The Boots do work after all, breakthroughs, and programming mantra
I know i said that tonight would be the time to post thoughts about the State of the Union…but that’s not gonna happen. I just got back from Indoor Soccer, and it’s 11:30pm….we had a 10pm kickoff.
We won 10 or 11-4, and this time the boots actually worked…well….they worked in the sense that I didn’t have any blisters at the end of the game, and i scored about 3 goals i think. Their keeper had a pretty good game, and kept me off the scoresheet pretty well…i could have scored about 10 if it wasn’t for him….but by that same logic, i think a lot of our players would have scored if the other team didnt have a goal keeper.
Anyway….i’m always worried when i get a new pair of boots…because you never know if they’ll fit right, or have a good touch on them….these ones are great though. I’m definitely pleased with them.
Today was another day of regular work. I had to document the process for some users to migrate their Google data from one account to another. We will be kicking them out of an existing Google Apps Domain so that we can roll out the production service to the entire campus. It won’t be pleasant for them, but we have to do it. So i was documenting, taking screenshots, and getting feedback from colleagues for corrections. Thanks to John and Sarah for their help today….it’s always good to get swift feedback so you aren’t left waiting.
I also had another minor breakthrough with a programming concept that i’ve been struggling to understand lately. It’s pretty simple now that it’s clicked in my head, but it definitely took its sweet time getting to that point in my brain. I had to get help from Garrison about 4 or 5 times for this same thing over the past couple of weeks, and 2 or 3 times from Jason too. Once again, i am indebted to them for their willingnes to help and patience with me as i learn new things that are basic for them.
I have been thinking lately that i want to start a specific programming blog about my experiences, mainly because i know (from being at a small college), that it’s difficult to get started with new technologies when you don’t have someone down the hall to help (like i do now). I haven’t thought this all the way through, because i know it will be a lot of work….but the only difference between my level of expertise 2 years ago, and now, is that now i have someone to tell me where i’m wrong (and that person is no longer Google).
I’m going to flesh this out in my head before starting anything, but i’m thinking i could keep it simple. Basically just post a concept at a time, or a small element of an application, but making sure to keep the language as plain as possible, so that people like me two years ago, can understand and follow along.
If i had to guess, i dont think i’ll ever get the time to do this, but it’s a thought, and if i put it on paper, then maybe it will help get some momentum or support/ideas from other people. I was also thinking that maybe it could be a dual author blog, where i would write the plain ‘dummies’ version in the way that i see something, and then have someone else come back and write the same concept but with more in depth and technical language.
It’s a thought…nothing more right now….but i can’t help thinking that there’s a whole lot of people out there who are really intimidated by people like the guys i work with, and they are afraid to ask questions for fear of being thought of as dumb. I can say categorically that i would not know half the things i do today if i was afraid of being thought of as being dumb. I’m pretty sure on regular occasions, i walk out of Jason and Garrison’s office, and they turn to each other and say…. “really…i figured he would have known that” or “seriously…when’s Nick going to stop asking stupid questions?”
I judge my progress on whether or not i need help on the same concept more than once. I like to be shown how to solve a problem once, and then i don’t like having to ask for help on the same concept again. Most of the time i can achieve this, but i guess as you move into more advanced concepts, it’s taking me a little longer and a few more helps from my friends before it clicks in my head.
So consider this my apology for asking too many stupid questions, and as long as my campus card has funds on it, i’m happy to pay in vending machine drinks 
We call them “cleats” here on the mainland (if I’m interpreting “boots” correctly).
You’re welcome for the quick turnaround on the edits. Tit for tat as I say. Your turnaround on creating content types is always timely as well!
And finally, I think your soccer team needs to consider moving up to a more competitive league. You win by way too much of a margin for most of your games, don’t you? Just saying…
ha! — yeah…we’re moving up to the top league at the end of this season. We’ll hopefully kick ass there too, but at least the games will force us to work a little harder to win.
Cleats are for baseball…or cleats are the things that go on the bottom of boots…..why does america need to come up with new words all the time! just use the words that us ol’ english countries created, and we’ll all get along just fine
So, in the “good ol’ English countries,” I gather they keep their boots in the boots of their cars?
Silly boys.
yep — better than keeping my boots in a gray wrinkly thing on the end of an elephant’s face
… or in a big box filled with pirate’s treasures…
[...] in that room, but i am also 100% positive that i am not the least experienced. Connecting with my blog post from the other day about starting a programming blog, i feel like it would be helpful for some of the web developers [...]