Last month I finally put down the floor I’ve been talking about for so long. My dad came into Blacksburg just to help me put in the floor (and by help, I mean he did most of the work). Continue reading

These are the some of the photos I got processed this week. I figured I’d write a little about each to tell a better story about them.

Long Day of Diving – Taken after our two morning dives out on the reefs we’re actually heading back into the water to do some beach diving at our resort.

Somoskői Bastya – Castle on the Slovak-Hungarian boarder. This castle was unreachable after World War 2 since the French decided to cut out this part of Hungary and give it to the Slovaks. The border makes a funny diversion to accomplish this, proving just how silly the French can be.

Somoskői Vár – Taken within the walls of the castle. To the left are window from which canons could be shot from.

BUÉK (Boldog Új Évet Kívánok) – Taken at 12:00AM New Year’s Day.

Budafoki Út – Taken outside the Fidesz political headquarters in Budapest on New Year’s morning. The building pictured is one building of BME, an engineering university in Budapest. BME is actually across the river from Corvinus, which I attended a long time ago.

The saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” is not a very good motto, especially when there’s progress to be made. When you’re working with old and tired technology it really drags down your capabilities and your ability to move forward. The need to keep around legacy solutions only holds back your clients from realizing your full potential as a company.

Their Failure is My Failure

Being the Technical Director at my company means that I get to pull out all the stops when it comes to investing in our technical capability as a company. But it also means that I am responsible for those technological failures as well.

Coming from the world of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), the user is never wrong or stupid, but instead it is your design that is wrong or inadequate and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can move on to building better, more functional and friendly software.

The same goes for my developers. They are forced to use the solutions I provide for them and if they have problems with it, break it, or can’t get it to work, that’s my failure to design a well-working platform for them to develop on. Sure, I can always fix the problem for them in a few minutes and show them where they were misled because I understand how all the pieces fit, but I’m the one that made it, so of course I understand it. I could dismiss their problems as them not knowing how the code works or that certain things need to be placed in particular spots for things to work properly, but that’s not their job. Their job is to develop really great pieces of work and it’s only a difference of mentality on how they should do their jobs better and easier.

On the one hand, I could produce documents and try to explain how everything works and occasionally field questions on how certain things work. The alternative is to pay attention to the problems they’re running into and resolve it in a way that’s best for them. This may require a higher initial investment, but it’s an investment that’ll yield higher returns in the long run, not to mention happier developers.

It’s Not Them, Stupid, It’s You

We’re quick to fault others for something that we ourselves may understand quite well, but with the wealth of diversity in this world, no one can know exactly the same things you do. I work with really talented people and I can’t blame them for not knowing things I think are common sense because I know they know things that I couldn’t even begin to grasp. So instead of trying to be superior to people or trying to absolve yourself from blame, take the stance that the end-user is always right, be it your co-workers, your clients or your customers. Remember, you’re not trying to compete with them, you’re trying to work with them.

Don’t Fix It, Improve It

Take something in your line of work that is tired and old and revamp it. If your software is coded in ActionScript 2, upgrade it to 3. If your website is made with just straight up HTML, refactor it to include CSS and some JavaScript. If your invoices are still written in the Courier font, hire a designer to make them less intimidating (unless that’s the point, in which case your business model is flawed if you’re constantly trying to convince your customers to pay up). I know it might not seem broken and may seem to work fine, but by improving on what you already have, it allows you to evolve and be a leader rather than having tired old things hanging around and weighing you down.

So, I don’t usually talk about work on the public stage (Blog, Twitter, etc). A few things have changed recently (which I won’t be talking about right away), and so I’ve decided to make my professional life a tad bit more open but in the spirit of informing and to entertain.

The idea is going to be, talk about what I do, and explain my experiences, what I’ve learned and what I’d do differently. Since I have such a wide range of things I do, hopefully some of this will be interesting to you.

Lightroom 2

I recently acquired Lightroom 2 for my photo workflow. I’ve been using Lightroom 1 for a few years and it’s been a blast using it on my PowerMac G5. However, it was a bit slow and it was slowing up my workflow. Lightroom 2 has tremendously sped up the processing of my photos (perceptually twice as fast). Before I was waiting on the computer, now I can mostly just work and not have to sit there while the computer processes the changes I just asked for. Continue reading

I have a little project doing and I am curious to find out a few things from people: If you moved to a country of your choice (not in North America), where would you go, why, and what are at least five things you would miss most about your country and town/city that you live in now? Or if you want, what are at least five things you’d miss about the country you’re from.

I’ll go first:

1. Family – Is seeing family 1-2 times per a year enough? That’s as much as I see my family. I need to take advantage of telecommunications technologies more (video chat, etc), but does that replace physical presence?
2. Friends – I have friends scattered all over the world already, so I know what it means to miss friends you’re close with and deal with the fact you may never see them in person again. Thank god for e-mail and Facebook!
3. Shopping – This is a bit superficial, I admit. However, when you live in a country where you can’t find your usual comfort foods from back home, for example, it adds to the stress of living abroad. For example, there’s no Hershey’s chocolate in Hungary (I know, how backwards of them!) and there’s no Túró Rudi in the U.S. (Americans don’t like cottage cheese chocolate bars?! SOO DELICIOUS!). Also, with store names like Tesco and Profi, you wonder if those can match up with the Wal-Marts and Krogers you’re use to in America.
4. Language – We all have only one mother tongue (ok, some of us have a father tongue too), but if you move to a country where they don’t speak your native language, communication (one of the most fundamental requirements of society) becomes hampered. In America, everyone expects demands you speak English. In other countries they are thrilled beyond belief if you attempt to speak their language. Think about that for a moment.
5. The little things – In the end, isn’t it all about the little things? Things such as hand gestures, street signs, restaurant etiquette, using services such as postal mail or absentee voting, and television you don’t really think about until you move abroad. Simply put, all the little things and the object they add up to.

To be honest, I really only miss #1 and #2. I see #3, #4 and #5 as differences, not necessarily bad. Just because it’s different doesn’t make it bad (contrary to the thoughts of many people of a certain nationality). I personally love differences and do all I can to meet different people, do different things, eat different foods and experience the different in life. That’s why I’ve lived/live where I have. Growing up and living in the same place is fine for some people, but I’m built a little differently.

Blacksburg has been great to me. It’s been different enough for me to keep me happy. I found a community of Hungarians (including my roommate) to hang out with. I have good friends from Germany, Italy, Iran, Turkey and a number of other countries. Only in America (in select parts) can all those nationalities be friends (and date in some instances). Think about that. How truly wonderful is that? It’s like world peace in our little piece of Virginia called Blacksburg.

If we all lived, learned and enjoyed the differences of others what would we have to hate? I know, it’s corny. But if you ever wanted to know my motivation behind anything I do, it’s to live differently and experience as much as I can.

My Project

So my little project is this: What is holding people back from experiencing what they really want to do in life?

I hear people say, I want a motorcycle, I want to learn to fly, I want to go sky diving, I want to go to Europe, I want to learn a foreign language, I want to… So what’s holding you back? Money isn’t the issue. You have most of your life to save up for it. You don’t have to do it right now. Make a list of things you want to do and go for it; have a plan. Besides, what’s a life without dreams?

So if you could help me out in my little project, leave a comment below with your chosen country and at least five things that’s holding you back from uprooting and moving abroad to that country. If you want to share other thoughts having to do with what I’ve mentioned above I’d love to hear them and you’d be helping me out a great deal.

Thanks! Köszi! Danke!