Year in review

I've had a lot of fun this year. First and foremost, I enjoyed my family, my daughter (Rosie) is beginning to read and my son (Charlie) has found the joy of hotwheels. They're both sponges learning about everything around them, it's all new to them. It's good to see them enjoy life so much and so intensely. Amy has begun volunteering at their school helping the kids in our city. Again far more important work than developing applications.

I'm really enjoying my job, and owe a big thanks to Darrell who refered me to the job. In the beginning, there was just Colin, Joseph and I. For about three months we had the ability to architect and design the system. So we did the minimum we could get away with for architecture and design and started building it. A lot of fun. I've learned alot more about XP on this project, and code is starting to become like putty - something you can mold and reshape.

This has turned into one of the larger projects I've lead - we're heading to 24 developers soon (Holy Crap). Very few cracks are appearing in the code although it isn't perfect. Good challenge to figure out how to keep the team humming. I think Colin, Joseph and I have our work cut out for us, we'll probably have to lead more (presenting and steering vision) and try to be less controlling as the team continues to grow. That won't stop us from coding and participating though :).

I had a really good year in terms of health, until the end. The new drug Enbrel transformed my life by removing a cane, lack of sleep, and the continuous pain I've experienced for the last ten years or so. I've had a few set backs in recent months, but the doctors are working with me to figure that out.

So thanks to Colin, Joseph, Cesaer, the PAS development teams (Mordor and the Shire), the BA team, the QA team and the customers, this project is fun!

Well, Happy New Year!

- ted