Putting Five Pounds Into A Three-Pound Bag with ...

Don Smallidge

[with apologies to Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. for mangling the term which stuck in my memory for twenty years before I rediscovered it in The Mythical Man-Month thanks to Joe Szakas!]

Please send all feedback and other communications to topdog at donsmallidge dot com or to my regular email address if you know it.

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Home Page - Home is Where the Heart Is

Here is Nellie Lutcher singing My Little Boy, a favorite of my folks when I was a little tyke!

I'm not sure whether Nellie Lutcher made a recording of Mighty Lak' a Rose that survived, but she knew how to sing the blues! I think Blanche would have appreciated these recycled tunes. Sadly, some recordings require Flash and cannot be seen on some devices.

With special thanks to my mother (Arlene) and my other mother (Blanche, who left us so recently). When God gave out mothers, I got more than my share.

Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body with an iPad Drinking Green Tea

You should not underestimate the power of relaxing. Every once in a while it's a good idea to just take a break and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Lately I have been taking a little more time for myself and sampling the pleasures of Maine. Years ago (as a tourist) I came to Maine on weekends to recharge my batteries after a long week at a hot keyboard. Living here is even better! Shorter drive (or a good healthy walk to and from breakfast or tea).

This is a good place to mention just how good the service has been in local restaurants and cafes (especially my favorites: Selah Tea Cafe, Portland Pie Company, 2 Cats Cafe, Brandon & Laura's Cafe, The Olde Post Office Cafe, Richard's Restaurant, the Riverside Cafe, The China Dine-ah and Romano's Macaroni Grill). No wonder people come to Maine from all over the world!

Now all we have to do is figure out how to breathe life back into the economy. I have given up on my fantasy about retiring any time soon. Good thing I like to work!

Slideshow: These are just a few of my favorite things (and people) . . .

Music to Soothe the Heart of the Savage Beast

Note: A lot of the images were captured with the iPad2 (which seems to like 480 x 640 pixels and appear a bit "grainy" to me); the quality of the image seems to vary significantly based on the ambient light when the photo is taken. I will need to experiment with this a bit more. I have added a few more images taken at the end of the summer. I'm not sure what the final mix of photos will be, but I wanted to try out the technique before using it for more professional purposes on other sites. I will probably explore using jQuery here before making any final decisions.

This little slide show is based on a bit of JavaScript I found taking a course from Lynda.com. The course is terrific, but I am not crazy about the jumpiness of displaying the portrait and landscape images intermixed. This is my first cut (so bear with me). I will see if I can fix this. I noticed that it makes it a little tricky to use the links in the "dock" below the slide show.