Long Delay

Not a moment too soon, considering my boss went crazy when she heard of my resignation and not only copied my entire computer, disabled my network account, changed all the admin passwords and even made my full-time counterpart go from computer to computer to change the local admin passwords.

Hey everyone. I just wanted to take a moment and fill you in on what has been going on with my life. I know it’s been a while since my last post, but a lot of this have happened.

First and foremost, the semester from hell has finally ended, and with a BANG! I received Academic Honors with an overall GPA of 3.61 (4.0, 4.0, 3.9, 3.3, 3.0). Winter was a really busy semester and I have a lot to show for it. Take a look at my academic projects page and get a feel for the systems I helped create this semester.

Second, I have a new job! After years of dealing with my boss’s inadequate understanding of technology and lack of managerial skills, I no longer have to work for the evil wench at the library and will be starting at my new job next week. Not a moment too soon, considering my boss went crazy when she heard of my resignation and not only copied my entire computer, disabled my network account, changed all the admin passwords and even made my full-time counterpart go from computer to computer to change the local admin passwords. I thought my last day was May 5, but whatever.

Third, I have some new articles in the pipeline including the Mac Mini Car Integration, Using and iPod/iPhone to Remote Control Your Life and my Letter to the Board.


Addicted

because the 5 shelves in the living room are full.You know the following sequence by heart: 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 16384 32768 65536 131072You read The Tao of Programming…and relate.You need an intercom for downstairs to tell your parents / girlfriend / wife / whatever to get you more JOLT.When you take a break from programming, and program.When you can say with a great level of confidance that you have written more lines of code than english.You wake up in the middle of the night with the solution to your coding problem.Your 4 year old son has seen you login and out of Windows and Linux so much that he can do it himself.You are the only one who knows what the difference is between a coder and a programmer.You have more groceries inside your keyboard than in your fridge.You have a toothbrush next to your monitor.You watch a tv sitcom and think “I could write an algorithm that writes the scripts for these things”You sit stuck at traffic lights and work out a more efficient algorithm for them, based on road orientation, sensor placement, time of year, time of day, weather and local sporting events, in your head.The people you respect most you have never physically seen or spoken to, but you always bow to their knowledge.Your family informs you than you should go and make some more friends …so you start coding AI routines.You consider ‘drinking caffeine’ and ‘sleeping’ to be synonyms.You can write ‘Pong’ in any language for any OS (or even NO OS) in under 4 minutes.


You Know You’re Addicted to Coding When…

Triple espresso’s start tasting bland

You have nightmares about COBOL and ADA.

You have good dreams about multiple inheritance, factories, and compilers that support partial template specialization.

Instead of using MS Word, you type your essay for school in HTML using NotePad.

School? What’s that?

You can multiply a 32 bit binary number by a 6 digit hexadecimal number in your head.

You laugh at movies that show programmers at work.

You walk outside and wonder why the sun doesn’t make a lens-flare in your eye….

You get withdrawal symptoms if you’re away from a computer for more than 3 hours

(Lines_of_Code) / (Hours_of_Sleep) < (Number_of_Energy_Drinks_Consumed) Every time you look at your clock, you see a power of 2 (6:40, 1:28, 2:56, 5:12, 10:24) You’re pressing CTRL+S every 5 minutes, in every application.. You end each line you type with “;”, even plain english ones; You code your own support software for the digital camera you just bought When your significant other mentions having kids you lecture her on the disadvantages of multiple inheritance. MSVC opens on startup. Whenever somebody asks you to do something, you try to think of a way to write a program that would help you. You have 2 bookshelves filled with programming books in your room… because the 5 shelves in the living room are full. You know the following sequence by heart: 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 16384 32768 65536 131072 You read The Tao of Programming…and relate. You need an intercom for downstairs to tell your parents / girlfriend / wife / whatever to get you more JOLT. When you take a break from programming, and program. When you can say with a great level of confidance that you have written more lines of code than english. You wake up in the middle of the night with the solution to your coding problem. Your 4 year old son has seen you login and out of Windows and Linux so much that he can do it himself. You are the only one who knows what the difference is between a coder and a programmer. You have more groceries inside your keyboard than in your fridge. You have a toothbrush next to your monitor. You watch a tv sitcom and think “I could write an algorithm that writes the scripts for these things” You sit stuck at traffic lights and work out a more efficient algorithm for them, based on road orientation, sensor placement, time of year, time of day, weather and local sporting events, in your head. The people you respect most you have never physically seen or spoken to, but you always bow to their knowledge. Your family informs you than you should go and make some more friends …so you start coding AI routines. You consider ‘drinking caffeine’ and ‘sleeping’ to be synonyms. You can write ‘Pong’ in any language for any OS (or even NO OS) in under 4 minutes. You get drunkhighotherwise intoxicated just for a different coding experience. You think of sex as an algorithm. Sunshine genuinely hurts your eyes. You actually feel like crap from getting 8 hours of sleep, that just so unnatural You can’t help but squeeze math and research topics in while sweet-talking to a girl. You have a “hacker’s manicure” (i.e. huge calluses on all your fingers) When you die you want “Hello world” carved into your headstone You keep old computers around and boot them up every once in awhile for the nostalgia. You would like to have an Aibo to see if you can run Linux on it. Your mother phoned you to see if you were still alive, and you responded “ping”. You look at your old code and cringe You got a D in Computer Programming class because you where coding a plasma effect instead of a “Hello World!” program You read books on quantum physics and time-travel to relax. When someone asks you your favorite color, you give the RGB code in binary. No one else can ever use your computer, as it is tweaked so much only you know how to use it. The first time you use another person’s computer it takes you less than 30 seconds to completely disable all useless programs from running at boot and uninstalling all the ad-ware the fools had on the system. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends who are addicted to coding.

Get Your Own Addicted Meme Here

More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

Facebook Group – Dell/Apple?

So this afternoon, I signed into my facebook account and of course had an ad from Dell on my homepage. It was for the group “Dell Survival Guide” which I subsequently joined. Tell me, under Gadgets/Gear, is that a Dell computer šŸ˜‰

So this afternoon, I signed into my facebook account and of course had an ad from Dell on my homepage. It was for the group “Dell Survival Guide” which I subsequently joined. The funny part is that after I joined, I looked at the page and saw this. Tell me, under Gadgets/Gear, is that a Dell computer šŸ˜‰

Simulate Full Audio Experience Without Disturbing Others

Connect headphones to headphone jack and raise volume to desired level.B.(PC Only) Prerequisites: Audio Card, Headphone jack that can be enabled simultaneously with external speakers1. Put headphones back in.*You can get even more control by adjusting the headphone volume (usually system volume).**For best results, disable all system sounds.C.(Platform Independent) Prerequisites: Airport Express (with firmware V6.3 or higher), headphone jack1.

So, living in a house with other people can sometimes be hard when you like to enjoy your music on the louder side but it is late a night. To compensate for this inconvenience, I’d like to share a few ways to enjoy full music whilst not bothering the others.
If you use headphones and have external speakers (preferably 5.1 or higher) playing the music simultaneously and synced, you can simulate hearing very full music without sacrificing quality or disturbing others. Over the past few years, have learned 3 ways to accomplish this task.

Universal Prerequisites: a computer, iTunes (latest version), external speakers, headphones

A.
(Platform Independent) Prerequisites: iPod*, iPod Dock
*This known working with the following iPods: 3G iPod (4 buttons), 4G iPod (click wheel), iPod mini. Not tested with iPod 5G (with video).

1. Connect the external speakers to the line out port of the iPod dock.
2. Place iPod in dock.
3. Play song and adjust external volume (as desired) using external volume controls (i.e. remote control, volume pad)
4. Lower iPod volume using wheel.
5. Connect headphones to headphone jack and raise volume to desired level.

B.

(PC Only) Prerequisites: Audio Card, Headphone jack that can be enabled simultaneously with external speakers

1. Lower external speaker volume using external controls.
2. Connect headphones and increase volume to desired level.
3. Remove headphones from ears and adjust external volume to a low level (as desired).
4. Put headphones back in.
*You can get even more control by adjusting the headphone volume (usually system volume).
**For best results, disable all system sounds.

C.
(Platform Independent) Prerequisites: Airport Express (with firmware V6.3 or higher), headphone jack
1. Enable ā€œMultiple Speakersā€ in the Airport Express selector.

2. Make sure ā€˜Computer’ and you external speakers are selected.

3. Lower external speakers & iTunes volume and play a track.
4. Raise iTunes volume to desired headphone level.
5. Raise external speakers volume to desired level.
6. Put headphones back in.
*You can get even more control by adjusting the headphone volume (usually system volume).
**For best results, disable all system sounds.

This unique method of listening to music gives you the ability to experience the fullness of music you enjoy while maintaining the sound clarity and not disturbing others.