things.that.are(awesome)
I’ve got some projects that I want to work on and I felt that my current setup (OS X 10.4 on a mac mini + ok-but-not-great monitor) was holding me back. It was time to do something about it, so I went down to the Apple store and bought a new macbook pro. It’s fancy, it’s fast, and I love it. Now i have no excuses keeping me from starting the many projects that i’ve been whining about not being able to start because of “equipment problems”.
okay. i get it. i’ve been hearing the same thing from several distinct sources, and they’ve all been telling me that writing on a (semi-) regular basis is important. apparently, it’s the only way to be both a better writer and a better programmer (more on that later). so now, as part of starting the new year in the right direction, i’m going to fill in some of the blanks since last posting in may.
if you’ve been reading my dispatches for a while now, or if you take a minute to browse through the archived offerings, you’ll notice a pattern. lately, the posts have increasingly focused on geekery. this is a reflection of the changes in my circumstances as well as a change in my fixations.
i spent the last few years working off-and-on while taking some math and science courses part-time. most of the jobs i had tended to be either boring, monotonous, or unfulfilling. after years of procrastination, distraction, and indecision, i decided to apply for admission into the computer engineering program at concordia university. last july i received my offer of admission while finishing the last prerequisite course.
the program is a mix of math, programming, and electronics: subjects i’ve found fascinating although not always my strongest. my classes are interesting and challenging- the exact opposite of my previous school and work experiences- and exactly what i need. after getting through a rough introductory semester, i can say that this is one of the better decisions i’ve made.
since i’m already preoccupied with programming and nerdy computer stuff, and there are tons of projects that i intend to start (and hopefully finish), this blog is increasingly going to reflect that. i’m going to share what i’m working on- i hope mostly non-school projects- and what i am getting into. later this week i’ll be attending a conference about software engineering, CUSEC, so expect a report of my experience there or at least a brief rundown of my impressions as a start to this new year of consistent posting.
this is what i had for breakfast:
also, this book appears to be one of the more useful “hands-on” cocoa/obj-c tutorials i’ve looked through. the most interesting part of it is that it actually goes into the help and documentation parts of xcode. the other books i’ve looked through seem to skip any mention of api searching and assume you know where it is or what you are looking for. i don’t think there’s any one book out there that has everything i’m looking for, but this one seems to be a nice compliment to the others i’ve checked out so far.
about a month ago, i went to Right to Move to pick out a frame. projects there are given 30 days to be completed.
i was getting a bit worried earlier this week because i had delayed starting until after my exam, and my 30 days ends may 5th. i went in on monday- perfect because it was rainy and not busy- and got a good start. tuesday when i showed up, there weren’t any workspaces available for most of the time they were open, and i ended up only putting on some new brake pads. yesterday, same thing. i didn’t get in until 8pm which was about an hour before closing time. luckily i worked quickly and got it all together.
this is what i built this week:
if i count all the time i put into it, including rummaging through boxes for miscellaneous stuff like a matching set of pedals, then it took me about 5 hours to get it together. sure, i decided not to put brakes on the front or have more than 7 gears, but it’s almost exactly what i was looking for in a bike. it’s fast, light, and, unlike my last one, actually stops.
don’t know if i can wait seven years for this.
when using scriptaculous effects, they do not work with div classes, only div ids.
i couldn’t see this and not pass it along.
i know at this point, two months after it was published, i’m probably just stating the obvious but i’m still going to say it: this is the most inspired and amazing piece of writing in the history of the internet. perhaps in the history of peoplekind.
having said that, i must also mention why it makes me feel so stupid to write that and why reading it should make you feel both smarter and dumber at the same time- this is all common sense. or at least what i think common sense should be.
this should make you smarter if you don’t already understand and agree with a few things i accept as fact- other people’s children and pets are a pain in the ass, and people who whine and scream to get their way shouldn’t have that behaviour reinforced. this second point is particulary resonant because i have been on the other end of that too many times to count. i had a job that revolved around settling this kind of dispute. it sucked. seeing people that wholeheartedly believed that a sales transaction entitles them to anything other than the object they are buying, including berating underpaid staff and replacement items for deliberate misuse makes me feel embarrassed to even have to have a conversation with that type of person.
so i present this article, and propose we do the following together: agree that our current holy texts, the bible, the qu’ran, and the whatever elses, are useless and have done us no good thus far. in light of that we rename them “when we were Retards” volumes 1 through however many different versions there are (each religion can have their own volume), and adopt this article as our new “scriptures”. in fact, i think i’m going to start quoting from this now on in everyday life. i’ll just assume that other people have followed my lead and are doing the same, because if they aren’t then they should be. so the next time i get into a disagreement with someone over something completely unreasonable that they’ve done, i can just go ahead and punch them in the face. not only will it make me feel pretty good, but it will be completely justified. i imagine it would go something like this:
random jerk: fuck, my nose! what was that for?
me: because your bawling crotch fruit is ruining my dining experience.
rj: ok, but that doesn’t mean you can just punch me.
me: yes it does. it’s in the bible, dipshit.
rj: the bible? no it isn’t.
me: it is, you just have the old version- the one for morons. it’s in the new one- chapter 4, verses 1 and 2.
rj: why, thank you for your enlightenment, kind sir.
me: eat shit.
anyway, read it. it’s good and good for you.
because i felt the need to share this.
in other news- today is that magical day. one third of the staff*, if for only today, is officially awesomer than the other three quarters. they’ve been wandering around the office drinking rum straight out of these mini barrels they’ve got, singing ’sea shanties’ and getting exactly fuck all done. i don’t even know where you’d get a miniature barrel to fill with rum anyway. i pretty sure a fight’s going to break out later.
*by staff, i mean one of my personalities, of course.
after a long day with the noose around my neck, it was oddly fitting that i stumbled upon these articles*. every day that i go in to work, i find myself less and less motivated to do anything. i don’t know if i’ve mentioned this before, but i despise my job. i despise having to sell my time for something that i consider so trivial. i have a job that was created for morons, something that should be done by robots or psychiatrists. it’s repetitive, it’s unproductive, and most days i feel like a punching bag.
but there’s good news. every day i spend there is one day i get closer to leaving. there’s no logical reason for me to be stuck there. the only real reason i’m still there is because i want to be. it’s an easy job and i’m really good at it.
it’s time to move on. get out and do what i want to do, not what i can do to get by. my job is going to have an increasingly small place in my life from now on. i’m going phase it out. i’ve already started. writing this post is the first (baby) step (to the elevator). writing more regularly is part of my plan. so is having setbacks and not writing for a while. it’s happened before and, whether i like it or not, it’s going to happen again. but i’m not worried. that’s part of this plan. (so was adding one of those ‘motivational’ posters that you see in shitty offices throughout this post. this is actually one of the posters in my shitty office. i took some covert pictures with c3po.)
*in no particular order: one, two, three, four.
