I'm not sure if anyone really looks at this anymore since I haven't updated it in a couple of years but I have been photo blogging semi-regularly over on Tumblr. Keiko and I are planning to move to Phnom Penh Cambodia at the end of August (2011). I will be writing in popular fashion once we go but most likely on Tumblr (so much prettier and more simple to use).
http://corbeyluv.tumblr.com/
Also, my consolidated social media vanity page: http://flavors.me/corbettdc
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Moving the Economist to Drupal
Day 1 of Do It with Drupal Conference - #DIWD
I haven't blogged in ages but I figured this is a good enough way to get started - taking notes at a Drupal conference.
Panel: Rob Purdie (Economist); Moshe Weitzman (Cyrve)
RP: Moving the Economist incrementally and iteratively and working on improvements as they go. Currently these aspects are on Drupal: user comments and recs, user comment history is Drupal, articles and syncing all data to Drupal every 5 minutes. Article pages will be served in Drupal very soon.
Will be launching "channel" pages - currently there are "topic" pages that just list the articles incrementally, the channel pages will have the articles but will integrate additional content onto the pages.
"We benefit from Drupal sooner by taking this approach"
Vision: "Build the foremost destination online for analyzing and debating the global agenda, drawing on the intelligence of journalists, readers and guests."
Want to: increase publishing volume with user-generated content -- This makes me think of MercyCorps and what I call "Shortening the Content Supply Chain"
"Perfect is the enemy of better"
Selling Scrum/Agile Development
• Needed to sell scrum within the org
• Needed to sell scrum to management - emphasized that risk wold be decreased vs. a traditional management approach.
• "We chose comments/recommendations as the most important sub-system to deliver/iterate on first" - worked with the key people to determine what the most valuable areas were for the clients.
• Trained the Management and development teams in Scrum, then in Drupal.
• Developed a Sprint system - every two weeks set out specific deliverables with the intent to deliver (put live?)
Incremental Architecture
Integrating the thumbs up/down from the old platform
• Since comments have to be attached to nodes, they had to create the nodes on the fly for every request that comes up since the articles are not in the same system. Same thing is happening with the Voting API.
Migrating Content - better to strart doing this this sooner rather than faster. Cyrve's methodology for migrating legacy data:
2 Modules:
• Table Wizard - Looks at a mySQL table and will map out selected parts of the legacy node. You can make legacy columns in and also rename old terms. This allow you to map the old data to the new and keep them linked for reference.
• Migrate - build on the above and allows you to build views based on what is created in the tables.
? How many servers did it take for 20k page views a month? Maybe around 12 right now.
? SCRUM Process - How do you manage "emergency" scrum requests - Product Owner is the shield for the team. Requests go to that person and they approach the team and work together. They Split the site up into several product teams (articles, SN, etc.) - the Protected the teams.
Interesting Features
• Using "Pressflow" instead of Drupal 6
• Base theme is a 960 grid - allows you to place everything into a specific column - more uniform presentation.
• Continuous integration using "Hudson" -
• Apache SOLR hosted by Acquia - thousands of articles, current search not working well; emphasis on how fast it is to get quality search results (1 work day); can be self-hosted but there are benefits to the Acquia service.
? What Managing Tools are being used for SCRUM? You don't have to worry about resource management as much because the team approach is laid out that each member has 100% dedication to that project. Trying to move away from specialists toward 'generalized specialists' and to have everyone collectively own the product and so that you're not dependent on one or another person. Favor really low fi tools; influenced by: http://agilemanifesto.org/
• Use "Unfuddle" as a ticketing system, SCRUM "stories" are taken down into tasks
• Use Google docs a lot
• The "Focus should be people, not the tools"
Impediments
• Bad Practice: Command and Control - Telling people what to do and when by inhibits self-organizing teams.
• Black Box Development - One of the pillars is transparency; must be abel to adapt processes as you go. Don't let all the development happen in a black box.
• Development Silos - e.g. EX person only in one project, not integrating with others.
• Traditional Line Management - Building teams of peers, not traditional management structure.
Engineering Practices (specifically quality) - Ken Schwaber books talk about SCRUM - it is "a wrapper for your traditional practices" - SCRUM assumes that your engineering practices are great (or will be). Old habits die hard; they want to ship potentially implementable code with each iteration, in order to do this they have build an identical development environment with just fewer servers in order to ensure that new code will go through.
? Suggestions on working on live content; pre-readying content – MW: Actually, I usually practice on live servers and just be careful to keep it from the public.
On using Acquia SOLR – Self-host vs. not – if you can, it’s not a bad idea but you need to have a lot of mySQL and PHP skills and ability to maintain, Acquia takes care of this. Acquia’s facets are not available on the core search without additional modules. Apache SOLR is used for Netflix, CNET, etc.
With SCRUM, what you would ideally like is to have a product owner sitting in the room in all meetings, even sitting in the room. You are not allowed to change requirments mid-sprint. You have a “working agreements’ that lays out how you agree to work together. You can’t say yes to everything, the project will fail if you do.
SCRUM is not a prescription, you can pick and choose what parts you need. There are simple rooms, make rules; inspect your **, and **.
I haven't blogged in ages but I figured this is a good enough way to get started - taking notes at a Drupal conference.
Panel: Rob Purdie (Economist); Moshe Weitzman (Cyrve)
RP: Moving the Economist incrementally and iteratively and working on improvements as they go. Currently these aspects are on Drupal: user comments and recs, user comment history is Drupal, articles and syncing all data to Drupal every 5 minutes. Article pages will be served in Drupal very soon.
Will be launching "channel" pages - currently there are "topic" pages that just list the articles incrementally, the channel pages will have the articles but will integrate additional content onto the pages.
"We benefit from Drupal sooner by taking this approach"
Vision: "Build the foremost destination online for analyzing and debating the global agenda, drawing on the intelligence of journalists, readers and guests."
Want to: increase publishing volume with user-generated content -- This makes me think of MercyCorps and what I call "Shortening the Content Supply Chain"
"Perfect is the enemy of better"
Selling Scrum/Agile Development
• Needed to sell scrum within the org
• Needed to sell scrum to management - emphasized that risk wold be decreased vs. a traditional management approach.
• "We chose comments/recommendations as the most important sub-system to deliver/iterate on first" - worked with the key people to determine what the most valuable areas were for the clients.
• Trained the Management and development teams in Scrum, then in Drupal.
• Developed a Sprint system - every two weeks set out specific deliverables with the intent to deliver (put live?)
Incremental Architecture
Integrating the thumbs up/down from the old platform
• Since comments have to be attached to nodes, they had to create the nodes on the fly for every request that comes up since the articles are not in the same system. Same thing is happening with the Voting API.
Migrating Content - better to strart doing this this sooner rather than faster. Cyrve's methodology for migrating legacy data:
2 Modules:
• Table Wizard - Looks at a mySQL table and will map out selected parts of the legacy node. You can make legacy columns in and also rename old terms. This allow you to map the old data to the new and keep them linked for reference.
• Migrate - build on the above and allows you to build views based on what is created in the tables.
? How many servers did it take for 20k page views a month? Maybe around 12 right now.
? SCRUM Process - How do you manage "emergency" scrum requests - Product Owner is the shield for the team. Requests go to that person and they approach the team and work together. They Split the site up into several product teams (articles, SN, etc.) - the Protected the teams.
Interesting Features
• Using "Pressflow" instead of Drupal 6
• Base theme is a 960 grid - allows you to place everything into a specific column - more uniform presentation.
• Continuous integration using "Hudson" -
• Apache SOLR hosted by Acquia - thousands of articles, current search not working well; emphasis on how fast it is to get quality search results (1 work day); can be self-hosted but there are benefits to the Acquia service.
? What Managing Tools are being used for SCRUM? You don't have to worry about resource management as much because the team approach is laid out that each member has 100% dedication to that project. Trying to move away from specialists toward 'generalized specialists' and to have everyone collectively own the product and so that you're not dependent on one or another person. Favor really low fi tools; influenced by: http://agilemanifesto.org/
• Use "Unfuddle" as a ticketing system, SCRUM "stories" are taken down into tasks
• Use Google docs a lot
• The "Focus should be people, not the tools"
Impediments
• Bad Practice: Command and Control - Telling people what to do and when by inhibits self-organizing teams.
• Black Box Development - One of the pillars is transparency; must be abel to adapt processes as you go. Don't let all the development happen in a black box.
• Development Silos - e.g. EX person only in one project, not integrating with others.
• Traditional Line Management - Building teams of peers, not traditional management structure.
Engineering Practices (specifically quality) - Ken Schwaber books talk about SCRUM - it is "a wrapper for your traditional practices" - SCRUM assumes that your engineering practices are great (or will be). Old habits die hard; they want to ship potentially implementable code with each iteration, in order to do this they have build an identical development environment with just fewer servers in order to ensure that new code will go through.
? Suggestions on working on live content; pre-readying content – MW: Actually, I usually practice on live servers and just be careful to keep it from the public.
On using Acquia SOLR – Self-host vs. not – if you can, it’s not a bad idea but you need to have a lot of mySQL and PHP skills and ability to maintain, Acquia takes care of this. Acquia’s facets are not available on the core search without additional modules. Apache SOLR is used for Netflix, CNET, etc.
With SCRUM, what you would ideally like is to have a product owner sitting in the room in all meetings, even sitting in the room. You are not allowed to change requirments mid-sprint. You have a “working agreements’ that lays out how you agree to work together. You can’t say yes to everything, the project will fail if you do.
SCRUM is not a prescription, you can pick and choose what parts you need. There are simple rooms, make rules; inspect your **, and **.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Pictures starting back up also
I'll try to get some more up soon. I'm also trying to figure out how to incorporate this, looks good (bigger pictures and a few more bells and whistles) but can't get it to link with my photo page. They are the same pictures as the above link.
return from the dead
Well, after almost a year of not posting I thought I would try to get back into the habit.
The short update is that I have been back in the US since late August '07 where I have started a Master's program at American University in Washington DC. I'm studying International Development where I'm hoping to gain the knowledge and skills to work in the development field overseas. The first semester was rough but I think I've finally gotten back into school mode. My first classes were both challenging and enjoyable even if I didn't quite get straight A's. I was about 1-2 points off in one class... : (
Keiko arrived at the beginning of November and has been doing her damnedest to stay busy and productive. All her visa stuff went through without a hitch but someone in immigration or the Social Security admin made a mistake and they didn't begin processing on her social security card/number when they were supposed to. This has led to us to still be waiting for her to get a social security card that enables her to work (even though the green card, which she has, actually entitles her to work legally, many employers won't accept it without the SS number).
We're living in a great old house in Columbia Heights about a 15 minute ride north of the National Mall. I can't say we're that impressed with the city itself but coming from Tokyo, I guess the only place that could compete over here would be New York. I don't mind though as I don't have much time nor money to do much more than study and the city is fantastically bike-able. Since you can't smoke anywhere in the country (I exaggerate) I don't really feel like going out very much. I mean, why drink if you can't smoke? I just don't see the point. Oh yeah, you can "network". The very sound of the word sends chills down my spine. I'll spend an entire post later on about this phenomena and its place in this city but not now. Oh, one last thing, this thing called winter blows.
There is too much to say about the past six months in a single post so I'm just going to leave it at this and try to catch things up as I get back in the habit of posting. If anyone out there still reads this, send me a shout and let me know if there are any aspects about being in school, back in America or DC you would like to hear about. I apologize to everyone for dropping off the face of the Earth recently but I've made a decision to try and correct my anti-social behavior. Don't be surprised if you start to get emails from the world's worst friend.
Oh, as I've left Japan for a while I thought it was appropriate to update the blog title. I'm still looking for a better name with an alliterative quality around these subjects: policy, bikes, bread, music.... So far this is the best I've come up with but I'm open to suggestions.
xoxo,
-c.
The short update is that I have been back in the US since late August '07 where I have started a Master's program at American University in Washington DC. I'm studying International Development where I'm hoping to gain the knowledge and skills to work in the development field overseas. The first semester was rough but I think I've finally gotten back into school mode. My first classes were both challenging and enjoyable even if I didn't quite get straight A's. I was about 1-2 points off in one class... : (
Keiko arrived at the beginning of November and has been doing her damnedest to stay busy and productive. All her visa stuff went through without a hitch but someone in immigration or the Social Security admin made a mistake and they didn't begin processing on her social security card/number when they were supposed to. This has led to us to still be waiting for her to get a social security card that enables her to work (even though the green card, which she has, actually entitles her to work legally, many employers won't accept it without the SS number).
We're living in a great old house in Columbia Heights about a 15 minute ride north of the National Mall. I can't say we're that impressed with the city itself but coming from Tokyo, I guess the only place that could compete over here would be New York. I don't mind though as I don't have much time nor money to do much more than study and the city is fantastically bike-able. Since you can't smoke anywhere in the country (I exaggerate) I don't really feel like going out very much. I mean, why drink if you can't smoke? I just don't see the point. Oh yeah, you can "network". The very sound of the word sends chills down my spine. I'll spend an entire post later on about this phenomena and its place in this city but not now. Oh, one last thing, this thing called winter blows.
There is too much to say about the past six months in a single post so I'm just going to leave it at this and try to catch things up as I get back in the habit of posting. If anyone out there still reads this, send me a shout and let me know if there are any aspects about being in school, back in America or DC you would like to hear about. I apologize to everyone for dropping off the face of the Earth recently but I've made a decision to try and correct my anti-social behavior. Don't be surprised if you start to get emails from the world's worst friend.
Oh, as I've left Japan for a while I thought it was appropriate to update the blog title. I'm still looking for a better name with an alliterative quality around these subjects: policy, bikes, bread, music.... So far this is the best I've come up with but I'm open to suggestions.
xoxo,
-c.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Married!!!
Holy cow, I haven't put a post up since November. No doubt most people think this thing is dead. Well, it is time to resurrect (once again), this time with big news.
It's official: On March 20th, 2007 Jason Corbett Hix and Keiko Fujita were lawfully wed at the Shibuya ward office in Tokyo Japan. We didn't have a ceremony and there was no justice of the peace, white dress & tux or honeymoon, but we signed our names and are legally married. We don't even have our rings yet but they will be welded to our fingers in just a couple weeks. Over a celebratory drink we took the liberty of drawing rings on each others fingers.
Neither of us wanted a ceremony. We wanted the day to be for ourselves but I have to admit that I wish Japan had a justice of the peace to do vows. in lieu of this absence we might do something small on our first anniversary when we are back in the US. None the less, I'm terribly excited, even though I'm not used to the title, about being a husband. No babies for right now but we're both anxious to begin a family when the time is right. While I'm not sure when I will legally change my name, it will eventually be Fujita-Hix so update your address books and decide which of these names you want me filed under.
Keiko's family threw us a wedding dinner at a beautiful restaurant here in Tokyo and her father sang a song in Japanese about letting go of his daughter and welcomed "Texas" (as he has nicknamed me) into the family.
That's all for now, I have to finish getting dinner before my wife gets home!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
transformation or just sheer dissatisfaction?
Well, the results are final except for Virginia which hopefully promises to be less controversial than the last couple of recount fiascos. Yes, a signal was made that many Americans are at the least upset with the war and dissatisfied with Bush and furious about his handling of Iraq. But, is this represent unequivocal support for democrats and their "vision", me thinks no, at least not yet.
It was a nasty election cycle even for US politics and I'm happy to see that it is over. Now the challenge comes for Democrats to push for enlightened action and policy. There is quite a lot of fractioning inside the party and it is imperative that the Dems develop a cohesive strategy in the next year if this is going to carry through to '08. I hope they will play the role of the big man and not enact revenge on the Republicans as both parties have been guilty of in the past after a change in power. This does not mean that the Dems pledge for accountability should be forgotten or that some subpeonas and possibly indictments might be called, but let's not screw this up folks. You hold the reigns but don't ram the damn carriage into a wall in all your excitement.
Lets lay out firm goals for Iraq within a reasonable time, call it a timetable or whatever other synonym you want but lets let the people know what to expect from this mess and how we're going to address it. Lets get back to that fragile economy and honestly deal with increasing the minimum wage and meaningful job growth. Lets face those twin elephants in the room that everyone is ignoring and find a way to address medical care and education. Lets push through legislation that requires a real reduction on fossil fuel dependence. Taxes? So be it if their targeted correctly, how about wastefulness gas tax on all purchased vehicles that are in the lower 40% of fuel consumption. How about we put a 30% premium on them?
Will Lieberman consider coming back to the Democratic fold? I have to admit, I was pushing for Lamont but I'm willing to welcome him back with hands outstretched not only for that critical edge as the majority but also for his experience. He'll probably continue as an independent and I don't begrudge him that (feeling betrayed by his party) but if he wants to come back by all means let him.
Too much to write about and I need to get to work. Let's give it a few days to let the rhetoric and excitement settle and make sure the Dems get Virginia.
It was a nasty election cycle even for US politics and I'm happy to see that it is over. Now the challenge comes for Democrats to push for enlightened action and policy. There is quite a lot of fractioning inside the party and it is imperative that the Dems develop a cohesive strategy in the next year if this is going to carry through to '08. I hope they will play the role of the big man and not enact revenge on the Republicans as both parties have been guilty of in the past after a change in power. This does not mean that the Dems pledge for accountability should be forgotten or that some subpeonas and possibly indictments might be called, but let's not screw this up folks. You hold the reigns but don't ram the damn carriage into a wall in all your excitement.
Lets lay out firm goals for Iraq within a reasonable time, call it a timetable or whatever other synonym you want but lets let the people know what to expect from this mess and how we're going to address it. Lets get back to that fragile economy and honestly deal with increasing the minimum wage and meaningful job growth. Lets face those twin elephants in the room that everyone is ignoring and find a way to address medical care and education. Lets push through legislation that requires a real reduction on fossil fuel dependence. Taxes? So be it if their targeted correctly, how about wastefulness gas tax on all purchased vehicles that are in the lower 40% of fuel consumption. How about we put a 30% premium on them?
Will Lieberman consider coming back to the Democratic fold? I have to admit, I was pushing for Lamont but I'm willing to welcome him back with hands outstretched not only for that critical edge as the majority but also for his experience. He'll probably continue as an independent and I don't begrudge him that (feeling betrayed by his party) but if he wants to come back by all means let him.
Too much to write about and I need to get to work. Let's give it a few days to let the rhetoric and excitement settle and make sure the Dems get Virginia.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sunday in Odaiba
The weather was nice enough, Keiko was brave enough and so at about noonish with perhaps a little shortage of time enough, we mounted our steeds and headed to Odaiba, the man made islands in Tokyo Bay that seemed to be built to praise all that is kitsch and modern. Keiko got her bike a couple months ago and has been building her confidence slowly and this was our longest ride yet. In the beginning she was hesitant to ride on busy streets and insisted on obediently waiting at all red lights. She spent about a month commuting to work, took the bike out on her own to Kawasaki and other places and has since really become much more assertive on the bike. She's riding a little 650 Tokyobike city bike with 9 gears (?) and a frame small enough to meet her almost 5 foot stature. Me, I'm still on my 20+ year old Peugeot fixed-gear conversion until I find the money for a track frame. On the way back I rode mostly behind her just because it feels a little safer (somebody will hit me first) and she could set the pace. I was impressed at the speed she was making expecting it to be a bit more leisurely but instead I actually had to work.
Well, we made it Odaiba, or Daiba, a little before three in the afternoon and after passing "Tokyo Big Site", convention center and event space, we happened across "Tokyo Wedding Town" or something to that effect. From what was available to the general public this wedding theme park of sorts had all the shops you might need to plan your extravagant affair, dress shops, tuxedo rentals, cake shops, hair, nail, etc, all set among cobble stone streets meant to resemble the historic little European town of your choice. On the inside and away from pubic view, I gathered there to be western style (fake) chapels and little venues modeled after various countries for the after party. All this created to sweep you out of the neon and concrete of Tokyo into something that was decisively, not Japan. We felt like we had stumbled on a movie set but in reality it was probably more of a wedding-themed Disneyland. From there we meandered around the island. There was an elevated monorail overhead taking people to the various attractions including a huge ferris wheel, an indoor amusement park and one of a couple huge shopping areas. The development evidently started in the mid-eighties with billions of dollars in investment as a coastal residential area. When the economy plunged in the early 90's the area was considered to be a failure but has since been going through a resurrection. In '96 it was rezoned to allow for commercial space and now is a mixture of modern high rise apartments, innovative office buildings and a shopping hub for those in search of glorified malls. The whole area seems a little unsure of itself. Between some of the impressive and massive architecture there are the remnants of Odaiba park that connect the various areas with grass uncharacteristically growing between the stones on the footpaths. A couple monuments seem thrown in with the idea that "we should have something that looks statuesque or monument-ish here". The bit of grass and trees the connects these huge areas struck me as out of place when the city that has eschewed green space sits in eye shot from any unobstructed view. The areas themselves don't compliment each other but feel as if they have been thrown together with pieces from various puzzles.
In typical Japanese style, we went down a bridge connecting the park to an adjacent mall and stumbled upon a small festival behind some foreign skateboarders practicing their skills. The dancers reminded me of what might happen if an American high school drill team with their pancake makeup got thrown into mixer with the day-glow infused traditional japanese wear and Slash from Guns'n'Roses. There were about 40 men and women doing their dances to an ear-splitting 80's style power ballad and taiko drums. We moved on quickly only to be greeted by a miniature Statue of Liberty at which point I conceded myself to having left reality as I know it. In the next hour we walked through a miniature, and surprisingly not cheesy, Hong Kong on three floors of a shopping area. We ate cantonese style chinese from conveyor belts and watched a trained monkey do his theater complete with roller skates, jumping five foot blocks (on roller skates no less), fainting in slow motion and blowing kisses to the audience. 
Dusk approached, we had a long ride back and after a brief coffee stop in Ginza and with Keiko's suggestion we made record time home and watched the most recent episode of Battlestar Iraqtica, I mean Galactica. A nice day even if I didn't get any application work done. That is what today is for.
Bike clothes for the fashionably challenged.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Tottori Sand Dunes 10/08
I know I haven't blogged in a while, sorry about that. Test didn't go so well so I was back at the books again. The math sorta kinda kicked my butt. That and nerves. Anyway, scheduled to take the test again this week, hopefully do better. So there is that and Keiko and I want on a 6 day trip to more southern parts of Japan. I hope to get some more pictures up and talk about the trip when I have time but for now these are a few from our first day in Tottori which is most famous for its sand dunes, yes, Japan has sand dunes!!
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