Ready for Rails

I am ready for Rails!

Update: I have now read and recommend Rails for Java Developers. The authors take you through the Rails stack and at each step compare Rails's tools with best-of-breed Java tools. For example, when the authors talk about ActiveRecord they compare it to Hibernate. Fortunately, you only need to have a reading understanding of Hibernate, Structs, and Spring for the book to be valuable.
Not much technical talk here for a while. I have been thinking of writing "Avoiding The Long Winter Sleep" for sometime. This is an article about Hibernate and about frameworks and about natural fit. Clearly, I am still trying to find a focus: It will happen just don't know when.

Enthusiasm for technical change & challenges

When you are accustomed to technical and process change its occurrence again is taken as a matter of course. A steady response to change is appreciated when you are hired. A steady response to change when looking for work is seen as being unenthusiastic. Damed if you do and damed if you don't. As always, be contextual.

Wolk's Reading Comics

I just finished Wolk's Reading Comics and I highly recommend it. The first half of the book describes comics in terms of the medium, the readers, the authors, the subjects (superheros vs everything else!), and the visual styles. The last half of the book contains reviews of works, and in reflection on the first half of the book, Wolk does a great job of drawing one into the aesthetics and tactics of comics. A very enjoyable read especially in conjunction with field trips to a good comics store like Incredible Pulp in Narragansett.

I am grateful for their confidence in me

I have decided to focus on contract work for the foreseeable future. After four significant rejections and three by startups I think it is time to let Winter arrive and Fall leave and watch it from my home office desk. I am happy to accept contract work for the rest of the year. It is work that I know I can do and, more importantly, it is work others trust me to do well. I am grateful for their confidence in me.

A good night was had by all

Reading Wendell Berry, listening to James Taylor, drinking sapphire gin martinis, kid's doing homework all by an open fire is a wonderful evening mix. A time of honest conversation and truth telling. My kids went to bed happy and calm. So did I. A good night was had by all.