Mishkin
Berteig - Just Some Random Geek.
My full name is Mishkin Ben-Garry Vyordan Berteig. I have another home page. About Me
20040328: Melanie and I have hired a part-time nanny. Her name is Joy and she comes over two days a week. The kids love her. The great thing is that she has the time to play with them for 6 hours continuously. She does some of the homeschooling work with Justice and Haifa and also teaches them some virtues. It's been great for Melanie too, especially when I'm travelling since she can get out. Last week, for example, she spent a few hours browsing stuff at Home Depot.20040328: This week I am finishing up on a project at Schwab, and starting a project at another client of Solution Architects'. I'll be working with my buddy Christian who also lives in the Toronto area. On my project at Schwab I re-discovered how passionate I am about human-computer interface issues. I like almost everything about Alan Cooper's "Interaction Design" philosophy and method except for how non-agile it is.
I had a nice Baha'i School class today. Basically for about a half hour or so, we just sat and chatted. I told the students about how I used to be a total freak (spikey purple hair, blue lipstick and eyeshadow, nothing but black for clothes). They seemed amused. I got to know them a bit: what they like for music, classes. It was nice.
I've started working on an article titled "Software Metaphors". I'm going to run a couple of drafts by on K5, and then have a formal version published in the Agile Times (e-journal of the Agile Alliance).
I finally saw Terminator 3. I enjoyed it I guess. I also saw The Medallion with Jackie Chan, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and DareDevil. I re-watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
20040316: The Fast has been going well. Melanie and I are thinking about buying a home. It would be on a two acre lot, a little more accessible to the airport, and a lot more accessible to downtown Toronto. I have some photos of the land - nothing is built on it yet. If we do it, it would be finished in October. We are doing a small custom designed bungalow with a walk-out basement due to the land. The one down side to the place is that Bell Sympatico ADSL is not available there - only Rogers Cable high speed internet. That would mean switching providers and doing some extra work to manage my servers since they only have dynamic IPs.
I am a Baha'i. The Baha'i Faith was founded by Baha'u'llah. Baha'is believe that Christ has returned, and that the world is going through a tumultuous collective adolescence in preparation for maturity: World peace is not only possible, it is inevitable.
I am a husband to Melanie Andersen, and I am a father to Justice and Haifa. I love to spend time with all of them. Haifa is learning to read, Justice is learning Arabic, and Melanie and I are learning about home design.
I am an independent consultant with over 10 years of professional object-oriented technology experience primarily in Objective-C and Java. I'm also doing C# and .NET work. Here is my resume.
I am a co-founder of Oomind. Oomind is a community education system. Oomind works on some community principles similar to those at work in Slashdot, Kuro5hin, and Wikipedia. Registered users can submit and rate Courselets, as well as submit, rate and answer quiz questions about Courselets. There are also facilities for instructors, recruiters and learners. Oomind is unfortunately suspended for the foreseeable future.
I also write electronic music, primarily using some freeware software called Buzz.
My favorite foods include Dim Sum at the Koi Palace, Sushi at Ino Sushi, and Persian at Yaas. Salmon is my favorite fish, and I no longer like Big Macs after reading "Fast Food Nation".
That logo at the top is my name "Mishkin" in very stylized Arabic calligraphy. I designed it myself.
I can be reached at mishkin@berteig.com if you feel like sending me something for some reason.
Older entries: October 2002, November 2002, December 2002, January 2003, February 2003, March 2003, April 2003, May 2003, June 2003, July 2003, August 2003, missed Sept., October 2003, November 2003, missed Dec., January 2004 , February 2004, or home
Top Sci-fi and Fantasy:
1. Ship of Magic (Robin Hobb)
2. Songmaster (Orson Scott Card)
3. The Real Story (Stephen R. Donaldson)
Top Software Development Books:
1. Agile Software Development (Alistair Cockburn)
2. Software Craftsmanship (Pete McBreen)
3. The Inmates are Running the Asylum (Alan Cooper)
Top Movies:
1. Run Lola Run (CA$) (with Franke Potente)
2. Strictly Ballroom (CA$) (by Baz Luhrmann)
3. Groundhog Day (CA$) (with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell)
