LS Digital Design Blog

Don't Close the Book on 'The Book'

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:39:00-0700

I have not done a movie review in a while, but this movie was pretty compelling to me to write one. In the past few days I have watched two Denzel Washington movies, after not seeing him in a film for a few years. The first, 'The Taking of Pelham: 123' I will not go into to detail on because it's not really worth the time. 'The Book of Eli', however, is worth a review--and a good one at that. Eli (Washington) is in a post-apocalyptic desert world after some kind of nuclear war has all but wiped out humanity. The war, as we find out later, may have been a religious battle (based on what is said by Eli). Eli's sole mission is to carry a sacred book across the country to the west coast. He was instructed by God himself to protect the last copy of this book. Along the way, he encounters some nasty characters, but takes them out with violent precision. He is a master swordsman and marksman, with uncanny reflexes. He takes out aggressors with ease, and rarely gets hurt in the process. It's like 'Mad Max' meets 'the Terminator'. The book he carries, as it turns out, is the King James Bible, and the last one in existence. The bad guy (Gary Oldman) is bent on not destroying it, but using it for his own evil purposes by using its wisdom to manipulate the people to do what he wants them to do. "I don't have the eloquence it has. I need the words from that book!", he says. The movie ends in a less-than-explosive climax, but the ending is powerful just the same. This is a thinking-man's movie, and not just a shoot-em-up. The ending is, well, amazing. The movie starts slow, but gets better early on. Mila Kunis has come a long way since her role in 'That 70's Show', and does a good performance. Die-hard conservative Christians will still be offended by the violence and language of this film--including pointless, brutal murder and rape, which is hard to watch. Still, the underlying tones of the movie are quite spiritually thought-provoking, to say the least. *SOAPBOX TIME - DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN MY PERSONAL BELIEFS* I am amazed at the amount of negative comments on Netflix about this being a "religious" film, and just the general public's distaste or even hatred for anything related to the Bible itself or even anything Biblical. Many comments were to the effect of "the movie would have been good, but was ruined by religious drivel", etc. Wow, people really do push away the ultimate form of hope and love. They reject Christ with everything they have. What a messed up world we live in, where everyone would rather do what they want and satisfy their own desires, rather than those of the Lord of Creation. This world really is "all about me". We crucified Christ on the cross, and do it again every day--even in 2010. As Christians, now is the time more than ever to stand up for Christ and the Bible, because there is so much coming against us. One might say watching a rated "R" movie is not something a Christian should do, and I agree with that to a point. However, if I am going to watch a movie like this, I am glad to see the underlying message is more than just that of bringing out the guns and blowing away the bad guys. This mainstream movie may not be what God had in mind to spread His Word, but people can't deny there is a powerful message behind this movie, and that is what makes it so good.

Happy Memorial Day!

Mon, 31 May 2010 12:03:00-0700

Memorial Day is so much more than just the "beginning of summer" and a three-day weekend. It is intended to honor those who serve and have served this country. Take a moment today to thank a vet, and remember what this day is really all about. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

cf.Objective() 2010 Retrospective

Mon, 03 May 2010 07:35:00-0700

Well, cf.Objective() 2010 is over, and it's back to the normal grind. What an amazing conference, and what an amazing experience. Being my first time there, I was not just an attendee, but also a speaker. I can't thank Sean Corfield enough for letting Aaron and I have the chance to speak and present our ideas on error handling and bulletproofing applications. How does it feel to speak at such a conference? For me personally, imagine being a no-name, B-movie actor showing up at the Oscars. All around you are celebs--and you're hanging out with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. This is a bad analogy, I know, but the best one I can come up with at the moment. I was surrounded by bloggers, writers, framework writers, and extremely well-known individuals in the community. It was absolutely amazing. Here I was--this no name guy from Dayton, Ohio, listed among the biggest names in the industry from all over the globe. In my mind, cf.Objective() is a whole different ballgame from CFUnited or any of the other, smaller CF conferences out there. There is an intense wealth of knowledge and passion for the industry and the language itself. The setting is intimate, and often attendees spend a lot of time hanging out directly with the speakers. Everyone is incredibly cool, from Simon Free to Dan Vega to Marc Esher--no one will turn you away for the chance to talk shop. Being a veteran attendee of CFUnited, Spring Break, and BFusion/BFlex, this conference had an aura and charm all its own. Thanks again to everyone for putting together such a great conference, and thanks to Sean for letting us get up there and speak. I am already looking forward to next year!

Cf.Objective() Conference 2010

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:19:00-0700

As many of you in the community are already aware, the cf.Objective() conference in Minneapolis is coming, and coming quickly. cf.Objective() is the only Enterprise ColdFusion conference and, really, the only one of its kind. Other CF conferences such as CFUnited are more geared towards an all-encompassing view of ColdFusion--from beginner to expert. cf.Objective(), however, is geared towards seasoned developers and people who are immersed in the technology. That's not to say not everyone is welcome to the conference--far from it--it just means some people will get more out of it than others. See the list of sessions here. This year, Aaron Wolfe and I will be presenting our topic Saturday, the 23rd "Bulletproof Apps: Architecting for Failure". After being slated to present at CFUnited last year and having to pull out at the last second, we are very excited to actually be heading to Minneapolis. The presentation will be great for anyone looking to build solid ColdFusion applications. Aaron and I are honored by the opportunity to speak at this prestigious conference alongside industry greats such as Ray Camden, Charlie Arehart, Simon Free, Peter Bell, and so many more. For someone like myself who is not a seasoned presenter or "big name" in the community, it is a little intimidating to be able to have this chance. I am not new to presenting. I have taught several Web development courses at a local community college and present several times a year to our ColdFusion user group, MVCFUG. Being in front of people has become quite a natural and rewarding experience. I hope those of you reading this who are able to attend do so. Minneapolis is a central location for most of the country, so getting there should not be a problem. For me, I have never been, and am excited to visit somewhere new. April 22-24th looks to be a terrific time. If you have any questions about me or about our presentation, feel free to contact me. Learn more about cf.Objective(): http://www.cfobjective.com Twitter: cfobjective

Macbook Hard Drive Swap (And Time Machine Rules)

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:56:00-0700

This week I let a friend of mine talk me into taking his Western Digital Scorpio drive from his laptop and swapping out my old 120 gb in my Macbook for the 250 gb one. My 13" black Macbook is now over 3 years old and still going strong, but the lack of space had been getting annoying as I was constantly having to offload precious files to various disks, flash drives, etc. My Western Digital Passport drive was kept strictly for performing Time Machine backups--and, boy, am I glad I did! The swap itself was not hard at all. Using a whitepaper from Mac, the swap was incredibly simple. The only hangup I had was a star driver was required to remove the housing from the hard drive (thin metal casing with pull tab). So, if you're going to do this make sure you have a tiny one handy. It really is "plug and play", though, and nothing special needs to be done. Next, came the fun part--the restore from Time Machine. All I had to was plug in my external backup drive via usb, boot up the laptop with the Snow Leopard CD, run the disk utility to format the hard drive (GUID format), then pick my language and restore! I highly advise reading this helpful article from Gizmodo on doing a Time Machine restore. There is something funky you need to do before restoring. Other than that, the restore took about an hour and a half, and I was up and running with a complete, seamless restore! Time machine worked flawlessly! I was originally very upset at the thought of having to remove beloved baby pics from iPhoto, favorite vids and music from iTunes, etc. Now, this isn't nearly as much of a concern as I now have over 120 gigs of free space! Overall, the whole process took about 2 hours from start to finish, with less than 5 minutes of that being to replace the hardware. Once again, Mac did not let me down.

Finally, An Entry!

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:50:00-0700

Today, I was looking at my blog and realized I haven't done an entry in quite a while! In fact, it's been well over a month since I posted anything. I thought it was only fair to offer up a little explanation as to why. Let me explain why I haven't blogged anything lately. 1) Life in general. Many of you know I have twin boys, both just over a year old. As anyone with kids can imagine, it's a demanding job. Despite having a wonderful wife who is a stay-at-home mom and takes care of the boys most of the time, I still have a responsibility and desire to take care of them when I can. I love my boys more than anything, and they are my top priority. 2) Work. My workplace is great, because it always presents new challenges. There is always something going on and a new deadline to meet. However, as a result, it also demands a lot of my time. Rarely do I ever get to work a 40-hour workweek. I inevitably end up working nights and weekends, whether it be coding or just checking email. 3) School. I am trying to finish up the agonizingly drawn-out process of getting a degree, and the process seems neverending. Just when I think I am almost done, another curveball gets thrown my way. For example, I found out I now have to take another class I didn't even know about--pushing the timeline out once again. You have to love state schools. Nevertheless, the classes require a lot of time outside of work and are writing-intensive. As a result, I spend a lot of my free time not coding, but writing 15-25 page papers on management and leadership. Someday, I really hope this pays off. I made a personal resolution for 2010 to blog more about ColdFusion and technology in general. So far this year, I have failed miserably to do so. So, I am making a public commitment to everyone out there to try and do better at this (When, however, I cannot promise). I can't say there is a "light at the end of the tunnel" as of yet. Work is only going to get more intense in the coming months, school is what it is, and being a dad is forever. I can only promise that I will try to prioritize as best I can and stick to the commitments I've made. Usually, something ends up suffering, though. If I fall short, I apologize in advance!

Happy Holidays!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 23:22:00-0700

As 2009 draws to a close, I personally want to wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year. This has been the most wonderful year of our lives with the birth of our two sons. We couldn't have asked for anything better! It is hard to believe they are already a year old! It will be interesting to see what 2010 brings. I'm sure life is going to get more and more fun as the boys grow and learn new things. I can't wait to hear some of their first words, or watch as the first time they take a full, unassisted step! Every day they grow and change and become more aware and more fun. God's love is awesome! To quote Ferris Bueller, "life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it". That's exactly how I feel. Life is too precious and important to be consumed by work or the petty insignificance of other things. Family is first and foremost, and the most important thing in my mind. I'd like everyone to keep that in mind this holiday season. The ones we love cannot be replaced--and they are more important than anything we could ever "own". Love is irreplaceable. That's all I've got. Signing off to go unwrap some presents and play with the boys. See all of you next year! God bless.

So Much to be Thankful For...

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:50:00-0700

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Christmas will be here before we know it. I can't believe what a wonderful year this has been. I can't thank God enough for everything I have been blessed with--two beautiful children, a wonderful wife, a terrific job, and great friends and family surrounding me. I had been complaining earlier in the week about the sale of my house and how I am "no longer a homeowner", but this is the best thing that could happen to us. We are now free to pursue our ultimate goals and do what we need to do to make those things happen. We now have a huge burden lifted, and this is a great thing both financially and emotionally. To everyone out there--family, friends, old aquaintances--I am thankful for you. I am thankful for your love and support through everything we do. You are the true blessing.

BFusion/BFlex is Almost Here!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:26:00-0700

BFusion/BFlex is rapidly approaching. Tomorrow afternoon, Aaron and I will leave Dayton for the drive over to Bloomington. We're still furiously working on tightening up our presentations, which are going to be great. Aaron and I will be doing two sessions, one on error handling, and the other on maintaining server uptime for SLA agreements. Both of these topics are critical for any developer to be aware of (not just us CF guys). Anyone who has ever had to deal with a corporate site, or even a freelance site for a customer, should be aware of these issues and how to deal with them. We're confident these topics will give everyone tangible and valuable knowledge to walk away with and start using right away. Remember, if you haven't signed up, it's only $10 per day to register. This is a great price for a great conference, and it is well worth it. Do not pass go! Sign up now! We hope to see everyone in Bloomington!

BFusion/BFlex Registration Now Open

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:50:00-0700

In just ten short days I will be heading over to Bloomington, Indiana for the BFusion/BFlex conference. This conference is shaping up to be another great one. Bob Flynn and company are working very hard to make sure this year is even better than the last. I encourage anyone who is a developer or interested in development and able to go to attend this conference. The cost is only $10, so there is no reason for anyone not to go. Registration is now open, so sign up today!

In Case You Hadn't Heard...

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:51:00-0700

OK, this will be announced a million times today, but it is very exciting and I feel like I need to shout to the world! ColdFusion 9 has been released! Who would've thought it would be released on the opening day of MAX? ;-) I had a pretty strong feeling it would be. CF 9 is a great upgrade to the ColdFusion product family. It has such features as MS Office interoperability, ORM, SharePoint integration, CF as a service, new Ajax controls, and some incredible new CFScript capabilities. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about this release, except for the fact that it means having to take another certification test. So, what are you waiting for? Go and download it now!

ColdFusion Conference Updates

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:34:00-0700

I apologize for not updating the blog sooner. Things have been insanely hectic. September was literally a blur that flew past in what seemed like an instant. I seriously cannot believe today is already the 2nd. What's even more terrifying is the fact that I have a huge amount of work to get done before the end of the month (and I mean HUGE). Now, October is here, and three great conferences are rapidly approaching. Of course, there's MAX, then CF in NC and BFusion/BFlex. I will be at two of these, CFinNC and BFusion. Additionally, I will be doing two presentations at BFusion with Aaron Wolfe. Check out the info here. I personally am really looking forward to CF in NC, the first-ever of this event. I'm looking forward to the drive from Ohio to North Carolina (and the warmer temps down south) and getting to see my sister-in-law and little niece, Abby. I need to get some of that southern barbecue, too! I think the conference itself is going to rock with Dan Wilson and Jim Priest at the helm. The location looks amazing, and the list of provisional speakers looks great. Aaron and I are also looking forward to the opportunity to present at BFusion/BFlex and redeem ourselves after having to miss CFUnited at the very last minute. Just as it did when we were accepted for CFUnited, it feels mind-blowing to have our names in the company of such names as Simon Free, Dan Wilson, Aaron West, Ben Nadel, etc. We hope everyone will take some time to consider checking out our sessions. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us directly! I hope to see everyone at a conference soon!

'G.I. Oh No, They Didn't'

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:34:00-0700

SPOILER ALERT: You probably won't want to see this movie. I admit I've been putting off seeing 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra' because I knew it was going to be bad. But, I didn't know it was going to be this bad. Where do I begin? Just how old is Stephen Sommers, 12? Did he not watch G.I. Joe as a kid? Has he never seen the old cartoons or read the old comics? Does he have no concept of how to make a decent movie? Obviously not, because ROC is such a cinematic atrocity that I can't even really explain. What exactly don't I like about this film? Duke is a punk? Zartan works for Destro? Not only do we see Cobra Commander, but he is a former soldier and mad scientific genius? The Baroness was Duke's former love and actually good??? Scarlett is into Ripcord???? What???? Who wrote this stuff? Worse yet, who approved this script? The CGI is terrible, the action sequences are ridiculous and uninteresting. It truly is a stinking pile of garbage. This movie ruins everything that I love about G.I. Joe from my childhood. We can only hope somebody with talent decides to do a reboot like with 'Batman' and 'The Hulk'. Maybe next time someone will get it right. True Joe fans will be sorely disappointed. General moviegoers will be insulted. Save yourself a lot of pain and go see District 9 instead.

'District 9' is a 10

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:02:00-0700

This summer has pretty much been a wash-out for movies. While I haven't had the chance to see very many, the "blockbusters" have been pretty disappointing. 'Transformers 2' was awful, and I still haven't seen 'G.I. Joe', but from what I understand it's bad. Therefore, I haven't rushed to the theater to catch something that destroyed my fond childhood memories. Imagine my surprise when I saw 'District 9' last night. What an amazing film! This movie is fresh, original, full of action and has a great storyline. The premise is relatively simple--aliens get marooned on earth and the big bad humans abuse them and put them in a concentration camp-like slum called "District 9" The main character is a human who is a member of the "MNU" (like NATO, I guess) who becomes intertwined with the aliens in a race against time. The movie takes place in South Africa as opposed to the typical Washington, D.C. or New York. This makes it very refreshing and different. Throw in a Nigerian arms smuggling gang and corporate evil and the ingredients are there for greatness. The movie is non-stop action and has great special effects. It is also quite violent. Some scenes left my jaw dropped wide open. I was completely blown away by Peter Jackson's talent. Entertaining, satisfying, and, finally, something to restore our faith in summer movies after a pathetic summer.

More Opportunities for Those Who Missed CFUnited

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:09:00-0700

It was unfortunate. I was supposed to be speaking with Aaron Wolfe at CFUnited this year--one of the first presentations right after the keynote, to be exact. So, let me tell you how incredibly hard it was when Wednesday came and gone and the closest I could get to the conference was my Twitter feed. Of course, everyone has been saying this has been one of the best years so far, and I missed it. What does that mean? No teaching. No learning. No networking. No peer interaction. No socializing. No fun. No free drinks. No stay at a resort. No cool swag. No inspiration!!! It's been a rough year for conferences for me. First, I missed Spring Break in Athens, OH. Then, it was the Centaur User Group Tour event here in Dayton. Then, CFUnited! Arrgghh!! For someone trying to stay active in the community (and a UG manager), I have failed miserably. Fortunately (or unfortunately), all of these instances have been out of my hands. Luckily, I might still get the chance to get some CF event love in before the end of the year. If any of you are in the same boat, you might get your chance as well. There are two more events that I know of coming up in the next couple of months. The first is the first-ever FREE "CF in NC" cfinnc.com, a ColdFusion event in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event is being put on by the Triangle CFUG in Raleigh and spearheaded by Dan Wilson of nodans.com fame (and an accomplished developer and speaker). The event is October 17-18th over a weekend and is just getting off the ground. I am going to try to make this event as I have a sister-in-law who lives an hour away from Raleigh. Hopefully the drive won't be too daunting. Another event closer to me personally is BFusion/BFlex in Bloomington, Indiana the following weekend, October 24-25th. This hybrid CF/Flex event is also over a weekend and has taken place the last few years. I attended last year and it was very well put together. There is a slight fee this year but it is miniscule and definitely shouldn't deter anyone from going. If anyone is within any reachable distance from Bloomington, they should be attending this conference. While these are much smaller venues and not nearly as high-profile as CFUnited or MAX, they are also more intimate and often times a much better way to get to network and meet other developers. There is usually still some good swag from Adobe/sponsors at events like this, and the community interaction is always great. If you're in the same position I've been in this year as far as conferences go, try to make one of the aforementioned events, or start your own! Talk to your local user group manager(s) about putting together a local event in your area. If there are other CF events you are aware of that I've not listed here, please leave a comment for all to see. UPDATE: I forgot to mention one other small conference--MAX. I think I excluded MAX from being a CF conference despite the fact it is put on by Adobe mainly for two reasons: 1) I never get to go to MAX anymore because it is WAY too expensive and my company will never foot the bill 2) MAX is really an "Adobe" conference as opposed to a "ColdFusion" conference. Yes, there are quite a few CF tracks, but not the high concentration of CF-related presentation that comes with a CF only conference such as CFUnited or CfObjective(). There is a lot of concentration on other Adobe products I frankly never, ever use, like InDesign, After Effects, Soundbooth, etc. MAX is a great conference, if one can afford it. But you know it's expensive when there is a "convince your boss" page on the site! I was lucky enough to get to go in '05 when it was in Anaheim, CA, the year before when it was in New Orleans, and the year before that in Salt Lake but haven't been back since. I don't know if I'd go back anytime soon. I'd rather attend a smaller, more intimate conference that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Yes, I enjoy traveling to locations like California, but it's just not cost-effective and honestly I'd rather go to California to play rather than to work. Just being honest! MAX takes place October 4th-7th in L.A.