I realized I’ve been doing some complaining lately, probably because I’ve been fighting a cold recently and that makes everything harder.
(Aside: In almost seven years of full-time training, I’ve never missed a day due to illness. This week I came awfully close to breaking that streak, but pulled it out somehow. Now if my ears would only unplug…)
To compensate, I thought I’d list a few things, both technology-wise and other, that I’m happy about.
1. The EJB3 spec means I never have to deal with JNDI again. They’ve replaced it with dependency injection. Since JNDI is also known as the bane of my existence, I’m very, very happy about this.
2. Speaking of EJB3, they took a technology that was a maze of complications and confusion and made it really easy. Sweet.
3. My Comcast cable modem is probably three times as fast now as it was a couple of years ago. I realized this week that IBM had finally released RAD7. The total download size is about 5.3 gigs (yes, gigs). I waited until I got home and started the download and it took just over two hours. Amazing. Of course, it makes me wonder if I could have had that speed all along, but they’ve been throttling it…
4. In a year when we got a new James Bond, a new Superman, and a new Batman, the Batman movie totally wins, mostly because it had a wonderful script, great performances, and even excellent music. I liked the Bond movie, too, but the torture scene was disturbing, even though it was true to the book. I found the Superman movie disappointing. Still, as Meatloaf once said, two out of three ain’t bad. Daniel Craig and Christian Bale are two actors I’d never heard of but now look forward to watching.
(Another aside: Rachel Dawes gives this big speech at the end about how “the man she loved” never came back. Excuse me, but you’re talking to a good-looking, intelligent billionaire who obviously loves you. Aren’t you setting your standards just a wee bit too high? Of course, then she went and married Tom Cruise, so her judgement is seriously open to question anyway.)
5. The movie Daredevil (which I felt was quite underrated) introduced me to the band Evanescence. Their album The Open Door was released a couple months ago and I still play it every time I’m in the car. It’s become one of my all time favorites. The song “Good Enough” is almost too gorgeous.
6. I’m still grateful that I get to read columns from the Sports Guy (Bill Simmons) and articles from the writers at Baseball Prospectus (I almost said “guys” and then remembered Christina Kahrl, who is excellent) on a regular basis.
7. I love my job, really enjoy running my own business, and people keep calling offering me money to go to new places and teach interesting things. Life is good. 🙂
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