February 28th, 2007
I’ve been following Ruby on Rails from the sidelines for a couple years now. Now I’m finally putting all that lurking into practice as I re-imagine my company’s primary business app in Rails (we’re currently using Siebel.) So far I’m having a lot of fun, learning new stuff and stretching the long-dormant programming brain-muscles.
Since I’m jumping into the Ruby and Rails world, I figured I should take advantage of some upcoming events. First I’ll be attending the Gotham Ruby Conference in NYC (at Google HQ) on April 21st, along with Nate and some of his cohorts. Then in May I’ll be jetting to Portland, OR for Railsconf, which should be a blast.
Now I just need Apple to make some announcements about Leopard or new laptops so I can upgrade my Powerbook to a Macbook (Pro) in time for these conferences. Not that the trusty Powerbook can’t cut the Rails mustard, but why not break in a new laptop with some really geeky travel? 
February 15th, 2007
In my part-time job as sometimes Organizer within the various social circles of which I am a member, I have availed myself of technical assistance in the form of an invitation/planning website whose name shell not be mentioned (but shares some letters in common with the word EVIL.) My continued use of this resource, despite an increasing number of ads and bad design decisions, was due to the fact that this EVIl site offered a few “killer” features which competitors lacked. Namely, the ability to offer a choice of dates and times and thereby choose the best one based on user feedback.
So, over the years I’ve come across a number of services which touted themselves to be EVIl-slayers. Hopeful, I’ve evaluated them always to find disappointed when my killer features requirement went unrealized. The latest foray came yesterday after reading a post by Scoble. I was yet again foiled by the lack of features. This time, however, I decided to post my dismay in the comments.
Enter Planypus, which was offered by Yan Pritzker as a possible solution to those in my organization dilemma. I checked it out. It was so close, the closest I’d seen to my organizational nirvana. In fact, when I envisioned my “Screw it, I should just code it myself” app that would meets my needs it looked a lot like Planypus. However, it still had that focus on one single date choice which makes things a no go for me. So much promise, though!
I offered some feedback on the site, sharing my hope that the feature of my dreams could somehow be added. I got a response back from Yan in about a minute telling me that not only was my feature in the works but he also offered an workaround that could simulate my multiple-date-choices using the Places functionality already present. Sweet!
I invite you (heh. get it?!) to check out Planypus. Great design and functionality, friendly and responsive development team, and it’s even written in Rails! Maybe some of these guys will be in attendance at RailsConf and I can lay the praise on them in person.
And those of you who know me, expect some Planypus invitations shortly.