Everyone is on Notice!

Spring is coming! This is the busiest time of the year for us as the sports schedules come out.

Alli is still in gymnastics. She gets to spend a lot of time training with some of the older girls and is getting the hang of the cart wheel. We also plan on signing her up for Wiffle ball T-Ball! This will be her first venture into team sports.

Blake is taking Karate again. She is doing well and we are happy to have found an instructor that is very flexible with her schedule and adjust the payment schedule too! Blake will be starting softball again this spring, but they are ramping it up a little. She qualifies for the 12 and under league, but to keep her with her friends we put her in the 14 and under league. I’m sure she will do fine and the tougher competition will only help her out more! They will be practicing twice a week this year, once for the entire team and again for the pitchers and catchers.

Schedules will be coming out soon!

I have also been asked to manage our church softball team this year.

This year there is an additional event going on that might make this spring really interesting, the birth of our third child on April 19. So, everyone stay on you’re toes, the excitement is about to start.

Model View Controller (MVC)

My family should now be saying, “Yea! Another blog post about techie stuff!” Yep, this is another one of those, but this one goes past techie. It’s for programmers!

The MVC is a way of separating and decoupling the three major pieces of a program and is done usually through the use of interfaces. You have the Models, which are the classes the data is “stored” in. These models are also the base level that programmers start. They are how your data is defined. The View is exactly what it sounds like, what the user is going to view on the screen. The Controller is the brains of the outfit. It is where the program starts moving and shaking and spitting out data that the user didn’t know they had.

That is a very basic way of describing the MVC. My definition goes a little beyond that. If you really want to decouple the objects in your project, you need to have to Controllers, View Controller and the Data Controller.

To me this is the only way to keep the views from really knowing how the data is handled. Some will say that you only need one Controller and it can handle the views as well as the data or it’s the Views job to handle how the program looks and feels; but if we are going to break things down, why not break them down into Single Responsibility objects ? The View Controller handles the views and the behavior of the views and the Data Controller handles how the data is presented and manipulated.

So I guess I have my own philosophy of MVDCVC (Model View Data Controller View Controller). Really not sure if I should put this out there because it’s not a refined way to look at it, but, here you go. Let me know what you think.

Picking a Standard Users PC

I’ve been asked a couple of times recently what to look for when buying a new PC. What I am going to post is not the norm, something I will probably be questioned and razzed from my computer friends that might stumble on this, but it is how I feel it should be handled, especially when on a budget.

First, pick your price. When picking a PC and without customizing it, the biggest consideration is going to be price. Picking a target price will help you decide what you need to look for. After picking the price, you have to realize that sometimes to get what you want you have to be flexible to a small degree.

The next thing to consider will be how you are going to use the new PC. Are you going to use it for photo storage, video editing, games, word processing, browsing the web, business applications… Some software will require higher specs such as video editing and gaming.

After you figure out what you are going to use the PC for, you need to get down to the specs. If you are going to use the PC for storage you obviously need to pick the PC with the greatest storage space. It is not unreasonable to find PCs with 500 GB (Gigabyte) , even 1 TB (Terabyte) and larger of storage space.

I do not remember the pixel size of the camera I used for some of the pictures on my computer (I believe it to be 5.0 megapixels), but the average is just over one MB (Megabyte). There are ~1000 MB in one GB. This equates to just under 1000 photos to one GB. You also have to take into account that the operating system will take up some of the space as well as any installed programs.

One advantage to storage space is that it is relatively cheap. If you need to keep your price down, there is always the option to get less storage space on the PC at the time of the sale, and then later adding an external hard drive for more space.

When storage space is figured out, it’s time to try to figure out the RAM. The more RAM you get, generally the faster the PC will be, but there is one major thing to remember. If you are buying a PC that has a 32 big operating system, then don’t get more than 3 GB of RAM as the hardware can’t handle more. If you are buying a PC that has a 64 bit operating system, then get as much as you can.

The last thing to consider is the number of processors. The more processors there are inside the PC, the more it can do at one time, hence speeding the system up. Dual Core PCs will have two processors, Quad Core PCs have four.

I also have to recommend that if you can get a PC without all of the trial software, it would be a major plus. It can take some time to weed through some of the preinstalled software and remove the unwanted software. Don’t be fooled when it says that it has Office (looking at you Microsoft) installed. It is trial software that will last around 60 days, then you have to buy it on top of the price of the PC. There are alternatives to Office that are free, but that’s a topic for another time.

Buying a PC can be a tricky adventure and should be handled with care. If you haven’t bought a PC recently or haven’t been keeping up on the current prices of PCs, don’t be surprised at the deals you can get, they are out there!

Unit Testing and Test Driven Development

This is usually a blog for the family, but this is a topic I need to write about, and I apologize to them for that. So, if you’re family reading this, it’s ok to quit reading now, boredom will ensue!

It’s taken me a little longer than expected but I think I am getting the hang of unit testing… or at least the idea of it, I still don’t implement it as much as my boss would like. The more I look at it the more Unit Testing makes sense, but there is one huge hang up. When you design a test, you have to take into account that data changes. I have been doing and seeing a lot of instances where the tests have hardcoded values in them. This poses a huge problem when the data has to be wiped and a fresh start is required or if the data simply changes. It causes daily builds to fail and then you’re stuck fixing the test when the application is just fine so you can get rid of the nagging messages saying that the build is broken. This is just a waste of time.

Unit testing is a building process, just like software development. You have to start at ground zero with ambiguous methods to get data and to get the data you need. From there you can create more complex tests and have them not be dependent on specific values, because the methods have been created for you to use to get the data; specific values are not good.

It is still hard for me to start with the tests and build the software from there as Test Driven Development (TDD) entails. Then, after you have data manipulation mastered you can start on the user interface. That is not the way I was programmed. This requires forward thinking and a knowledge of how the program is supposed to work. I was taught to start with the user interface (because that is what the user sees) and make the software work the way the user wants to see it. This has led to some clunky programs (Matt, if you’re reading this… HUSH)!

I can see where Unit Testing and TDD come together to create clean, and in some ways more simple, back ends to applications, the trouble for me is the thinking part.

Pumpkins

Here are some pictures from our pumpkin carving session last week. Blake was the only one that did traditional carving, the rest of us painted or put accessories on the pumpkin… Mr Potato Head style!

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Weekend at Windermere

We recently had an opportunity to get away for the weekend; with the kids. A group from church were also there and we were joining them along with Jenny’s parents, Jenny’s brother and wife and their kids. Everyone else went down on Friday night, we left Saturday morning.

When we got there, the activities were already starting. Blake and I went straight over  to the fly fishing lessons.

 

I already knew what we were being taught, but Blake didn’t and it was good practice for me. It was chilly and Blake got cold about half way through and went inside. Jenny and Alli played games inside, they may have been the smart ones.

The next activity was sand volleyball. Blake and I went to the sand volleyball court and played each other. No one else from our group showed up. While Blake and I were playing some children from another group moved in and started playing in the sand. For the most part we were able to stay away from them, until Blake accidently hit one at them. It struck one of the children in the head (a two year old boy) and he started crying. Blake can be so mean!!!

While Blake and I were playing volleyball and making kids cry, everyone else went and played mini golf and checked out the local cave! They saw a bat in that cave!

When everyone regrouped, we hung out in the activity room until it was time for the scavenger hunt. We all teamed together to find clues and thought we were one of the first two teams. For us it ended in a sprint to the finish thinking we would come in at least second (I couldn’t close the gap on the guy in front of me) to find out we weren’t even third.

Then started the Wacky Olympics. They had games like the three legged race, bean bag toss and a book balancing on their head kind of race. Jenny and Alli’s team won; Blake and Pop’s team tied for fourth in the five team event.

Then it was supper time. We all gathered in a buffet hall and ate. The food was ok and we got to spend time with each other. Then it was back to the activity room for ice cream. After the ice cream it was time for a campfire. Blake ate some s’mores and we all sang songs.

Once again it was back to the activity room for social/game time with the rest of our group. This was Blake’s favorite. She met some new friends and had a great time playing Twister and UNO.

Bed time was fun for the girls. Our room had a queen bed and two bunk beds. Jenny’s parents got the bed, but who do you think got the bottom bunks? Yep, Jenny and I. Alli and Blake slept on the top bunks and Alli wanted to stay another night so she could sleep on them again.

Overall it was a good trip and we have already talked about doing it again!

Chris

It’s Been a While!

Well, as the title suggests, it’s been a while since we last posted. A lot has happened since then!  What follows is a very brief attempt to get caught up.

Blake has played softball for her school where she is a standout as a hitter and pitcher. She also sang a solo for Grandparents Day at a school concert; a part of Proud Mary originally sung by Tina Turner.  She had dressed up and wore a wig for the part, she was really excited to go through the tryout process and get the part.

 

Blake has also been singing in the praise teams for both churches she attends. She continues to excel in school and even brought home algebra homework last week. She was one of 4 or 5 students in her math class that routinely get her in class assignments turned in early and gets very good grades on it. The teacher decided they needed some advanced work to do. Blake was excited at first! Then she realized that it’s hard to remember the golden rule (what you do to one side of the equation you have to do to the other). She’s very smart so she’ll catch on quickly.

Alli has continued and excelled in her gymnastics class. She was asked to join the “advanced” class, but she isn’t old enough. She has to be four, but when she turns, they want to bump her up!

Alli’s school work has also been excellent. She has learned a few songs, like “Tootie Ta” and “Hello, How Are You?” She has also learned the Pledge of Allegiance,what the fall season is (which she will correct you and say Autumn), pumpkins, and is always excited to perform her weekly job. These jobs range from line leader (her favorite) to Table Setter to Flag Holder to Door Holder!

Some big news for Jenny and I are that we are having another baby! Jenny is due at the end of April. Most everybody wants a boy but I’ll be happy for healthy and ten fingers and ten toes, and if I played the odds… we will end up with another girl! We’ll post pictures of the ultrasound when we get another one in a couple of months.

There will be more posts very soon… as soon as we get some more pictures uploaded!

Chris

Stl Day of .Net

I'm currently supposed to be getting ready to make a trip to St. Louis for a Day of Dot Net conference, but I thought I would take a break. It's kind of funny that a day of (as the title implies) is actually taking two days. There must be a lot of information to be passed on this year. Although, being that I will be there on Saturday allowed me to have today off.

I'm driving there in the morning, so I'll miss the first couple of hours, but after looking at the schedule, I'll be able to catch up on Saturday morning! I'm actually pretty excited, it's not very often that you get to be with an entire group of computer people like me. Should I take my pocket protector?!?

The only bad part is that I'll be away from my Jenny, Blake and Alli, but it's only two days and one night; I'll be back late on the second night. I'm going to miss them.

These Girls Sure Know How to Have Fun!

More video of the girls in the back yard!

Trampoline and Music

Here is a video of the girls having fun in the back yard! If you listen really close, you hear Alli trying to sing the same song that Blake is singing. They have a lot of fun on the trampoline. They like to act goofy, I was just lucky to get some of it on camera!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for Blake and Alli. Blake started the 7th grade and Alli started preschool. Here are some pictures of Alli, unfortunately Blake was with her mom so I didn't get any pictures of her. I did call her and she said that everything went well, her locker worked and most of her teachers seemed nice. Alli, on the other hand, gave a complete rundown of her day including having sloppy joes and fries for lunch, and oreos for snack. Jenny said that when she dropped Alli off, she said "Bye mom!" and turned around and went in. Luckily she was able to get some pictures before that happened! Jenny was told that when it was rest time, there were a couple of kids crying, but when the teacher walked by Alli she said, "I'm not crying!" I think Alli will do well going to school. Blake will most likely do well too, she always does! Blake should be finding out about school softball soon!

A couple of side notes:
- Alli's gymnastics class got to go to the big trampoline. Alli already knew what to do, we have one at home! She looked like a natural, even when they had to jump, land on their bottom and bounce up to their feet again.
- Blake's youth choir teacher called to see if she was going to sing this year. Blake has said she would like to sing and this made Rod happy. He said he was looking forward to seeing her sing again!
- Washing dishes by hand is dangerous, especially when you are sticking your hand in a glass and turning so you can scrub the bottom... Let's just say it could send you to the ER to get six stitches, wrapped up and have to wear a splint on your pinky finger for five days. Then again, I don't have to do dishes for 12 days, I wonder how fast that dryer door actually closes!

Chris

The last couple of weeks have been very busy at the Goodman household!

I decided at the last minute to have a rummage sale a couple of weeks ago. We spent about a week going through the boxes in the garage. The garage sale was a great success and we are thinking about another one in the coming weeks.

We decided to use some of the money to purchase Allison her first bicycle. Her birthday is in November so we thought she wouldn't get much use out of it during the winter. She really has gotten the hang of it and she is so darn cute on it.

Last Thursday, we registered both girls for school. Blake will be a 7th grader at Lewis and Clark Middle School and she is on team Challengers. Allison will start Little Cats Preschool next week. She is very excited. She got a new Tinkerbell backpack for school. Both girls are looking forward to starting school.

After registration Blake left with her Grandma Bo to go see relatives in Mississippi. They went swimming, fishing, shopping, and 4 wheeling. She and her grandma did some school shopping so Blake was excited about that too. They met Allison and I in Branson on Sunday night. We went down with my mom, dad, sister-in-law, and 3 nephews. Chris had a big meeting at work on Monday so he was not able to go. We went to Silver Dollar City. The kids rode several rides. I lucked out because Mandee enjoys the thrilling rides more than I do so she rode some rides with Blake. I rode the little kid rides with the smaller ones. However I did ride the Wildfire with Blake and we were standing in line for the powderkeg when lightening struck. I can't say that I was all that disappointed to not get to ride it more disappointed for Blake.

We got home and have enjoyed our last week before school starts. We have been playing outside, riding bikes, and just hanging out. Allison has been taking gymnastics and her teacher moved her to an older group. Last week she did a backwards roll on her own and started learning how to do a cartwheel. We had gymnastics on tv tonight and Allison showed us what the girls on tv were doing. We caught it on video and Chris is going to try to post it on the blog.

Blake has grown up so much! She has been a great help at home this summer. She has had the chance to babysit Allison for short periods of time the last few months. Yesterday she got to babysit Allison all day. She was so great with Allison. They played, read books, and watched movies. Everytime I called they were busy doing things. At lunch time Blake made mac and cheese and hot dogs. She even thought to open a can of pears so Allison could have some fruit. We are so proud of the young lady she is becoming.

We hope you enjoy the pictures and the video. Have a great weekend!

Jenny

Blake is Back!

We are thrilled because Blake returned home last night after a 3 week stretch with her mom. Allison was so excited to see her. She was jumping up and down and screeching. They played together all evening. We had a difficult time getting Alli to go to bed because she didn't want to miss anything with Blake.

So what did we do while Blake was gone? Allison had several playdates. We met several friends at the park and went to a friend's house to play. We played in the kiddie swimming pool in the backyard, jumped on the trampoline, and played on the swingset. We also went to a few softball games and had gymnastics classes.

Blake says that she spent time with her mom and family going to the park. We never ran into her there :( She also went shopping, swimming, and hung out with relatives.

Chris and I have kept busy playing with Allison, softball, and doing various things around the house.

We celebrated Blake's return by going out to eat at Long John Silvers. This is somewhere both the girls love but don't get to go often because I am not a seafood fan. Chris was thrilled to go too. Luckily LJS has chicken too! Then we played outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather. After Allison went to bed, Blake, Chris and I played Texas Hold 'Em. Chris wiped us out.

This morning we had a pirate birthday party to attend. It was a lot of fun! My nephews Landon and Garrett were the birthday boys. They had a plank to walk and pirate gear to wear. Allison was wiped out by the time we got home. Blake got to go to see her Grandma Bo and Grandpa Charley after the party. I think Blake and Grandma were planning to do some school shopping. (I am not sure I am ready to be school shopping yet.) Summer has gone by so fast.

We look forward to the next few weeks before school starts. We are planning a trip to Branson with family and a quick trip to Mississippi to see some other family. Enjoy the next few weeks!

Jenny

Cable Co Cut Off

Well, cable was finally turned off today. We got a couple of free weeks, I guess it was their way of asking if we really want to turn it off. This is going to be rough, but to look on the bright side, we will have more time to interact as a family, we're not going to be glued to a big box in the middle of the living room.

I have to be honest, tonight has been a little rough for me. Jenny and I watched a movie, and that was great, but, I enjoy watching tv, vegging out in the recliner, watching my shows.

We do have some outlets though, but I think they are going to be used rather sparsely. It's just not the same to pull the laptop over and bring up tv programming on it. We'll see how it works. It's just hard to justify $60+ per month on something we do use, but something we only use in the evenings. The justification gets harder, especially when there are free programs on the internet.

I'm going to miss my cardinal games. Hmph. We are in a blackout area for them and to get to watch them on the internet, we would have to pay, and then still not be guaranteed all of the games.

Any ideas what we could do in the extra time?

Blake's Softball Tournament

I have to say this past weekend was a tough one. Blake was in a four team, round robin softball tournament. With the way it was set up, the championship game should have been played Saturday afternoon... if it went the way it was supposed to.

The tournament started Friday night with our first game. We played a team that had beaten us only one time before. The key to this game was going to be hitting and pitching. The hitting wasn't going to be a problem, after all we had hit well all year. The pitching was what was going to make or break our game. If we threw strikes, we would be okay. This team was one that didn't seem to believe in swinging the bat. They routinely take until they get two strikes and then the coaches let them hit. This only hurts them for the future, but that's my opinion. Turns out the umpire didn't think we threw enough strikes, the other team didn't swing the bat and they ended up scoring some runs. Now to our hitting. It disappeared. We were not used to a pitcher being as slow as this one was; our girls were out on their front foot and for the entire night couldn't seem to wait until the ball got them. That resulted in a lot of short ground balls. We definitely were not the team we could be.

The second game was Saturday morning. We didn't come to play this game. As far as the teams go, they beat us as a team. They hit better, ran better, threw better and committed less errors. We were soundly beat. It seemed as if our girls didn't want to be there or they had better things to do. They didn't have their minds in the game and it showed. by this time, the coaches are getting very frustrated. The team that just beat us was one that we had crushed all year long. What was happening? The girls were lax and didn't seem to matter if they lost. After losing this game, there was no way we were going to take anything but last. Turns out we needed to beat this team to take third.

The last game was... different. The coaches decided to show the girls how they were acting. The coaches didn't tell the girls when to warm up, didn't hit them ground balls, acted like they didn't care. It also got around to the girls that we would be last no matter what happened in this game, the game where we take on a team that we had only beaten once this year, a team that has won the tournament at this point, a team that crushed us the last time we played. It came time for the flip and all of the girls went to home plate. It's not a good sign when the umpire has to ask them if they are ready to play. The umpire also said something about the parents not being happy with their kids effort and that he might have to start throwing some of them out.

The last game of the tournament was maybe the best game the girls have played this year, against the best team in the league, the team that crushed us the last time we played... you know the history. We won the game 14 - 6. How does that happen? We hit the ball better than them, threw the ball better than them, outscored the best team in the league and out pitched them.

One of the brightest spots of the weekend was Blake. As a pitcher, Blake was intense, got better as she pitched more innings, was the workhorse of the pitching staff, and threw enough strikes to win games. As a hitter, I don't remember her not getting on base. That's around ten at bats the whole weekend and she was on base all ten times. As a runner, she was aggressive, slid every time the play was anywhere close to close (got a pretty good strawberry on her knee,) had at least 12 stolen bases, and scored on passed balls. I think her long stride fools a lot of people, but she covers ground pretty quickly. She was the MVP of her team for the tournament and I think many of the girls knew it.

There's one more game for the season, Thursday, against the team that "beat" us Friday night. Maybe the coaches won't care then either!

In the last picture, who is that handsome guy coaching third???

Alli's First Gymnastics Class

Alli had her first gynmastics class this evening. The fun started with us trying to find the place, then once we found it, we realized that we were 20 minutes early. So, we sat there for 20 minutes, waiting for her class to start; just enough time for her to look around, see all the people, and to get shy.

The gym used to be a car repair shop and was crowded as there were two gymnastics classes and a karate class going all at the same time. This probably didn't help Alli's shyness.

When it was time for her class to start, Alli's instructor started blowing bubbles. I guess that was to get them to loosen up and get comfortable away from their parents. We had to pry Alli from our legs, but we got her out there and she popped quite a few bubbles. After popping the bubbles, they had to stretch their legs. Alli, once again got shy, but she did the stretching at our feet. Dad even had to go out there with the class and "stretch," so Alli would get close to the other kids. Then it was time for the "workout."

The instructor pulled out a slide and a wedge mat. The slide was for something to do between tumbles on the wedge. The tumbles were log rolls, some kind of sideways roll where they tucked their knees and wrapped them with their hands, a forward roll and a backwards roll. The balance beam was next.

Alli stepped right up to the balance beam, stepped up and started walking forward. She made it to the end and jumped off. She did this a couple of times and then the instructor had her walk backwards. This was a little more challenging, but by the second time, she could make it to the end without falling off. She liked jumping off the end when she reached it. She then had to go sideways on the beam. When she got to the end, she said "It's like a penguin!" She went that direction again and turned around and went sideways facing the other direction. The bar was next.

This was her favorite part. Alli got to swing on the bar! When she was able to swing back and forth five times, the instructor had her jump and try to to hold herself up and lean forward. Oh, the bar was three feet tall. Alli wasn't daring enough to try leaning forward, but she might get there next time!

This Week in the Goodman Family

This week has really been an interesting one. I took the week off to spend time with Jenny, Blake and Alli; and because Blake goes to her mom's (Hannah) for three weeks. It's her vacation time over there so we've been cramming a lot of things in.

Monday, we took a bike ride on the Katy Trail. This was my first time ever riding that trail and we will be going back! Blake and I rode about ten miles, Jenny and Alli (in her stoller) walked about four.

Tuesday was a big day as well. Jenny and I took Blake and one of her friends to Worlds of Fun. They had a good time riding rides and getting wet. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the tickets!

Wednesday got off to a slow start, and of the day we just hung around the house. Blake and I did make it out to play golf at a nearby par three course. We played nine holes. Blake made an even par on the ninth hole after driving the green from 87 yards!

Today, Blake and I went out to Grandma and Grandpa's to do some work. I helped fix thier driveway while Blake cut their grass. But, Thursday's are game days! Blake had a softball game at 9:00 in the evening. It was a loss (4 - 3) but they fought very hard. They played against the number one ranked team in her league, we're ranked second.

Friday will be a fun day as well. We are going squirrel hunting in the morning, then Blake and I are going on another bike ride after a hopefully successful hunting trip! Tomorrow afternoon we drop Blake off and Hannah's and then we will only see her on game days and during a softball tournament for three weeks. This time is always tough on Jenny and I, but we will be looking forward to when she gets to come back home!

Windows Mobile Development

This has been a topic I've been interested in for a long time. I finally acquired the resources to start looking at this, and in two hours, I developed an application for my windows mobile phone. It's called Spinner and it's not the prettiest app, but it's functional and has a .cab file that allows it to be installed on windows mobile 6 devices (such as smart phones).

Spinner is a really simple program. It has two buttons, that when pressed, rotates the screen. I've been wanting an app that does just that, not one that relies totally on the sensor. They seem slow to me, and I always have problems with having to wait for the device to rotate the screen so I can do what I want.

I'm pretty proud of this little application and am thinking about posting it to a site that allows free windows mobile downloads, freewarepocketpc. It would be the first time I have ever submitted a project outside of the work environment.

TV 4 Me

After a long hard battle, we have decided to give up cable for a little while. We've come to realize that with a good internet connection and some internet tv/video websites, we can watch pretty much what everyone else does, just at a later date. One site we've found is Hulu. After some looking around for something that Alli could watch (OK you got me, it was me!) I found some interesting shows in their line of cartoons. They were Rocky and Bullwinkle and He-Man! I had Blake preview one of each of these and she thought they were pretty funny. I got a kick out of them too as it brought me back in time. It was fun to see a couple of shows that I had seen and enjoyed as a kid. Does anyone have any recommendations for other tv/video websites?

Chris

Cardinals Royals Game

We went to Kansas City to the Cardinals Royals game on Saturday. We had a great time, and are thinking we should make it a yearly tradition. There was an hour and a half rain delay, but that didn't dampen our spirits. We sat there, through the rain delay, through the game, ate some overpriced nachos and hot dogs, and watched the Cardinals win. Blake's favorite player hit a home run, Jenny's favorite player threw one heck of a game, and my favorite team won. It was a good night at the "K".

New to This Blogging Thing

Apologies for being new to blogging... we are just catching up with technology and will try to keep up with this. We've been using facebook and twitter, but we (I) feel it will be easier to just update a blog and send links than typing everything more than once. Also, it will give us and you a central location to keep up with our family. I hope we're good at this!

Chris and Jenny