dominic-tancredi.com

The 4 Year Marriage Limit

dominic — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:00:50 +0000

I was reading Old Twentieth by Joey Haldeman and one of the more interesting ideas were the formation of 10-year “marriage” contracts between immortal humans. Basically, people who lived forever needed to find a way out of “’till death do us part”.

Which caused me to think about the establishment of 4-year Marriage Limits. Here’s my thought hack:

You agree to marry someone, with a base contract of 4 years.
After 4 years, you can either choose to renew your marriage or part amicably, with whatever you brought into the partnership, and an equal division of anything generated during the partnership’s 4 year-term (business, residence, loans, etc.) Here’s why:

You won’t take your partner for granted; they could always leave, so you’ll always value them choosing you
You won’t take the relationship for granted – much like life & death, relationships are re-cognized when they have a visible end
You’ll have incentive to work out (if you’ve stopped) so your partner starts noticing you near the 3-year mark
Less risk of divorce and infidelity. If you’re in love with someone, and they’re with someone else, you can always wait until their / your term is up…and see how you feel then.
Forever is a long time… a REALLY long time, but if you’re committed to someone, why not recommit your vows to them after 4 years? After 20 years, you’ll have committed to them 5 times!
Western civilization (if not most of life) is segmented into 4 year phases: 0-4 for early child development, then 1st – 8th grade, high school, college (or post), and 2-4 rounds of work or research independently, until children, which result in another 3-5 rounds…From 18 – 50, a person could have 8 commitments
Lastly…it’s still a commitment. Whether it’s a day, a month, a year, or the rest of your life, your committed to someone, so setting a limit to it doesn’t cheapen it; it makes the commitment have definition and scope.

But what about blah blah blah?

Some Rough Facts:

life is short
people can love many people : as my college professor of marriage said: how sad is the person who can only love and see love in one other person in the world?
people can get sick the sameness
people DO fall out of love
what’s the difference between 32 years of marriage and 8 renewals?
it’s realistic, flexible enough to allow options, but committed enough to stay strong in the long-term
is there a harm in it?
anyone judging the value of a four-year commitment could be a stuck-up snob who believe in unrealistic ideals that force people to be unhappy
here’s an ideal worth believing in: unhappiness. recognize it and build systems to adjust for it
maybe you want to go back to college, maybe you plan to be somewhere else in 4 years, sell the company, move to asia, etc.
you could always renew after a break: i.e. 4 years together, apart 1 year, then together again

Anyway, it’s an interesting thought exercise.

Birthday Notes : 2009 – 2010

dominic — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:59:54 +0000

I started writing these sitting in an apartment Cape Town facing the mountains

I’ve thought about the past year: 2009 to 2010. Things about myself I’m thankful for:

to be alive,
to be in a position I’m in,
to know the people I know, or at least understand them
and to have done the things I’ve done.

Some really great memories (in no regular order):

meeting my girlfriend Angela (in March)
traveling to Sao Paolo, Brazil for a weekend (and watching Old Boy on the flight, including a crazy sex scene that made me hide the laptop).
birthday party for my friend Carolina, and it was eye-opening, the disparity between rich and poor, and the enormous amount of carne they enjoy
traveling to London in the fall for three weeks. I really had a blast living as a day-to-day commuter, making my way to Tag’s offices, having meetings, going over for thick bread and jam breakfasts, and nearly every night a different dining spot. I saw a lot more of London than I ever thought I would have, including walking around town to the Tower, their modern museum, their theatres, the Eye, one of the oldest pubs in London. It was also great to contribute professionally to a high-end software product: CMD for Tag. The good company was bonus.
Traveling to Japan with Angela,
staying in Ryokans (eastern-style hotels with vegan-organic meals, great coffee, great vegetables, the best smelling elevators, and “transformer” rooms (I had a lot of practice setting up and breaking down our futon-beds, but sometimes just passing out on the floor-heated tatami mats worked just as well)).

We saw some outstanding Kabuki (rotating stage? Check. Ninja-rooftop-fight intro? Check. Understood only half of it? Check.)

And Kyoto, where we caught a glimpse of a Geisha, walked around the neighborhood, almost lost our eardrums at a Noh performance (4 hours? Oh man…)
Tsujiki Fish Market at 4 a.m. – styrofoam mountain! Eating the freshest fish in the world, doing a sushi bar crawl (3 places? I can’t eat enough. Ok one more round, with the fish prepared with a blowtorch)
Eating the best-tasting tempura and noodles in a cheap diner in a side-street.
Tasting horse and other weird korean beef-style foods and washing it down with some CHO
Watching Angela passout in first class from our economy class seat. Seriously, I sat kiddy-corner to her the entire flight out.
Disney World: Parents 30th Anniversary
Blizzard World: flipping the tube with my twin brother Tom, and having to scramble back in before the lifeguards saw us; jamming my finger for 3 weeks after
Making fun of scooters Mom and Aunt Pat were in; then secretly riding around them all night with Tom
My Dad telling I’d never get dinner at 11:55pm, scooter-racing to the bar, and calling him to gloat
Chicago: my friend Tim’s wedding; a really great final dance at the Wedding; enjoying a sober (ish) wedding; nicest wedding since Joe’s
ZARDOZ!
Seeing The House perform All the Fame of Lofty Deeds
writing my first iPhone App: ComicVille
Getting a raise at work
Making my first movie in a long time, about my hands fighting each other to kill my brain. I shot that all night at Angela’s place, even forcing her to stay awake to shoot. I edited that in 3 hours, and run to submit it at 11:59pm
Making my 2nd movie in a long time, Tres Problemas with my friend Mugsy. Amanda, our friend, edited it, and everyone in it was fantastic, specifically Rainne Wu, my twin brother Twin, and my girlfriend
Starting guitar lessons Monday January 3rd, and continuing all year. Playing every Monday at New York City Guitar school. Really… awesome.
Chicago
Meeting Audrey, some Freddy Mercury nutball badass girl from Staten Island (“it’s not a fkin’ library”) at Taste of LIC in June with The Chocolat Factory
The XX – boston – harvard – cambridge bed + breakfast
Quitting my job at Tag and joining Dom & Tom, Inc. full-time
Getting a boost up from Conversation, office-space, and big C’s.
Contributing to FreeOrion and thus being a contributing of the Open Source philo; and making the (bit)-world a better place

Simple things, I guess. Good moments in some Far-Off places, and some Not-So-Far-Away places.

A summarizing thought about last year:

Overall, it felt like a year of growing more comfortable professionally, especially doing Dom & Tom, Inc. full-time; re-discovering filming + acting; meeting someone pretty amazing, and staying together longer than month; the regular pain of being far from Chicago; refusing to cow-tow to who I was; and some bad-ass traveling and programming.

Looking forward, I have a lot left to create, relationships and company to nurture, playing more guitar, programming harder, acting in my work, and adding more to this blog.

But traveling wise, the only place I want to be for a while is home in bed.

Turn your Home, Landing, Splash Page into a Portal Page!

dominic — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:40:13 +0000

You’ve seen a lot of websites. I’ve built some. So what’s up with peoples home pages GETTING IN MY WAY?

You ever get to a website, and you want something, and then some weird splash thing gets in the way. What’s up with that?! It’s because web designers tell their clients they need to give them two things:

1) a landing page template (an uber-stylized brand themepark with swirly cups)
2) an internal page template (i.e. Everything Else)

And you know what happens? People land on your home page and never go anywhere else. That’s cool. But is it because they didn’t want to or because they didn’t have to?

Here’s some tips for a REAL ~~Landing~~ Portal Page:

Write down Your Content: i.e. everything on your site
Draw boxes around them
Move the boxes around until you’re happy

That’s your Portal Page.

Look at the BBC Home Page. It’s completely modular content. Want Sports? Sports module. Love Weather? Weather Widget. Hate Clocks? Kill the Clock Widget.

Your Home Page isn’t a Home, a Splash, a Landing: it’s a Portal, into every bit of content into your site, a way to flick on several tv channels at once and get a glimpse of what You want, a buffet offering, that You can sample content from.

Here’s my “Drumming T-Rex Example Site”:
Content:

Brand/Identity (i.e. my t-rex with shades drumming logo)
Menu Nav to Everything Else
Brand Intro (60 sec video introducing my t-rex drumming mission
Map + list of Latest t-rex drumming gig events
Videos of Gigs (youtube links + player)

Now, here’s a User’s Experience, broken into several visits to my site:

First Visit: User sees the Logo, clicks on the Brand Video: answers What’s this Site about?
Second Visit: User clicks the menu, checks out my static content (contact, about, t-rex-aq); already seen the video, bored, wants to troll rest of site
Third Visit: User clicks an event, sees the info, list of dates, details, popup on map or goes to Event Detail page; already trolled site, already seen brand vid; wants to know what’s up
Fourth Visit: User clicks YouTube vids, watches latest episode, watches back-dated episode, goes to Episode Detail pages, leaves artfully supportive comment
Fifth Visit: User checks out T-Rex Drumming Blog posts, reads latest post
Sixth Visit: repeat 3-5, User’s now digested all content, and the home page has become their mini-portal to the site

Now, instead of getting in the way of your user, you’re serving them exactly what they want right from the get-go.

Dig?

FTD

Tres Problemeras – Shooting 3 minute film – need actors + anyone for 10 minute domestic scene

dominic — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:42:49 +0000

Heya! This is my 3-minute film synopsis for “Tres Problemeras”. If anyone is available 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Saturday, February 5th, or Tuesday, February 9th and wants to join the film, the more the merrier.

Basically, these two guys swap bodies again and again and again. So we’re filming quick domestic 2 person scenes. Just you and a friend doing something normal. The film gets better the more people there are doing the same action. And it’ll only take 5-10 minutes tops!

But I’m not giving my address to strangers. So if you’re interested and available, e-mail me: dominic.tancredi@gmail.com.

Tres Problemeras

SYNOPSIS:
DOUG asks his boyfriend SEAN to marry him. SEAN says there’s a problem: his parents won’t accept he’s gay. DOUG decides to have a sex-change as a solution. SEAN is appalled that he wasn’t included in DOUG’s “solution” and decides to show-up DOUG by changing his sex…and also becoming black. DOUG is appalled because his father’s also racist (and never told SEAN), so changes his sex-back and becomes younger.
The boyfriends have a change-war, as seen through a variety of domestic activities that become increasingly more heated. Cooking, chopping, getting drinks from a fridge, going to the bathroom, showering, getting ready for a party, getting ready for bed, even sleeping in the same bed until it reaches a crescendo.
But then, they grow accustomed to the changes. Over the course of public outings, including eating at a restaurant, walking through central park, ice skating, they become more comfortable with each other.
Finally, a single shot of them (as different pairs of sexes, races, and ages) in their home shows they’re still in love. DOUG says he doesn’t care what SEAN’s sex, age, or looks are, he’ll love him no matter what. That what really matters isn’t what we are, it’s who we are.
SEAN says, “Ok, let’s get married.” They kiss.
As they kiss, their versions change, flipping backward, from 50 INDIAN MAN, to 12 YEAR OLD BLACK GIRL to RUSSIAN MALE to SKATER PUNK to HIPPIE GIRL to …
…their original selves.

How to Give Good Feedback

dominic — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:51:25 +0000

I just had a great client meeting today for a huge client whose name I can’t say (but one of the largest soda brands in the world).

We demo’d a new Flex / Flash app I developed, and his feedback was so clear, insightful, and upbeat, that when we got off the call, I said to the Client Rep’s something I rarely say:

“I love this client!”

Why? I’ve talked to this guy twice, and both prefaced by, “…and this is Dom, the guy who’ll be doing all the programming for your ideas. Say Hi Dom.”

What feedback did he give that made me so charged, that I immediately implemented the changes as soon as we got off the call? Here’s a brief list:

I can’t see two navigation buttons at the bottom. As an average joe user, I might miss them first time around. Can we bring it to the top of the page to show them? – he’s thinking of the user, and making it easier for them
These icons are all “default”-looking (they were placeholders because we weren’t provided any icons). Can we go through each default and find an icon for them to use? I don’t care what, just so long as it doesn’t look like we couldn’t find anything better than default – he instinctively knows its placeholder art, gives us the freedom to develop any art we want (close to brand but still nice), and wants the user to know we custom built each element
I love the look and feel of this navigation! (coverflow) But can we add navigation buttons just in case the user doesn’t quite get it? – he’s thinking of the user, lets us define HOW we want to show this navigation, but still respects the dev time it took to make it flashy

Now, I could go on, but all these notes had this in common:

it thought of the user first, not himself
it was positive and supportive of the work that is presented
it simplified, reduced, and clarified what was presented
it was about user experience
it wasn’t about adding functionality that wasn’t agreed to – navigation was agreed upon, but asking us to include a simpler solution isn’t new functionality, it’s refactoring code (essentially) since we had the navigation already setup

Just some thoughts to keep in mind when YOU give critical feedback to your team, hired guns, freelancers, or parents.

FTD

Danger Hiptop – Build Fail, Cannot find ${env.DANGER_HOME}

dominic — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:28:34 +0000

Working on my first app for the Danger Hiptop SDK. It’s pretty fun, Java with custom classes stacked on top.

I was editing the project in Eclipse, but when it came time to compile via the Ant build.xml, got this type of error:

1 2	BUILD FAILED /Applications/hiptop-sdk/examples/chessclock/build.xml:14: Cannot find ${env.DANGER_HOME}/tools/build_common.xml imported from /Applications/hiptop-sdk/examples/ourspace/build.xml

Reason? The environment variables I set weren’t being seen in Eclipse for some reason. Not to worry. Simply:

Right click on build.xml
Select “Run As…”->”External Tools Configuration”
Select the “Environment” tab
Press “New”, and fill out “DANGER_HOME” and “/locationOfYourDangerSDK” (mine is “/Applications/hiptop-sdk”)
Hit “Run”!

Before I was compiling it straight from terminal. But sometimes it’s nice to strike a fire instead of wait for lightning.

FTD

Passion Project – Pai Gow Poker – iPhone

dominic — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:31:01 +0000

As a New Year’s Resolution, I’ve dedicated Monday Night as PASSION PROJECT NIGHT! (krakowww)

To keep myself accountable, I’ll post every Monday night the progress I’ve done, some tips I’ve learned, screenshots… Who knows what could happen in the lab!

Pai Gow Poker

Description:

A single-player Pai Gow Poker game on the iPhone platform, using Objective-C, and a modified version of the GeekGameBoard code base.

Tonight I’ve done the following:

Reviewed the Project Description
Reviewed the Project Assets provided by Amy Anstine, our Core Designer for Dom & Tom
Cleaned up the semantics site-wide (cleaning up semantics a.k.a. naming conventions, linkages, project structure helps me refresh myself on a project)
Added content to the ABOUT page, added navigation elements, added copyright
Added content to the OPTIONS page, added navigation element, added copyright
Setup User Defaults on the OPTIONS page
Downloaded the GeekGameBoard codebase and reviewed

Next week, I hope to get my brain dirty and begin implementing game logic: deck, dealer and player’s hands, interaction with setting a bet, selecting cards, etc.

But not bad for a first night.

FTD

Building the Gunseed HG-01!

dominic — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:10:35 +0000

I finally finished my first Gundam – the Gunseed HG-01, the 30th Anniversary Edition!

I love robots. Transformers (the original) is my # 2 favorite movie. Every time I’m in front of an insurmountable foe, I just tell myself, “Megatron must be stopped… no matter the cost.”

When I was in 2nd grade, we had to build a robot. I dreamed of hammering a mechanical, steam-powered automaton to life… The day came and we ended up gluing cardboard cut outs from milk cartons. But I can do better.

I went to Japan last week and came across Gundams: complex robot toys built from snap-together parts. “Ah, HA!” said I… tiny life. For 1500 yen a pop!

I can’t stop looking at the instructions…the kanji are completely indecipherable except for the shapes.

At the end of grade school, we took a standardized test, testing our verbal and non-verbal skills. I loved the non-verbal section. My score was a 40/40 tying only Amanda Payne for awesome-acity.

Years later, I see those same shapes in the Gundam instructions. Shape driven. Pattern recognition. Warning Signs without explanation.

If you follow the Pattern, be it connect-the-dots, or Gundam-building, this whole new understanding Gestalts. It’s like following a trail in the forest, or a conversation with someone amazing…

…You look around at the end and you’re somewhere you never thought you’d be, doing something you never thought you’d be able to do.

Google Wave Bot Fix – “Could not open the requested socket: Address already in use”

dominic — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:44:32 +0000

PROBLEM:
You build your first wave bot using Google App Engine + Google Bot instructions, and run into this build error “Could not open the requested socket: Address already in use”.

SOLUTION:

Select the Project, then “Run Configuration”.
Select Web Applications, then your Run Configuration (mine is called “DomGoBot”).
Check “Automatically select an unused port”
Re-build!

ANALYSIS:
Google Web Application sets up a Java server via a servlet. It defaults to port 8080. However, sometimes you’ve got other apps running on that port (MAMP, etc.) So just set it to find an empty port and you’ll be right as rain!

FTD

Website Updates: Mobile Version, Twitter Tools, Popularity Contest

dominic — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:07:46 +0000

Attention: Updates made to the site using Alex King’s wordpress plugins (great code = great coder) including:

Mobile Version using Carrington Mobile 1.0.2 by Crowd Favorite
Twitter Tools (to push posts up the social networking food chain
Popularity Contest (ranking my posts by crowd favorite – in the spirit of google’s ranking

FTD