Field Notes

Server hard drive failed - don't forget to back up /etc and apt package lists along with your data.

3G card speeds at Logan airport are surprisingly solid.

Delayed at Logan with power and internet - heading to Seattle for projects and friends despite Emma being sick.

Switching from Dojo to jQuery reveals how much simpler AJAX-driven interfaces become with a better framework.

Emma and I explored the French Quarter, attended a wedding, and soaked in New Orleans' unique atmosphere despite lingering hurricane damage.

17-inch unibody MacBook Pro teardown shows the internal engineering behind Apple's premium laptop design.

A beautiful photograph that captures a moment worth preserving.

Built a custom closet system for a fraction of California Closets' eight-grand quote using MDF and careful planning.

Packt Publishing's "Seam 2.x Web Development" by David Salter is a practical guide to building web apps with Seam.

MSSQL with jTDS, NVARCHAR fields, and slow indexes - a learning curve for production deployments.

Seam MailSession fails with IP-based auth - configure environment-specific mail settings in components.xml.

Replaced my MacBook Pro's hard drive with a 256GB SSD - dramatically faster boot and application times.

Replaced stained carpet with maple hardwood flooring - a loud, disruptive multi-day process that's worth the final result.

NYC bachelor party weekend: flying JetBlue, gridlocked traffic, and exploring Chelsea's upscale hotel scene.

Hawaii vacation went south when a big wave destroyed my iPhone and camera - a week without a phone turned out surprisingly refreshing.

SEO tools like SEOWorkers analyzer and Google Webmaster Tools provide keyword data and crawl insights for rankings.

Expressive URLs help both SEO rankings and user experience - avoid opaque query parameters in site structure.

Semantic HTML markup improves both search engine rankings and accessibility for users with disabilities - a win-win for web design.