Skip to main content

Shedding Some Light: Tag? I'm tagged? How did this happen?

So Rick got me! Hmm....5 things you don't know about me...ok, well, most everyone already knows about Muffy, the killer poodle...so here goes...

1. I could have been working for Fox Software. Back in 1992, right before the merger, Fox Software was in the midst of an expansion into Canada and their sales manager, a Mike Burrows (who used to work for Ashton-Tate) had offered me a job as a sales engineer. We were all set to sign paperwork when he returned from Perrysburg with the "other" news. Didn't stop me though - I left the government job I had and moved onto FoxPro development instead.

2. I'm a trivia collector. Yeah, I know most people think Trivial Pursuit but when I find out something new, I then want to find out everything about it, regardless of how small. A new TV show? Who are all the actors and what were they on before. A New product? Who's behind it and where did they come from. The kind of stuff that doesn't make for good conversation (except among other trivia collectors) and just plain bugs others. How do you turn it off?

3. Despite the irregularity of the FoxShow (no - it hasn't stopped - it's just been on a Soprano-style hiatus), I was planning on getting into audio, video and film work for the longest time. My older brother is a producer for CBC North but I grew up in a family where 8mm video cameras (the original kinds) were on hand since the 50s. I just burned a family Christmas gift highlighting almost 30 years (late 50s-mid 80s) of old family videos.

4. I used to collect DC comics. Never much of a Marvel fan, always DC. I had quite the collection including several #1s from the late 70s and early 80s (this could explain my interest in all things Kryptonian, I suppose). This morphed into the all-too-typical Star Trek fan and general life philosophy that pretty much anything is possible and we can, in fact, all get along, somehow.

5. Despite working on Windows, I bleed six-color blood. I still have my first Mac, a Mac Plus (with the signatures inside). Ironically, my family was going to start with an Apple II back in the 80's but I convinced my dad to get a TRS-80 instead because of a Superman-Radio Shack tie-in issue. (yup! a model 1 with a tape input). After the model III, Apple came out with the first Mac in 1984 and I was hooked. Of course, that doesn't explain why I don't have one now, nor why I don't walk around with an iPod - but it's the mentality and vision of the original Mac team, the design philosophy and the crazy antics of Guy Kawasaki (who is one of my favorite authors) that ensure that no matter how much time I spend looking through Windows, I will Think Different.

Now then...who to tag....

1. Ted Roche (haven't heard from him lately)
2. Craig Bailey
3. Eric Den Doop
4. Kok Kiet (John Jones)
5. Richard Base (FoxPro: Catalyst)

Shedding Some Light: Tag? I'm tagged? How did this happen?

Comments

Ted Roche said…
I've moved. You might try http://www.tedroche.com/blog to keep up with new posts.
Andrew MacNeill said…
Thanks Ted. Your web site still points to your old one. That's why I didn't see that you had moved.

Subscribed (again!)
Ted Roche said…
Yes, there are many links to update. Thanks for pointing out that one.

Popular posts from this blog

FoxInCloud Stats

FoxInCloud sent this link a while back about their statistics regarding visits to their site: http://foxincloud.com/blog/2017/12/27/VFP-community-lessons-from-foxincloud-site.html What's interesting here is the breakdown of people. Yes, I think it's understandable that the Fox community is getting older. Another factor is the growth of the mobile and web environments taking over development. These environments really do push people towards the newer non-SQL or free SQL/hosted environments but more towards hosted storage options like Amazon and Google. A tool like FoxInCloud that helps MOVE existing applications to the cloud inherently competes with those environments. But FoxInCloud also allows developers to extend their application further by giving them a starting point using Javascript and the basic CSS (such as Bootstrap). If you're not rebuilding your application from scratch, it's certainly a great step forward. FoxPro VFP

Blogs and RSS come to Microsoft.com

MS has just introduced their portal and it's pretty comprehensive. Nothing quite like learning that some people use AIM instead of MSN messenger, or that there really may be a need for supporting 4 monitors ( Cyrus Complains ) However, it's really a great sign that MS is serious about supporting the blogging community which seems to have um, exploded in size in the past year. Blogs and RSS come to Microsoft.com

5 Great Reasons to attend Virtual FoxFest

What's coming up? Virtual FoxFest is coming up soon (sessions start October 14th). Like last year, the conference is entirely virtual yet includes great breakdown rooms and sessions to add that nice one-on-one feel that you get in person. It's also staggered so you can choose which days you want to attend - October 14th, 20th and 26th. This is great if you can't break away for a consecutive three days. But really, I've gone through the sessions and I see five great sessions that I'm eager to check out. 1. A Decade of Thor (Rick Schummer) Thor has been an extension for Visual FoxPro that many developers swear by, yet many don't know even exists. Visual FoxPro's built-in extensions are great but Jim Nelson's Thor supercharges your IDE. I can't believe it's been ten years - so Rick's session should be able to not just whet your appetite but give you all the reasons you should be using it. 2. VFP C++ compiler.  Last year, we saw DotNetX as well