Simeon Says

I dont know how I missed this, but while looking over labs just now I saw that the much anticipated Flex Scheduling Framework

So run on out and grab that and use it on your new flex builder on the mac.

Flex Builder for Mac has been released on labs.adobe.com. And on the very same day that Apple announced the availability of the Core 2 Duo Mac Book Pros. These are the 2 products I have been waiting for the most this year.

Now I just need Apollo and CF 8

If you had told me when I was in high school that I would spend at about 15 hours a month on an airplane I would have responded that you were crazy. You see, my family are drivers. We need to go somewhere? We pack up the car and we go. 1200 miles? No problem, its barely a days drive.

As an Adobe Trainer I have the opportunity to go all over the country and share Flex with companies that are ready to start building RIA’s in Flex. Beyond that as a ColdFusion conference frequenter I get a full share of airplane time in. But as very few of these opportunities present themselves to me in my area, I do spend a bit of time on planes.

Mostly this is not a problem. I have an iPod and a Nintendo DS. I have a laptop (which I am writing this on now) that when I travel in first class I have enough space to use. Since I don’t travel first class often (today is my second time in my life) I am mostly relegated to use my portable electronics to entertain myself. Its no surprise (everyone says so) that after about an hour of use the iPod ear buds start to hurt. I like the sound these little buds put out, but for a plane ride they just don’t cut it for longevity. Also they do nothing to cut out the background noise of the plane.

To work on solving the background noise dilemma on a recent trip I borrowed a friends Brookstone headphones. These are the mighty large over the ear kind that come with a bundle mid-way on the cord that has a couple batteries and a switch to turn on noise canceling. I put these puppies on and hit the switch. I was amazed as the sounds of the plane slowly faded away. “Wow” I remember thinking. The effect was quite a bit more profound than I had expected. However even as the sound faded away, I started to feel a sharp pain in my head. As I listened to music it built up until halfway through the first song, I thought for sure I should take them off because otherwise I would have to return them to my friend bloody. I decided these brookstone headphones were not for me and put in my iPod buds. The pain from them was slow building and in comparison, it was really more of an ache than a pain.

On a return trip from my last training gig, I sat next to another traveling trainer. As we talked shop and compared tech, he brought out his Bose headphones. Similar to the brookstone headphones in size this headset is often considered the holy grail of listening equipment. I told him the story about the others headphones I had tried and he insisted I give his Bose a feel. I put them over my ears, and could immediately feel the difference in quality over the Brookstone pair. He showed me the switch to turn on the noise canceling and I enabled the feature. Just as soon as the background noise had faded away, the ear-splitting, brain-melting pain began again. As I removed these headphones from my head I realized that I was certainly not meant to own a pair of headphones with active noise canceling.

I assumed that was the end of the road, and decided my iPod ear buds were gonna have to do. But somehow I just wasn’t satisfied with that as the solution. So I asked around a bit and found that although many folks had a headset that they liked, they had been eyeing the Shure family of ear buds as a possible next purchase. So I started to look that route as well. On the Shure.com website they state that they earbuds use “Sound Isolating Technology” and unlike active noise canceling headphones “no artifacts are introduced into your listening experience”. I thought 2 things when I read this. 1. So I jam these in my ears and then they block sound. Huh, might as well just plug my ears. 2. No extra noise artifacts? Maybe this is what caused my headaches with the other headsets. After wrestling with the though of spending $200 on a set of headphones that implement sound isolation by plugin my ears, i finally gave in.

I bought a pair of the e3c headphones at Best Buy for $179 on friday afternoon. I took them back the office with me and while my friends laughed at me for spending that much on ear buds I decided to try them out. As they sat making jokes I readied the buds for my ears. As I carefully inserted them and found a comfortable position, i didn’t really notice any change. Until I looked up and realized that they guys in my office were still talking but I couldn’t hear them AT ALL. I had two guys standing in my office no more that 10 feet from me speaking at a little louder than normal and I couldn’t hear them. It was neat but I didn’t really put much faith in them working in the loud airplane.

Well today that was put to the test. And I was amazed at the results. As i sat on the plane while we took off, I waited till it was ok to start using my ipod. Once the flight attendant gave the ok, I pulled out the new earbuds and proceeded to put them in. The effect was immediate and profound. The noise was completely blocked out and my music was gloriously clear. I didn’t even have to turn the ipod up to half volume to feel like I was rocking out. And the best part? No ear splitting pain in my head! Total sound blocking, glorious music reproduction, and no pain. I think I may have found heaven.

So if you or someone you know is thinking about getting some new headphones I can not recommend the Shure headphones enough. I was skeptical but i am converted now.

Ps. Special Thanks to Dan Short for being the first to turn me on to these buds.

Ok, so this is my first time here in Las Vegas. And although this hotel is amazing, getting here was a bit more effort than I expected.

My plan ride was short and amazingly quiet (more on that later), and we arrived after what seemed no time at all. No time at all that is compared to how long I had to wait at baggage claim for my backpack. The plane ride from pdx to las took 1 hour and 59 minutes. It took the baggage workers 1 hour and 19 minutes to get me my backpack! Yes ladies and gentleman, it only took half an hour longer to fly here than it did to get my bags.

After that I proceeded to try to get a cab. This also was much more of an adventure than I expected. After exiting the baggage area I was directed into a line that had a sign labeled “Cabs”. After walking 150 feet or so in this line the area opened up and I was then ushered into a staging area that could not possibly have been shorter than the line to get on Magic Mountain at Disneyland. Actually this line moved pretty quickly. This, i am sure, was a direct result of the seemingly unending supply of cabs. They have 20 slots for cabs to park. The all pull in and load up, then pull out. No sooner have they pulled out but the 20 slots are filled up again. It was pretty amazing.

My cabbie was fun and I had a good ride over. The line to check in here at the Venetian was not bad and I quickly found myself in my room.

All and all the trip here was very nice. I wouldn’t really have a bad thing to say if I had not had to check my backpack. This stupid ban on more than 3oz liquid has got to stop. I dare say its ridiculous.

Well i am through security and at my gate. Just a 2 hour plane ride between me and Las Vegas. I am very excited.

I packed my bag in full conference mode. I have learned from the past that I always come back with an extra bag and 3-4 shirts I didn’t pack. This in mind I loaded up my backpack with enough clean undies and socks to make it through the week, a couple pairs of pants and a couple shorts, and a couple shirts. Through in my personal care items and I was ready.

I have been traveling more and more to provide Flex training. When i pack for a training gig, I grab my roller-board and I load up all the clothes I need. I pack away all my personal care items in that bag so everything can be checked in. In training mode I then carry on my laptop bag with my personal electronics and everything works out.

Today….today i am in conference mode. No roller-board. No bag to check. So while at breakfast with my lovely wife this morning, I over heard someone talking about not being able to take more that 3 ounce of liquid per container on the plane I realized i had made an error in my packing. We were at breakfast at an old favorite of ours that is half way between our house and the airport. Much to far to go back home and get another bag.

Well I am very happy I decided to grab a jacket today. 70-80’s in vegas, but I decided to bring a jacket anyway. At the gate when I checked in, I pulled my laptop out of my bag. Grabbed my ipod and my DS, stuffed them in the pockets of my jacket and checked in my bag. Crisis Averted. Although i am now carrying my laptop around the airport with me, and my jacket feels kinda heavy. At least I didn’t have to turn over my soap and tooth brush the TSA

Ok, not gonna let this little snafu kill my mood. Vegas here I come. i should get in around 3:30 and then its just a cab ride to the hotel. Tomorrow should be a pretty laid back day. Both Tuesday and Wednesday I am presenting on CFEclipse so that will be lots of fun. I am really looking forward to learning about LiveCycle and Appolo. Those are my main focus of sessions I am attending.

There are a few people I am committed to meeting at max. Ryan Stewart is one. Somehow i missed him at CFUNITED and as we are both from the Pacific NW and have a greater than passing affection for RIA’s i think he and I need to have a beer. I am looking forward to tracking down Mike Potter. I am a huge proponent of Open Source Software and in the Adobe world he seems to be the OSS advocate for the company. Not to mention the LiveCycle guy. I recently started learning Ruby and RoR and have been having fun making Flex play along. I figure if I continue down that path, he would be a good guy to know. I am also looking forward to meeting Jesse Warden. He and I have been visiting on IM for a year or so and he just seems like such a fun guy ( totally forgetting that he is an AS mastermind ). Now just because I have marked these guys out doesn’t mean that they are the only ones, but I figure if I say something here, I have a better chance of hunting them down.

Ok, enough blogging for now. I plan to post lots of good stuff I learn over the week, so stay tuned for my insights on the news from MAX.

sim out.

Next thursday ( the 19th) Chris Phillips will be presenting to our group about how he has found ways of renivating his companies site using Ajax.

More information on PDX CFUG Website.