NurflugelBlog

Saddest thing I've seen this week

2011-10-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

Lots of homeless in SF - too many... I saw one guy going through a cigarette disposal bin looking for butts, with the look of absolutely grim determination. You did NOT want to get between this guy and his nicotine fix.

The cops seem pretty diligent in making sure the homeless folk aren't breaking too many rules, but there are so many of them... I can't imagine what its like sleeping on the street. I'm at a conference where they have a ton of extra food - where does it all go? I hope not into a landfill.

A lot of these guys are obviously mentally ill - unemployable. Even if we had jobs for the sane ones, what do you do with the nut jobs?

All hail Vaadin...

2011-10-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

After years of being creeped out by seeing the piles of Vaadin books a the JavaOne pavilion, I finally attended a presentation.

It's actually pretty cool.

Vaadin is a server-side framework for web-based UI applications. It basically wraps GWT, and lets you do a lot of cool stuff on the server side and very quickly generate the client UI. The presenter was using JRebel to redeploy his classes - basically, hit the refresh button the browser and the new version of the UI was available. That's another product I need to look at.

Plus, Vaadin has a ton of plugins and a pretty active user community. They make it easy to package custom components, and encourage users to upload them to their plugin repository.

One of the available plugins is an iPad/iPhone LAF.

Check it out - Apache licensed, free, open source: http://vaadin.com

Life is good... Java 7/JavaFX

2011-10-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

Got the JDK 7 developer preview for OS X, got the JavaFX preview for OS X, looks like I'll get on the EAP list for JavaFX Scene Builder - This is going to be a GREAT tool for building UIs in JavaFX.

I saw the demo, and it was awesome - I hate editing XML files by hand, and Scene Builder does a great job of laying out your UI and creating the FXML for you.

FXML is the first UI binding language that I actually like - and this makes it better.

It really looks like Oracle is putting a lot of effort into JavaFX - I plan to start porting all my Swing apps ASAP, and see how it goes. Now I wish I'd had a cleaner separation of UI and logic :(

"You want to attend that keynote"

2011-10-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

In between sessions, I was chatting with Mark Reinhold, andmentioned that I was “All this talk of JDK 7 is making me really hungry for it…but I’ve got a Mac. Guess I’ll have toattend that strategic keynote tomorrow” (Mark had mentioned at this morning’skeynote that details on the Mac JDK 7 would be announced in Tuesday’skeynote).

Mark just smiled and said, “You really want to attend thatkeynote”.

Keynote speakers

2011-10-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

Some good stuff announced - Oracle is announcing it's NoSQL database today (!). Our DBAs will literally not know what to do about this. Should be fun.

Some interesting performance figures for Java 7 - some benchmarks are putting it at 3x the performance of Java 6 on Intel hadware. Free performance boosts are always good to hear. Now if I can just get a Java 7 port for OS X... they're going to announce timelines in tomorrow's "strategy" keynote. Damn, now I'll have to attend that one.

The JavaFX demos were quite good, too - they finally have tables! Some very slick integration with the browser, too - desktop full-screen applets running via Chrome.

JavaOne 2011

2011-10-02T18:08:00.000-07:00

Just got into town, flew in from Portland on a little turboprop - very comfortable seats. Only defect was the bathroom, which was just plain cruel.

I'm staying at the Donatello this year - the rates were $180 via AAA, and it's only a block or so from the Hilton, etc on Mason Street. Quite nice, it's an older "boutique" hotel, but free wi-fi, modern room, fridge, microwave, and A/C - much better deal than the more expensive hotels.

The materials for JavaOne this year are a bump up from last year. The backpack is still a bit on the cheap side, but the alumni jacket is actually pretty nice, and the water bottle is something I'll actually use. IBM chipped in for that one.

The Donatello has an Italian restaurant, Zingari, which is supposed to be pretty good. Pricey, but why come to San Francisco if you're going to cheap out?

It's over...

2010-09-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

The last session of JavaOne is done, I've had my last beer and scored my last item of swag.

Swag count: 11 T-shirts, 1 jacket (alumni gift), 1 backpack (attendee), 1 brain ("may be toxic, not for consumption" {"braiiiinsss!}) assorted pens, simulated hockey puck, flashlight (with a real bulb - I didn't know they even made those any more), and an iPod Shuffle, courtesy of JetBrains' party.

Score.

I had several good takeaways from this conference that I'll definitely use at work - stuff we need to know and will help us.

The big closeout party at Treasure Island was a bust for me - waaay too many people (you couldn't even see the food tables, I waited in line for 30 minutes and we barely moved.) The music was good, but I just got tired of the crowds and finally went back to the city. I guess I was lucky, I got right on my bus (about 9:15, so I'd been there about 90 minutes) and got back to the city. Others I talked to said they had to wait in queues for a bus over 40 minutes.

All-in-all, a good conference, but I'd prefer it if it were separate from Oracle Open World. That just sucked all the corporate attention away.

The JetBrains party

2010-09-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

JetBrains hosted a party at the 21st Amendment Club. Good food, got a chance to socialize with the JetBrains developers (throwing ourselves prostrate at their feet and screaming, "We're not worthy!").

There was a contest of JetBrains knowledge, I was one of the top scorers, and got an iPod Shuffle for my reward. Sweet!

Doug

JavaOne so far...

2010-09-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

Very inconsistent with previous years… Oracle really skimped on refreshments (Sun would have goodies between sessions), no breakfast today before the sessions (although they did yesterday), so I had to go buy breakfast at Starbucks. When I came out from the session, they had stuff - but no one knew (even the event workers) that it was coming.

The Mason street tent was on a slope (as is the street) - you really want to watch how much you drink. The food Sunday night there was good.

The pavilion as we knew it is gone. There's an area (the Hilton ballroom) where they have exhibitors, but all the tech demos and general geek fun is gone. The atmosphere is totally different. I'm guessing about 5,000 JavaOne attendees.

On the plus side, some good presentations. There's some really cool stuff coming in JDK 7 and 8 (Project Lambda in particular).

Going to the JetBrains party tonight. Should be fun.

Multiple monitors on a MacBookPro

2010-09-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

Those of us without desktop machines lust after the ability to have more than a single monitor. My company has dual monitors for our crappy PC laptops (you can only use both of them with the docking station, which has it's own video card), and I wanted to have more than one monitor for my laptop.

I should note that I usually use the laptop at my desk with the lid closed, as the monitor I have is at a nice ergonomic height, and using a laptop all day is bad posture, which isn't good for my neck.

After a nice, long chat with a Genius (who didn't know how to do it, but pointed me to some web sites), there were two ways I found to do it:

Matrox makes high-end video splitter - the DualHead2Go & TripleHead2Go. These tell your system that the monitor's bigger than it is, then split the signal to the different monitors. Pros - fast, as fast as your Mac's video card. Cons - expensive ($300), can only support 2 or 3 monitors, depending on which model you buy.
Diamond makes a USB monitor adapter. You can get these online (or at Frys) for $72 (for the BVU195), or $79 (for the BVUMD3, which adds 3 powered USB ports to make up for the one you lost). Both models come with a DVI to VGA adapter. Pros - Low cost, can use up to 6 monitors. Cons - not so great for video, games, etc.

I went with the Diamond BVUMD3 - a very nice unit. One thing - Diamond says this is compatible with OS X, then doesn't bother to give you any drivers. If you go to the BVU195 support page, they "include" the OS X drivers - but you have to run an .exe to get them. So, I fired up Parallels, clicked on the "OS X Drivers" text - and it pointed me to a web page. Sheesh.

To make a long story short, just go to http://www.displaylink.com/support/mac_downloads.php to get the Mac drivers. I downloaded the "beta" 1.6 version for 64-bit support (Snow Leopard and all that), and it works GREAT!

There's a good site out there which details one guy's quest to get 3 external monitors -
http://daggle.com/macbook-pro-multimonitor-4-monitors-at-once-1577. http://www.macxperience.com/2010/07/11/connecting-multiple-external-monitors-macbooks/
also has a good discussion about it.

Multiple monitors for everyone!

Thanks, Larry! Google pulls out of JavaOne

2010-09-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

So, Google has pulled out of JavaOne this year - so far Oracle hasn't notified me that my GWT sessions have been canceled. Since Google was supposed to present most of them, its somewhat mystifying why they haven't notified us of the cancellations.

Joy...

I'm not dead yet! I'm getting better...

2010-04-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

So, I complained to the Oracle folks about what was posted on their website concerning JavaOne.

I heard back from not one but two different folks from Oracle (one from my complaint, one from my blog posting - hey, someone actually reads this!), reassuring me that this was not the case. Because of space limitations at Moscone Center, they had to move the exhibits elsewhere. They have received permission to close off Mason Street, and they’re going to have a big OTN tent. No word on the number of exhibitors, but one of the people thought I was asking for booth space, and quoted me a rate, so there will be more than what was in that PDF I saw.

They also said that there will be something like 700 sessions at JavaOne, and that this is an increase from last year - so the important content will have actually increased. That’s good to hear, as it was not immediately obvious from the website that that’s what was going on.

I bit the bullet and decided to register this year. Better sooner rather than later, since because they are combining this with Oracle open world, hotel space nearby will be at a premium.

Of course, with the loss of James Gosling, no T-shirt toss this year. Sniff...

It's not dead... just lightly stunned

2010-04-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

So, Oracle finally confirmed my fears - they gutted JavaOne.

Oh, it's still being held, but a look at the floor plan shows that it's a pale shadow of its former self... at past JavaOnes, there were literally hundreds of exhibitor booths on the exhibition floor of Moscone center. Apparently, JavaOne no longer ranks high enough to have Moscone - instead, a whopping total of 34 booths are available at the Hilton Hotel ballroom.

This is a sick, twisted joke. Promises that JavaOne would be "exactly the same" are obviously not true. They haven't posted the conference schedule yet, so we have no idea how many sessions will be available - that is, of course, why we all go (not really, the real answer is swag), but indications on their site are that the sessions will be scattered throughout many hotels, as Oracle open world is obviously far higher up on their priority list.

Of course, they didn't bother to lower the price, and there is no alumni discount available.

What a shame, I've been going to JavaOne since the mid-90s, and it was a really fun place to go to. I think that's all gone now. My belief is that a number of technical sessions will be a third quarter of what they used to have. I'd like to be proven wrong - but so far, I've been right with what Oracle has done.

So, they increased the price (no discounts), reduced the content, and they think folks will shell out the big bucks for this? Assholes...

JavaOne 2010 is dead

2010-01-25T22:16:00.001-08:00

It's not official, I haven't heard anything from Sun or Oracle about this, but JavaOne is no more. It has passed on. It is an ex-conference.

Why do I say this? Because they've delayed it so long, it doesn't matter if they decide to hold it or not. It takes time to review and approve presentations, and they are running out of time in which to do so. The fact that they have not yet sent out their call for papers would make it very hard for them to hold any sort of presentations at all, unless it's either industry pablum, or crap from Sun or Oracle about how great their products are.

I've heard some rumors about merging JavaOne and Oracle world - that would be just a cruel joke. There is almost no overlap between the two communities, and if they did this and tried to call a JavaOne it would be JavaOne in name only.

I'm really quite bummed about this. My presentation was finally accepted last year, and I thought it went quite well, even though I presented late Friday afternoon (fairly typical for new presenters), and I got very good ratings on my presentation. I was hoping that I'd be able to submit an updated version of that presentation and get a bigger audience this year with a better time slot. But, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

I was really hoping that when Larry Ellison decided to buy Sun, that he keep the developer community alive and thriving. But, it looks like he's just decided to acquire the Java technology and give the cold shoulder to all those people who helped make Java great. Billionaires - go figure.

I just wanted to go to San Francisco for a week for my geek vacation, eating great food, stretching my mind, and learning new technologies which would benefit me my job and help me deciding to steer where my career would go. Oh well, there's always the Jazoon in Switzerland this year. Never been to Zurich before...

Hey, OraSun (Soracle?) prove me wrong! Make this the best JavaOne ever!

The big presentation

2009-06-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

So today was the big presentation... month's of rehearsing, preparation, and skull sweat, all leading up to an hour of terror.

I was in the second to last time slot on Friday, and most of the people had already left JavaOne. On top of that, there were several other good presentations going on at the same time (I would have gone to those, too!).

The turnout was pretty good - 120 folks signed up, about 80 actually showed. They videotaped it (that'll be a horrible experience - I get to watch it and see where I screwed up), and I was miked, which wasn't nearly as bad as I thought - no echoes or delays.

The crowd was pretty good - some intelligent questions, no Maven fanatics. All my rehearsals really helped - I think I was much more measured in my pace than in dry runs (due to my run time, I was right on schedule for this, where previously I ran faster).

The interesting thing is that several other folks told me they'd done similar things with their build scripts, so this seems to be a viable pattern.

Afterwards, a dring, and a long soak in the hotel's hot tub, followed by another dinner at Pazzia. Mmm, Pazzia!

I'm famous!

2009-06-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

During James Gosling's keynote (the Toy Show), he showed a screen when people's shots with "digital duke" (they took our photos on a green screen, then you could put custom backgrounds on it). I played around with mine with the little tool they had, and ended up putting myself and Scott McNealy standing on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Imagine my surprise when I saw my picture up there on the big screen!

Dinner at Umbria

2009-06-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

I went to Umbria Wednesday night... another great Italian restaurant on 2nd and Howard. Mushrom stuffed ravioli and some wine I should have got the name of...

Dinner at Pazzia

2009-06-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

Last night, I took my PJUG friend Jon Bachelor to Pazzia, just a few blocks south of Moscone Center. I've been coming to Pazzia for dinner whenever I'm in San Francisco, and it's always good.

It's one of those small (quite small - to get to the bathroom, you have to go through the kitchen) but lively restaurants. Good food, reasonably priced (full dinner, salad, wine, dessert, coffe - $54).

Jon seemed to like it, so I think I've made a convert. Now I just have to figure out if I'm going to it it up again this trip, or try something new..

Macs at JavaOne

2009-06-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

There are more Macs at JavaOne than I've ever seen before... in the speaker ready room, something like 70-80% of the laptops were Mac Book Pros.

If anyone doubts that Macs aren't good developer machines, just have them come to JavaOne and take a look around, that will erase all doubts.

TS-5575 Extreme GUI Makeover - Hybrid Swing and JavaFX Technology

2009-06-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Why go hybrid? Lots of Swing stuff out there, JavaFX not really designed for heavyweight, enterprise applications
JavaFX good for UI, not good for logic
First step - get a GOOD graphic designer!
Create a JavaFX Stage
put Swing components in - any Swing components can be embedded - can be treated like any node. Limitation, it's treaded as a single node
Wire components
FX provides wrappers for many Swing classes
Limitations - JavaFX is single threaded

The Java App Store

2009-06-02T18:14:00.001-07:00

This is going to be cool - an app store for Java stuff.

Sun's providing the framework (think iPhone store) for developers to share or sell their apps. One nice thing it does is lets you "preview" an app - try out the app and see if you like it before you buy it.

The store is in "closed" beta - by invite only at this point.

Some restrictions on content - provide your own cert for signing, a single jar, etc.

TS-5225 Spring Framework 3.0 (Fun with Rod)

2009-06-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

Rod's always interesting, if egotistical and opinionated. He's a smart guy, and will remind you of that. I had the pleasure of dining with him a few years back, and some of the things he said as absolutes were debatable.

Highlights:

Spring 3.0 is JDK 5+ only
Eliminate XML config files as much as possible - annotations, expression language
Extensive generification
EL - inject stuff from system properties (this is a good thing??)
REST support!!!
Easy annotations to get stuff off the request - for example,
public Reward show(@RequestHeader("region") long regionId, @CookieValue("lanuage" String langId)
Spring and Flex (SpringFlex)
Configuration injection looks pretty cool (type-safe, compile-time errors, allows inheritance of configurations)
Spring Roo - Round-trip code generator, allows modification outside of Roo (think of Grails)

TS-4060 Small Language Changes in JDK Release 7

2009-06-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

Project Coin was created to deal with the many requests for small changes in Java

I love it - the "Elvis" operator - Integer i = getValue() ?: getNonNullValue();
This will use the first arg, unless the result is null - then it uses the second.
Simplified varargs
Using strings in switch statements

I'd hoped the talk would delve more into these changes, but most of it was dedicated to detailing how to make changes to the language and the problems associated with it... Oh, well...

JavaOne attendance

2009-06-02T11:40:00.001-07:00

For all the talk of JavaOne attendance possibly being down this year, the opening keynote was packed - I mean, every seat was full, more so than last year. LOTS of folks in that hall, I want to find out what the numbers really are this year. I've seen some posts saying it's as high as 15,000 - form what I've seen, that's about right, maybe even a little low..

Larry Ellison

2009-06-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

Larry Ellison showed up, and as the paperwork still isn't dry, couldn't go into a lot of details, but did reaffirm his commitment to Java (big surprise).

The great T-shirt toss!

2009-06-02T10:12:00.001-07:00

I finally caught one! Actually, two came my way, and still yet another almost knocked my camera out of my hand.

Signs, portents, etc - my presentation on Friday should be good!

Tuesday, General Session

2009-06-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Java 7 is out, new version of JavaFX is out, the Java App Store is out.

The last one is actually pretty cool – yeah, app stores have been done before, but Sun had the idea of letting you actually try the full application before buying it. Minor detail, the payment mechanism isn’t done yet ☺

JavaOne, Monday

2009-06-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

I rode the train up from Los Altos, switching to BART at Millbrae. The Powell St. station is right across the street from the Marriott, worked out very nice.

The Marriott is a very nice hotel – great show rates, and I got a room with a view on the 31st floor.

After checking in, I registered at JavaOne, got the obligatory backpack, but no alumni jacket. Apparently, alumni speakers don’t get one (sniff…)

The pavilion was open Monday, so after I did all the speaker registration and stuff, I cruised the pavilion floor. It’s hard to tell because Monday isn’t a large attendence day, but there was a pretty good crowd on the floor. There were fewer small vendors with booths, but a good number of people. Plenty of T-shirts to score, though.

One point of surrealism, in the evening a gay pride marching band performed in the pavilion. I have no idea what this has to do with JavaOne other than it is San Francisco…

Had dinner at the Marriott’s Steak Bar restaurant, very, very good. A bit pricey, but very good.

T-shirt count: 8

Yes, we hve no Zeppelins today...

2009-05-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Our Zeppelin flight was cancelled due to persistent fog. They can fly, but there’s not much to see…
In any case, we’re rescheduling to late summer, when fog shouldn’t be a problem.

Ah, shoot!

JavaOne 2009 - I made it!

2009-03-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

After several years of trying, I finally got accepted to present at JavaOne this year!

Look for TS-4166 - "Object-Oriented Ant Scripts for the Enterprise". This is based on several presentations I've done on build scripts, but in the process of submitting the abstract, I completely rewrote it structure, so I've got to slice and dice the old presentations into a coherent whole which matches my abstract. In the process, a bunch of stuff is being jettisoned which isn't on-topic, but that's just as well, as my presentation ran long, and I've to stuff it into 60 minutes, allowing 10 or so for Q&A.

Best part is, my conference pass is free. Since I've already shelled out the $$$, that's a nice bit of change back in my pocket. I really sweated whether or not to go this year. Of course, there's still hotel, airfare, and dining. Now, if I can just get my company to step up for that, I'll be all set.

The new iPhone!

2008-07-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

I had last week off, and spent Friday morning in line at the Apple store in the Washington Square mall. Apple folks were giving out donuts and bottled water. I was perhaps the 100th person in line, and it took about 2 hours to get in. Apparently they were having problems with the activation servers being overloaded.

After turning down Apple Care and other stuff, my old Razr was deactivated and my iPhone was ready to be removed from the shrink wrap.

First impressions:

Very nice. GPS is usable, although Apple doesn't give you a moving map directions program (one is coming from a 3rd party vendor).
I was somewhat annoyed to find that you can only create custom ringtones from iTunes - and only from things you've purchased from the iTunes store. So much for the 870 CDs I own. The alternative is to buy iLife and use GarageBand, but I'm not really in the mood to spend that much money. There are some companies which offer software to do what I want (I had a bunch of nice ringtones I created for my Razr), I'll have to check them out.
Battery life is not as bad as people are claiming, but then again I'm not on the phone all day long. And, if I am, I'll just plug it in and use the headset or speakerphone.
No voice dialing. Why isn't this in there yet???
Excellent sound quality - best I've ever had in a cell phone.
Same with the camera - fantastic quality for a cell phone.
Apps - lots of apps, I'm sure more will come. Haven't tried any of the non-free ones yet, but there's some pretty tempting ones out there.
Best of all, the "cool" factor - I've got the coolest toy available for the near future, sure to inspire geek-envy in all who see me.

I ride the bike recumbent

2008-06-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

When I had surgery on my neck in Germany, my doctors there told me that I should stop riding bikes for any length of time. Short trips were OK, long rides were out.

So, of course, a few weeks ago I went on a longish bike ride, less than an hour, and of course when I got back, my neck was stiff. Hmm, maybe they do know what they're talking about.

So, I went out and bought a recumbent bike. Coventry Cycleworks in Portland, OR is an excellent store for this - they carry five or six lines of recumbents. They were really good about letting me take my time and try many bikes. In fact, they recommended that I come back several times, so I could try as many models as possible and let my recumbent skills improve.

The one I really liked was the Bacchetta Corsa. Of course, it's one of the expensive ones, but I really liked the feel. Here's a picture:

The full page at Bacchetta's site can be found here.

So, first impressions:

The guy at the bike store recommended that I not install my SPD pedals until a week or so. Wise advice, you have enough new stuff to think about.
The ride can feel "twitchy" at first. That's because there's a tendancy to pull on the handlebars when you're riding, and with every pedal stroke, this throws your balance off slightly, so the bike can wobble. Let your back be the counterforce for the force your legs are exerting, and have your hands just hang from the handlebars. Just use them for steering and shifting.
Watch out for heel stikes. It's possible to turn the bike while pedaling and have your heel strike the wheel. Can be disorienting, to say the least.
In Oregon, get fenders. They make some really nice removalable ones which use rubber mounts, so you can quickly take them off.
Saddlebags are a must. Backpacks just don't work really well with my type of seat.
The Corsa fits into my Audi A4's trunk, and the elevator at work. Portability matters.
One nice thing about the same size wheels (vs. more traditional smaller front wheels): you only have to carry one size tube.
Keep the chain clean! It's right there, and your legs will brush against it. I was advised to use wax/Teflon lubricant, and to keep it dry, not to let it get greasy.
Go for lots of practice rides. It's a new bike, and you're having to learn how to ride all over again.
Have fun!

Speaker collapses onstage at JavaOne!

2008-05-09T14:45:00.001-07:00

No shit, I was attending a session called "Service-Oriented
Architecture and Java", and about five minutes before Q&A, one of the
speakers collapsed onstage!

The other speaker said he'd collapsed, and we all thought they were
joking.

Then he didn't get up.

Then they kicked us out.

We don't know if this was the Norovirus or if he'd partied too hard
the night before, but it's pretty scary, nonetheless.

Heath warnings at JavaOne???

2008-05-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

OK, so getting an email from the JavaOne folks warning that the San Francisco Department of Public Health has determined that there's a Norovirus outbreak, and that infected persons have attended JavaOne. So, I've potentially been exposed to a highly contaigious disease. Joy.

On the lighter side, I've been playing with the GWT last night after the AfterDark party. Very cool - within five minutes, I was creating interactive web pages with sophisticated JavaScript - and I don't know JavaScript. GWT lets you use HTML and CSS for page fomat and appearance, but behavior is all in Java. Think about it - design/code in Java, test in Java, unit test in Java, debug in Java, then compile and deploy. Need to debug the deployed JavaScript? Again, you do that in Java by attaching your favorite IDE's debugger.

This mostly eliminates the need for the average developer to be a JavaScript wizard. Let the guys who make widgets do that - I just want to do stuff easily and fast.

Coolest show gadget - the Pulse SmartPen. Turn it on, write stuff down - tap your notes, hear the audo at the time it was written. Stores drawings, text, translates (!!!) across languages, way too much cool stuff. Of course I bought one!

The big theme of JavaOne this year was definately JavaFX - it really looks like it's matured from the rushed demos they showed last year. I took a lab, and some very cool stuff can be done very simply. Still has a way to go, but very nice. The plethora of Web 2.0 technologies seems to offer a lot of ways to accelerate development. Of course, we're still stuck with Struts 1 at work, I'm hoping to change that... :)

Web Beans

2008-05-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

Gavin King gave his talk on Web Beans, a proposed framework for merging web and container behavior. Some interesting stuff - imagine having a user object injected into your classes - you don't have to worry about asking a mediator to talk to a manger to get the user, you just call getUser().

Someone asked Gavin about JMS - he really, really doesn't like JMS, in no uncertain terms.

JavaFX Script

2008-05-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

JavaFX Script is BIG this year - and with the release of Java 6 update 10, is gonna explode. You're going to see some fantastic UIs created with Java you didn't think possible.

JavaFX is the whole architecture. Part of this is rewriting the browser plugins from scratch, allowing some very cool features - if you like an applet, you'll be able to drag it off of the web page onto your desktop, shut the browser down, and keep running the applet.

How about the ability of applets REALLY being able to talk to JavaScript and vice-versa? Applets will be able to manipulate the DOM. And JavaScript will be able to call any public method of any class - think how much that could change things!

Of course, all this is moot if you're not ready to adapt Java 6 on the client...

JavaOne, baby!

2008-05-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Finally, a session where I can get wireless!

To back up, it's Wednesday here in San Francisco, and I've been here the last two days getting my brain stuffed with more information than it can handle, then staggering back to my hotel and collapsing into bed to repeat the whole thing the next day.

Monday was Java University - the best session was on JMaki and GWT - you can use GWT to do almost all of your application, I'm definatly gonna play with that. Even though it's all AJAX and JavaScript - you don't write any AJAX or JavaScript. You do all your stuff in Java, test in Java (hey, get this unit test your web application in Java!), debug in Java, then compile and deploy to the web. Got problems with the web application and need to debug that mess of JavaScript and AJAX that was created? No problem - attatch your Java debugger to the server and step through your Java code while the JavaScript and stuff is executed on the problem page.

How cool is that? How much time could we save doing development in that environment - and think of how much cooler the UI could be?

Doctors, doctors...

2008-04-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

So it's time to do a post-op checkup. No problem, mostly just answering a questionnaire, and getting some X-rays. I could do it through my primary care physician, but the neurosurgeon whom I'd first consulted had told me he was interested to see how things went after surgery in Germany, so I tried to schedule an appointment with him.

Ten or twelve phone calls to his admin (who never answers the phone, and instead returns messages at her whim), with no reply. Finally, she called back, wanting to know what sort of appointment I'd need. She said she'd consult with the doctor to see how much time the appointment would need, and call me back. She never did, of course.

More phone messages, and finally I left one stating that if they didn't want to see me, they should just tell me so.

Magically, she called me back within 20 minutes. Basically, they didn't want to see me, as I'd had surgery done by another doctor. The surgeon would talk to me by phone (two week wait for a phone call!), but not an office visit. In fact, she told me no surgeon would see me. I'd have to get my primary care physician to schedule the X-rays.

So, there's something of a surgeon's club, with rules that don't let them look at other surgeon's patients. I asked what would happen if I just moved from somewhere else - would they still ignore me? Her answer - "If you'd moved here several months after surgery, no, we wouldn't see you".

I wonder what the magic time is when they'll deign to see me?

It's not really that big of a deal, but I thought the surgeon (who's never done this sort of operation) might like to hear what went on and look at the X-rays. So much for professional curiosity, I guess he'll read some journals about it and find some brave soul to be his first patient.

Ah, FIOS!

2008-01-30T22:54:00.000-08:00

I switched to FIOS last week - hugely faster internet (15/15), an indecent number of HD channels, and best of all, it works with HD Tivo (just ask Verizon to skip bringing their set top box and just bring cablecards).

By dropping my land line (only needed it for DSL), I'm saving $60 a month - more channels, faster internet, better DVR (I used to be on DirecTv).

Woo hoo!

Trader Joe's is evil!

2008-01-21T22:01:00.000-08:00

It's true - after stocking "Mint Cookie Cheers", they no longer offer them (see previous blog posts). The rationale? "Those were holiday cookies"!

Arrgh!!! If I'd known that, I'd had bought a bunch!

Time to call Harry London's up and order a case!

A good day...

2008-01-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

Ever have one of those days when everything actually goes well?

First, Trader Joe's brought back a favorite treat (see previous post).

Second, I did some calculations, and switching to Verizon FIOS will save me about $60 a month, with a 10x increase in internet speed.

By bundling my internet and TV, and dumping my land-line phone (I only kept that so I'd have DSL), it saved quite a bit. There were two major factors in this that I had to figure out first:

I've got a web server at home - that's forbidden by Verizon (they actually block port 80), so I enquired my ISP (Easystreet.com) about hosting a server there - a whopping $19/month gives me 1.5 GB or storage. Geez, I remember when a hundred MB cost something like $150/month! I'm getting old...
I did some digging, and HD Tivo works just fine with FIOS - just gotta get a multistream cablecard instead of a FIOS DVR. You don't get PPV on the box, you gotta call Customer Service for that, but I've done that a total of twice in my DirecTV experience.

Poor DirecTV - they just can't figure out what to do with Tivo. They "support" HD Tivo, but have no plans to have any of the new satellite's HD channels on the older HD DirecTivos. I emailed and called Customer Support, but they had nothing. Oh, well...

So, I went down to BestBuy and got a Series 3 HD Tivo for $299. I actually got somebody who knew what they were talking about (gasp!). To top it off, when checking out I got a coupon for $50 off my next purchase. The Tivo wireless internet adapter runs $54.95, I'll swing by Monday and pick that up. Sweet. No more stupid phone line and wireless modem (and now I'll get all the spiffy features that DirecTV turned off).

Icing on the cake - Tivo has an offer for current users when they buy a new box - the Lifetime Subscription. It's $399 - that's a lot - but over the lifetime of the unit, it'll pay for itself (assuming it lasts more than four years).

Now I've just got to deal with the whole FIOS thing and get it installed. That should be fun.

"Mint Cookie Joys" are back at Trader Joe's!

2008-01-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

Trader Joe's used to carry these fantastic cookies called "Mint Cookie Joys", made by Harry London. Dark chocolate, just the right amount of mint, crunchy cookie - totally addictive.

Then, one sad day, they no longer had them... not just out of stock, they no longer carried them.

Friends of mine would forlornly place orders direct from the manufacturer, and for a year we only had occasional relief packages.

But then, I got a call from my mother - Trader Joe's had them again - only they were packaged under the Trader Joe's label as "Dark Chocolate Mint Cookie Cheers". Hell, they can call them "Chocolate Landmines" for all I care - they're the same thing, exactly, just under Trader Joe's label (as verified by several people doing taste tests).

Sometimes things just happen right...

Christmas with the Bullards/Reists/Renworths

2008-01-02T23:04:00.000-08:00

We've been having Christmas Eve dinner with another family we've been friends with for ages. Mom makes roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, then we play poker till midnight. Lots of wine and beer flow (don't worry, designated drivers abound).

This year, one of the "kids" (my age, they've got kids in college now) brought an exchange student from Turkey. She's going to have a very strange version of American Christmas to tell her friends back home ("They celebrate the birth of Jesus by stuffing themselves, getting drunk, and gambling all night! How come they never show this on Melrose Place?").

I eat more red meat in those few days than I do the rest of the entire year.

More damn trees...

2007-12-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

When I got back from Germany, we had a storm which dumped almost six inches of rain in two days, with wind. None of my trees came down, although a neighbor's did.

But, last Wednesday, when it was windy, I noticed that one of my trees (100 ft Douglas Fir) had a lean. I checked the base (it's surrounded by bushes), and sure enough, the ground was heaving with each gust of wind. That's bad - it means the roots have broken, and the tree will eventually fall, probably on my neighbor's house. They're trying to sell it, and it'd be considerably more difficult to do so with a tree cutting through the living room.

Since one of my other trees had done just that last year, I felt that some preventative action was required. I called my tree guys (Wind Thin), and they came out and looked at it.

This one's going to be expensive - about $2600 - because it's right next to the fence, and there's no nearby trees to tie it off to... they tried to get a crane out, but my driveway's too steep for the size they need. A bigger crane could work, but the estimate for that was $10-12,000. Fortunately, my back neighbor's pretty reasonable, so we may have to take a section of the fence down and drop the sections of the tree in his back yard.

I really like having all these trees, I'm hoping this is the last major expense for a few years.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

2007-12-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

Pics of the whole Germany trip are available: click here to see the pictures

Zoom, zoom, zoom

2007-12-01T07:35:00.001-08:00

Peter Hoch drove us to the airport hotel on the Autobahn - 200 KPH! Mom held up pretty well under the circumstances.

We're all set to fly back tomorrow morning - 7:00 AM flight from Munich to Frankfurt, two-hour layover, then Frankfurt to Portland. We should get in right about noon.

That is, of course, assuming that Lufthansa doesn't have any more unpleasant surprises for us...

Everything checks out - I'm good to go

2007-11-28T07:56:00.000-08:00

Got my final checkup by Dr. Fenk-Mayer today, she was very pleased with my progress, and said that I can start "weaning" myself from the neck brace - a week ahead of schedule. Cool.

Saw my old roomie Gary, he's scheduled to get out on Friday, doing pretty good, walking for 15 minutes at a time. Now he's on solid food, he really wants OUT and get some real food.

Got some good news from the administrative staff, I'll get a refund of 425 Euros, as the deposit that was changed added that charge for a private room. Since it wasn't used, I get it back. Hmm, with the rising Euro rate, did I make money doing that? Probably more than keeping it in the back, I bet.

Free at last, free at last, free at last!

2007-11-26T23:58:00.000-08:00

I'm out! Free of the hospital, free of the dreaded 3 pieces of bread for breakfast and dinner (although lunch was usually good), free of being woken up at 6:00 AM for blood pressure checks and then left for an hour before breakfast...

It wasn't really bad, but hey, it's a hospital - that's what they do. If the food was fantastic, you'd want to stay.

So, we've moved into the Hotel Seethaler, right on the Theresientor Plaza. It's in a 500 year old building, and in the Seethaler family since 1900. No elevators, but great rooms, with a view of the plaza, with the Christmas Market in full swarm. Double windows, each double-paned makes it completely silent. Closets! Places for clothes! Clocks! All the things the Hotel Asam lacked, and much cheaper. Plus, it's not a frigging half mile walk to a restaurant outside the hotel (gotta admit though, the Hotel Asam's restaurant was very, very good).

I'm going for walks around the area, doing OK if they're short, but get tired pretty quick. The Christmas Market was pretty cool - lots of food, stuff to buy, lots of people. Hot, spiced wine is very popular (glugwein, I think it's called). Not my cup of tea...

Pretty cold and windy today, not really great for wandering around. Supposed to be a bit warmer later in the week, and sunny. Mom's hoping for snow, and she might get it, according to the forecast.

Dr. Fenk-Mayer

2007-11-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

I finally met Dr. Fenk-Mayer today - according to her, we've bet three times before already, before surgery, afterwards, and in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). I don't remember any of it - no memory past being wheeled into the OR, no memory whatsoever of being in the ICU. Mom says that she was holding a conversation with me in ICU, so I was conscious and lucid, I just don't recall it. Kind of weird, having a gap like that in my memory.

Dr. Fenk-Mayer is a human whirlwind. She's a petite woman, constantly in motion, and has more energy than can really be believed, really. Like all of the doctors, very warm and friendly.

It was nice to finally (consciously) meet the person whom I've been corresponding with for almost half a year.

Saturday

2007-11-24T05:35:00.000-08:00

Dr. Bertagnoli came in last night to check on us. I swear, his eyes actually twinkle. He told us that this had been a long week, he'd done 17 discs, including the four on Gary and my two. A very busy guy. From what I've heard, the surgeries are very physically demanding, and Bertagnoli is literally covered in sweat when he's done. There's a lot of work in this type of surgery - sawing bone, hammering, etc, that takes a lot of hard work to do.

The good part of all that hard work is that when they insert the implants, they're in to stay - it's a tight friction fit where they're hammered in, and they're not going anywhere. I had visions of them shifting around if I moved my head or something. The doctor explained that the implants are solid, the neck brace is for the soft tissues.

My roomie Gary is doing much better today, more mentally awake and physically stronger, he was able to walk to the bathroom with help, and didn't look like he really needed their support they way he did yesterday.

I have to remember to send Dr. Masyk a couple of boxes of Lucky Charms - he apparently really likes them, and they're not available in Germany.

We got rooms at the Hotel Seethaler, which is right in the center of town - and it had bathroom doors which work. Mom got the bags all packed and moved this morning. The Hotel Asam was very nice, but that suite with it's glass doors just had no privacy. The Hotel Seethaler is over 500 years old, should be a nice place.

One thing I don't know is whether there's internet access there - I bet there is, it's just not listed on their web site. But I bet there's a wireless hotspot in the area - T-Mobile seems to have those all around.

Post-op day 2

2007-11-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

Had a uneasy night, my sinuses were so trashed from the intubation, and I'm still having difficulty swallowing, didn't make for a good night's sleep.

The nasal stuff is getting much better (some really disgusting nose-blowing got the dried bloodout), and I know the swallowing problems will get better with time. The swallowing issue has todo with the fact that they go through the front of the throat to get to the spine, and they have to push the trachea and esophogus out of the way to get to the spine. Needless to say, those tissues don't like that, and are sore and swollen afterwards.

Still, it looks good for me getting out of the hospital on Sunday, provided my post-op X-rays are satisfactory.

They're giving me a prescription for an anti-thrombosis shot, I'm supposed to give it to myself the day before I fly back, to prevent clots from forming. maybe ought to wear my anti-thrombosis stockings, too... we have to wear them in the hospital because we're in bed so much. Still, I was able to go on a good, long walk out of the hospital with enthusiastic consent from the doctors, Bogen's a nice town to walk around in.

It's done!

2007-11-22T03:40:00.000-08:00

Had the surgery yesterday, I'm recovering in my room.

I've got a soft cervical collar (130 Euros!), and some bandages, but the neck doesn't hurt. What's most annoying is my nose - they did a nasal intubation, as going through the throat doesn't work well when it all gets pushed aside. The nasal area is pretty delicate, it feels like I've been in a fight. As for the neck itself, it's just sore, not really painful. Although the pain medication probably has something to do with that.

Great doctors, great staff, pretty good hospital food, and Mom's still recovering on our ride on the Autobahn :)

Dr. Masyk (did I get that spelling right?) is the anesthesiologist, he's a real trip. Met Dr. Bertagnoli (it's pronounced ber-tan-yoli, the g is soft, I'd been getting that wrong), he's definately a larger-than-life character. He came by after I was awake to see how I was doing. A busy man, he worked on my roomie Gary of 7-1/2 hours after I'd been under for 2-1/2 hours - that's a really long day) - and he's got 8-year old twins to take care of, too!

Some interesting differences between American and German hospitals - here, they'll give you a pill tray, and expect you to take them when needed. Don't think they'd to that in America. The doctors seem to spend a lot more time with the patients as well. The rooms have mini-fridges, and lots of closet space. But, they don't provide towels or soap in the bathrooms!

In the hospital in Bogen... surgery tomorrow!

2007-11-20T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm all checked in, have been fitted for a cervical collar (soft, not hard - much easier to wear, and it was cheaper too - only 130 Euros for a special piece of foam wrapped in cloth instead of the 200 I was expecting).

Met with Dr. Masyk, the anesthesiologist who's a real card - on the check box on my possibly getting a transfusion in case of need (hopefully will never happen), he said that it was German blood, joking that it came from German virgins. "Getting hard to find!".

I'm getting a happy pill that will ensure a good night's sleep, breakfast tomorrow, then three magic pills at 11:30 - surgery at 1:00.

Gary, my roomie, is in for 2-4 levels of lumbar replacements. He's undergoing the "purge" tonight, so on the off chance that I'll need to use a bathroom during the night I've found alternate arrangements.

The rooms are are really pretty nice - lots of closet space, a mini-fridge, and bathroom. They allow you to book a bigger room for more money that lets someone else stay with you. Those have balconies, probably not a good idea in the cold weather.

So far everyone's been really nice - my anxiety levels fallen quite a bit, and I haven't even had the happy pill yet.

One bummer - they say I shouldn't be riding my road bike any more - it gives me bad neck posture, and I should ride something more upright. My electric hybrid bike's OK, and there are some made which have better posture.

I really liked that road bike... and the mountain bike's history, too.

What is a "suite"?

2007-11-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

I'm staying at the Hotel Asam in Straubing - very swank, futuristic (lots of power blinds, auto-everything). The only drawback - I'd booked a suite, as I thought it'd be nice to have my mom in the same room, and a suite would give us some space apart when need be (hey, spending a week in an single room with your mom will drive anybody nuts).

Well, there's some differences among hotels as to what's a "suite". My "suite" consists of a very large bedroom/living room, and a huge bathroom, with separate tub, toilet, and shower. The doors between them are all glass - you can hear everything anybody does from any part of the room. The glass just amplifies things.

Had I known what the room layout was really like, I'd have booked two smaller rooms elsewhere (there's another very good hotel in the center square I liked, but their suites were full - but I could have got two regular rooms for less than what I'm paying here).

So, when we walked into the center of town this morning, we enquired at several hotels - all booked solid through December. Back at the hotel Asam desk, same thing - booked solid.

It's not a huge thing, but I wish I'd known about it in advance, it'd have led to a different decision.

On the plus side, the hotel breakfast is fantastic, and all the restaurants we've been to were great.

Tomorrow I check into the hospital, with surgery scheduled for Wednesday, November 21. I'll have my laptop with me, but don't know if there will be internet connectivity, so it may be a few days until the next entry.

Technology heaven!

2007-11-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

Visited the Deutsches Museum in Munich today - it's a museum of technology. Geek heaven!

You will never see a museum like this in the US - the Smithsonian comes close in some areas, but people just aren't interested in science and technology any more, the kids would rather play video games than learn how they work. They have more electronic hobby stores in a few blocks than in all of Oregon and California, it seems.

Evil & Good at Lufthansa

2007-11-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

So, I’m finally on my way – no thanks to the jerk at Lufthansa customer service who nearly sabotaged the entire trip.

I’d originally booked a flight flying out on November 15, returning on November 30, with surgery being done on the 19th. I got bumped two days on surgery, so I had to push out the return flight two days. I got on the phone with Lufthansa customer service to make the changes, and after some discussion (had to upgrade my tickets to a better class of economy) got the changes made. Even received another email with the Lufthansa reservations.

But, when we got up at 4:00 AM to get to PDX, the idiot had cancelled my Portland to Chicago ticket. I had a reservation, but no ticket (somehow that make sense in the airline industry, don’t ask me). Lufthansa had to be the one to fix it, and guess what – they’re closed in Portland on Thursdays (we were flying United to Chicago, then Lufthansa to Munich). Two hours at the ticket counter went by, and we ended up having to buy a ticket to San Francisco to work it out at a Lufthansa counter there.

Got in to SFO, had to wait for the Lufthansa ticket counter to open, and spent another two hours getting things fixed. Lee Me Ying was our savior; it took a lot of legwork from her to get everything fixed. I still have to try to get Lufthansa to refund my ticket from Portland to San Francisco, and maybe the hotel there, too (we left SFO at 9:50 PM, so we had to have some place to crash in the meantime. For $60, it was worth every penny).

Later...
In Munich, I observed that one of my suitcases has been destroyed. Apparently it had been caught under a luggage cart or something and dragged along the ground. The metal zipper handle had been ground nearly in half. One zipper handle was ripped off, and the sides of the case eaten through.

Thanks again, Luthansa!

Surprise!

2007-11-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

OK, a new twist - I got bumped two days in surgery - a more urgent case needed attention before me. I keep forgetting that there are other patients these folks are dealing with.

So, I'm leaving the same day (staying at the Portland Sheraton the night of November 14 to take out some of the early morning flight nastiness, and it give my mom and I a place to rendezvous before flying out November 15), and will spend two days in Munich before traveling to Straubing on the 19th. I check in on the 20th, with surgery scheduled for the 21st.

We're staying at the HotelAsam in Straubing (www.hotelasam.com), which looks pretty good. I'll stay there a week after I leave the hospital, and then we travel to a Munich hotel airport and spend the night of December 1 there (another early morning flight)

Got my physical, all my blood work done (why do you have to sign a release form to get your own test results?)... I'm all set. All I have to do is pack.

It still stings, but...

2007-11-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Talked to my credit union - nope, it was all them, that was the actual exchange rate for that day and that amount.

It was about what I'd originally expected (a little more), but it would have been nice to have a little extra left over...

Ouch, that stings!

2007-11-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

OK, when you're transferring large amounts of money overseas, they can't tell you what the exchange rate is until it's done...

It seems that either I got a TOTALLY different rate for a large transaction (below $5000 it was 1.4034:1), or else the receiving bank charged an extra 5% handling fee (more probable).

And, of course, you won't find this out until after you look at your bank balance and see how much really got sent.

Something to remember when planning this sort of thing...

Mmm, Leopard!

2007-10-31T22:39:00.000-07:00

Got Leopard last Friday - very nice. Time Machine alone is worth every penny.

Why can't Microsoft add useful features like that instead of just useless eye candy in Vista?

Now I'm playing with the Dashcode builder - build your own OS X Dashboard widgets with their spiffy IDE!

I'm going to Germany!

2007-10-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so it's been a long while since I posted...

I'm going to Germany for surgery on the 19th of November!

It's a little cheaper than I thought - Euro 30,320 for two discs. Add in airfare ($930), hotel, food, medicine, cervical brace, and it's about $50,000. Aren't home equity loans great?

I don't know which was more disturbing, how easy it was to get a home equity loan through my credit union, or wiring $42,000 overseas as easily as depositing a check. I'm just not used to that much money flowing around.

Total time in Germany will be two weeks - gotta get there a few days early, admission the day before surgery, and a 3-4 day stay after surgery. Then, stay in Straubing (80 km NE of Munich) another 5-7 days afterwards before flying home.

My local surgeon's been very good, helping me get the needed X-rays and bone density scans. Now, I just have to get my physician's approval for surgery and some blood tests (but I'll bet he breaks out the rubber glove first, it's been a while...)

OK, it wasn't the US Post Office

2007-09-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Got my first CD back from the Post Office, seems I left out a line from the address with the city and postal code.

Idiot!!

The US Mail strikes again!

2007-09-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Seems that the German clinic never got my MRIs I mailed them... so, burn another CD, and off it goes. Should be there in 6-8 days. In the meantime I put them on my web site and sent links. 80 MB is a bit large for most people, but you never know.

On other related news, the first neurosurgeon has scheduled both X-rays and bone density scans for me - cool! Nice to find someone whom I can work with.

The windows are in!

2007-09-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

Mmm, new windows!

After a week of various antics (Monday: "Oops, we didn't order all the parts we needed three months ago, we'll be back again Thursday!"), my windows are in. Almost done, anyway. Still missing a screen door ("Did you order a screen door with that?"), and a few hardware problems (such as a window not locking, and one that won't open), and some loose hardware (tighten those screws, anyone?).

And, this company was top-rated on Angie's list. I'd really, really hate to see what the bottom rated guys were like.

In any case, it's done, they look good. Should make a good bit of difference in my heating and cooling bills, and I get a $500 tax credit.

Best part of all - I can clean the bloody things! The previous windows had "storm windows" for the second pane, which were screwed on. Crappy insulation quality, and got all dusty inside, impossible to clean without a ton of work. These are top of the line Milgard Infinity's, guaranteed for the life of my house.

Woo hoo!

New Windows! And I don't mean Vista!!

2007-08-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

On a more mundane topic, my new windows are being installed this week. Lots of $$$, but they're really nice. Got a good installation crew (Angie's List rules!), they'll finish up in a couple of days. It'll be interesting to see what the difference is in my heating bill this winter - the old windows sealed poorly, and were all single-pane. These are high-end, argon-filled, low-e, spiffy windows. It's really noticiable in the afternoon sun, one set of old windows let in a ton of heat, move over to the new ones, no heat at all!

Looks like it'll be good for a tax credit, too!

First Opinion, Revisited

2007-08-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

OK, back to the first neurosurgeon with the list of questions that I asked the second one...

Strangely enough, the first guy was actually easier to deal with than the second guy. He explained that the differences in diagnoses was probably due to conservatism. That, and my unspoken observation that the second guy didn't test for Babinski's reflex, which my right foot is positive (take a fingernail and move it stiffly along the bottom of your foot arch, from the heel, along the curve, to the ball. If your big toes don't twitch, or curl down, that's normal. If they twitch up, that's bad, and an indication of spinal cord damage. My right big toe twitches up). Hence the first guy saying I've got myleopathy (bad), while the second guy says not.

Myleopathy=surgery needed soon, no myelopathy=no surgery needed.

But, the first guy said that he's OK with monitoring the situation until something changes, as long as I'm aware of the risks - I'm more prone to spinal cord injury in car accidents or falls, and if I wait too long, the bony growths on my vertebrae will be difficult to remove, as there's not a lot of room in the spinal canal to start with (hence my problems).

He did acknowledge that the laminaplasty would have placed me in an unusual position for later ADR, as not a lot of ADRs have been done with previous laminaplasties - probably a red flag for insurance. Plus, he's only done 3-4 previous laminaplasties (it's a pretty new procedure), not a huge track record.

The interesting thing is that in talking about Dr. Bertagnoli (whom he hadn't heard), he was much cooler about the possibility of going abroad for surgery. I told him I'd send him some links for Dr. Bertagnoli. When I asked about getting X-ray and bone density tests, he said he'd authorize that. He even said that he'd be interesting in following my progress after getting surgery abroad if I chose to do so - the second guy wanted nothing to do with it if I didn't have it done here. He repeated the concern the second guy did about if problems arose, it'd be difficult to find help here for devices not currently being used or approved by the FDA. That's reasonable...

He also pointed out that at this point, other than some isometric exercises, there's not a lot that physical therapy can do. The disks are shot, and that's that. The isometrics will be good for strengthening the neck muscles, but moving the neck around a lot is bad.

So, it looks like I'll probably be going to Germany in the next year or so, unless some of the devices undergoing trial get approved. It'd sure be nice to have a guy who's done a ton of these do it, rather than someone who just started...

The Second Opinion

2007-08-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

I got a second opinion from another neurosurgeon yesterday. That was a very interesting experience. One of the more interesting things that he said was, "I bet you had a hard time finding a neurosurgeon that would give you a second opinion", which was true. It's a small community, and I don't think that they like to second-guess each other.

This surgeon works out of OHSU, which is a different hospital in the first neurosurgeon I went to. In fact, the first surgeon interned here. I figure that a different hospital and a different surgeon would provide different viewpoints.

So, the surgeon looked at the same MRI's that the first surgeon did, and repeated the same neurological tests that the first surgeon did; but came up with different results. He agreed that I had cervical spondylosis, but that I did not have significant myelopathy, which the first surgeon thought I did. The short of it is, the surgeon didn't think I needed surgery immediately. He said that I would definitely need surgery in the near future, but unless my symptoms changed or increased, that that near future could be several years away. I noted that he took great pains not to criticize the diagnosis of the first surgeon, even though he had a different diagnosis.

Aside from telling me things I liked hearing, I felt I had a better rapport with this surgeon as well. I just seemed to get along with him better than the first surgeon. One of the things I keep hearing is that patients really need to be able to feel good about their doctors, so I think I'm going to make him my neurosurgeon. I have an appointment with the first neurosurgeon again next week, when we will go over my list of questions, but I'm pretty sure I'll go with the second guy.

One of the interesting things that came up was that he had implanted the Prodisc-C while a in a fellowship in Seattle. I asked him if he had heard of Dr. Bertagnoli , and he very neutrally replied that he had, but did not elaborate beyond that. He made it quite clear he wasn't enthusiastic about the idea of what he called "medical tourism" - his main concern was that if any complications arose you were not close to your doctor to get them dealt with. That's a reasonable concern, and I can understand that. He didn't slam Dr. Bertagnoli, just acknowledged that he knew of him.

The short of it is, this doctor felt that it might be possible to wait a few years before surgery, thus allowing more implants to be qualified and available in this country and with FDA approval. As long as my symptoms don't change or increase, the longer I wait the more options I have. Who knows, insurance may even cover it then.

However he did say that if I needed surgery now, it would be fusion. He feels that fusion's supposedly 95% success rate is hard to argue with, and that with the currently approved implant (the prestige) I can't have two levels done. Apparently the prestige hardware is not capable of being used in adjacent levels - it just doesn't fit. that's also the same reason why you can't have one level fused and a prestige disc above it-again the hardware just won't fit together.

So, for now I have a prescription for some physical therapy, and I'm going to get an ergonomic evaluation of my workspace at work to help ensure that I do not place any unneeded strain upon my neck.

So much for email...

2007-08-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Got tired of waiting to hear from neurosurgeon #1, finally called the office - his admin said that he had left a note in my file (when they were going to get back in touch with me is anybody's guess) that since I had so many questions, I should come back and see him. In other words, if he's going to spend that much time on me, he should get paid for it. Fair's fair, I guess.

Got a bill for the evaluation by Dr. Bertagnoli - 300 Euros ($408). Interestingly enough, they take PayPal. Easy for me, easy for them - no worries about fraud or funny money.

Funny thing at work - we had our semimonthly staff meeting, and my boss told those that didn't already know that his little 5-year old has an inoperable brain tumor. He and I have been trading doctor/insurance tips, very helpful. I told the group that I'd be out sometime in the near future for the surgery (whatever I get), and one of the guys was really interested - turns out he has a brother with a bad lumbar disk that needs treatment, so he's really interested in the ADR stuff. Good to know that I can be helpful to someone like that.

I hear from Germany... still no word from Doc #1

2007-08-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

The questions I submitted to neurosurgeon #1 last Monday are still unanswered - I have to contact the doctor's admin to see if he's read them yet (in all fairness, she did say that she wouldn't be able to give them to him until Thursday).

Interestingly, I heard from Dr. Fenk-Mayer, Dr. Bertagnoli's partner in Germany. She pretty much said what my doctors have said - this is important, and should be operated on promptly, the sooner the better. I mailed my MRIs off last Monday, so they should be getting them soon. The evaluation will cost 300 Euros (about $410). They're also wanting x-rays (for device sizing and placement) and bone-density measurements. I have no idea how to get those done without my local doctor ordering it. I'll give it a shot (perhaps neurosurgeon #2 will go along), but Fenk-Mayer said that these can be done in Germany a day or so before surgery.

It's funny, my stress level has gone way, way down since I've come close on deciding to go with Dr. Bertagnoli. It'll be interesting to see what neurosurgeons #1 and #2 have to say about him. He seems well respected in the medical community from what I can find on the Internet, but doctors always have their opinions. I'm hoping they don't get pissed because I'm considering going abroad for treatment.

Got my International Driving Permit today from AAA - basically, a big piece of paper that says you have a valid driver's license. A good thing to have if I go over there and rent a car. Since my stay will be less than three months, I don't need a visa, just my passport.

One of those days... continued

2007-08-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

So, what are the other alternatives to fusion and laminaplasty? The Interne to the rescue

In Germany, they've done a ton of work with ADR. Stenum clinic seems to get a lot of PR, but there are several surgeons with really good reputations who routinely do multi-level ADRs. Dr. Rudi Bertagnoli in particular stands out - he's very active in the spinal community, and seems to have a good track record. He has a fellowship with Yale medical school - if Yale sends surgeons to train with him, that makes me feel pretty good about him.

The bad part of this? No insurance! This is totally not covered - all out of my own pocket. And, we're talking ~$40,000 here. If I hadn't just shelled out $20,000 for replacing all my windows this month, and another $5,000 for dealing with two fallen fir trees in last December's wind storm, I'd be happier.

But, really, this is my health we're talking about - and money shouldn't enter into it. Fortunately, due to skyrocketing real estate prices, I've got a ton of equity in my house, so I can raise the money in a couple of weeks if needed.

So the plan of action is several fold:

First, I shot an email to my neurosurgeon with a bunch of follow-up questions.
I've also set up an appointment for a second opinion with another surgeon at the OHSU Spine Clinic. Different hospital (they do ADR there), perhaps different opinions.
I've also sent my MRIs and medical history off to Dr. Bertagnoli's office. Got an email back saying they're on holiday until August 15th.

I keep vacillating back and forth. While the laminaplasty originally sounded good, I'd like something that actually fixes things. Right now I'm leaning about 90% towards Dr. Bertagnoli, if he'll accept me. I've already talked with several patients of his, who've given me positive feedback. Checked airline reservations (between $900-1300 round trip), car rentals, international driving permits, etc, etc. Talked to my credit union about a home equity loan. Now I just have to wait to hear back from local neurosurgeon #1, local neurosurgeon #2, and the German neurosurgeon. If I needed to, I could get to Germany with two weeks notice.

One of those days... good news/bad news!

2007-07-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those good news/bad news situations?

Got my performance evaluation at work this week - glowing reports from all my co-workers, program managers - pretty much the best evaluation I've ever received.

But - yesterday, I got bad news. I've been having some odd sensations on my leg and back - numbness, and a feeling of warmth. Occasionally, when I lean my head back, I'd get some tingling in my right had in the ring and little finger. I'd seen my doctor, who'd referred me to a neurologist after getting a cranial MRI. The neurologist didn't see anything in the MRI, and after a cursory examination, proclaimed me healthy. He ordered a cervical and thoracic MRI just to be safe. I had a follow-up appointment a few weeks later, and he very solemnly told me I should see a neurosurgeon - and expect to be told that I needed surgery. The guy he referred me to was described as a "real gem", who wouldn't recommend surgery unless it was absolutely necessary.

I got the news from the neurosurgeon that I'm going to need spinal surgery. Apparently, at the ripe old age of 48, my cervical vertebrae and disks are flaking out, two of the discs are extruding and causing bony bits to grow over the extrusion. The end result of this is my spinal cord is getting squished, and it's beginning to suffer damage, which may or may not be reversible.

Right now the damage is limited to the phantom sensations, weakness and tingling in my hand, but it'll get worse as time goes on. The surgeon initially recommended fusing three vertebrae together, but I wasn't too keen on that.

The FDA just approved artificial cervical disks last week (!), but for single disk repair only. In Europe they're doing multiple disk repairs (there's actually a double layer study going on in Bend), and fusion takes any chance of that away. I haven't heard a lot of patients saying how happy they are about the results of fusion. And, almost a quarter of fusion patients need another joint fused within 10 years (the rigid joints put more stress on the adjacent joints). Of course, if you don't have any alternatives, you go with what you've got.

The surgeon was pretty good at listening to my concerns, and suggested an alternate procedure called a laminaplasty where they enlarge the "cage" that the back of the vertebrae form with the main body, giving the spinal cord more room. Should be good for another 5 years or so, then maybe the FDA will approve two-layer ADR (Artificial Disk Replacement).

In any case, I should get something done in the next several months. The longer I wait, the more damage done, maybe permanently.

I'm pretty freaked out about this. At first, I thought I might have MS (the symptoms were pretty similar), but the shock of being told you need major surgery was huge. I couldn't stop shivering for a week, and could hardly eat (a very quick way to lose weight!). I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around all this.

Congress Duty!

2005-11-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

Is everybody else as tired of the crap that goes on in Congress as I am? When members of Congress spend more time posturing for their parties than they do representing their states?

It doesn't seem like there's any way to change the system. Term limits, campaign reform - nothing seems to work. But, I've thought of a way...

Congress duty! That's right, congress duty. Think of it like jury duty - only for congress. One day, you get a letter in the mail, and you find you're on the hook for a term in Washington, D.C., representing the citizenship of your state. You'd get the salary, and all the benefits (good health insurance!) of being a congressman.

Similar to serving in the National Guard, your job would be waiting when you got back.

Sound far fetched? Think about it - you trust 12 of your peers in a jury trial with your life - why not trust your fellow man to represent your state in the national government?

Of course, we'd want some qualifications. High school education at a minimum, college would be preferred.

The beauty of this is that there's no federal constitutional issues - each state is allowed to select members of Congress by whatever means they choose (remember, when the country started out - legislators weren't elected, they were appointed). So, if one or more states started to do this, all that would have to change would be that state's rules for choosing members of Congress.

The down side of this is that the chances of getting on committees would be virtually zero, so the power of the representative would be limited. But, if enough states started to do this, that would be less of an issue.

So, next time you get that summons for jury duty, remember that it's only for a few weeks. Congress duty would be for a few years. Kind of puts it into perspective, doesn't it?

Did I invent this?

2005-06-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

This came to me a few nights ago... I can't find it on any of the online quotes engines, but it seems so obvious somebody must have said it before.

But, if no one else, did (please correct me if I'm wrong!), I'll claim credit for saying it first.

"That which makes us great, also destroys us"

Good Lincoln quote...

2005-06-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

I believe this is attributed to Abraham Lincoln... damn prescient of him.

When the corporation become enshrined, an era of corruption in high places will follow. And the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed.

Abraham Lincoln

The word "gulag" offends you?

2005-06-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll be a smartass - how many people do we have to torture and kill before we can call Guantanamo Bay and the other chamber of horrors we run a gulag? Obviously, 100 people isn't enough.

BTW, when you relay on Amnesty International to condemn your enemies and justify an invasion, you really can't criticize them believably when they accuse you of violating human rights... else your initial reasons for invasion were completely bogus to begin with.

Same-sex Marriage

2005-03-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

Looks like the California ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, according to the Superior Court ruling this week. If upheld on appeal, it'll REALLY give the conservatives something to scream about.

I've never understood the rabid, frothing furor over this issue. Responsible, legal adults want to get married. This is a bad thing?

First of all, let me state that I'm not gay. Never been interested, not in the slightest. But, I've had friends who were gay. Some were great people, some were jerks. Just like "us". If they wanted to get married in a church, that's between them and their church. But, I don't think it's the function of government to sanction religious views into law. If a church doesn't want to recognize same-sex marriage, that's their right. It's worth noting that some churches don't recognize divorce. But, that doesn't stop the government from doing so.

Sounds an awful lot like I'm in favor of civil unions, doesn't it?. That'd be the government way of recognizing couples - it'd give them the legal status, inheritance, etc. rights of today's "marriage" as recognized by the state. And if churches don't like it, well, tough. I'm not a Christian - I don't care if the Catholics or Mormons or whoever consider my marriage or divorce sanctified by God. None of their business.

Will same-sex unions "destroy marriage", as the religious right insist? I doubt it, any more than the high divorce rate already has. I just can't see something that helps two people commit themselves to one another as a bad thing. This reminds me an awful lot of the laws that used to ban interracial marriage, with many of the same arguments being used. But, when you look back at those, they seem quaint and backwards.

So, let's take the reverse proposition - a constitutional amemdment is passed, banning same-sex marriage. There's some interesting consequenses I've never heard mentioned...

Take two people, both born male. If one of them gets a legal sex-change, can they marry?
If not (gender legally being established by your DNA), could a man who gets a sex-change marry a woman? You can't have it both ways...
Another case - there are quite a few people who are intersexed (not fully one sex or the other) - where do they fall in? Can they never marry? Isn't it a legal decision as to what gender they are for this amendment? And who decides that - the individual, a doctor, a judge, Congress?
What about women with complete androgen intolerance? These are genetic males who develop as females because their bodies can't process testosterone. Aside from the fact they don't have a uterus, you'd never know they were different. Who can they marry?

None of these amendments (even Oregon's misguided ban) address any of these issues - their language is quite simple, something along the lines of "A marriage is defined as a union of a single man and a single woman". Quite a lot of grey areas in there... what is a man and what is a woman? And who decides?

No more executing minors... or those who killed as minors

2005-03-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

Ah, the death penalty. Either you're executing killers or your accused of coddling them by the right.

What does the latest ruling by the Supreme Court really mean? Well, for starters, we weren't really executing kids. We were executing those who killed while they were kids. Bit of a difference.

Think back - how mature were you when you were 15 or 16? Be realistic. If you're over 30, you're prob ably cringing at some of the stuff you did and got away with. Did you really understand the concept of consequences then the way you do now?

Irregardless of at what age someone is accused of killing, I'm opposed to the death penalty. I used to be for it - seemed like a sure cure for the problem of what to do with all those killers.

But, later, after DNA testing had freed many people falsely convicted on Death Row, I thought about it... here was one technology that PROVED innocent people could - and were - being convicted. These weren't people freed on a technicality - they didn't do it!

So, it comes down to this - if we have a death penalty, we will execute innocent people. It's unavoidable, given an imperfect justice system. The real question is this:

If we are to have a death penalty, what is the acceptable number or percentage of innocent people executed?

If the number is zero, we must abolish the death penalty. And, if that number is anything other than zero, how do you justify it? If 1% is OK, why not 10%, or 50% Why not execute 200 innocents to get one killer?

Not having a death penalty doesn't mean letting killers go free. But it does mean that if someone is truly innocent, future technology might one day prove it and set them free. Hard to free a dead man, isn't it?

Still wounded

2005-01-10T19:39:00.000-08:00

I'm still recovering from the wounds of November... That just sucked the life out of me.

Someone in Europe said about our presidential elections - they're a world election in which the rest of the world doesn't get a vote.

Combine that with a bumper sticker I saw that showed an American flag with the motto "Fear This" - I think the world is more worried about us and what we do then terrorism.

After all, when we bomb and kill thousands of civilians, it not terrorism - it's foreign policy.

My first post...

2004-12-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

So, this is my first posting.

Google has made this very, very easy to do, and it's free! I haven't actually come up with anything to say yet (strange, I had all sorts of stuff when I started filling out the form - writer's block, I suppose. Or stage fright), but I'm sure I'll come up with something.