July 14th, 2010 by Martin

It’s my birthday today. I am now officially older than I ever imagined I possibly could be. I don’t know how that happened. What’s that? How old am I? … Mind yer own business whippersnapper! (mutters something about how it was all uphill both ways when he was young…)

Coincidentally, CodeGator also had a birthday this month. It is now 13 years old. What started as a side-venture on my part has, somehow, managed to make it through an unbelievably tumultuous period in my life. Looking back now, I’m reminded of what drove me to create CodeGator in the first place.  I recall that I wanted CodeGator to be a place where software was written for the simple joy of exploring a new idea or technology. Where the harsh realities of managing schedules and budgets would never get in the way of learning. Where I could take days or weeks to write a single class without being accountable to anyone for my progress – or lack thereof. CodeGator started as a place to have fun and create code and I’m happy to say that it still is.

As I write this I’m recovering from a particularly nasty bout of professional burnout. It’s the sort of thing that happens when you spend 23+ years in the trenches, cranking out code on one deadline after another. Things are looking up for me though. I have the latest .NET 4.0 goodies to explore. I’m also learning SharePoint and some other fun technologies. If age has brought me anything I hope it is the wisdom to accept my life for what it is – good and bad, as a gift from God. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Lately, I feel a renewed sense of purpose when I visit this website. I actually feel like writing and creating for a change. I’ve put the CodeGator website back up, in blog form this time. I’ve been updating some of my old libraries and ruthlessly retiring other ones. I’ve been bringing myself back up to speed technically and using my new found skills to create some new libraries as well. Hopefully, I’ll be publishing the new code soon.

Until then, it’s my birthday and I’m going to use my day off to go bowling with my family. Here’s to birthdays!

July 12th, 2010 by Martin

I’ve decided to bring the CodeGator blog back to life. The blog is a good way for me to make my code available. It’s also a good place for me to record things I don’t want to forget. I know I won’t blog the way I used to but I figure simply putting the website back together is a good start.

So, hello again.