Brian Levay: August 2007 Archives

Soccer is in full swing for the Levay family. All three boys have started practicing and even I had my first real outdoor game in years last night. We played well but lost mainly because the other team had a ringer. He had 3 goals in the first-half and put in 2 more in the second-half. It is hard to stop a guy that is twice as fast as anyone else on the field.

The team gave me the opportunity to try and stop him in the middle of the second half and I got my first red card ever trying. He had me beat and as I was going down I was pulling him down with me (didn't work...he stayed on his feet and kept on going). Add to that a referee that doesn't know what "advantage" means and I get a red card.

I really think most of these refs are doing it for the money and don't even have a passion for the game. Most won't run up and down the field. Most can't make an "advantage" or "offsides" call. And most don't know how to control a game when things get ugly. I guess you get what you get in county rec ball and have to match your game up with the way it is being called. For any of you refs out there that read this blog there are plenty of places for you to train up: here, here and here.

The Software Security Institute (SANS) has recently launched a security certification for Software Developers. The Global Information Assurance Certification Security Software Programmer Certification verifies that a developer knows the common security flows in either Java or C.

This exam looks to be challenging and worthwhile. The Java Handbook covers the details and includes sample test questions. There is a link to their portal (requires login) to take a free 10 question practice test but it was the same questions contained in the handbook. The questions cover standard java (thread synchronization, inner classes, prepared statements) as well as the web-tier (session ids, parameter scrubbing, filters).

If you are looking for a Java certification that isn't your standard programmer/api type exam, then this one appears to answer the mail. I'd be interested in feedback if anyone attempts it.

There is a reason a kid should have two parents and being a father of multiple little ones I can give pleanty of examples. Take for instance yesterday, when I asked Shane, our 5 year old, to go to the basement and bring up a gallon of milk. After a minute of silence he casually walks up the stairs and screams, there is no freakin' milk in the basement!

Of course Mom was plenty mad and was about to lay into him big time. On the other hand Dad thought it was about the funniest thing ever and spit milk up through his nose. And that middle ground between those two reactions is the measured response you need to give to your children. If it was just mom there he would have been on the steps in timeout crying. If it was just Dad there we'd be high-fiving and saying good-one. With both of us it is a stern warning (strike-one) and a correction on the best way to say there is no more milk...

Mom, get your ass in the car and go get some milk!

HP released another commerical today featuring Serena Williams. This ad campaign feature all kinds of stars with their passions revealed. And as with all of the commercials the star never reveals their face.

You can watch them all online today!

Canon announced a bunch of new cameras today including two new SLR's, but the most significant camera is the long awaited replacement for the popular 30D camera....the 40D. I've been waiting 2 years to replace our 35mm Canon SLR with a digital SLR and it is finally here. Hopefully, it will ship on time and October 1st will be a good day!

I'm going to the World tour: North America - Joel on Software. If anyone wants to tag along with me, just register and let me know. It is free!

A very cool video from YouTube - Paintjam Dan Dunn. Since I have no artistic tendencies whatsoever, this video is very impressive to me. I wonder what an artsy fartsy person would say?