Leinninger.com

I have really slacked on updates this year… a lot has happened and I just haven’t had time to catalog it all here. So, here’s the Cliff’s notes version:

• I was promoted to Vice President, Software Engineering at the beginning of the year.
• Since then, I’ve really had no time to focus on code, technology, my hobbies or home projects
• I have, however, learned a great deal about high level leadership and the complexities of an enterprise organization
• Our engineers have been cranking out awesome stuff all year long and I’m grateful to be part of their team. We launched the first phase of a revolutionary product a few weeks ago and are already ready to release the next version. I hope this release gets the team the props they deserve from our business leaders.
• This year’s racing season was expensive and full of technical difficulties and repairs. During the first practice weekend, I hit a wall going about 80 and wiped out all of the suspension on the left side of my car as well as destroying the fiberglass nose. After that I battled with my brake bias, had a few bumps and scrapes with other cars, disintegrated my clutch, pulled the engine and trans, and tried to make my tires last a few weekend longer than I should have. The last straw was blowing up 3rd gear during the last scheduled race of the season. The car is still sitting in the barn waiting for me to pull the engine again. I hope to do that before the winter comes…
• Gina and I went to Germany for a week… it was pretty damn awesome. Gina allowed me to tag along while she attended a conference. She was honored with a nomination for her work in appetite regulation mechanics. We spent a few extra days in Munich and Stuttgart to visit museums, castles, and more than a few Biergarten.
• The week after we got back from Germany, we spent a week in Traverse City with our bandmates. Generally, we visited a lot of wineries, drank some wine, played a lot of music and chilled out. There’s no better way to get over jetlag than to chill in a cabin with your friends.

I’ll have some big news soon, so stay tuned. I promise I’ll post the details on this site!

- Duane

Video game season began a few months ago. A group of us at the office decided to invest in PC upgrades and many have been spending more time on PC gaming than console. Apart from the occasional PC pains (crashes, installation complications, weird voice chat compromises, etc.) the PC gaming experience does not fail to impress. Although current gen consoles have come a long way in their capabilities, there is still a significant difference in feature and quality.

Take Battlefield 3 (one of my current favorites)… the PC multiplayer maps are massive in comparison to their console counterparts. The number of players are far larger on each map. The graphics are undeniably better. The physics are more accurate. There’s more details. The quality of player is superior. Argue if you want, but the experience it better.

I’ve been playing the campaign in Dishonored. At first, I was disappointed with the difference in the graphics vs. the teasers in the commercials. However with the help of a few tweaks, I’ve become more than satisfied with the aesthetic of the game. These kinds of tweaks (here and here) are not possible on consoles.

Furthermore, LAN Parties just aren’t the same with a console. Most console multiplayer games require an internet connection and an official internet game server. Most multiplayer PC games allow you to configure your own game server or even host from your own instance of the game. I’ll exclude the controller vs. keyboard and mouse argument. That’s a discussion of its own.

So, am I done with console gaming? Absolutely not. Console gaming is easier. There are fewer bugs, crashes and complications. The Xbox live experience is the best centralized social gaming solution on the planet. I know who is playing what games with whom and can text or voice chat with them even if I’m not playing the same game.

So, what’s the point of my rant? Hmm…

I’m having fun playing PC games. I even enjoy some of the challenges of tweaking each game to their optimal settings. But, I miss the simplicity and reliability of console gaming.

What’s the fix?

That’s a loaded question: Microsoft has all of the ingredients to fix this. Windows 8 plays all nicey-nice with the Xbox 360. They have tablet and smartphone tools (smartglass). The gaming community needs to unite around a common communications platform. Steam is on the right track with their integrations, but most folks don’t want to manually add non-Steam games to their Steam libraries. To complicate things, EA (and other competitors) have started Steam-like services (but they lack the non-sales tools such as central chat, and social integration). Raptr is a great stop-gap solution: it allows you to connect all of your game networks (Xbox live, PSN, Steam, Xfire, etc.) into a single interface as well as keep track of your achievements and trophies. Think of it as Facebook for gamers.

All of that still wouldn’t be enough. There will always be the technical challenges of deploying demanding software onto diverse systems. Gamers love building custom rigs. There is a very active competition between friends to see who can build the best machine. That guarantees diversity in hardware. Which, in turn, guarantees instability.

So, now what? Live in both worlds? Buy 2 copies of each game? Well, some forward thinking publishers (including Steam) have allowed a purchase to work on multiple platforms. This is specifically why I purchased Portal 2 for the PS 3 (my 2nd least used platform). It included activation and cross-platform compatibility with Portal 2 for PC via Steam. Sadly, this is an exceptionally rare occurrence.

I’ve switched between console and PC games every few years. This is the first time that I’ve felt a need to keep a foot in both buckets. I haven’t decided which way to go, but I have a hunch that the next generation of top tier consoles will help me decide.

- Duane

In late October, our theater was completed after 5 years of saving, working, and waiting. While we haven’t been able to afford the anamorphic lens to complete the "movie theater" experience, it’s darn close. We’ve been able to watch a handful of movies in the past few weeks, but our schedules haven’t afforded us much time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

While Gina watched a movie last Saturday night (actually Sunday morning around 1 a.m.), it started to rain… indoors. Meanwhile, while playing a few rounds of Battlefield 3 in my office upstairs, I heard screaming. Loud… Shrill… Panicked screaming. I assumed that several ninja had interrupted Gina’s movie watching and were now paying the price for their indiscretions.

I ran downstairs to find Gina running in a 2-foot-diameter circle in the kitchen while the sink overflowed, waterfall-style. I dove under the sink and unplugged the food disposal, when that illogical maneuver yielded no results, I ran downstairs and turned off our well pump. The water flow stopped, but not before dozens of gallons of water had filled the sink, flooded the kitchen, and emptied into our new basement theater.

We scrambled to clean up the mess and dry things up. The ceiling tiles in the basement had already turned into mush. They fell apart in small black chunks onto the floor while water streamed from the can lights. Gina started applying towels to the basement floor, while I began to suck up as much water from the kitchen with out wet/dry vac.

Things already looked grim for our kitchen floor. The laminated wood planks buckled and curled as they soaked up the water. Our (also) laminated countertop showed similar signs of distress. Checking on Gina, things looked more promising in the basement. She had made a lot of progress soaking up water with the towels. While water was in the soffet, no other drywall looked affected. The ceiling was ruined… but, apart from a dangling light fixture, the electrical looked o.k.

After two hours of clean-up, we decided to call our insurance company. Water squeezed up through the seams in our kitchen floor when we walked on it and the basement was still very damp. They were very helpful and scheduled a clean up crew for the morning. After arranging several box fans and placing our de-humidifier in the theater, we went to bed, defeated and depressed.

Before 9 a.m. Gina’s parents were at our house offering moral support and diagnostic assistance. We still had not figured out why clean water would come pouring out of our kitchen sink. Shortly afterwards, the awesome folks from JCG Disaster Recovery were on site, evaluating the damage, tearing our kitchen floor out and placing industrial fans and dehumidifiers in the affected areas. After a few hours of guessing and experimenting, Glenn (my father-in-law) helped us determine that our 2nd-story guest bathroom toilet was running constantly with the flapper-valve stuck open. Combined with a block drain channel, we had the perfect combination of conditions for a kitchen waterfall.

Pete Black Plumbing was at our house on Monday morning to clean out our drain and today, JCG returned to remove all of their equipment. Gina and I finally sat down to enjoy the quiet, do a little work… and write this blog post. Hopefully, we’ll be able to start work on repairs.

Pics here.

- Duane