A Week of Running

April 10, 2011 By

A little over a year ago, my brother invited me to go running with him.  It was going to be a short jog, just a mile or so, and I decided to join him.  Sadly, I barely made it a block before I could no longer breathe and had to stop.

That 1 mile run took me almost 20 minutes to complete … with lots of walking all along the way.  In a word, it was embarassing.

So I started working on my running in the gym.  First I worked on the ellipticals, pushing myself to run farther and faster every time.  Once I was ready, I upgraded to the treadmill and was once again reduced to slow walk/runs that took far too long.

A year of training finally came to a head last Sunday.  I woke up before the crack of dawn, grabbed some Gatorade, drove downtown … and ran in my first ever half-marathon.

One year took me from barely making it to the end of the block to running a half marathon (that’s 13.1 miles for those of you keeping track) in just under 3 hours.  To say I’m proud of that accomplishment would be a vast understatement. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, In the Life Tagged With: , , ,

Development Fail

April 1, 2011 By

I know, “fail” is a disallowed word in this day and age, but it’s still very appropriate for this situation.  Earlier today, fellow developer Travis Northcutt alerted us all to a problem with the Pearson Higher Education website: .bbpBox53838953610092540 {background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1301438647/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #C0DEED;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

Wow. http://pearsonhighered.com/ loads a ~165,000 line .css file. Yes, you read that right. ~3.5MB. I don’t know what to say.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckTravis Northcutt
tnorthcutt

I immediately launched Firebug so I could track down the issue.  It turned out, the main stylesheet – the file that determines the look and presentation of the page – was over 3MB.  That might not seem like much in the day of high-definition movies and large hard drives, but a 3MB text file was preventing anything else from loading on the page.

A few other developers gave up loading the site after 10 or 15 seconds.  I sat through the entire download and, 30 seconds later, was looking at the clean, polished Pearson Higher Education website.

I was a bit confused, though.  The site is well put-together, but nothing about it should require a 165,000-line stylesheet definition.  I took a look at the source and discovered the problem.

The entire stylesheet was comprised of a 165-line block … repeated 999 times!

My first instinct was to email the developer directly (he was kind enough to leave his email address in the stylesheet) to alert him of the problem.  Since the stylesheet listed its creation date as 2009, and since I wanted to be extra nice, I even tracked down the “report an issue with our website” page on Pearson’s site.

Unfortunately, the form was broken and refused to submit!

I did notice that, by the afternoon, someone related to the site had cut out the extra 998 repetitions of the stylesheet, reducing it back to something resembling a sane document.  But this still shows how quickly a website can be destroyed by a developer or system administrator not paying attention.

Filed Under: Development, Focus Tagged With: ,

Zubeo.com

November 24, 2009 By

Zubeo HomepageClient: Zubeo, Inc.

Scope: Web development (coding only)

Description: Using a graphical layout and theme designed by Morange, I developed a custom interactive content management system for Zubeo’s new website.  The framework featured custom URL rewriting, an interactive media showcase, and parsed information from two separate SQL databases.

The website framework also allows for custom landing pages for corporate partners.  The custom landing pages are rolled in to the software download feature to enable server-side traffic tracking and filtering.

Languages: VB.NET, MS SQL, C#, Javascript, XHTML 1.1

Filed Under: Portfolio

Driver’s License

September 14, 2009 By

I originally got my driver’s license on my 18th birthday.  At the time, I was required to bring in proof of my SSN, proof that I was a US citizen (my birth certificate), and proof of my identity and date of birth (once again, my birth certificate).  For all of the documentation I had to supply to get my license in the first place, it makes sense that this is now the most widely used form of ID by agencies such as Homeland Security for identifying people (think back to the last time you got on an airplane). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Focus Tagged With: ,

Backpacking

September 11, 2009 By

I once read a very good book that introduced some groundbreaking operations management techniques.  Ironically, the author claimed to have stumbled upon the philosophies while hiking with a group of Boy Scouts.  He observed behaviors among the group and easily transferred his learnings to the workplace. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Archival

The 10 Commandments of Blogging

September 9, 2009 By

Just like every Wednesday before this, today brings yet another list of rules for the marketing world.  Although this week, we’re more on the topic of self-marketing (specifically self-branding).  Here are 10 simple rules to follow to use blogging effectively in your business, career, and even job search. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Focus

This week in sports

September 4, 2009 By

Last night was the season opening game for the UO Ducks – my alma mater and hand’s down favorite sports team.  I’ve been waiting for the season opening game all week and made sure I was prepared for it.  I wore my duck gear to work, grilled brauts, and moved my schedule around so nothing would interfere with kickoff (I even turned my cell phone off!) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Archival

The 10 Commandments of Vacation

September 2, 2009 By

If you neglect your marketing, your product will suffer.  Likewise, if you neglect your own well-being, your marketing will suffer.  Everyone needs a break, so even if you’re a workaholic you need to take a vacation from time to time.  Here are ten simple rules to follow while on vacation to make the most of your time off. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Focus

I’m Back!

August 31, 2009 By

Unfortunately, my plane got in last night far later than I expected … so I haven’t had time to put together a true report about my trip.  In the hope that you’ll forgive me for a day or so, here’s at least a video from the trip.  Tuesday morning we got up early and drove from the lava-covered desert to the lush tropical forest for some zipline fun.  This video (amateur, I know) captures the majority of the excursion: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, In the Life

Vacation

August 21, 2009 By

I had hoped to get some posts scheduled for next week while I’m on vacation … but I failed in that regard.  Rather than give you some half-cooked nonsense, I’ve elected to wait until I get back from Hawaii to publish my stuff.  What I’ve got is pretty good; I just want some more time to let it simmer before publication. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Archival
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