She's here. Today we celebrate the arrival of not only our fourth child but our first daughter. This pregnancy has been dramatically different from the previous three. We were presented with new challenges and experiences that took us beyond what we knew, and we all made it through. From more severe morning sicknesses to three attempts at delivery, our blessed new arrival is worth every minute.

I'd like to sincerely thank all that have made this wonderful experience possible. Particularly my mother-in-law who has been by Kristen's side for the past few weeks. She came to visit us so that she might learn the ropes of taking care of our wonderful boys. While no easy task, she has met the challenge with love and kindness only a grandmother could hope to possess.

We've been lifted up by the congratulations and well wishes that have been received today, from facebook congrats to a beautiful bouquet of flowers. So in short, we say thanks and God bless.

I like taking pictures. My first digital camera that I bought was a Sony DSC-P20. I bought this camera while in college, and it did a decent job of snapping shots. The best picture I took with it was one of lightning outside my first apartment. The camera is now used by my son Sebastian, and he fills up the 16MB memory stick quite quickly.

My second digital camera was the Sony DSC-P52. This camera was a step up from the P20, in that it offered 3.2MP and movie mode with sound! Combined with a 2x optical zoom I was able to capture the first few moments with my son's life pretty well. We took it on our first cruise. It was a good camera.

When we found out that we were going to be parents again, it was time to upgrade cameras. Next I purchased the Sony DSC-H1. This camera was a big leap forward in that it was my first introduction to the DSLR form factor. While it was not a DSLR, it had most of the manual adjustments that came with a DSLR. The biggest complaint with this camera was, despite taking pictures that had depth of field, the time between pressing the shutter and taking the camera was sometime a painful 3-5 seconds. It doesn't sound like much, but when trying to capture two little ones in play.. it became cumbersome.

I no longer needed the DSC-P52 so it became a Christmas gift to my parents. They still use it today.

My wife wasn't terribly pleased with the size of the H1. It was not terribly portable, and so when we found out we were pregnant with Dominic we proceeded to purchase the DSC-W90. This camera is still one of our favorites. It has 8.1MP and is able to take shots relatively quickly. Since it is small enough to fit in a diaper bag, we take it with us everywhere. We've capture some great candidate moments on the road, at mass, and wherever. It out-performed the H1 in so many aspect that the H1 has pretty much been gathering dust ever since.

Earlier this year I found out that I was going to be a father of a daughter. After three sons, this is a pretty major parenting shift. I realized that I'm going to be wanting to take great photos now more than ever. The DSLR form factor was always desirable with interchangeable lenses, a wide spectrum of filters, and a large community of users. I was really looking for something to not only take great pictures, but last me several years. After much research and consulting, I went with the Nikon D90. So far the camera has exceeded my expectations and I hope to share some great photos.

Hurray! Chrome 2.0 fixed the text edit box painting issue.

Typically I'm a fan of code more, test more, doc less. I've had an experience that changes this perspective.

I went to the local hardware store and got the pricing for the fence and asked about installation. I was recommended a man who checked every box on the Contractor Referral worksheet. After speaking with him on the phone he explained he'd installed fences before but never PVC. He came by our house and checked out the backyard. I mentioned what I'd like the fence to look like. He noted we'd need to have the backyard marked, and then we discussed a price but never formally agreed on him. FWIW, I didn't have anyone else lined up. Anyway the next day he's out back digging holes. No contract, no written agreement, no design. The back line angled such that if you looked down the line it wasn't even with the neighbors, and ~150 sqft of the back yard wouldn't be fenced. I asked him why? He wanted to keep the posts 6' on center. I said why can't we divide a fence panel? He said, oh. So then he had to re-drill the whole backline. Last night my wife asked where the gate would go in the back. The contractor had a hole for the gate dug in the back corner, not the middle. This meant due to the playset with landscaping timbers in the back corner, I'd no longer be able to use a wheelbarrow in the yard. I asked him to move the fence in the middle. He replied the machine had already been returned, but he said he'd make the adjustment manually. It's been raining solid today, so that's where the story ends (for now).

Lessons learned?

Well in this case I have the benefit of a customer who isn't changing requirements. My wife wanted a PVC picket fence with a gate in the middle of the backline. So I can only imagine how stressful it would be if my wife suddenly wanted a wooden fence.

Biggest lesson learned, I have an overzealous delivery team who is acting quickly without direction. I gave "the team" an oral description of what I wanted, but nothing written. The team had to make a decision and didn't consult me. Initial releases had defects. Had a drawn layout been available, we could have avoided the re-digs. He's got plenty of initiative, but making some mistakes that are psuedo-costly. Now I have some patches of lawn that will take time to grow back. He's going to have to dig the hole by hand now that the rented machine is unavailable.

This experience, especially since I'm the one handing out the $$$, has changed my perspective on software engineering, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can from it.

Had the 20w ultrasound today.

It's a girl.

Bernoulli process FTW.

10 days ago, on April 13th, I started a simple goal:

"Run 3 miles a day, no excuses"

Yesterday I finished day 10, which means I've run 30 miles.

What have I noticed:

Although I'm not measuring, my pace has begun to improve. On the first day, I was jogging very slowly the entire time. Now, I'm able to sustain small sprints, and maintain a decent pace. I've been listening to an album on my iPod shuffle, and am finishing before the last song.

My weight has not changed, it has only been 10 days and so I'm building muscle. This in combination with other eating habits explains the relative plateau in weight. I'm not gaining weight. According to my half-marathon training data, this is expected. I hovered around 205 for the first month.

3 miles is just enough to get a good sweat, without injury. When training for my half-marathon I was constantly stepping up the mileage, which resulted in some mild injury.

I will post again when I hit 60 miles.

I have plants again, and in addition an automated watering system. With much help from Aaron Lint four plants can now receive water from the command line. I've got a camera setup on one of the heavily pruned plants. Maybe new videos soon?

Cheers,

Joe

Want to sleep, but can't.

It was a game night tonight. My neighbor and I went to the convenient store in search of beverages. He wanted an energy drink, which made me think this was a good idea. I started to go for red bull, and then though no, for this game night I should have a monster energy drink. Now these jolts of productivity have been quintessential to the successful delivery of many, many features at Arxan. I can attest to the fact that these do make one more alert and jumpy. While browsing the cooler, we happened upon the BFC. As if 16oz of caffeine loaded liquid weren't enough, how bout 32oz in a convenient form factor. Why not? So at 8:30pm we cracked them open. I consumed mine in two hours, and my neighbor made it halfway before suffering a headache.

Nonetheless, I'm still awake.

Still alert.

With the economy in rapid recession, one of the most noticeable signs (if you are a gamer) is the prevalence of Wii systems at retailers. I went to Wal-Mart and Target today and saw the systems actually in the store. Launched on November 19, 2006, the Wii rapidly sold out anytime a retailer received a shipment.

TODO: post pictures of Wiis in stock.

There's really nothing quite like waking up at 3am with a solution to a problem. Even better is when you test the solution and it is correct.

I woke up at 3am this morning and realized that I wasn't incrementing my section header pointer and that I was copying the same section multiple times. At first, I didn't want to get up... it was 3am! By 3:15a I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I got up, started the VPN, remote desktopped to my machine, typed in:

sh++;

compiled, and executed the program. By 3:20a it was properly iterating over the sections copying the data I needed. Waking up with the solution was hard to believe.

I fell back asleep, and got to sleep in a bit (Thanks Kristen!). When I got to work in the morning sure enough it had really happened. Usually I wake up with the solution and fall back asleep and forget about it by morning. But this morning was different, and the solution remained. Has this ever happened to you?

One of my favorite bands Ladytron will be touring with The Faint. I'd not heard of The Faint until recently. I bought their album Fasciination, and the track "Machine in the Ghost" stands out to me. Here's the lyrics:

there's no ghost in this machine
i make my own mistakes
we seem like skeletons with bone head beliefs
history's been crucified
humans supernaturalized
we hope we're not alone
exploded stars and space debris
taught itself to make some things like us
was that all?
what was there before the bang?
how did nothing come to end at once?

let's ask the atheists, the astronauts,
the mystics of the amazon,
the priests, the cults, the witches, the pope,
the crystal ball, the fear of god,
the tarot cards, the dowsing rod
theologians, alchemists, black magicians, physicists say, know,
say, "we don't know"

cults arise from ego
sick with poltergeists and demons

tune your TV to the snow
watch the first thing ever known - it's always on
when nothing's over what was there?
how did nothing come to end at once?
let's ask the atheists
let's ask the astronauts
let's ask the priests, the cults, the witches, the pope,
dice, the monks, shamen, the nuns,
buddha, the holy ghost, satanists, the philosophes,
meditators, pyramids, mathematicians, acid heads,
theologians, alchemists, black magicians, physicists say, know,
say, "we don't know"

cults arise from egos
sick with poltergeists and demons


Just so you know there are approximately 98182656 primes between 2147483648 and 4294967295, or 0x5DA2600 primes between 0x80000001 and 0xFFFFFFFF. You have a 4.5% chance of randomly picking a prime number, between 2 and 4 billion. I've been trying to find this number all morning and calculated it brute force using a Miller Rabin primality test. I say approximately since Miller Rabin is "probabilistic". I test each prime 5 times which means there's a 1 in 2^40 chance of a false positive. That's 1 in 1099511627776, or 1.1 * 10^12, which means you are 128 times more likely to be killed by lightning today than have this test fail.

Have a day.

Edit Feb 18, 2009: Found a flaw in PrimeSearch. I was testing each prime once with Miller Rabin. Revised the search to test 5 times.

Life got remarkably busy in August, and just kept being busy. I spent most of my time working trying to get a deliverable out the door. In October/November, there were significant restructuring changes to the company. In late November early December, there was a major customer to support. And over the holidays, I had a very nice three week vacation, from NC to SC to the Caribbean. Anyway, things are still busy with my wife entering the workforce and my boys in daycare. Maybe I'll find some spare time for an interesting project to blog about. Maybe.

After many months of waiting, the flowers appear to be pollinating and there are several peppers growing. There are two peppers that are approximately two inches in length, and at least three more that are just starting. Looks like we'll be able to cook some incredibly uncomfortably boiling lava hot food.

I'll post some pictures soon of the mammoth plants and their brood.



#include <stdio.h>

class RichOldGuy
{
public:
RichOldGuy() { printf("I'm a Rich Old Guy\n");}
~RichOldGuy() { ExecuteWill();}
virtual void ExecuteWill() const {printf("I leave my money to my family\n");}


};

class GoldDigger : public RichOldGuy
{
public:
GoldDigger() {printf("I'm in it for the money\n");}
~GoldDigger() {printf("Finally after two weeks of marriage\n");}
void ExecuteWill() {printf("I ain't messin' with a broke bloke\n");}
};

int main(void)
{
RichOldGuy * theOldGuy = new GoldDigger();

theOldGuy -> ExecuteWill();

return 0;
}




Who gets the money?

What has happened?

May 1st: Water Softener inlet plumbing breaks spraying water in utility room causing water damage. Repair people are called and they tear up the floor.

May 7th - 14th: NC trip to visit over Mother's Day weekend. Saw Kristen's parents, sister and family; my folks, brother and fiance; my old college buddies; and Clay Suddreth a friend of mine for 15 years. While on vacation the repair people tore up the rest of the floor leaving bare concrete.

May 17th - 19th: Put in new laminate floors. The 18th was a 24 hour workday starting with running, church, flooring until midnight and then plumbing until 6:00a on the 19th. Floor looks great.

May 27th: Theology on Tap

So our evening was winding to a close. As Kristen was brushing her teeth and I was browsing the internet, she was fumbling with something. She says "Am I reading this right?", and I say "Reading what?" That's when I turn and the something she was fumbling with was a pregnancy test. We have some dialogue, and I come to get a closer look as I'm taken aback. The test clearly indicated pregnancy. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the thought of the fourth Abbey, but realize that we can handle the new one and it is such a blessing. We embrace and then she says:

"Happy April Fool's Day".

After the move back in February, I haven't found the time to setup a webcam on the peppers... Please hold.

The plants have recently shown an affinity for gravity. The leaves are drooping, although they have sufficient water. After examining the base of the stems, I noticed a white buildup. I thought it was fungal but it feels more like a calcium buildup. I'm going to go back to feeding the plants filtered water, but I'm afraid it might be too late for the plant that is bearing fruit.

If anyone knows about fungal buildup, or if calcium can clog plant, or even better how to resolve the situation, that would be of great help!

Here's a more complete look at the current life of Batch 3:

I'm actively working on a video of the first Naga Jolokia, but of course it will take time.

I walked in to the office this morning to find Jim in a surprisingly good mood. One of the flowers that he pollinated appears to be producing fruit. Now it seems it is just a matter of time before we've grown one of the world's hottest peppers.