Vocation in the Valley

Java, and more specifically J2EE, is boring. Yes, I make a living doing this stuff and it has become mind-numbing. If you’re in a domain you enjoy then it can be palatable, but the technology itself is a snooze. Struts/JSF, blah! So much code and configuration just to make a form. WebLogic, WebSphere, JBoss, JOnAS, etc. (gotta have more than 1 capital letter). Feels like DEC to me. Keep moving to the high-end while PHP, Python, and Ruby eat up the low-end. (Read Clayton Christianson’s “The Innovator’s Dilemma”) Web services, SOA, ebXML, can anyone say C.O.R.B.A.

I have 6 Java related RSS feeds and I haven’t been interested in a single posting in over a month. I cut that number to 6 after I finding most of the other feeds to be uninteresting. In a couple of weeks I’m going to kill
those 6 if I still haven’t seen anything interesting.

The thing is, I can do my job and do it well without keeping up with the latest J2EE fluff. At work, we’re still using 1.4.x and even need to support 1.3.x in some cases. It’s still a good tool to solve some problems, but the problems better be cool, because the tool isn’t.

Since Erin was out of town, Emi and I had a date night. We went to Emi’s favorite restaurant, Azuma. We sat at a table for two and she did very well sitting by herself. I don’t remember where I read about the idea, but a father taking his daughter on a date and showing her how she deserves to be treated is a fantastic idea. At the end of our “date”, I got a big hug and an, “I love you, Daddy.”

Today is the ninth anniversary of my marriage to Erin (sorry for the horrible wording, I try to get things grammatically correct and end up with stuff like that). It has truly been an inspiring, eye-opening, fantastic 9 years. We have been blessed with a large, prospering, and loving extended family. We have grown in our relationship and love. Happy anniversary, Erin. I love you.