In a few weeks we are moving from San Francisco back to Toronto. Melanie is going to go house hunting next weekend. We hope to find something in either Markham or Mississauga. We are moving because I will start a long-term contract at Schwab Capital Markets in Jersey City. I’m going to be doing software and system architecture analysis to start with. I also hope to introduce some concepts from agile methods. When I was working at Q-Soft (now MegaWheels) in Calgary, we used an extremely agile methodology. We developed a prototype and then every few days brought in potential customers to view it and provide feedback. We then integrated the feedback and showed it again. We also did a little pair programming. I consider that experience to be one of my best development experiences. I was also working with two of my best friends: Jesse Burns and Christian Gruber. We’ve gone on to work together several more times: Sun Microsystems (really Lighthouse Design), Troba, and then with Solution Architects.

Just found a really funny website [onastick.net]. Mostly geek humor.

I just wanted to add links to some of my favorite books about software creation and methodologies. Software Craftsmanship by Pete McBreen presents an ethical framework for the discipline of software creation by master software craftsmen. Object Solutions by Grady Booch presents a good introduction to incremental and iterative development for object-oriented software. Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn presents a theoretical framework for software creation based on the central concept of communication. Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck presents a radical approach where various software creation practices are taken to extremes in order to support each other. Refactoring by Martin Fowler presents a rigorous method and catalog of examples for redesigning software without changing functionality. The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper presents an approach to software creation that focuses on making the user happy about interacting with a software system.

When my parents (Garry and Valerie) were still together, we lived in a house in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada at 1222 Temperance Street. That was a really nice neighborhood. We were only a block from my elementary school, Brunskill School. I remember walking to school every day. I remember the leaves on the street in the fall. I remember running down the block. I remember the odd blue apartements at the corner of Temperance and Wiggins. I remember that the large high-rise known as "Luther Towers" went up while we were there. I also remember the corner store and getting yoyo’s there and seeing a fabulous yoyoing demonstration. We moved out when I was pretty young: maybe seven years old – I think it was when my parents split up.