Veterans Day

A very thankful Veterans Day, from me and my family. A special gratitude, admiration, and respect for my brother, who is currently serving in Iraq. Here's to wrapping up a successful tour quickly and a safe return home.

Unexpected SimpleDateFormat Behavior

Failing test case:

import static org.junit.Assert.*;
import java.text.*;
import org.junit.Test;

public class DateFormatTests {

  @Test
  public void testRequiredTwoDigitDay() {
      DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
      df.setLenient(false);
      try {
          df.parse("2009081");
          fail("Expected two-digit day");
      } catch (ParseException e) {
          e.printStackTrace();
      }
  }
}

Argh.

SimpleDateFormat API Javadocs:

For parsing, the number of pattern letters is ignored unless it's needed to separate two adjacent fields.

Tricksy API javadocs. We hatessss it forever.

Java - Resolving NullPointerException

In Java, the NullPointerException (NPE) is generally a simple exception to resolve. In very basic terms, it means that one is trying to access a property or call a method on an object that does not exist. Read the error message to find the line where the NPE occurred. Examine that line to determine which reference is a likely candidate to be null. Dig a little deeper to find out why that reference is null and fix the application to either ensure the reference is not null or to handle the reference gracefully if it is null.

Upside down.

Total U.S. debt held by the public as of August, 2009: $7.3 trillion
Projected deficit for 2010: $1.5 trillion
Total value of all gold ever mined at $941/oz.: $4.8 trillion

My Way: A Tribute To Frank Sinatra

I was lucky enough to be invited by a friend to perform in "My Way: A Tribute To Frank Sinatra" over this past weekend (7/31 - 8/1/2009). The performance was in Sioux City, IA. It was a great couple of nights; we played to around 1,300 people over the two shows and received standing ovations for both performances. During Friday's performance, we started to get some severe weather around intermission. Randy Peters, the artistic director and his crew moved the entire performance indoors; not a small task. The audience patiently waited for another full setup and sound check, and stuck with us through the second act. What a great group of folks!

The ensemble was as follows:
Sandy Henry (Vocalist)
Don Nelson (Bassist)
Stephen Morrow (Vocalist)
Brad Halbersma (Pianist)
Brenda Ashley (Vocalist)
Kimberly Bata (Percussionist)
Charlie Reese (Vocalist)

I've certainly gained an entirely new appreciation for Sinatra and his music. Among the ensemble pieces, I had several feature solos, including:

"I've Got The World On A String"
"Fly Me To The Moon"
"The Lady Is A Tramp"
"My Lean Baby"
"I've Got You Under My Skin"
"(Love Is) The Tender Trap"
"One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)"
"Summer Wind"
"That's Life"


A full list of the songs from the performance (58!)

And here is an online announcement from the local paper:

Sioux City Journal: Songs of Ol' Blue Eyes presented

I cannot thank the cast and crew enough for letting me be a part of this wonderful show!

What's what about who's who

Once again, I've been "chosen as a potential candidate" by the Vanity Press. This time it's the "Biltmore Who's Who" folks. They salute me for my executive and professional accomplishments and, given my background, believe my profile would make a "fitting addition" to the Honors Edition of their publication.

That is, if I just fill out the response form to tell them where I work, what industry I'm in, and what my "personal specialty" is.

*snort*

Holy Cow!

A dinner guest of mine was wearing a bright blue t-shirt with a stylized white portrait of Harry Caray.

My two-year-old daughter informed him, "I like your shirt."

He responded, "Oh, you know who this is?"

She answered, "Yeah. It's God."
 

Netbeans 6.5 + Grails

I'm not pleased with the apparent behavior of NetBeans 6.5 when creating a new Grails domain class. I'm unable to create a domain class anywhere other than the default package; the dialog keeps asking for a "valid class name":



This name works fine for creating a Groovy class, just not a Grails domain class. So, why won't the Grails support allow it?
 

UPDATE (2009-05-08): This seems to be straightened out in NetBeans 6.7 (beta).