Sometimes I feel like Marlin Perkins just sitting in the living room looking out the window. And since when does a 9" robin or a 10" blue jay take on a 20" tall owl? The owl sits calmly on the fence, surfing for mice, and the robins and jays attack him by dive bombing and pecking. Whats up with that? This bird could totally shred them, but he just ignores the harassment and continues sitting there looking for lunch. Finally, after he's had enough annoying by the smaller birds, and hasn't got a mouse, he gives up and retreats to another location. Robins and jays don't eat mice, so what do they care if he's sitting there anyway. And when I say mice, I mean lots of mice. We have lots of extras. Perhaps a good reason the owls like us I suppose. And we like them not only because they're cool birds, but also because they trim out the spares for us in the rodent department. So support your local owls, and take out a few robins and the odd jay for me if you get a chance.

A bit earlier today, the resident owl returned to his favorite perch, a small maple tree in my back yard.

I was able to get this shot with my Nikon D70 and a 200mm lens. I was actually able to get about 20 feet away from him for this shot. He's a little skittish, but doesn't seem to mind me approaching. Turned out to be a perfect exposure, in-focus, and I managed to hold the camera still (hand-held) for the 1/15 second exposure... This isn't cropped or retouched as the last one was, only down-res'd. Enjoy!

This fine Barred owl decided to make an appearance in the tree in the back yard today. He and his mate live in the woods behind our house.

We hear them almost every day, but occasionally we are treated to a sighting. One evening a couple of years ago, we watched the male and female both chasing a squirrel up and down the 140 foot tall trees. I have never seen a squirrel move THAT fast. Four seconds flat from the bottom of the tree to the top... and three to get back down again. The squirrel did manage to get away, but it was quite a show, with these two very large birds swooping and flapping around trying to grab him.

Better luck next time... hey - how about grabbing a few of the spare MICE we have hanging around the property...

Not so often does snow fall in this neck of the woods this late into spring... It was a pretty interesting sight.
Didn't end up staying around long, and it only just barely covered the grass, but still - it counts...

(note 6m copper cactus antenna attached to deck post...

Down the elevator, down the hall, down the steps, and out the door, I hung a left. Block and a half down (watch out for those left turn people who would just as soon run over a pedestrian as take the extra effort to look at one), and under the catwalk from the ferry terminal. Then it hits me. That first whiff of the unmistakeable scent. It makes the whole neighborhood swoon. I make my way to the little place next to and underneath the southbound Cherry onramp  to highway 99. You may know the place... smokey, hot, packed, literally a hole in the wall, and the line out the door and down the block. And inside, modified chaos. Five cooks in a kitchen too small for three, and two waitresses trying not to bump in to each other in the 150 square feet of restaurant space with a total of 18 customer seats. Don't get in the way now, or you'll get run over - really. Wait your turn, place your order, and be prompt with the money. Everything is the same price. Don't bother with the tacky charge card for six bux, just pay cash. And use the exact change. If not, she'll hand you a pre-packaged and pre-counted fold of 4 one-dollar bills, and you'll get a smirk and a look. Remember, time is money and she doesn't have the time to spare for your antics. Then, step BACK and get out of the way. Stand around (outside)[patiently], make that phone call, cause it will be a few minutes. They don't bother with names on the orders, because she remembers each person and what they ordered. If you're outside and she can't see you, then she'll holler for you on the mic in thainglish, and if you don't come running in about six seconds, she'll come looking for you. So be prompt. If you get your food to go, get to your favorite spot with a view (I like dodging the seagulls and watching the baby harbor seal eating on the metal mesh tables at Ivar's) and enjoy the best Thai food in Seattle.

The restaurant is Mae Phim, visit soon, and visit often.

Once upon a time, there was an Agile team that was working on stories in a sprint. The team was going on fine, until the product owner decided it was time for him to go on a month long vacation (and then leave the company).

Life Goes On
So, being a good scrum master, the SM appoints a new PO to make decisions on the specifics of the stories that were already in progress (and some finished). The new PO was a pretty sharp fellow, but he didn't have any background for the feature, so he was a might confused. But, the team had fairly good direction on the feature, so they persevered and completed the tasks as they understood them.

The Shadows
Now then, from lurking in the dark shadows, there emerged the original PO's Boss. The Boss of course looks at the feature nearly complete, and decides that there were a couple minor tweaks here or there - hey, he's the boss - he can do that. No worries, the changes were slight, and easy. Done deal. All the stories were completed, as well as the automated acceptance tests that verified the now-completed tweaks, as well as the remaining story criteria. All the words had been blessed by the Documentation folk, the UI had been blessed by the User Experience folk (this was the Second iteration of the UI design also BTW).

Demo Day
At the end of the sprint, we all get together with the interested stakeholders in a room, and review the stories, the functionality that was delivered. The managers, the development director, the project team, scrum master, and QA were all represented. Keep in mind now, that everyone has actually seen the feature at least once... "We can't have it do that..." says the boss. Well, apparently a modal dialog with OK and Cancel doesn't work the same in Boss-World as it does everywhere else. So, he fires up his argumentation engine and proceeds to corner the entire meeting with a redesign of not only the UI but also the functionality of a standard modal dialog. Nothing was up to par for the Boss, and - remember - he had seen it all demonstrated for him before...

The Outcome
None of the stories in the sprint were accepted. Sprint velocity: ZERO points. Bad day. Alcohol was required.

The Moral
The moral of this story is this: Have a Product Owner who knows what the feature does. Make sure the product owner has input from ALL the stakeholders - oh yes - in a TIMELY manner as well. Make sure your scrum master has the ability to keep lurking skeletons at bay. They can have their say in the next sprint. But at the end of the planning meeting, the stories should be pretty much fixed and everyone should understand the acceptance criteria for them. Stories shouldn't just have arbitrary criteria appended, grafted, attached, pasted, or otherwise affixed to them after the planning meeting, even by skulking lurkers.

I am still trying to collect my posts from other sites to consolidate them here. Meanwhile... please see:
JohnBoal.com

BitsNWidgets.com
TestDrivenDeveloper.com
GeekDads.com