Vistaprint Lessons Learned – Part 1: Software Development

February 9, 2010

Over the last two years at Vistaprint, I’ve grown a lot – both as a developer and in general.  I learned some lessons through mistakes I’ve made, things that I saw being done correctly, and by observing processes that could have been more efficient.

Over the this and the next two blog posts, I’ll cover the lessons I learned in three different categories – software development, career and personal development, and lessons that could be applied to a company. Read the rest of this entry »


Root access on Ubuntu server?

November 1, 2009

I’m in the process of setting up my very first production server using Ubuntu, and I’ve ended up spending a lot of time reading about security online.  Since I’ve always let the ops team worry about setting up environments, etc., I’ve now learned that there are a lot of different concerns to think about.

One decision in particular is bugging me right now – how to secure the root account on my new machine?  Read the rest of this entry »


Exciting new running site

August 2, 2009

Those of you who run a lot and those of us that want to go running a lot but don’t have inspiration may be interested in my sister Erin’s new blog. She’s writing up a lot of Boston running tours with historical information about the places you will run by. She’s also doing the same thing for San Francisco, where she lives now.

Eventually, I believe the idea is to turn them into podcasts that you can listen to as you run at 7-8 minutes per mile.

Anyway, I’m excited for her and thought I’d help her spread the news. Feel free to tell any of your friends in Boston or San Francisco to check out cityruntours.com.


SVN Haiku

March 10, 2009

Here’s my comment for my latest SVN commit:

How can I forget?
Don’t access variables,
Unless they’re not null.
Bug-ID GD-34785


iPhone Reference Errors

February 28, 2009

I’ve decided to give iPhone development a try.  I have a few ideas for cool mobile apps that I’d love to implement so that I can learn a new platform, a new language, and maybe make some money on the side…  However, I’ve remembered what I dislike most about programming – configuration.

Read the rest of this entry »


怎么学中文 (How to study Chinese – for Gemma)

September 14, 2008

As you know, over the last two years, I’ve learned a bit of Chinese.  I’ve taken classes, but a lot of what I’ve learned has come through self-study outside of class as well.  Here’s a list of resources that should help you along:

Read the rest of this entry »


更多中文

September 11, 2008

今天我要再用中文写日记。

昨天我工作一年了。  很长吗?我听说这是很段的时间工作。  但是这也是我最长的时间只作一个计划。  在大学我的计划都是三个月的。  虽然这是很长的我有时候觉得我不太孳。  我觉得这个感情是因为工作总是有别的问题。  我做完一个问题就开始别的。  很有意思的感情。  我想一个“feeling of completion”。

hmm有别的吗?  有。  今天晚上我看了我的姐姐的履历表。  我体认了我喜欢读履历表。  上大学的时候我做这么多面试所以我也想一想我的履历表。  用LaTeX写。  我觉得我现在知道很多履历表的东西。  要是你想我帮你,当然可以。

今天我也看了我的同事的blog。Lis是一个公司的作家所以她的日记很好。  名字是A Millenial Speaks。  我建议这个。

明天我要写很多中文的电脑工具。  我现在用了很多。

再见!


生活在哪里?

September 9, 2008

我从中国回来波士顿了。  先我觉得我得生化比较不一样。  每个东西很不一样-我有新的石室友,有的朋友们搬家走了,有的朋友们搬家到了,我知道我非常喜欢中国了。  现在我觉得我点点忘了这个感情。  每天我工作吃饭睡觉。 忙点。  我非常不要忘我的感情。  有一天我一定要住在一个外国可是现在我也觉得住在波士顿在VistaPrint工作对我生活比较好。  有的人可以说我太responsible了(怎么说?我的字典不能帮我。)我希望有好的生活所以现在我需要工作储蓄。感叹。

有一天


“Summary”

September 1, 2008
Well, Alisha had a good idea with her summary of her recent trip through Europe, so I decided to give it a try with my Asia trip.
Total Distance (not including to and from America): 3020mi (4860km)
Number of different types of transportation: 6
Friends visited: 3
Map of my trip in Korea and China

Map of my trip in Korea and China

Best Places to get pictures taken:

  1. Tiananmen Square (Beijing)
  2. The Bund (Shanghai)

Tastiest food:

  • Hongdong Garden (Gimhae, South Korea)
  • Huangting in the Peninsula Hotel (Beijing)

Most surprising food:

  • Duck Heads (Shanghai – I thought we were ordering shrimp)

Best meal for the buck:

  • Jianbing (Beijing and Shanghai – almost a breakfast burrito for 30 cents)

Best Restaurant slogan:

Check out the logo - Mr. Pizza is a player

Check out the logo - Mr. Pizza is a player

  • Mr. Pizza – Love for Women (South Korea) Also winner of the best pizza ingredient: crust stuffed with mashed sweet potatoes.

Sketchiest transportation:

  • Halfway between a vespa and a motorbike.  With three people.  And all our luggage.  But it was only 5 kuai! (70 cents?)

Most appropriate exit from a museum:

  • Leaving the Urban Planning exhibit in Shanghai into a giant underground mall from which it took over 45 minutes to find an exit.

Most surprising meal (for someone else):

  • Taking a girl I had just met ten minutes before to a 5-star restaurant (Huangting) because I had budgeted too much money and had decided to take the first person I met to the most expensive restaurant I could find.

Best hotel feature:

  • Renting a cell phone for $1.50/day.  Wow, what a great idea.

Best Club:

  • Coco Banana (best fellow dancers, too)

Most awesome and intimidating Chef:

  • KungFu Pasta Chef making longevity noodles on my birthday.

Best Athlete:

  • Michael Phelps

Best conversation:

  • 35 minutes of talking to a taxi driver in Beijing who guessed that I’d lived in China for two or three years.  That was the moment when I really got Chinese.

Most frustrating 20 minutes:

  • Getting stopped on the great wall by men from the army and not having a ticket because my tour guide was trying to scam us and having to speak for the two guys from the Netherlands as well because I spoke Chinese.  We eventually just paid them again, and then I had to convince the tour guide to give us our money back at the end.  Haha.

Best choice for what to pack:

  • A week’s supply of Immodium AD

Place most likely to return:

  • Beijing

Hmm, I guess that’s enough for now.  If you want, I’ll put more up later when I think of them!


Asia

August 25, 2008

Well, the whole “blog my trip thing” didn’t work this time…  Internet access was spotty in China to say the least.  I did write a journal, though (I’m almost done!), but I haven’t decided if I’ll publish it or save it for me.  Perhaps I’ll put up a few stories.

Sorry for the unanswered expectations, guys!