Jason’s Random Thoughts

Where does the time go?

It seems like only a week ago that my countdown showed 38 days, but now it’s rolling under 21.  As my trip to Japan edges ever closer I’m beginning to wonder whether I’ll have everything ready in time.  For the moment I still need to get a few little things, like a new suitcase that won’t bust open during airport baggage handling and some stocking stuffers for Reiko-chan.  I still haven’t found the perfect gift for Reiko’s family and, of course, I’ll need to get some money converted to Japanese Yen, too.

Last time I went to Japan, I was there for 9 days and managed to spend less than $900.  This time I’ll be in Japan for 13 days and can only bring about the same.  There will be some extra expenses this time, too.  The trip from Narita Airport in Tokyo to the train station in Gifu will be about $100.  And then the train from Nagoya to Osaka when I return will be about $50.  Will nine hundred be enough?

Accessing my Canadian money is not very easy when I’m in Japan.  Last May I was forced to draw money from my MasterCard when running low on cash, and this could only be done at a Post Office during regular business hours (not all ATM’s operate 24 hours a day, there).  I’ll admit that the exchange rate during these transactions was much better than expected, but I really don’t want to resort to this unless necessary.

So there’s the question … just how much should I bring in cash?

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Writing software is a wonderful thing.  When done properly, the source code can look like a piece of art and the application is smooth, responsive and meets all requirements for the target users.  When done poorly … well, we’ve all had experiences with programs that were more of a headache than necessary.

At work today I was forced to use a old technique called DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) in order to provide a small utility to bridge the gap between a 10 year old version of GoldMine to a MySQL database hosted on a server somewhere on the planet.  For the last few days I’ve been struggling with undocumented APIs to make this little utility work without resorting to DDE, as this older technology is too slow to be effectively useful on a grand scale.

When I asked why we didn’t simply upgrade the base software (GoldMine) to a newer version that supported running on a current SQL database, the answer came back “We don’t need it.  Half the functions in this old application aren’t being used, either.”  Which made me think of today’s title.

Quite frankly, I’m surprised that there is so much software available on the market.  I’m surprised that there are so many software developers that are making a living off their skill.  It’s not that I don’t believe that people should have several options when selecting software, as I believe that MS Word has been better than WordPerfect ever since WordPerfect started writing Windows software.  Having a varied market certainly keeps vendors on their toes, and helps provide a stronger reason for developers to deliver consistent levels of quality.

The thing that really surprises me is that we don’t have enough options to choose from, yet.  For most software applications, people really only know how to do the bare minimum of the application.  People who know 20% of the functions in any given program are considered “Power Users”.  People who know more than 40% are often technical trainers or application documenters.

Do we really need an update to Microsoft Office?  How many new functions could there possibly be in Word or Excel?  Will non-elite’s even use these functions?

Microsoft Office was perfect (in my opinion) with their 97 release.  The whole Office 97 package was compact, efficient and easily usable.  Since that time the User Interface has become more cluttered, functions have become buried in excessive menu lists, and features that 1% of the user base cares about have become standard.  Why does this software package need constant updating?

Some custom software packages can have this same argument.  When a business is content with the packages that they have now, why would they want to pay money for needless upgrades and the requisite training cycles?

My work is currently in the middle of determining whether it would be worthwhile to replace much of our core software with an off-the-shelf package from a large vendor.  We currently have software in place that does everything the company needs to do, and over half of it lies unused because the users just haven’t found the need to use the extra functionality.  Why spend money, time and resources when the energies can be focussed elsewhere?

For the last four years, I’ve been pushing really hard to bring the software at work up to 1999 standards.  In some areas I’ve succeeded, and in others we’re still using DOS.  Perhaps I need to ask myself the same questions that I’ve posited here.  If it works now, why change it?

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2007 is almost here, and I must admit that I couldn’t be happier.  I’ll ring in the new year with Reiko by my side and a full 12 hours ahead of anyone in my immediate family.  This coming year should be a bumper year, as many of the struggles of the past are being resolved.

Looking back on the last 11 months, 2006 was a restructuring year.  I met Reiko in January, and later went to Japan to see her, her family, and some of the country.  I managed to pay off several of my past debts.  And I even managed to resolve several of the issues that had bothered me for years.

2007 looks like it will be one of three types of years:

1. a busy year, where I will be working incredibly hard to accomplish many of the goals set for 2008.
2. a drastic change year, similar to when I moved to BC with 3 days notice, only this would be more drastic
3. a fully-preplanned year, where everything that’s already been planned will fall in place just as it should

Of course, this last option would make for a very boring year, but it would certainly be a nice change of pace.  Unless something really amazing opens up in Japan for me, I highly doubt that 2007 will be a drastic year (but one never ignores opportunity when it comes knocking).  Though it’s the first option that I believe will be the most likely.

There are several things that need to occur next year within a very tight timeframe, and this makes me wonder whether it’s even workable for me.  I’m currently talking with some people to see what kind of financial gains I could make in the coming months, and so long as a few things fall through, I should be able to set aside a small portion for 2008.  All of this relies on one simple thing …

… I can’t be stupid.

Let’s see if I can rise to the occasion this time.

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It’s still snowing outside …

I know it’s such a simple little thing, but I’ve just added a cool little check to the load of this page that will see whether someone is using a PPC device before deciding which version of the site to load.  There are two main pages for this site.  The one with all the graphics and Java that is seen on desktop browsers, and the one that is very simplified text that is used for mobile devices where data costs 5 cents / KB (give or take).  By adding a very simple HTTP_USER_AGENT command in my index.php file and looking for the “PPC” string, I’m able to redirect as necessary.

Yeah, this is a pretty simple thing, really.  But I thought it was rather cool.

For the past four years I’ve focussed pretty heavily on the Microsoft technologies available with VB and C#.  I was accustomed to seeing things in a very broken apart way.  However, now that I’m learning more and more PHP, I can see that the MS direction was the wrong direction to follow for so long.

Several people have told me about the power and versatility of PHP and the newer web languages, but I had held grudges against them, and by extension, everything they favored.  However, as I try to grow up just a little more, I can see why they had promoted these technologies while I was content to work with smart-client apps written mainly in VB.net with a SQL2000 back-end.

One of the funniest items that I’ve noticed is that a LAMP server will run on almost anything.  Given enough time, I’m sure a digital Timex watch could host a server.  This is not the case with the Microsoft technologies, where a pretty robust machine is required just for the base OS and IIS (not to mention everything else that typically gets dumped onto a web server).  My LAMP consists of a simple 200 MHz RISC processor with 32 MB ram.  It’s all condensed inside a little enclosure just large enough to hold the main circuit board and a 3.5″ HDD.  Sure, it’s not the fastest box in the world, but it gets the job done.

Of course I think I’ve pretty much reached the end of what I can do on a personal site.  In order for me to learn the next level of functions and technologies, I’ll need to work with something a little more powerful, and develop a solution that will push my infantile knowledge of PHP and MySQL even further.  At work there is a development BSD box that hosts several of our test sites.  I think it’s time I start pushing the company to afford my training.  Depending on what decisions are made in the next four months by management, this learning time could be later put to very effective use.

I know I said that I wouldn’t make this site a geek discussion … but sometimes the simplest things can spur me on to learn the next level of a particular skill.  Depending on how much I can learn between now and January 2008, the future might be a little brighter for Reiko and myself.

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The snow is still falling.

It looks as though I might just be working from home, tomorrow … which means barely working as most of the tools I need are on the network at work, which is not directly accessible to me outside.

There have been reports that Vancouver will have about 40 cm of snow fall in total.  This is a pretty big amount for a city that hasn’t seen 40 cm in the last 5 years combined.  I’m not all that concerned about it, and it was pretty funny to see some of the accidents and hear about how the busses couldn’t make it up and down certain hills.  Funny in retrospect, that is.

The nice thing about what I do and where I work is that it can take place pretty much anywhere.  If I were to configure my notebook properly, I could easily do everything for my employer from any place on the planet where internet was available.  This would be a great thing for me to exploit … if I could exploit it the way I’ve wanted to for the last six months.

Reiko is in Japan, and I am in Canada.  Long distance relationships are so very hard on both people … and I really don’t like how I can’t offer my help to Reiko when she needs it the most.  I’ve asked my employer if I could work from Japan for a while, but unfortunately, this cannot occur.  There are too many things that need to be done face-to-face … and because of this, I can’t quite telecommute.

Of course, this doesn’t stop me from trying.

Either way … I’ll see how much snow is on the ground tomorrow at 6 am.  If there is a sizable amount, then I will not walk through the slush and cold just to put in my eight hours in a chilly office.  It’s been a while since I last telecommuted … and working from home is often more productive, for lack of distractions.

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