Dwarfsoft [GPA]

I have been attempting to get a fully working system set up for David Allens Getting Things Done. To this end I have set up an install of GTD-PHP.

Being the kind of person who likes to adapt, change, and implement better solutions, particularly for myself, I created a list of features I would like to see in my GTD-PHP installation. One of the first problems I had with the existing system was that it does not support importing Inbox items from a real mail Inbox.

I did some research and came across an existing mail importer, however this required directly piping mail from SMTP into the php script, which I could not do on my host (or would prefer not to do).

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It has again been some time since my last update. I have been quite busy getting used to balancing my new life with my daughter now nearly 3 months old. Fatherhood has obviously taken a lot of my time that I previously used for development, and learning.

The past few months have also seen my University Graduation 3 days after my Daughters Birth, Family Visits, Job Applications, Job Interviews, and finally Permanency in my Servers Position.

Aside from that I have been working with some friends on converting the old TA Server to the C# .Net/Python version (PyTA). I have also been busy in mapping out my development goals and objectives for the coming months and years.

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I have been a little preoccupied of late, and this is due to some of the most hectic things requiring my attention, and therefore interrupting my development attempts.

First, I have been travelling a fair bit for my wife, as we are getting many scans and specialist appointments. The pregnancy has not been going as well as it could have been, but at least things are looking positive now. Understandably the requirement to have enough “stuff” set up for baby, who should be here very soon, has taken much of my time.

Secondly, the job in which I am currently sitting has been advertised for Permanency. This of course requires my time for writing the application. Hopefully the fact that I sit in the position currently will put me in a good position, especially considering in the current economic climate that there might be the newly skilled unemployed seeking to get into my role.

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I find myself sitting at the Computer attempting to start the redevelopment of Breakout, and find that the Procrastination that has set in seems to be linked almost entirely to the blogging side of the development.

I have actually done a fair bit of work on the design, even to the point of having a UML model and having the class inheritance already worked out, and all the class shells having been created in the project. The issue is with explaining where I am and how I got to this point. So, in order to break the drought I started talking about the procrastination that is present in order to force the flow of ideas to continue.

Procrastination is one of my demons, both in initiating a project, and completing a project. The causes are usually to do with planning, scope, or being otherwise occupied. Scope is the simplest aspect to resolve in that features can be cut so as to reduce the required workload. Planning is where the majority of decisions regarding the direction of the project can be considered with regard to the desired scope of the project. A properly planned project should have adequate (and achievable) milestones, and a clear scope outlining desired functionality, and most importantly the undesired functionality. By identifying “features” that you do not want in the final project you can help to avoid feature creep.

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Real life has intervened again in my plans to get on with creating a well-designed Breakout Clone. I spent most of yesterday either commuting between the Hardware Store and the Apartment trying to get as many things fixed in it as possible. It was in a right state before hand, but now has new carpet laid, the old shower screen has been removed and replaced with a rail and curtain, and the Venetian blinds in the Kitchen and Bed 2 have been replaced with new, clean, white ones. I am still awaiting the Vertical Blinds to go into the Lounge and Bed 1 though.

Next things to consider doing will be: kickboards in the kitchen need replacing, carpets upstairs need replacing, a fresh coat of paint – and a more sophisticated choice of colour, stairwell needs to be sanded back and properly varnished. It will probably be another 6 months to a year before any other works can be started, so it may be a while.

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I haven’t had a chance yet to go back to designing Breakout properly, or any other game related projects. I have, however, been cabling up the house so I can start using my new office.

Doing a cable drop in this house was a nightmare. Firstly, it’s on a slab so I couldn’t run cable below the house. Secondly, there are too many beams in the roof that cover cavity space, so I had to drill through about 4-5 inches of timber before reaching the cavity. Thirdly, there is not 1 noggin in the wall, there are two, so I had to do some massive drill bit extension to do the boring. Lastly, a couple of the extension bits I bought SUCKED! When you pull them up they ‘press’ the release mechanism, so I had extension bits in the wall with my spade bit – not fun to get out >:( .

I had never run Network cable myself before (except Coax) so crimping the RJ45 ports was a new experience. Ended up being just as easy as using the Krone tool on the phone frames at work. I figured it would be. Hopefully now that I have moved into my new home-office I can get back to work on my XNA Game Development work.

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I have found myself having a very strange modem “freeze” issues. When traffic gets too high the modem WAN port freezes up. The LAN interface and DHCP server stay up, however the modem doesn’t even attempt to authenticate with the ISP. This lead me to learn a few different things in order to fix my issue. I used this code as a basis.

URLGetAuth Function
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For some of you who know me through some of the other communication mediums I have used, you may be aware that I operate in the same circles as Andrew Russell, who decided sometime late last year (or early this year) to experiment with Coding Outside. Taking a laptop out into the big wide world of interruption, sunshine, and all manner of other things that most nerds avoid.

To get to the point, I have decided to take up where Andrew left off. Having just purchased myself a relatively inexpensive laptop, I find myself now unshackled from the desktop (as I write to you from my bed).  Now, this post is not so much to introduce the Dwarfsoft: Outside undertaking so much as to write down a few gripes I have had with this laptop, and getting to the point that I find myself at now.

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Well, I have finally finished up all my exams, now I have to sit and wait until the 13th of July in order to receive my results. Now I have to get on with fixing up my house. The driveway has a trench dug through it, and has had for the last few weeks, but I am at a loss for time to get out and finish it. It has been raining every day that I have had off, and I have been beset by other issues.

When I first had time to continue the trench and it started raining, there was an issue with a cracked tile on the roof, so I was forced to try and fix that as best as I could in the interim to stop the rain pouring in. I have also been working on replacing all the locks, doorknobs and dead-bolts in the house to secure everything up, and replace old and worn out ones. The back-door door-knob was the first to go, as it kept “pulling out” and required a fair bit of coaxing to get back into place. My brother-in-law came over during my exam week with 3 exams to cut down some trees that are now declared pests. He has since been attempting to mulch the branches so we can take the unneeded stuff to the tip.

The fact that it is raining so much has not bothered me overly, as we are in a drought and the extra rain is going to be well appreciated by the masses. It is merely annoying that I can get almost nothing done that needs to be done considering how cold, dark and wet it is outside all of the time.

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