zacharyc

On December 31st, all 30GB Zune users woke up to their music players not working. In a rarity for Microsoft problems, the source for for the problem was found. There is a good explanation of the problem here.

There are two lessons to be learned from this: 1) be careful of your looping conditions. 2) Try and write your code in small snippets that are testable, and write tests! A simple iteration through the total amount of days including a leap year would have caught this bug.

Just FYI, I’m not saying I would have been good enough to catch this, but it is worth writing down so I try to remember for myself.

zacharyc :: Jan.02.2009 :: C/C++ :: No Comments »

One of the best web apps I’ve ever used: Pastie is doing a casual donation. I’m going into the new year and am trying to really conserve my spending, but if you can afford to toss a few bucks this way, it’s a great cause

zacharyc :: Jan.02.2009 :: Programming, Technology :: No Comments »

In college I studied social networks. This was a few years before Facebook really took off. I was convinced that the world was a small network from books like Six Degrees and Linked. There were events in my life that convinced me of this, but nothing like what happened on Wednesday night.

I have become friendly with the owner of Rebel’s Elite. I saw her the other week at a competition and was asking her if there was any way I could help coach. I miss all star coaching. Much less responsibility, much more effort into the actual coaching. I like having my own team, but it is easier to just coach. Anyway, she mentioned she could use some help with her College program that met on Mondays and Wednesday nights. So, Wednesday night I found her new gym and showed up to help out a bit (late, but at least I came).

I walk in the gym, and am shy. That is the way I always am with a new program. You have to be careful with your first comment. You have to prove to the kids that you know what you’re talking about. One of the girls in the front started looking at me funny.

This Girl: I know you!
Me: Really?
This Girl: You’re from the east coast, aren’t you?
Me: Yeah, I’m from Connecticut. Moved out here in February.
This Girl: I met you in Providence last year, my name is Jelica.
Me: Wow, yeah, I remember that!

Anyway, the point of the story. I met this girl one night in Providence last February. Actually, it was the weekend before I moved out to California. She was able to remember my face and pick me out. We moved across the country, ended up in different towns but ran into each other.

The interesting connection is the cheerleading, people who are committed to the sport tend to meet up. All the gym owners I know seem to know each other. Its interesting how little you really have to do in the field to get connected, but once you are, you become intertwined in this web.

zacharyc :: Dec.19.2008 :: Cheerleading, Personal :: No Comments »

zacharyc :: Dec.19.2008 :: Photo of the Day :: No Comments »

zacharyc :: Dec.15.2008 :: Photo of the Day :: No Comments »

Yesterday went through my second AACCA certification class. This time my instructor was Mike Burgess, my last instructor was Lisa Moscow (former regional director for UCA in the northeast). Lisa was great, she was very experienced in the sport, and made sure to get the key points across. Mike had a lot to live up to, but I can say with assurance that he thrashed my expectations. I’m not sure what factor contributed most to my learning this time around:

• The fact that I’m nearly 4 years older than the last time I took the test
• The fact that I now run my own team, and have increased responsability
• The fact that the money for the certification came out of my pocket this time around

Whatever the reason I was able to learn a ton more in this session than I had before. My favorite part of the course was when Mike turns around to the class and says “Those two chapters are the chapters that make us never want to be cheerleading coaches!” (referring to the chapters on our legal liabilities and medical conditions we have to deal with). It was my favorite because he read my mind. I keep asking myself why I continue to coach. There are so many ways to fail, fall apart, and end up in trouble, why do it? The simple answer is that I love the sport, I love making sure people are safe and educated and teaching people what it is really about, not what you see on TV or in movies.

There were many other aspects of the program that I think are valuable, and worth being published. It is my intention to go over some of the topics in the manual here so that we can increase knowledge, education and publicity (though I’m pretty sure very few people actually read my site with hopes of cheerleading expertise). If it does nothing else, it will keep me focused on growing in that knowledge.

The last note that I’m sure I’ll mention again is AACCA’s take on competing in high school programs. Basically, the fundamental purpose of a high school team is support the school and sporting programs, not competition. This is something I’ve been trying to hint at with my kids, but haven’t done an explicit job of explaining it to my program.

Okay, so baring the fact that I got more than 30 questions out of 100 wrong, I have four more years of AACCA certification before I take the test again!

zacharyc :: Dec.10.2008 :: Coaching :: No Comments »

My littlest brother, Spencer, graduated from the Marines boot camp on November 21st, 2008 in Parris Island, SC. I moved to California before he enlisted, and got to spend about a month in CT during the summer at home so I could spend more time with him. I left for California about the same time he shipped out. I hadn’t seen him since August.

I feel I need to clarify. My family is pretty close. We moved around a lot as kids, making new friends everywhere we went. While there was a lot of brotherly fighting, we were consistent in each other’s lives. As we grew up, we started to grow apart. My next youngest brother is only 2 years younger than me. So while we spent a lot of time at the same school, we lived in different circles. My youngest brother is about 6.5 years younger than me. He’s a good kid, and looked up to me for a long time. I tried very hard to lead by example.

When he decided that he wanted to join the Marines, the entire family mobilized against it. With our country in the political situation we are currently in, it seemed overly dangerous for him to join. He was 18 years old, hadn’t been to college, and was overly eager to get involved with war. No one in the family supported him. His recruiters were pouring it on strong. Telling him that enlisting was the best way and that you shouldn’t listen to your family and that he should just sign the papers. They threatened that he wouldn’t be able to get infantry if he waited.

The recruiters were lying to him, and both my father and I proved it to him. We sat down with them and took them apart, from the beginning. One of the senior officers broke down from rational conversation and just insisted that he join when he couldn’t produce ANY numerical statistics to prove his outrageous claims. Continually asserting that it wasn’t the family’s choice, it was his, just go ahead and make it. Despite the consistent pressure on both sides, Spencer made time to hear everyone. He called the people I asked him to, drove all the way up to New Haven by himself to meet one of my friend who was a former Marine. He listened to everyone before he made his decision to join.

Despite the fact that I’m not behind his choice, I do appreciate that he took the time to listen to all of our thoughts before he signed up.

My mother had asked me if I wanted to attend his graduation from boot camp in South Carolina. I was eager for several reasons: 1) I missed my brother, it would be good to see him; 2) I don’t know how often I will be able to see him during the next five years of his active service; 3) I have never been to South Carolina (despite the fact that a bunch of my high school friends form Kentucky had gone to college there). I decided I would drive up from SC to CT in the weekend. I had always wanted to see the Outer Banks, so I was going to do that.

I landed about half an hour before my parents, though I started my trip much earlier (left the house at 6 AM, and I’m sorry to my roommate for being so loud). We landed at Charleston and drove an hour and half south to Beaufort. During the drive, my father and I asked my mother about the hotel we were staying in. One question in particular: “Do they have in room bathrooms? Or are we going to have to share?” was answered with a very questionable “I don’t know”. My Dad and I were quite concerned. My mother has a tendency to just do things to get them done and not read reviews, or really plan.

To our surprise we pulled up an exquisite old building. The hostess was quite friendly, the rooms were nice, and weather was perfect. I had been stuck in CA weather (which is really no weather) for a many months, it was nice to fill a consistent chill throughout the day, though I might have packed appropriately.

My mother didn’t bring any paperwork from the Marines with her down to SC. Both me and my father chastised her about this error. Especially when the hostess found the information online about the graduation ceremony which said we wouldn’t be allowed on base without a visitors pass. I spent the entire night stressing that I had flown all the way down not be able to see my brother. My father was resolute that if we got their early enough we could find a way on. So we left early. Once at the base post, the marine standing guard just issued us on (no pass needed). While I was ecstatic to get no base without issue, it is a little disturbing that their security was so loose.

The first day was family day. During the time we were on base there was constant advertising for the marines. We were directed to a building, similar to a gym where they were showing motivational movies about the Marines. After about an hour of these things, our sons and daughters marched in. Everyone was so far away we couldn’t pick out Spencer. When they were dismissed for their 5 hours of liberty, we went down to the deck to find him. It was quite hard, but he eventually spotted us because of my hair line.

We spent the remainder of the day running errands that he hadn’t been able to run while in training. We went to the PX. I was unaware, but if you ear honors, you aren’t given the pins for achievements. You get notified that you achieved that honor and then go the PX and spend your money on the badge or medal. Spender had to buy several pieces for his uniforms. He also was looking for a new G-Shock watch. The cost in store was $100. Using my iPhone i was able to find it on Amazon for under $70. I would think they would cut our service men and women a better deal. I was upset to see them paying the same as anyone else.

We hunted down some food at the commissary, basically a large grocery store. We took it out the rifle range and ate a nice lunch. We went to the bank so Spencer could switch to the Navy Federal Credit Union. He was unable to explain to us why it was better than his current bank, but he made the switch. We had just enough time to walk through the Marine museum before we had to take him back so he could get into formation in time. We waited till he had to leave and returned to our car. Getting out of the parking lot was another adventure. We ended up waiting about 30 minutes before we finally found a way out. I took a bunch of photos driving off the base, but didn’t like any of them. We got back to the hotel, went shopping, I took some pictures of the marina and went out for dinner to a nice little place within walking distance. The remainder of the night I spent reading, helping the hostess deal with a few circuit breaker problems and just chatting.

The next morning started early, we got up and made it to the base pretty early in the morning. Despite the fact that we arrived more than half an hour before the graduation was scheduled to begin, we found the stands by the parade deck completely packed. We found seats, but they were tight. In the end the tightness was good because it was cold and windy, and being packed together kept us more warm. It was a nice ceremony. The band was pretty good and the march was interesting to watch.

After the dismissal we went down the parade deck to find Spencer. It was very hard to find him because everyone in uniform looks so similar. We finally got together and took a couple of photos and then rushed off to get his bags and get moving. We drove an hour in a tight car all the way up to Charleston where I started my three day, marathon of a road trip, but that is a story for another post.

It was a good trip, and the marines did change Spencer. In my view, not for the best. Many of the attributes that I loved about him were veiled under his shiny marine exterior. They were still there but were hidden away. I understand that part of that change is necessary, if you are a marine you have to follow orders without question. Even if that means walking to your death so you can save thousands of other lives, you still have to follow that order. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know how to enjoy life and what I was most upset was that they didn’t teach him about context switching. Some days you need to be able to do what your told, and other days, with family, there is a different way to behave and I’m not sure he got that.

One prime example was the ability to laugh. Apparently you are not supposed laugh in the uniform, it is a sign of disrespect. When you laugh its called “loosing your bearing”. Spender fought very hard to keep it under control, but the end he began to loose it, and I have proof:

zacharyc :: Dec.08.2008 :: Personal :: No Comments »

zacharyc :: Dec.05.2008 :: Photo of the Day :: No Comments »

zacharyc :: Dec.04.2008 :: Photo of the Day :: No Comments »

I recently took a trip to CT for Thanksgiving, and I will be writing a post about all of that shortly, but before I forget, I wanted to write a post about Red Dot. They are AMAZING. I have taken CT Limo several times before, so I was very upset when my mother broke her plans to take me to the airport and told me I would have to take one of these services.

The problem with CT Limo is that they are overly packed, the shocks are completely gone on their vans, and their drivers are slow, and they stop continually. My last ride was so painful I promised myself I would try very hard not to take them again. When my mother canceled it looked like I would have no choice.

My father said he had seen signs for a new limo service called Red Dot. Being as CT Limo was that bad, I figured I’d try anything. It could be as bad, but I wasn’t convinced it could be much worse.

My hopes started to raise when I found out that they offered many more pickup locations than CT Limo. I got picked up within a quarter of a mile from my office. You can imagine my surprise when a limo pulls up instead of a van. I got a fully chauffeured ride form CT to JFK with one other person in the car. Now, here’s the kicker, the ride was $20 cheaper than CT Limo would have charged.

Down with CT Limo, Go Red Dot!

zacharyc :: Dec.03.2008 :: Personal :: No Comments »

zacharyc :: Dec.03.2008 :: Photo of the Day :: No Comments »

zacharyc :: Dec.02.2008 :: Photo of the Day :: No Comments »

Yahoo! just launched a new advertising campaign, Start Wearing Purple. I have to admit that, while I’m not normally swayed by “go visit this web page” advertising, I was very eager to check it out, and I wasn’t disappointed. Its a flash based web page that talks about the color that has been with Yahoo since is original foundation. It talks about the story behind the company, why purple is so important and lists ton of facts, such as which star wars character’s light saber was purple.

This advertising campaign is a very interesting. It is effective because it is fun, simple, energetic and personal. If you check out the commercial it is full of people ordinary people (who I assume work for Yahoo) singing along to an energetic song. Its new and exciting. Other Ad campaigns like Apple, or the new Microsoft Ads, are either getting redudent or simply unenergetic.

Now I am an Apple fan, but even I will admit that running the same Ad campaign for 3 years doesn’t always work. The jokes are new, but the premise is the same, and honestly, I would like to see them change the format a bit.

Yahoos Ad seems fresh, and I think it is a good idea for a good campaign, with a simple premise: start wearing purple. Now, they aren’t saying that everyone wearing purple is a Yahoo person, but that Yahoo people wear purple. Purple is a very powerful color. In ancient times Purple was a sign of royalty or divinity, due to the fact that it was one of the most expensive dies to find. Now, by quirk of fate, Yahoo ended up with Purple walls instead of Gray walls (you can read about this at their site).

The nobility and history of the color aside, the premise for the campaign is simple. It doesn’t take too much effort to wear purple. Not everyone has a purple shirt, so it is somewhat unique. Obtaining a purple shirt isn’t overly difficult either. Again, the notion is simple. People respond to simple.

Yahoo’s problem is that they aren’t keeping with the simple mentality of their campaign. They are moving too quickly, and bundling too much unrelated marketing with the simple, yet wonderful premise of wearing purple. Along with the launch of the start wearing purple campaign, they have started working “Purple Pedals”, a project which follows the life of a bike by taking geo tagged images and uploading them to flickr. Interesting concept, but what exactly does it have to do with purple? The bike is purple? That’s not enough for me. The connection is too weak.

Yahoo, of recent, has not been producing the greatest technology. Their search has fallen behind Google; their ad program was trumped by Google; their groups, once popular, need a major UI uplift. I’m not ready to give up on Yahoo yet, they have one weapon. They are extremely good at acquiring companies with amazing products. HotJobs is by far the most easy to use job website out there. It’s not overly cluttered, the searches make sense. Usability is key on that site, which is good because people hunting for jobs are normally either pretty stressed or hunting on their free time. Flickr is another powerful product. It’s a simple app for sharing photos. I use it, many of my friends use it, and I tend to log in from time to time to see what my friends are shooting. These are both powerful products that were developed outside of Yahoo and then brought in.

Yahoo needs to recognize what makes these products great, and pass it on to their internal developers. Their CEO just stepped down, and there are continued rumors of a Microsoft buyout, but even in that event, Yahoo needs a better plan on how to unite their products, and make things work. Now, simplicity for users does not mean simplicity for developers. They have their work cut out for them, but if they can see the great talent in these external products, I see no reason they can’t apply to their internal products as well.

zacharyc :: Nov.25.2008 :: Technology :: No Comments »

I was driving my friend Mike home from a bike ride, when he asked me if I thought that I had learned anything unique from cheerleading. Whether that sport in and of itself was unique enough that I felt I had learned things that I might not have learned from a different sport. This is a really great question. Now, I chose cheerleading because it captured my interest with the gymnastics and throwing people around, not to mention the great seats for football and basketball games, but I do feel I have taken some unique things from the sport that might be hard to find in total in any other sport. I think some of the things I’m about to mention can be achieved in other sports, but I don’t think the combination of all of them really exist.

Here’s a brief list of what I intend to cover:

• Basic History
• Co-Ed in nature
• Not Position Based
• The Community
• Strong Diversity

Basic History

Not all cheerleading programs are co-ed, but the sport has really started to grow to the point where seeing a co-ed team is not that unheard of. It’s funny, but cheerleading was actually started by men in the 1880s. There is a large reference to this in the book Cheer! and on Wikipedia. Women started taking over the sport during the first World War.

Modern cheerleading, which I could take an entire post to explain started more in the 1970s and 1980s. During its formation, the rules were very fluid and there were a lot of stunts and tricks that have now become illegal. Men and women worked together to produce tall pyramids and perform interesting acrobatics. It is during this time that competitions began to really become popular. Cheerleading had previously been only to support other sporting programs.

Cheerleading in its nature can be a very dangerous sport. Over the decades it has become the number one reason for high school girls to visit emergency rooms. Please note, that even though it is the number one reason for visiting ER rooms, some argue (and I agree), that it is still not as dangerous as other contact sports like Football. Due to some of the dangers, several organizations have stepped in to provide training for coaches and set up insurances for institutions conducting cheerleading. I am a certified AACCA (American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators) coach. These organizations also somewhat restrict some of the skills that should be taught or performed. The benefit is that we reduce the number of injuries, but sometimes at the cost of some of the original excitement that was once possible.

Cheerleading consists of several different types of actions, just like baseball players have to bat and field, there are several different areas for cheerleaders.

• Cheering or attempting to lead the crowd to create more excitement for the current sporting event
• Stunting putting each other up in the air to better attract the attention of the crowd.
• Tumbling and Jumping throwing oneself into the air to attract attention
• Dancing moving the body to music to get the crowd more energized.

Each cheerleader will have stronger or weaker points in the list above, and they can change throughout the life-cycle of a cheerleader. For example, when I started out, I was a very strong Tumbler/Jumper. As I went off to college, I developed my stunting and cheering somewhat to the determent of my tumbling. I have never been a strong dancer.

Co-Ed in Nature

Generally, men tend to be stronger than women of the same build and size. Don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of women out there who can kick my butt, but I’m speaking about the average, not the exceptions. In the same manor, women tend to have greater flexibility than men (again a generalization, but bare with me). This duality leads to men having a strong place in certain aspects of cheerleading and women being generally better in other aspects. This duality has set up a very interesting balance in the sport of cheerleading whereby men and women co-exist in the same activity each of them providing specific benefits to the team.

Many other sports miss this connection. In what other sport do men and women co-exist on the same team, on a equal level, to compete together? I can name only a couple, like sailing, pairs tennis, etc.. These sports miss out on some of the other points I plan on mentioning later.

To name just a few of the benefits of this co-ed nature:

• Broader respect for the opposite sex.
• Better conflict resolution skills between genders.

Not Position Based

Many sports are position based. For example, Basketball. There are five players and four positions:

1. Point Guard (1 player)
2. Shooting Guard (2 players)
3. Small Forward (1 player)
4. Center (1 player)

Each person who makes it onto the court slides into one of these rolls. As you get more professional the roles blend, and responsibilities are diluted between roles, but basically everyone fits into a position. When someone comes off the bench to replace a player, the responsibilities are the same and it is relatively easy for that person to walk in and play. While there is a dynamic of team chemistry, responsibilities are set per position. Each players responsibilities stay relatively consistent even if the other players on the court are substituted.

Basketball isn’t the only sport that is position based. Football, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer are all somewhat position based. Cheerleading is also “somewhat” position based. There are several roles in cheerleading stunting:

• Base- someone who helps lift another person of the ground and maintains a connection with the person being held up in the air.
• Flier- someone who is lifted up into the air.
• Spot- A spot may or may not be required to bear a fair share of the weight of the flier, but is also responsible for watching the flier and directing the other bases in terms of controlling the stunt

At most levels, bases normally work in pairs, with one flier, and one or more spots (normally a back spot and front spot). The problem is that matching up a group together takes into consideration more than just position. Since each person in a stunt group has a different level of skill, each group will normally work at the level of the lowest skilled member, for safety reasons. Another important requirement for a successful stunt group is that members of the same group are matched physically. Bases with different heights will have to use some tricks in order to make a stunt work properly. It is far easier if bases are the same height. Spots will need to be able to reach the arms of the bases or legs of the fliers.

On top of the difficulty of matching a group up, there is the sheer chemistry of a group. People have to get along and respect the other members. Timing needs to be figured out. Changing one member of a group could cause the entire group to need to relearn timing.

Now, as you progress through the sport, you become more adaptable. To the really experienced cheerleaders, changing a member should have minimal effect on the functionality of a group, but it takes many years, and depending on the difficulty of the stunt could still have an effect. At the far elite level, even the people winning national partner stunt competitions work together for years (sometimes even traveling to different schools together).

All in all, I feel that the dynamic nature of stunting groups and the chemistry required to make this all work is something is very unique to cheerleading. Potentially sports like synchronized swimming might have similar problems, but that is not my expertise.

The Community

Cheerleading has a very interesting motto, “cheer for your team, not against everyone else”. The best feeling I ever got was when we placed second in a nationals. It wasn’t a competition I won. I was proud of how my team performed. The team in front of us deserved to beat us, they were better. We did the best routine we could and came out very successful. I spoke with our competition, congratulated them, and wished them much future success.

Now, there are some rivalries, but for the most part we really try to get along. I feel its not as competitive as a community. Yes, most teams want to win, but not every team is going to win every competition, and I might be idealistic, but my goal has always been to leave a floor with nothing left in me.

At games its very similar. Our teams may be fighting on the field or court, but we always try to go over and say hello to the other cheerleaders.

Another aspect to our community is the closeness of the major players. This might not be all that unique, but the despite the fact that there are so many kids involved in the sport, the major players in the community are well known. I cheered for a program called LCI. One of the directors, Lynne Mensack was a former Varsity rep, and so many people (even some out here in California) know of her, or have worked with her. Bottom line, the community might be huge, but the major players are small group of people.

Strong Diversity

Cheerleading is a very diverse sport. From the 3 year old minis to the people like Jeff Webb who have been in the sport since the 1970s, there are many different types of cheerleaders. There are people who specializing in tumbling, and those that specialize in stunting. Backgrounds are also very different. My background is martial arts, many come from gymnastics, some from wrestling, some even come from NCAA sports like Football after they have served their four years in their primary sport. Everyone comes to the sport with a different perspective.

Cheerleading is expensive, so you tend to see people who have the financial means more often, but many programs offer scholarships to those who can’t afford it. If it is a college based program, the cheerleading expenses are normally covered by the school.

Because the background is so diverse, and the nature of the community is so friendly, cheerleading offers a unique opportunity for you to interact with many different types of people. This might not be as unique as some of the other points in this article, but it is a large component of what makes cheerelading so special.

Conclusion

I’m not sure if all the factors mentioned above exist for everyone who has been involved with cheerleading, but in the very least, I hope they explain why I love the sport so much. I spend countless hours a week either coaching or cheering myself. I’ve been doing that since I started nearly 12 years ago, and while I’ve played other sports along the way, I always come back to cheerleading as being my favorite.

zacharyc :: Nov.25.2008 :: Cheerleading, Coaching :: No Comments »

zacharyc :: Nov.21.2008 :: Photo of the Day :: No Comments »