Month: February 2013

By five o'clock I was ready to call it a day and go back home. It had been a busy yet fulfilling week, and the last five days had gone by quite quickly and with minimal effort. There were only two other people left in my department, and I waved goodbye to them through the glass as I walked by on my way to the elevator.

Once downstairs I passed through the turnstiles and braced myself for the gust of cold wind that would blow across my face when the sliding glass doors slid open. The guy at the reception was busy reading the paper and didn't notice me walk by. The doors opened with a swishing sound, and indeed the outside world greeted and engulfed me with a gentle cold embrace. I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath and felt invigorated, recharged, born anew. The hidden energies of the outside world were filling me with a sense of well-being and a feeling of anticipation. That path ahead of me was there and I would be following it once again.

This time when I drove back home, I decided not to turn on the radio. I preferred to experience the next hour in complete silence, enclosed in the metal womb of the car, thinking about this and that. I let go of the recent experiences of the past and focused on what my body was doing at that moment. My heartbeat, my lungs filling and emptying, my fingers grasping the steering wheel, my elbows falling at my side. Living in the now as they call it but losing myself at the same time. Before I realized it, I was proceeding up the driveway of the house. I was a time-traveler and had passed through a wormhole, disappearing in the fabric of the universe and then reappearing again. The curtain was slightly open and I could see some human activity through the slit, our dog sleeping on the couch and my wife reading a book.

Being nowhere and everywhere at the same time is a peaceful feeling. Especially when you find yourself exactly at that intersection point where the body and mind come together for a split second, right before they fly apart again.

Freezing our butts off.

We must be completely insane to be playing golf in such extremely cold weather. Either that or our golfing addiction has seriously fogged our senses. Being able to play golf is more important than most things in life. In such extreme conditions golf is no longer a true test of skill but it's still fun nonetheless.

DevOps Deep Dive Sessions:
Mastering the Four Pillars of DevOps
21 February, Amsterdam

16.00: Case Study 2: Walking the tightrope between Agile Product Development and IT Operations
by Kiffin Gish, Manager Development, Sdu Information Solutions, Amsterdam

Introducing and setting up an agile development team from scratch in a traditional plan-driven organization is hard. The real challenge starts while aligning efforts of this dynamic environment with the more structured and predictable world of IT Operations. What at first glance appears to be a collision of two totally different cultures is not so much a technical challenge as it is simply getting the opposing parties to understand and know each other better, sharing tools and knowledge. To better illustrate this, a case study will be presented about an advanced web-based e-government project, built using scrum, puppet and continuous deployment. deployment.

(The presentation went well, there was a big turnout and afterwards I met some people and had interesting discussions. I've also been invited to give a similar talk at the DevOps Summit in London this May.)

It's freezing cold outside, and there's a thick layer of snow covering the ground. No one in their right mind would want to play golf in these kind of conditions. Winter greens, frozen water hazards, and hitting bright orange golf balls so they don't get lost. Well, it might not be exactly a true test of skill, but it's still a lot of crazy fun nonetheless. A cup of hot chocolate afterwards with extra whipped cream, and the day is complete. Several hours later and my toes still haven't completely thawed out.

I parred the seventh hole (winter green).

There I was driving back home after a fulfilling round of golf, minding my own business and rethinking the various golf shots and how I might have played better, when all of a sudden this loud explosion abruptly woke me up from my reverie.

I thought: what the heck did that car just crash into me?! In my rear view mirror I saw a white vehicle brake slightly and slow down a bit. It had all happened in a split second as our two vehicles passed each other on a narrow bridge.

I pulled over to the side of the rode and got out to inspect the damage. I assumed that the other driver would turn around and come back. Instead the white vehicle sped off into the distance and disappeared around a bend in the road.

A quick inspection of the outside of my car revealed that there was no extensive damage, no gashes or scratches, strange I was sure that I heard a loud popping sound like soem kind of explosion of metal splinters.

Turns out that it was only my side view mirror which had bent inwards on the hinges and half of the mirror had broken off. By hinging it had absorbed most of the impact, but had cracked badly.

I was relieved and angry at the same time. I wanted to hop back in my car and speed down the road to catch this guy, maybe even get angry at him, cuss and beat him up. Maybe it was not a guy but a girl. Women drivers!

However, I decided to count my blessings and remain cool, calm and collected. I got back in my car, readjusted the side view mirror, and continued on my way as if nothing had ever happened.