Category: Rants

  • Semi Rant: Absolute Position when it’s relative

    I have long been against absolute position. I always felt it the “lazy” way out. Until recently, I’ve seen the light. Absolute positioning works extremely well inside of a relative position. In fact it works so well, that it reduces my browser testing time because IT IS actually consistent!

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  • Three-month work-life retrospective

    Just over three months ago, I posted a few memorable blogs (for me) in regards to a career change.  The career change has been made and I thought I would share my retrospective on how it has affected me.

    Following the format of the retrospectives I have been over the past 3 months, I’ll start with a check in word:

    Rejuvenated

    Making the move from an 85% managerial role to a 100% development role has completely rejuvenated me.  In the past three months I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge and furthered myself as a person and a developer.

    Moving along to the next items:

    • What do I want to stop doing?
    • What do I want to start doing?
    • What do I want to continue doing?

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  • Finding That Inner Calm

    I’ve played sports my entire life and I find certain sports for me it’s easier to find that inner calm.  When your head is clear and only exactly what you are about to do matters.  This is always when I’m at my best.  Everything around me slows down, if I’m aiming at something, the target becomes clearer – almost as if I’m pulling the target to me – and there is no way I can miss it.

    I wish I could say this statement is true when I’m writing code like a CASE Statement in SQL.  Oftentimes, my mind is racing with needing to get something done and having a thousand more things to do.  At times it can take me a little while before I realize that I’m actual moving slower because my mind isn’t focused.

    I’ve found a great technique that I’ve learned by playing golf that helps me focus better!

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  • If You Don’t Start You Won’t Finish

    I really wish that I didn’t need to tell myself this 5 to 10 times a day, but unfortunately it’s always just too easy to not start.

    If you don’t have kids, you truly have no understanding of how many toys they have and how much of a mess they make.  If you only have 1 kid, it’s probably a lot, but I’ve been blessed with 3 – and let me tell you that each and every day there is at least 10 to 15 minutes of clean up in every room!

    The honest truth of the matter is though, if I don’t start, it won’t get done – unlike the story about the Shoemaker and the Elves, they are not coming to clean my house each day!

    This of course is a very simple example, but I find this reminder useful even at work.

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  • What Do You Care Most About When Reviewing Someone Else’s Code?

    I wrote an article a few months ago called Compelling Interview Questions where buried deep in the middle under several open-ended technical questions I asked the question “What Do You Care Most About When Reviewing Someone Else’s Code?”

    The funny part about this when you read a few lines below I follow it up with I’m not looking for anything in particular; just some generic catch-phrases that most people throw out there.  E.g. properly indented code, no large comment blocks, documentation to explain a complex block of code, etc…

    Ask me today what I expect from this question and my answer is totally different!  Today being as I write this article – ask me in the present and let’s see if my answer changes…

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