summer time. graduations. commencement speeches. reflection.

my brother graduated recently so i attended one such ceremony first hand. then, after perusing my inbox and such, i ran across two other commencement speechs, both of which are, well, inspirational. given i'm now putting spit-shine on my java one demos, spinning coldplay in my ipod and having a really nice northern california day stare at me through the window, i thought i'd jot down some of these quotes that truly struck a chord with me and why i dig, i mean *really dig*, software engineering, specifically jxta and, more importantly, the opportunity jxta provides.

ok, software engineering. why? everyone rightfully so has their own personal answers to that question. for me, it is the social connection, with real people, that is growing deeper and broader all at once that is behind every line of code i scribe. this first dawned on me, i guess, when i joined sun in '92 helping to work out the kinks in software licensing. in working w/ real people and building systems that spanned the globe and strived to "stay invisible" i found it was the network of people and associated processes i enjoyed working through the most. getting the code to compile was secondary. this is also why i'm a huge fan of xp as well, more on that later. i then moved on to the "e" projects, as in eReg, eCommerce, etc. while i'm proud of what was done, i wish not to work on another project that starts with the letter "e" again. why? well, in a nutshell is was the people, the network, the process that became, candidly, muddled during those heady days. so, i moved on, to swag projects like tomcat, startups, blogging, etc. why? because of the "people," the dialogs, the conversations that were occuring with these technologies and again, the applications that were and are being dreamed up and the fact "real" people, my mom, get to use the derivative works and the discussions start over again, at a higher level, with context, real context. that's what it is all about. the intermittent compile cycles and such are just necessary milestones to the "dialog" that drives innovation.

these cummulative experiences and basic curiosities are what drove me to jxta, an extremely enabling piece of technology, jxta "is" the network, to which the potential and associated dialogs are vast and very real. often, i grab folks first impressions, as quoted, when they use myjxta and post them to the the wall of words. these are real quotes. real people. my wife. my mom. new friends. this is very real. this is "the why" i engineer. the cummulative results of a small group of folks that ask "why" and incrementally start out on the mission, tuning and adjusting along the way, is what it is all about. make it "real." continue to ask "why."

ok, with that backing context in mind, and back to the afore mentioned commencements, what inspires me, in a nutshell? time to swim through some inspirational thoughts.

first up, greg papadopoulos delivered the commencement address for irvine. i can't find a link to the address so i'll include a couple of excerpts within. i do hope those that published the address do not mind, but as i see it, this stuff needs to be shared. made my day anyways.

from greg's address the following stood out, profoundly so:

Wanna be a great engineer? Know your stuff, make things that are simple and elegant, and embrace criticism in order to make them even better. That's all there is to it. Easy, huh?
...
It won't be easy, and it takes most of us years to reach a point where criticism of our work doesn't feel like criticism of our selves, but I think the place to start is with the realization that you have a responsibility to other people.
...
But your responsibility is actually much broader than that, because engineering has the capacity to touch the day-to-day lives of more people than any other discipline I can think of.
...
but the only way you would get there is by thinking in terms of the social context.
...
Practice engineering in a social context.
...
You have a duty to make things simple, usable, secure, and safe.

there it is. simple. concise. real. my take. add a mix of humility and great social awareness and it all becomes, well, grounded. real.

back to xp a bit. one of xp's fundamentals is "collective code ownership." this is manifested quite simply, using words like "our, we, and us" vs "you and i." in practice, it works ... when people step back and, well, relax.

ok, the other commencement i noted. theme, "connect the dots," by one steve jobs. read it. really. now, go read it. don't worry, i'll wait here for you when you have finished.

what stood out for me? connect the dots. easier said then done but obvious in hindsight. translation: DO IT!

we're all collecting dots. it's the journey that matters, not the destion to which i'll add it's what you do with dots you collected on the journey that truly matters. share and share alike. share dots. see what happens. see what you learn in return. society will be the better for it ... and so will you.

love. passion. need ... and compromise. to quote:

You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

don't settle. do not settle.

in the end, it all only matters so much. this isn't a bad thing at all and in fact this perspective, alone, keeps in check all the little distractions that flirt by from time to time. some distractions are good. some are, well, in steve's case, potentially cancerous.

keep distractions at bay. don't settle. ask why ... and do it!

i'll post some of my engineering contributions soon, given java one is nearly at our doorstep. the ensuing dialogs, the "what next" dialogs are what i'm looking forward to for code simply compiles. what we do with it, collectively, is what matters.

collaborate. community. societal context. share. don't be left out.

rock on!

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Coldplay/A Rush Of Blood To The Head/A Rush Of Blood To The Head

i've been mondo busy as of late. that and i took a little famly vacation just recently. as such, i'm just now coming back up for air ... so i thought i'd start with a "soft" entry followed up by something a bit more hard-core on gonzo@java.net shortly.

first off, listening to the new nin cd with teeth. love the "beside you in time" track. a-maze-ing. i had trouble ripping this cd and another (underworld) via itunes so i ended up using grip on linux and importing into the rest of my 36Gb itunes store. end result, i have complete joy on my ipod now.

speaking of the mac, my 6 month old imac got a bit crispy last week, just after i showed my mom the ways of mac. 3 days later, weekend included, i have it back post a new power supply and mother board. i do not recall a time where another piece of equipment or furniture was so missed by all of us in the household. i'm not sure it is quite right to love a piece of plastic so universally. oh well, we're hooked to the osx way, happily so. i must say, apple care gets an a+ in my book.

my family was in town last week for my brother dave's "executive mba" graduation from santa clara university. way to go davey! i'm really impressed. the lad pulled of this 1.5 year program whilst working fulltime for 2/3 of it in a global job that called for him to effectively work 6 days a week. wow. the lad rocks.

unfortunately my dad wasn't able to make the trek. it would've been his first time visiting us siblings who opted for the california way. next time.

my mom and tom did visit though. for the whole week. so, post dave's gradutation festivities we had great dinners, nice chats, fun w/ the only grandson/nephew for miles around and spent a very relaxing day at carmel by the sea and point lobos, a place my mom and i visit pretty much every time she's out here. point lobos is one of my favorite places along the california coastline. the oregon and washington coastlines are amazing as well although the convenience of having point lobos "in my backyard" is indeed a unique treasure. anyways, great times had by all.

i'm not sure i kicked into "vacation mode" as readily as i should have ... or would have liked to. up till then, and including a bit of time during the vacation, i had been pretty busy on a couple of projects, both of which will see the ligth of day next week, at java one. man, should be fun. i'll blog more of details in a bit.

jxta.org is making some nice and very real splashes these days. better and bigger every day in every way. i'm looking forward to chatting w/ jxta compatriots at java one. it's very refreshing to see the wide variety of applications folks are going after using jxta as the network enabler.

k. first blog since diving back into "reality." not to bad me thinks. more detailed info in a bit.

rock on peeps!

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Nine Inch Nails/With Teeth/Beside You In Time

t'is allergy season in sunny silicon valley. if i had my way i'd have it rain every 3rd week or so. till then, i'll rely on my trustly bottle'o claratine.

on the diy front, we are now gearing up to tile our second bathroom. being 'bout 20 tiles short i head out to the neighborhood home depot w/ tile sample in hand. turns out that the 10x10 tiles i'm searching for are no longer manufactured, across the board. wow. back to the drawing board on that one.

turns out this is likely ok since we'll need the remaining tiles for when we redo the sink in the other bathroom and under some shelving we are likely to remove in time. so, tam and i are now picking out new tile and starting afresh.

it's all good!

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Bloc Party/Silent Alarm/This Modern Love

k. this is a tunes only blog.

the new nin cd so rocks! amazing.

trouble is, though, that itunes doesn't seem to like the cd and therefore i have yet to figure out a means to get the tasty sounds onto my trusty ipod'age. out of my collection there is 1 underworld cd that i have the same trouble with.

i bought the dual cd where one side is audio and the other is dvd. as such, i'm listening and watching it via the dvd player.

any ideas? man, i really want the newest nin on my ipod. i'm jones'n.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Nine Inch Nails/With Teeth/Love Is Not Enough

know what ... just 'bout 3 months back the following was simply a concall pipe dream, literally:

At each stop on the group's recent concert tour, lead singer Mr. Bono promoted his "One" campaign to eradicate poverty and AIDS in Africa. He urged audience members to turn on their cell phones and, as the house lights dimmed, the screens lit up the arenas the way cigarette lighters used to do. He then asked them to text message him the word "Unite" and their name. The reply message was a link to a Web site, one.org/UNITE. In a few moments, fans' names scrolled across a lighted sign above the stage.

now, it is literal. very real. very live. all in the span of about 3 months.

shows what can happen ... literally anything can happen ... when a few like minded folks get together and are given a no holds barred opportunity to do something profound and do it quickly.

what if this wasn't the exception?

what if this was the typical modus operandi?

what if?

and, why not?

i suspect this type of activity happens more often then not ... with various amounts of fanfare ... or not. regardless, this type of synergy must be replicated to the fullest extent possible. there is so much opportunity and so few barriers.

just do it.

the potential each one of these little initiatives brings to light is well worth the journey. 'sides, it is the journey that matters in the end anyways.

just do it.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Bloc Party/Silent Alarm/Like Eating Glass

my short vacation is up. my wife's parents came out to visit. trey is their only grandchild so he had plenty of attention. my father in law graciously helped put the finishing touches on a complete plumbing overhaul of our house that we started 2 years back. we now have all copper and a new drainage system. next up ... tile and finish the second bathroom in our house including installing the claw foot bathtub my wife and i recently picked out. again, thx to my father in law, the hard part is behind us.

i like diy. i live diy. a new skill, or two, is learned during the course of events. collaborating on ideas and discudding the potential the magic ingredient. it is the journey, after all, not the destination that matters and choosing travel companions wisely makes for smooth sailing. lastly, simply the "do it" part is key. hmmmmmmmmm, i wonder if do it yourself is more appropriately phrased do it ourselves. anyways, it is always rewarding, if not bruising as in my case, to accomplish needed tasks and begin planning for furture projects. this go around i do wish i had kept up w/ my work our routine as i was mondo sore ... but that wore off once the dust settled.

i believe a principal reason as to why i like diy is directly proportional to what attracts me to oss. that is, given a few primitive tools and a couple of like minds there are virtually no limits.

community.

i have learned more about a handful of folks i collaborate with on various projects and have yet to meet then many i encounter in the "real" world. amazing and i consider these folks i have yet to meet friends. truly. nothing like hashing out ideas on a significantly sizeable codebase whilst balancing multiple user bases to bring out the true "do it ourselves" collaborative spirit.

collaboration.

mutual exchange of ideas. openess. learning. trying. doing. asking "why not" more often then "why." amazing.

anyways, vacation is up ... just about ... now.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Moby/Hotel/Beautiful

man. frost'ies da bomb in my book. gave me some css luv. like'n it bro. hugely appreciated as css hurts me head ... me so "#00FF00" dizzy.

thx dude! sincerly! the results look sweet on firefox/*nix. on safari the table borders aren't visible but perhaps i can work 'em back in one way or a 'nuther. not sure 'bout ie.

when u r in my hood i wanna get you lunch bro. seriously!

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Metallica/Load/Ain't My Bitch

thx tbray. the important thing is that the corner has been turned. that and this isn't the first time i wasn't asked to the prom so no worries. that said, i'd trade in a u2 ticket anytime for some sweet shares should the op come along. nah, u2 totally rocked!

man, the $hit i put up w/ during the early stages though. good grief. possibly nothing in comparison to what evanglist types likely put up w/ in a days work but the dialogs were, well, interesting to put it politely. none the less they were dialogs and in the end that is what it is all about.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Placebo/Black Market Music/Black-Eyed

trey graduated to his first bike today. he also experienced his first tumble. after brushing off the dirt, some hugs and words of encouragement ... he cautiously got back onto his bike.

he's growing up fast.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Fat Boy Slim/Live On Brighton Beach/Jack It Up

in the last jxta tod installment i causually professed:

...
Lastly, bind this profile to AbstractConfigurator and you have now taylored your JXTA configuration process.
...

ok, bind how?

here's how. revisting the AbstractConfigurator jxta tod for a second we can recall just how easy it is to implement a jxta configurator. to bind one's profile to the AbstractConfigurator implementation one need only register it as a resource, the process, in turn, will deposit registered resources into the destined application jxta persistent store, aka JXTA_HOME. here's the code frag needed that when added to the afore mentioned jxta tod that will bind your profile:

static {
  addResource("profile.xml", "/path/to/my/profile.xml");
}

that's it. you've just overloaded the default profile semantics in 1 loc.

what is a profile you say? another jxta tod lad. another jxta tod and all will be known.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Page & Plant/No Quarter/That's The Way

attended the opensolaris user group this evening. great event.

what did i learn? hmmmmm. ok. how's this ... i learned that smf does not stand for sweet m* f* but instead is system service management facility. whatever, it is still a sweet m* f* to me.

my experience. upon migrating to solaris 10, getting the app installed, etc. it was time to ice the cake and rc the beast. that's when i ran up against the smf newness. well, it took all of a half a dozen minutes to realize this pup was gold. check it out. you won't go back.

scored some shirts (thx alan). met some great folks.

it's all good.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Depeche Mode/Remixes 81-04/Strangelove

survivor palau so rocks.

we don't watch a ton of tv but survivor has been a staple from day one. for me, it wads up all the stuff that happens in day-to-day life in a nice reaidly digestible 1 hour serving which pretty much validates the generalism that "logic just doesn't matter" and that "team work" is by and large a false promise. mind you, my mom raised me to be an optimist (thx mom) but it sure helps to be grounded with a healthy dose of realism when dealing with the species human.

anyways, stephanie, what a story. she has the unfortunate honor of having been the only survivor to have attended every single tribal council yet she is still there ... even when all the odds were stacked against her as was the case last night. you simply have to root for good characters in survivor because, as so often is the case, forces typically align to make for unfortunate conflict. i'd add unneccesary conflict but with survivor this is a necessary ingredient as there is a strong motivation for said behaviour and, well, given that $hit happens from time to time in our so called life anyways for various reasons ... it is just refreshing to see goodness win out, even if it is infrequent.

go steph! if she doesn't win, and it looks to be a long bet, she'll likely win a "best of" viewers award like rupert before her. no doubt on that one.

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: New Order/Substance/Shame Of The Nation

another of my younger siblings has achieved another degree. congrats david on earining your much deserved mba from santa clara university. congrats!

i've had the good fortune of working on several projects with two different brothers. no surprise, as m ost of us grew up playing on the same baseball team, taking swim classes together, etc. dave is the perfect type of buisness leader one who like myself that simply wants to slam code and make systems dance. he cuts through the b$, *listens*, is expressive, *listens*, appreciates risk, *listens*, has his ego firmly in check, *listens*, and is an all around likable lad. hmmmm, that last trait must be genetic.

it is at this time that i usually remind my siblings that i am their older brother and they can never take that away from me. rock on!

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: U2/Achtung Baby/The Fly

had a nice weekend. the fam and i spent the weekend in tiburon. i hung out w/ the netbeams crew while tam and trey explored the area which was new to all of us so they had fun.

more on what i was up to in time. till then some of the good folks have posted some pics for your viewing pleasure.

i snagged a ride home w/ potsticker guru who happens to be able to churn out awesome cheese steak (and chicken) sandwiches. tasty!

MyJXTA :: use it - learn it - do it

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Filter/Title Of Record/The Best Things