Author: MichaelJ

I was born naked, and unable to care for myself. But I struggled, and people helped me along the way.

A Sunday Morning

I sitting here on a foggy Sunday morning, after getting early and catching up on things. I can’t explain how 2 months have gone by since my last post, but I’ll tell you this story.

I saw the gap in time, and so I thought I’d post something, since I’m out back on a quiet, foggy morning, and I intended to devote some time to my spiritual well-being.  So I logged in and first was obliged to upgrade the site, because it was out of date.  That lead to having to update some of the plugins, one of which I had to do some research on to make sure it was compatible before I installed it.  After 30 minutes, I was able to start writing this

And that is how things have been going, before I can do this I have to do that.  But it don’t mean nothing, not a thing.  That’s why I’m here.  There is a lot going on in the world, and when I need guidance, there is nothing better than Proverbs, so I’ll leave you with this one:

Proverbs 4:26-27

26 Give careful thought to thepaths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.

Dries Buytaert Recap

I had the opportunity to meet Dries Buytaert, the founder of Drupal, thanks to Turner.  The sessions I attended were a keynote presentation and technical breakout session.  It was very inspiring, so I wanted to capture the event, and recap the key take-away learnings for posterity.

First, it is hard not to respect and admire the guy.  Dries is very smart, and his personality has a unifying effect.  He has a PhD in CS, so technically he is Dr. Dries Buytaert, but he is too modest to utilize his academic success. Drupal is the largest and most successful open-source project.  If you click on the link above, you will go to his personal blog, and I hope you are as impressed as I am at the amount and quality of information he willingly shares.  I couldn’t help thinking he embodies what Steven Covey called the Abundance mentality.

The Presentation

Key Points

  1. Continuous Innovation sets great companies apart
    If you are sitting on your current skills, you are on the path of decline. Kodak once owned the analog photography market and developed the first digital camera, but failed to keep innovating their business.
  2. Open-Source -> Collaboration -> Community -> Innovation
    Open Source software encourages collaboration, which builds a community which can achieve innovation.
  3. Drupal SWOT analysis
    • Strengths
      • Community
      • Time to deploy
      • Ability to handle video and text on scale
    • Weaknesses
      • Talent starvation – a small drupal talent pool
      • Rudimentary Authoring experience
      • Aging Development framework
    • Opportunities
      • Moving from a web framework to an application framework
      • Websites with a better mobile experience
    • Threats
      • Not innovating fast enough
  4. The Drupal action plan
    • Improve the content authoring experience
    • Improve the development framework, looking to build talent pool
      • Collaboration with Symfony
        • Object-oriented
        • Common Design patterns for “non-Drupal” developers
    • Drupal 8 expected around August of 2013
      • Migrate your D6 sites to D7
      • Begin to understand symfony

My new job

It’s been two weeks since I started a Drupal development job for NBA.com at Turner Sports.  I think back on the path I’ve been on – Linux, Drupal, Website development.  I can see that God prepared this path for me.  I’ve been able to get in and provide value to the team, and more importantly, validate that I am on the right path, which gives me hope for Loganville Linux.  Here are some pictures to commemorate this time in my life

[thethe-image-slider name=”Turner Sports”]

I found out this week that I’m going to get to meet Dries Buytaert, the inventor of Drupal.  I’ve learned a lot about Drupal multi-site development, and confirmed for myself that the same issues I have with moving a site between DEV, Integration, and Production sites, even the big guys have.

 

What I’ve learned this year

At the beginning of the year, I resolved to let go of my tendency to take on life by myself and to become reliant on God, through Jesus Christ.  So this morning I thought I’d post on what has happened so far this year.

In 2011, God used events to show me that I really didn’t trust him.  And it was true.  As a result, I was consumed by anxiety. World events that I could see frightened me.  Part of the reason I worked so hard was fear of tomorrow.

So I “let go, and let God.”  I repented for my unbelief in not trusting the one who created me, had shown me such mercy, and showered me with blessings of a loving wife, son, and family.  My prayer life changed.  In addition to my morning prayers, I talked to Him all day long, thanking him, asking for help and guidance in nearly every task I undertook.  If I felt the old feelings of fear and doubt, I told Him.  My belief and trust grew.

I got a contract job in January with Nortel maintaining software.  A few hours a week. When I got my first paycheck (first one in a few months) I felt confliction about tithing.  So I told Him  I trust You with my life, so what is money?  I wrote out a check for 10%.  A few days later, I got a call from my Insurance man on a Friday evening.  They were going to cut my costs on home insurance and almost half on my car insurance.  He said, “I can tell you are looking for a catch, but there is none.”  There wasn’t a catch and I did save a chunk.  Coincidence?

In February, I got a new customer to develop a business website. At the end of March, my Nortel contract was supposed to end, but I got extended for 3 more months.  I continued to look for employment, and got some interviews, but no job.  I stayed buried in the Word.  I watched world events continue to spiral downward, but instead of the fear I used to feel, I felt expectation of how He would protect me from what I saw happening.  Any time I did feel anxiety, I told Him, and the stress would leave.

I helped do some work with a friend and got to meet George Herring.  In exchange for the work, he trained me.  I always thought my weakness was skinny arms and legs, but George made me learn about my core muscles.  My body and my will got stronger.  Ask me about Snow Bunnies sometime.

In April, I began to look for retail space to try to launch Tech Harbor/Loganville Linux.  It was going to be expensive, and most places wanted a 24 month contract.  It seemed so risky Suddenly, a place in Loganville opened up.  I met the owner, Butch, to look around.  Butch was a Christian and willingly testified about being covered by the blood.  “Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith, and trust that God will help you.”  I prayed on it for a few weeks. I signed a lease on May 1.

The next day, I got a call from a recruiter about a Drupal job and I was excited.  I interviewed on the phone, then on-site.  On Monday I will start a 5 month contract with Turner Broadcasting doing Drupal sites for NBA.com.  I have worked on Drupal since 2008, and had dreamed being a big-time Drupal developer.

So what I’ve learned is this: I don’t know what the future brings, but God does.  He can be trusted to do what He said he will do for those that trust in Him.

So today, I give him all the Praise and Glory to God, for the things he has done for me, to the Holy Spirit, who has comforted me these 142 days, and to Jesus who shed his life to save me.