The Fear Factor: What to be frightened of in building a web application

Got this in #oscc mailing list. Thought I should share.

http://fowa.phreadz.com/v/3RUDOQM3UOCH/

By Tim Bray, Sun Microsystems

My steady companions

[caption id="attachment_841" align="alignright" width="300" caption="My red bag"]

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I love this bag so much. It has been with me wherever I go, be it travelling or shopping or sightseeing. I've had it since early this year and it still looks good! Great bag. I believe I'll still be using it for the next 2, 3 years. I don't have a lot of bags. At one time I have 3 that I can juggle just for the sake of refreshing the look from time to time.

My other loyal companion is my laptop. I can't live without it. Enough said.

You know what, speaking of laptops, I remember the times when I was at Lava when all senior or on-site developers were given a laptop each. How convenient it was that I could work anytime from anywhere. Really, for those who already used to having their laptops around, imagine one day in the office without it. Or you're using pc for one day instead. This is when you will really miss the mobility and the connectivity. Admit it, you're not alive and ticking without your lappies. Heh. I wonder, with reasonable price of good laptops you can get these days, why on earth companies around the world still stand by the immobile pc. I understand there's pros and cons but I remember enjoying coding on the sofa, dressed in jeans and cute blouse, legs crossed, because we had wifi around the office and I had my laptop. Whenever I felt like munching on something, there were always snacks, biscuits, maggi, chocolate bars in the pantry. Ok that doesn't have anything to do with having laptops, but they sound great when paired together right?

Connectivity from anywhere is great. Of course there were countless staying back/on site hours but there was once this huge migration exercise that was done on weekends. Me, Janice and Ganee were involved. We didn't go to the office, instead we did all the work from home. We didn't sleep for 2 days and we communicated via Skype throughout. The point is I didn't have to pick fight with my brothers to use the pc at home and I had all my resources right there in my laptop (as it should be). We didn't want to go the office coz we knew it's going to be long exercise, we had to eat, and shower and we prefer working in pyjamas in the comfort of our own homes on weekends ok.

Now I'm not saying if we have laptops we should all be working at home on weekends, or working extra hours. I'm saying in times like this, it's good to have all this flexibility on your side, made possible by having a laptop. Some people like bringing their job back to home, or maybe at home they came up with an idea, what a bummer it is to have it saved in thumbdrive/cd only to forget bring it the next morning to work. Hey it happens.

Anyway, working extra hours is not healthy. No matter how much you love you job, you should get out and go to the beach or something. In my case, if I get excited over a task I don't mind spending more time on it on my own. But if it's like my case above, had to work on a weekend, it's good if the bosses notice it and appreciate what you've done. After the migration, the next day we came to the office, there's bouquet of flowers on my desk and Janice's from Ganee with a card saying thanks. Simple but very effective.

Hey I veered off topic. Yea as I was saying, I love my bag and lappie.

List of wanties

Headphone for home (Klang) use
My brother took it with him and he left me a crappy one, so crappy such that I couldn't hear anything that comes out of it! The thing he didn't say anything and the next morning he's gone together with my headphone. Things you have to sacrifice for your siblings....

 

External hardisk casing
The one I have right now is ok except that I can't move it or it will get disconnected *sigh*

 

Thumbdrive
I haven't had this since I lost a couple of them 2 years ago.

 

DVD
To stock up movies =P

 

Revlon 2-way cake in Toast
Alright guys you don't need to know unless you're hip and metrosexual =P . Girls, the one I bought doesn't suit my skin tone, it's 2 shades lighter, I don't want to look like zombies. If anyone wants it, it's up for RM40 (retails at RM60, L'oreal, forgot which shade, will update later)

 

Red blusher
Need this one badly

 

MAC shadestick in Sharkskin + Stila Cloud eyeshadow
I want I want I want!

 

Some lingerie
Oh how I need to update my wardrobe. Money, please fall from the sky to my lap. This is for the greater good of mankind.

Curious

I don't use twitter anymore ever since I heard similar app identi.ca is open source based so I signed up for it. One feature twitter has that identica doesn't is (well in Malaysia that is) updating status via sms. With twitter, it costs abit more but it's not like I do it every hour of every day. Neat.

Last time I checked, updating twitter via im was not working so I deleted it happily from my pidgin.

Lately there's people following me on twitter. Huh? What's so interesting about me? =P Well I guess it's fine but you'll get more updates if you follow me on identica lah.

Monday blues

I could not believe it myself when the doctor told me I was dehydrated. True I was feeling very weak, frequent travel is tiring even though it's short distance, but I didn't expect it to be that bad. When she told me I need to rest the next day, I figured my condition was quite bad. I thought I looked quite healthy yesterday. I wonder why she prescribed me Ponstan though. That's maybe too strong for me?

I'm quite worried about it so I spent the whole day today drinking alot of water... heh!

I want to thank Eavay for replacing me today for Joomla class. That's a huge favor. App team rox.

And oh my god do I miss internet!

Work for 4 days a week

Workplace experiment

I can dream can't I?

The discussions below it is interesting.

Filler

I suddenly found myself have so much things to do. MyGOSSCON is coming, I'm starting feeling the heat only today.... heh! Maybe because I had 2 long breaks in short period of time - umrah and raya. I'm supposed to be with the exhibition sub-committee but haven't been told to do anything yet. =P

This is exciting -----> Malaysia's premier Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) event. Adda, you should come. Siti, you too if your not in Brunei. Adda, bring Ajeed, safewrap him and dump in the car if you have too. So many people who I think should go. I'll email this people later.

Anyways, I have so much stuff to say here but maybe later (or not). This is only a filler I guess.

In the mean time, I need a pair of sexy heels. The one I have is going to be an old hag soon, kesian but stuff ages so what can I do. Don't think I don't love my shoes old and new. It's just that my car has run out of space. Yea I keep my shoes in my car, easier since I travel between Klang-Putrajaya-Cyberjaya alot. Sometimes it just helps alot when it's available anytime when you want it. I think it's going to be a habit of mine so I don't have to spend 10 min everyday to figure out which one to wear....

Salam Aidilfitri 2008

Happy Raya everyone!!

Surprisingly enough, this year I'm at the receiving end of duit raya.