Jerry Wayne Odom Jr

1 gallon blackberries
4-5 cups of sugar
3 quarts of water

Boil blackberries, sugar and water until water starts to thicken slightly.(1-2 hours over medium heat)

Dumplings
1.5 cups self rising flour.
3 tablespoons melted margarine
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
2 tablespoons sugar

Stir flour, milk, sugar, margarine and eggs until well beaten. Drop by teaspoon into hot liquid. Turn dumplings once when cooked and continue to cook until all dumplings are cooked. If mixture becomes too thick add water and boil until liquid becomes hot again.

2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of soda

Sift dry ingredients into bowl. Add milk and egg; mix well. Drop by spoonful in to deep fat heated to 375 degrees. Fry until golden and drain on paper towel. Serve with syrup and butter.

I just read over an excellent series on using Elmah. If you’re unfamiliar with Elmah it’s a great tool for logging and debugging exceptions in an MVC # app. Unfortunately we got to the Elmah stage on our application at about the point the application was being piloted. However it’s been a big help in smoothing out some of the errors in teh app. This series was specifically useful to us in regards to getting Elmah to send exception emails. The exceptions weren’t making it past the MVC Error Handling to be handled by Elmah.

Joel’s Elmah Post Series

Recently I’ve had a colleague having fits trying to optimize database access to an application that he inherited from a guy who inherited from a guy who…you get the point. I’d suggested speed isssues in indexes to him previously but he told me that several DBAs had looked at it and believe it to be working appropriately. Ok. Well I looked at it and was surprised to find that indexes were not only incorrect they were non-existant other than the primary key index and foreign key contraints.   At that point I recalled something from my subscription to the Sql Server Central newletter in an article(Sql Server Central Speed Part 3) which put a nice explanation in to using indexes out there.      I forwarded it to my friend and his problems melted away after months of headaches and no answers believing his problems not to be database related.

Understand the difference between a DBA and a Database Developer.

Software developers need to understand when looking for help there is a difference between a DBA and a database developer.   Yes a person could be both but typically people come down wearing one hat and developers mistake a DBA for someone who actually knows something about tuning a SQL database.     They might be able to make the actual SQL software pur and perform better but they might not know a thing about appropriate indexing for speeds.   Although they can tell you hey this index is eating up a lot of space or causing a lot more rewrites and therefore hurting my server they can’t actually speed things up.

Point being that just because a person with database in their titles within your organization tells you it’s right doesn’t mean as a developer you just have to say “ok it’s right”.    Having database in a title doesn’t make you an expert on all things database just like people with developer in their title might not know a thing about developing other than drag, drop and deploy..    My suggestion to all software developers is subscribe to a great website like SQL Server Central and read over their newsletter articles because that one 10 minute read you did 6 months ago might save you from months of pain in the future.

Speeding Up SQL Server Part 1
Speeding Up SQL Server Part 2
Speeding Up SQL Server Part 3

I’m starting to notice a trend in my adventures of beer brewing.    I’m becoming a bit of a beer brewing equipment snob as I learn more about the craft of brewing beer.   Don’t confuse this with a beer snob as I’ll drink any beer especially free beer.   I don’t care if it’s natural light, high life or Colt 45 malt liqour the only bad beer is no beer!   

Anyhow before I get too far off topic I’ll tell you why I’m becoming a beer equipment snob.   I haven’t brewed beer in about 3 months due to the fact that I lost my freezer that I use as a temperature control tank.    I had to wait until I was able to purchase another freezer which I did about 2 weeks ago.    I can remember when I would brew an ale and throw it in the coolest corner of the house for a few weeks and happily drink it.     Now days I’m not happy unless the hydrometer shows ideal results in ideal time and I am a big critic of my results being that brewing a beer usually involves slaving over a brew setup for 4 hours.(it takes so long because I also only brew all grain now)

Ok it gets worse.

In addition to the freezer I also impulsively ordered an expensive stainless steel wort chiller because I am worried the small one isn’t cooling my hand made stainless steel keg pots fast enough.   I also ordered hop balls because I feel like trub and hops getting tossed to the side walls of the pot is hurting my bitter.    For strike three I’ve also ordered an expensive refractometer because I want another verdict on my gravity readings versus my hydrometer.

I feel like I’ve become a beer brewing equipment snob.   I remember when I happily brewed with $150 worth of equipment and now I know it must be 10 times that!     I warn you all out there that beer brewing can become an expensive addiction like fishing, golfing or any other accessory driven activity.    But it sure is fun!

In the last year there’s been quite a bit to do with Silverlight, MVC and JQuery.   I’ve been fortunate enough to be exposed to all three in my day job where as many might not get to touch any of them outside of personal exploration.   As we’ve progressed through our learning experience in using these three either alone or in combination it’s become my opinion that the only caseswhere Silverlight LOB is better falls in to the following situations:

1. You want a thinner thick application that also works over the Internet.    Silverlight LOB is sort of like the Taurus Judge of the computer world.  The Taurus judge is a pistol that also shoots shotgun rounds.   It’s not as good as both but it serves the purpose of both decent enough.  
2. You want a web based application that can operate in a partially disconnected environment.    As if Microsoft was reading my mind they magically gave a presentation at Tech-Ed concerning disconnected Silverlight and posted a sample up on Codeplex.   So they definitely see the value there as well.

Noticed I said these are the situations where Silverlight LOB is better.    It’s not necessarily that the MVC + JQuery stuff is better in other situations but it’s certainly falling more in lines with standards.    It also doesn’t force users to install a plugin on their browser like Silverlight does.     However with HTML 5 emerging and JQuery constantly improving you can produce some excellent MVC + JQuery applications that perform much like the Silverlight LOB applications do.   

All this being said I must say that our Silverlight tools we’ve produced have been very successful as have our MVC + JQuery tools.   Everything is service based so a new client for either application is always a quick possibility.    I think careful consideration over which approach better suites the long term objectives of the client combined with their IT infrastructure will guide development teams towards the appropriate choice.   Remember to consider things like the following:

• Can they install a plugin?   Some IT Network Infrastructure teams won’t budge on this.
• Does the application need to be installed like a desktop app?
• Must it run on IPad?   Silverlight can’t at this time.
• Must it be available offline?
• Will we be able to find someone to maintain this?   At this moment it’s hard to find people who’ve used Silverlight in my hiring market.

One big plus to working with the Silverlight LOB application is on a personal note I was able to quickly create a Windows Phone 7 application called Pocket Brewer.   So it prepared me for going in to Microsoft’s mobile market.

I recently attended a Birds of a Feather session at Tech Ed 2011 in which the discussion was “Is Scrum Better for My Projects”.   A birds of a feather session is simply an open forum where a bunch of people interested in hearing from their peers come to discuss.   There’s a moderator and a facilitator who help discussion flow as well as encouraging experienced members of the group to come up front to answer questions.     This particular discussion quickly changed from “Is Scrum Better for My Projects” to “Why Does Scrum Fail To Launch” I guess you could say.  

For me this hits home because my first experience with an Agile methodology was very challenged as well so I was really engaged here.   In the Birds of Feather discussion several guys who seemed like very experienced project managers and developers got up to give their opinions.    The first of which was a fellow who noted that management invading their daily stand-ups to attempt to get schedule updates were seriously challenging them.   Additionally the managers said they weren’t going to ask questions or interfere in any way but of course they did.     Another gentleman stood up with a comment about removing distractions.   He also pointed out that management needed to completely understand the reason for the stand-up and that they should schedule a different meeting.    The managers should also understand that the stand-up was for the team.

So far it sounds like we’re making some progress right?    Well I think we did on the whole.   However after about an hour the moderators asked the panel to note one thing that they think is most important to do first to preventing scrum from failing. The two above gentlemen and another who showed up a little after all said “create a backlog”.   For me it was like “wait what?” but the session was over and that was the closing.

This is wrong.    These guys were very intelligent and experienced and had a great discussion but when put on the spot about the number one thing to prevent failure they said backlog even though they started with management not understanding.     To me based on my experienced combined with their stories the problem is definitely management not understanding and project managers not having crucial conversations with these managers as risk mitigation to be sure their software development methodology would succeed.    Many IT managers who’ve been doing the same job since before Agile got big still think Waterfall.     Unless you get them to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing they’re always going to step on your toes and your Agile/Scrum will be challenged.

Scrum seems to fail often due to project managers failing to create a common understanding about how the software is going to be developed.     You can’t just send them an email with a link to a long list of boring Scrum/Agile articles; you have to do true risk mitigation and make sure they understand how it works.    Further you need to have them agree ahead of time on their update schedule as well as the contact point for quick updates which is NOT THE DEVELOPERS.    This should all be set forth before the project ever begins.      Finally if managers cross the line or are replaced through the course of the project you need to have the crucial conversations necessary to facilitate understanding.      Management understanding and buy-in ahead of time will make the adaptation of Scrum/Agile far more likely.

I feel like Title Boxing makes great products. We use some of their medicine balls and a lot of members seem really happy with their gloves at our club in Baton Rouge. Recently I decided to order their 20 pound medicine ball which I love and a pair of weighted gloves. The whole process from order to delivery was flawless. The products came well packaged and as described. The communication before, during and after the process was great. A very professional company.

About a week after I started using the weighted gloves for jogging and shadow boxing one of them popped it’s stitching and threw the weights all over the gym. I was bummed because up to that point I was thrilled to have them. I wrote Title Boxing to let them know about the defect not really expecting anything to come of it and a couple of days later I got an email back. They assured that this product was top notch and that I had a fluke incident. My gloves were replaced and it’s been great so far. Title Boxing not only sells great products but they stand behind them.

I appreciate a good company and when I have a great experience I like to share it. Companies earn their reputations and Title has earned my business from now on out for Boxing and MMA related products. You can go order from them here: Title Boxing Website

Every time we go to Gulf Shores or Orange Beach for a vacation we stop at Lambert’s either on the way there or on the way home. For us it’s a favorite that’s great for the whole family. This last time we stopped by we were happy to see a huge wooden train and wooden truck for the kids to play on. Our daughter had a great time playing while we waited to be seated.

Lambert’s always seemed to be a completely packed house with a wait. However they’ve got the art of the waiting list and seating down to an art form because they set up a podeum up front and the staff announces numbers over an announcement system. So don’t be shy about going at peak time with the place being huge and the staff moving fast.

Once you get seated they’re really quick about taking your drink order. The best novelty about Lamberts for me is that the staff walks around passing out their side dishes to all tables in addition to your order. So really you have appetizers minutes after you sit down. Also they’re most famous for the throwed rolls. They have a guy walking around with a huge tray of hot rolls and he will literally throw them at you like a ball. Don’t catch it and it’ll hit you in the face!

The food is all home style cooking. We’re talking meatloaf, roast, hog jowls, chicken and dumplings, corn bread, fried chicken and more. The menu is huge so you’ll find something you like. My personal favorite is the chicken and dumplings but this last time I tried the hog jowls since I had no idea what they were. It’s a hogs cheek and it’s fried like bacon. It actually looks like fried bacon except about 5 times as thick and more chewy. Great stuff.

The kids love Lamberts. The staff walks around with these silly joke “tricks” they play, there’s a gift shop, lots of space. My daughter had a great time. I suggest it to anyone driving down 59 to the beach.

Bahama Bob’s Beach Side Cafe in Gulf Shores Alabama came highly regarded by Baton Rouge locals. You have to take all the help you can get when going out of state because as we all know there’s nobody who does seafood like Louisiana. But when we walked in to Bahama Bob’s small yet friendly cafe we knew it was going to be a good time. Tables full of people having a good time and conversing over plates of shrimp, fish and huge crab legs. It was a little loud in the dining area but everyone was having a great time although it may have been loud due to the dining area only being big enough for 30 or so people.(maybe 40 if you count the bar seating)

I’d been told to order the Royal Reds which are large deep sea shrimp. Unfortunately they were out of the reds but offered to serve up some large gulf shrimp steamed. I was ready for shrimp so that’s what I went for. They were served with a side of green beans and perfectly steamed potatoes. It was an excellent take on steamed shrimp and some of the better streamed shrimp I’ve had out of Louisiana. However the BEST thing there by far was their grilled Mahi Mahi which another in our party orderd. It was fantastically grilled fish with a perfect black edge to it. Very tasty and full of flavor. I definitely recommend that over the shrimp. Additionally the table next to us had orderd the giant crab legs and they talked very much abuot how much they enjoyed it.

I’d read only people complaining about slow service and this simply isn’t true or they caught a new waitstaff member. Bahama Bob’s staff was rocking and rolling through that place slinging food and checking on tables. I paid careful attention to them after reading some reviews online. Bahama Bob’s gets a definite thumbs up and I’ll be going back next time I’m in Gulf Shores, Alabama.