There is a all weekend hack-a-thon going on this weekend at Reno Collective.  We are doing a new project for Think Kindness for tracking Kindness cards.

So they have these plastic cards with a serial number and web site address  on them.  When you do something for someone, like buy their dinner, you give them the card.  The card receiver will then go to the web site and punch in the number.  They can optionally add a message and location.

So after millions of cards are giving out we can track to see how they spread and stuff.  It’s all anonymous, we are just looking at the locations.

I’m thinking of something that is really simple.  Just a serial number and message entry with a location button to tag the location using geo tracking.

One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. “Ninety knots,” ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. “One-twenty on the ground,” was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was “Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,” ATC responded. The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter’s mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, “Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.” We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.

I’ve been thinking about how much I would like to do awesome software that I love to work on. Software that is not dumb down to the lowest common denominator (I’m looking at you Internet Explorer).

So, I’m spinning ORS back up to be my own software company. I’m not taking on clients and doing work for others anymore. I’m building software products that people can use and pay for.

I am also looking at taking on some partners. No sales, no marketing, just developers. I’m going to try out the whole 37 Signals approach. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I did it again.

I quit my job at DealerTrend.  A new opportunity opened up and I jumped at it.  It’s a pretty sweet deal and I could not turn it down.  So I’m now back to work in my Orange Room doing Ruby on Rails application programming.

We are running in stealth mode right now, so I can’t say much.  After we launch and I’m fully integrated then I’ll let ya all know more.

But it sure is nice being able to work in a quiet office with no distractions.  It’s also nice to have normal business hours.

I had an awesome birthday with everyone at the beach on Sunday.  Thanks for everyone that came.

I totally missed all the calls that came in.  I didn’t hear my phone ringing.  Had like 5 missed calls the next day when I looked.

I worked on my buggy the day before.  It’s all ready for assembly.  Everything is painted, fab’ed, and fixed.  So next weekend I’m going to be putting it all back together.

Totally sucks.  I just can’t believe it.  Tim’s awesome 4Runner was stolen from his work tuesday while he was working.  We are still looking for it, but it’s been a few days already.  From what I’ve been reading, if it’s not found in the first two day, it’s usually never found.  I’ll add some photos here, so if anyone sees it please call the Auburn, CA police department and report it.

Had a blast on the T-Fab run yesterday.  Got to hang out and talk to tons of people.  The WZ ran great and the new bump stops were very nice.

So first thing in the morning, 7am, I got my lazy butt out to the Garage to finish my bump stops.  I had to cut and weld them on.  My original idea didn’t pan out too well, so I modified the way I mocked it up to do different.  So, first thing in the morning I’m out there trying to hurry and get it done.  Got it almost done then ran out of welding wire.  Oops.  They were taked pretty good so off I went.

Got to the trail head and figured out what trail everyone was on.  Caught up with everyone and was surprised to see half of them hadn’t even made it up the first obstacle yet.  This was about 1pm.  So the fun began.

I pretty much drove the 2nd waterfall in reverse just to show off.  Well, I was backing up to it, then I turned around to do it and everyone was yelling to do it backwards.  So I turned around and did it.

I had a blast.

There is two things that really annoy me on the Mac, and it’s not only the Mac that does this.

1. Windows opening up under other windows. Dialogs opening up under other windows. This really irks me. When you open up a new window, it should be front most on the screen. Same with dialog windows. Why do they hide under other windows. And the dialog windows won’t show up in expose so you have to start moving windows around trying to find the dialog.

2. When a dialog pops up while you’re typing at the moment you press enter. The dialog goes away with the default option, or you you’re still typing while it’s making the error beep until your fingers slow down. Or you’re trying to finish something and a dialog keeps you from it. Dialog windows should come up front most but not take focus until you click them.

These are two things I really miss about my old Linux environment.

If the iPod Touch had a mic, GPS, and a compass then the iPhone would be done. The only reason for picking the iPhone is for those items. If the Touch had them then I would buy that and a Verizon MyFi and use Skype for phone and be done with AT&T. Then I could use my Laptop anywhere also (two for the price of one).

Yeah, I know, I would have to have two devices to make a phone call. But at least I would have 3G at my house and I would have back up internet if my ISP gets slow or goes out. And the MyFi is pretty small.

But sometimes Apple makes poor decisions that help their share holders instead of the customers buying their products. Their business deals may be not so hot, but their hardware and software is top notch. That alone makes up for their bad business sense.

I’ve been searching google for what seems like months to figure out why I can’t get my Merb dev running. Well, the last gem update that I did upgraded Merb and Datamapper. They are not compatible.

So if you see the following error, that is why.

DataMapper::Resource.descendants is deprecated, use DataMapper::Model.descendants instead (/opt/local/ruby-enterprise/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb_datamapper-1.0.12/lib/merb_datamapper.rb:59:in `run')
/opt/local/ruby-enterprise/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb_datamapper-1.0.12/lib/merb_datamapper.rb:61:in `run': undefined method `merge' for # (NoMethodError)

If you’re a programmer and you don’t use a Mac, you hate your job.

Creating services with Automator is freaking genius.  So easy and so useful, it’s a whole new world of less typing.  Watch some of the Mac Break podcasts on automating Snow Leopard.

I got a copy of Snow Leopard last night.  I installed it last night.  Everything went well with the install…  Until today.

None of my development tools were working.  Here is a running list of issues:

1. MacPorts had to be totally reinstalled (Plus all my ports).
   • Postgres was a bugger to get working.
   • After reinstalling everything it starting getting easier.
2. Ruby Enterprise needed to be reinstalled.
3. All my gems needed to be reinstalled.
   • Of course the pg gem was being a pain.

Finally got everything re-installed and now Rails and Merb both are working again.  Whew.