Tech Life

I take issue with the deliberately inflammatory headline that Google is to blame for destroying the workplace since open office style workplaces were around long before Google, but the topic is worth debating. I have a variety of issues regarding the open office trend. Let’s start with the fact that the folks often making the… more

My first job in technology was a QA internship. The summer between my freshman and sophomore years, I tested the first release of Paradox for Windows at Borland. As an intern, I started by following someone else’s QA test plan – dutifully checking each test off the list. After a few weeks, I knew my… more

If you don’t care about the FriendDA you should stop reading this now. The FriendDA was written in late 2008 and it was intended as an experiment to place a smidge of formality on the discussion of perceived precious ideas. Happily, the FriendDA has legs. Since the original publication there has a small, but steady… more

You are a threat. It’s a strong word. I don’t mean that you intend pain, injury, or damage. But I’m an introvert and you – as a new unknown human – are a threat to me. I don’t know what you want and you most definitely want something and until I figure that out, you’re… more

Saturday morning is for discovery. Multiple browser windows point me in multiple directions and I wander until I discover a thing to consider. The key to Saturday morning is not direction, the key is association. I am free associating myself across the internet looking for… something. Turntable.fm used to be key to this experience. This… more

Mtrek is a real-time multiplayer space combat game loosely set in the Star Trek Universe. Sounds pretty sweet, right? Check out a screenshot. OoooOooh yeaaaaaaaah. Designed and written by Tim Wisseman and Chuck L. Peterson in the late 80s at University of California, Santa Cruz, Mtrek is completely text-based. To understand where an enemy ship… more

There’s a seductive dark side to The Builder’s High. The high afforded us by our brain when we are productive is delicious. For me, it’s comparable to the endorphin rush after a good workout. A foul mood vanishes, the weight of stress is lightened, and what was complex and difficult to fathom appears knowable. Of… more

The last winter in the United States was goofy. While a majority of the USA was completely frozen, California spent a good portion of the holiday with terrifyingly warm temperatures. We’re talking shorts and flip-flops on Christmas. Now, if you were frozen, you are wondering why I say it’s terrifying. It’s because I am my… more

One of the key tenets I talk about regarding understanding the engineering mindset is that software engineers think in terms of flow charts. This isn’t exactly correct – engineers think in code, but most of the planet does not, but, chances are, they understand the concept of a flowchart. You’re in a state. When certain… more