August 2010
1 post
middle aged skool jsp
<c:if test="${fn:length(sales) > 0}">
<table>
<tr><th colspan="2">${title}</th></tr>
<c:forEach var="sale" items="${sales}">
<ggm:sale-view sale="${sale}">
<tr>
<td><a href="${saleDetailUrl}" >${image}</a></td>
...
May 2010
1 post
a swirling mass
Currently in the middle of a swirling mass of information like the Pacific’s hundred mile swirling mass of plastic. I am learning iPad development. It’s good because I’ve had all of this extra energy which I’ve been spending at undirected dabbling. It’s the type of thing that never seems productive because it rarely ever leads to some sort of satisfactory end. But the...
March 2010
3 posts
8-bit NY -- This is it! So very cool.
http://8bitnyc.com/
Scheme Distractions
For some reason I think Scheme is the most beautiful language. I’ve been distracted by reading about and messing around with Scheme (and Lisp). I’m still rooting around for a good little project so I can make some use of the language.
PLTScheme and DrScheme are ugly to me, actually. And, I’m disappointed that Schemers and Lispers are such emacs fans. I just cannot bring...
ZenGarden Paralysis
I had a lot of trouble with Android layout techniques. I think it’s just the typical beginner’s woes. In the process, though, I decided to toss out everything and start ZenGarden anew… Then I decided NOT to do that.
The problem is ZenGarden isn’t so compelling on it’s own. So, before I move forward, I need a clear vision of what I want. Why do I scrutinize and...
February 2010
4 posts
Drawing
Not being a good drawer is holding me back. I draw slowly and my lines are ugly. I am thinking about this because Zen Garden needs good art and I don’t think I’m equipped to really even see it right in my head. How should it look? My goal is to make it feel very 8-bit, but still look beautiful. Perhaps I need to play Super Mario Bros 3 for a while for inspiration. But, in the...
Purity Month
During the shortest month of the year, my wife and I have decided to eliminate un-savories from our diet. This means, among other things, no meat, poultry, or booze. We are also trying to limit the sugar, dairy, white four, and fried food in our diet. This is not the first time we’ve done this.
It’s been a couple weeks, this round, and the benefits are noticeable. We both feel...
The Marketing Team
As a few cats from my company head to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, I’m reminded of the inherent conflict between the Marketing type and the Engineering type. This conflict is typically manifested in a bunch of frenetic last-minute marketing requests around the promotion of projects engineers have spent months on. My reaction is usually the same. “We have been thinking...
Just spend the day...
Updating my “web presence”. Which means I began to put my projects on-line (on github, etc) and provide links from my home page, http://brianballantine.com
It also entails writing something here, which is where I expect to talk about my software development efforts. I’m using http://labratinlab9.tumblr.com as my “junk/art blog” which means that’s where...