Given my recent inactivity here and on Twitter, I feel the need to post some updates.  So, where have I been and what have been doing for the past few weeks?  I’ll start with the most recent drama, which should give you a good laugh.

Fractured Sternum

A few months ago, my wife and I decided to buy our four year old son an outdoor playset.  Our local Costco had the “Rainbow All-American Double Decker Playset” (pictured left) on sale, so we decided to buy it.  That was back in March.  Nearing the end of June, do you know where the playset is?  Still boxed up in our garage.  Some Dad I am. 

Anyway, on Monday I decided I was sick and tired of all the clutter in our garage.  Plus I was determined to get that playset built before the end of June.  So I decided to rearrange the garage and get the playset boxes ready to be moved to the back yard.

Before I continue, let’s take a quick look at the weight and dimension of these boxes …

Shipping Box Dimensions:

• Box-1: 14 1/2” L x 11 1/4” W x 9” H: Approximately 40-lbs

• Box-2: 22 1/2” L x 11 1/4” W x 9” H: Approximately 40-lbs

• Box-3: 106” L x 24” W x 7” H: Approximately 210-lbs

• Box-4: 106” L x 24” W x 7” H: Approximately 240-lbs

• Box-5: 106” L x 24” W x 7” H: Approximately 195-lbs

• Box-6: 106” L x 24” W x 7” H: Approximately 200-lbs

• Slide: 115 1/2” L x 24 3/4” W x 16 3/4” H: Approximately 40-lbs

Well, as I was trying to be the big, bad, super dad and move Box #4 on my own … I had a little accident.  That’s right, I have a fractured sternum because a playset box fell on my chest!  How embarrassing.  My friends affectionately now call me “crash” and my wife will no longer allow me to go into the garage without first showing her my helmet is securely fastened.

The good doctor from the ER gave me some Vicodin for the pain, which has been very helpful.  But the side effect is that Vicodin makes me loopy, making it difficult to write.

VCDX

If you’re still reading then you’re probably questioning my level of intelligence (and I wouldn’t entirely blame you   So I figured I would try to redeem myself with an update on my VCDX progress.  Even though I have not yet posted all of my VCDX study notes, I actually took the VCDX admin exam a few weeks ago.  And I just found out last week that I passed!  Woooohoooo!  Now I’ve got to start preparing for the next test, the VCDX Design Exam.

VMworld2009

Looks like I’ll be speaking at VMworld2009.  So if you’re planning to attend this year’s event, be sure to say “hello.”  Just look for my shaved noggin’ wondering the halls (or the guy with the shiny helmet, hehehe).  Even better, as I’ll be the speaker of session DV3567, you can certainly find me at the following breakout session …

Session ID:
DV3567

Title:
Don’t throw that PC away! How to convert old PCs to Thin Clients using a thin Linux OS and VMware View Open Client.

Abstract:
More and more, companies are looking for additional ways to cut costs though virtualization. And it isn’t long before IT teams start exploring the possibility of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. But with desktops out numbering servers by a factor of 10:1 (or more), converting users to a virtual desktop can be technically challenging and a significant upfront expense. A potential solution to this problem is to convert existing PCs into Thin Clients, extending the life of the hardware and easing the transition into a VDI. This session will show IT professionals various ways to convert older PCs into Thin Clients, capable of connecting to a VMware VM hosted on ESX via the VMware View Manager.

RoR (Ruby on Rails) and other next generation frameworks

I like to think of myself as an amateur developer (though, even amateur developers might have a thing or two to say about that!!   I began programming in Perl about 10 years ago and since then I’ve dabbled in a number of different languages, like C++, Java and Ruby.  

About two years ago I was introduced to Ruby on Rails and since then, most of my development work has been with RoR.  Thus far, however, I haven’t posted anything on this blog about RoR.  Why?  Two reasons.  The apps I’ve written to date have absolutely nothing to do with VMware.  And second, like I said, I’m an amateur.  Anyone looking for RoR help and advice can probably find better info on actual RoR blogs.

But I’ve decided that this is about to change.  Most recently I’ve been working on a little RoR front end that will “drive” vSphere via SOAP.  So I certainly find that work relevant here.  Plus, if you think about it, Rails provides a level of abstraction and therefore, by definition, can be called a type of virtualization. 

So if you’re an RoR developer (or any other kind of next generation framework, for that matter), please let me know.  I’m interested in reading your blog, checking out your applications, sharing code, chatting about issues / concerns / challenges, etc.  Just post a comment or email me at asweemer [at] gmail [dot] com.