thoughts to blog

I’m on facebook.com now too…

What the hell is up with all of these social networking sites?

Well… this concludes the first week of my full time Ruby on Rails position at space150.

It’s nice walking into a building on a red carpet, makes you feel like a rockstar:

At any rate, the entire week was devoted for fixing bugs and testing the next release of a new social networking site. The site just opened up to all users after being previoulsy only available for kids in school.

Hods put together a few videos of the wedding we went to over the weekend…

(Dance Dance)

(Dance Dance Remix)

I think you’ll enjoy them!

(p.s. the identity of the dancer will not be disclosed… hehehe)

My view of the world…

So yeah! It was my first day at space150 today… it was exciting.

Had the typical “These are your benefits” discussions… but fortunately I got to look at some code for my first project.

Plus… they got me a MacBook Pro. It’s nice! But it’s frustrating going to the Mac platform… haven’t been on one since highschool.

Lunch was good… everything was excellent! I really think my time there is going to ROCK! With a rockstar CEO and staff… there is plenty of room for me to improve and learn!

Plus I get to do full time Ruby on Rails

I had an excellent weekend! Here’s a recap…

• Hit up some bars with some friends. Night ended well as some hot asian girl gave me a goodnight kiss! :)


• Drove up to Lutsen and back for Neil’s wedding! It rocked! I danced with his grandma … and of course, the girls were abundant! Plus I had the hottest date there ;)


• Sunday, slept most of the day!


• Monday, today… started my new job at space150.com

great time!

Some of you may have already heard… if you’re an Inetium employee or through various connections.

Folks, after spending nearly 3 years doing .Net consulting with Inetium, I’m hanging up my .Net developer hat and am putting on something totally new. Think of it as a very bright, interesting, intriguing beanie or maybe a loud, pimp hat with a feather.

I’ve accepted a full time position… doing development work with Ruby on Rails… for space150

You heard it, Jake has a new job! Yesssss…

Now before everyone starts asking questions, check out space150’s virtual tour. It’ll give you a good idea of what they’re all about!

I wanted to wait till my last day at Inetium before I wrote this post… but it’s been over a week since I accepted the offer and have been trying my hardest to keep it in! Who am I kidding? I’ve already told all of my close friends and coworkers! Time to spread it to the world! I start on Monday, September 25th!!

When I thought about writing this post, I wanted to keep it somewhat cliche and list some highlights, reasons, theories, etc on what/who/when/where… and most importantly… why. I’ll keep it brief, but please realize that both of these companies are GREAT and that a short, brief description of my thoughts do not do these businesses justice!

Why? Well… let me dispell the first assumption by stating that I was not looking for another job. I happen to be a subscriber to 37 signals and yes, they do job postings. I’ve been following Ruby on Rails as well for well over a year now (almost 2) and when I saw an opening for a RoR… I had to jump on it!

It’s a one of a kind opportunity with a VERY innovative company! But I will say this, the decision was tough and leaving a great company is even tougher! The chance to do that kind of work with some really creative people (who brought the world the infamous wearetheweb.org) is a once in a lifetime thing… and I had to do it!

What’s going to be tough is saying goodbye, though not forever… to the great people at Inetium. When I started there back in May of 2004, I found out quickly that Inetium was different! The people rocked, they had a really strong set of developers (which people still need to learn), and the culture was one that allowed me to place my Robosapien at my cube! There were a lot of good times shared… you can read about some of them on my whoisjake.com/blog archive and on this blog… It’ll be sad to leave.

So yeah… another .Net developer turns a new leaf as a Ruby on Rails student! Don’t worry though… there still will be .net AND ruby related posts being up here!

Thanks again to all the wonderful people at Inetium… and to the space 150 people for welcoming me into their company

I just got done watching The Office (NBC) Season 2 on DVD… HILARIOUS!

The characters really developed well… the love plot came out as expected but the story really got to you. I love the little moments when it comes back from a Comedy and gets real… like when Jim tells Michael about his crush with Pam… and Michael gives him a “Go for it” pep talk, but in a non-humorous means.

They had some of that in the BBC edition… and in fact, I’m really starting to convince myself that the NBC version is AS GOOD, OR BETTER than the BBC version…

Definitely worth a pickup!

My boy Mike (formerly blamemike.com) is back on the blogging scene.

Show him some love people (http://www.bloggingmyassoff.com)

Looks like I’ll finally be able to play with my Wii on November 19th for $250! (grunt for puns!)

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Jason Bock sent out an email the other day announcing a Twin Cities Code Camp! How exciting is that? A place where we can all focus on CODE!

There’s still plenty of room for speakers… in fact, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to join in on the dicussion and snagged a spot for a Ruby on Rails and .Net Integration talk!. If you go to the TCC site, you can get the details on how to register for the event and become a speaker. All you gotta do is follow the code camp manifesto and you can speak on any development topic!

I’m trying to push hods into doing his WPF 3D talk… which is very interesting. We’ll see.

Midwest Developers Representin’!

And so it is… the identity of LonelyGirl15 has been revealed…

Just a week or so after people starting wondering, the real source of the videos has identified themselves…

CNN has coverage

Some Pictures

Boing Boing has all the info

Kinda stinks that it’s over already, but I definitely give props to the three guys who gave us a new way of looking at stories and storytelling…

And apparently people are FINALLY catching on…

“Has Joel Spolsky Jumped the Shark?”

I mean… I can respect a man thats in software development and has been successful. But I found out over a year ago that his true opinions on software development might make him slightly less of a “legend” that people have labeled him as.

:: shrugs ::

Why am I reposting this? Because Jeff hit it right on the spot… some day, when I have time to form my own, genius thoughts… I’ll start posting them on here. Until then, enjoy the videos, stories, and other random shit that might pop up.

Microsoft PIA Assemblies (for developing against Office object model)… should be named…

Microsoft PITA Assemblies.

That is all.

So tonight I spoke about Windows Presentation Foundation to the Minneapolis .Net User Group…

It went decently… Of course my fans had a lot of good things to say about me… but reading the giant stack of reviews was awesome!

Looking over the the reviews the points that I need to improve on definitely stuck out.

Needs to improve his use (non-use) of fillers… like “um”… and “stuff”…

Needs better, more put together demos. That is for DAMN sure

Overall the majority of the remarks were awesome! I know exactly what I need to improve when I give it to the Chippewa Valley User Group in December… oh yeah I forgot to tell you guys :)

Since I gave out my blog addy to the people of the group, if you’re a new reader… THANKS! I really appreciated the fact that you all stayed without pizza… and for filling out the reports!

It was awesome to field questions from people and to talk with individuals afterwards…

Plus I got to see Andy, haven’t seen him in a while… and I met Ben Reichelt, who we’ve been both reading each other’s blogs for a while and have never met! And yeah… I saw you Jason Bock, thanks for the great feedback too!

Thanks again goes out to the Inetium employees who showed up and supported me as well.

BTW, Here’s the PPT from tonight..

hahahaha

Can it be?

The girl, lonelygirl15, that has captured our Youtube.com time, could be an ARG?

I love it! ARGs are so freaking sweet… I followed www.ilovebees.com every single day for it seemed like an eternity. (Halo 2 ARG)

here’s an example video of hers:

They just seem… too professional, too scripted, too good! But what is it for? There are speculations out there… read the article… follow some links.

Ok… I would bet that NONE of you want to read about my personal dating life…

As it has been quite dull since the beginning of the year… No summer romances. I was slightly heartbroken when I caught the “I don’t have time for a relationship” speech from Amy.

:: shrugs :: It happens. I wasn’t pissed or mad, just disappointed.

Then a few weeks ago, I called her (Amy) up to see what she was up to. We quickly met for dinner a few drinks.

It sucked. I mean, I had a great time… but it instantly brought me back to the point when we dated earlier in the year… I was completely attracted to her again. I couldn’t quite convince myself that she felt the same way… I mean, she did let me go.

But we’ve been talking a lot since (a lot = almost every day via email + txt).

We went out on a date, as mentioned in an earlier post… and boy did I have the want to kiss her, but I was still unsure.

This weekend, we spent the ENTIRE day (read: 10:30 am till 2:00am) chillin. Acted like tourists in St. Paul, checking out all of the HUGE mansions on Summit Ave., an incredible stretch of houses and mansions including F. Scott Fitzgerald’s crib. We chilled back at her house… caught some chicken wings at Green Mill and talked about our previous dating adventure, opening up what we were both thinking and feeling… and then went back to her place and watched The Princess Bride.

As I left, she made the move. Grabbed my hand… pulled me back and layed one on me. :-) Did I mention that that girl can kiss! mmm mmm mmmmm.

We hung out last night again… just relaxing. Who knows where it will go… but I’m not gonna lie… I’m totally lovin’ it.

(p.s. She’ll read this and freak out… I’m sure of it. And then I’ll smile)

Some of my favorite childhood movies are now out on DVD… and I love it.

Especially when you can pick them up for $10 or less!

Alice in Wonderland - Made for TV, 3+ hours, Live Action

The Wizard - Quite possibly shaped my life around video games.

Labrythn - Have never seen it, heard about it, bought.

Clash of the Titans - Such a classic tale!

All classic 80’s titles…

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that I’ll be speaking this Thursday (Sept. 7th)

Minneapolis .Net User Group

9/7/2006. 5PM - 7PM

Topic: Windows Presentation Foundation – Declare Your Next User Interface

Presenter: Jacob Good

Here’s how to get there