From the Alps to the Green Mountains
Melanie and I do live a charmed life. As we left Nice, France this morning I saw one of the most beautiful views of the snow covered French Alps I have ever seen. I was kicking myself for not having my camera on hand. But the charmed life doesn’t end there. Once we arrive in New York we are driving up to the green mountains of Vermont. Funny, the first real snow I have seen this season was this morning flying over the Alps but the first real snow I will ride on is in Killington, Vermont only 24 hours later. Yes indeed, a charmed life.
Xbox Live
I am finally enjoying the Xbox Live experience with two new games, Top Spin and Amped 2. Both games are a blast and both have quickly become my favorites. But what I really like about both is the online play through Xbox Live.
A Practical Guide to XP
I just finished reading the book A Practical Guide to eXtreme Programming, which I found to be very refreshing and motivating. Although I have heard a lot about XP over the years I didn’t really understand it completely or know all of the principals and practices of the process. I found it interesting that many of the concepts are things I believe in today although admittedly I tend not to follow. Testing first is one example. I have worked on one project where I used this approach but I have to change and start doing it for all projects.
One myth about XP cleared up for me after reading this book was around documentation or more specially the misbelief that XP prompts no documentation. I have heard this mentioned by others in the past but didn’t know what the real story was to debate it. The truth is that XP does in fact encourage documentation but only the right amount of documentation.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in XP and to opponents of XP who have not read a complete book on the process.
New Snow in Killington
While Melanie and I are enjoy sunny beaches in Hawaii snow is falling in Killington. I can’t wait for my first run of the season.
PhotoRoom v1.4 Just Released
PhotoRoom 1.4 was released earlier today. I am hoping to update this and the wedding site with the latest version later today.
New Book Idea
Thought of an idea for a new book today, The Anti-Management Book: Tips for Overachievers Looking to Underachieve in the Corporate World. Could be a best seller.
Interesting Read
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Hot Key to Lock Windows
I learned something today. You can quickly lock Windows XP using the Windows Key + L key combination. No more Ctrl+Alt+Del, Enter for me.