tommy's scratchpad - personal

My Nearest Book

2008-11-18T07:50:00+00:00

From Paul. Here's my sentence:

"This comes down to how SOA is defined".

Thomas Erl, Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design. 2005

This phrase is part of a section which discusses what SOA is (and isn't).

Rules of this meme:

Grab the nearest book.
Open it to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Disaster Steak

2007-07-22T12:36:00+00:00

(preamble: if you know me well enough, you'll know that I use the term "disaster" in multiple modes / contexts. In this case, "disaster steak" is a good thing).

This was a steak night. I had some friends over this weekend and sparked up the BBQ. I picked up some (big) sirloin steaks from Costco, made sure beer was stocked and away I went. Here's how one makes a simple steak to die for:

wash down steaks with cold water
place steaks in a large bowl
douse steaks with balsamic vinegar (white or red) and rub
douse steaks with olive oil and rub
sprinkle steaks with Montreal steak spice (you can make your own if you really want)
seal the bowl and place in the fridge for an hour or so to let the steaks marinate
heat up the BBQ and slap on the steaks (N.B. have booze, appetizers, both, or whatever you want along the way -- it's always better than everyone just sitting there watching [and waiting]!)

cook steaks as desired (I like mine _well_ done)
serve and enjoy!

Click on any of the photos to see the whole process in pictures. Pretty simple, not much fuss and tastes awesome -- disaster!

Anyone have any pointers or other ideas? I'd be glad to hear them!

Nice Stop Smoking Timeline

2007-06-17T17:25:00+00:00

Check out this graphic I found (thanks digg), which shows the effects of smoking cessation. I also saw this recently in the doctor's office, and found it really helpful and encouraging.

I'm glad to say I've been 100% smoke free (via Zyban for a month) for almost six months now (the only New Years Resolution that I've kept this long!).

Spring in Ottawa

2007-04-16T06:30:00+00:00

Headed to Ottawa for the OGC meetings. After waking up at an unsightly hour to catch the plane, we found out that Ottawa International Airport is shut down because of the weather there. Martin (Daly), who travelled from the UK (and 25C conditions), sent me a photo from the scene. Some days I miss living there. Some days (like snow in April, ice storms, snow in October), I don't.

Update: I'm in Ottawa now. It is terrible outside. Imagine rain, snow, cold. Near wipe-out on the way to the hotel. Worst ever!!

Five Things

2007-01-05T09:57:00+00:00

Sean tagged me, so here are five things that you probably didn't know about me:

I have dual citizenship. I was born and raised in Canada, and got my Greek citizenship in 2005
After undergrad, a few of my buddies and I decided to forget about looking for work, and packed our backpacks for Europe for a couple of months. We visited 10 countries. After blowing the bank, it was time to come home. Hands down one of the best experiences in my life
My bachelor's degree was in social / economic and urban geography. Stuff like urban growth patterns and gentrification were things that really interested me (they still do)
I didn't learn how to program or anything UNIX-ish for that matter until 1998. My first introduction to this world was by Mike (Adair of mapbuilder fame) who suggested I take UNIX training. I was hooked. The rest, as they say, is history. Thanks again Mike!
I'm mildly considering a PhD, having bounced around research ideas with Carleton and McMaster. I'd like to do something which combines my social/economic and urban undergrad degree and the stuff I do nowadays. The showstopper being the feasibility of actually doing it relative to having a life, salary and mortgages

I hereby tag Cameron, Jody and Tyler.

On Vacation

2006-08-28T22:41:00+00:00

I took this week off, and decided to simply lay low and relax at home (relaxing in Toronto is a bit of an oxymoron, but I digress). So I'm enjoying my week by finishing up some small projects around the house, cooking, working out, and catching up in general.

So far, it's been quite nice -- I could get used to this! The only bummer comes in the form of my television, which konked out on me last night, sound and tube. Combine that with my stereo system (which is shot as well), and now I'm shopping for home entertainment -- disaster!

At any rate, this is the last post you'll see from me until after Canada's Labour Day. In the meantime, check out Paul's article about open source and users, as well as a response from Asa Dotzler of the Mozilla Corporation. Also worth checking out is Sam Bacharach's podcast on OGC 101.

Have a good week!

kralidis.ca now Accepting Donations

2005-04-16T18:58:00+00:00

kralidis.ca is now accepting donations. Note that this is not a result of bad luck in Vegas :)