Priorities and focus

Posted on April 11th, 2010

Its been quite a while since my last blog post. Has it been because I have been busy? Maybe because I’m lazy? Or maybe because I’ve simply lost interest. Actually none of these is true.

The real reason for the lack in communication is because of an ever shifting list of priorities. I’ve ramped up my Micropreneur activities, tried new business endeavors, wrote new software products, tried to spend more time with family and many other things.

I believe in performing at my best in an efficient manner. Generally, there are four to five computers near me, phones, etc and I’m no more productive than when I sleep for three hours in the middle of the day. Why you ask? Simple because with so many things going on its hard to focus and be productive on any one task.

My goal over the next couple weeks is to incorporate this blog into the priority list but to also become more productive so that I can get more done in less time.

Testing Dragon Simply Speaking 10

Posted on March 6th, 2010

In this post I am trying to test Dragon simply speaking. It bouts 13 minutes ago I installed the software. I figured that it would be a good way for me to write my book. So to test it out I am speaking on this blog post. So if you are reading it you may notice some misspellings.

Using the software takes some getting used to. Unless you have a fast processor it is hard for the software to keep up with my voice. There are also some slight delays for when I speak to the translation on the screen. However at this point I am going to type/talk fast to see how well the software can keep up. The idea behind using this software is so I will be able to write a book after.

I haven’t been able to figure out how to get the system to do a character return, but I guess that is something that I will have to do at a later time. I didn’t notice that when I speak faster the software does keep up with me. It is only when I talked slower that the system doesn’t function as well.

Overall I must say that I am pretty impressed.

If you are interested in writing a lot of blog posts, where documents, or writing a book, you may be interested in using the software.

Reading Zend Framework 1.8 Web Application Development

Posted on February 27th, 2010

Currently, im reading Zend Framework 1.8 Web Application Development by Packt Publishing.

I will have a complete review of the book published shortly.

Book Review: Learning Website Development with Django by Ayman Hourieh

Posted on March 22nd, 2009

I began searching for a great Python framework and decided that the be way to find the best framework was to try them all and see which one worked best.  This lead me to read Learning Website Development with Django by Ayman Hourieh; offered by Packt Publishing.

django_coverIf you are interested in learning Django, I found that this book is a GREAT place to start.  It takes you from installing the framework, all the way through creating  a complete social bookmarking application.  The book has a great overall pace to it; not too fast nor too slow.

A great aspect of this book was that it took you through the development of an application; from start to finish.  As with starting with any new framework, it covered, in depth, the topic that I am generally most intrigued with: User Management and Registration.  Django has a built in User Management and Registration system but I believe that it would have been great for the author to extend the default registration system provided.

Chapter 3:  One thing that I feel that the author should have mentioned early on in the chapter is the importance of indenting your code blocks.  Not doing so causes errors when using the code in the developement server. Considering Django gives the user the user module by default, it would have been good for the author to extend the table by at least one field (add a notes field for example) as to teach the user to handle such a situation.  Also, the use of maxlength has been replaced with max_length; this may cause some new people to Django problems.

PROS

CONS

OVERALL

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and feel that it is a fantastic introduction to Django.  While it would have been great to show off another application, I feel that the book gave a complete overview of the framework and provides a great foundation and a level of understanding fo building basic applications OR reading more in-depth Django books.

Current Reading: Learning Website Development with Django

Posted on March 20th, 2009

This book is offered by Packt Publishing. I will be writing a review on this book very shortly.

Check out subversion repositories with ViewVC

Posted on February 11th, 2009

Just read a wonderful article at Tech Republic.  It is on this program called ViewVC, a Python based web front end to Subversion.  Here is an excerpt from the article>

Vincent Danen covers the basics of Web-based ViewVC, which is a Web-frontend to both subversion and Concurrent Versions System (CVS). ViewVC is written in python and is extremely simple to install and use.

Subversion is a fantastic version control system that is useful for development, keeping track of configuration file changes, document revision history, and so much more. A number of tools exist for a variety of platforms that allow you to inspect the contents of a subversion repository, view history, generate diffs between revisions, and more. Some are free, some are commercial. All are, generally speaking, useful in that they allow you to nose around in a repository and track changes much easier than is possible to do with command line clients.

One such tool is the Web-based ViewVC, which is a Web-frontend to both subversion and Concurrent Versions System (CVS). ViewVC is written in python and is extremely simple to install and use. To begin, download the tarball archive.

Book Review: Expert Python Programming

Posted on February 5th, 2009

I recently completed reading of the Packt Publishing book Expert Pyton Programming by Tarek Ziadé.  Overall, as a Python developer, however not quite an expert yet (but working on it), I did find that the book was not quite on the “Expert” level as much of the topics I know as being an intermediate Python programmer.

expert_python_programming_coverExpert Python Programming is a useful guide that takes you from the installing Python and setting up your environment all the way through documentation and Test-Driven Development.  As I read through the book, as I elluded to earlier, the book isnt so much of an “Expert” book as it is a Python user guide.  The book takes you through the Python basics, offers some “intermediate” items, and concludes with “some” expert techniques.

I didnt feel that the book had an overall “flow” to it.  The chapters themselves were great from an information standpoint, however, if you didnt follow the chapters in order, you will still come to the same conclusion.  For this reason, I consider this book as more of a guide (a book to grab as a reference to a technique).

With all of that being said, I really enjoyed the book.  The book gives a “high level” overview of several advanced Python modules such as itertools and offered several techniques different from the way that I have been currently applying functions, etc.  Being an intermediate Python developer, the book seemed more for someone with my skillset than an expert.

PROS

CONS

OVERALL

Overall, I feel that this was a great book that I would go back to as a reference.  However, I am still on the lookout for an “Expert” level book!

Why Intelligent People Fail

Posted on January 30th, 2009

I was reviewing a website at http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/works/intelligentfailure.htm about why people intelligent people fail and I think its a great read for entrepreneurs.

1. Lack of motivation. A talent is irrelevant if a person is not motivated to use it. Motivation may be external (for example, social approval) or internal (satisfaction from a job well-done, for instance). External sources tend to be transient, while internal sources tend to produce more consistent performance.

2. Lack of impulse control. Habitual impulsiveness gets in the way of optimal performance. Some people do not bring their full intellectual resources to bear on a problem but go with the first solution that pops into their heads.

3. Lack of perserverance and perseveration. Some people give up too easily, while others are unable to stop even when the quest will clearly be fruitless.

4. Using the wrong abilities. People may not be using the right abilities for the tasks in which they are engaged.

5. Inability to translate thought into action. Some people seem buried in thought. They have good ideas but rarely seem able to do anything about them.

6. Lack of product orientation. Some people seem more concerned about the process than the result of activity.

7. Inability to complete tasks. For some people nothing ever draws to a close. Perhaps it’s fear of what they would do next or fear of becoming hopelessly enmeshed in detail.

8. Failure to initiate. Still others are unwilling or unable to initiate a project. It may be indecision or fear of commitment.

9. Fear of failure. People may not reach peak performance because they avoid the really important challenges in life.

10. Procrastination. Some people are unable to act without pressure. They may also look for little things to do in order to put off the big ones.

11. Misattribution of blame. Some people always blame themselves for even the slightest mishap. Some always blame others.

12. Excessive self-pity. Some people spend more time feeling sorry for themselves than expending the effort necessary to overcome the problem.

13. Excessive dependency. Some people expect others to do for them what they ought to be doing themselves.

14. Wallowing in personal difficulties. Some people let their personal difficulties interfere grossly with their work. During the course of life, one can expect some real joys and some real sorrows. Maintaining a proper perspective is often difficult.

15. Distractibility and lack of concentration. Even some very intelligent people have very short attention spans.

16. Spreading oneself too think or too thick. Undertaking too many activities may result in none being completed on time. Undertaking too few can also result in missed opportunities and reduced levels of accomplishment.

17. Inability to delay gratification. Some people reward themselves and are rewarded by others for finishing small tasks, while avoiding bigger tasks that would earn them larger rewards.

18. Inability to see the forest for the trees. Some people become obsessed with details and are either unwilling or unable to see or deal with the larger picture in the projects they undertake.

19. Lack of balance between critical, analytical thinking and creative, synthetic thinking. It is important for people to learn what kind of thinking is expected of them in each situation.

20. Too little or too much self-confidence. Lack of self-confidence can gnaw away at a person’s ability to get things done and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Conversely, individuals with too much self-confidence may not know when to admit they are wrong or in need of self-improvement.

Enticing use of Cloud Computing

Posted on December 22nd, 2008

Ever wanted to run your own version of Amazon Ec2 privately?  Curious about finding out how to accomplish this?

From their website, “EUCALYPTUS – Elastic Utility Computing Architecture for Linking Your Programs To Useful Systems – is an open-source software infrastructure for implementing “cloud computing” on clusters. The current interface to EUCALYPTUS is compatible with Amazon’s EC2 interface, but the infrastructure is designed to support multiple client-side interfaces. EUCALYPTUS is implemented using commonly available Linux tools and basic Web-service technologies making it easy to install and maintain.”

Give it a look here!

Turnkey Linux Appliances

Posted on December 5th, 2008

After visiting FreshMeat.net today, I stumbled across Turnkey Linux.  From their website, Turnkey Linux is an opensource project that aims to develop high quality softare applicances that are easy to use, easy to deploy, and free.

They offer a wide variety of packages/appliances from PostgreSQL database appliances to Joomla Appliances.    All of the appliances are based on ubuntu 8.04 LTS.  You can also use the ISO images and run them under VMWare or other solutions or install as a standalone package.

I have installed the PostegreSQL package on a test server and I must say that the installation was painless and extremely simple.  The server is up and running in my test environment and is accessible (with a few tweaks of the firewall) to other servers on my network.  It comes with an easy to use Webmin web based interface.

If you are interested in testing various products on a Linux platform and want a stable system to utilize, give Turnkey Linux a shot!

History is made . . . .

Posted on November 5th, 2008

Baracks Acceptance Speech

Today, as im sure much of you already know, an African American was elected President of the United States of America.  With a message of “Yes We Can!”, Senator Barack Obama became the next President of the United States.  Congratulations!

November 4, 2008 – Its Election Day!

Posted on November 4th, 2008

To all of my viewers, especially those in the State of Indiana, please take the time today to exercise your right to VOTE!

Demonstrating Ideas to Potential Investors

Posted on November 1st, 2008

This is an article that is so great, I wish it would have been typed by me. It’s about how to demonstrate your startup or business idea to a stranger on the phone or in an audience. As a business owner and innovator of many new ideas, I have presented many ideas to potential investors and advisors. At then end of each demo, we almost always are given advice on how the demo could have gone better.  The people at TechCrunch have captured the advice that we are given in a neat and orderly fashion in this two part series. Check it out and learn from both Part I and Part II.

Balancing Work, Family, and Your Vision

Posted on April 29th, 2008

I think all entrepreneurs struggle with the work life balance in the beginning. When you are at the “head of the table” there are a lot of things that you have to deal with than you think. Having a talent and being good at your craft is one thing but dealing with employees, expenses, budgets, contracts, negotiations, networking, taxes, attorneys, patents and everything else sometimes causes us to perform the juggling act.

What helped me was to have a good mentor who has been in the situation before and could offer advice. No matter whom ive spoke with, if you want to have a happy family life AND work life, always make work second to your family. As the old saying goes, take care of home. Set aside days where its just family day, then if you are married, take a spouse day as well. Family and work life are similar in that it takes time for them both to grow and flourish.

However, I can tell you that an unhappy household, in almost all instances, equals an unhappy work life. Having the support of your family, in all things, relieves a burden on the entrepreneurs mind. When your family is out of order, it takes time away from your work endeavors anyway, so the easiest (and most cost effective) thing to do is put family before work.

And on top of all of this, put God first. You can work all day and night and without a blessing from Him, it will all go for naught. If you put Him first, and your family next, you will receive the blessings in your business endeavors. When this hierarchy becomes out of order, amongst other things, your business will suffer as well.

As far as tactics for self, it is a good thing to take care treat yourself to something, no matter how small, so that you can see some small victories. If you are working hard monday through friday, buy yourself something or do something specific for you (even if its only a few dollars) just to make yourself feel good. On a daily basis, however, about an hour before you go to sleep, do a mental detox. During this time, do not focus on anything work related for tomorrow or the struggles of the day. Focus on accomplishments made, your family, grab a drink (iced tea is fine), listen to some music and relax. This will do wonders for your rest.

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