SandyWalsh.com

I still don't really get the purpose behind his management training program but I totally agree with nearly everything else he says in this interview about getting a company going without VC.

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Recently I reconnected with a school chum RJ Guha who runs Kindling Music and he gave me early access to new releases from three artists. I was ready to have some sugar poured in my ears. I stayed away from any of their website pages so I can't tell you about the band members or their backgrounds; instead I thought I'd let the music speak for itself and just share my thoughts from listening to their albums ... a lot. First off, I would say that these are three very different albums, you need to be in different mood for each of them ... so take your time.

The first was The Populars and their album "A Pill For Everyone". Fun album ... good rock/pop sensibilities with a wide range of musical styles. Every song has a different feel to it which makes it a great album to stick in the player and listen to from start to finish. Each time I listened to it I found something I liked about different songs depending my mood at the time. "You took my ball away" is still my favorite just for the simple lyrics and driving beat. I found myself singing the refrain in the car when there was no music playing. "Good News" is awesome with a driving riff that pulls you along for the ride. It sounds like the band was really having fun on that one. I kept thinking of another band, The Odds, as I listened to "A Pill For Everyone"; a nice heavy base layer of rock with a pop hook over the top. Beyond the songs where the music drives the emotion I was worried that some of the lyrics seemed a little weak with "Teenage Party Girl" and "Can You Keep A Secret". Not leaving anything to the imagination or with something to stew on and rattle around in my head when the music stopped ... which might limit my long term affair with the album but the music kept me coming back.

Next was Dearly Beloved - "RepoRepoRepo" - This album kicks ass! Not as musically diverse as The Populars, but this is NOT a pop album. Actually it's almost two albums. The first half is straight up, in-your-face rock and roll and the second half of the album changes the pace and drops the tempo. When I first listened to "Candy-Coated" I recoiled a little, worried that I was about dismiss Dearly Beloved as another White Stripes wannabe, but they quickly redeemed themselves. "Acceptance Corporation" and "Bit My Lip" establish the sound and set the general tone for the album. All control is surrendered as 'Dress It Up' pounds you into submission. If your head isn't bobbing around during this one, check your pulse. Not every song is intended to blow your head off. "Carnivale" and "Unsee" surprised me like it came out of nowhere. And there are some great ambient songs on this album as well like "Who Kknows" and "Fire Escape", you'll find their songs scattered across a lot of your play lists. Take the pieces that strike you and let them become your Dearly Beloved.

The last album was by David Martel - "I Hardly Knew Me". I had to really find the right time to listen to this album. You definitely have to be in the right place mentally but when you are, you're in for a treat. My complaints about strong conceptual lyrics were waylaid with this album. Kicking the album off with "The End Of Self" we are quickly pulled into David's world. Like a fine wine I get rush of Pete Yorn and top notes of Belle and Sebastian or Radiohead. If that sounds tasty, you'll enjoy this album. "The Good Lord" sets up easy and then drives it home like a runaway train. It's a great Saturday morning album when you're getting your first cup of tea and cooking the eggs. Let the kitchen fill with the airy arrangements as the vocals wash over you and you feel all your concerns wash away.

There you have it. Three very different and very good albums from an intriguing independent label. I think I'm going to have to sample more of their wares ... soon.

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Great article on Martin C. Martin's site about "How to Interview a Manager". As he mentioned, there are lots of articles about interviewing programmers, but few on managers. I agree with his points, especially the risk of getting an MBA ramble with open ended questions (I could tell you some funny/sad stories about a past colleague that did this ad nauseum).

That said, the thing missing from this article is that your answer, as a manager, depends on the seniority of the person being interviewed. How you handle the problems outlined with a junior vs. a senior developer are radically different. What do you expect from programmers of different skill levels. What do you expect from developers that have been in the role for 2-3 years vs. someone that is still not familiar with the codebase? It's all very subjective.

But, again, a good article and a worthwhile read.

For a good Listen ... I strongly recommend the Dan Bricklin Vilna Shul event podcast. Great summary of what the VC's invested in for 2007 and what 2008 might hold. Best quote "When he was involved in WashingtonPost.com years ago it cost $100M but today could do the same for $5M (thanks to today's tools, etc.) " ... go Django (kidding)!

Switch again

My router (SMC2804WBRP-G) has been pretty stable recently, but when it flakes out it does it in fine style. I've been trying to debug it. Here's what happens:

• It randomly loses its mind ... but often keeps already establish traffic flowing (like torrents)
• The Web UI Admin interface dies ... sometimes.
• DNS seems to be the first to go.
• Sometimes it reports that it has lost its WAN connection, but won't reestablish.
• Very slow DHCP allocations.

Often a hard reboot solves it, but I need to find a way to do this easier without running down to the basement. Perhaps Tomato or DD-WRT are in order?

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Here is a really good summarization of the things I've always looked for when hiring developers. So, obviously, I couldn't agree with this author more. I especially like the section about diversity of skills. There are so many "java-heads" out there now it's a little scary. You need to have a diverse range of skills in order to pick the right tool for the job.

That said, as a business person, you have to hire to the available gene-pool. I've heard from many of my non-geek business colleagues about the difficultly they're having hiring .NET people. It makes sense when you think about it. There is such an anti-Microsoft sentiment out there that young developers are learning everything but .NET ... but the older business people are still buying Microsoft for the "No one ever got fired buying Microsoft" mentality.

Finding Django, Python, Ruby, Rails developers is a harder task in a small gene-pool like Halifax. If you're a business person and need a software project done, you might be better off sticking with something mainstream like Java. Especially if you don't have the time, skills, resources to foster a dev team properly.

But, if you're technically minded and hire "dyed-in-the-wool" programmers like the article describes, it's easier to mentor and grow a great development team using whatever technology you like (so long as it's kind of sexy). Smart people live everywhere, especially in collage towns like Halifax, so hire them above all else.

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If you're reading this, you probably have enough electronic gadgets around the house to choke a small animal. This isn't the bad part. The bad part is the mess of wires and chargers that are strewn around the house and cluttering up tabletops and desk drawers. You can usually never find the charger you need or you don't use the device because it's never charged.


I've seen these Charger Valets online and at various stores, but they usually cost a small fortune and can't hold all the stuff I need. I've got to charge my cellphone, Karen's cell phone, the digital camera, my bluetooth headphones and Karen's Zen at the very least.

So, I put together this little charger valet the other night to clean up the mess. I picked up a $13 leather-like box at Winners, a $2 plush brown face cloth and a couple of extension cords.


Here's what the box looks like on the fireplace when it's being used (charging). Nice.
Open it up and you see all your devices neatly arranged with easy access to the charger ends that you need:You'll notice that one of the chargers (the camera battery) has this stupid direct-in-the-wall arrangement that doesn't allow it to easily be extended. For this, I ran a little brown extension cord to the surface and plugged the camera charger into it. Everything sits on the face cloth to protect the devices and keep them from sliding around.

With no devices in the box, it's still pretty clean. Two of the devices charge from the USB mini and for now I only have one of them connected.

If you look behind the curtain, by lifting the cardboard insert, you see the nastiness. The face cloth is glued to a cardboard insert which I made high enough to allow all the extension cords and charger boxes to sit evenly. I used a silicon glue that wouldn't soak the face cloth and make it rough. But it's fastened firmly. One hole lets all the cables come through.

A little hole in the back let's the main extension cord into the box and I have it tie-wrapped to the bottom of the box to keep everything locked in place in case the cable gets pulled by the kids.

$20 later ... the mess is solved and the devices are charged! Easy project.

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I was recently filling up the machine with gas at the neighborhood Irving and I ran into the same clerk that was there when I noticed the $13 two-pack AAA battery rip off. He said he mentioned it to his boss and they fixed it. Yup, sure enough they are now only $6.79 (nearly $3.40 each) ... but, it's an improvement over $6.50 per battery.


Now, before you decide to run off to your local Irving to get AAA batteries, remember that you can get the same ones at Home Depot at $14.37 for 16 batteries (about $.90 each):



A guess sometimes it does pay to bitch a little.

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No no, I get it. People are in desperate need of some trivial supply in a hurry. Or, they got some free money from an x-mas present which is burning a hole in their pocket. Perfect opportunity to make a little more "on the top" huh?

Forget it. X-mas doesn't mean you need to check your brain at the door. In fact, it's a really great time to highlight the crap stores that just want to rip you off.

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