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css cleanup
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mikeygee committed Oct 5, 2011
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8 changes: 4 additions & 4 deletions _posts/2011-08-31-one.md
Expand Up @@ -5,16 +5,16 @@ title: number one

In honor of finally launching my personal web site, I am writing my first ever blog post. I bought the mikeygee domain name in 2005 with the intent of building a personal site and proceeded to procrastinate for the next 6 years. So why now? Well for one, this [github pages][] feature with [Jekyll][] looked pretty cool, and I had to try it. But mostly because I'm in a transitional phase in my career and trying a lot of new things as I figure out what to do next. So let's start with some goals for this blog.

**<span class="yellow">Learn</span>**<br>
#### Learn
Writing things down and publishing forces you to think in more depth than you normally would. It helps you understand yourself and the topic you are writing about more clearly and fully. I hope that blogging will help refine my knowledge and opinions.

**<span class="yellow">Document</span>**<br>
#### Document
I have a terrible memory, and the Internet has only made this worse, as the answer to any question is a Google search away. I hope that blogging will help me better remember the thoughts and insights I discover.

**<span class="yellow">Contribute</span>**<br>
#### Contribute
I've been an enormous consumer of the Internet for the last decade or so, but have so far failed to make any significant contributions to it. I've gained so much from online material, and it seems wrong to not give back. Some of the most interesting and insightful things I've read have come from personal blogs and user comments, and there's no reason why my writing couldn't have a positive impact on someone out there.

**<span class="yellow">Speak</span>**<br>
#### Speak
I am naturally introverted, and it has always been a challenge for me to break out of my shell. I hope that blogging will improve my confidence and allow people to get to know me through my writing.

[github pages]: http://pages.github.com
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10 changes: 5 additions & 5 deletions _posts/2011-09-03-corporate.md
Expand Up @@ -7,19 +7,19 @@ title: why i quit my corporate IT job
Earlier this year, I left my corporate IT job of 4+ years to take a sabbatical and reassess what I want to do. The problem with corporate jobs has been well analyzed by startup guru [Paul Graham][]. His [essays][], particularly [How to Make Wealth][] and [You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss][], were a big inspiration to leave the corporate life. From my personal Office Space experience, these were the biggest pain points for me.

**<span class="yellow">Lack of meaningful work</span>**<br>
#### Lack of meaningful work
There is very little creative brain power required for coporate IT. Big companies buy most of their software off the shelf, so there is little to do except install it, configure it, and the worst part maintain it. And we are talking about some pretty awful enterprise software. How corporations pay so much for that crap is beyond me. In addition, there are usually several teams involved in every project, so your tiny contribution doesn't feel like anything special. I can't think of a single accomplishment from my job that I am really proud of and would want to tell someone about.

**<span class="yellow">The standard procedure</span>**<br>
#### The standard procedure
Procedures are a necessary evil in corporate IT to keep things organized, but they often get more attention than the actual task at hand. You end up focusing more on clawing your way through the procedure than building what the client needs. Another problem is that they try to use one common procedure for too many things, and they err on the side of being more careful and going slower. It feels like trying to push a square shaped project through a circle shaped procedure. There are so many things you end up doing that make no sense and just waste time. Every project is unique and needs some flexibility to get it done in a way that makes sense.

**<span class="yellow">Red tape</span>**<br>
#### Red tape
There is so much red tape around every little thing. Making changes and trying new things turns into an interrogation. There is always this sense of fear of breaking something instead of trusting that good people can handle themselves. You're only allowed to touch things that your specialized role allows you to, which is not much. Everything else requires a formal request, which takes who knows how long and just makes it a hassle to get anything done.

**<span class="yellow">Assembly line development and outsourcing</span>**<br>
#### Assembly line development and outsourcing
The theory is that IT can be set up assembly line style, using standard, repeatable procedures to churn out software solutions. Developers are just commodities, so it makes no difference where they are located. Not only is this a boring, miserable way of doing things, it doesn't work. It can work for certain things that have extremely specific instructions and won't require any changes, but it absolutely does not work for software solutions. It takes more time to fill out the forms and pass them down through all the layers than it would to just build it by yourself. Then when the client inevitably needs something changed, you have to go through all the layers again to get it updated.

**<span class="yellow">Politics</span>**<br>
#### Politics
Navigating the corporate hierarchy is mostly a social political game. Working hard and outperforming your colleagues does not reap any rewards by itself. You have to be able to sell it to the right person. Usually this means schmoozing with managers and making slide decks with a lot of buzz words and cool looking charts. For me, I don't like the political games. I prefer to focus on personal productivity and creating value, and let my work speak for itself.

But I'm not bitter or anything. I started as a clueless college graduate and learned a lot from the experience. There's no way I could have understood any of this without experiencing it first hand. I now know what to avoid going forward. I am a programmer. I like to code on modern platforms. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that, but eventually the pain of corporate life put it back into focus. My advice to anyone considering corporate IT work, especially college grads: avoid if possible, but if you have to, smaller is better. Avoid the really big companies.
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6 changes: 3 additions & 3 deletions _posts/2011-09-07-hire.md
Expand Up @@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ title: why you should hire me

I am currently interested in joining a startup or small team, as a software engineer focused on [agile][] web development. To any potential employers that have found their way here, these are the top reasons you should hire me.

**<span class="yellow">Programming is my passion</span>**<br>
#### Programming is my passion
There is something magical about programming that inspires and brings out the best in me. I've never had a pure programming job, but I have a highly technical background, and I truly love the craft. I know this because I do it for fun in my free time, and I don't go a day without reading some [Hacker News][].

**<span class="yellow">I'm resourceful and learn quickly</span>**<br>
#### I'm resourceful and learn quickly
Nowadays I believe it's more important to be able to find and absorb information quickly, than to know it all offhand. Since finishing school, my primary method of learning has been google searches and online documentation, and I've become very efficient at learning this way. I was never great at taking tests in school or those job interviews that practically ask you to recite a computer science book. But if you give me a few days and an Internet connection, I'm confident I can figure out almost anything.

**<span class="yellow">I work hard, really hard</span>**<br>
#### I work hard, really hard
I strongly believe that the biggest key to success for programmers or anyone in general is sheer will and perseverance. Ultimately, nothing good comes easy, and you just have to fight your way to the finish line. I take pride in my work ethic and consider it my biggest strength. Once I'm focused and locked on to a task, I go all out until the job is done.

So if you're looking for a dedicated, resourceful programmer who does it for the love of the game, I'm your man!
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15 changes: 15 additions & 0 deletions _posts/2011-10-04-iphone4s.md
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
---
layout: post
title: let's talk iphone
---

Apple held their [annual fall event][1] today, and the general reaction seems to be disappointment. Since we didn't get the normal summer iPhone refresh, many people thought there was a big redesign or other home run in the cards. Instead we got mostly software updates, many of which were already announced at WWDC in June. I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed at first. I'm long overdue for a phone update (iPhone 2g ftw!) and was hoping for something major. New hardware design is what captures the headlines and gets all the oohs and ahs. But when I think about it, the software is equally if not more important, despite getting less attention.

I'm pretty sure that the iPhone 4S has been ready to go for quite a while, and they were just waiting on the software. We got a hint of this at WWDC when iOS 5 was announced as a fall release. Why release new hardware if the software isn't ready yet? And why mess with the hardware design of the best-selling smartphone? Remember the [3rd generation iPod shuffle][2]? That's an example of messing with something that's already working. I feel like there are limited improvements to be made on the iPhone 4 hardware design. People were talking bigger screen, thinner, lighter. I could see the screen going slightly bigger, but I can't see a reason for trying to make the thing any thinner. There is however still a lot of potential for software improvement, so Apple did the logical thing - stick with the same design and focus on improving the software, much like the 3g &rarr; 3gs which turned out just fine. Even if the software improvements are not necessarily groundbreaking, if they add some value, however small, it's the smart thing to do. None of the iOS 5 features blow me away, but it makes everything just a little nicer and easier than before. iCloud and wireless sync will add a lot of convenience, and Siri is looking like a nice acquisition. Apple really got the touch interface right, and now they're taking a shot at a voice interface which has very big potential.

As always, I like to look at this from a business perspective. Apple didn't blow anyone away today on the surface, but initial reaction doesn't seem to impact sales. The iPad also had a muted response initially, and we all saw how that turned out. The new software features are good enough to keep iPhone in the lead, and the smartphone market is still growing rapidly. Since the form factor didn't change, I imagine the manufacturing process should be easier and allow demand to be met. I also think making the 3gs free (with contract) is a big deal. That has to be the best value for people on the fence for a smartphone, and I imagine they will move a lot of those.

I think the movement of the stock price today tells the story well. There was initial disappointment when the event ended with no big surprises, and the stock plunged 5% right on the 200 day moving average. But then when you think about how sales will actually be affected, you get some recovery. The earnings report is coming up soon, and Apple consistently crushes earnings. I got lucky and bottom picked some shares @ 354.90 today. Still watching that 360 support area.

[1]: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piuhbvdlbkvoih10/event/index.html
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_Shuffle#Third_generation
63 changes: 27 additions & 36 deletions css/style.css
Expand Up @@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ body {
color: #DDD;
font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 14px;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}

a:link, a:visited {
Expand All @@ -11,29 +13,24 @@ a:link, a:visited {
font-size: inherit;
font-weight: inherit;
}

a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
a:active { text-decoration: underline; }

a img { border: none; }

ul {
list-style: none;
}

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn, .yellow {
color: #FB4;
}
ul { list-style: none; }

#ln,
.post-date,
.blue {
color: #1BF;
}
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn { color: #FB4; }

#ln, .post-date { color: #1BF; }

#main {
width: 960px;
margin: 0 auto;
margin-top: 100px;
margin-bottom: 100px;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}

#nav {
Expand All @@ -43,27 +40,21 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn, .yellow {
font-size: 16px;
text-align: right;
line-height: 150%;
color: #DDD;
position: fixed;
top: 100px;
}

#nav h1 a:hover { text-decoration: none; }

#nav .addthis_toolbox {
float: right;
}

.content {
margin: 100px 0px 200px 280px;
width: 500px;
margin-left: 280px;
width: 540px;
line-height: 150%;
}

.content a:link,
.content a:visited,
#details p a:link,
#details p a:visited { color: #FB4; }
#details p a:link,
#details p a:visited { color: #FB4; }

.content blockquote {
border-left: 1px solid #DDD;
Expand All @@ -75,17 +66,12 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn, .yellow {
.tweet-date, .gh-date { font-size: 12px; }

#content-cv {
margin-top: 100px;
margin-left: 280px;
line-height: normal;
}

#content-blog hr { margin: 40px 0px; }

#content-post {
margin-bottom: 200px;
}

#content-contact img,
#content-home img {
vertical-align: middle;
Expand All @@ -100,7 +86,12 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn, .yellow {
color: #FB4;
}

#cv-header { width: 400px; }
#cv-header {
width: 400px;
color: #FB4;
}

#dlpdf { float: right; }

#filters {
width: 400px;
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -128,11 +119,11 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn, .yellow {

#ucla,
#mikeygeecom {
background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #FB4;
background-color: #FB4;
}

#lab {
background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #FFF;
background-color: #FFF;
}

#ucla-logo,
Expand All @@ -149,7 +140,7 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn, .yellow {
#informatica,
#wdi {
padding: 5px;
background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #FFF;
background-color: #FFF;

}

Expand All @@ -171,27 +162,27 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, #fn, .yellow {
}

#javascript {
background: #43FF0F;
background-color: #43FF0F;
}

#c {
background: #4CF;
background-color: #4CF;
}

#c .description {
font-size: 13px;
}

#sql, #nflive {
background: #FF7F4D;
background-color: #FF7F4D;
}

#sql .title {
font-size: 36px;
}

#html {
background: #FF4287;
background-color: #FF4287;
}

#nflive,
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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions cv/index.html
Expand Up @@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ <h1><a href="/"><span id="fn">mikey</span><span id="ln">GEE</span></a></h1>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="content-cv">
<div id="cv-header" class="yellow">
<div style="float:right"><a href="cv.pdf">download pdf</a></div>
<div id="cv-header">
<div id="dlpdf"><a href="cv.pdf">download pdf</a></div>
<h2>cv</h2>
</div>
<div id="filters">
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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions js/index.js
Expand Up @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
function(data) {
for(var i = 0, len = data.length; i < len; i++) {
var date = new Date(data[i].created_at.replace("+0000 ",""));
data[i].date = date.toDateString().slice(4);
data[i].date = date.toDateString().slice(4).replace(/\s/g,"&nbsp;");
if(data[i].entities.urls.length > 0)
data[i].url = data[i].entities.urls[0].url;
else
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
}
for(var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
var repo = data.repositories[i];
repo.date = (new Date(repo.pushed_at)).toDateString().slice(4);
repo.date = (new Date(repo.pushed_at)).toDateString().slice(4).replace(/\s/g,"&nbsp;");
$.getJSON("http://github.com/api/v2/json/commits/list/mikeygee/" + repo.name + "/master?callback=?", addMessage(i));
}
}
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