Sometimes it’s good to have a moment of reflection and take stock of your position in life. I’ve heard that it is when you are at your busiest moments when you need to stop, if only for a moment, and consider all the things in your life. Well, I’m busy. Too busy, in fact, to look at all the things in my life, so I’ll just hit a few of recent technology moves that I’ve made. (Read on…)

Social:

• Twitter I have joined the ranks of the unclean! Alright, that was cruel, but I -am- full of the shallow Twitter fuzzies, my friends. Please feel free to follow me (raymondberg), I promise to be 5% funny! It’s an interesting form of communication, and it’s actually a very productive means for casual communication. Some people may not agree, but most of you know my response to that is “they’re wrong”.
• Digsby Every 4 months or so I try a new desktop client for my communication needs. Every client I use must have 2 features: instant messaging and email notification. The last two I used, in order, were Pidgin(unreliable with google) and Google Talk. I then heard about this Twitter/Linked In/Mail Notifying IM client. It’s got more services than that and you can disable ones you don’t use. TRY IT.
• Skype I am currently without cell phone due to various personal problems. Fortunately, a $10 investment in Skype has allowed me to continue life uninterrupted. I predominently use it to talk to my parents back home, but it’s been fantastic. It’s a daily part of my life and I hope you all use it on some level.

Multimedia:

• TED This is probably the best part of my current online life. I didn’t know these talks even existed last year, and now I don’t miss any of them via TED’s YouTube channel. I’ve been energized to both continue research and volunteer time to helping others by watching these delightful talks. If you’re interested in new ideas and multiple disciplines then this is a MUST SEE series.
• Twit.tv My childhood (early teens) memories with Leo Laporte sharing ideas of technology far beyond my imagination was partially responsible for my foray and eventual passion for technology. Now he continues to work hard to educate and entertain the world, and I love him for it. His broadcast studio is amazing, and the shows are very valuable chunks of time. (see also Stickam)
• Netflix I’ve been subscribing to Netflix since December (not long) and I’ve enjoyed every single moment of it. To be honest I’ve had the same DVD for 2 months, lost in my apartment somewhere, but I only really use the online streaming. I might run out soon, so I hope Netflix hurries up their conversion of MORE MEDIA for their streamers (everyone should pray for Roku success). I’ll be excited if they start a streaming only account.
• Revision3 Now, I have to admit that I’ve just started looking at this, but I’ve been fairly excited by what I see. I don’t go for the less valuable stuff like Scam School, but I’m looking at even more resources for my nerdtainment and this looks like the spot.

Work:

• Java Multi-threading I’ve been digging into this pretty heavily in my NetSec project (ground up IDS). It’s remarkably easy to manage threads in Java, but I’m running those pesky race conditions.  I just crossed the 1500 line mark, and I’ve started locking up the threads pretty tightly. I’m loving it.
• SVN/Eclipse My development is now almost based in  Eclipse.  Since moving to the new office and stabilizing my schedule, I’ve been able to really settle in to a good routine (using PyDev, Metrics). I’m also working with my cohorts like a MADMAN with Subversion. It was originally just a productivity enhancement, it’s turned into an essential part of my life (using Subclipse, Tortoise SVN).
• Python is slowly becoming a cornerstone of my development lifestyle. I do enjoy it, but I’m not ready to pledge my soul to the Python leaders. I am prreeeetty excited to see if anything comes from the new research I just heard about today (Python sped up 3x)

Utilities:

• Prio Wonderfully neat tool that allows for 3 things in the windows task manager process manager tab:
  1. Sticky Priorities on tasks
  2. Color coded “Trusted” processes (for you paranoids)
  3. Hover-over details about processes (Including process paths!~!!)
• KatMouse Great tool that allows for “smarter” scroll wheel use. It removes the need to take focus of an object to scroll it. Basically, if you have a window in the foreground, you can then scroll a scrollable field in the background or a sub-window scroll field without clicking to get focus. Great!
• allSnap Make all Windows’s windows (hmmm) lock against each other. It’s not full docking, but it’s good enough. Those who know me know that I like to control the really small aspects of my life.[ I think it's because I'm a control freak, and the big things are registered as "In Progress" in my brain. You can't afford that luxury with small things like desktop layout.]

I originally started this post with the idea that I didn’t have much time to blog, so I’d just put something short out. After 880 words and an hour or so, I think I realize that I like the sound of my own fingers typing.