Sacha Chua

I rocked. =)

I turned my Drupal-based project over to a new team member. It was in great shape: the new branch passed all my old regression tests, the deployment script still worked, and the module that I'd partially implemented was well-documented with my notes. I was so glad that I'd invested the time in writing tests, tools, and documentation. I was also glad I insisted on using doxygen for low-level documentation instead of (gack!) Microsoft Word, as doxygen gave us call graphs and caller graphs for free. I checked on the team members today to see if there was anything else they needed in order to work effectively, and it looks like everyone's happy.

I started a new Drupal-based project on Tuesday, and I brought the habits and tools I picked up during the previous project. The features I've been working on now have nice little tests. I've automated more of the install and testing process. I also spent some time scrubbing my old deployment scripts, and I sent them to the person who just started as the release engineer for the project. Things are going well. =)

I still haven't met another Linux-based Drupal developer within IBM, though. =| No matter - maybe I'll eventually inspire people to give it a try!

I helped Aaron Kim and Bernie Michalik out with a workshop for a major insurance company. I seem to be their go-to idea-generator, which is awesome fun. I love coming up with a range of ideas based on what I've seen, what I'd like to see, what technology makes possible, and so on. I think Aaron exaggerated when he said I come up with hundreds of ideas, but it _is_ a lot of fun for me. I get to play with all sorts of combinations of interesting things. I attended part of the workshop, too, and I shared a couple of stories.

I also found myself gathering resources this week. I handled a number of requests for information on new employees, Gen Y, social networking research, and other topics, and people were very happy with the information and people I pointed them to. I get a lot of questions because people know I'm interested in these things, and I love handling those questions because each question gives me an opportunity to organize more information in a coherent way. I get to build on top of other things I've done before! =)

So that was this week: I turned over my old project (in a way that made me happy), hit the ground running (in a way that also made me happy), helped generate lots of ideas (and that made me happy too), and answered lots of questions (happy happy happy). Oh, and I sewed a pajama top out of red fleece. (Happy _and_ warm!) =)

Next week: More Drupal work, a Government 2.0 panel, a dinner party with some family friends, and maybe the pajama bottoms…

Sites such as aircanada.com, pcfinancial.ca, and (horror of horrors!) torontopubliclibrary.ca had gotten _unbearably_ slow on Linux.

Here's how I fixed it (as root):

echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling

I love you, Ubuntu forums.

Here are some free upcoming webcasts I'm planning to attend:

Brazen Careerist: Capturing the Hearts and Minds of Young Talent through Blogs Presenter: Penelope Trunk, CEO & Founder, Brazen Careerist Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET Grassroots Networking: The Pros and Cons of Growing Your Social Network Panelists: Shannon Baker, HR Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc. Deborah Casaubon, Director, Talent Development, Cisco Systems, Inc. Megan Hundley, HR Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc. Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET Best Practices in Integrated Corporate Social Networking: The Intersection of CSN, Web 2.0 and Talent Management Presenters: Charles Coy, Director of Product Marketing, Cornerstone OnDemand, Allan Schweyer, Exec. Director & SVP, Research, Human Capital Institute (HCI) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET I Can Do It Myself! Providing Gen X and Gen Y Employees with A New Breed of e-learning Tools Presenter: Tom Casey, Principal, The Concours Group Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET

Anyone else dialing in? =) Maybe we can share notes.

This week:

• It was my last week on the Transition2 project, and there weas a big change that I needed to make to the source code internals in order to prepare things for future features. I didn't know how much I'd complete, but I told the project manager I'd give it my best try. I made surprisingly good progress, and I think that was partly due to a new habit of waking up really early in the morning to do that coding. The unit tests also made it easier for me to verify that things still worked. I managed to get all of my tests working today - hooray! It still needs a lot of tweaking before then, and I (or the next developer) still need to figure out localization, but it's in pretty good shape.
• I gave a speech on blogging at Concordia University in Montreal. The weather was poor, so only fifteen or so people came, but I think I helped a number of people gain confidence. People liked the stick figures. =) I learned a lot while preparing and delivering that presentation. I blogged about how I mindmapped and storyboarded the presentation, and with that as my preparation, I found it easy to change the presentation a bit in order to accommodate the mix of people I met there. I had originally planned to talk to a younger crowd because the talk was part of the Backpack to Briefcase series, but a number of people were interested in professional uses of it, so I mixed a little of that in. I also used a webcam to record my presentation. That was a good idea.
• I stayed a couple of extra days with Michael McGuffin and Alice Servera, which was a fantastic idea. It's so much better staying with friends than staying at a hotel, and it was also a good idea to stay over a bit instead of going back right away. I convinced Michael to cook something for us, and the pineapple fried rice he made was wonderful. I told them stories about my life in Toronto, and we chatted with my mom over the computer. =) I also enjoyed playing with their kids and meeting Alice's extended family, who were all warm and friendly.

Next week:

• I'm looking forward to starting on a new Drupal-based project. I'm joining an existing team, so I'll get to learn from the ways they're currently doing things. =)
• I need to put together some paperwork: invoices, permanent residency application, passport renewal, etc.
• I'd like to start sewing that 3/4 sleeve pajama top out of red fleece. =)