Logan & Amy’s Blog

We’re taking a trip this weekend with Logan’s family. Which means Odin the dog needs a place to stay. So I set out on my day off to track down a suitable boarding facility that would keep Odin’s mind off his beloved parents’ absence.

What I found was a menagerie of doggie daycare facilities. Is this a foreign idea, or is it just me? My first thought was: this is a place for spoiled dogs whose owners feed them caviar and bottled water. The more I think about it though, I can see the advantages…if only it wasn’t so stinking expensive! Apparently these places are just like daycares for human children, except they are designed for your dog’s enjoyment while you are at work. They have ‘experienced canine professionals’ who have a system of dividing their canine charges into groups depending on play styles, temperaments, energy levels, sizes, etc. They encourage the dogs to take their potty time in the appropriate area, give dogs time-out if they have gotten out-of-control, and arrange for naptime between play sessions. Unlike regular daycares, dogs are screened before they are approved to stay. I’ve never experienced the phenomenon of human daycare, but my guess is that it is otherwise very similar, without the chew toys and crates for naptime.

I don’t like leaving Odin home by himself during the day. He hates solitude, and though he has a yard that is larger than our house’s square footage, he sulks on the deck area every day until we get home in the afternoon. Being a pack animal, most of his enjoyment comes from being near us, his pack! But when both of us work full-time, there really isn’t much choice if one is on a budget. I love that these pet owners are so concerned with their dogs’ activities that they want to provide their pet a suitable alternative to staying home alone with trouble as their only companion. However, I cannot imagine how expensive this would be on a daily basis. $24/day=$480/month…that is rent for some people! To each his own, I suppose. And if your dog’s day is among your top priorities, the doggie daycare industry has some great options for you!

Well it’s been a year since Amy and I started this blog! The “hello world” post was posted on 02-10 of last year. Thirty five posts later and a whole year has gone right by. Here are some highlights of the many changes that have occurred this year:
1. Amy and I got married.

2. Odin turns 1 year.

3. We now live in Portland.

For one more year!

Interesting article. Sigh.. I wait patiently for Perl 6. In the end I predict it’ll be Python and Perl.

How you know when your boss has the potential to be a PHB. E-mail I got today at Wells.

From:
PHB

To:
Development Team

Subject:
Who is supposed to be sending the daily Graphs of Delinquency?

Body:
I have not seen any in days?

What’s interesting that this same manager had a programmer take a daily screenshot, yes Alt PrtScrn, and e-mail it to some upper managers. The programmer who was responsible for this mundane and archaic task went on vacation, which was approved by the above sender.

Sigh…

P.S. Never send me an e-mail with the body in the subject; it will be marked as spam. Also this is an excellent candidate for some automation (alt PrtScrn thing).
P.S.S. Sorry if I sound cynical, I know I only have 4 more days!

It’s politics as usual on capital hill, but it’s more at stake than building the next bridge to nowhwere.

Apparently Bono got the shaft from Democrats for $1 billion dollars in US pledges to fight Malaria and AIDS in Africa. Not sure which is worse the promises made by President Bush or the hypocrisy of congress.
Meanwhile the church Amy and I are attending, Imago Dei, will be sending a team to East Africa to help with various ministries. They’re partnering with an organiziation called Hope is Alive. These people include college students to young professionals with a great heart for humanity. Also a friend of ours from our bible study has been lead to go to Sudan with MedAir. What amazes me is the great risk that these individuals are taking upon themselves to help people they have no personal ties to. If anything it demonstrates the love of Christ and the willingness of regular people to imitate that love.

Our government, national healthcare, reforming social security, winning the Iraq war, winning the war on terror, political promises, technology, or more taxes will never help or save humanity. God uses the common people to be his hands and feet, the least will be first in His Kingdom.

It’s a big world out there, still so much to see. 

create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits Nederlands

All-star cast, which includes Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell, makes one of the best films I’ve seen all year. I highly recommend anyone to see the movie Little Miss Sunshine; it’ll make you cry, laugh, and reminisce at all that makes us human. The movie is just raw humanity at its most dysfunctional. Without ruining the film for those who have yet to see it, it’s about a family and their journey across the United States trying to get their daughter enrolled in a national beauty contest in California. To say the least, the way the family interacts is hilarious and at the same time frighteningly realistic, or at least I’ve witnessed just as messed up families before. A must see.

Perl has gained the reputation, rightfully, as a hacker’s language, which has both negative and positive connotations. The community of Perl programmers often pride themselves as artists in the many ways they represent the counter culture of software development. There appears to be a general ignorance of the powerful tools available with Perl, especially among new comers to the community. I hope in the weeks to come to unveil the power behind the Perl Debugger. Be prepared, it’s going to be an amazing journey.

The winds of change appear to be very active my life. After 8 months of tenure with Wells Fargo I have submitted my resignation and my last day will be December 28th. Starting as of the first of the year I will be working as a Perl programmer for a sexy marketing company in the Pearl district of Portland. The company, PCD Group, offers an array of services for a repertoire of Fortune 100 companies. I will be on a team of 4 other programmers and will be responsible for not just Perl development but making sure the company continues to be very versed in the latest web technologies. I finally feel like a real Portlander and joining the local workforce downtown.

To say the least I am very excited about this new opportunity and am honestly very happy to leave the confines of corporate America. The timing of this opportunity couldn’t be any better. It comes at the apex of my rapidly deteriorating psychological well being. Without snubbing Wells too much, I’m very thankful that I had a job the last 8 months, I mean hey, it paid the bills. The job also enabled me to venture to Portland, and also most of my team members in my group are extremely intelligent a joy to work with, and will honestly miss them. It really is the system that corporate Wells represents that I felt a great amount of oppression under, and moving to a more freer agile environment will be a great relief, one that cultivates creativity.

I came across this article on Perl.com, probably one of the best articles to describe Big “O” Notation in very simpleton terms. Of course those astute in algorithmic design know this encompasses all areas of computer science, just a good refresher to optimize any program one has wrote in whatever language.