Looking for community input on a development methodology issue.

I'm running into a development methodology issue and hope to solicit some advice from the developer community. We've got a fairly large Joomla site, several custom modules, and a lot of third party modules. Several developers are working on the code in a distributed environment. Each developer has their own local development install. We have a staging environment that mirrors the productions environment. We're using Git for source control and have no problems with the migration of code from one environment to another. Where we keep running into issues is with the DB changes.

With our custom modules the problem isn't as pronounced. We simply require an installation SQL script to be in each component and run this script when the component is installed in a new environment. We're even working on making this automated, and may adopt some of the RoR migration file methodology. Third party components on the other hand are a pain. It's nice to be able to just add functionality by installing a component, but every time we do we end up spending a lot of time tearing the component apart to find all the DB changes it does on install. We then take these changes and make a script in the same way as we do for our custom components.

So far this is the best methodology we've come up with. Anyone have any incite on a better way? I'd like to automate the build process as much as possible. We're doing continuous integration, but it breaks down when we have db changes. Is there a db comparison too out there that would allow us to compare a Development DB with the Staging DB, and would generate the SQL script? It would have to work with MySQL.

I need an assistant.

The amount of work I have just keeps growing. We spent several hours yesterday laying out the plan for the next six months for just one of the sites we're working on. At the end we decided it's time to hire a Jr. programmer to help out. So if there's any PHP programmers that want to work in what is probably the best environment I've ever worked, you need to contact me.

This crazy white board drawing is the plan for just one of the sites we're working on. There are at least three more, and possibly seven. We're using Joomla as a base (there's also a couple of RoR apps for support), but there's a lot of customization for each site. We're streaming video from Wowza on EC2, having to pull from several legacy databases, building a server cluster that can handle a tremendous amount of traffic, and generally having a great time doing it. It's a small team (and will stay that way), the hours are pretty flexible (I usually work from home at least one day a week), and the people are a lot of fun to be around.

If you're interested send a resume to bcatherall at theanimenetwork.com.

Loving my work.

I've got to say that, especially with everything else that has been going on, I'm really enjoying my work right now. For those of you who don't know I'm currently working on contract the ADV. More specifically for Anime Network. I've been rebuilding their website (it's needed a rebuild for a while now). Their current site is pretty much a mess, and had too many people work on it over the years with no real cohesive plan. I'm converting it to a Joomla driven site, with several custom plugins to handle their Anime specific data. The goal is to allow them to edit their content easily and still maintain a stable/fast site. It's a lot of work, but there also a lot of fun in it.

Luckily they just hired Robin Cannon to do the site design and layout so I can concentrate on the architecture and development. I only met Robin about a month ago, but his skill set was a great match to mine, and getting him hired was fairly easy. Currently we're looking at having an internal alpha of the site done next week. Then (as long as we stay on track) we should have a public beta around the 1st of December, with the site going live around the first of the year.

This is definitely one of the best places I've worked at. The people are great, the environment is laid back, and they actually want to accomplish something. After year working in Education this is a wonderful change. That I get to work with Anime is just a nice bonus.

Music

I forgot how much I loved music. I played in a band while in High School. We weren't, but the party lifestyle tore us apart. I kinda took a brake from the scene, and just never really returned. Now I have time again. I've dusted off the guitars, and am practicing regularly again. I'm really rusty but it's coming back. If I keep this up, I'm either going to have to join or start another band. I'll just have to make sure it's one that doesn't take itself too seriously. I've always missed the rush from playing live music with others. There's really nothing quite like it.

Yep the month is turning out very busy.

It's been extremely busy, especially the last week. Starting last Wednesday I drove from Houston to Detroit. It took 22 hour and two days. I then proceeded to have a nice long three day party (with some gaming thrown in for a few hours a day). It involved lots of alcohol, very little sleep (not really a problem), and freaking out everyone who was staying at the hotel and not going to the gaming convention (3 wedding, and at least two other business conferences). Then we had to drive home.

We took a different route, since we decided to never go into Indiana ever again (it took longer to cross Indiana west to east than it took to cross Texas north to south). Just to make things weirder, Indiana continued to plague us for most of the drive home. It started as a joke. We would run into some bad traffic, and make the joke that it has to be someone from Indiana causing this. The first couple of times that we were right it was funny. After six times in a row it was a little strange. After the 12th time we were getting a little freaked out. By the time we got home we had just accepted it, and now we're spreading it to all our friends.

Tuesday it was right back to work. Over the last three days I've worked 32 hour in three days (and as soon as I finish this I'll probably put in another few). There's still Friday to go and I'll probably work a little on Saturday. At least the pay is good, and I can use the money right now.

And I've still got gaming again this weekend and next weekend is Halloween. I guess I'm just going to keep going till I drop.

Lawyers

Had my initial meeting with my lawyer for the divorce today. It went well, considering it was a meeting about a divorce. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. At this point I just want to get it over with and move on.

In other news I have to pack tonight. I'll be driving to Detroit tomorrow for the weekend.

Divorce

Tonight I got the first contact from her lawyer about the divorce. It's been a bit of a rough week and this is a fitting end to it.

I just have to deal with one more night, then I'll have a nice weekend of distractions (TRF). Then next week I'll be working two and a half days, then driving to Detroit for ICC (gaming convention). As long as I keep myself distracted, it's all good.

Busy month

The month of October is turning out to be a really busy month. In the first week I put in 42 hours of work in just four days (and only worked 4 hours on Monday). During the first week I have gaming in Houston on Friday, gaming in Huntsville on Saturday, and Sunday I'm going to enjoy some football with J. (friend who I've known for 14 years). I'm also going to fit some more hours of work in there somewhere.

Next week will also be a busy week at work. K. gave his notice and will only be available for the next two weeks. Since we just started a complete redesign on the site, and he's the lead artist we have to get everything we can out of him in the next two weeks. Next weekend is the opening weekend of Ren-Fair, and I'll be camping out there with some friends. It will be a fun weekend of dressing strange, drinking, and heckling random people.

The next week will be a short work week. I'll be leaving town on Wednesday, to drive to Detroit for the weekend. I'll be spending the weekend at ICC and massive gaming convention. I'll know quite a few people from the local areas so it should be a lot of fun.

I should be back on Monday, but it may take us till Tuesday to get back. Things should get back to normal this week, but you never know that far out. This is the only weekend this month that I don't have specific plans. Since the last weekend is Halloween (and J and T always have a big party for it). I may just try to relax a little, or not.

Premonitions

I don't usually remember my dreams. I'll wake up knowing that I had been dreaming and usually have an idea of the type of dream I had, but the details don't stick. Then, occasionally I'll have a little snippet of a dream that I have a complete and clear memory of. These have always come true.

These snippets are from about half a second long to about 5 seconds. They usually involve another person (not necessarily someone I know at the time) moving in a very specific way or saying a specific phrase. Also, they are never useful.

The best example of one of these was from when I was in junior high. I was staying at a friends house. The girl from next door was over, and we were wrestling over the remote control. The entirety of the dream was the way she flopped down on the floor in front of me when she was giving up. There was nothing special about this night. I only met the girl one more time, and don't even remember her name.

It took me about twenty years to discover the significance of these little glimpses into the future. It turns out that every time these dreams start coming true it's a sign that my life will be going through some major changes fairly soon. When I start having these dreams it means the events that made the change have happened and to get ready for the repercussions (the dreams themselves are for the next major change).

The first series of these dreams started to come true just before i met my first fiance. The second was just before she was killed. The third one was just before I went to college. The fourth was just before I met the one who became my wife. The fifth was just before I met some of my best friends (J and T). The sixth was during the last few days while my marriage has been dissolving, and now I've started dreaming again.

(Now the main reason for this post, to have a record of this dream for when if comes true). This morning I woke to a dream I hope I can avoid (I've yet to succeed in avoiding one though). It's just a little snippet of getting into a car with the ex driving, and having a very unpleasant conversation about why we didn't work. It's the details of the way she is sitting, how she's holding her hands, the view out the front window. the box of tissues in the floorboard, etc. that makes me know this is another one of those dreams.

This is probably one of the best chances for me to avoid one of these that I've ever had. I have no desire to get into a car with her, and will avoid that as a matter of principle. I'm not exactly sure what will come of avoiding one of the dreams, but I plan to find out.

Intro

I'm mainly setting this up as a form of catharsis.

Currently I'm going through the break up of a thirteen year relationship, and need some form of outlet. I (hopefully won't really be going into a lot about the divorce, but need a place to say the thing I once shared with her.

In short, we had been to counseling, worked some things out, had other issues, she gave up. It will work out in the end. I really discovered who my friends are (and how lucky I am to have them).

That's I'll I really want to say publicly.

As for me, I'm a developer (Ruby, PHP, Perl) in Houston, Tx. I'm currently working a long term contract, but may be interested in getting out of this town (for the right position and location). I am the co-founder of an online video gaming company (yes, I get ownership of this, she gets the House). I now have time to do a lot of the things I let slip to the side while involved in a relationship (music, working out, travel, etc).

As for this blog, I'm mainly going to be using it as an outlet for those thing I used to share with her. I find it good to talk through my ideas, and the things that happen. There will be some tech talk, some "wow can you believe this", and whatever else happens to strike me as needing to get out.