21 October 2024
The 2024 Formula 1 schedule is quite strange with the three-week break between Singapore and the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. I had an opportunity to watch every session and with the sprint, it was a very busy weekend! Let’s go through the weekend! It was one of the more exciting weekends that I can remember. Every session provided a lot of action.
18 October 2024
I have been working in the field of business intelligence and data engineering for a long time. To make it this long, you have to be comfortable not feeling comfortable because the field changes all the time. The most obvious way is the tools we use in software to wrangle and visualize organization’s data is always evolving. The one constant, other than change, is that we’re always up against Excel. Recently, I was pulled into a conversation from a business unit that had built a process dependent on Excel. They found that they’ve outgrown Excel and needed something robust. As I was reflecting on that, I started to remember one of the most bizarre development tools that I’ve used in my career. What would you say if there was a tool that used an active Excel file for development of interactive dashboards that were output as a Flash file? Depending on how old you are, you might ask what is Flash? Or, you’d think I was crazy. That is exactly what Xcelsius was, which was later renamed to SAP Dashboards after a few acquisitions.
13 October 2024
I’m proud of my running. I don’t think it’s hyperbole that when I say that it saved my life and set me on the path I’m currently on. At some point I’ll go into more of that, but when I talk with other runners the attention usually goes to races. Races are fun, but I don’t do as many as I used to. Just the act of lacing up and going outside is reason enough for me to prioritize running in my life. For me, it’s easier to get out every day so it’s not a question of if I’ll be doing a run but when will I get out for the run. This concept is called a Running Streak, and is championed by the Streak Runners International, Inc. and United States Running Streak Association, Inc. Their website is found at runeveryday.com.
05 October 2024
Being on the Internet in the days after Digg and Reddit hasn’t been that much fun. When I was younger I’d make things on things that interested me. Putting something out there sparked a creative itch that could take those pursuits into all sorts of directions. Before the news of the LUNAR Remastered Collection, I was playing through Lunar the Silver Star on an emulator on my computer. It’s something I do a lot and I realized that at one point I had downloaded every Sega CD game. Most I had never played. I thought about a project to play through the games or collect information, and so I did what I always do, I registered a domain name: retrogamingproject.net. I’m happy that today I announce that the project now has its humble beginnings right here on my site!
01 October 2024
Eventually, I’ll start to have more non-blog post pages and projects added to the website. We’re still in early days but as I was thinking about how I’d structure things a monthly recap was always in the cards. Continue reading for a summary of the posts, pages, structural changes, and then any minor thing that caught my attention that isn’t a full-blown page or post yet.
30 September 2024
Last week, the news that GungHo is releasing LUNAR Remastered Collection on Playstation, Switch, Steam, and Xbox blew a lot of our minds. Releasing classic video games with enhanced graphics, audio, and quality-of-life improvements is a trend that I appreciate. Collecting classic video games is difficult and the physical media from decades ago have a limited shelf life. The Lunar games have always been on the top of my list but also I was not holding my breath to happen.
25 September 2024
On the most recent episode of the podcast, Cortex, one of the hosts CGP Grey mentioned the phrase ‘Apple Christmas’ that I particularly liked. Apple releases new iPhones and Apple Watches every September along with updates to all their operating systems. Getting these goodies does feel like Apple Christmas. Because I upgraded my phone and watch this year, I wanted to capture the reasons why I chose the devices that I did. It’ll help me next year when this train comes around again and I’m tempted to spend absurd money on incremental improvements.
23 September 2024
One of the fun things about starting new blogs is that authors need to find their voice and topics. I've been watching Formula 1 since I was turned onto in 2021. At that time I knew very little about the sport. The show did a wonderful job getting me interested and I immediately started watching Formula 1 in one of the most exciting season. I watched the domination of Red Bull through the next few years. While watching, I learned to appreciate all the aspects of the sport. Even in boring races, there is a lot of storylines to follow.
22 September 2024
Hi. Welcome to my website. My name is Ryan. Like most people, I have a lot of interests and I have a number of 'labels' that could describe me. Professionally, I lead a team of data engineering. Personally, data is one of my favorite things and permeates into every facet of my life.
