Here it is... the last video blog update.

Also, proof positive I have no shame.

Here ends the video spamming:

Holy crap. I should be in bed. I'm writing up this post at 3AM. I knew this video editing thing was bad for me. I blame my mobile phone and its use of OBSCURE FREAKING AMR CODECS that have got me playing with Ubuntu for hours on end.

Ahem.

Anyhow, I've now finished Saturday's video update, and also provided a little sumtin' sumtin' extra.

-- (Crossposted from my professional blog)

I’m back, after neglecting these sparse and barren lands for some months now. I’ve danced with Stormtroopers, worn a poncho, gone to the zoo with one of my favourite roleplaying authors, and been all ornery. And I’ve left video evidence over here. All of this, however, is a poor excuse for my absence. I promise I’ll be different this time around. I’ll try harder, baby.

Ahem. Onto a more serious note.

I’m currently playing with Flock at the moment (a web browser built on top of Mozilla’s codebase that makes using social networks simpler, if you’re unfamiliar) and I’m reminded of an old problem.

Despite what the characters of Sesame Street will tell you, the internet is not exclusively for porn. If you choose it to be, it can also be a firehose of information we sit in front of and then promptly set to pulverize.

I’ve haven’t configured Flock’s RSS reading capabilities yet, really. And I’m glad. Each time I hover the mouse over the Feeds sidebar icon, the number of unread items creeps higher, a silent accusation that I’m not… not what?

Not consuming every last drop from the fire hose?

And here, I think, is the crux of the problem. Depending on the tools you use, RSS feeds create another job for us, another stream of information that will mount at the dam of our attention. The volume of relevant and fascinating information that is out there is staggering. But unless your job is to monitor industry news and trends, you don’t need to be monitoring items from over 20+ RSS feeds for suitability for reading. (the original number I was going to put there was 100+, but I think even with 20 you create a rod for your own back) The only person putting that burden of responsibility on your shoulders is you.

It’s a bit of a significant question for me at the moment as well - how to manage RSS feeds. Since Oracle purchased BEA, the environment I work in now feels, from a technical point of view, a little like Lori Singer in Footloose. You’re straddling two powerhouses tearing down the highway, one foot in each car.  It’s exciting, but there’s a distinct possibility of ending up mangled roadkill. Oracle have released their middleware strategy going forward, but the entire landscape for both companies is changing technically. So I’m plugged into the vast stream of information Oracle provides around its products. Podcasts, articles, forums, the whole nine yards. There’s a lot going on there.

Personally, I don’t use Flock, or Google Reader, or any one of a number of elegant and sophisticated tools. I don’t want to come back after a week’s holiday to an inbox of neglected articles, with yet another piece of software telling me I’m doing a bad job. If I’m just going to sweep the deck, why have a deck in the first place?

I don’t want to create another problem for myself identical to the one we have with email. We already have extensive methodologies like Inbox Zero helping us to deal with problems created by a tool. Things piling up to be responded to is a definite problem - it’s a virtual weight you carry on your shoulders. And it’s one I don’t need.

I use iGoogle myseLf, divided into a series of tabs. It’s not particularly high-tech, but my RSS needs are deliberately humble, and iGoogle gives me exactly what I need.

When I have time, I can go find out what’s happening in the world. I can dip my toe in the stream of information as it runs freely by, at a given point in time. What if I miss something? Oh well. I’ll take that risk in return for knowing there’s no backlog accumulating. Time is the critical resource here (isn’t it always?) If I do find myself with procrastination time, I can always go mining through specific RSS feeds for hidden gems.

That gives me a solution which provides an ‘at-a-glance’ dashboard, and we all know the cool kids love a dashboard. I can keep up with my friend’s prodigious photo taking, the activity of friends on 43 Things, keep plugged in to 43 Folders and Lifehacker (both the US and the highly recommend AU version), Penny Arcade, and also sanity check my FriendFeed as well as this blog, and the delicious links I’ve tagged for follow-up.

That’s what works for me.

What works for you?

Well, I'm finally back online, and as such, I've done two of the four video updates.

As it turned out, it was difficult/impossible to find time during the con to process and upload video without carving out of time to catch up with Brisbane folk. I'm a bad, bad journalist.










Still to come:

DANCE OFF WITH THE EMPIRE!

and, the possibility of me, EXTREMELY DRUNK. For some reason, I thought it would be good to record video post-con on my mobile phone.

Also, text. Much textual discourse.

Also, catching up with those of you I've missed heaps while BEING A GIANT GAMING HERMIT NERD.

It's done and over.

Posts with more words coming. I am presently regretting a night's drinking compressed into about three hours, and about to embark on a love/hate relationship with food.

I have a bunch of video to edit and put up from the four days, but the short answer is that the convention was FREAKING AWESOME all things said and done.

Now I'm going to go figure out what to do with my time and brain. Writing and preparing for this has been the texture of my life this year.

See you all soonish, with words and pictures.

One meanders somewhat, and talks about yesterday at the zoo, amongst other things.

Plus, possible PONCHO.



Gencon 2008 Video Blog is filmed nightly, in front of a live studio audience. Thank you for watching!

CANADA DAY! Tonight's video is a teaser, thanks to me wiping myself out with too much sun and alcohol and coffee. Play by play updates tomorrow morning.



Gencon 2008 Video Blog is filmed nightly, in front of a live studio audience. Thank you for watching!

Also, Robin Laws is a goddamned trooper.

Once again, we publish well into the Witching Hour.



Gencon 2008 Video Blog is filmed nightly, in front of a live studio audience. Thank you for watching!

OK, so I missed Sunday by half an hour or so...

(again, from the email)

Plans are afoot, things are a'happenin'! Thriller is playing in the background and we're all getting pumped for next FRIDAY NIGHT'S...

"ATTACK OF THE ATTACKING ATTACKERS!"
SNEAK PEEK AND VARIETY NIGHT!

DON'T FORGET....

- This is an 18+ event. Please bring your ID. Not your children. (We love them but we can only ever eat just one.)

- Wear Costumes! There will be a fashion parade with prizes. The costumes are themed around Horror and Sci-Fi. We want Zombies, Aliens, Zombie Aliens or Alien Zombies!!!

- This is a CASH ONLY event. ATM's are located in the Kelvin Grove Urban Village. Entry is $15/$10 and almost everything inside is only $3! (So raid the couch and bring change)

If you can make it, La Boite has a sneak preview / variety night for Attack of the Attacking Attackers on Friday 4th of July. If the title alone doesn't make you want to go, well, you're dead to me.

Matt Ryan (the writer) is not only a great guy, but his stuff is delicious slices of fried gold on toast, served directly to your brain. From the email doing the rounds:

(you can also go directly to a link on La Boite's website here).

"ATTACK OF THE ATTACKING ATTACKERS!"

SNEAK PEEK & VARIETY NIGHT
All proceeds going to the production Attack of the Attacking Attackers!

( ATTACK OF THE ATTACKING LJ-CUT )

...So What The Hell Is
ATTACK OF THE ATTACKING ATTACKERS!?

It's a play!
(and it's on at La Boite Theatre Company in November)

All Margaret wants is a comet-spotting badge for her Brownie uniform. Too young to go camping alone,
Margaret drags her big brother and his cheerleading girlfriend into the haunted woods. But when the cheerleader suddenly goes missing, the teenagers find themselves
caught in a war between Space Aliens and Demons from Hell. Spawned from the fertile minds of Brisbane’s finest young theatre-makers
comes this love letter to Sci-Fi, Horror and the War on Terror...

Created by Jonathon Oxlade, Matthew Ryan, Lucas Stibbard and Neridah Waters.


Hah! You thought I was going to say come to Gencon, didn't you?

Life is good right now, but tremendously busy. I am currently:

• Finishing writing my game for Gencon
  
• Trying to do something meaningful on the project I'm on full-time
  
• Juggling two potential pieces of commercial voice work, trying to make them happen
  
• Trying to maintain some sort of technical oversight (and support) on dev. projects happening with my company in Brisbane
  
• Trying to get some voice acting happening (just did a radio play this afternoon in Brunswick - nothing professional though)
  
• Participating in a weekly acting group (we're doing CLOSER! THE AWESOME)
  

...and that still leaves out some of the good stuff happening currently.

So if I'm a phantom right now, it's not because I don't want to hang with you. Quite the opposite. Just... busy.

Guh.

(also posted to aus_gamers - apologies if you get this twice)

Hi all... I'm not a con org for Gencon, but I've gotten permission from the con orgs to put up this post to help spread the word that registration for Gencon '08 is now live That link goes to an upload of the email sent to the distribution list (with permission, again) so anyone can see the initial communication - please ignore the junk header/footer wrapping the content itself. The information at that link also goes into more detail about the steps for registering for Gencon yourself, and talks about a few of the more exciting recent developments regarding things happening at the con.

Come on up to Brisbane yourself and keep us company, or spread the word to your fellow gamer. Or, preferably, both. It looks like Gencon '08 is going to be an event to remember. And, as has been mentioned elsewhere, supporting Gencon this year will help make sure it's around next year as well. Personally, I'm pretty damned excited about how Gencon is shaping up, and what the experience of the con itself is going to be like.

Brief instructions as to links to follow for registration are under the cut, too.

( RegoCut )

So, I hope to see you at Gencon. If for no other reason that to keep me company. I'm running an event there, so it's in my best interests to pass on the good word. I'll be the tragic cowboy figure who looks like this, but wearing this (so comfy!) while presiding over a mountain of these, and drinking these like lollywater.

Please... don't leave me to caffeinate myself into some sort of tremorous, depressive stupor for lack of company.

Well, this is turning out to be possibly the cruisiest day ever. I've been off to talk to the accountants, then bumbled about town doing what I've promised myself I'd do for a long time: just bumble about Melbourne and wander into things. Right now I'm sitting in Gertrudes in (Fitzroy?) enjoying a pint and chips, after having arranged riding boots of awesome from Vegan Wares

Incidentally, the reason that I'm doing all of this, including hanging out in an internet cafe in Fitzroy, is that I'm having a "Hygiene Week". (yes, that's right, I'm showering this week) I'd thought of doing a five day horse ride before the con, but apparently Victorian weather doesn't allow for that sort of stuff. So I'm using the week instead to Get Stuff Sorted. And it's working out pretty well so far. It doesn't hurt that Gertrudes is playing The Best of Johnny Cash, either.

Anyway, all of this is leading toward me saying that I'm in a pretty good place right now. I like who I am. Even as I say that, I worry about complacency, but by and large I like where I'm at.

Life is pretty low stress, but I can deal with the stress when it comes up. I like the size of my Coping Pants. I'm by no means unflappable, but it takes some elbow grease to flap me. (although, reading this back as I type it, this sounds like just about the part of the Greek tragedy where the gods start paying notice to the little upstart mouthing off...)

I feel like I'm finally merging the parts of me I wanted to bring in, with the parts of me from the past I've wanted to keep. To wit: I'm finally going to see a tattooist this evening about the first of my tattoos, and I've been climbing the Scary Mountain of writing and running a convention game again after THREE FREAKING YEARS, and realising that it may work out OK. Old and new.

I feel like I'm really living my life: I'm open to new experiences, I know what I like, and I'm not ashamed to admit any of it. (plus, I hope that it comes through that I consider myself a novice in most of these fields - that I know when to shut up and listen) I think I'm starting to consider myself a man... as daunting and precocious as it sounds to admit it.

I'm not saying I'm perfect - far from it, by any stretch. I've done things I'm not proud of, and chances are I'll make big mistakes again. But I can see the way forward, and I've got a quiet confidence that I'll get there. I've removed most of the harmful, time-wasting addictions/obsessions from my life. Now, the only obsessions I have make me tremendously happy.

Career-wise, I've had to grow up pretty quickly over the last year and learn to do without the constant stream of approval and reinforcement that's powered me in the past. I've been managing my own workflow for years, but I'm at a point now where I'm managing my own direction to a large degree as well... while still fitting into the holes that work need plugged. Again, I'm not perfect professionally, but I can see the way forward.

Physically, I'm pretty happy with myself at the moment, although I could probably stand to go back to personal training or gym. I'm fairly cardio-fit, and I'm exercising regularly. Either I'm delusional, or my changes to diet (and getting rid of most of my old crappy indulgence foods) have put me in better shape than I've been in years. (either of those is equally possible) So, while I'm still not 100% sure on how far I'm going to go towards veganism, the choices I've made so far have had pretty big personal benefits, along with opening me up to a wider world.

So, in short, I'm happy with who I am right now. And I'm blessed by the extraordinary circle of amazing friends I have, and that includes you.

So thank you for being part of my happy.

Surfacing briefly.

Last few weeks have been more than a little busy.

Got the playtest done for the con game, this weekend just passed. Went well, got some great feedback. More information to come.

Did my scene to end the acting course last Wednesday. Went well, overall. Presenting it was a revelation of sorts.

Now in Sydney to attend a training course.

Things are good. Busy, but good.

Guh. Will brain have more shortly...

-- (Crossposted from my professional blog)

I’m going to be unfashionable for a moment. And, I swear, I’m not being unfashionable to be fashionable, despite being a grunge child.

My name is Kevin Powe, and I enjoy writing documentation.

There. I said it. I’m in the process of producing some documents around architecture/development process for a client at the moment, as well as documenting some software we use internally to the company, and I’ve been reminded of the benefits of writing documentation.

I’ve never found a better mechanism for forcing out the fine details of something than having to explain it. Whether its through delivering training, or talking to a co-worker, or, in the dim dark past, getting involved in long Usenet rants. It forces you to take an instinctive understanding of something - the 80% that’s good enough to get you going, and flush out the mystery in that last 20%, where surprises and magic often lie.

Also, it could just be that I’m a giant dork, but I find that there’s this amazing fractal effect that occurs as well, where you realise the minute detail encompassed by broad generalisations or summaries. “Oh, and to get to Mordor, you have to do A, B, and C. And to do A, you have to do X, Y and Z in order.” It’s part of one of the reasons why I love software development. Most coders I know who get involved in a new domain of knowledge (Sudoku, learning French, Minesweeper) write programs as a way of understanding the domain more deeply. A computer assumes nothing, so you have to tell it everything. And that level of detail, explicit understanding rather than implicit, is a fine Tanelorn to reach for when writing documentation.

The other thing I’ve always found documentation great for is is highlighting inefficiencies, or the possibility for enhancement. You may have gone through three screens of input to create a new purchase order every time you tested functionality without thinking, but once you start explaining to the user through documentation that they have to go through those three screens, you realise it’s going to be even more of a pain in the arse for them to do than it is for you to document.

And that brings me to the final coffee-enhanced peace-love-and-mungbean part of what I’m saying:

Good documentation is how you communicate with someone out there, that you’re fundamentally solving a problem for.

Bad documentation? Well, that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish

Well, here we are.

First of all, many thanks to those who offered fantastic advice. In roughly chronological order: halloranelder, bunnitos (several times over), miss_magdelin, missedangel, crowroadaw (several times over), ashmoore and last, but not least, lotusvine. I've tried to take all offered advice on board, although I have made a few curve balls in this final version. I think this is the only version I'll use, too. Trying to keep things punchy.

Let me know what you think. I really appreciate you all putting up with me blathering. [EDIT: Last minute reintroduction of last sentence OF POWER!]

Just busy.

Yes, it's another goddamned post about Westerns. I need a little advice, and, well, you're my only hope. No, not the guy next to you. No, not the girl over there, either. No. You. I've scratched the surface of the genre, but I've realised after reading David Lusted's The Western that there are a large number of iconic Westerns still remaining to be watched. I've got a quick list I'm going to run off and buy online, and any suggestions for iconic Westerns to add to the list is welcome. (the stuff I've already seen is over here on All Consuming.

Now, before we continue, here is an AWESOME cookie for you, pre-meal, ganked from drjon:



Oh lordy.

Back? You sure? Take a moment.

Right.

Here's my current list I'm off to purchase. Anything you think I' missing would be greatly appreciated.

A Fistful of Dollars / For A Few Dollars More
The Gunfighter
High Noon
Major Dundee
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Ride in the Whirlwind / The Shooting
The Searchers
Shane
The Shootist
Stagecoach
Ulzana's Raid (if I can find it)
The Wild Bunch

(also, yes, in amongst all of this I am actually writing my game at the moment, too - one character almost drafted. I think I need to pick up the pace though...)

-- (Crossposted from my professional blog)

Two months since a post? Good lord.

Work has been mad, combined with pressure building on writing my convention game for July.

But I do indeed have a post brewing - I’d gone and written up a blog post on the weekend regarding the Google Chart API, and then I go and run into jMaki, which changes a few things significantly. I’m starting to play with it at the moment, and it already provides a wrapper over the Google Charting API. (road testing it will see how much easier it makes things…)

Other than that, my Western genre immersion continues.

So, meaningful updates shortly. In the meantime, I have indeed implemented a script to show my current headspace - you can see it in action here. It uses an ImageCache PHP script that I did indeed end up writing as promised in a previous post, along with a wrapper over the Google Charting API. It’s driven off a database table, and the next step (which I’ll plug jMaki in for, as opposed to developing another custom wrapper over bar charts) is to get it to graph the rise and fall of particular items over time.

Delicious, delicious data! We loves it so!

Oh, and while Ajax does some tremendous things in providing a rich, lightweight interface via a web client, I’d argue that good old SQL is still one of the most powerful, important tools to business, and for finding Truth.