I will be setting up a new Linux server in my house used primarily for a file server but also for testing and development. I want it to be pretty fast CPU wise and of course hard drive access wise. One requirement I want is a fast wireless connection as I will most likely put it in my basement away from my hub. I may just end up putting an access point down there but would really just like to put a wireless card in the box (and of course have it supported by RHEL).

Any pre-configured machines that are PC like in price (1-2K) is desirable.

So in a nutshell:

• Fast Wireless card? (108+ mbps)
• Hard drive recommendations? SATA? Brand? RAID?
• Fast dual core CPU? What’s the best buy?
• Access points? I use Netgear primarily in my house.
• Any other cool things I should consider?

Chat history is one of those things in the past that never got a lot of attention. If you were lucky you could find the directory where they were stored and then use the system text editor (like Notepad) to view them. The new chat history window in Sametime 7.5 is sweet! I love it! It is a traditional three pane window with your contacts on the left (an each name is “live”) the pane to the upper right is your chat list (time date, etc) and the bottom right is the chat transcript with full XHTML.

This interface is one of the reasons many people think chat will replace email. I can easily see enhancements like archiving chats to a secure database or location is coming next…

After taking Larry to the vet we find out Larry is actually a Marry (two r’s just to be different). I don’t know what’s worse, naming a pet and having it for three months and finding out it’s a different sex or not knowing for sure and just think it is one sex and never asking!

This InfoWorld article caught my eye and when I read it I was surprised to read things I hear a lot from other developers (both peer, junior and from other companies). I fortunately have a great manager and he tells me how much I am appreciated and also gives me advice on interpersonal issues or techniques with dealing with problems and people. I think in general a manager should be constantly doing both (praising and assisting) their employees. If you are a manager and are not doing this in frequent one-on-one’s then you are simply dropping the ball.

Though they wish me well, they don’t seem to care that I’m leaving. One company didn’t take me up on my offer to train my replacement. (I was concerned the ball would be dropped when I left, and I found out months later that I was right.)

Lastly, if you are a peer to someone or work with someone closely and do value their efforts, make sure that is well communicated to your manager and their manager. This will make sure the people you rely on stay in your network and your reliance is not hindered when they leave!

Referenced Article:
ADVICE LINE BY BOB LEWIS – Getting noticed by management

Good article on Portal 6. The Composite Application section is a good introduction to what they are and how to build them. However some of the screen shots look too warped and need to be fixed. The important thing to get out of this article is the difference between a template and an application. Template development should not be something new to Domino customers.

We are in the car and the song Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent was on the radio. My four year old, when the song was finished, decided to keep singing it…but using the words he thought he heard. He continued very clearly “scratch that beaver”.

Outside of the fact my son loves stuffed animals and it was completely innocent my wife and I could not stop laughing.

My brother and his son were swimming in their pool and his son tells him “Daddy I need to go to the bathroom”. My brother tells him to get out an just go behind the pool. After a few minutes my brother asks “Derek, what’s taking so long?”, Derek replies “I am going poop”.

Composite applications in the upcoming beta release of the Lotus Expeditor are going to be a very big change in the way we develop our components. One of the biggest problems with developing plugins in Eclipse is that your one plugin brings in the house whenever someone else wants to use it. There are definitely some best practices and patterns that need to be followed in order to insure good componentization. One of the problems with the plugin and bundle architecture is I do not think many people realize it is like a white canvas and what you do on that canvas is up to you. For instance, there is no direct tie to UI or a 1 to n forced relationship with anything, it’s OPEN! So from a componentization point you need to decide if it is wise to put 5 views or 1 view in a single plugin. Will people only want to use one of my views or will they always use all five.

You should ask that question for every class, package and UI component. If it has any kind of re-usability then you should consider putting it in its own plugin. This way if another application wants to bundle it with their suite they will not have to pull in a whole bunch of dependencies just to use the one view.

In the case of Hannover and the Lotus Expeditor there is no editor in play and pretty much everything is a view. I am already seeing the benefits of have an application assembler build the applications with the portal layout tool and wire the components together the way they see fit. This allows re-usable components to be wired and used in other contexts! Very cool!

The Chief Architect for the Lotus Notes client, Jeff Eisen, is now blogging! You can check his blog out here, I am sure you will see a lot of great information and “myth busting” going on.

Lapland Lake is an amazing place. In the winter it is a cross country sky resort and by summer it is a summer getaway for families that do not want to deal with large numbers of people. If you like fishing, a casual hike and just a home away from home then this the place for you.

A stream on the hike.

Same stream.

Uncle Michael giving words of wisdom to Bobby on the hike.

Natedog and Uncle Michael

The lake on the first morning.