graham glass: what's next?

Mon, 31 May 2004 02:54:05 GMT

well, it's time to switch over to my new typepad-based blog. the address is http://grahamglass.blogs.com/main/. that's where all my new postings will be.

Sat, 29 May 2004 07:20:51 GMT

i read the lastest posting from mike cannons-brooke tonight. http://blogs.atlassian.com/rebelutionary/. thanks, mike, for a custom entry! and thanks for explaining the graphic.

Sat, 29 May 2004 07:17:58 GMT

i set up another 25% of the bowflex tonight. phew, it is heavy going. hopefully i'll finish it up tomorrow.

Sat, 29 May 2004 03:01:45 GMT

paintball this sunday. feel the pain!

Sat, 29 May 2004 03:01:05 GMT

something i always enjoy at fairs is knife throwing and axe throwing. if anyone knows where i can get throwing lessons around the D.C. area, please let me know.

Fri, 28 May 2004 03:50:27 GMT

two of my favorite females artists: annie lennox and kate bush. it's a shame that they never recorded a duet together. the mind boggles at what that might have been like. currently ripping: "diva" by annie lennox.

Fri, 28 May 2004 03:45:30 GMT

there's an interesting article about MDA (Model Driven Architecture) on www.theserverside.com. the link is: http://www.theserverside.com/articles/article.tss?l=MDA_Haywood. MDA is primarily about raising the level of abstraction that an application is developed in. rather than code most logic in a low level language like java, you capture the system in a variety of levels (from high to low) that are linked together (both at development time and run time). personally, i think that at least 90% of an application should be defined at a higher level than a language like java. for example, a business process can be defined as a collection of orchestrated steps that specify *what* should happen but not *who* should perform them. this is analysis & design 101 (which incidentally i used to teach in a previous lifetime), but something that almost nobody does in practice. these steps are then linked to services which perform the steps (sometimes called the "task allocation phase"). i think a move towards MDA is as inevitable as the move from assembly to C and C to Java. it's just a matter of time. and another thing about the article that is bogus; an assumption that MDA involves code generation. in general, code generation *sucks*. there's no reason that models should not be directly executable.

Fri, 28 May 2004 03:35:17 GMT

set up about 50% of my bowflex tonight. there are literally hundreds of parts in the six boxes that were delivered. so far, it's been smooth sailing. the assembly instructions are very good, probably the best i've seen.

Fri, 28 May 2004 03:34:18 GMT

ripped another 10 CDs tonight, while doing other stuff. not too bad. most CDs seems to rip at 10x their play time. currently ripping: musicology by prince, one of my favorite artists.

Thu, 27 May 2004 03:31:36 GMT

a lot of people think that modern man (homo sapiens) is millions of years old. in fact, we've only been around for between 100,000 and 200,000 years. which is not long.

Thu, 27 May 2004 03:25:11 GMT

ripped several more CDs to iTunes tonight. it's going to take a *long* time to transfer my entire CD collection, but hopefully worth it in the end.

Thu, 27 May 2004 03:24:13 GMT

made good progress on my new blog tonight. it's nice to be able to edit typepad pages from any browser without having to install any client-side software.

Wed, 26 May 2004 03:27:51 GMT

played around with my mini ipod tonite. in about an hour, i was able to install iTunes, install the windows drivers for the ipod, rip two CDs (police synchronicity, pink floyd the wall live), upload the tunes to the ipod, select a song, play the song, and tweak the volume. i'm listening to "comfortably numb" as i type this entry. as usual, apple has created an awesome user experience, something that all software companies would do well to aspire to.

Wed, 26 May 2004 01:42:45 GMT

i just signed up for typepad pro, and it seems a lot easier to use than userland. here's my new url: http://grahamglass.blogs.com/main/. there isn't any content yet, and i'm going to spend a few days playing around with it before committing to the switch. but so far, they provide a great user experience that is very fun and intuitive. there is a *lot* to be said for instant gratification.

Wed, 26 May 2004 01:30:31 GMT

i must admit, i don't like the phrase "business process" much; i really just prefer "process". in my opinion, i think that *most* software should be defined at a higher level than java, and that the next generation of process automatation tools should be well suited for defining and executing any kind of process, not just the so-called "business process". frankly, i would have written glue and fabric (which would be classified as system-level software) using higher-level tools had they been available. i truly believe that the days of coding software using low-level languages like java will be over in 5 years or less.

Wed, 26 May 2004 01:25:08 GMT

one of the blogs i visit regularly is http://blogs.atlassian.com/rebelutionary/. the graphic is simultaneously cool and disturbing. what exactly is mike doing with his hand, and why is that expression on his face? one hint: he's australian.

Wed, 26 May 2004 01:23:09 GMT

i just finished "microsoft in the mirror", which is about around 20 people who left microsoft after making millions of dollars. it's a good read, with lots of interesting stories of life before and after working for microsoft. highly recommended.

Tue, 25 May 2004 02:33:07 GMT

based on a recommendation, i'm thinking about moving to typepad. apparently it is much easier to create custom page designs, which i would love to do. i read a lot, so i'd like to keep a list of interesting books w/ small reviews.

Tue, 25 May 2004 02:32:08 GMT

for some strange reason, two movie plots i came up with a few years ago have been heavily on my mind. i think they're worthy of at least being written up as a synopsis. so i'm thinking of replacing my russian vacation with a week in san diego with a mission of writing up the movie ideas. i wonder how much someone would pay for a good plot but no screenplay?

Tue, 25 May 2004 02:30:01 GMT

after three long months of waiting, my japanese-style furniture and apple mini ipod arrived on the same day. synchronicity at it's finest!

Mon, 24 May 2004 16:08:29 GMT

apparently the universe is at least 156 billion light years across. this is what an english person would describe as "rather large". http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/24/universe.wide/index.html

Mon, 24 May 2004 04:05:00 GMT

fortune favors the bold"; what a great saying! guess where it comes from? the new NASA emblem for space exploration, which is based on an earth, moon, mars-and-beyond graphic. here it is: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=12798

Mon, 24 May 2004 04:04:02 GMT

just got back from a week of traveling; the gartner group conference in LA went particularly well. my next big trip is to australia in the middle of next month. i'll be visiting sydney, canberra (the capital), melbourne and cairnes. the cairnes part of the trip will be with my brother, and i hope to get in some scuba diving and bungee jumping. when i bungee jump, i'm going to try a "reverse swallow" dive, since apparently that yields a different kind of experience.