Jeff Garretson

Lessons in Bug Hunting January 31, 2013 Programming Yesterday’s lesson in bug hunting: don’t assume you’re an idiot. I spent a few days trying to figure out why my success callback wasn’t being

/time January 25, 2013 Poetry & Programming I wanted to GET a lot done today: /coding, /writing, &more; But try as I might, I got 302, and /time returned 404

Shipped! December 18, 2012 Programming I launched a new intranet application today. Nothing fancy, just a simple app to address a real need in my organization. Initial feedback has been

Recipe: Tuna Salad December 17, 2012 Food I recently made a salad that everyone in my family loved so much we made another batch the next day. I don’t have precise measurements, but this

Gun Control and Strong Encryption December 17, 2012 Security In light of recent events, I wondered if anyone was making a connection between gun control and the regulation of strong encryption. So I googled it

Day-of-Week Differences in MySQL and MS SQL Server November 9, 2012 Data Heads-up! In MySQL, WEEKDAY('2012-11-09') = 4 (0-6 starting on Monday), but in SQL Server, DATEPART(dw,'11/09/2012') = 6 (1-7 starting on Sunday).

Washingsoft UAnix October 25, 2012 Technology & Humor

Here’s another product parody Lars and I did in college: Washingsoft UAnix. This was born out of our frustration with the way the University of

Microsoft Orifice October 25, 2012 Technology & Humor

Aaahhh, the joys of Photoshop and free time. I just stumbled on this little trip down memory lane—a parody of a Microsoft Office box that my

The Right Question October 25, 2012 Wisdom If you’re not asking the right question, then there is no correct answer. — Merlin Mann, Back To Work #41 Reminds me of I, Robot: “I’m sorry, but

Converting to Project Connection Across Multiple Packages in SSIS 2012 June 4, 2012 Data I’m migrating a Business Intelligence project from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2012. Microsoft has, overall, done a great job with their

Generating a Range of Dates in MySQL May 4, 2012 Data Working on a report from a MySQL database, I needed a table of all dates for the next year. With SQL Server (2005 and later) there’s a CTE/recursive

The Problem With GTD March 21, 2011 Knowledge Work I’m a fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, but it suffers from one major shortcoming, at least for me: it offers some great methods for

Knowledge Work: Marshaling Inputs March 16, 2011 Knowledge Work

I’m beginning a personal project to help me manage the barrage of different inputs I juggle every day. I know I’m not alone in this, so I’ll try to

Impossible? December 17, 2010 Wisdom “I was young and crazy… I didn’t know what is possible and what’s not, so I did impossible things.” — Mart Laar, Prime Minister of Estonia 1992-1994

Where Good Ideas Come From November 10, 2010 Powerful Ideas & Knowledge Work This is a great video from Steven Johnson about where good ideas come from

Powerful Ideas October 12, 2010 Powerful Ideas Ideas are the most basic of tools with which we understand and influence our world. And like tools, not all ideas are created equal—some ideas are

Generalization, Patterns, and Abstraction October 12, 2010 Powerful Ideas εν αρχη ην ο λογος — John 1:1 Our world behaves in consistent, predictable ways. If it were not so, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics,

Beware the Limits of Reductionism October 12, 2010 Powerful Ideas There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies. — Shakespeare I said before that generalization,

Internet Wiretap Bill Misses the Mark October 1, 2010 Security Charlie Savage reported Monday in the New York Times that the Obama administration is seeking legislation that would require “back-doors” in all

Seattle September 3, 2010 Photos

From my trip to Seattle a while back. Unfortunate circumstances that took us there, but we did get a chance to hang out at the waterfront for a