Short in iPod touch Connector Port
We have the Griffin Evolve sound system for the iPod, which I use from time to time to listen to music from my iPod touch. Unfortunately the sound system was within reach of Rowan who decided yesterday to pull back and forth on the docked iPod touch. This unfortunately bent the connector pins in the iPod touch connector port. And now whenever the iPod touch is docked the music starts and stops, plays out only 1 speaker, and or sometimes it makes an awful noise.
Okay, so I can’t use the iPod touch with the Griffin system by docking it. That’s fine. I’ll just connect it using the headphone jack. Problem solved, or so I thought.
Today I discovered the iPod touch shorting out when connected to my laptop. It didn’t occur to me yesterday I would have this problem but an electrical short is an electrical short. And no matter what I try the device keeps disconnecting and reconnecting every minute or so when plugged into the laptop.
I’m debating whether I should try getting the device fixed or just buy another one. If I get another one I can let the kid have the broken one. It could be fun to see how long it takes before he completely destroys it.
Regardless of what I decide to do, I did learn my lesson and now the sound system is out of the kid’s reach.
Our Healthcare System Sucks
My wife and I have health insurance provided through her employer. The coverage is good, typical of what most large corporations offer. And yet even though we have health insurance we still had to pay $2634.20 in out of pocket medical expenses, and this number doesn’t even include the cost for medicines such as the $50 cream we had to buy for our little one. Oh, and did I mention that we opted to NOT pay Cobra $3000 for the 3 months of medical coverage NOT provided by the insurance company due to the fact that my wife was taking some unpaid time off to be with our new child?
During that 3 month period our out of pocket medical expenses were $322.03. The great state of Massachusetts requires all residents have health insurance, but honestly we could not afford it. Do the math, folks. To stay “legal” we were being asked to pay just over $3000 to cover $322.03 worth of medical expenses. That makes no freakin’ sense.
For those wondering, Cobra is pro-rated so we had up to 3 months to apply. The unpaid time off was only 3 months, so we decided to wait until the final day to decided whether to pay for Cobra coverage or not. If our total medical expenses during the 3 month period were more then $3000 we would apply, otherwise we would pay the expenses ourselves. Since our total medical expenses were during that time were far less we opted to not enroll into Cobra. But wait. There’s more.
As I said Massachusetts requires every resident to have health insurance. According to the official document from our insurance company that must be included with our state income tax return, we did not have health insurance for 3 months during 2008. This means we violated state law for 3 months. I’m just waiting to see what penalties we will have to pay to the state because I refused to pay $3000 to cover $322.03 worth of medical expenses.
Back to the math. So $322.03 of the $2634.20 was because of the Cobra slash unpaid time off issue. I’m okay with paying $322.02 to save $2677.97. This still leaves $2312.17 worth of medical expenses not covered by our health insurance provider during the time when we did have full coverage. What were these expenses, you ask? More than half of the expenses were related to my wife’s pregnancy and the delivery of our first child. We had to pay an additional $1577.55 out of our own pocket just to have a baby.
This leaves $734.62, which is the amount I paid to get 4 stitches near my eye from an accident. Had the accident happened a couple of hours earlier the amount would paid have been around $291.28 but the medical clinic near our house was closed at the time of the accident leaving me no choice but to go to the emergency room. And no, I couldn’t wait until the next day. I had a deep cut less than a quarter of an inch away from my eye with lots of blood coming out. Waiting was not an option.
Let’s recap the out of pocket expenses:
* $1577.55 to have a baby
* $734.62 to stitch a cut near my eye
* $322.03 pediatric visit during the unpaid time off
Grand total: $2634.20
There is a serious problem in the United States regarding healthcare. And while the government powers that be are focused on stimulus packages, corporate bail outs, and trying to improve the economy, it seems to me healthcare reform is something the U.S. government ignored for years. Don’t believe me? Watch Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko and see for yourself.
I know my situation is minor compare to the many, many others who have major medical issues. However the point I’m trying to make here is that even with health insurance a typical American family may still have to pay out of pocket medical expenses that can be a struggle to afford. Not only that, but in my own situation if the U.S. had a better healthcare system like the ones found in other countries such as Canada and France I would have been able to put the $2634.20 into the pockets of local retailers or maybe a contractor to do some work on the house thus doing my part to help stimulate the economy.
As a side note and since I did mention Canada, I have to say from personal experience that the Canadian healthcare system is awesome, really awesome. A few years back I fractured my leg on a snowboarding trip in Canada. The total cost to see the doctor, get x-rays, etc, $86 Canadian which at that time came out to about $60 U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., 4 stitches and an ER visit costed me $734.62. Something is seriously wrong with our healthcare system!
Update: My wife found 2 more invoices totaling $190 bringing our out of pocket medical expenses for 2008 to a total of $2824.20.
Long Time No Post
I really need to find time to make more blog posting. I definitely have lots to say, opinions to share, tips and tricks learned from some of the programming work I have done over the last few months. But it seems I never have time to write.
I’m currently working on new releases for Labor Mate, my labor contraction stopwatch for the iPhone and iPod touch, and Killink CSV Editor, a csv editor for the Windows desktop. I’m also working on 3 different custom software development projects for customers and I have another one that will be starting soon. And the new White Peak Software website will be ready very, very soon with new customer support features coming soon. Needless to say, I’m swamped.
And of course Rowan is only 10 months old and I have to spend as much time as I can with him. Lucky for me I work from home so I get to spend plenty of time with the little guy daily, which is great. But he does interrupt my work from time to time.
With luck and some focused time getting some of the projects completed, I’ll be back blogging before you know it. Meanwhile you can follow me over at Twitter.
Framework or CMS
I am once again pondering the question of whether to use a framework or CMS for the upcoming refresh the White Peak Software web site. I have gone back and forth on this multiple times over the years and I can never really decide which is better. And I ask this question often not just for my company web site but for customer web sites that I build.
A framework gives me great control and flexibility. I can design and architect the site to my liking. I can use the data store of my choice be it XML, a database such as MSSQL or Postgres, and I can implement site specific features that meet 100% of the requirements. But the site eventually reaches a point where the only thing needed is to publish new content. Create a new landing page for marketing, change copy on an existing page, add a new product page, and so on. This is when I start thinking “Man, I wish I had a really simple CMS in place.”
A CMS manages the site content for me. A CMS really does make publishing new content a snap. And you get a lot of additional features, or add-ons, with a CMS such as blog engine, forums or discussion groups, user management, calendar, photo gallery…the list goes on. However, most if not all CMSs are built on top of some core framework (Plone uses Zope, DotNetNuke uses .NET, ExpressionEngine uses CodeIgnitor - I think). This allows developers to expand and enhance the CMS by writing their own add-ons and extensions. But to do this the developer needs to know the underlying framework, and if you already know the framework isn’t it sometimes easier and or faster to work directly with the framework bypassing the CMS all together? Also, it’s been my experience that many of the CMSs out there tend to meet only 80 to 90% of the requirements. So you get the ease of publishing new content but other areas of the site can be lacking unless, of course, additional code is written to make up for the missing functionality. It’s a vicious circle.
So do you learn and master a framework and have ultimate flexibility or learn and master a CMS and have ease of use for managing content? And what about rolling your own “simple” CMS. It can be great experience in the beginning but it will eventually have limitations or even worse become yet another full feature CMS like those already available today. And if you end up writing your own full featured CMS you have to ask yourself “Would my time have been better spent learning and mastering an existing CMS, its framework and contributing to its community?”
Unfortunately I don’t have any solid answers here. I guess the only real answer to the question should I use a framework or CMS is “It depends.” It depends on a number of different factors unique to your situation, your needs, your time line, and so on.
So what have I decided for the White Peak Software web site refresh? Honestly I’m still a bit undecided. The site is currently implemented with ASP.NET and a home grown simple CMS mechanism. It has worked well for a number of years but I need more functionality on the site. Building on the current implementation would take too much time so I need a different approach. My original thought was to use PHP and Zend but then I discovered CodeIgnitor. CodeIgnitor led me to ExpressEngine and I thought “Ah, the solution for me. PHP+CodeIgnitor+ExpressEngine”. But then I started looking at python for general programming tasks and thought “What would it take to use Python programming for web apps?” Not much I found out so I have decided to use Python.
The decision to use Python has lead me to look at a number of different frameworks and CMS solutions. And while I’m not 100% sure what stack I will select, I’m leaning towards Python + web2py. web2py is an enterprise ready framework for web based application. Web development using web2py is very easy and fast, and I really like the development experience on my Mac.
I guess it’s safe to assume at this point that I will once again pick a framework over an existing CMS. What can I say? I’m a programmer and while the appeal for a CMS is there I still enjoy the flexibility and control I have by doing my own implementation using a framework.
Update: Here is a follow up posting that explains my own requirements and why I feel using a framework is better in my situation.
Framework or CMS Revisited
Thanks to Twitter I have received some great feedback [thanks folks!] within minutes of posting my thoughts on using a framework or CMS. In the post I talk about the two approaches in general terms and I end the post saying I will very liking use a framework for the White Peak Software web site refresh. Everyone who sent me feedback suggested I use a CMS for White Peak but unfortunately I didn’t really say what my requirements are. Knowing the requirements might change the opinions of some.
CodeRage III - Not a Good Start for Me
I attended CodeRage I and II. The sessions were insightful and I enjoyed the concept of attending a virtual conference. With the first two CodeRage conferences I had zero problems listening in on and viewing the conferences. But with CodeRage III is only minutes away from starting I can’t say the same thing about attending this latest conference.
For starters when you register for the conference you have select the sessions you want to attend. Of course the standard disclaimer appears on the session schedule page “Agenda is subject to change without notice” so I registered for all sessions. This caused a flood of emails to arrive in my Inbox. “Big deal” I thought. I know I registered so I deleted the emails. Today I learn I needed to save those emails. Those emails contain the “join now” links for each session. Unfortunately since I deleted the emails long ago they are now gone forever. Only solution? To re-registered for the conference, so that’s just want I did.
To re-register I had to use a different email address then the one used in my original registration. If you use the same email address you get a friendly message saying you have already registered for the event. No s#@t! Since the system already knows I’m registered it would have been nice to see an option that says something like “re-send confirmation emails”. But noooo, so I completed the registration form again this time using a different email address.
Now I have re-registered and the confirmation page says “Thank you for registering for this event. You will receive an e-mail that will let you know whether your registration is approved.” It’s been 30 minutes and still no emails. And the conference has officially kicked off as I type the CodeRage III rant. Luckily someone on Twitter has offered to forward the emails to me.
Next issue. CodeRage uses Live Meeting. Live Meeting was a great service a few years back. Heck, I even hosted an online session a time or two back 4 years ago. Problem with Live Meeting is that it only works with Windows. Guess what? Not everyone uses Windows.
I switched to the Mac last year and the experience has been so good that I never want to see Windows again. Unfortunately that won’t happen in the real world. For starter I have customers who depend on Windows and I sell products for the Windows desktop. So Windows will remain a part of my life for the unforeseeable future.
The solution to using Windows on my Mac is VMware Fusion. This great piece of software allows me to launch instances of Windows in virtual machines on my Mac. This is how I do all my Windows-based development.
So what does this have to do with CodeRage III? I’ll tell you. Because I use the Windows virtual machines to do programming I typically never configure an audio device. This means no audio will ever play from the Windows-based virtual machines I use. But to attend CodeRage III I need to use Windows. And since my only access to Windows is through a virtual machine, I now need to re-configure a Windows instance to have an audio device.
So to attend CodeRage III I need to have a Windows vm instance with an audio device. I need to install the Live Meeting component. And I need to re-register or ask someone else to send me the emails with the session links. Honestly this is just becoming too much trouble.
At this point it has been an hour since I started getting ready for CodeRage III and I’m so annoyed that I just have to move on. I might try again tomorrow (doubtful) or just want for the replays to be posted in the near future (more likely). Meanwhile, here are some suggestions for future CodeRage events.<ol>
<li>Use an online conferencing solution that is not tied to Windows only</li>
<li>Send a single email, not one for each registered session</li>
<li>Provide a web page to registered attendees with links to the sessions</li>
<li>Don’t expect me to save 20 or so emails (that are flagged as junk anyways)</li>
</ol>
Hope you are listening CodeGear.
Update: I decided I want to listening on CodeRage III so I have configured audio in one of my Windows development vm. But now I’m searching though 20 different emails to find the link for today’s current session. This is just plain stupid. Yes I know. If I used Outlook it would have placed an appointment in my calendar but I don’t use Outlook. Big surprise I’m sure. Too annoyed. Will try again tomorrow when I’m in a better mood.
Update 2: It’s been more than 2 hours since I started trying to get my CodeRage on and everything is finally working. Still, the experience has not been very Mac friendly. For instance, here is what happened when the 20 emails came in.
RAD Studio 2009 Is Coming
I feel smart at the moment. Or maybe “wise” is the better word.
I subscribed to the Delphi RAD Studio Professional SA during a special pricing for the pre-order of 2007. I pay $399 a year (plus or minus a few dollars - I don’t remember the exact amount I pay each year). I noticed the upgrade from 2007 to 2009 costs $624. Assuming CodeGear continues the trend started in 2007 I should save more bones over time and stay current. I like it when I feel like I have a good deal.
Have you read about the new managed code version of Delphi called Prism? It’s actually not new. It’s RemObject’s Oxygen compiler for Visual Studio. I’m actually looking forward to playing with this. I was always interested in RemObject’s Chrome (renamed to Oxygen earlier this year) but didn’t want to spend the money. But since it is included as part of RAD Studio I get it for no additional cost.
Doubt I’ll ever really use it. I don’t see converting my csv file editor to manage code and I doubt customers are not going to ask me to write their .NET apps in Object Pascal, though I do prefer Delphi programming over C#. Also, I’m moving my personal web sites to python, my new favorite scripting / programming language. [Side note: I’m starting to do more and more with python. Mostly prototyping algorithms but I do have one program that downloads daily sales reports for iPhone developers hosted at Google Code. The program has been picked up and included in another open source project. It’s been fun to do.]
So I’m excited to play with Prism but honestly it’s about 2 years too late for CodeGear in my opinion. At least 2 years too late for me. And even though RemObject’s Chrome was available 2 years ago I didn’t see spending the additional money on it at that time. Still, I might use it to play with SilverLight. Unlike CodeGear/Borland’s past .NET attempts, Prism fully supports the latest .NET frameworks, libraries, and technologies coming out of Redmond. Oh, and Mono too. Though right now I will probably use python if I need to write something cross platform.
Hiking the Long Trail Division 1
Last month Shawn and I hiked Division 1 of the Long Trail. The hike was mostly enjoyable - we had to cut the trip short which meant hiking in the dark with pouring rain and high winds. That part was not enjoyable. But the trail is clearly marked making the night hike easier than expect.
Here are pictures from the trip. If I have more time in the near future I will blog more about the trip.
Hug a Developer
There are times when it is tough being a developer. But you can help make a difference in a developer’s life by simply giving him or her a hug.
Here’s a great video by DevShop that shares some of the pains we developers go through on a regular basis. Watch the video then give a developer a hug.