akale

"So what would our mornings look like if we re-engineered them in the interest of maximizing our creative-problem-solving capacities?

We’d set the alarm a few minutes early and lie awake in bed, following our thoughts where they lead (with a pen and paper nearby to jot down any evanescent inspirations). We’d stand a little longer under the warm water of the shower, dismissing task-oriented thoughts (“What will I say at that 9 a.m. meeting?”) in favor of a few more minutes of mental dilation. We’d take some deep breaths during our commute instead of succumbing to road rage. And once in the office — after we get that cup of coffee — we’d direct our computer browser not to the news of the day but to the funniest videos the Web has to offer."

-- Annie Murphy Paul @anniemurphypaul http://ti.me/xq8PrU

Yes. So much yes, that I want to go to sleep right now, so I can wake up tomorrow and try this.

As the subject of this entry suggests, it’s been 228 days since I last wrote in this journal; how disappointing. However, in perspective to time within the universe, 228 days isn’t much, but in a human’s lifetime, so much can change, and in this segment of time, so much has changed, yet so little has changed. Confused yet?

Looking back to the past seven months, here’s a brief overview:

A combined family Christmas
New Year’s Eve with good friends
Wedding planning
Wedding planning
Wedding planning
Wedding planning
Wedding planning
Wedding!
Honeymoon!
Back to work...

Find the theme? In all seriousness, most of our free time was taken up by planning the minutia of our wedding. To this day, I’m baffled by how we put together the largest party of our lives in such short time. Last night, we watched our wedding video for the first time (taken by my Godfather, and uncle), and couldn’t believe by how spectacular it really was. In the moment, you lose track of yourself, time, and all the details you painstakingly planned because you’re so busy with being a newlywed couple. Both my bride and I agreed that without teamwork, it would not have been as successful. All of our guests enjoyed themselves, and we still hear about how well appointed the venue was. ‘Twas a day that we wanted not to be ever forgotten, not by us, nor by any of our family and friends.

With that said, our adventure to the island of Kauai was well deserved (as any who have planned a wedding can attest to). It was paradise, plain and simple. We enjoyed every aspect of being away from responsibility, reveling in each other, and our achievement. The scenery was magnificent, and if any who read this ever have the opportunity to visit, I behoove you to before you are unable. I have traveled quite a bit, and have seen some wonderful places, but this island is majestic in a sense that can only paralleled to a prehistoric place. It was explained to us that Kauai was the oldest out of the main islands, and it most certainly shows.

This photo was taken at the start of our drive through the Waimea Canyon.


Having returned from our trip to paradise and completed a majority of our post-wedding obligations, we’re ready to embark on a new adventure of selling our current home, and finding a new one to satisfy our current and future needs.

I’ll be keeping this journal as a public view of my paper/pencil journal as it has generally been in the past. Feel free to check back from time to time, and I’ll make sure post more frequently.

For a while now, I’ve been alluding to working on a project without providing any details on what it is. I figured that it’s about time I mention something a bit more concrete to my only real on-line thought repository.

Several years ago, a few folks wanted to start a web based forum for like minded automobile enthusiasts that weren’t quite happy with the current state of affairs at the site we were all on. Fast forward 3+ years, and our little community has grown to 301 members, averaging about 2550 views and 60 posts a day. This may not sound like much, but I’m really quite happy with how well it’s kept together.

From a technical perspective, the site runs a normal LAMP stack, on a slice with only 256MB of RAM. Yep. That’s right. Skin/Bones. I had to optimize the db and web servers significantly. On top of that, I have APC and memcache running in the background to help with streamlining content to the webserver. Overall, quite pleased.

A little more than a year ago, some members asked for the ability to synchronize the site’s calendar entries to their mobile devices/personal calendars. After whiteboarding a couple of ideas, I decided that an integration with Google Calendar would be the safest bet, as users have the ability to sync through whatever means Google Calendar supports (e.g. ics, xml, etc.). The challenge was to provide an automated mechanism to synchronize calendar entries to a Google Calendar.

Development from start to finish really took about eight months. In the process, I learned *quite* a bit about PHP, and I’m really happy with the end result. There are a few features that I’d like to add in the future, but for now, not only is it working well on the site it was meant for, but it’s deployed on a few other sites as well.

The name of the project is called gCalSync. Releases happen here at simplemachines, and the sourcecode is housed here on my own subversion server.

I’m really quite happy with how it turned out. I hadn’t written anything worthwhile since late 2003, and this was my first real attempt at getting back “into it”. In addition to porting this to the next major release of SMF, I’m working on another small project with the help of a couple of friends, and hope to make it more public in the near future.

While reviewing code this afternoon, for a personal project that I’m working on, I realized that I had already solved a problem that I had been struggling with for a couple of weeks. The reason I felt compelled to write about it here is because I occasionally encounter moments like these, especially when working on a technical problem.

Ever since I was young, I would wear headphones and listen to music without lyrics when working on technical problems. It helped focus my busy state of mind on the issue at hand, and I would find myself taking them off hours later completely unaware of how much time had passed. Even now, I really can’t focus without having a pair of headphones on. I understand the concept of learned response, and I can bet that wearing headphones every time I embarked on a mentally strenuous exercise definitely affixed the association in my head.

The strangest part about all of this is that when I look at solutions that I devised while wearing headphones when not wearing them, it takes me quite a while to figure it out. There have been times where I couldn’t believe that I had solved a problem so elegantly.

The solution that I was reviewing minutes before I posted was not as elegant as others, but what impressed me was at how complete it was. For weeks now, I had thought the problem was left to be solved from scratch without even a ‘back of napkin’ solution.

It’s nice to surprise yourself sometimes. :)

As mentioned in my previous post about Photography, I was finally able to process and edit the pictures from a couple of weekends ago. Compared to pictures from the past, between composure, exposure, and post-processing, these are the best I’ve ever taken.

In the 4+ years that I’ve owned the XTi (I know I mentioned this in the previous post), I’ve learned an incredible amount, and I realized that a lot of it is becoming comfortable with your own equipment. Naturally, most cameras have the shutter release in the same general area, and the procedure to zoom is the same on most SLRs, but the nuances of each rig (body+lens) are completely different. You only start to realize them as you shoot more frequently, and you analyze the result. I was really impressed by the results from this set, and I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

Update: I've moved my hosted photos from my own server to Flickr. I haven't had yet an opportunity to synchronize the sets, but once I do, I'll update the links below.

( Choice cuts from the set... )

A couple of weeks ago, a virtual machine that I use at work on a daily basis started acting up. Granted, it was an image that I had created from the host machine several years ago, it was working as well as Windows is generally able to run. Usually, after an OS install, I tend to strip out all of the unneeded software and disable non-essential services to conserve system resources. I had run through the gamut on this particular machine when I converted it to a VM, but overtime, between updates via ‘Patch Tuesday’, and general enforcement by the organization, it was struggling to keep up with the multitasking. In addition, I had the latest and greatest of all the latest application software (read: Office), which I had suspected was digging into resources more than any suite should.

Two weeks ago, an issued service had pegged the poor VM at 100% utilization... for 4.5 days straight. The one and only fan on the poor portable machine was at the heat’s mercy. I was impressed that it didn’t seize after spinning at its highest intensity for the duration of the ‘possession’.

This morning, I set out to build a new VM to replace it. All said and done, with the optimizations in place, Windows, Office(2003), and our case management system are running in ~595MB of RAM, with under 10% utilization off of one processor core.

Mission Accomplished.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to work on my photography skills. Being surrounded by nature always lends to a feeling of solace and peace (which I would hope most people experience), and consequently, I feel like the pictures I take always fair better.

To make a long story short, the VM I use to do my photo editing in decided to die a miserable death on Monday night. I spent the majority of last night rebuilding it (I know. I know. Take a snapshot this time), and using whatever time was left to import the pictures from the weekend. I was genuinely impressed. Usually, I only get 1 or 2 shots that I like out of a set, but out of the 160+ that I took over 2.5 days, I can see 10+ making it to my favorite list.

When I first bought this camera, I was only experienced in using compact digitals where the flexibility offered was close to nil (although, by suggestion, I visited Flickr the other day, searched for cameras that I had previously owned, and was in awe by some of the photos that were taken with the same camera(s)). I’ve learned a lot in the past 4 years about exposure, specifically on how to use aperture and shutter speed in concert to produce the photos that I want. Evolving from having a dependence on aperture or shutter priority, to being comfortable in full manual mode was a significant achievement, and the results show.

Using Lightroom, I’m able to cross-reference ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture to understand why a specific combination was chosen. Adding an individual photo’s histogram to the mix only makes it easier. Overall, I’m really glad I invested in the camera when I did. Right now is the perfect time for me to become better, so that when the photos matter, I won’t be fumbling around while missing ‘the shot’.

Once I get done editing the set from this weekend, I’ll post a couple here, and the rest will be in their usual place.

The other day, I received an e-mail from a good friend of mine mentioning how he was at a crossroads regarding his career, unsure of the direction that he should go in. The transmission was more of a vent, than a request for help; I decided to reply with advice since I had mentally suffered the same level of anguish only days before.

At this point in our lives, we're deciding what our ultimate goal is going to be. Some have large goals, some have small goals, and some are content with living day to day, appreciating each and every moment that they experience from eyes open to eyes shut.

However, some decide from the get-go that there's one grand achievement that they're striving toward, and each step they take is one toward this goal. My friend had reached a point in his journey where he had two choices, but was completely indecisive about which he should take. The reason he was unsure, was because he wasn't looking at his proverbial big picture, his ultimate goal.

I know it's easier said than done, but some people get so lost in the day-to-day grind, that they forget what they're driving toward. A while back, I decided what my pinnacle would be, and I started to become more comfortable with the point at which I'm at in my career. My friend needed to firmly decide his pinnacle, so that he could make choices that would help him reach that point.

My advice to him was to discover his pinnacle (if he hadn't already), and then pick the path that would best get him to that point. If both paths merge at the pinnacle, than the choice to pick is the one that you feel the most comfortable with at that moment in time.

Coincidentally, a couple of days ago, a colleague approached me with the same problem, and despite his pinnacle being completely different than the friend that e-mailed me, the decision making process was the same. He should pick the path that will best help him achieve his pinnacle.

I suppose I knew early on what my pinnacle was, but I never really accepted it until a few years ago. A human's mental evolution throughout his/her life is really amazing, and I'm honored that I have the capacity to be able to reflect on my own life.

I've kept a paper journal since I was 11, and despite the occasional gaps, it's kept me well abreast of the cycles that I encounter in my life. For those of that don't write, I suggest starting. It will provide a wealth of knowledge about your own decision making progress as you move forward in your life.

Today is my 30th birthday. To think that three decades have passed since I was born is really inconceivable. On one hand, I feel like I haven’t accomplished much in this time, but then looking back, and reviewing the individual achievements helps me understand that the phase of my life that just come to a close was defined by one word: education. Every experience endured, decision made (or not made), was part of a process to understand the mechanics of my specific life, and the interaction with others. True, this learning process is never ending, and constantly evolves, but overall, the majority of an individual’s habits are defined during this time. Is the next phase to teach? When I posed this question to my mom this morning, she stated that Socrates once stated that no one can become a professor until the age of 50. I’ll have to do research on this one, but I’m sure she has it right. ;-)

I’m excited to what the future holds. I know that there are certain themes in my life that have persisted since I was a child, and I’m aware now that these themes have become a part of me. I’ve learned the cycle(s) that my life follows, and I now have to leverage what I’ve learned to become a better person.

With age, comes experience, comes knowledge, and the desire to teach.

I’m impressed by the amount of neurological research that’s being pursued lately. The fact that we, as humans, have finally reached a point at which we have the technology to pursue advancements in the neurosciences is inspiring. Today, a blog entry was posted at the Technology Review regarding research on a ‘A Chemical to Grow Brain Cells’. I remembered that I had this entry saved [to comment on] regarding an article posted on the same site regarding research on ‘Helping the Brain to Help Itself’ and decided to combine my thoughts on both as they’re so closely related.

Due to trauma and disease, humans have been unsuccessfully struggling with neurological damage. As a growing number of people are impacted, researchers continue to pursue the ultimate solution: neuron regeneration. The article posted in May states that a team of researchers found a way to transform astroglia cells within the brain and spinal column, into functioning neurons. By using gene research, in addition to recruiting inactive viruses, they were able to re-recruit these cells into joining the neural fold. Growing up, I remember thinking about how far we were from realizing truth out of science fiction, and today, time and time again, it occurs. Stem cell research was the most significant type of research into transforming one type of cell into another, and now, the same methodology is being used across the entire medical field.

On the other side, researchers are also pursuing methods to increase growth of neurons in the brain by understanding the various growth factors, and ‘adjusting’ them to boost normal production. The latest blog entry that I mentioned earlier discusses how researchers have closed in on a protein in rats that protects new neurons from dying off, ultimately resulting in more new neurons. My only fear with this type of technology is the potential for runaway growth, potentially causing brain cancer. The systems in the human body work in congruence to prevent any one system and/or cell from burdening the collective, and I’m afraid that while research is looking into providing solutions to prevent loss of life by disease/trauma, that the potential for a negative outcome is inevitable.

Overall, I am ecstatic by the ongoing research within the neurosciences, and I look forward to the day, when neurological disease/trauma can be thwarted by these creative solutions.