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Kevin J. Anderson tends to spend a lot of time in other peoples worlds, from Dune to Star Wars. Recently he has taken a stab at the world of DC Comics. First with ‘The Last Days of Krypton‘, and now with a story about the first meeting between Superman and Batman. Anyone who knows these characters well understands that their approach to crime fighting is very different. And ‘Enemies & Allies‘ does a pretty good job showing the opposing views of these two super heroes.

Set in a more nostalgic setting of the 1950’s, this story remains faithful to the characters as they were depicted during that era of comic books. It’s classic space ships, kryptonite, communist generals and Lex Luthor at his finest worst.

I truly enjoyed the chance to spend some time back in a classic comic book setting. The writing style is easy to read and makes this a book to spend some relaxing fun time with. This isn’t the type of book that will have you thinking to hard, but it was just too much of a childhood super hero zone out to put down. I found myself finding every free moment reading it.

If your a DC Comics super hero fan, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. I can’t wait to share this with my kids someday.

For several years I have been working quietly on a piece of software designed to mimic newspaper publication on the web. This software has been used for several years by the Akron Bugle and I would now like to put it out as an freely available open source project. I’m certainly not the first to build a content management system for newspapers, but I think I have enough fresh ideas to bring this software up to speed with the latest trends.

Recently, the folks at Algonquin Studios decided to give me a hand in getting this project off the ground. Their first contribution to this project has been to help design the logo for marketing materials. Below are some drafts of the logos that have been created so far. And since this is to become a community project, I would really like to hear from you what your reactions to the logos are. So, please take some time and leave me your feedback. I really do appreciate any constructive criticism you have.

As another Christmas draws near Karlyn has decided to start a new holiday tradition with an annual Finucane Christmas newsletter. The first one is hot off the presses and ready for everyone to enjoy. Click the image below to download a PDF copy.

And to all our friends and family, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Based on a very recent experience, I believe open source projects offer students a very good way to learn real world programming practices and improve their skills for the job market.

Recently I inherited maintenance on a project that was originally developed by some computer science professors and their students. It’s a pretty in depth piece of software used to track time entries. The code in this project is, unfortunately, not so good. The application does what it is supposed to do, but trying to figure out all the business rules by looking at the code is a very frustrating task. This project suffers from several deficiencies, such as:

• Lack of standard web based UI conventions
• Lack of sufficient comments
• Unreadable code
• Poor HTML standards

Since this project did involve inexperienced students one should expect some level of amateurism in the code, but with professors reviewing the code I also expect a lot of this stuff to get caught. But the poor quality of this code is not the real reason for this blog post, merely the reason behind the thought I had on how to help students, and apparently professors, learn better coding practices.

Enter Open Source software. Open source software projects may offer a learning opportunity some students aren’t getting in school. The best run open source projects have real standards, and teams of experienced programmers. They provide a place to learn from professionals who have been cutting their teeth on real world business applications. I’m willing to bet that students participating in open source projects will come out with better skills than students who only do the required class work.

So my suggestion to programming students, or even self taught programmers, is this: Find an open source project that interests you and participate. Learn about the other programmers on the project, find out what skills they can teach you, and ask lots of questions. Your skills and abilities will be better for it in the end. And my suggestion to professors: encourage open source project participation. Better yet, make it part of you curriculum the same way you would make an internship part of the course work. And work on these projects yourself.

I truly believe there is much to be learned from working in the open source community. Embrace the opportunities and make yourself a great programmer.

A few days ago I was asked to fax some information to my auto insurance company. I did so somewhere around 8/14/2008 and thought that was the end of it. Not so, as I got a letter yesterday letting me know they had not received the information.

So, being concerned, I called customer service this morning to find out why they had not received my fax. The customer service rep said there was no record of the fax and that I should resend it. I mentioned that I could do so, but they needed to make sure they received it. I expressed my opinion that their business processes were not good if they lost faxes. I was quickly told that “if I didn’t like it I should call my agent and find another company.” Huh? This is how you handle your customers? I immediately asked for the manager and was quickly hung up on.

Now what was she thinking? That I would just go away and find a new company? Ummm, no. I called right back, got a manager on the line and explained the situation to them. I then asked, “Is this your company policy for handling concerned customers?” I was rightly told “no” and that she, the manager, “would look into that and review the calls from this morning.” Ahhh, all calls are recorded. Was the customer service rep trying to get fired? Again, if you know your being recorded, and what call center doesn’t record all calls, you would think you would mind your manners better.

I received a return call from the manager who said she had listened to the call and that the customer service rep was completely out of line. She apologized and said that the person would be handled. She then informed me that she could not find my original fax, but asked me to resend it. She said she would call me back to confirm receipt of the fax and she did.

To the manager: Thank you for handling me, the customer, with the care I deserved.

To the customer service rep: If you didn’t get fired over this, beware how you treat customers. Your paycheck depends on it.

About one year ago I began using an online service called BookMooch, created by John Buckman. The objective of BookMooch is to create a take-a-book leave-a-book service using the internet. Book Mooch uses a point system for the exchange of books. The point system works like this:

• Add a book to your inventory: get 1/10th point
• Send a book request to someone in your country: get 1 point
• Send a book request to someone outside your country: get 3 points
• Give feedback upon receipt of a book you requested: get 1/10th point
• Request a book from someone in your country: spend 1 point
• Request a book from someone in another country: spend 2 points

Over the course of a year I have received a total of 68 books via Bookmooch and successfully sent around 67 books to other people. That has saved me quite a bit of money I might have otherwise spent on new books. And the majority of books I have received were in excellent condition. The only cost to me was the price of postage to send books out to other people. And, it makes me feel good to know that the books I no longer wanted found new homes instead of being thrown out.

Now I’m taking it one step further;

Now I’ve taken my BookMooch obsession to new levels and started saving others peoples books from destruction. I’ve been buying books from various library sales for pennies (1 box for $5), and getting some free books from friends and craigslist. I know, most people would ask “Why bother?” Well, I don’t have a great reason other than the fact that I feel good about it, and I’m happy to send books I’m done with to people who really want them. It’s a cheap recycling method that doesn’t really cost much and let’s me get books I’m looking for.

So if you’ve got a bunch of old books you were just going to throw out, consider signing up for BookMooch. And if your looking to mooch some books check out my inventory.

The Ride for Roswell took place on June 28th 2008 and was a tremendous success. The ride raised $1.8 million in funds for cancer research, a record for this event. I managed to ride 30 miles, good considering how little I’ve ridden lately.

Thank you to my aunts who gave generous pledges to support my ride.

362 Days till the next ride. I think I need to keep ridding so I can do the 44 mile ride next year.

Here’s the music that was played on my iPod while I rode:

Iron Maiden – Heaven Can Wait
John Mellencamp – R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.
Guns N’ Roses – Mr. Brownstone
Tears for Fears – Cold
Nine Inch Nails – Sin
Honeymoon Suite – Wave Babies
Iron Maiden – Wasted Years
John Mellencamp – Jack & Diane
Jimmy Eat World – Polaris
Def Leppard – Rock of Ages
Bad Religion – I Love My Computer
The Cult – Fire Woman
Rush – You Bet Your Life
Joe Satriani – Surfing With the Alien
John Mellencamp – Paper in Fire
Jimmy Eat World – Work
Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train
Def Leppard – Gods of War
Honeymoon Suite – Other Side of Midnight
Android Lust – The Want
Disturbed – Prayer
Halloween, Alaska – Drowned
Foo Fighters – Breakout
Tears for Fears – Dog’s a Best Friend’s Dog
Spineshank – Slavery
Sloan – The Other Man
Foo Fighters – Times Like These
Honeymoon Suite – New Girl Now
Honeymoon Suite – One by One
Def Leppard – Don’t Shoot Shotgun
Revolting Cocks – Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?
Bif Naked – Moment of Weakness
Joe Satriani – Back to Shalla-bal
Brother Love – Summertime
Lush – Single Girl
Rik Emmett – Big Lie
Billy Idol – Mony Mony
Joydrop – Swan Song

June 28th, 2008 marks the next annual Ride for Roswell. I will be participating for the first time, along with a couple of co-workers from Algonquin Studios.

This annual ride is held to help raise funds for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, an organization dedicated to the eradication of cancer. The donations raised at The Ride For Roswell support research, education, and treatment programs at Roswell Park Cancer Institute such as:

• Providing supplemental funds for RPCI studies approved by the National Institutes of Health as the best cancer research in the nation;
• Purchasing or maintaining state-of-the-art medical equipment and laboratory core resources for patient treatment and diagnosis, and for research;
• Funding programs that help transfer research outcomes into new treatments and/or prevention approaches;
• Enhancing Roswell Park’s compassionate care programs through Quality of Life initiatives to help patients and families at their time of need.

To read more about how the funds raise are used, click here.

I have had several family members fall prey to cancer including my mother, who so far remains in remission.

If you would like to help me raise money for cancer research please consider donating online. Any amount you can give is graciously appreciated.

Donations can also be sent to:

Timothy J. Finucane
P.O. Box 229
Depew, NY 14043

If your from the Buffalo, NY area the name in the title of this post will be very familiar to you. You’ve probably been hearing it in the news from time to time. For those of you not from the area, Jonathan Cote was kidnapped in Iraq in November of 2006 by a group of rebels posing as police officers. Jonathan was part of a private security group who was escorting a convoy.

I met Jonathan when I started working for Algonquin Studios in July of 2001. He was only there for a short time after I started, because he was shipping off to join the military. I did not get to know him very well, but I did have the opportunity to converse with him. He was a very energetic and lively individual. I wish I could have had the opportunity to get to know him better.

A few days ago it was announced that the body of Jonathan Cote was found. This was very disappointing news, though not unexpected; weeks earlier they had found the bodies of his fellow contractors. Still, those who knew him held onto hope, myself included.

I may not have had the opportunity to know Jonathan well, and I can’t imagine what this is like for his family, but my heart goes out to those who will miss him.

May you rest in peace Jonathan.