Aaron Douglas

Things With Wheels Are Meant to Move, No?

I met some fellow coworkers at Hudson Business Lounge downtown Milwaukee today on a $25 day pass.  I've been a member in the past but haven't been there in over a year.  I sat down and realized that the four of us wouldn't fit

architecture

Systems Philosophy

I was apparently feeling philosophical the other day and posted two tweets about dealing with systems architecture.  They generally apply to life as well, so I'm posting them here on my blog so I don't forget them. Just because something was done a certain way, doesn&

One Year at Automattic

Today marks my one year anniversary with Automattic.  I work with some awesome people and it's been a rewarding first year.  I've had challenges to face (my attention for one), fun speaking at conferences, shipped a number of improvements and new features of WordPress for iOS,

Authentication improvements for testing your apps

Developers interested in contributing to the WordPress mobile apps can now connect to WordPress.com with their own account.  More details to follow on how to set up the individual projects.

apple

Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks Calendar + Google Sync Problems

On occasion my Calendar on Mavericks gets hosed when syncing with Google.  If I look in the console, I see errors like the following mentioning "An error exists on principal": 6/5/14 10:05:00.337 AM Calendar[59555]: [com.apple.calendar.ui.log] [An error exists

fitness

Nerdy Fitness Progress

I posted a while back about what I've been doing to lose weight. I was my heaviest last year around September 2013 at 277lb (125kg).  I started on my ADD meds around October and stopped taking a medication for my cluster headaches that was causing weight gain as

disconnect

Look Up & Unplug

This is probably one of the best videos I've seen promoting the need for us as humans to reconnect with each other.  I work for a distributed company and I call tell you, we realize the importance of face to face interaction.  Also we need to make sure

Automattic

Tokyo Mobile Meetup January 2014

In January 2014, the Mobile Team at Automattic met in Tokyo Japan for our quarterly face to face meetup. Here are some of the pictures I took from the meetup. It was a great experience and I would definitely go back to Japan!

pairing

Using Screenhero for Pair Programming Remotely

Before coming to work for Automattic, I pair programmed a lot.  Developers who pair learn from each other in a symbiotic sort of manner.  It's definitely a good way to get a project off to a fast start and to come to consensus on design and intent.  Once

data

The Non-Linear Nature of Progress

My friend Marty gave a nugget of wisdom today that I thought I'd share.  I mentioned how I've been doing good at losing weight but this past weekend I cut loose a little with family over.  I intended on relaxing the calorie count so I don&

app

Live Storm Chasing App

Enjoy chasing storms from your couch like me?  There's a great app called "TVNweather Live Storm Chasing" that I've been using to watch live streams from actual storm chasers out in the field.  You'll see names like Reed Timmer (TornadoVideos.net) and

app

Grilling Season with my Range Thermometer

It's grilling season again (finally) here in Wisconsin.  I got my Range iOS-enabled thermometer over the winter season and only used it once with a ham.  I used it today with grilling burgers, brats and steak and really enjoyed it. The Range thermometer is really fast at responding

core data

On the Importance of Glue

Glue is the thing that ... well ... glues everything together.  You don't see glue (if the product is made right) but it plays an important role in the overall satisfaction with the product.  If you buy a bird house that has bad gluing technique or not enough glue, you

tips

If you run Unit Tests in Xcode

If you run unit tests inside of Xcode, you may wish to turn on the behavior to show the test results after they run. 1. Go to Preferences in Xcode. 2. Click on the Behaviors tab. 3. Click on Succeeds. 4. Check the box shown and select "Show"

apple

Apple's Public Mailing Lists

You may not be aware but Apple has a pretty extensive set of public e-mail discussion lists. https://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo There are topics ranging from fundamental Objective-C issues through to development for their various desktop applications.  Some of the lists are quite chatty but you can subscribe

spam

How to Make Me Instantly Unsubscribe

This is a pretty definite way of making me unsubscribe from your marketing emails.

cocktail

Dark & Stormy Cocktail

Ever since I visited House of Shields downtown San Francisco, the cocktail called a Dark & Stormy has been one of my favorites.  HoS makes their own variation of it, one part using a ginger syrup that they make themselves.  I ended up finding a decent combination of ingredients locally

customer service

Those Judgmental Baristas

I've noticed that when I've achieved a free drink at Starbucks, I tend to add on things I normally wouldn't.  Sometimes the baristas like to make a special comment about it as well which makes me feel guilty about ordering literally "anything I

fitness

You Know You've Lost Your Mind When...

You know you've lost your mind when you trip a little and the recovery move resembles a move from your step aerobics routine and you hear the instructor say: "Now, funky push!"

agile

Agility Not Agile Development

Dave Thomas has a really excellent post about how it's time to kill Agile.  It's a very well thought out post and it embodies a lot of my concerns with the movement.  I have a few insights to add to his perspective. I was a software

accessibility

Stop Being Lazy with Accessibility

I'm making  a pledge as a software developer to think of accessibility with every change I make.  My first step was to turn on iOS' VoiceOver and test everything I'm working on with it.  In the first five minutes of using it, I've

hacks

Home Hacks - DC Blower Motor

A couple days ago we had to replace the air conditioning condenser and evaporator units in our home's central air system.  The unit was 21 years old and was leaking coolant slowly throughout the last summer.  It was just time.  The new unit is much more efficient, handles

hacks

Mounting Wires Under a Standing Desk

I purchased an UpDesk PowerUp Series I (original) last year and love it.  I got the standard maple-colored desk top and am very happy with the density of the wood, quality laminate and curved front edge.  The one thing I was not very satisfied with was the mounting option given

backup

On Aging Content - The Long Process of Conversion

We bought our first house in June 2001 and moved to our new home in January 2013.  In that 12 years (plus the five years in apartments) we've create a crap ton of content.  That content is in the form of home video and movies on VCR tapes,

security

Why I Use VPN on My Mobile Devices

I'm not terribly paranoid about online security compared to some. I do take some extra precautions when doing things online that involves financial data and logging into accounts.  Here are a few rules I follow internally when out and about: * Public WiFi should only be used when cellular