Even though IntelliJ has a lot of features it cannot - believe it or not - import a Maven POM file that is named other than 'pom.xml'. Strange but true ...

Because there is no official Grails tutorial on their web site I started to follow the one from Developer's Works even though I am not a big fan of their web site. The build your first grails web app was not too bad even though I skipped the one at the end with the scaffolding which should haunt me today ...

I had to start looking into Grails and even though I was skeptical about all the marketing stuff and convenience rhetoric I had no other choice. With all the various frameworks I know it was (and it still is) true that early convenience is paid in the long haul. But that I run into bombs right away was not expected. So this short entry is talking about the Grails Maven Pluign and how one can create and develop a Grails applications and how it started to fail on my right away ...

To improve the workflow and dealing with multiple projects I also had to have a Get Things Done application for the Mac. Eventually I had to decide between Things and OmniFocus and they both worked nicely in their own way. Eventually I decided to go with Things even though OmniFocus was my favorite in the beginning but Things easier UI and cheaper price point was the decisive factor. That said both had one big missing feature and that was to alert me when actions became due. But then I had a closer look at Growl and how to use Growl to get my alerts ...

Since a while I started having problems to manage all the data about projects, leads and ideas about running my own company. There were emails, PDFs, paper documents, receipts, web pages, documents from the web and more. Just to search for a particular document was a difficult and time consuming task not to mention to keep them in one particular place. First I used Yojimbo which works great keeping ideas and basic data around but as soon as I started to deal with PDFs Yojimbo came out short. Then I ran into DEVONthink which I subsequently tested for quite a while. Devon Technologies were kind enough to extend the evaluation period so that I could make sure that was the tool I needed. Eventually I opted for the Pro Office version which included the support for multiple databases, web site indexing and scanning / OCR ...

When I came home last Weekend on Friday night the Weekend was planned nearly to the last minute. Joshua was turning 5 on Saturday and so we went to Legoland according to his wish. It was a nice, sunny and warm day and the lines were surprisingly short and we had a nice day. But then we had to go up to San Clemente to meet a business partner to finally get the first check after 2 1/2 months waiting. But with that we wasted around 2 hours. After going for Dinner at Soup Plantation we went home where Joshua got his presents. After the kids were in bed my wife and I crashed on the couch and soon we were going up to bed.

Sunday started with some Doughnuts, shopping and after we came back home it was time for Lunch. The afternoon was filled with writing the invoice for the previous week, packing for next week, cleaning up the house, taking a shower, cooking and eating an early dinner. Finally we lit up Joshua's birthday cake and ate it. After that it was time for me to grab my stuff and drive to Long Beach Airport. The flight back to Washington DC was on time and I had a nice flight. This time the weather was nice and so I was in McLean just before 7am just in time for my breakfast with a Doppio and a Mocca. 

The training started a little bit later and I was busy trying to test some exercises for my part on Thursday and Friday. In the evening I checked into the Hotel and went right to the exercise room for a long workout that should keep me awake. After that I went for Dinner and now I am back in the hotel room working on some more preparation.

Cheers - Andy

When I arrived in Washington DC Dulles Airport on the "Red Eye" flight from Long Beach at 5am in the morning I was greeted with very warm air and rain. The rain then went from a shower to a tropical thunderstorm where the visibility went down to a 100 yards. It took me quite some time to find my way to the place where I was giving training even though it was less than a half an hour of driving. But eventually I made it to the place which is just next door to my Hotel Hilton at Tyson Corner. Around 4 pm I started to get really tired but when the training was over I went to the hotel, checked-in and after dropping my stuff at the room went straight to the fitness room for a workout.
I am really looking forward to stay here at the Hilton for the next 4 weeks because the hotel is great with a friendly staff and a great fitness room. And on the next morning I was treated with a complimentary breakfast with an excellent selection. Only the coffee sucks and because I am too lazy to take out the car to drive to the next Starbucks I did not get my morning espresso.
In the morning I realized that I lost too much weight in the passed few weeks and that the belt I took with me was too big and of course the pants too. So in the evening I went to the Tyson Galleria's Bally shop and bought a nice new leather belt. Afterwards I went to the "Legal Seafood" restaurant which was as good as the one I visited a few years back in Boston.
In addition the weather today was beautiful - warm and try quite in contrast to yesterday. It could stay this way if you ask me.

Cheers - Andy

And I am not talking about me ;-). If you want to see a great footage in slow-motion about the Apollo 11 launch and all the little details the engineer put into this program then head over here.

What amazes me the most is that I finally learned why the first few feet of the turbine flames were dark rather than bright and I never guessed that they actually use the cool turbine exhaust as a sort of shield or buffer to keep the lining of the turbine away from the hot turbine gases.

Have fun - Andy 

Since we bought an iPad a few weeks ago I used it a few times mostly to read a book (War of the Worlds) but because I don't read much on the Internet I did not experience much of the iPad magic until today. My kids started talking about caterpillars and pupas and me and my wife were not quite sure what each of these terms meant. so I installed wikipedia for the iPad and started looking up the terms like pupa, chrysalis, cocoon etc. Whereas looking up these terms at the dinning table is difficult on the iPhone doing the same thing with the iPad is a breeze and very enjoyable.
Scrolling through the pages is fast and quite precise, the display and layout is great and reading it together with the picture this comes close to reading a newspaper. From now on we can make sure that our kids learn things right rather than guessing what the various words mean.
By the way I am writing this entry on the iPad as well. I guess in the future I need the Bluetooth keyboard but otherwise it is quit easy.

Have fun - Andy    

Today was a great day to skydive and I finally managed to pack my brand new parachute without any problems. When I came to the drop zone (DZ) I was greeted by a team of sky divers swooping in ...