Writing

For those of you who want to participate in the ZCEGuide.com Zend Framework Proposal competition, the deadline of October 31st is fast approaching.

So be sure to enter today!

- Davey

I am very proud and delighted to be able to tell you all that php|architect has now released the "php|architect's Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide".

The reason I am so truly happy about this, is because, I, with help from Ben Ramsey, wrote the book. This is the reason behind my recent absence. It has been an excellent opportunity for me, and though it was hard work, it was still a lot of fun.

But, this isn't all, to accompany the book, I have also released ZCEGuide.com, the official book site. The best thing about this, as far as you're concerned, is that we are holding a competition to win, not just a copy of the book but a whole host of other prizes. We have 1 copy of Zend Studio Professional, 1 signed copy of the book, 2 exam vouchers (which entitles two people to take the exam once at no cost!), and 3 1 year subscriptions to php|architect.

All you have to do, is participate in the Zend Framework. In particular, new idea proposals. Our panel of judges will evaluate all of the proposals submitted and will pick 3 winners who will share the loot mentioned above.

For more information on the book, the authors, a sample chapter and of course, the competition, head to ZCEGuide.com.

And don't forget, buy the book! - if you win, I'll pay you back for it - can't get fairer than that!

- Davey

I know most of you think that I have disappeared into a small closet alone with my !MacBook Pro and a wind up generator, however nothing could be further from the truth. Its really a shed.

Anyhow, enough with the (bad) jokes, I have really been writing a book, I can't say pretty much anything about it yet, but I should be able to soon - so keep your eyes peeled.

Other than that, I have been working hard at my day job, and as such have started a new series of posts at the PHP Thinktank, you can see my first post here on Sequoia - Open Source Clustering.

Anyhow, I will be back soon, just another week or two till things calm down

- Davey

Just like Last Year I'm jumping on the bandwagon again.

Despite the fact that it is hard to top some of the feats I managed last year (I for one, am not planning to marry anybody else!) it has been a very productive and exciting year for me.

This year, I got my Work Visa in just 9 days, and because of this blog, I was notified about a job being offered locally. My card arrived on a Saturday, by Tuesday I had my first interview, Thursday my second and I started work the following Monday. I am still happily employed. To everyone involved there, thanks so much for providing such interesting challenges for me to meet on a daily basis.

February began my first and thankfully, second look into PDO, my move to Serendipity and I spent most of my time settling in my new job.

With March came the first stable release of PHP_CompatInfo and the first release of Crtx_PEAR_Channel_Frontend.

April had its share of fun with the Jason Macer/OSI Hosting debacle coming to light.

May is my Birthday month, and it was my time to move to the darkside and try out Ubuntu Linux (which I am still using) and finally, PHAR/PHP_Archive came to the public eye.

With June also came the little cries of a new kitten, In July, we finally saw some public releases of Cerebral Cortex. I had my first interview in August, for the Pro PHP Podcast

September had myself and my wife travelling to and back from Toronto for php|works, my first conference where I had a great time. I also attained my Zend Certifications.

October was somewhat more quite, we added 2 more kittens to our household (with the loss of two of our cats, this left us with a total of 6), whilst November heralded the first (and subsequent) releases of Tooltip.js.

December entailed many good things, and some not so good. Firstly, I recieved my full green card (and a 19" LCD) and unfortunately when I shutdown Cerebral Cortex after a mere 5 months in the public eye.

So what does next year entail? Well, I'm poised to release a new version (vastly improved) of Tooltip.js - this will be beta and hopefully the last release before my initial 1.0.0 Release Candidate.

I am also now working for Zend on the Zend Framework.

Finally, I was also accepted to speak twice at php|tek which is almost in my own backyard!

There are other things I wish to achieve this year; I want to hone my project management (and people management) skills. I want to write a book and I want to get back in to the swing of writing articles.

Statistics

• 178 Blog Posts (142 more than last year!)
• 7 Months of Ubuntu Linux
• 3 Kittens
• 1 Work Visa
• 1 full time job
• 1 Green card
• 1 Anniversary
• 1 New language learnt (properly - !JavaScript)

I hope everybodies year was as successful and entertaining as mine, lets see what 2006 brings shall we?

- Davey

Because everybody else is doing it, I thought I would jump on the "toot my own horn" bandwagon.

So, here's what I did this year:

1) Coded the Miss England beauty pageant site for the third year running.

2) Managed to make PHP Magazine main cover article (With Sticking the Fork In)
The funniest thing about this, is that it was supposed to be a small piece for their "Tips and Tricks" column, but they didn't have room to print the column in the December issue. So, it seems they have dropped the column altogether and put the article as front cover. Yay me!

3) Started a new company, Synaptic Media

4) Started and almost finished Cerebral Cortex

5) Wrote decent (I hope) documentation for my first commercial project (see 4)

6) Got my first article in php|arch

7) Started Working PHP - watch this space, this is the coolest (code related) thing to come out of 2004!

Released numerous PEAR pacakages

In other news I did the following:

Met, moved in with and married my wonderful wife, with whom I'm so happy. Being with her motivates me to work harder and fulfill my potential, so expect much more from me in the future.

Statistics:

• 17 PEAR Releases
• 36 Blog Entries
• 3 Computers
• > 100 books (I read approx. 2 per week
• 3 Articles (yeah, I know, not many)
• 6 websites
• 1 trans-atlantic move
• 1 wife
• 1 kitten

I've had a busy year, but 2005 is going to be busier, with Working PHP, a new job (I hope), Cerebral Cortex being release (I hope), 2 conferences (you'll see more info on those as and when and lots more, I'm sure.

I hope everybody has a healthy, productive and fun 2005!

- Davey