Which File Extension are You?

... but I'm happy with this result.

It looks like the Naval Historical Foundation's Museum Store has NCIS baseball caps for sale. After seeing how cool Tony looks in his (and indeed Abbey in hers), I really want one.

The one that they wear in the show looks slightly different. It doesn't have the eagle logo on the side, and has the acronym across the back in smaller text. I also thought that the caps on the show were dark (navy) blue, and not black.

I checked out the NCIS website (the US Navy's one, not the TV show) and was interested in what the requirements are to be a Special Agent. I'm ineligible because of my disability, and my lack of US citizenship. Guess I'll have to stick with just a hat.

Here's some things I've learnt of the last few weeks porting an ASP application over to PHP and open source tools.

• Always make sure that what you're trying to port is well documented. Don't expect to be able to read the code and know what's going on, what database tables interact or what the original designer was thinking. If there's no design documentation from when the application was originally developed, you'll proabably have trouble :( Note: printing the source code is a good idea, but again, it's no supplement for real documentation.

• Allow much more time than you expect. Much more.

• Ensure your development environment can handle both the original and the intended codebase. It's not a good idea to port Windows software if you only run Linux :( VMware or VNC, while suitable for short-term assignments really don't cut it when they make up 50% of the development environment. It'll make you pissed off, and avoid the work. Likewise, have a clean work environment (desk) too.

• Have a steady supply of Red Bulls, and even more importantly, an understanding girl/boy/life friend. Repeated late nights (especially near the deadline) means they go to bed on their own, and that's not good for either of the parties involved. Bed is so much nicer than a laptop, especially at 3:30AM. It's even nicer when you have a pretty waiting for you.

• Be sure to stretch every few hours, or you will cease up. The only solution then is to spray yourself with WD-40, which can get the laptop messy.

• Don't procrastonate on your 'blog when you should be coding, unless it's a well needed rest from bloody Response.Write function calls.

I reached 1000 comments on my 'blog yesterday. It was Fitzy talking about the Green Lantern (DJ and comic book character).

The timetable for the Australian Open Source Symposium has been released, and I've got the 45 minute spot before lunch. This is an ideal spot I think, because nobody will care if I finish early ;)

It's in the middle of the day, so I will have had a chance to see some other presentations and will have a good idea as to what is expected of me.

Online registration is available, and if you're a member of Linux Australia (or any other associated groups) it'll only set you back $75; students are $30, but you'll need a student card no doubt.

It was mentioned in the SMH a few days ago, so that might spur further interest. On the same day, ACS are holding their West Coast Conference so that might take some of our crowd.