Accepting Mediocrity
Why do we so easily accept mediocrity in our software environments? Is it sometimes the right thing to do? When is it a good idea to push for a better way even if it will incur an initial cost? About 6...
View ArticleBad Morning
"i got the blues this morning just trying to make it through" - from Talk To You by King'x X. Man I couldn't catch a break this morning. Traffic everywhere, I hit every light in town on my way to work....
View ArticleOLAP Java
Data modeling is one thing I don't hear much about in the Java developer community. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places. It seems people want to talk about web applications, O/R tools,...
View ArticleMissing Piece of the Maven Puzzle
I liked Maven 1, at least in concept, because it put some usage patterns around Ant. Sure, there were times when I didn't want to mold my project into the Maven way, but if I was willing to make some...
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Gear Test
My wife and I have always enjoyed hiking. For as long as we've known each other we've talked about going on backpacking trips. I finally decided to quit talking and start doing. For her birthday I...
View ArticleDisconnected
Isn't it ironic that in Western society we have so many tools to be electronically "connected" but are so personally disconnected? I got to thinking about this after reading something my lovely bride...
View ArticleTiles: Buried In The Sand?
Ok, so I'm a slow mover. My motto is that if I were any more relaxed I'd be asleep. I never make a rash decision. And it takes me forever to get anything done. Just ask my wife :-) But I am determined...
View ArticleStupid Ideas
"That canoe parked in front of Conway Block isn't there for decoration." Quote of the day from a recent article in our local newspaper. The article is about how our city was built in a bowl and the...
View ArticleSpontaneous Camping
For about 3 weeks now we've been planning a camping trip for this past weekend. Usually, when we go camping with the family it takes a whole truckload of gear. We have 2 big plastic bins full of...
View ArticleA Bunch of Idiots
I think Johnny Damon was on to something when he spoke of his '04 Boston Red Sox team as "a bunch of idiots." He was part of a group that was about to do amazing things. When the Sox were down 3 games...
View ArticleScandal of the Evangelical Mind
A friend loaned me the book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind after several conversations we've had about the state of the modern American Church - specifically evangelical churches. Our...
View ArticleNon-Corporate Personality
I work for a small company (at least small compared to what I'm accustomed to). I work in the corporate office, a group that has traditionally been small and very tight-knit. The company has...
View ArticleLife On The Li'l Mo'
For as long as we've known each other Tanya and I have had an interest in backpacking. We'd talked about it, dreamed about it, read about it, taken classes about it. But we'd never done it. All that...
View ArticleTrolls Under The Bridge
Well, the Struts troll-diggers are at it again and this time it's personal. It started with this, gets a bit worse here and here. Ok, so it's not exactly a direct personal attack but it is sort of an...
View ArticleJavaOne Day One: Tuesday, May 19
NOTE: I took notes and kept a journal throughout the conference but haven't had time to edit it all into decent posts. So this is the first in a series of JavaOne-related posts of my experiences here...
View ArticleJavaOne Day Two: Wednesday, May 20
Well, I'm finally back from my long trip and here's my synopsis of Day 2. Instead of talking up each session I'm going to just give a description of the day as a whole.Seam - Gavin King really caused...
View ArticleJavaOne Day Three: Thursday, May 21
JSF Component Development - This session further convinced me of the value of JSF. The ability to develop custom UI components that are reusable (and not difficult to use) is really powerful. The nice...
View ArticleJavaOne Day Four: Friday, May 22
Well, it's Friday. JavaOne is almost over. My brain is full. Part of me is glad I have a vacation next week, but part of me wants to get back and start trying to implement the things I've picked up...
View ArticleLooking for Paradise (in all the wrong places).
We don't live in a large city. In many ways we get the best of both worlds. We have an urban lifestyle and some amenities of large cities, but we don't have to put up with the high prices, horrible...
View ArticleMaximum Plunkability
What I'm looking for in a web application architecture is "plunkability." I'm not overly impressed by frameworks that will get me started in 15 minutes. I really don't mind some complexity if it comes...
View ArticleBe My Neighbor
A string of letters in the local newspaper has caused me to think about community. This post is an expanded version of a comment I left on one of those letters. It seems to me that we often ask the...
View ArticleBlue Blazes
At Christmas we stocked up on some outdoor essentials we were missing. We now have a pocket-sized stove, a water filter, and a tent that can survive the elements. Since Tanya is pregnant it looks...
View ArticleBaptists Unite Against Homeschooling?
Boy I just love titles that incite flamewars! It's actually not nearly as bad as it sounds, but it might be pretty bad depending on how you want to interpret it. My wife pointed me to an article and...
View ArticleUnsettled
Do you ever have an unsettled feeling you can't explain? Today was a long day. It was a long day at work and a quick dinner. Then we went to a concert by one of the black gospel singers in our...
View ArticleA Bazaar Inside the Cathedral
There are some practices widely used in the bazaar that seem useful inside the cathedral. In fact, the things I appreciate about agile development theory seem to be trying to open up a bazaar in the...
View ArticleOld Earth and Intelligent Design
Earlier this week we spent a couple days in a cabin at Crowley's Ridge. To understand Crowley's Ridge you need to know something about eastern Arkansas. Here's the best way I can describe it: A few...
View ArticleOpening Day
Springtime is here at last. It's warming up, my walks are slowly transitioning into bike rides, things are turning green, and the bats are cracking again. I love fall and winter and early spring for...
View ArticleStill Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Perfect theology is not enough. Deeply authentic and fervent praise and worship are not enough. Neither perfect theology nor perfect worship exist, but if those two things and nothing else existed in a...
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Jace Has Arrived
I wrote my last post at about midnight on July 25. About 5 hours later Tanya woke me up saying it was "time." We took our time, both had showers, made coffee, etc. before going to the hospital. At...
View ArticleHospitals Suck (and a bit of a redux)
I guess God was mad at me for saying my church didn't feel like a family :-) He certainly proved to me over the last week that they indeed are my family. Last Monday night we began an experience that...
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Tour de White Oak
Our oldest daughter, Emma, is now learning to ride her bike without training wheels. Daddy couldn't be prouder! She's still a bit wobbly, but she's finding her feet.
View ArticleChain of Fools
Since it was introduced several years ago I have been a huge fan of Commons Chain. I've found uses for it in almost every enterprise project I've been part of since. My favorite aspect of Chain is...
View ArticleTrail Log: Off the Beaten Path
This weekend was our annual trek to a "cabin in the woods" for Tanya's birthday. This time we visited the Mountain Breeze cabin hosted by the Buffalo Outdoor Center outside Ponca, AR on the Buffalo...
View ArticleShare The Road
It never ceases to amaze me how little respect drivers show for cyclists and pedestrians on the roads these days. As this article points out there is an increasing number of accidents involving...
View ArticleCovenant Journey
This is the beginning of a long theological journey for which I do not have a roadmap of the end. For the better part of this year most of my time in the Scriptures has been spent studying covenants....
View ArticleCovenants: Triggers and Questions
The thing that triggered my covenant study was a question. I've always wondered what the "method of salvation" was in the Old Testament. The OT doesn't say a lot about eternal life, at least not nearly...
View ArticleCovenant Crash Course (Part 1)
Before we can wrestle with the Scripture we must know what it says. Here is an unforgivably short discussion of the major covenants in Scripture. I'm sure I've left something out and/or misstated...
View ArticleCovenant Crash Course (Part 2)
In the previous post I summarized the Covenants given to Noah and Abraham. This post summarizes the covenants with Moses and David and the "New Covenant". It will be a bit longer as it also speaks of...
View ArticleObama, Jesus, and Me
How's that for a title to get everyone's attention :-) No this is not an endorsement, merely a commentary. I know you're not supposed to talk about politics and religion so I'll just break both of...
View ArticleBittersweet
Yesterday was a bittersweet moment for us. Our family has far outgrown the Jeep Cherokee we bought 11 years ago, and it was time to let go of it. It was the first car Tanya and I bought after we were...
View ArticleCamping Light
Camping, especially backcountry camping, can be a very eye-opening experience with regard to environmental stewardship. If you camp in a state park that has all the amenities like bathrooms and trash...
View ArticleThe Locust Year
I haven't talked to many people who "miss" 2009. On a personal level I must say, considering all that happened last year, we had a really good year. But I'm involved in a project at work that didn't...
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