Brennan’s Blog

Last night around 7pm it was 41 degrees with drizzling rain and sleet and overnight the temperature dropped to well below freezing. It is definitely Winter in Wisconsin.

The job market for software development is short on workers lately. When the Dot-com Bubble burst it had a chilling effect on the software development field. College students chose other majors and now there are not enough workers to fill the open positions. This situation has created a supply versus demand ratio that has boosted the salaries of those who are working as web developers. I had thought it was just a temporary phase and that college students would start to get back into the IT majors, but it has not happened yet. And despite offering very compelling starting salaries employers still cannot fill positions.

Last week I had three separate people ask me what they could do to get into web development. I am glad they asked because it is clearly a great time to get started while the job market is slanted heavily in the favor of new hires. I asked one of these people to send me a list of their questions so that I could respond here.

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A building exploded and I happened to be home when it happened. I was not sure what it was but it shook my entire building. I thought it may have been a lightning strike. My place is on the 4th floor of this building and occasionally I hear street noise but this was very different. Even though the explosion happened a few miles away the effects were still strong at my location.

I took this photo a little while ago which shows the smoke from the fire which is still burning. It is being covered by the local TV news and CNN has it on their live pipeline service.

I have enjoyed reading more this past year. Years ago I read The Supermen by Charles J. Murray about Seymour Cray, the man famous for the Cray supercomputers. It is essentially an biography of Seymour Cray and I learned a lot from reading it. I highly recommend it.

Another book which I read little by little the past few years is Accidental Empires by Robert X. Cringely which covers the history of the world of IT. Cringley has followed the IT industry and offered analysis since the very early days and his insights are very useful in my daily work. It is amazing how differently I see things in the context of what Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and all those people at Xerox Parc did so many years ago.
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I do not eat breakfast during the week. I just get myself a tasty Mocha at Caribou Coffee, so I look forward to brunch on the weekend. Here are my favorite spots...
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Recently I wrote about Real World Software Development versus College Labs and suggested that instead of only teaching the proper methods of developing software that real world scenarios should be also simulated in the labs. I believe that students should be taught what is the current understanding of modern software development, but once a new graduate joins a team after college there are going to many factors in the development process which were not considered in a college lab. These students must be given the tools to cope with legacy systems...
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There is a great deal of things to do in Milwaukee. Here is my quick list starting with sports. I have found the following the most worthwhile for myself and friends.

• Milwaukee Social Club
• MUSA Kickball
• Tracks Volleyball
• Milwaukee Rugby
• Milwaukee Lacrosse
• Milwaukee Hurling Club
• Sky Knights - Sky Diving

This list varies widely between casual and serious. The Milwaukee Social Club covers many sports and other activities for their members. I played football at the lakefront one year and had a great time.

I also played volleyball at Tracks which is a good location for drinking and volleyball. They have great food and it is a lot of fun getting a group together for volleyball. I have not played in the kickball league but I have attended a few games my friends played in. It is not uncommon to have many drinks before and after a game. I believe this is the largest recreational league in Milwaukee.

The more serious sports are Rugby, Lacrosse and Hurling require more dedication and athletic ability. I have been playing Hurling for 4 years. There are 8 teams and about 200 players. There are games on Sundays during the Summer. If you have an interest in bringing out your weekend warrior you should look up one of these leagues.

For purely social activities there are many options:

• WhIM Parties
• Thursday Night Drinking Club
• 6 in the City
• Young Professionals of Milwaukee

The newest group is WhIM Parties which organizes great parties. It is run by a small group which takes over a venue for a night and controls all aspects for the event to ensure an amazing evening.

Groups like The Thursday Night Drinking Club (TNDC) and 6 in the City are a simple night out at random locations. TNDC meets once a month on a Thursday night. These events are pretty fun with something interesting at each event. 6 in the City typically meets up every Friday at 6pm at a different bar. It is good way to meet a few people to start the weekend.

Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM) is a business and social group which has grown to be a very large group the past few years. It also meets at various locations after hours. It brings in a diverse group of people and it a lot of fun.

Beyond the clubs and groups, there are lots of places to go. Milwaukee has several great parks.

• Milwaukee County Parks
• Milwaukee Dog Parks
• Milwaukee Domes

I have been to many of the Milwaukee County parks for matches with the Milwaukee Hurling Club. I am amazed at how little these parks are used. The lakefront has lots of people around during the Summer but as amazing as Brown Deer Park is there are not many people enjoying it. One of my favorite parks is Estabrook Park. It is in Shorewood and has multiple youth soccer fields and many small pockets to have a quiet picnic. There is also a sand volleyball court. What I like best about it is the fact that is so close the East Side yet it is a quiet park.

What else should be on my list?

The real John Locke from the 17th century had a set of philosophies which apply to parts of the story on Lost. I find that John Locke also resembles The Scream painting.

But if you look into his philosophies it may lead to some clues about the direction of the show. I have my own theories which I am sure will prove true in the end. But there is still a lot which needs to be revealed.

I am enjoying the new season of 24 so far. And I really like their distinctive ringtone. You can get various versions from James Anderson. I downloaded the MIDI for my Tree 600. Now I just have to transfer the sound to my phone.

I have typically found social network websites to be lacking, but hi5.com seems to work quite well. I suggest you all join it and send me an email once you do. If you click on the invite link it should link your profile to mine. I always find it hard to keep in touch with people since I have gone though a few phones this year and only copy forward a limited set of numbers. I hope to use this website to do a better job.

There is so much potential for these sorts of websites. You could invite all of your close friends and then several of their friends to join a rec league to play football, kickball or whatever. You can also discover some friends you have lost touch with over the years.

Last year I wrote about social clubs in Milwaukee which I have used a bit this past year. I have met a lot of people that way. These groups can be fun, but they do seem a bit small.