Nate Beck - Adobeholic » Randomness

Punking Doug McCune

Nate Beck — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:19:55 +0000

[Disclaimer]
Identites have been protected in this blog post by means of Doug’s Safe Sexting application. Any resemblance to persons living or dead should be obvious to them. (You know who you are)
[/Disclaimer]

So a fortnight (I wait two weeks to tell anyone anything… so I can use the word fortnight) ago, I had the opportunity, nay the privilege, to attend Doug McCune’s “Cool Shit” session at 360|Flex. As many of you may heard, read or watched, there was an… incident that occurred during Doug’s session.

Apparently, I have been thrown under the bus as the co-conspirator of said incident.

So let us take a journey… starting two nights prior to Doug’s session.

Monday Night

A couple friends and I were hanging around the hotel after partying at the Rock Bottom. We weren’t ready to call it a night. So we decided to see what else Indianapolis could offer us and we hit the streets. We quickly found ourselves at Monument Circle. That’s when one of my colleagues remembered that there was some sort of crazy bowling in Indy.

We had no idea where to go until we ran into Tanner (a horse) and Sky (a man… I think). He gave us directions to duckpin bowling. However, It was too far to walk, so we went back to the hotel where we ran into some other “accomplices”. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what time the duckpin bowling alley closed, one of the Crowne Plaza employees informed us that Jillians had bowling.

We headed over there with the crew. Unfortunately, the bowling alley was full. Undeterred, we went down to the video arcade. We enjoyed Hyper Bowling, Super Shot Deluxe Basketball and Ski Ball. The party came crashing down when a Jillians employee informed us that they will be closing in 30 minutes. With thousands of credits still left on our cards, we decided to see how many tickets we could win before they kicked us to the curb.

So I went to the game that gave us the greatest chance of winning loads of tickets… I’m not sure what it’s called. It’s the dome game with the circle of lights… Well wouldn’t you know it… the first time I hit the button… I hit the jackpot of 375 tickets! I have ninja-like reflexes.

Here is a picture of one of my accomplices with a handful of tickets.

We were able to accrue around 645 tickets in less than 30 minutes, but what do you do with all of those tickets? Well, we decided to cash them out in bouncy balls… all bouncy balls (with the exception of one paratrooper).

Tuesday Night

After a great day at 360|Flex Indy. A group of us decided to try our luck at the bowling alley.

While bowling, we discussed the countless applications of 42 multi-colored, rubber bouncy balls.

Someone mentioned that Doug McCune had tweeted about shaving his chest for his session, and the ideas started flowing. Now as much as I’d love to claim that the brilliant idea of throwing bouncy balls at Doug during his session was all mine… it was truly a group effort.

Wednesday Morning

Wednesday morning rolled around, and I loaded the cup of bouncy balls into my backpack and made my way to the final keynote. We knew Doug’s session would be crowded, so we were sure to sit near the stairs that led up to the room where his session would be held.

After the keynote was finished, we rushed up the stairs to Doug’s room. It was already packed… people had camped out up there during the keynote.

Luckily, I was able to grab a seat in the front row. As soon as I sat down, I noticed that Doug had left the room, probably to refill his glass with water… or vodka. I quickly grabbed a handful of bouncy balls and went to work. Handing them out to the first few rows and giving them the simple instructions of.. “When Doug takes his shirt off, throw the ball at him”.

I wasn’t able to hand out all of the bouncy balls, as Doug re-entered the room and made his way to the front.

Then as the story goes… Doug took his shirt off…

There was a visual hesitation the moment Doug took off his shirt. Nobody was going to throw their ball… and it wasn’t me… but to whomever threw their ball first… bravo!

And finally… the video speaks for itself…

And there you have it… consider yourself in the know.

I also wanted to thank Doug for being such a great sport about the whole thing. You my friend are a rockstar… Keep up the great work!

Late-night programming

Nate Beck — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:11:27 +0000

package
{
	import net.natebeck.Nate;
	import net.natebeck.events.NateEvent;
	import com.bugquash.Project;
	import flash.event.Event;
 
	public class BugQuash
	{
		protected var pokeCount:int;
		protected var baller:Nate;
 
		public function BugQuash()
		{
			baller = new Nate();
 
			baller.addEventListener(NateEvent.GETTING_TIRED, onGettingTired);
			baller.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onComplete);
 
			baller.generateCode(Project.QUASHBOARD);
			baller.generateCode(Project.QUASHBOARD_ADMIN);
			baller.generateCode(Project.SERVER_LOGIC);
 
			baller.loadTest(Project.SERVER_LOGIC);
		}
 
		protected function onGettingTired(event:NateEvent):void
		{
			baller.caffinate();
		}
 
		protected function onComplete(event:Event):void
		{
			baller.sleep();
		}
 
		public function poke():void
		{
			if(++pokeCount < 4) 
			{
				baller.say("Ouch!");
			}
			else 
			{
				baller.say("Hey... that's kind of nice");
			}
		}
	}
}

Explaining my Adobeholism

Nate Beck — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 01:57:39 +0000

So earlier today someone sent me an email asking me why I claim to be an Adobeholic. I figured it was an interesting question, so here is your answer… and yes, I’ll admit I’m a fan-boy.

My Dock

Let’s start off with my dock on my laptop:

I’m well aware that this isn’t every piece of software that Adobe makes, but it’s what I use.

I haven’t bought Premiere or After Effects because I haven’t had a need for them recently. I’ve been out of video editing for a while (Although, I might spring for AE soon, I have some fun video / Flash experiments in mind).

I’m not a print designer so InDesign is not my cup of tea.

Captivate isn’t on the Mac, or else I would absolutely have it. Does anybody know of a good screen recording solution for the Mac?

Director, meh… I’ll use Adobe AIR instead.

Flash Media Server developer edition is installed, and the Admin console isn’t on my dock.

Flash Paper isn’t on the Mac either… oh Flash Paper… you’ve had a rough life.

Anything I’m missing, please feel free to chime in.

My Career

I have built my entire career on ~~Macromedia and~~ Adobe products. Starting out as a web designer, and then moving into ColdFusion and ultimately working with the Flash platform. I’ve been riding the RIA and rich user experience wave since the beginning, and Adobe has been making that wave bigger and bigger with each passing year.

Currently, I am the Senior Adobe Developer (cool title right?) for T-Mobile USA’s Retail Technologies team.. doing research and prototype development using Adobe’s products.

My Free-time

As if working with Adobe products all day long at work wasn’t enough. When I get home, I spend most of my free-time working with Adobe products. It’s a curse really… I have all of these really cool ideas for projects and experiments, and only so much time within the day to work on them.

I also spend loads of my time reading blogs and articles, attending user groups, blogging, planning events (like the BugQuash), and many other things that are related to Adobe products.

My Bookshelf

And finally, my bookshelf:

This photo doesn’t include the boxes of books that I have in the garage, but it should give you an idea of my obsession with technology.

Conclusion

So that’s why I claim to be an Adobeholic. I’d love to see what all of your bookshelves look like. So take pictures and leave them in the comments below.

TweetCoding!

Nate Beck — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:20:57 +0000

Two days ago Grant Skinner announced he’s now part of the Twitter craze.

One day later, he has setup a “TweetCoding” competition. Winner will receive a copy of Flash CS4 (compliments of Adobe).

As for how it’s going to be judged… nobody really knows yet… but loads of fun none the less.

Official Rules —> here
Template Files —> here

And you can follow the competition —> here

Flex Bug Quash quick update

Nate Beck — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:31:07 +0000

Hey everyone…

I know I have been missing for a week or so now. Between a new job, and planning our first Flex Bug Quash event, I haven’t had a chance to post.

Regarding the Flex Bug Quash… here is what I can tell you (without ninjas hunting me down). Adobe has graciously offered up their support. So instead of the cramped venue we were looking at before, we have a lot more space to accommodate all of you. So once again, Adobe rocks!

The first Flex Bug Quash event is going to be held in Washington State. However, there are plans of making this a global event as well using that interweb thing.

Expect an official email / posting on bugquash.com later this week when we announce all of the details.

You can also now go to the Bug Quash web page and sign up for email notifications. We won’t spam you or sell your email address, scout’s honor!

In other exciting news… I have been jotting down tips non-stop, now I just need to write them up for all of you to enjoy. So I’ll be back on that bandwagon soon enough, but I set out to do 30 days straight and I achieved it. Go me!

Farewell Flex / AS3 Reference Guide :(

Nate Beck — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:32:37 +0000

So this morning was working on an Adobe AIR prototype. With my headphones on and music playing, I may have gotten a bit into the music. Long story short… I knocked over my Pepsi Zero onto my Adobe technology platform ActionScript Reference (the cool pamphlet one that I got from MAX). It’s ruined, so I guess it’s back to the online Language Reference.

Curse you Ben Folds with your melodic twists and turns and memorable lyrics.

Farewell old friend… you will be sorely missed.

Tip of the Day – A new way to get involved with Flex

Nate Beck — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:25:23 +0000

So the reason I haven’t posted a tip the past couple of days is because I have been working on a new project.

Check it out here —> Bug Quash

Please vote on the poll. We’re trying to see how much interest there is in this kind of event.

Any questions, comments, ideas, complaints, suggestions, etc… please post them below.

p.s. I know… this wasn’t really a tip… but I’m tired and it’s beddy time for Nate.

:: Update ::

New information including how to sign up for notifications —> here.

Submit a Tip (Jan 09) winner announced!

Nate Beck — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:12:07 +0000

Congratulations to Aaron E. for submitting his tip walking us through using Sprouts! He is the winner for my first Submit a Tip contest.

A license for Baslamiq Mockups is on it’s way to you. Aaron’s tip will be featured as today’s Tip of the Day.

Thanks everyone for submitting your tips… I will probably end up using them as time goes by and will be sure to give you recognition.

A special thanks also goes to Balsamiq for providing the license for this contest.

Tip of the Day – LinkedIn… A Flex (and Flash) developers best friend

Nate Beck — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:52:27 +0000

This evening my wife informed me that there were over 16,000 job cuts announced today here in the state of Washington. Grabbing a few of the headlines from King 5′s website.

It’s getting nasty out there. So my tip today is to let you in on some of my secrets to becoming successful on LinkedIn, even in a time of economic downturn.

Even though I attribute much of my success to being totally awesome… here are some of my tips for success on LinkedIn besides using LinkedIn Jobs:

Never be rude to recruiters

They may just be able to save your bacon someday. When I get an email from a recruiter… even if it’s for a job that I have no interest in. I always respond with a polite, “I’m sorry, I’m not interested at this time. Please feel free to add me as a connection on LinkedIn” response. Given today’s economy… if I was to lose my job, I’d want a group of recruiters willing to help me out.

Update your status

Not many people update their status. Which is a benefit for us, because your status updates show up on the homepage of your connections. It’s a great way to get noticed.. especially if you are connected to recruiters, see above tip.

Recommendations really help

Another great way to get noticed is to have well-written recommendations. Receiving recommendations I’ve found, is a lot like a credit score… sometimes they just take time to grow. Future employers like to see recommendations from many sources over the years. Not just 6 recommendations in the past 2 months.

Also… don’t go on a recommendation spree writing a recommendation for every single connection you have, you will lose credibility.

Answer questions in your respective field

Along the same lines of credibility, LinkedIn Answers is an excellent place to establish your credibility with the community at large. From a high level perspective, answer questions about stuff you know and earn expertise.

Join groups relating to your field

An example of this is the Adobe Flex Developers group, it’s a plethora of job postings all over the world. Also be sure to subscribe to the digest email for updates about the group.

[Seriousnote]
I hope that any of you whom have lost your job, and are reading this post know that any joking in this post is in jest. I’m connected with many recruiters (especially in the Seattle Area) who are looking for talented Flash and Flex developers, go ahead and send me a connection request and I can make an introduction.
[/Seriousnote]

Anyone reading this post is welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn.

Submit your Tip & Win a copy of Balsamiq Mockups

Nate Beck — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:31:41 +0000

After yesterdays tip, I’ve been emailing a bit with Peldi, founder of Balsamiq. He’s a really cool guy, and he has granted me 1 license of Balsamiq Mockups to give away.

So now is your chance to get a free copy of Balsamiq Mockups (a $79 value). All you have to do is submit a tip. It can be about anything… Flash, Flex, ActionScript, ColdFusion, PHP, Ruby on Rails, .NET, Papervision3d, graphic design… you name it. Best submission will win a free copy of Balsamiq Mockups.

You may submit as many tips as you’d like (to better your chances). Submissions will be closed and a winner selected on Sunday, February 1st 2009.

Submit your tip here!

Good Luck!