• We bought a house.
• It’s in Medina, OH, which is about forty-five minutes from where we currently live.
• There is no job change for me involved.
• My wife is taking a faculty position at the Music Settlement, where she will be teaching fiddle.
• The kids are very excited.
• The parents are also very excited.
• We got it for an excellent price.
• It’s in a wonderful neighborhood where the kids can walk to school.
• Lots of mature trees.
• I have a shed I will be transforming into an office.
• We take possession on June 30th.
• We move in on July 2.

I will post pictures as I’m able.

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I drove to a neighborhood called Glenville on the east side of Cleveland.  There, at 10622 Kimberly Ave, is former home of one Jerry Siegel. It was in this house where he and his buddy Joe Shuster created on of the greatest icons in world culture.

This is the place where Superman was born.

Last year, author Brad Meltzer and a group of comic fans raised over $100,000 to renovate the birthplace of the most famous fictional character of the twentieth century. He pointed out, quite fairly, the City of Cleveland was letting the house rot, and that it was going to come down to the fans to save it.

And save it, they did.

Now, there’s a sign out front, and a plaque that tells you what you’re looking it.  But unless you knew to come here, you’d never know it existed.

The house is both inspirational and heartbreaking at the same time.  It’s wonderful that a bunch of people pitched in to raise money to save it. At the same time, the neighborhood is a mess. The vacant, boarded-up houses nearby are rotting; one had a sign to ward off looters: “NO COPPER. PVC PLUMBING ONLY.”

There are no fast food joints here. No large-chain gas stations. No Seven-Elevens. Hardly any business at all.

If there was ever a place that needed a hero, Glenville is it.

And yet, sitting there in my car, looking at the house, I was inspired. Two kids, two poor, frustrated, hormone-addled high-school kids created something wonderful there. That deserves some respect. That deserves some homage; some reverence.

Superman’s fame isn’t tawdy; it isn’t cheap. Unlike Batman, it isn’t born from angst and darkness. Superman is one of the most rare creations, he’s famous for being the Good Guy. There’s a purity to Superman that is utterly lacking in in most pop culture icons. It’s his signature, his staying power; it’s why people still look to this fictional character with hope.

These two kids took a man and gave him three things: 1) Morals, 2) Strength, and 3) Bulletproof Skin¹.  That’s it. That was the formula. Hardly original. in fact, other parts of the Superman myth were cribbed entirely from other sources. Doc Savage, for instance, was known as the Man of Bronze and had a Fortress of Solitude. Superman was not created in a vacuum…he was a mashup of things that came before, and he is greater than the sum of his parts.

As a creative guy, this gives me hope. There is a myth of originality that creative folks cling to, as if there is anything new under the yellow sun. All we can do is remix and recast not only without shame, but also without guile.

And greatness? Superman achieved worldwide acclaim and recognition. The Siegel and Shuster families, however, have been fighting for the rights to Superman for years.

And the house in Glenville, where the two boys drew on old pieces of wallpaper, nearly passed away entirely.

The house serves as both inspiration and cautionary tale. It is both despair and hope, both dread and faith.

And between those, it endures.

Just like all of us.

(Click below to read the plaque)

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1. In the beginning, he couldn’t fly. He could only leap.

Exploring Django Part One, or, I Made a Half-Monkey/Half-Pony To Please You

In this first part of a three-part talk, Evil Overlord Chris Miller will show all the budding Evil Masterminds who attend how to get started with the Python-based Django web application framework. Topics covered will include:

1. URL Mapping for Fun and Profit,
2. Templating Engines for the Faint of Heart, and
3. Girding Thy Loins With The Power of Data Models.

Souls of the innocent will not be provided — expect to bring your own and some to share with the class.

Seating is limited to 30 people for this event, so register early!

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The rules:

•   You have at most 20 minutes for your presentation, including questions
•   Code must be posted to BitBucket by May 3 to facilitate people following along during the presentation.
•   You’ve got to stick to the project requirements, in the spirit of keeping this a fair comparison there should not be any additional graphics, styles or javascript tricks that are not built-in functionality of your framework.

The project:  A simple blog.

•   Post list
•   Post details page, including comments per post
•   RSS feed of last 10 posts
•   Ability to create a post, this should be protected by user authentication
•   Ability to create comments, this should not be protected by authentication
•   A blog post contains: title, contents, author and post date

A wiki page will be posted in the next couple of days on the Clepy site to answer some of the questions we’ve received.  You can learn more about us and subscribe to the mailing list at http://clepy.org.

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This week’s missive from Kris Johnson calling us to arms was outstanding, and must be shared.

Did someone say “Gunpowder Plot”? That means no crossbows, no rocket launchers, no gravity guns, no crowbars and no alien derezzers. Guy Fawkes wouldn’t have any of it, gentlemen! But Guy blew it, and not in the way he intended. His little plot might have gone more to his liking if he’d added zero-point energy weapons and red-hot rebar to the mix. I, for one, refuse to limit myself to gunpowder in deference to a FAILURE, sirs! I will use every resource, be it of terrestrial origin or brought here by dimension-hopping freakshows, to blast your sorry faces to oblivion! Remember, remember, the fifth of November The Crossbow with Rebar so Hot I can think of no reason The Crossbow with Rebar Should ever be forgot. Shotgun, shotgun, I double-tap To separate your skull from cap. A rocket launched into your eye Across the screen your corpse does fly; my laser tripmine laid in wait To halt your dash and foul your gait. Holloa boys, holloa boys, WASD! Holloa boys, holloa boys, the winner, it’s me!

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“YOU Gotta Be Tough” was a popular T-shirt slogan worn by Clevelanders during the 1970s, a grim period marked by industrial decline, large-scale population flight and an urban environment so toxic the Cuyahoga River actually caught on fire. These days it still helps to be at least a little tough; a fiercely blue-collar ethos endures. But instead of abandoning the city, local entrepreneurs and bohemian dreamers alike are sinking roots; opening a wave of funky boutiques, offbeat art galleries and sophisticated restaurants; and injecting fresh life into previously rusted-out spaces. It’s a vibrant spirit best exemplified by Cleveland’s new all-female roller derby league, whose wry name, the Burning River Roller Girls, and home, a former GM auto factory retooled into a 60,000-square-foot sports facility, say it all.”

read more: 36 Hours – Cleveland – NYTimes.com

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Mahalo

I’m leaving Mahalo because we’re leaving L.A…not the other way around. It was a tough choice, but I believe it was the right one.  I’ve built a team I can be proud of at Mahalo, and I have every confidence that they’ll do great things in the future. The truth of the matter is that I cannot manage this excellent team from a distance. A Lead Developer needs to be on site, dealing with the day-to-day running of things.  I cannot do that if I’m moving, pure and simple. There’s no drama, no feud, nothing like that…everything is ending on good terms.

I’m going to miss the whole company, no doubt about it. These are good, hardworking people. They deserve to succeed. I cannot wait to see what they are going to do next.

Leaving Los Angeles

I’ve written a little bit about why we’re leaving L.A. in a previous post, but there’s more to it that just economics and schools. Los Angeles might as well be a different planet when you’re coming from the midwest.  There are many who have moved here and loved it, and I can see why they would. The difficulty for use was that we did it with a family.  If Cathy and I had moved out here when we re newly married, I think things might have gone differently.

Some friends here told us what they’d like most: to own a small house with a good sized yard in a good school system. They followed that up with, “but this is L.A.”  As time went by, I heard this from other people — they all wanted what we took for granted, what we gave up to move here. And many of them had given up on ever achieving it, because “this is L.A.”

We’re moving back to our families, our oldest friends, to neighborhoods that we love, schools we know we can trust, and places that we’ve loved for years. We took so much for granted…that won’t be happening again.

People will poke fun about leaving the Big City, but that’s fine with me. Cleveland is home, and always will be.

New Eyes

Some folks have asked me if this move is bittersweet. No…not really. I achieved what I wanted to achieve at Mahalo, and I learned what I needed to learn from L.A.  I’m coming away better for it. If I never left Cleveland, I would always wonder what would have happened if I had. It’s been costly, yes, but I feel I’ve gained far more than I’ve lost.

I’m looking forward to seeing home with new eyes. That alone will be amazing.

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Why are we leaving?

We’ve found that L.A. is just not for us. L.A. seems like a great city if you’re single or a couple. There are a lot of things to do, if you’re into the night life scene. We’re not really, and with the kids, it’s hard to get out much.  The main reasons we’re leaving are:

• The schools are atrocious. The worst schools I’ve ever had the misfortune to step inside. I’ve never seen a state so proud of something so completely abyssmal.
• It’s too damn expensive. You cannot even USE the car insurance you pay ($260/mo for our cars), because if you are in a single fender bender, the cost will double.  It’s why there are so many beaten-up cars on the road. You’re basically throwing money away. And rent…don’t get me started about rent.
• Crime / safety. The LAPD helicopters were over our apartment complex last week for the thrid time in as many months.
• Too many goddamn people.
• We miss proper seasons, a city we can nagivate without reams of maps, proper forests and parks (The Cleveland Metroparks are AMAZING, and should not be taken for granted), our friends and family.

Where will we be living?

We’re settling in with my inlaws in Shaker Heights until we find a place. We’ll likely be renting for a bit, but if we find the right house at the right price, we might buy. Where is yet unknown.  We’ll be working that out.

Will there be a party celebrating our return?

I have it on good authority that there will be.

Will you be going to Origins?

I’m going to try, yes.

May I follow along with your Grand Adventure?

I’ll be writing about the trip across county, much as I did when we moved out here. You’ll be able to follow along from the comfort of your own home.

(special thanks to robotskirts for the awesome “How far is Ohio?” graphic, originally from Superpoop.com)

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photo credit: OctopusHat

I’m happy to say that the first Refresh Cleveland gathering was a success. We met up for dinner and beers at the Winking Lizard in Lakewood, and topics of conversation included:

• We have a lot of talented folks in this town. Why are they not speaking to each other?
• The Cleveland Web Standards Association is a Good Thing. Go. Attend. Support.
• Cleveland Day of .NET and the Worthiness of Rails.
• The pitfalls of freelancing.
• General frustration with the tech-lag at agencies in town. Anyone just discovering that RSS is a Good Idea really needs to get out more.
• Never let marketers drive design or development decisions.
• Cleveland Web Association lunches we discussed. Snarky blog post to follow.
• Oregon Trail
• The keys to a good presentation.

I’d like to thank the following folks for coming out to share their experiences (and some fine, fine boneless wings):

• Bridget Stewart
• Brad Dielman
• Brad Colbow
• Kris Johnson
• Adam Hutcheson
• Joe Fiorini

We have some big plans coming up…a Barcamp over the summer (probably in cooperation with the CWSA), more gathers, and hosting some panel discussions. If you’d like to be in the loop, please subscribe to the Refresh Cleveland mailing list.

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We’re having a little Refresh gathering tonight at the Winking Lizard in Lakewood at 7:30pm. There’s no set topic, other than tech in Cleveland and how we can improve it. Come join us!

Winking Lizard 14018 Detroit Ave. Lakewood, OH 44107-4522 Phone: 216.226.6693

View on Upcoming.com.

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You have to learn why things work on a starship.
- James T. Kirk to Savik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn

photo credit: ejhogbin

I attended Notacon 2008 this weekend. I’d like to tell you about it.

I learned a lot. See…I’m not much of a hacker. I’ve never played with Ham Radio for my own wifi, I’ve never attended a demoparty, and I know just enough about networking to get by. Notacon was an educational experience, one of the sort I don’t get often in day-to-day life. I don’t have much occasion to reflect on the necessity of editing information, but thank goodness Jason Scott does. I have not mulled over the current state of election technologies, but Smoke and Phreak had. Bruce Potter taught me more about the challenges of router monitoring than I’d learn in a year of working at my desk.

I attended Notacon the first year it ran and I felt like a stranger in a stranger land. I felt the same way this year. This is not the staff’s fault in any way, mind you. When I go to a developer convention, I know I’m going to have a lot in common with the folks there. This is a world where I’m a babe in the woods. Believe it or not, this is a very good thing. I have a lot to learn, and thankfully, the staff and speakers this year had a lot to teach.

This is not a “web development” conference, but web developers should attend it. Notacon will introduce you to new concepts and new ways of looking at problems. It will remind you of the complexity of the systems that you take for granted every day. It may even rekindle an interest, as it did with my friend Sean, who is unpacking his old sampling and mixing equipment as we speak.

Looking at the Notacon media archive, it seems like it gets more eclectic each year. Admittedly I’d love to see a web development track develop in the coming years. But even if one did not, I’d definitely go back, and I’d encourage friends to go with me. Too often there’s a wall between the folks who handle the nuts and bolts of servers/networking and those who upload their work to those servers/networks. Next year…instead of worrying about what “Web 3.0″ might hold, step back and dig into what Notacon is offering. You won’t be sorry.

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Note the snowdrift on TOP of the hedges in the second pic. Fun fun.

Back in a few. I need to snowblow my driveway.

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codeshaman: Watching a guy who doesn’t look too well shamble across the parking lot. Would think he was homeless except for the business suit.

codeshaman: Damn…the guys suit look like he was rolling a gutter or something.

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: there are a lot of well-dressed homeless people downtown atlanta

codeshaman: @sambearpoet Yeah, Sam…but this guy is kinda pale…and I think he is chasing a pigeon. It’s just weird.

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: wild

codeshaman: @sambearpoet Holy, shit…dude just bit a pedestrian. This cannot be good.

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: 911?

codeshaman: @sambearpoet Other peds are handling it, it looks like. Man who got bitten looks unhappy. No surprise there.

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: yeah, I would guess so!

Raeski: @Codeshaman. How did he get close enough to bite? Weird!

Cmaaarrr: @codeshaman @sambearpoet Rabies is awesome, too.

codeshaman: @Raeski Hard to say…I think he was distracted by his Blackberry or something. Two guys are holding the homeless dude now.

codeshaman: Dude who got bit just walked into the Starbucks. Heading for the bathroom.

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: you’re the Edward R. Murrow of tweetdom

Raeski: @Codeshaman. I bet the homeless guy is scottish. . .

codeshaman: @sambearpoet Sorry…it’s just not something you see every day.

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: no worries, it is kind of cool

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: it’s like “Police Blotter Live” or “News of the Weird”

Cmaaarrr: Just got a strange email from the CDC.

codeshaman: Cops have shown up. Taking homeless guy into the car. Homeless guy is not really resisting, Ambulence just flew by.

codeshaman: Bitten guy just walked out. Hand wrapped in paper towel…still bleeding, looks like. Ordering a coffee. barista looks disgusted.

Raeski: @Codeshaman. The rest of your day is going to be so dull in comparison to this soap opera.

codeshaman: @raeski Tell me

codeshaman: Traffic is starting to get snarled. Ambulance stopped at intersection. Paramedic is arguing with cop. 44 minutes ago from web

codeshaman: Guy who was bitten is standing outside, just holding his coffee. Staring at the traffic. Looks like he’s sweating. “Bandage” is soaked. 42 minutes ago from web

KJToo: @codeshaman When’s the next full moon? That guy is screwed. 38 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: @cmarrr How fast can rabies set in? This guy with the bite look awful. Pale and sweaty. 37 minutes ago from twitterrific

sambearpoet: @codeshaman: human bites are the worst 36 minutes ago from im in reply to codeshaman

Cmaaarrr: @codeshaman Not that fast. But this CDC note describes a new Lyssavirus, related to rabies, reportedly very fast acting. Like, minutes. 34 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: @sambearpoet Looks that way. Bitten dude just dropped his coffee. Looks dazed. 34 minutes ago from twitterrific in reply to sambearpoet

PGHolyfield: probably buying one of two laptops tonight… $1,000 range. My inner geek still wants the $2,300 Dell… sigh 33 minutes ago from web

Cmaaarrr: @codeshaman Wait. Sir, aren’t you IN Cleveland? What area? 33 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

sambearpoet: Robot warriors have arrived to take me to my orbiting throne-station. This may be my last transmission. 33 minutes ago from im

codeshaman: @cmaarrr What’s a Lyssavirus? — Bitten Dude just collapsed. One of the cops is coming over. Other is moving homeless guy to the ambulance. 32 minutes ago from web

codeshaman: @cmaarrr I’m down in the Warehouse district right now. W6th and St. Clair. Not far frm the Stadium. Why? 31 minutes ago from web

evo terra: @codeshaman Dude. You’ve seen Resi Evil & Dawn of the Dead. Get. The. Fuck. Out! 30 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

KJToo: @sambearpoet Nooooo! Dammit, that’s my throne! Those are my robots! 30 minutes ago from web in reply to sambearpoet

codeshaman: @evo_terra Heh. Funny guy. This is creepy enough to watch. 29 minutes ago from web in reply to evo_terra

Cmaaarrr: @codeshaman Only that St. Vincent’s and Cleveland State’s med office were the reporting sites for the virus. Are they close? 29 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: @cmaarrr Not too far…East

evo_terra: @codeshaman I’m only parially kidding. Me thinks the good doctor is suggestion you abandon your current position. 25 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: Another ambulance just pulled up. Crowd is surrounding the guy the ground. Thinking

evo_terra: Cannot lose my lead developer to some zombie-rabies thing! Oh, or a good friend. 23 minutes ago from web

: codeshaman Uh oh. Second ambulance has people in those hazmat type suits getting out. More cops are showing up. Cannto see guy on the ground. 21 minutes ago from web

Cmaaarrr: @codeshaman Uh… the cases were in that area. Started after altercation with a guy from the Glenn NASA center. Biting was involved… 20 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: @Cmaaarrr Oh great. Okay. Going to pack up in a sec. 19 minutes ago from twitterrific in reply to Cmaaarrr

Cmaaarrr: @codeshaman CDC alert said dude working with retrieved satellite with biologic experiments from Ames, then went nuts. 17 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: Woman outside just fell and is screaming. Corwd is starting to run. passed out guy..he…oh shit. 16 minutes ago from twitterrific

RayS: “And Invisible Man sayz, i can has light, and teh light wuz.” http://tinyurl.com/2ygwwb 15 minutes ago from twitterrific

codeshaman: He just bit her ankle. 15 minutes ago from twitterrific

Cmaaarrr: @codeshaman I know this isn’t what Twitter is for, but I don’t have your # – you okay? I’d get moving. 15 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

Raeski: @Codeshaman. Can you club anyone to death with your laptop if need be? And oh yeah. . .RUN! 14 minutes ago from txt in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: Cops. cordoning off street. Need to get moving if I’m going to get out of here. Sorry. guys. Back later. 14 minutes ago from twitterrific

RayS: @codeshaman someone bar the door! 14 minutes ago from twitterrific in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: Thank you for joining us for Zombie Twitter theatre. Remember, kids, eat your BRRAAAIINNZZZZZ. 11 minutes ago from twitterrific

RayS: @codeshaman and I was just

Cmaaarrr: Hey – the CDC did bring you “nepth-charging”… 9 minutes ago from web

evo_terra: @codeshaman & @cmar are cocksuckers. Funny, talented guys, but cocksuckers none the less. 8 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

KJToo: @codeshaman Dammit, I wanted werewolves! 7 minutes ago from web in reply to codeshaman

codeshaman: @evo_terra *bows* Thank you, sir. 6 minutes ago from twitterrific in reply to evo_terra

strangerthings: Ooh, reminds me: look to an upcoming season of Stranger Things, I have an awesome zombie story that turns the whole genre on its head. 6 minutes ago from web

RayS: @codeshaman please save that somewhere… 2 minutes ago from twitterrific in reply to codeshaman

KJToo: I’m off to infect @codeshaman with the superplague. This may be my final transmission. 2 minutes ago from web

: strangerthings @cmar @codeshaman: Well played. This is like Reality TV. It’s Reality Tweeting less than a minute ago from web

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1. Note: I would have kept going, but when I reaized it was Sept. 11, I thought that I should probably cut it off.

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Bizjournals.com looked at 50 U.S. cities to determine the most stressful metropolitan areas. Cleveland is No. 2 on the list; only Detroit is a more stressful place to live, based on factors ranging from finances and unemployment to traffic, crime and pollution….Of the 50 cities, Cleveland ranks 40th or worst in categories including percentage of possible sunshine; robberies per 100,000 residents; unemployment rate; rate of per capita income growth; and circulatory deaths per 100,000.

On this last trip, Cathy was able to make the trip to L.A. with me. 75 degrees and sunny. People out walking around and enjoying themselves. Places nearby that are open later than 10pm. I’d be lying if I said we were looking forward to coming home to Cleveland.

I’m trying. I’m really trying to love our grey city. Really I am.

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Tags: cleveland

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Blogged with Flock

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Where better to work from than a Phoenix Coffee? contented sigh

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