Inspired by the site over at usethis.com, the following is a brief interview between me and, well, me.

Matthew Juffs
Web Developer, Techie

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Matt, Husband to Anneka and Daddy to Lily (18 months) and Mia (15 weeks to go). By day I’m a Web Developer for IOCEA.com Ltd, the creators of Cshop and by night I develop my own sites and tinker with my servers.

I code primarily in ASP (Classic and .NET) with Microsoft SQL Server, but have been known to dabble in PHP and MySQL. Then I used a splashing of XHTML/CSS to bring it altogether and a sprinkling of Javascript if required.

My personal project, SlickCMS is nearing completion for a public release, over a year after embarking on it. I’m still contemplating going Open Source with it, or simply making it freely available.

When I’m not developing for work or my own kicks, I try to improve my measly XBOX 360 Gamer Score; Fallout 3 is proving to be engaging.

What hardware do you use?

At work, a Dell Optiplex 320 with 2GB RAM and an Intel Pentium D. It has lasted me nearly 3 years of development without any problems. It has 2 Sony 17″ LCDs connected to it, with a Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 – an older gaming mouse I found to be perfect for me, a lefty.

At home, a Sony VAIO, again with 2GB RAM and an Intel Pentium (M). It runs Windows 7 fine and my only complaint is the loud fan.

I also run several servers in the loft, including a mini-itx Firewall and an AMD Athlon X2 with 6GB RAM as a Virtual Host.

And what software?

My work desktop and laptop run pretty much the same set of software, with the former using Vista and the latter Windows 7. Visual Studio 2008; Microsoft SQL Server 2008; Office 2007; Notepad++ and 7Zip amongst others.

Browser wise, it’s Internet Explorer 8 at work, with Google Chrome at home. I prefer the minimalist approach of Chrome for browsing websites and the Web Developer toolbar of IE8 for development purposes.

The Firewall uses Smoothwall and the Virtual Host uses Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, with the VMs a mix of Server 2003/2008.

Lastly, I am a fan of Star Wars, so my Servers are named after planets: Bespin for the Host; Talus, Hoth and Corellia (amongst others) for the VMs and Tatooine for the NAS.

What would be your dream setup?

At work, a 30″ Dell monitor, with the Sonys either side would work well – all powered by a Intel Xenon workstation.

Laptop wise, a bleeding-edge Lenovo, Sony or Dell would be good. Maybe a high-end netbook or lightweight laptop for browsing the Internet when not developing too.

My servers could do with an upgrade and consolidation – there’s no need to run all 4 of them 24/7, when just the one with a bunch of Virtuals would suffice.

I used to roll with a desktop at home, for PC Gaming and occasional developing – but have since found a laptop to be ideal for sitting on the sofa whilst coding.

As I did back in 2009, I’m creating 10 New Years resolutions that I’ll hopefully stick to during 2010. The first 5 are a continuation of 2009’s resolutions:

1. Lose some weight – I’ll set a target weight in the coming weeks and will blog about my progress throughout the coming months.
2. Release SlickCMS – I’m finishing off a few features to complete Version 2, which will then be released to the public as an Open Source application. Version 3 is already in planning and 4 will be a port to .NET
3. Build up plenty of savings – As the recession is coming to an end, our savings should reflect this.
4. Complete an XBOX 360 game – My gamer points are poor for someone who has had an Xbox for nearly 3 years (2007-05). Completing a game should help this.
5. Release a new web project – In addition to SlickCMS which will ideally be coded in .NET
6. Tweet more – I’ve started to use twitter a lot more over the Christmas holidays, so will continue to during 2010, hopefully gaining many more followers.
7. Design refresh for Slickhouse – The current design you see before you is nearing a year in age and could do with a refresh to coincide with the switch to SlickCMS (from WordPress).
8. Blog more – The amount of posts I’ve written over the past year compares very badly to previous years. December 2009 only saw 2 posts for you to read. So for 2010 I’ll make more time to blog and will write some meaningful articles as well as random thoughts.
9. Take more holiday – During 2009 I barely took the 20+ days of holiday I’m entitled to off, so for 2010 I plan to utilise the full amount spread over the 365 days.
10. Increase reader base – Slickhouse and my other sites receive fairly low traffic volumes. A combination of Tweeting more, blogging more and releasing SlickCMS/other projects should help to increase the number of people visiting and reading Slickhouse and its related sites. Perhaps I could even make some money from the time spent blogging/developing in my own time?

That should do it. Once 2010 comes to an end, I’ll reflect on the New Years resolutions as per yesterday, hopefully stating that all 10 were stuck to. What have you got planned for 2010?

Nearly a year ago, I wrote a post detailing my New Years Resolutions for 2009. Some I’ve managed to stick to, others I’ve either failed slightly or considerably. So, keeping the same numerical order:

1. Get Married – we’ve officially been married for 7 months and 15 days. Our Wedding website is live with pictures from the big day and our honeymoon that followed.
2. Lose the Christmas excess – I’ve not attempted to lose any weight this year, but the good news is I don’t weight any more since I did at the end of 2008. Hopefully next year I’ll make a better go at this.
3. Learn ASP.NET – the fact that I code in VBScript/C# using the .NET framework each day suggests I’ve got the basics covered. Each new project or application I develop using .NET allows me to further improve my skillset. I’m planning a few .NET personal projects for 2010, so stay tuned.
4. Stick to no magazines – I don’t recall purchasing a single magazine this year and have only read a couple from friends/family. The only downside is that I’ve not read as many books as I had hoped to during 2009.
5. Get to grips with IIS7 – complete. The main web server at slickhouse is using Server 2008 and we’re also migrating to it at work. IIS7 is a great improvement over 6 and the additional modules allow for even more functionality.
6. Finish my own CMS – not quite there. I’m currently completing version 2 which should be ready for public release mid-January 2010. There’s a few major features still to implement, such as Tags and Categories – to make it a worthwhile WordPress alternative. See SlickCMS in action.
7. Build up plenty of savings – not complete, but other things have taken priority financially and I’ve felt the affects of the recession. Hopefully 2010 will be a better year.
8. Complete an XBOX 360 game – again, not complete. However, on 2009-01-07 I had only 730 gamer points; today I have 1900. Not a substantial amount, but it’s more than doubled.
9. Release a new web project – I have a few planned projects, but these are all on hold until SlickCMS has been released to the public.
10. Eat breakfast – complete! Each day we’ve got up with Lily at about 7am and sat down to eat breakfast with her. This will continue into 2010 as Baby #2 arrives and is a permanent lifestyle change.

That’s 2009’s resolutions summarised. As you can see, there’s a few to be carried over to 2010 – I’ll be posting the next set in the New Year. Whatever you’re up to this evening, have a Happy New Year!

For the past 5+ weeks since I last posted, I’ve been contemplating what to write about next. There have been a few minor news stories that I could have reflected on and the weather itself has been extraordinary this month for the UK.

However, today’s big story had to be echoed – Michael Schumacher is to return to Formula 1 next year! The story goes on – he’s to drive for Mercedes (Brawn GP of 2009) alongside a fellow German, Nico Rosberg and with Ross Brawn heading the team who helped him achieve many of his previous F1 wins.

What with McLaren and their 2 British Drivers, Hamilton and Button and now Mercedes with their 2 aforementioned German Drivers it’ll be a cracking season next year. The interesting part will be seeing if Michael still has what it takes to be a championship winner. The Brawn/Red Bull match throughout the 2009 season may unfold in the form of Britain/Germany (McLaren/Mercedes) for 2010. Or, he could find that his determination and previous wins aren’t enough as he struggles to qualify and race at the same level as before – the field is mostly young drivers these days, most of which has shown promise over the past 3 years since his retirement.

So, the 2010 Formula 1 season is shaping up to be another one worth watching. There are new teams, new transfers, the previous 2 champions racing with each other and now Schumacher’s return. Roll on Bahrain!

Take a look to the right and you’ll see 5 lots of Novembers in the Archive:

• November 2005
• November 2006
• November 2007
• November 2008
• November 2009

Which makes this blog 4 years old! A lot has happened in the past 4 years, including 2 jobs (with a slight career change); visiting Africa twice; becoming a Dad; getting married; becoming a Dad again.

Hopefully I’ll be looking back in another 4 years stating that slickhouse.com is 8 years old. Over the coming months into 2010, I plan to make a few strategic changes to the site and increase its popularity. I’ve learnt a wealth of knowledge working as a Web Developer since May 2007, so I’d like to publish a few articles along those lines too. And my side-project SlickCMS has been rolled out to several sites, so I figure it’s now time I bite the bullet and switch from WordPress. There’s a bit more functionality still to add, such as RSS feeds and Archives – but once they’re done Slickhouse will be powered by SlickCMS.

Don’t get me wrong: WordPress is a fantastic piece of Web Publishing Software, it’s just that after 4 years I feel it’s time to put what I’ve learnt from using it to good use and develop my own. Besides, I’m an ASP.NET/SQL Developer and my PHP knowledge is dwindling in comparison.