I’m a spoiled little boy…

Just incase anyone doesn’t know, I’m a spoiled little boy. For my birthday Mom and Dad got me an iMac G5 with iSight. This thing is amazing, the power of a G5 with an amazing screen, nice sound system, airport extreme with BlueTooth and iSight all in a slim box. Another nice thing about is the only cords going to or from the box is the power and the keyboard USB wire (which can be removed if you buy a Bluetooth keyboard). Of course, the real motive is the fact that they can now teleconference with us and see their new grandbaby at the push of a button ☺.

Technology Everywhere

Sometimes technology’s ease-of-use amazes me. Kerry had a church orchestra rehearsal this Saturday morning in Saline and I decided to drive her. While she was there I went to one of my favorite coffee shops in Saline to do my Saturday morning ritual (coffee+paper+good book). Normally I’m in and out of this coffee shop pretty fast but today was the first in a long time where I actually got to sit down. Quickly I realized they have free wireless Internet so I pulled out my powerbook and started downloading my NRP podcasts and blogging. I remember being a teenager and getting Internet access one year for Christmas. It took about 10 minutes for your 18 baud modem to connect and there was no DNS. You had to have what was called “The Internet Yellow Pages” that would tell you where to go. Now, maybe 10 years later if you find yourself with 5 extra minutes you can connect in a matter of seconds in a coffee shop through the air.

I’m amazed in my teenage-adult life how far technology has come. However, now that I’m about to be a father I find myself asking, “What technology will be out there when my kid is 10, 15 or 21?” My guess is that the Internet will no longer be something that you connect to but rather something that is integrated in your everyday life. The idea of any information, at anytime, anywhere. You are beginning to see that with the creation of wireless devices, however I still believe they have a ways to go. Of course, I hope that with the creation of all this stuff that we never do away with low-tech activities such as reading a good book, or meeting in person with friends and family. I’ve always been a believer that technology can both bring us closer together and father apart.

13 Week Ultrasounds pictures up!

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Originally uploaded by jduty.

It has taken me long enough, but I finally have the 13 and-a-half week ultrasounds up. This set is really great because they used a much more advanced imaging device so you can really make out body parts. For those of you who need help, the doctor even labeled a few of them with feet and hands. Enjoy!

Go see the pictures!

Thanksgiving in Santa Fe

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Originally uploaded by jduty.

Over Thanksgiving Kerry and I went to visit my parents in their new house at Sante Fe, NM. It was a great trip filled with lots of eating, rest, and my Dad and I can say we actually hiked up a mountain (more out of stupidity than exercise). The house they got is a traditional adobe a little outside of town with an amazing view. Check out the pictures.

Michigan Vs Indiana

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Originally uploaded by jduty.

Today Kerry and I went to my first Michigan game at the Big House. Spending 8 years in marching bands I’ve been in a few stadiums, but the Big House is truly unique. It was absolutely perfect weather and of course Michigan won. As you can tell from the pictures we had great seats and a great time. If you are ever in Ann Arbor and enjoy football, I recommend you attend a game. Coming from Baylor, it was also interesting going to a game that was packed with fans.

Check out more pictures here

Just another night at the Duty’s

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Originally uploaded by jduty.

You would think, having a two story house, that there would be plenty of room for the Duty family. Obviously this photo shows that theory incorrect. Just another night at the Duty’s.

Remote Debugging JBoss in Eclipse

When I’m not thinking about the baby on the way, I’m writing java code for Harris & Baseview. I usually focus on server-side java code using J2EE with jBoss. There are many wars going on in the technology market today, and one of the largest is the IDE war. I’m of the mind developers should be able to use whatever they want, thus the developers will always drive the direction of product development, not the constraints/features of an IDE. For the last year I’ve been using Eclipse for my java development and I’m really falling in love with it. Each release seems to get better and better and its developer community (made up largely of corporate sponsors) are very motivated to keep improving it. One if the things I love the most about it is its remote debugging feature. I usually write code on a Powerbook and I like to run and test the code on a Dual G5 tower in the corner of my cube. Eclipse allows me to remotely debug a JVM on a separate machine, including stepping, tracing and setting breakpoints. I love it. Here are instructions on how to setup JBoss for remote debugging with eclipse. Its that easy!

Of course the other great thing about Eclipse is that its free. That is a benefit especially when JBuilder goes for a measly 5K per seat.