Advogato blog for ebizo

7 Sep 2007

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 04:49:22 GMT

This is one of the most boring entries you'll every read.

An abbreviated timeline of my programming life:

1978-1979 - I learned BASIC on a copy of the Dartmouth Time-Share System when my dad taught at the US Coast Guard Academy.
1981-1984 - I continued learning BASIC in high school.
1984 - I learned LISP on a dialup to Georgetown University, as wel as participated in the Washington Linguistics Club.
1985-1989 - I got my BA in Linguistics, but didn't get to use computers at Macalester College.
1991-1992 - I helped debug a UNIX point-of-sale system as an advanced user. It used ncurses and was written in C. I started reading UNIX books and Ed Krol's Whole Internet User's Guide (no Web).
1993 - I picked up the first Camel Book, by merlyn, and started learning Perl.
1994 - I did some work on a Washington (DC) freenet uploading text files for the Arlington County (Virginia) public library.
1995-1996 - I started developing the first webpages for the Arlington County (Virginia) website while a clerk at the county public library. Most never see the light of day.
1997-1998 - I learned all about information systems in library school. Never finished my MLIS degree.
1999-2000 - I developed web applications for the DoD in Perl, setting up database tables in Oracle in SQL, tracking everything and managing code with CVS on HP-UX servers and Linux desktops.
2001 - I took a detour at Sprint for six months, used more Perl and Oracle, and learned a whole lot of little things about other systems.
2001-2002 - I was unemployed for 14 months and poked my fingers into a lot of open-source projects all over the web.
2002-2005 - I went back to developing web applications for the DoD. Although there were still a lot Perl apps being maintained and updated, most new web apps were being written in Java with Servlets and JSPs. We eventually created an application with Struts, too. I created several middleware Perl scripts for porting data between systems and learned XSLT (with Java) for transforming XML between formats for loading into databases. I spent a lot of time creating and improving database tables and schemata. I took a formal course in Java.
2005 - I spent two months at West Corporation learning a lot more about telephone systems than I ever learned in six months at Sprint. I learned a lot about VoiceXML, too.
2005-present - I have been developing XSLT solutions for VerizonBusiness (formerly MCI). I have developed lots of amazing things with XSLT, transforming XML into other XML formats, making sure messages get from point A to point B. I spend a lot of time managing CVS and some time wring Perl and Korn shell scripts.
2007-beyond - I've been learning some Haskell, Standard ML, and Python over the years, and this year started learning Ruby. I plan to develop web apps in Ruby on Rail and Django, so I have to get my Ruby and Python skills up to speed. I want to try setting up VOIP services in my home using Asterisk.

Some of my home computers:

Mac mini with 22-inch ViewSonic LCD
black MacBook
Sony Vaio desktop with 20-inch ViewSonic LCD, WinXP
Compaq Presario 15.4-inch widescreen, WinXP
old VA Linux minitower running recent Ubuntu, 20-inch ViewSonic LCD
old Packard Bell, dual-booting Win95 and old RedHat distro, no monitor to call its own

7 Sep 2007

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 03:40:50 GMT

I came back from OSCON and a week later I had a stroke. I'm close to completely recovered now.

19 Jul 2007

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:31:35 GMT

Just a few days and I'll be in Portland, OR, USA, enjoying UbuntuLive and OSCON 2007.

I have a fulltime permanent job now, too.

4 May 2007

Fri, 4 May 2007 00:33:59 GMT

I'm trying to learn a bit of everything these days. I definitely need to learn AJAX and Rails (Ruby).
And I'm planning on being at OSCON for the first time this year.

18 Apr 2007

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:36:02 GMT

"The burning of your craving look..." (Amber)

I love coding on my computers. I'm a registered Apple developer these days. I try to limit my desktop distractions, but there's all these cool toys. I'm thinking of playing with Adobe's Apollo/Flex. Writing apps with Jaiku's API is on my todo list.

3 Sep 2006

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 03:06:17 GMT

OK, I left Michigan last summer, spent three months in Nebraska, and now live back in Colorado. I program mostly in XSLT these days and have added Windows XP and MacOS X machines to my collection of 'puters. :-)

13 Dec 2003

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 18:13:47 GMT

We probably still have work at least until the end of June 2004.

[editted to remove stupid crap] I should keep my mouth shut.

23 Aug 2003

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 14:55:16 GMT

Well, let's see if our contract survives the reorganization where I work. We won't know until the end of September.

I have been working here for 12 months now. Businesses all around where I live keep laying off more workers.

14 Jul 2003

Mon, 14 Jul 2003 15:18:28 GMT

Another year of not being able to attend the Ottawa Linux Symposium. Too much work to do, though I live in Michigan, so I could actually drive. I _so_ want to visit the Glenn Gould exhibit at the National Library of Canada...

We are under a big crunch at work. Lots of things to do, fix, and get into production. :-)

5 Dec 2002

Thu, 5 Dec 2002 05:57:05 GMT

OK. We got the new contract/tasking-order. I've been working since August 19th. I'm assigned to 8 projects in various overlapping capacities.

I was unemployed for 14 months. Don't let it happen to you. But I wish I was doing exciting work in Haskell or something.

[Damn, I should keep my mouth shut.]