I created a Twitter account specifically for Cysemic-related updates, @cysemic. I will still retweet the updates to it over on @crallen. Hopefully soon I will find a good way to make the Cysemic stream automated.

In other news, I am in the process of moving code samples over to Github, and embedding them here. It is a lot quicker and easier to do it this way than to use the Syntax Highlighter. Nothing against the highlighter, it’s just not the tool I need.

Recently I’ve spent some time at work getting our build environment automated and setting up continuous integration using JetBrains TeamCity, which I would recommend to anyone doing the same. We use the TeamCity build number as our revision number, and since our build numbers depend on dates, we needed a good way to reset the revision number nightly.

Turns out this was super simple to do. The following Ruby script takes care of resetting the build number. On Windows, I found the build numbers for projects under %USERPROFILE%\.BuildServer\config\.

To get it to run nightly, I simply set up a scheduled task using Windows’s built in Task Scheduler application. The task runs the following batch file:

One thing I learned early on is that in order to continue to learn and grow it is necessary to step outside your established “comfort zone.” That actually can have various meanings, depending on the person and the situation. For example, it may simply mean that you need to step outside of a frame of mind that is familiar to you and think about something in a slightly different way. Or, it could mean that in order to gain an understanding of a new concept, you realize that you are no longer the “master” or “senior developer” but instead a “newbie” or “junior” once again. In some situations your comfort zone may have more to do with where you live and who you’re surrounded by, and in order to really see things begin to move forward again, you feel that you need to change the status quo.

That concludes my too-long-for-Twitter musings for now