Tri for a Cure
I took part in a sprint triathlon on September 20th. I used this as an opportunity to raise funds in support of Dr. Denise Faustman's research into a type 1 cure.
It's not too late to sponsor me. Read all the details on my triathlon page.
Diabetes Search Engine
I used Google custom search engine facilities to create the diabetes search engine. Initially it was for my own use when doing research into diabetes news and developments.
It does a good job of finding relevant information about any aspect of diabetes. Currently it searches over 1200 web sites and web pages, including over 300 blogs about diabetes.
The search engine has Google Adwords. The money raised by advertisements is going to support Dr. Faustman's research into a cure for type 1 diabetes.
Software Design
My 'real' job is designing and developing software for an enterprise software vendor. I also review book proposals and manuscripts in my spare time.
I just finished reading the book High Performance Web Sites by Steve Souders. Steve is the performance guy from Yahoo! This is a short read with 14 useful tips for improving the speed of your web site. I believe most of these would also improve the speed of a web application.
One of my favorite books for software development is Micheal Feather's Working Effectively with Legacy Code. If you ever have to modify existing code, you'll get better at it each time you pick up this book and read just one chapter.
Backyard Projects
In 2001, my family worked together to build a chicken coop in our backyard. We've been eating fresh eggs ever since. If you're interested in doing the same, take a look at the pictures of our chicken coop construction.
That project was so much fun, I was moved to build a tree house. It gets lots of use. I've posted more treehouse pictures that show how it now looks five years later. I recommend the book that I used; it's all about building tree houses.
