jerryjackson.net

Here’s what I have running well at the moment (likely to change over time as needs change):

• JDK 1.6 update 7
• mysql-connector-java (I’m using version 5.1.6)
• JBoss Application Server 4.2.3.GA
  • To make deployment to this application server possible/easier from my non-privileged user account:
    • chown -R jerry:jerry $JBOSS_HOME
  • I am controlling this only from the command line after observing that launching it from within Eclipse causes the load on my workstation to get very high for no apparent reason.
    • cd $JBOSS_HOME/bin
    • ./run.sh
  • Since I’m also using MySQL, I have copied the mysql-connector-java-5.1.6-bin.jar file into my $JBOSS_HOME/server/default/lib
• Seam 2.1.0.GA
  • this Seam Getting Started guide will be helpful - and there’s plenty more good info in the Reference Guide.
  • If you’re serious about Seam development, get “Seam in Action” - it’s available as a PDF file too!
  • I do all the seam-gen stuff from the command line - it’s really easy once you get into the “flow” of doing it this way (and eliminates any issues of doing it from within your IDE). This mostly amounts to only a few commands once you start working in your code:
    • seam explode (to get things started)
    • seam restart (to compile and deploy your latest code changes)
    • As the project grows and evolves, it is likely you’ll end up with customized build and deployment command-line scripts anyway.
• Eclipse 3.4.1 (in my case, eclipse-jee-ganymede-SR1-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz)
  • Nightly build of the JBoss IDE Tools. I am using JBossTools-200810010752-nightly-ALL-linux-gtk-x86_64.zip - however a more recent build should work just as well.
    • Using a recent nightly build solved my problem with the JBoss Tools Palette not working with Eclipse 3.4 as described here
  • Debugging seems to work well (as long as the server is started in “debug” mode from inside Eclipse)
  • JBoss Tools Palette works well.
  • Looks like everything is working for now.

Here’s an important chunk of my .bashrc file:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java/latest
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

export ANT_HOME=/usr/local/apache-ant-1.7.1
export PATH=$ANT_HOME/bin:$PATH

export JBOSS_HOME=/usr/local/jboss/jboss_as/latest
export PATH=$JBOSS_HOME/bin:$PATH

export SEAM_HOME=/usr/local/jboss/seam/latest
export PATH=$SEAM_HOME:$PATH

The “latest” directory in the paths above is the result of my use of symlinks like this:

jerry@localhost
/usr/local/jboss/seam >ll
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 2008-10-23 23:03 jboss-seam-2.1.0.CR1
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4096 2008-10-24 15:03 jboss-seam-2.1.0.GA
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   20 2008-10-24 15:12 latest -> jboss-seam-2.1.0.GA/

UPDATE: Camera details added to the Monday article. Note that all photos on this page taken with the Casio EX-Z80.

This is the worst picture I’ve ever taken - the truck loaded up and soon heading back to Florida:

The campground has a bunch of these hummingbirds zipping around that are fun to watch:

You’ve probably heard of the game show “Name That Tune“. This is “Name That Road”. Truth is, I don’t even remember which roads are in some of the videos, but the likely choices are:

• Hwy 28
• Hwy 60
• Hwy 68
• Hwy 129
• Hwy 180
• Hwy 348 (Richard Russel Hwy)
• Hwy 197
• Cherohala Skyway
• Warwoman Rd.

These videos were all captured during our 4 days of mountain road riding using my little Casio EX-Z80 camera mounted with my custom fabricated camera mount:

• Â Monday 2008-09-15
• Tuesday 2008-09-16
• Wednesday 2008-09-17
• Thursday 2008-09-18
• Friday 2008-09-19

All the videos can also been seen on my youtube.com page.

I simply set the camera on the ground and off we went:

ok - back to the game:

Here’s the campground panorama from just outside our cabin:

more riding:

A few more videos coming soon!

UPDATE: Camera details added to the Monday article.

Today’s ride was almost identical to yesterday’s ride, except we did it in the opposite direction AND added a loop from Blue Ridge down hwy 60 through Suches.

We started out in a little fog this morning. FULL SIZE PICTURE:

A quick stop at T.W.O.

We found this great overlook on Richard Russell Hwy. FULL SIZE PICTURE:

From that same overlook. FULL SIZE PICTURE:

FULL SIZE VERSION

The road side work crew was also very busy today:

Wow! FULL SIZE PICTURE:

Lunch in Franklin again, but at a different place. It’s to the left of Wal Mart up a little hill:

Last rest stop on the Cherohala Skyway headed back toward the campground:

FULL SIZE

FULL SIZE

Many other people were out having fun today. FULL SIZE PICTURE

One last picture of our hooligan machines:

Tom collapsed on this roadside bench. We left him laying there and will pick him up next year:

Final score for the day:

UPDATE: Camera details added to the Monday article.

Breakfast at the same place again:

A little while later, from an overlook on the Cherohala Skyway:

After a VERY spirited run down hwy 28, where Rick gave the Hawk as much abuse as it could possibly take, with me glued to his rear fender, and Tom not far behind, we ended up in Franklin for lunch:

Headed south out of Franklin on 28 toward Highlands, NC. I stopped for some more scenery photos. FULL SIZE PHOTO IS HERE:

Downtown Highlands, NC. was busy:

Dinner back in Tellico Plains near the campground at the Tellicafe. The food is excellent!:

Back at the campground, we had to pry Tom’s stiff and sore body off the motorcycle. We left him laying on the ground where he fell:

Final score for the day:

Now let’s review today’s roads worthy of mention:

• Cherohala Skyway
• Hwy 28 from 143 on the north end, through Franklin, then Highlands and beyond.
• Warwoman Rd.
• West on 76 over to 197 south
• then west onto 356
• wound our way down 75 to Richard Russell Scenic Hwy
• back to 129 headed north
• then west on 64 and north on 294
• then from 294 back to 68 north into Tellico Plains

UPDATE: Camera details added to the Monday article.

We started out with breakfast at “The Prospector” restaurant in Tellico Plains. This is a new place opened in 2008 located one block east of hwy 68 where hwy 39 intersects 68. Fantastic food at a reasonable price!

After an hour riding out of Tellico Plains north on hwy 360, then east on hwy 411, then south on hwy 72, whereupon we turned onto 129 and headed toward Deals Gap. However, at the base of 129 we turned left for a short jaunt up the “Foothills Parkway” and found this scenic overlook. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE.

Soon afterward we were at the overlook on the Tennessee side of Deals Gap:

Today’s conditions were good enough to get a decent shot of the dam from the overlook. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

This is “The Store” at the North Carolina end of Deals Gap. As you can see here, it was a zoo there today and many animals had escaped from their cages. While we enjoyed a refreshing beverage, I witnessed an 18-wheeler pulling a 53 foot trailer going up the hill. Not long after that we could hear the stories of the truck’s wheels hanging off the edge of the mountain from the riders coming back through from the other side. There is no way in hell to get a 53 footer over that road and I think only the very best drivers would make it with a 40 footer.

Looking in the opposite direction from the store, we are contemplating the run down hwy 28. As you might suspect, this turned out to be a very spirited section of the ride.

On the way down hwy 28, we took a short detour over to see Fontana Dam. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

And I managed to get this shot of two of the best looking motorcycles on the planet. My Suzuki GSXR-1000 and Rick’s Honda Hawk. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

Lunch in Robbinsville! Food was excellent. Rick claims the onion rings were the best he’s ever had.

On the return leg of today’s trip we found ourselves on the Cherohala Skyway. Then Rick noticed a great spot to stop for photos and videos:

Plenty of fall colors are starting to appear at these higher elevations. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

Tom on his Suzuki SV650. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

Video of Tom coming from the other direction:

Me on my Suzuki GSXR-1000. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

Video of me coming from the other direction:

Rick on the Honda Hawk. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

Video of Rick coming from the other direction:

Another photo of the world’s best looking motorcycle. FULL SIZE PICTURE IS HERE

It was chilly up here. Perhaps 55 degrees - cloudy and overcast.

This is pretty much what we had to deal with all day long:

And finally - Yesterday Rick’s tag fell off on a bridge on 411 as we were returning from a gas station. We noticed it missing 100 miles later. Tom claimed he knew exactly where it fell off, but didn’t realize at the time what it was he saw bouncing on the road. We went back late this afternoon, and sure enough, it was EXACTLY where Tom said it would be:

UPDATE: Some people have asked what camera I used during this trip - I used two different cameras:

• Casio EX-Z80 was used for all videos (see them here) and very few of the still photos.
• Nikon D50 with Tamron AF 18-200mm lens was used for most of the still photos.
• I will take the Nikon D300 and Nikon 18-200 VR lens next time. Nothing wrong with the D50, just that the D300 with that lens is so much better.

Yesterday morning, 7:00AM, Rick’s awesome Nissan Titan is loaded and rolling out:

The trip from my house in Deltona took exactly 11 hours to reach the Cherohala Motorcycle Resort. Rick and Tom stayed here last year and couldn’t say enough good things about the place. Now that I’m here, I wholeheartedly agree. Mark and Renee have worked very hard to put together a most excellent place for mountain loving motorcyclists to relax. And they have wireless internet access here too!

5 minutes into the ride today, I realize I’m nearly out of fuel - so a quick (fun) detour to a gas station. I knew I was forgetting something on my pre-departure checklist - with scenery in the background to hint at what’s in store for later today:

An hour after the fuel stop, we arrived at the “New York Restaurant” in McCaysville for a good breakfast:

The weather report had us prepared to get soaked today, so we were looking forward to trying out our new “Frog Toggs” rain suits. However, the rain gods smiled down upon us thanks to Rick’s sacrificial offering of his license plate which fell off somewhere on hwy 30 southwest of Tellico Plains.

This is part of the reservoir at Hiawassee Dam:

My camera was “big enough” for Rick to fit my fat ass into this picture:

As you can probably see in this picture, Tom is having another miserable day:

Another shot of the beautiful scenery at the dam:

Today’s ride covered 328.61 miles, including a number of miles on a super-top-secret road Rick knows about in North Carolina. This road was, without question, the twistiest piece of truly rideable asphalt I have ever been on. I am sworn to secrecy.

My apologies for not posting videos yet. The laptop I have with me doesn’t have video processing software I want to use. Videos will be posted when I return home.

When trailering a sport-bike, strapping the bike to the trailer is usually a challenge because of all the plastic body work interfering with the tie-down straps - which makes it impossible to get a straight path for the tie strap between something solid on the motorcycle and the trailer.

After an hour of cutting and welding out in the garage I am ready to secure the bike on the trailer tomorrow morning as we’re loading up for our 4 days of mountain riding next week.

I have some thoughts about what it takes to force decision making in business - and some day I will write at considerable length about it. The short version is simply this: “Pain is the only driving force behind business decisions”. Quite often the motivator is the desire to avoid or stop pain. In this case, I was experiencing enough physical discomfort to act upon it.

More than 10 years ago, I purchased a large (72 x 36 inches) well built desk from a used furniture dealer. It is, by far, the sturdiest and heaviest desk I have ever seen. The guy had dozens of them - all identical models - ranging in price from $50 to $200. The cheaper ones had varying levels of cosmetic damage while the $200 ones looked nearly new. I purchased the $50 variety (slight water damage on the bottom and lots of nicks and scratches on the sides) and have kicked myself on many occasions since then for not buying several of them.

As nice as it is, it is a plain rectangular shape, while I greatly prefer to sit in the L of an L-shaped desk such that I can support my elbows on the desk - which increases my comfort level substantially. For me, this translates into increased productivity.

Lately, I have been toying with the idea of building myself an entirely new, custom-designed, L-shaped desk. This would have easily consumed 2 full weekends of my time and around $300 in materials. Time I don’t have right now, and money I’d rather not spend given that my existing desk is otherwise perfect. Many months ago I built a super-custom L-shaped work area into a corner of my daughters bedroom - and have been jealous ever since that she’s sitting up there in total elbow resting comfort while I’m down here “suffering”

Finally, last night, I couldn’t take it any more. Time to head out to the garage to look through what materials I have on hand to use in building an “extension” onto my desk:

• 3/4 inch oak plywood - check
• enough angle iron with which to fabricate brackets to hold the desktop extension in place - check
• various wood screws - check
• skinny jig-saw blade for cutting the curves - check
• fresh belt for the belt sander - check
• could I actually FIND my 1/4 inch roundover router bit - check
• water-based poly sealer to waterproof the plywood - check

Two hours later the result is:

Reason for the odd shape is that I can swivel my chair 30 degrees to the left and comfortably use my laptop and still have a place for both arms to rest.

The brackets underneath:

These brackets are fabricated as a sliding piece connected to the wooden extension which slides into a channel attached to the desk such that I can slide the assembly out of there in 2 seconds to return to the orignal configuration.

Even though it is wide enough to partially block access to the top drawers, I can still somewhat use them without much trouble. If needed I can slide the extension out of the channels in 2 seconds and have full drawer access.

Here I sit - in total comfort!

Thankfully, I won’t need to see this for much longer:

Whenever pair-programming with one of my co-workers, we see this one very often. I am sure their apology is sincere. My favorite part is the “No information has been lost” - when in fact we have seen plenty of instances where there WAS information lost when he couldn’t hit the CTRL-S keys quickly enough. There have been many other strange observations during my recent adventures with the .NET platform.

Soon I will be starting at a new gig where I’ll be using old familiar friends (and some new ones) like:

• Linux (no more Windows!)
• Java
• JBoss related projects such as:
  • Seam
  • Hibernate
  • Tools
  • and probably even JBoss Developer Studio
• GWT and GWT-Ext and Ext GWT
• MySQL
• Vim
• Eclipse
• Subversion or maybe I’ll use Git instead
• plus anything else I need to get the job done, which is very likely to include:
  • C++ - done properly or not at all
  • Ruby and/or JRuby
  • PHP
  • Ant, Maven, buildr as needed to automate and simplify the build/test/deploy processes.
    • while on the subject of automation, the .NET developers out there should take a look at NAnt if you’re suffering with inconsistent and error-prone building and deployment issues. There’s plenty of info on using NAnt with Visual Studio.
  • among others

Of course, this means I’ll probably start writing about the new set of challenges and problems instead of these old ones