Patrick Curtain

I don't really understand people who are unhappy all day and just wishing for "time off". To do what? Sit and stare? Lay down?

I wish for everyone the joy I have most of the time... spending ourselves in endeavors we believe in. For me, I'm playing music (practicing, rehearsing, performing, recording) and I'm building things in software (the products, relationships, minds and talents of my teams). I'd *rather* do these things than "watch tv" or "hang out" aimlessly. 

Exhaust yourself in a good cause! If it feels like play time, you're doing it right.

I favor higher costs for gas. My hope is it leads to a more realistic valuation of transportation and it's costs.

When importing a 200lb finished wood item from China is still cheaper than making it here, we're not doing it right.

When people think cars and gas and highways and accidents and lost time due to congestion are all less of a burden than public transit, we're doing it wrong.

When we falsely keep the price of fuel below it's current real value, we lose the differentiation it SHOULD make. 

We currently have some of the lowest fuel prices in the world, aside from the producing countries (gulf states, etc).

Think about our commuter habits. Big employers just expect people to drive great distances to them, when they could reasonably set up satellite offices much more effectively. :)

Been having a BLAST recording with Christopher Worth http://worth-music.com/. Here's a tiny snippet:

Coders! Dark Horse Comics Needs YOU!

We're doing *our* part to make the world safe for Digital Comics [1][2]  and we need bright engineers to keep up the fight.

Join us if you:

• Have a bright mind and a passion for software
• Have been coding in an OO language at least a year
• Know mobile (iOS and Android) or want to learn [2]

We offer

• An Agile/XP development environment
• Pairing and collaborative interaction
• Test-driven culture (still growing)
• FREE COMICS!
• Mobile and Digital Media experience
• Low stress, sustainable pace

To apply, send me an email with the URL to your LinkedIn profile.  If you have links to Github/Bitbucket repos, portfolio sites and other examples of your work, also good.  Tell us about your passion for software and one idea for how to make the comics reading experience better.

Oh!  More specifics? Uh... Well, we're really more interested in finding bright intelligent people that will work hard and fit our tightnit team than in any laundry list of specific buzzwords, but...

All our developers mix tasks cutting across our project and tools so you'll be expected to work in:

• Python/Django for current web work, many frameworks and libs
• Javascript and HTML5/CSS (have you seen our Web Reader!?[1])
• Objective-C for our Dark Horse Comics reader app [2] and other iOS efforts
• Java for the Android version currently in development
• PHP for legacy apps waiting to be re-tooled [3]
• Linux/*nix and AWS for servers, comfort with the shell is a must
• Various tools in our stuck including fabric, puppet, hudson, mercurial, , raw SQL (still!) and more

We practice facilitated code reviews (using reviewboard currently).

We use Pivotal Tracker for planning and during sprints.

We provide Macs with second monitors decked out as each of us prefer.  (Dark Horse is a top to bottom Mac shop)

Most of our development happens collaboratively, so being on-site in our offices in Milwaukie is the norm, but hours and work styles are flexible. Style is very casual, come as you are.

(Did I mention the FREE COMICS!)

Links

[1] http://digital.darkhorse.com/

[2] http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dark-horse-comics/id415378623?mt=8

[3] http://www.tfaw.com/

Aiming for a more equal (more just) society.  

Yup.  That's it.

Some more info, should you want more than just my say so on that...

And you can find lots more from 

• Wikipedia
• New York Times
• Boston Globe
• various other bloggers.

Headquarters for the authors and the movement is at "The Equality Trust"

And yes, there are naysayers.  Read em all!  I can tell you which side I find more common sense and more believable.

I stand up when I code.  

(Standup update has updated pics of the desk I'm using for standing now)

(download)

Click here to download:

standup-it-s-better-for-you-tqABwAoJrpDbrmrijbuC.zip (3.37 MB)

So, as I stepped back into a coding role (software developer here) I knew I didn't want to spend 8+ hours each day sitting in a chair.

More specifically, my own physiology has been changing and I'd feel it at the end of the day.  In my hips, knees and back, I'd have pains after sitting all day writing software.

For me, then, the answer was to stand UP!

Stuff

At home, this just meant setting my laptop on a box or anything else convenient and stable

Once starting at Dark Horse Comics in the Fall (2010), I mentioned that it's something I'd like to do, and "could you help me with this"? I'm really grateful that Marty Carter here found me an Anthro Cart that had been abandoned and was in storage.  That's the two-level desk you see to the left in the picture.  I just put my monitor on a big box (filled with packing peanuts for stability). I use the Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad so i can easily shift to sitting mode.  Takes less than 2 minutes to slide over to sitting down.

In Action

What I can't easily show is how it feels.

I actually move almost all the time.  Programming isn't primarily typing.  It's reading thinking (a lot!) and then typing before observing the outcome (tests run, builds, etc) so... any time my hands aren't on keyboard or mouse, my legs are moving, shifting weight back and forth, bending and walking around.  You'll be surprised, once you try it, just how much you move.  And yes, even while coding.