Well, my last blog entry was in December and my last real blog entry was in October. I think I’m pretty much long overdue for an update.
Life
Not much has changed in my life. We’re currently attending Valley View Baptist Church. I know this may seem like a sudden change, but we left Antioch way back in May after a huge leadership debacle. Valley View seems to match up with what we believe and has a huge heart for ministering to those people that need Christ, rather than those who we would like in our church because they make us feel comfortable. Anyway, enough of that.
In more recent news, I have found Facebook. Most Web 2.0 sites out there that focus on “social networking” have really failed to pique my interest, but out of the many I have tried, Facebook makes the grade. If you haven’t tried it out, go on over and sign up. Once you’ve started, search for me, add me as a friend, and then start looking around for past friends, colleagues, and other people you might know from groups you’ve been involved with.
Work
After almost 4 months of working for SitePen, I have decided I absolutely love working at home. I also love working for a company that is focused on the cutting edge of web development and isn’t bogged down with bureaucracy.
Capoeira
Capoeira has been going fairly well. December was hectic, so we didn’t get down to Iowa City much for classes, but we started going again in January. I haven’t learned too many new moves except for the saca rolha which is basically an aú into a corkscrew spin. The difference between the saca rolha and a regular corkscrew spin is that you use it when someone comes in for a cabeçada (a head-butt), you can do a saca rolha to bring the back of your head into their face. It’s a sweet little move 
. Other than that, I’ve been learning a lot of sequences.
Man, I keep telling myself I’ll write more often, and then I go a month or so without writing… what is my problem? Let me catch you guys up with what’s happening.
Work
After a year and a half at Master Packing and Rubber Company, I’m leaving my position there to join the gang over at SitePen full time working on Dojo and other DHTML/JavaScript web application “stuff”. My last day at MPRC is this Friday and I start at SitePen a week from today. I’ll still be working on MPRC’s website in my free time and offering them a bit of technical support every once and a while (read: over the next month, I’ll be getting phone calls left and right from them). It’s been a fun year and a half and I’ve learned a ton about business, quality assurance, and website administration and I truly appreciate them giving me the opportunity to work for them. That being said, I’m really looking forward to working from home for SitePen and working full time with the some of the best in DHTML and JavaScript.
Dojo
We’re approaching our 0.4 release and there are plenty of treats for this release! One of the biggest developments for this release is the gfx package. Gfx is an SVG drawing API that works in both IE and Firefox. Check out the clock demo. Another SVG goodie we’re packing into this release is the charting engine. These goodies are thanks to the wonderful work of Eugene Lazutkin, Tom Trenka, Gavin Doherty, and Kun Xi.
Capoeira
Last Wenesday, my wife took some (over 200) pictures at our capoeira class of our capoeira family. I’ve posted them here. She started taking pictures during aú and handstand exercises, took them throughout the roda, and ended the excursion at Thai Flavors (our hangout after Wednesday night practice).
Ok, so I said I would keep up with this blogging thing, but I’m not doing a very good job. It’s been over two months since I last blogged. What the heck is my problem? So here’s the run-down of what I’ve been doing:
Work
I’ve been steadily plugging away at Master Packing’s web site over the last two months. I’ve been trying to implement interactive features to some fairly boring things. Once its up, I’ll highlight what I’ve done, but until then, I’ve got to explain. On the mechanical packing page, I’ve used the Tree widget from Dojo to let you figure out which style of our mechanical packing matches other companies’ packing. Also, you can compare the temperature, pH, and speed ratings on all the mechanical packing we offer using the SortableTable widget. On the rail and marine page, you’ll be able to search for a partial or complete EMD number and the server will show you what part number we sell that part under and also suitable replacements. This search feature is something that isn’t available anywhere else in the EMD aftermarket industry. We should have it up and running by mid April. I’ll definately post when it’s up.
JavaScript
For the last month, I’ve been delving deep into the world of JavaScript for SitePen. It has taken me a while, but I think I’ve gotten the hang of the prototype-base inheritance that JavaScript uses. I think I’m past the fact that you can extend the prototype of any class so if you want a new method or want to modify an old method, you don’t create a new class. You just “mask” the old method on the current class. Coming from C++, that blew my mind.
Coaster
Development has pretty much stalled. I’ve been so busy with life, music, Dojo, Django, work, contracting, and everything else that I haven’t had time to sit down and code on Coaster for a long time. Also, the success of programs like Serpentine have shown me that other people are more motivated than I am. If someone wants to take the coding portion of the project over, contact me or Sean Harshbarger on the Coaster mailing list.
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