Just another idiot’s ramblings

A simple method to open PDFs in a new window while displaying validation errors in the original window. The PDF window will not open if there are validation or other messages.

A phone screen is typically used to screen applicants for a job, but it gave me enough information to make a decision about not wanting to work for the company.

Don’t just wait for a good day to “happen”. I’ve been able to make some attitude changes and make good days.

Using Yahoo! Pipes to deliver Amazon wishlists as RSS. Get the pipe at http://pipes.yahoo.com/iamthechad/amazonrsswishlist

Switching to an Agile process shines the light on a developer who has been successfully hiding his lack of work, but what can I do to change his behavior?

(Download KnownDefects) I ran into a bit of a quandary the other day. I had to modify a piece of legacy code in our system – one that has no tests written against it. My first task was to write as many JUnit tests as I could to document the behavior of the component to [...]

I got admonished at my new job for coding practices that have become second nature to me. Is aggressive refactoring really that scary?

My co-worker tests his code with the toString() and visual grep method. I’m not sure he would have ever caught the bug on his own. I keep trying to explain that unit tests are a Good Thing…

Several years ago, I worked for a small software shop. The company had gone through its number of growing pains, but seemed to be well established by the time I joined. Time would prove me wrong, and also give me some things to remember if ever I start my own small business.

This has been a pet project of mine for a while, and I’m happy to announce that I can finally let everybody else see it.