Well, today I re-connected with an old friend and colleage, Ren, who I met as a result of my very first open source PHP project, GPL Hosting, back in 2004-2005. Ren was using the dynamic dns services which gplhosting.org offered to power a "micro server" initiative he had going at the time. This project is also where jHosting started! I guess we can call it a new and improved GPL Hosting, that incorporates some of the "now" technologies such as cloud computing.
Ren and I worked on a project of our own a few years back, which was called "SuiteTalk". SuiteTalk was a PHP application that I began working on which would talk to A/C thermostats to allow places like hotel lobbies to control their thermostats using a web browser. They could pull up a floor plan view where they could see every room in the hotel, choose the thermostat they wanted to manage, and change the settings just as if they were right there in the room - pretty cool! We also had some nifty energy efficiency features, such as indicators to show when an air filter needed to be changed. We had a tough time getting investor buy in (and then we had a major economy crash), so the project was shelved, but it was a pretty cool application to build. It was the first time (and possibly the last?) PHP project I would create to send hex commands via tcp/ip to control relays! Well, Ren and I are now talking about a new project together - hopefully this is the big one! :)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
My First Post
Well, this is my first ever blog posting - something I always saw myself as "too reserved and busy" to do. I mean, who would want to read about my boring life anyways? :) At any rate, welcome to my personal blogging site, where I will share my life with the world. I hope *someone* finds it interesting, exciting, beneficial, or other fun adjective.
So, I figured I would use this first posting to share about and thank some of the people who have had the biggest impact in my life; those who have stuck with me through the thick and thin, and those who have demonstrated amazing support, integrity, and love. Then, I figured I would share about some other significant events which have led up to my recent endeavors in life.
My mother, Louise... God bless her heart! She is the most unique, selfless, loving person I have ever met. She is a true gem, one who has devoted her entire life to empowering her 5 children to be the best they can be, and will give her last (fill in the blank here) to make sure it happens, no matter what! She has not only inspired me to give from the heart and be a person that makes a positive difference in life, but also dropped a drag racing bug into my blood before I was even old enough to drive her '67 GTO! I love you mom, thanks for everything and keep on rocking!
My father, who got his kids the first computer I ever touched - a Texas Instruments 994a. I started copying Extended Basic out of a book when I was about 7 years old. I still remember the first software project I ever created - a Galaga inspired game that had a 2d looking space ship controlled by the left/right arrow keys, and spit pixels from the nose when you hit the space bar. I never did finish it and make my millions by the time I was 10, but I still remember the "call say" and "call print" commands to this day. "call say" was one of my favorites - i always wanted to fix how the speech synthesizer would spell a word when it didn't know how to pronounce it, though. Dad, if it weren't for you, who knows what my mischievous hands would be doing today!
Charles Taylor, my pastor and childhood mentor, who assisted me in staying positive, shooting for the stars, giving me hope, and enjoying life for the amazing opportunities and possibilities all around me. Times can be tough, but only if I say so!
Next, I would like to thank all of my teachers who put up with me in school, right up until my college years. If it weren't for your amazing patience in dealing with my ADD, I am not sure I would be the successful, disruptive person I am today!
Chad Roll, the awesome, inspirational, COO at OmniPilot Software (my first "real" software developer job). Little did I know, Chad was not only a brilliant business man and an expert in making emerging technologies successful, he also had a good heart and enjoyed sharing happiness with the world. (I will always remember how he left work early one day to bring a box of fishing poles to a boys home at Christmas time). Chad connected with me and opened a door to a whole new world of infinite possibility, which leads me to my next acknowledgment.
Landmark Education - the experts in transformation. Here, I learned how to give up years of stories about a "troubled childhood", forgive and love my parents, and view myself as a huge me who makes a huge difference in life! I went on to learn how to obtain the access to power through communication, create life around me with my word and integrity, and to support people like they have never been supported before! I get there is nothing right or wrong about life itself, just what works or doesn't work. Great stuff! I highly recommend Landmark to everyone and anyone - its such an awesome place that's filled with awesome people and incredible possibilities!
All of the companies who have given me the opportunity to prove my dedication and excellence. If it weren't for each and every one of you enabling, educating, and empowering me, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to be the technology sponge I am today. You have allowed me to pay my bills so I can write free software and contribute to the lives of my loved ones, as well as the world. May all of your hopes and dreams come true!
Jason Hensley, one of my co-workers at Affinity Internet, who inspired me to take a look at Java EE. I looked at him cross eyed when he told me PHP is not object oriented. I told him I create objects all the time (PHP 5 had just been released). Now I know what he was talking about! I also picked up the passion for working with with the Java EE stack - thanks, Jason!
And now, the open source community....
First let me thank the entire open source community for their wealth of knowledge, creativity, and dedication to make themselves a contribution to the world. I love being around you guys, reading your articles, README files :), and playing with the fun, useful software you are producing and supporting. If it weren't for the open source community, I would still be stuck in Microsoft land (shivers), and never understand the true meaning of teamwork, contribution, and knowledge. You guys are awesome!
Linus Torvalds - I mean, lets hail to the king. Thanks for such an awesome contribution that gives people the freedom and power to compute. Everyone deserves an opportunity to work with technology that doesn't break the bank, opens the doors to education and technology in 3rd world countries, and to make something out of nothing. I can't think of a better tool to start with!
Gavin King, the author of Hibernate and JBoss Seam. If it weren't for Seam (and Jason), I wouldn't have been inspired to start working on AgilePHP. When I returned to PHP from Java EE, I felt naked and alone! I scoured the internet for an amazing framework like Seam, but just couldn't find one. I really wasn't interested in a bloated framework or something I needed to spend a few months to learn, just to find out its full of bugs, lacks forward momentum (like agile or Aspect Oriented Programming), or is completely missing one of things a good framework does - smooth out the quirkiness of the programming language. So, I started working on AgilePHP to do just that...
Todd Kelsey, friend with a good heart, past colleague at Hostway, and founder of the non-profit organization, CFTW. Todd has a new book out which focuses on Social Networking for novice internet users, called "Social Networking Spaces: From Facebook to Twitter and Everything In Between". I supported Todd in bringing his Life Story Suitcase application to life, and Todd gave me an opportunity to let AgilePHP shine. Of course, I am not letting him down :) Working with Todd and hearing about his life stories (and his reasoning to help people capture them) has actually inspired me to be more open to the idea of social networking and sharing my life story with the world. Instead of looking at social networking as a tool to have 983274982734 friends you don't know, now I look at social networking as a way of sharing one's difference with the world, and the relationships that are most important to them.
I hope you enjoy my blog!
So, I figured I would use this first posting to share about and thank some of the people who have had the biggest impact in my life; those who have stuck with me through the thick and thin, and those who have demonstrated amazing support, integrity, and love. Then, I figured I would share about some other significant events which have led up to my recent endeavors in life.
My mother, Louise... God bless her heart! She is the most unique, selfless, loving person I have ever met. She is a true gem, one who has devoted her entire life to empowering her 5 children to be the best they can be, and will give her last (fill in the blank here) to make sure it happens, no matter what! She has not only inspired me to give from the heart and be a person that makes a positive difference in life, but also dropped a drag racing bug into my blood before I was even old enough to drive her '67 GTO! I love you mom, thanks for everything and keep on rocking!
My father, who got his kids the first computer I ever touched - a Texas Instruments 994a. I started copying Extended Basic out of a book when I was about 7 years old. I still remember the first software project I ever created - a Galaga inspired game that had a 2d looking space ship controlled by the left/right arrow keys, and spit pixels from the nose when you hit the space bar. I never did finish it and make my millions by the time I was 10, but I still remember the "call say" and "call print" commands to this day. "call say" was one of my favorites - i always wanted to fix how the speech synthesizer would spell a word when it didn't know how to pronounce it, though. Dad, if it weren't for you, who knows what my mischievous hands would be doing today!
Charles Taylor, my pastor and childhood mentor, who assisted me in staying positive, shooting for the stars, giving me hope, and enjoying life for the amazing opportunities and possibilities all around me. Times can be tough, but only if I say so!
Next, I would like to thank all of my teachers who put up with me in school, right up until my college years. If it weren't for your amazing patience in dealing with my ADD, I am not sure I would be the successful, disruptive person I am today!
Chad Roll, the awesome, inspirational, COO at OmniPilot Software (my first "real" software developer job). Little did I know, Chad was not only a brilliant business man and an expert in making emerging technologies successful, he also had a good heart and enjoyed sharing happiness with the world. (I will always remember how he left work early one day to bring a box of fishing poles to a boys home at Christmas time). Chad connected with me and opened a door to a whole new world of infinite possibility, which leads me to my next acknowledgment.
Landmark Education - the experts in transformation. Here, I learned how to give up years of stories about a "troubled childhood", forgive and love my parents, and view myself as a huge me who makes a huge difference in life! I went on to learn how to obtain the access to power through communication, create life around me with my word and integrity, and to support people like they have never been supported before! I get there is nothing right or wrong about life itself, just what works or doesn't work. Great stuff! I highly recommend Landmark to everyone and anyone - its such an awesome place that's filled with awesome people and incredible possibilities!
All of the companies who have given me the opportunity to prove my dedication and excellence. If it weren't for each and every one of you enabling, educating, and empowering me, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to be the technology sponge I am today. You have allowed me to pay my bills so I can write free software and contribute to the lives of my loved ones, as well as the world. May all of your hopes and dreams come true!
Jason Hensley, one of my co-workers at Affinity Internet, who inspired me to take a look at Java EE. I looked at him cross eyed when he told me PHP is not object oriented. I told him I create objects all the time (PHP 5 had just been released). Now I know what he was talking about! I also picked up the passion for working with with the Java EE stack - thanks, Jason!
And now, the open source community....
First let me thank the entire open source community for their wealth of knowledge, creativity, and dedication to make themselves a contribution to the world. I love being around you guys, reading your articles, README files :), and playing with the fun, useful software you are producing and supporting. If it weren't for the open source community, I would still be stuck in Microsoft land (shivers), and never understand the true meaning of teamwork, contribution, and knowledge. You guys are awesome!
Linus Torvalds - I mean, lets hail to the king. Thanks for such an awesome contribution that gives people the freedom and power to compute. Everyone deserves an opportunity to work with technology that doesn't break the bank, opens the doors to education and technology in 3rd world countries, and to make something out of nothing. I can't think of a better tool to start with!
Gavin King, the author of Hibernate and JBoss Seam. If it weren't for Seam (and Jason), I wouldn't have been inspired to start working on AgilePHP. When I returned to PHP from Java EE, I felt naked and alone! I scoured the internet for an amazing framework like Seam, but just couldn't find one. I really wasn't interested in a bloated framework or something I needed to spend a few months to learn, just to find out its full of bugs, lacks forward momentum (like agile or Aspect Oriented Programming), or is completely missing one of things a good framework does - smooth out the quirkiness of the programming language. So, I started working on AgilePHP to do just that...
Todd Kelsey, friend with a good heart, past colleague at Hostway, and founder of the non-profit organization, CFTW. Todd has a new book out which focuses on Social Networking for novice internet users, called "Social Networking Spaces: From Facebook to Twitter and Everything In Between". I supported Todd in bringing his Life Story Suitcase application to life, and Todd gave me an opportunity to let AgilePHP shine. Of course, I am not letting him down :) Working with Todd and hearing about his life stories (and his reasoning to help people capture them) has actually inspired me to be more open to the idea of social networking and sharing my life story with the world. Instead of looking at social networking as a tool to have 983274982734 friends you don't know, now I look at social networking as a way of sharing one's difference with the world, and the relationships that are most important to them.
I hope you enjoy my blog!
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