what do I know

So I bought the new Creative Zen 4Gb last Wednesday on Amazon for $129.99 (free shipping and no tax). I’ve really been excited about this player since I haven’t had a portal video player before. Supposedly it can play AAC encoded files that don’t have iTunes DRM as well as the usual mp3, wav, wma, and Audible. It can also play DivX, WMV, XVid, AVI, and mpeg videos. It really seemed like a great player to replace my battery eating Creative Zen Micro 512Mb. With all the format support, how can you go wrong …

Well I got it in on Saturday and the results aren’t too great. I wasn’t able to get the MTP protocol that Windows has built in for PMP’s to work with my USB 1.1 drivers and crappy old motherboard. I tried a registry hack and ran a help application that actually messed with my Windows system files, which I haven’t figured out how to undo, with no results. So admitting I probably need to get rid of my 8 year old PC, I tried the player with my wife’s laptop and it connected w/o issue.

Creative recommends that you install their sync software at a minimum to put things on the player, but I use Juiced for my podcasts and I’m not too proud to copy over music files, so I installed the suite but decided to use the device as a storage drive first. I do this currently with my Zen Micro. So first off, I tried to play the DivX encoded season premiere episode of Smallville, Season 7. I copied it into the TV folder on the Zen, disconnected it and hit play. It came back saying the resolution was too big, which made sense, so I ran the video through a converter that came with the player. Doh, DivX 6, couldn’t reduce the resolution or convert it to 5 which can be read by player. After an hour of searching and testing, I was able to figure out the converter just wasn’t working with any of the DivX/XVid files I had on my PC. I was disappointed but I figured I could find another converter so I moved onto music, at least I know that should work right?

I tried copying over an m4a file to the Music folder, disconnected, and hit play. No music found … huh? Tried updating the firmware and couple other things with no luck. Couldn’t play m4a or mp3 or wav files. So I figured ok, maybe I have to use the sync program. Well it turns out I do, the sync program builds these .alb files which are used to store metadata for songs that makes the music player work. I could have used WMP 11 as well, but for some reason I couldn’t get AAC encoded files to show up. Yeah, that sucks, this meant I probably couldn’t even push my podcasts to my player with Juiced. I was about the try it out and then I realized I spent 4 hours trying to get everything to work to no avail.

So after a good night’s sleep I’ve decided to go back to eating batteries and listening to podcasts on my Zen Micro. I’ll be returning my 4Gb Zen to Amazon this week and resuming my disappointment in non-iPod players. Bucky, you can say I told you so.

NOTE : I have to commend Amazon on their return policy. I had a return label printed, placed on the box, and off to the post office in one day with no cost to me. I have yet to get my return, but so far everything has worked seamlessly.

So recently at work we have been trying to rewrite an application that is pretty content heavy with some sparse functionality and place it into a CMS. Our motivation in going with a CMS over a custom solution was the hope that we could get the most of content reuse and benefit from the experience of domain experts creating CMS software. Ultimately, I wanted to find a solution that we could hand over to our customers, so changes to the content of the application would not longer require developer/designer resources. I think this is the goal of a majority of people who seek out a CMS as a solution.

Since we’re still a ColdFusion shop in the web-tier, I naturally thought to check out Farcry CMS. From what I read about Farcry on blogs, the tutorial videos, the developer guide, and the product documentation, I was extremely motivated to do a PoC with it to show management the potential in using a CMS. We decided to try out the Farcry 4.0.8 beta (which it appears will be what goes out as some type of release candidate eventually) with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition since I had issues getting Farcry running with Oracle (even after consulting the Google Groups).

On paper Farcry offered a lot of the features that I felt would make it a good candidate for the PoC. A few of the ones I found vital were:

• Developer extensibility in the form of custom content types (in our case identifying business entities such as Resorts).
• Flexible layouts using templates, containers, and rules.
• Structured draft and approval system for content changes.
• Built in role-based authorization system
• Built-in friendly URL’s and RSS feed support

In fact, the biggest draw to Farcry for me was the notion of custom content types; these seemed like a great solution for content re-use in the context I wanted.

I spent about 1 week working on the PoC in Farcry and I think I may have set my expectations too high for the product. That being said, let me preface my comments by saying, Farcry is a solution which could have met my initial goals for this PoC, but I chose not to go forward with it due to the struggle I felt I’d encounter by implementing the entire site. The main struggle I saw was due to usability as the framework is extended. Let me first give a description of the content and relationships I needed:

I wanted the ability to group content into three specific areas: Resorts, Destinations, and Amenities. A Resort has a name, address, city, state, zip, country, phone, fax, image info, etc. A Destination is a custom grouping of Resorts (eg - Central Florida) which had a name, description and some image info. An Amenity has a name, description and image info as well, but was associated with potentially many Resorts; a Resort also has multiple Amenities. The prototype of the application had different layouts we needed to create per instance of Resort, Destination, and Amenity (based on the Resort to which it belonged).

On the development side of things, the biggest usability quirk was documentation and the options left to me as a developer when I couldn’t find any. As with any OSS project, sometimes documentation is lacking, I can accept that. Farcry does have a bit more documentation than I expected, but it’s usually with respect to the same use cases. In building the relationship between Resort and Destination, I had to undergo trial and error to realize how to create the correct form component. For example, I needed to select the Destination to associate with a Resort from a predefined list, rather than typing it out (”ftType” and “type” set to UUID ending up working). Another difficulty came when learning to create custom content types. Custom content types are created by extending the Types or Versions class in your own CFC and adding <cfproperty> tags to the component as metadata which can be introspected by Farcry. The <cfproperty> tag had a set of custom attributes that I couldn’t find documentation on, so I tried to explore the parent classes from which I was extending for more information. I hoped to find code that I could use to programmatically configure my custom content type. Unfortunately, the parent types are intended for use within the context of the CMS framework extension, so the custom attributes were the only means of configuring a content type. If documentation isn’t going to be readily available, it would have been nice to have alternatives for configuration so that I could use tools like code insight in my IDE to create the classes I need. Additionally, I know the product is still in beta, but it didn’t seem like too much changed on the developer side from version 3 to 4 based on the docs in the wiki. The Google Group (farcry-beta) also wasn’t terribly active and majority of the threads were on installation and release notes rather than extending the framework, so I didn’t find much help here either.

Another developer usability quirk I ran into was the creation of a Rule; this one is probably me just being picky. Rules are used to query the content you’ve entered into the application and associate a means by which to display the result of that query with what eventually becomes a portion of your site’s layout. Farcry touts its ability to create scaffolded tools for your custom content types to avoid the developer having to get into the DB. From what I could tell though, when creating a Rule you have to dig back into the database to make the query to retrieve the data you need from your content types. Recently we’ve begun to use a lot of ORM solutions at work and one of the prerequisites for the solutions, that take SQL completely out of the picture, is a way to query using the ORM w/o using SQL. The way Farcry stored the content types in the DB wasn’t terribly difficult, but if we ever moved the application DB from SQL Server to Oracle (which is a very real possibility), the potential exists for me to have to re-write some of my custom Rules. This seemed like a feature that would have been a good finish to FourQ, the ORM that Farcry uses.

On the end-user side of things, the Farcry Admin left me quite confused when it came to working with my custom content types. Here are a couple items that caused discouragement:

• One-to-many mapping tools - Once I had my Resort content type created (I set it up to use a 3-step wizard) I tried to associate multiple Amenities with my Resort. From how I had setup my Resort class, the wizard showed a tool with 4 buttons: Open Library, Select All, De-select All, and Remove Selected. Initially these buttons, except for Open Library, do nothing. So I clicked “Open Library” and a new window opened with two columns; the left was empty, the right had all of the amenities I created listed. First thing was there was no way to select multiple Amenities, each list item was text. You have to grab the text in the right spot and drag it into the left column to add the Amenity to the Resort. Once its dragged over, however, you have to wait for the Amenity to appear in the empty list in the parent window (the window containing the wizard being filled out) before its “saved” to your draft. I had 21 Amenities to add to my Resort; it took me quite a few minutes to add them all, one at a time. I’m not sure why a basic list box in the wizard itself wasn’t an option. I wasn’t able to find a way to change this. On a side note, I was able to add duplicate Amenities to the Resort that would generate CF errors on the parent window and then disappear; this was probably a bug, but I didn’t look to see if it was reported already for the beta.
• One-to-one mapping tools - The same tool mentioned above had to be used when selecting a single Destination for the Resort. Again, why wasn’t a drop-down box feasible to use? And again, maybe this is something I missed.
• Content Re-use Between Site Map and Scaffolded Tools - I liked the fact that I could create a page in the site tree which was a single instance of one of my custom content types; this was particularly useful due to the layout requirements of the prototype. From a usability standpoint what threw me through a curve, was that I can only add the content type via the site tree, I could not use the scaffolded tools. I can definitely see an end-user getting confused in this scenario. I’m possibly the worst end user there is, so I know. I worked to import all of my content into custom types into Farcry using the scaffolded tools. When I went to add the pages to the site tree using the data I had entered, I ended up creating duplicates of the information. I was unable to find a way to import the data I had added under the “Custom Content” tab into the site tree. To solve this issue, I deleted all of data I had previously entered and re-entered it via the site map. Reentering the data sucked, but what frustrated me the most was the fact that I lost my tools to do things in bulk. Now I didn’t have much luck getting the bulk tools to work, but I’m willing to hack that up to the product still being beta.
  

Although this review may come off as negative, please understand that I did a PoC to meet a particular deadline. Others may not run into the same issues I’ve had, have more time than I had, or find better solutions than I have found. Many may even say that I’m being too hard on a product for being a beta. I’m definitely open to any feedback the community has on my perspective and options which could allow me to consider Farcry more seriously. I admire the dedication and drive it takes to put together OSS, so I applaud these guys for getting as far as they have in their domain and wish them nothing but luck. For now, however, I’ve begun looking into commercial ColdFusion CMS solutions to see if any of them can meet my expectations; it is possible that I’m setting my standards too high and I might end up coming back to Farcry.

Stayed tuned to see my failure … :’(

So this Sunday after church, my wife and I went looking for a new place to eat lunch. We ended up at the World Beat Cafe on Wickham Road not knowing anything about it except it supposedly had good sangria. As it turns out, World Beat Cafe is a tapas restaurant (I know right, in Melbourne?). They have a huge menu and some single meals as well. When we arrived they were serving their all-you-can-eat brunch ($18 p/person or $30 p/person to get the open bar). Since we didn’t feel like that much food (or spending that much money) we decided to stick with lunch.

My wife and I ordered the Bao Bao Platter ($25), a water, a tea (~$2), and a glass of sangria ($5). The platter comes with your choice of 5 tapas from an appetizer-like menu and a grilled meats category. We got the BBQ Guava Ribs, Terryaki Chicken, Chimichuri Steak, Drunken Tropical Chicken Spring Rolls, and the Bruschetta (our waiter hooked us up since this wasn’t a normal choice). The food was served in this really cool wooden segmented bowl with a little hibachi grill in the middle. Our food came with a guava sauce for the spring rolls, a pineapple salsa for the ribs, and a chimichuri sauce for the steak. The hibachi had a little too much oil in it and the flames were a little wild towards the end of the meal, but the presentation was really cool.

Our waiter, Jeff, was awesome and had some great recommendations for us. We didn’t get a chance to try the flatbreads or salads or desserts, but we’re definitely gonna go back. The food was of a great quality, the menu was creative, and the restaurant was in a nice space. My wife doesn’t like tapas, so for her to want to go back, I’m definitely for visiting the World Beat Cafe again.

World Beat Cafe is located at 3700 N. Wickham Rd., Melbourne, FL 32935.

My wife and I went out to lunch today to a new teppanyaki/sushi restaurant called Fujiyama Seafood and Steak. We usually end up going to Makotos for teppanyaki (over on Babock), which is a drive, so we were excited to try a place closer to home. I’m always up for trying new places anyway and um … yeah eating, so it wasn’t hard to convince me to go.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall like setting with a cool little entry way that doubles as a waiting room. Inside the restaurant there are about 8+ hibachi style grills which can seat about 8 people per table. The dinnerware they use is some really high quality stuff (no platic soup spoons) and the tables surrounding the grills are made of a finished black stone, so the place has a very cool vibe to it. They also had a sushi bar on the opposite side of the restaurant and daily wine specials, but I didn’t partake in any of those things this time around. When we got there we were 2 of the only 8 people dining, but by the time we left, the place was filling up.

The lunch menu was pretty limited, 2 sushi/sushimi options and 6 teppanyaki options (each of a single choice = shrimp, chicken, steak, etc). I ordered the terryaki chicken (~$7) and my wife got the terryaki steak (~$8). We both also ordered water and hot tea (~$1.25 = green tea). The meal came with a clear broth soup, a salad with ginger dressing, a single grilled shrimp, fried rice, vegetable medley, and your lunch choice. The soup was chicken broth with fresh mushrooms and scallions but nothing special. The salad was very simple, but the dressing was excellent. I liked it even better than the ginger dressing that Makatos made famous. The ginger was not overpowering at all; it tasted extremely fresh as if it was made in house. The shrimp was a shrimp and the veggies were mushrooms, zuchini, and onion (my wife does however like Makotos’ sweet carrots better). The fried rice was made with seafood sauce instead of butter along with the usual egg and soy sauce mixture. The seafood sauce gave the rice a really good taste when cooked into it. The chicken and steak were very good too, not fatty at all, and of a good quality.

The big shocker for the meal were the portion sizes. As many of you know, I eat everything in front of me with a vengeance. Usually when I go for teppanyaki I know I should be taking some home with me, but the box is always empty. At Fujiyama, the portion sizes were just enough for me to be full without feeling like I had eaten too much. For me, this is always a plus. Also, they had saucers for the seafood sauce and ginger sauce which were split down the middle. Every time I got to a teppanyaki restaurant, they always give me a metric ton of sauce that I barely touch and they throw away. This just seemed smart to me.

The wait staff was extremely nice and attentive. We got to one part in the meal when the cook tried to volley a piece of fried egg into my mouth, as a trick for the table, and I got hit the eye, dazed, and knocked my fork off the table. Within a few seconds the manager came over and replaced my fork without me saying a word. Our glasses were always filled and our check came and was taken care very quickly. Overall, I really liked Fujiyama and will be going back whenever I’m in the mood for teppanyaki.

Fujiyama Steak and Seafood is located next to Home Depot at 5000 N Wickham Rd, Melbourne, FL 32940.

So in my usual strong spirited battle to save money and eat lunch in, I succumbed to peer pressure yet again and went out for lunch. Well let me tell you, I’m glad I did. Spawn has been recommending this place called Bella Cafe next to his house for a while now and I couldn’t pass it up after seeing the menu online. Dan told me the place had been around for a while and I can tell why. It’s funny, their menu actually reminded me of a place we used to go to called Saucy Bella (on Sand Lake a little south of OBT, now closed). Bella Cafe has a good variety of salads, sandwiches, flatbreads, and pastas. The service was a little slow but we had a party of 8, so I’m willing to give them another shot with a smaller party later. The wait staff was friendly and the vibe of space was really great.

The soups of the day were Lobster Bisque and Hearty Vegatable. I ordered the “Choice of Two” ($8) with the bisque and Capannoli sandwich as well as a water. The sandwich was made from fresh grilled tuna with red onion, carrot, celery, a little mayo, and herbs grilled on pumpernickel bread with aged cheddar. The soup tasted like a heavy cream-based bisque but the puree used in the soup was well seasoned. The portion size of my meal was just right. When I finished I wasn’t stuffed but I was full, I mean flip that (full but not stuffed).

In the spirit of getting a fuller experience, and because I don’t know when to stop eating, I ordered dessert as well. I got what seemed to be a 7-Layer Bar ($2.25) filled and topped with coconut, giant chocolate chips, caramel, flaky pastry, nuts, and chocolate sauce. It came out plated at room temperature and tasted great. It was a nice sweet cap to the end of the meal.

When the bills came for our party we noticed that even though sodas were served in cans, everyone was charged (~$1.25) for one soda regardless of the # of refills. Additionally, they were willing to split up our checks which is always an essential step for Web Team lunches. Overall, all of the ingredients were really fresh and the quality of the food was very good. I would not hesitate to eat there again and try out what appears to be (especially having seen my colleagues orders) a great tasting menu. Keep up the great work Bella Cafe.

Bella Cafe is located in the Metrowest Village At Veranda Park, 2447 South Hiawassee Road, Orlando, FL 32835

So tonight for dinner, we tried to new place on US-1 in Rockledge called Ashley’s. The restaurant has been around for a long while and has a descent vibe; it was cozy. There was an indoor and outdoor bar, it looked like they had a few domestic beers on tap, and a couple dining areas with tables and booths. Our waitress was nice but the service was nothing spectacular. They have a big ass flat-screen in the indoor bar that is beautiful. Anyway, you can’t eat a flat screen, so onto the food.

The menu was the classic American cuisine (steak, seafood, sandwiches, salads, etc.) with a couple of specials that were variations on the menu spiced up. I ordered the stuffed mushrooms (crab meat and mozzarella ~ $5) and the open-face Reuben sandwich with steak fries (~$8). My wife got the french onion soup (~$2) and the fried chicken salad (~$7). The portions were larger than I was expecting. The soup and salad had homemade croûtons and the chicken on the salad looked like a pan-fried breaded cutlet. The mushrooms were alright, but I had higher expectations for the stuffing. My sandwich however, was surprisingly good. It was a Reuben made with grilled corned beef, rather than pastrami, some type of cheese, and sourkraut that wasn’t too overpowering. I don’t think I’d order it again, but it looked good when it came out and I didn’t find myself saying “I’m done”.

Overall, Ashley’s struck me as your run of the mill bar/restaurant with descent food for OK prices. We may go back, but I’m pretty indifferent about whether we do or not. Looks like a lot of locals like it. It’s also supposed to be haunted (story provided on back of menu) so that was a good read while we were waiting for our food.

Ashley’s is located at 1609 US Highway 1, Rockledge, FL 32955.

So my wife and I are pretty big into going out to eat at local mom and pop places in town. I don’t know much about cooking but I love to eat. So in an effort to put some more content into my blog and give me another outlet to talk about food (that I like to eat), I’m going to being blogging about the restaurants we visit. I’ll try to list things like what I order about how much I pay for each item. I always try to get something new every time I go out, so hopefully it’ll be enough variety to distract people from the recent lack of technical content.

So I saw the Nerd Test on a couple blogs out there so I decided to take it (see below) …

So yeah, I got a 97% in Dumb/Dork/Awkward. I have a feeling that even taking this test put me there What’s even worse is, I tried to answer the questions honestly. Oh well, let the constructive criticism begin, I can take it … that’s a lie.

Well, I’ve got the slide portion of my presentation ready for tomorrow night’s Adogo meeting. I still have to prep some of the SVN examples, but if anyone is looking for ideas on how to implement “version control”, definitely come to the presentation. I may end up talking more than showing examples, but I’ll do my best to balance it out.

On that note, don’t miss the next Adogo meeting tomorrow at 7:00 PM at Devry. Adam will be giving a presentation on ColdCourse as well, so it should be a good night. We don’t have a sponsor so I may try to pick up some cookies, but we’ll have some t-shirts to raffle off, so definitely come out.

See ya there!