Ameliorations 1.0

I bet you love to help people. As a matter of fact, I bet you think you are tops when it comes to helping others. You don’t miss out on an opportunity to help someone in need and when something comes across your inbox begging for help for cancer patients or dialysis patients, you just don’t (and won’t) say No and are more than happy to pass along the message.

I laud you on your willingness to help others but first, I would like to ask you to take a minute and visit snopes.com. It is still the only website actively putting myths that circulate on the Internet into their places (fact, myth, unknown). They are kind of like Mythbusters but the only thing that gets blown up is your heart as you realize that the ten billion bottle caps you spent the last 3 months saving were all for naught or that the metal pull tabs you’ve been saving aren’t worth more than they can be recycled for, or whatever other form this particular myth takes.

It’s so hard to say no, or to even stop and think about the preposterous nature of the request. Over the years, though, I’ve had to do just that. It wasn’t easy, either. I used to pass on those emails and post them in other forums to get the word out because I wanted a hand in helping someone, anyone, that really needed the help. This is one of the areas I’ve had to discipline myself in because otherwise, I’d just get (more) jaded and cynical about real life.

I love the fact that I have friends and family who have big, huge hearts of gold, willing to help anyone out in a jam. Please, though, I implore you, when you get a request for help via email (or Facebook or Twitter) asking for help for an unnamed recipient in a manner that is just rather silly (bottle caps for chemo? pull tabs for dialysis?), go to Snopes, or Google, or wherever your favorite fact checking site is, and look for it (or something similar) there. Research this as much as possible. If you can’t find it or something related, try and track it back to the source. Who did you get it from? Who did they get it from? Can you verify it’s authenticity? Will saving pull tabs and plastic soda caps really help save someones life? Or will they just wind up collecting dust until you take them out to the trash?

Keep your heart of gold. If you want to help out a cancer patient or a dialysis patient and you don’t have any money, go visit them in the hospital and sit with them. Trust me, as a former cancer patient myself, just being there and lending your support in that way can do wonders for them even if you don’t know them personally. Be a friend to someone truly in need of a friend. Go see if your local hospital or treatment clinic could use some candy stripers (though they aren’t called that anymore for the most part). Your random and selfless act of kindness can just be the ray of sunshine someone was looking for.

Technorati Tags: life

There is something to be said for being able to not only manage your time, but keeping to the schedules you create. Discipline is a necessary aspect to any part of life whether it be keeping to a bible study schedule that includes giving the first ten percent of your day to being in the Word and prayer or making sure you are on schedule to meeting a deadline.

What keeps us from being disciplined? More importantly, why do we allow ourselves so many times from being able to meet these deadlines? I could claim laziness is the issue here, but many of the people I know who have problems with time management are not lazy people. They just have trouble making and keeping to certain schedules.

Perhaps it is habit? I know this holds true for me. Keeping at a good habit (or putting a stop to bad ones) requires more discipline than I have. For me it’s a matter of changing the way I think of and look at problems. I know who to turn to, and I know how to ask for the help, so why don’t I? Partly, I imagine, it’s pride. I’ve been used to doing things on my own so long that just giving up any sort of control is extremely hard. It isn’t impossible though.

There is also at work here a lack of motivation despite knowing the benefits of being able to discipline myself in this way (yes, I’m focusing on myself here as I cannot and will not speak for anyone else, though if you’d like to chime in, I encourage you to comment). Knowing in the flesh the benefits of discipline in all forms is excellent. I have some semblance of this discipline when I’m at work, but when I’m on my own time? It is very telling as to what my motivator is, and that’s sad. I need to change my motivator from money to God in this issue, as I have for others. How I spend my personal time is just as important to Him as how I spend my time on the clock is to my employer (more so, really).

How do I change this? How do I bring in discipline and tune out distractions? In my current setup I do not see a way of doing this. My living space isn’t as private as it needs to be. I have no way of shutting out the rest of the household and devoting that time, without human distraction, to where it needs to be. Sure I could go into my nephew’s room while I work on my bible study and use it as a prayer closet, but that is only one thing I want to be able to discipline myself in. What about work? I do a lot of work from home (right now it’s all volunteer, but I’m hoping to start networking some on Facebook and Twitter to gain some paying work), but again, there is distraction (Facebook and Twitter, family, pets) everywhere!

How do you close out distractions at home to be able to do the work you need to do? I have one or two out options, but they aren’t entirely viable (at least not right now). For one, some of the projects I have taken on require me to remain available online and or by phone. So I need to be able to manage my distractions at home. I would rather not have to print up a schedule and make signs posted around my living space just so I can work in peace (even with them, I still wouldn’t get that peace).

Right now, for me, it comes to eliminating an ever changing array of distractions. With that would come with the discipline to continually manage those things. I just don’t know how to do it. Perhaps I’m not asking God the right question. Or perhaps I’m still not opening myself to that answer.

Well, it’s time to at least start my laundry. Perhaps there’s an answer somewhere in the laundry bag of dirty clothes as I sort through them and make sure I have something clean to wear for tomorrow (pondering getting a little dressed up, but haven’t finalized a decision).

Talk to me, friends. Tell me what you do to successfully manage your time? What are methods you have used to discipline yourself?

Technorati Tags: self

From most good programmers, if you’re being taught how to program in any compiled or interpreted language, you’ll often hear the mantra Comment your code or something similar. Why? Because good comments are worth their weight in gold. It lets others (and you when you’ve put the code away for a while) know what you are trying to accomplish with particular pieces of code. Can’t figure out what a sub-routine is doing or why it’s in there? Read the code and look for comments on it. Chances are, if the programmer had good commenting habits (even if the program your using was one of his first attempts and isn’t that great), chances are you’ll be able to quickly diagnose any problems because you’ll know what that sub-routine is supposed to be doing.

So is commenting your code just a mantra for C, C++, Perl, Ruby, Python, et al programmers? I say no. As a web developer I find websites that have even minimal comments in their code about what is supposed to go there, or why a particular structure exists, is infinitely more useful than a thousand tutorials on how to do the same thing. Conditional comments are even better. It lets you know that there is a problem with certain browsers displaying an element and shows you what the work around is. If you were to implement the work around without any head nod toward the issue (say you did it with a linked javascript, but you don’t give a reason for having it) than someone is likely to encounter the same thing and spend more time trying to reinvent the wheel instead of reusing your bit of code (or some modified version thereof; I don’t have anything to say on code reuse except to adhere to any copyright notices to original content and javascript where any such notice exists).

If at the very least you comment your code, you are allowing other web developers to learn from your own experiences without having to teach them directly and you are reminding yourself why you put that bit of code into the mix in the first place. It also allows you to remember why it’s there when you go back to edit it six months from now.

HTML obfuscation on the Internet is all but impossible. Did someone browse to your site? A copy of the page that they can open with a text editor lies in cache or Temporary Internet Files (or whatever Microsoft calls it these days). Did your page get spidered? A copy with any javascript "protection&qoute; disabled is available for viewing. So why fight against the inevitable. Even if no one else but you looks at your code, those comments can mean the difference between quick and painless updates or hours spent trying to figure out just what you were trying to do while simultaneously trying to update the site in such a way that it doesn’t completely break (I’ve done it before and I’m sure I’m not the only one).

Commenting your code isn’t just for programmers. It’s for anyone who lays down any sort of code whether it is HTML (rendered), Perl (interpreted), or C (compiled). So next time you go out and design your website, or even going back to edit an old one, don’t forget to include comments on what you are doing. Right now I’m working on a site for a client that is getting rather complex rather quick. If it weren’t for me even just commenting where certain div containers end and begin, I’d spend unnecessary time trying to find those end points. Since I started commenting from the beginning, while the page size is slightly bigger for it, I’m able to more quickly go from place to place without having to worry about closing out tags in the wrong div.

Technorati Tags: technology, computers, programming, web, html

Current Mood:  accomplished

In 1 Cor 13:13 we are told what the greatest of the three most precious gifts are, but do we really live a life that expresses that gift in all the fullness that it entails?

I can honestly say I don’t. There was a time where I would have said, yes, I love everyone equally. That just isn’t true anymore, if it was ever true then. Should I love everyone equally? Yes. The Bible is very clear on the matter. Christ himself said that you should love your neighbor as yourself. Your neighbor, of course, isn’t just the person who lives next to you. As we see in the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), your neighbor is the person who is going to be there for you in your time of need. Christ called on the person who questioned him, once he had answered the question of who the neighbor was, to go and do the same (Luke 10:36-37).

I believe that is the kind of love that is being spoken of in 1 Cor 13. Let’s examine the passage verse by verse.

1 Cor 13:1

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. (NKJV)

You could be full of any of the spiritual gifts, but if you are not teaching out of love you’re doing nothing more then committing recital of facts. In this verse, Paul is using exaggeration and symbolism (sounding brass or a clanging symbol were tools of the Corinthians former pagan worship) to make the following point: Those gifts are useless if there isn’t love. I don’t believe Paul to be talking about human love, but the love God showed us when he allowed his Son to become a sacrifice to wash our sins away. A love for his Creation that continues to stay his wrath at our sin. If you have love, than all that you do is blessed and those who receive from you are blessed.

1 Cor 13:2

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, an though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Here Paul alludes to Christ’s telling the disciples that if you even have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can tell the mountains to move and they will (Matthew 17:20). Can you imagine what could be done if you had all faith (and not just the faith the size of a mustard seed)? Yet Paul lets us know that without love, we are nothing.

1 Cor 13:3

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Here Paul is talking about charity, the gift of giving to others because God has blessed you with possessions. You can give what you have to feed or clothe others, you can make yourself a sacrifice for someone else, but if you do this without love what good is it? The next several verses show what love isn’t and go back to the first three verses as further illustration of why without love, whatever you do is of no value.

1 Cor 13:4-7

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in inequity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Long suffering, not envious, is not prideful, is not rude, is not self-important, isn’t angered, has no evil thoughts, only rejoices in truth and not in misfortune, has the strength to make it through any trial, is trusting, hopeful and enduring. That’s the kind of love Christ showed for us, the kind of love God and Christ are still showing for us every single moment of our lives. Maybe you don’t believe in God, or are angry at Him for some reason.That’s ok. He still loves you and wants you to be with Him in eternity. This is the kind of love Paul is talking about here.

1 Cor 13:8

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, the will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

Whoa. Hold on a minute. Aren’t those all gifts from God? Yes, they are. Eventually though, there will be no need for them. According to the NKJV Study Bible from Thomas Nelson, the Greek for will fail and will vanish are both translated as meaning something will happen to cause them to stop, while no external cause is indicated for the cessation of speaking in tongues. What does this all mean? Simply enough, while all other spiritual gifts will cease to be needed, love will always be needed so God himself made sure it would never cease. If you have a true, Godly love in your life, you can count on it always being there. Even past death. It was Christ’s love for God, and God’s love for Man, that allowed Christ to conquer death. I’m choked up just thinking about how powerful that sort of love is and how much I want all of that sort of love that He will give me.

1 Cor 13:9-10

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

Here Paul gives us an explanation of the previous verse. We know in part and we prophesy in part. Yes, God gives us those gifts, but he only reveals as much as we need to know to grow closer to Him, to grow in faith. Paul also teaches that, when that which is perfect has come, when Christ comes again all that was only partial will be taken away because then all will be revealed and made known. Such partial knowledge will no longer be needed. We know that Christ will come again because He has already said so. We know that God, and in turn Christ, has kept all of his promises already. It is faith with which we trust in Him to continue to keep his promises and this is no different. Christ will come again. When that time comes, all that God had planned will be revealed to us in His perfect knowledge.

1 Cor 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

I believe this to be one of the more important passages in this short chapter. Here Paul is calling us, I believe, to stop acting like children and to start acting like adults, at least spiritually. When we were kids, it was okay to be naive, but as we mature into adults we need to start growing in understanding.

1 Cor 13:12

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

Verse 12 gives us further explanation on 11. Paul most likely is alluding to the Word of God when he speaks of seeing in a mirror while letting us know that it is only a pale reflection of full understanding (which comes when we meet God Himself). He reiterates in the next part of the verse. Right now even he (like us) knows only in part but when Christ comes again and we meet God face to face we will know as fully as God already knows us. All will be revealed.

1 Cor 13:13

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

My favorite verse in this chapter, Paul tells us that we need all three to grow in God and that we should abide (or to stand fast; remain; go on being or to stay; reside (in or at)) in faith, hope, and love. They are all important. Without faith we wouldn’t have our relationship with Christ and God. Without hope, there would be nothing to look forward to. The reason for love is explained previously. His final remark on love is that it is indeed the greatest of those three. Without love there would be no faith. Without love there would be no hope. It doesn’t take faith to believe in evil. It doesn’t take hope to await destruction. Love overcomes evil. It overcomes even death. So what good is faith and hope without love? None at all. It is faith in God that saves, and love that enables us to imitate him.

Remember, God’s two greatest commandments were about love (You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your being and you shall have no other gods before Him and you shall love your neighbor as yourself). Yet over 2,000 years after Christ’s ultimate act of love (which was several hundred years after the Ten Commandments were handed down) we still have trouble expressing this sort of love to each other (I’m just as guilty at times, after all, only Christ is perfect).

Technorati Tags: religion, hope, love

Current Mood:  accomplished

I’ll be focusing on web design in this article as that is what I’m familiar with, but the basic concepts should apply to any field.

Client-to-Developer-to-Client Communication

It is extremely important that you have good communication skills for any sort of relationship, but especially if you’re looking to make money as an independent consultant. Without good communication skills you won’t be able to tactfully suggest new layouts or request more information. Tact is something that is good, but is hard to come by unless you have some naturally. Being blunt or demanding or impatient will get you nowhere with anyone, especially your client. For one it will put a bad taste in their mouth for any possible future relationships, especially with you and that client. The worse you are in those categories the less likely you’ll see repeat business (and the more likely they will consider cutting their losses and canceling your services).

A Hypothetical Situation

You’ve taken on a job and you’ve been in almost constant touch over the course of several weeks while you and the client discuss needs, abilities, and everything else that goes into finding out what it is exactly that they want. You have been given a good idea of what that is (could be a brand new website, could be a redesign of an existing one), you’ve created a mock-up that’s been approved and you begin work in earnest after a vague request for content. You have the expectation that the client knows exactly what it is you mean by content so you don’t bother to elaborate or even give it a second thought as you wait for them to deliver. After all, you can’t deliver the mock-up as a finished product and expect the client to know what to do with it.

Unfortunately therein lies mistake number one. You made a vague request for content, not defining what that is and therefore leaving it up to the client to not only define it, but to deliver upon their own definition. Content can be anything, though, and unless you specify you might wind up with very little of anything truly useful. Whose fault is that? Certainly not the client’s, as they delivered to you what they thought you needed based on your vague request.

A better way to have gotten what you need would have been to tactfully ask for every single bit of HTML they had if it is a redesign or to have asked for every ounce of literature they have so that you have a better idea of what you need to put up, at least initially, for the site’s content. Of course in a redesign, it probably is good to ask for the literature as well. You can never have too much information when it comes to making an top quality web site.

What to do now?

So you’ve made the mistake, but you really didn’t realize it until you have begun work on the site and have reached the point where either:

• a) you’ve copy/pasted everything you could from the old site, or
• b) you’ve exhausted the small amount of literature you initially got for useful information to put on the site

In either case, your vague request has brought you to this impasse and now you have to go back to the client and request even more information. This time, though, you’re sure to be very specific. This could be a panic moment if you’re on a deadline. Even if you aren’t, you should be concerned about the delay this is causing you. Timely service for any project is a must. Even if the client doesn’t set a deadline, you need to set one for yourself. Don’t sacrifice quality, either. If you have to work more then 8 hours a day to get the job done on time, it’s time to pull out the energy drinks and the Fritos.

Is That It?

While this is a rather mild example, some of the problems with bad communication are much, much worse and could lead in the end to complete redesign of the entire project costing you dearly in terms of time, money and reputation.

Worst case scenario if you don’t practice good communication skills with your client:

You never get hired by them again.

Best case scenario if you don’t practice good communication skills with your client:

You get hired again, but for a more menial (and lower paying) job that isn’t befitting your technical expertise.

Conclusion

Choose from the beginning to be a good communicator. If anything seems vague, immediately expound and define. Do not let the client define anything they don’t have to otherwise you’ll be constantly bothering them with requests for more information (and or more time) when both you and they have better things to do then spending your time on this now (possibly) overdue project.

Technorati Tags: computers, technology