thirty-five of them. I also watched my "Lawnmower Man" movie last night. It is interesting to see a movie that is a decade old talking about the time we live in now. Virtual reality "exists", but it is still much different from what was envisioned in the movie. The movie refered to the "global network" - that got a laugh from me. All in all, it's not the greatest movie I've seen, but it was good enough to be enjoyable. The US$10 DVD that I got has some extra features which might be fun.

20030603:

I'm about to take my first MCAD exam... and now I'm done a mere forty minutes later. The test allows 175 minutes. It took me 40. Wow. (Oh, and I passed :-) Now I have only two more exams until I have finished my MCAD certification testing. And I know how to study for these things now. We have been using sample test questions from Test King. They are "accurate" representations of what is in the actual exam. I don't know how I feel about this since their accuracy is possibly excessive... Now after a little investigation, I have the following for you: about "braindumps", about "certification and cheating". So. Now the question: what do I do about this situation? I will have to pray and consult with some people about this. I could just ignore the TestKing "practice" material. I would have to brute force my way through the Microsoft(R) Press books (another 1300 pages over 3.5 days). I don't feel confident that I can do that and still pass. Maybe I should let myself fail and do makeup exams? I don't know. !!!ARG!!!

Go read this and sign it - it restores a measure of sanity to intellectual "property" laws.

Wow! Yesterday was crazy! The hard part of this camp is not the content complexity, but rather the sheer volume of the material. I was up until 3am last night which means that I studied pretty much continuously for fourteen hours yesterday. And I'm not ready, but I will be.

Today I intend to finish reading the reference textbook, go through the C# sample test questions, maybe review a bit, and then do the test, probably later in the afternoon. If I can, I'll take a nap too :-)

I viciously broke my diet last night... I succumbed to severe temptation. In the common room here at the camp, there has been a platter of desserts sitting there. Last night when I was about to go home, I decided to go to that room for some reason. There, without any proper thought at all, I gathered three large bowls of desserts to take home with me: cream puffs (4) and Neapolitans (3). Once home, I agonized for a few seconds, maybe minutes, looking at these delicacies and trying very hard to resist. But alas, I started to gobble them up. Very quickly I ate the cream out of three of the cream puffs. I managed one bite of a Neapolitan, and then threw the bunch in the trash. Ug!

20030602:

While I'm here at this camp, I plan to get my sit-ups and push-ups to a good level, at least fifty each. Last night I managed thirty sit-ups, and twenty-five push-ups (better than I expected actually). Tonight I expect to do thirty-five and thirty respectively.

Last night I arrived at the training camp for my MCAD .NET certification training. The camp is very beautiful. I've got three thick textbooks to go through: "Windows-Based Applications", "Web Applications", and "XML Web Services and Server Components". Before sleeping, I managed to find my way through the first three chapters of the first book. Classes are about 12 hours per day!

This morning, class started at 8am. We are going through the text at a fantastic rate, mostly by skipping lots of the detail! It's a good thing I read all this last night! At 16:15 we are half way through the book. Apparently the next chapter will be gone over very quick: its the ADO.NET chapter.

One thing that is very interesting is the concept of "extender provider" components. It would be really cool to implement this and some very useful specific implementations in Java. For example, there is an ErrorProvider component that will automagically flag any UI controls that have incorrect (failed validation) values by putting an error icon next to the control. There is also a ToolTipProvider component. In a sense these are decorator collections, but they also have a bit of a controller flavor to them too.

This past weekend we had a nice day for Melanie's birthday. We went to Red Lobster and had a huge meal. Both Melanie and I ordered the Rock Lobster meal with a side dish (I had garlic butter fried shrimp). One interesting part of the experience was the cheese buns. Normally, the cheese buns are my favorite part of the Red Lobster experience - I eat tons of them! I decided that despite my no-carb diet, I would eat one bun. I slathered it with butter, as I usually do, wolfed it down. And then I promptly, instantly got a bad headache and sharp shooting pains in my stomach... wow! Suffice it to say, I wasn't expecting a reaction that bad. I guess my stomach is becoming very sensitive.

Over the last week, we have had the incredible bounty of seeing Chris and Jeanne several times. On Saturday (May 31st), they came over at 2pm for our special devotional gathering. Also attending were Leva, Hoda and Hootsa. We said a round of "Fire Tablets" for the work of the Faith in Markham. It was a wonderful experience with some good discussion and stories. I told the story about the Saskatoon Baha'i community when my dad became a Baha'i. Instead of the Fire Tablet, I said the "Long Healing Prayer". After Leva, Hoda and Hootsa left, Chris and I went to the grocery store to get some stuff for another BBQ. We cooked up a huge feast (and ate it all). At dinner we ended up having a great discussion about ways we might share our lives. We talked about service, living arrangements and work. Our discussion ended after midnight! We had a great time looking at floor plans and talking about the advantages and disadvantages of sharing a house versus living side-by-side in two separate houses. One neet thing that Jeanne mentioned is the diversity of adult personalities may be beneficial to the upbringing of children.

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