Regular Expressions @webDU - want a $50-off voucher?

by kai on 12/04/2010

This is just a quick one. As announced in February I'm going to be and present at WebDU 2010 in Bondi Beach, Sydney. Besides a conference session, I'm running a Day 0 workshop on "befriending regular expressions". The awesome news is, if you read my blog or follow me on Twitter or Facebook - the mighty Geoff from Daemon and myself have decided to throw out a few discount vouchers that save you…

Read the full article →

How much memory does my ColdFusion variable really use? – Part III

by kai on 10/03/2010

Finally, nearly the last part (there's one more coming...). In part II I talked about the different problems we'd run into using the instrumentation code out-of-the-box without modifying it for the special scenario of using it to size ColdFusion variables. We declared those issues solved (sic!) :-) - so let's have a look at some code and how to use it. All I've done was to grab the example from…

Read the full article →

How much memory does my ColdFusion variable really use? – Part II

by kai on 09/03/2010

Here we go - part II of an approach into sizing ColdFusion variables from within ColdFusion. In part I I introduced the problem we're trying to solve, a general solution (JVM instrumentation) and also pointed you to the JavaSpecialists newsletter #142 for a working solution (from a Java point of view). Heinz also commented in part I and pointed out that there is a full-blown open source project…

Read the full article →

How much memory does my ColdFusion variable really use? - Part I

by kai on 07/03/2010

Recently I've been dealing quite a bit with ColdFusion from an infrastructure point of view - clustering, monitoring, system tuning etc. One particular thing I (and I know of at least some others) have found missing was an easy to use and realistic way of figuring out how much memory a particular ColdFusion variable really uses. There are a few approaches around that regularly pop up on mailing…

Read the full article →

Speaking at webDU 2010 (May 6 and 7 2010, Bondi Beach)

by kai on 26/02/2010

I'm again speaking at this year's webDU (and it's going to be the 8th time in a row - I think the only other people who have presented at each MXDU/webDU since it started in 2003 are Andrew Muller and Mr. Geoff Bowers himself now, yay!). BTW: Did everyone realise that the registration for webDU 2010 is open and that the Early Bird price (AU$ 695 is really a bargain for the two days) runs out on…

Read the full article →

I'm flying an AirNZ 777-200

by kai on 25/02/2010

Well, in a simulator, but still... :-) The next action item after being to the Engineering base was the 777-sim ride. Air NZ has two simulator and training buildings in the vicinity of Auckland Airport. The one that hosts the 777-200 simulator also houses a Q300 simulator (if I remember correctly), used by the regional subsidies of Air NZ, and a shiny new 777-300 simulator. The first actual…

Read the full article →

A visit at Air New Zealand's Engineering Base in Auckland

by kai on 24/02/2010

This is the second post about my awesome day on Monday. After @blauerpunto and I arrived in Auckland, Mark Farley from Air NZ picked us up at the air bridge. Mark is a Flight Service Manager with Air New Zealand but also does a lot of work on the ground. One of his projects is crew management, training and planning for a project Air NZ runs together with Hawaiian Airlines (more on that further…

Read the full article →

An awesome day with Air New Zealand

by kai on 23/02/2010

Yesterday, I had one of the most awesome days of my life. It would rate it right below the category comprising "Getting married to @blauerpunto" and "Getting permanent residency in New Zealand" and on a very similar level with stuff such as "Flying in a small airplane for the first time" and "Going solo in a small airplane for the first time". So - what happened? Let me briefly introduce you to…

Read the full article →

My personal review of Webstock 2010 – (part III: conference proper Friday)

by kai on 23/02/2010

This is the final post of the Webstock 2010 series. It's covering Friday of "conference proper". The day started with a nice breakfast at Finc (not part of the official Webstock agenda though) and a way too cold auditorium in the Town Hall. But Internet was fixed again and it seemed as if most people were able to login to the Wifi again. The Friday sessions: Eric Ries - The Lean Startup My…

Read the full article →

My personal review of Webstock 2010 – (part II: conference proper Thursday)

by kai on 22/02/2010

This second part of my Webstock 2010 review briefly covers the conference sessions on Thursday and some other bits and pieces around it. Webstock 2010 was again held in Wellington's Town Hall - the historic and classic style of the building really lends itself to an event like Webstock and if it was mine I wouldn't move it anywhere else either. Most of the conference is run as a single stream of…

Read the full article →