Month: April 2014

The word "alot" does not exist. It is often mistakenly written instead of "a lot" which is the correct spelling.

This was drilled into my head all through elementary school, just like it ain't proper to say ain't, but for some reason I keep wanting so bad to use it that way.

A lot as one word feels more normal to me, just like many, much etc. which are all also one word and not two. So what's the big deal?

That guy sawing wood in the distance is really starting to get on my nerves again. It started this morning and he's still going at it strong.

We have this neighbor whose hobby believe it or not is sawing piles and piles of firewood. Rumor has it that the poor guy has some kind of addiction where he needs to pile up more and more wood and cannot stop.

His house is surrounded by piles of neatly stacked blocks of wood, five feet high around the perimeter of his property. Instead of getting overly irritated by him, I guess I should feel sorry for him.

Could be worse, if he was my next door neighbor I would have become completely insane by now. Wonder how those folks next to him are able to deal with that continuous sawing.

The first couple of chapters of Feast of Crows was difficult reading, but after rereading them I finally built up enough momentum to carry me through the first half of the book.

To help me get up to speed, I googled around and found the following excellent primer which provided me with a nice refresher of the story up to now.

Four and a half thick books and two more to go. Keeping just ahead of the television series to avoid spoilers. Wondering when the next volume will be published.

At least once a year I have my worst round of the year. Today was such a day and it was not much fun. I started out with three double-bogies in a row followed by five bogies and a lucky par on the ninth hole. That's a big bad 47 which is eleven over par for the first nine holes.

I was playing from the back tees for the first time this year, but that is no excuse. It was just one of those days where everything went wrong, and I could not make a single putt.

The back nine started out alright with two pars in a row, and then I had another double-bogie when I four-putted. It was grin and bear it from then on, and somehow I managed to keep my cool and shoot an even 40 for the back nine.

The final result was nothing to be proud of: 47 + 40 = 87. It could have been worse, at least I broke ninety.

I kind of amazed myself by remaining fairly calm and collected most of the way. I decided to treat it as an interesting learning experience. Turn around the misery and transform it into a worthwhile experience.

First of all it gave me a chance to keep my cool despite a highly frustrating round, especially the first three holes. Then again, I saw it as a unique opportunity to try out some challenging shots which I would normally not be able to practice if I were hitting every ball straight.

For the next time I am better prepared because I am familiar with that awful feeling. Imagine I am playing a stellar round of golf and going for the course record. Now if I flub a shot I can keep calm and recover. That is the true spirit of golf which will help me score a winning round.

Golf can be so much more enjoyable if you have the right frame of mind. What at first seems to be a terrible disappointment is really a brand new challenge waiting for you to overcome.

Hopefully I will not have another worst round of golf for a very long time.

The recipe for success provides a guideline for managers trying to come in and make an existing team more agile. One needs quick win improvements which can only happen if there is low resistance from the team.

The six keys to success are:

• Focus on quality
• Reduce work in progress
• Deliver often
• Balance demand against throughput
• Prioritize
• Attack sources of variability to improve predictability

By following these guidelines as best as possible, you increase the chances of early success through newly inspired excellence.

Kanban by David J. Anderson

Whether you want to admit it or not, each and every one of us is in one way or the other an important part of creating never-ending events in world history.

Your immediate surroundings and time frame are both within a powerful sphere of influence.

All thoughts and actions cause a massive avalanche of side effects scattering outwards as far as the eye can see.

If you look carefully you can just discern the subtle ripples which are expanding out towards the distant horizon.

Not only do you create the world around you, but you also influence the direction of the ripples and the end result which was always meant to happen.

Zarafa is looking for a top-notch JavaScript visionary to help strengthen our Software Development Team in Delft, The Netherlands.

You are the driving force behind designing and implementing the latest and greatest web-based technologies. You focus on the Zarafa WebApp which is an important flagship product for the future. Through self-initiative and working openly within a creative team of similar minds, you introduce new and exciting improvements to the application architecture. JavaScript MVC frameworks, performance optimizations, authentication and authorization, internationalization, browser compatibility issues and plugin frameworks are second nature to you. Your playground is HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Apache and MySQL, and you have good insight into architecture.

As a Senior Developer you not only take part in the Zarafa development team, but you also improve the way we use distributed agile and scrum development, continuous delivery, modern tooling and software processes. You actively interact as architect discussing issues with testing, product managers and technical support. You act as our technology diplomat for our international development teams in India and Brazil. Your assignment, should you dare take on this exciting challenge, will carry you on to new heights and provide the next quantum leap of your career.

I saw the movie and I read the book
But when it happened to me
I sure was glad I had what it took
To get away.

– Sedan Delivery, Neil Young