Date: 2008-05-05 10:12 Subject: on geek sites and logo colours... Security: Public

Just two observations as I was browsing along today... see https://glassfish.dev.java.net/ (the GlassFish site).

What is GlassFish, you may ask? Well you may indeed ask that, it's not unreasonable to do so ;-), but the site (or at least the front page) won't tell you. This is just a funny observation that actually holds true for many if not most geek-focused software products. A site will rave on about the latest version and news, but nowhere will you see described what it actually is. CLEARLY, if you are looking at the site, you already know, right? WRONG ;-)

Then, and this is just seriously funny IMHO, look at the pool of logos on the right, all except the NetBeans one are in these shades of orange and blue. Most of them come from Sun/Java, and there's of course the MySQL logo. They really do neatly blend together. What a charming coincidence! (the current MySQL logo and font/colourscheme was developed by a Finnish agency, around 2001)

Date: 2008-05-05 22:06 Subject: When humans fail - yes, that's me too Security: Public

Open Query develops its own training materials, rigorously kept up to date, and thus always printed "on demand", i.e. just before an actual training course takes place. They're neatly bound with colour cover and green back board, just looks nice and clean. They also have a special layout that makes note-taking easier.

I'm teaching a custom MySQL training day tomorrow, so I had the stuff ready last week and took it to a friendly local shop for the usual treatment. All seemed perfect. I happened to be out of town on Saturday, so I was just going to pick things up today (Monday). Easy enough, I know the local shop and trust them now to always do a good job and deliver whatever they promise.

Except... today is a public holiday in Queensland: Labour Day. Many years ago I worked for an employer (no longer in business) in the Netherlands who reckoned that labour day was really a day that his people *should* be working, but it really is a day here where most shops are, just, closed. So, I'm certain my custom training manuals are perfectly ready in the shop waiting to be picked up, except I can't get to them until about the time when I really need to be at the training venue in town starting the day. Hmm. Bummer.

I shifted to using a laser printer at home years ago, because it's just more economical, less messy, and better looking output than an inky. But still it's not quite the same as the neatly bound magic I usually deliver. Perhaps I should've allowed for additional days, perhaps I should've checked on my ical which does have all public and school holidays, or perhaps the shop should have realised and warned me, but that's all something to ponder for next time. In fact, that's only mere days away because of the Melbourne course days coming up next week, which I am happy to say are pretty much booked out.

Anyway, you can smile the smile of recognition with me, or simply have a little laugh at my expense. That's ok. Another little lesson learnt! That's life.