Caught In The Whirlwind
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Geeky Post Nobody Is Probably Going To Care About
01335 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
I just feel like writing something kinda geeky, relating to programming, so I'd imagine that this is going to be uninteresting to most of my blog readership. But I'm going to do it anyway. So, er..take that people!
I've never used any sort of version control system when I program. For any of my normal readers who have bypassed the warning, a version control system is basically a setup where every change you make to a file (usually a file containing program code) is logged which lets you step back to any previous point in time if you need to (say you screwed something up a month ago…you can go back and return things to the way they were then). It also allows multiple people to work on the same file at the same time and handles merging their changes together. And it's also handy for multiple version (like branching out a release version for bug fixing and then merging those changes back into a actively developed version.
Probably a byproduct of working in the unorganized environment that I do. Not much I can do about that. But in my efforts to make myself more marketable in my chosen profession, I decided it was about time to fix that problem. So I scouted around yesterday and settled on Unfuddle.com to start with. I was going to set it up myself, but in the end, having it off site on the internet somewhere made more sense since it also can serve as another point of backup.
I went with Subversion because it seemd to be popular and also works with Xcode which is what I'm using for my C++ stuff. Last night I tried to get it working with my wassyart.com files and I eventually did (after much silent cursing). It's pretty neat. I won't be using it to it's full potential since I'm only one person, but it provides enough benefits where I think I'll keep it up. Unfuddle is nice because it also allows me to have a bug tracking system so I can keep track of things I'm working on and such.
Anyway, geeky post over. I'll return this evening with a picture of my couch…
QotD: Lost and Found
01335 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
What have you lost that you wish you could get back?
Submitted by, Witch Hazel
This is probably going to be a little bit of a depressing post, but…I'd say my innocence. You know, back when you're a kid how you think the world is all black and white and people want to help each other out and such. And then you grow up and learn that it's not exactly like that at all, really? Just like when they told you that Christopher Columbus discovered America and made friends with the indians and not the fact that the vikings were already there and he didn't even really land on the main continent. Oh and he brutally enslaved the native population in a search for gold.
I just sometimes wish I could go back to the days of not knowing how the world really is out there, and how hard it can be at times just to survive, let alone chase your dreams. It's not all gloom and doom of course, but it's not as rosy of a picture as I thought when I was a kid.
I think I've had a pretty good life so far, personally. Things could be better, but they always can be. I've got good family and good friends. But it just gets depressing seeing seeing things on the news all the time about the greed and squabbling of humanity. I'd like to believe people are basically good and that they aren't out to get you, but it's really hard to hold to that these days. It would be nice not to have to be suspicious all the time of people's intentions.
I dunno about anyone else (I'm assuming this is a fairly common experience), but I went through a period as I moved out of high school and into the "real world" where every preconceived notion that I had ended up not being aligned with reality. I don't think the fact that 9/11 happened only a few weeks after I started college helped that either. It kinda felt like I was tossed out into a turbulent world when I thought it was supposed to be calm, and it took a while to reorient myself. But I think I'm finally starting to get back on track.
So I'd like to get back those days before I saw the world for what it was and the only thing I wanted to be was an Astronaut. Or maybe a Bus Driver. Depends.
Then again, that'd just be ignoring the problem. And ignoring what's going on is what got us into this mess in the first place. So while it would be nice to live a happy, sheltered existance…it wouldn't be real. And if one pretends that there are no problems, it's impossible to even try to fix them.
3!!!
01338 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
This weekend was destined to be dominated by going out to Woodstock, NY to see 3 play a headlining show at the Bearsville Theater. And dominated it was.
It started off kinda rocky though. I was supposed to do the driving, but 20 minutes before I left to go pick up Wassy, I stepped on my glasses. Despite trying frantically to put them back into a usable state, I failed and we had to re-arrange plans to where she would do the driving and we'd take her car which wasn't really an optimal situation since she didn't want to drive at night.
So I accelerated my packing and managed to grab everything important in the 5 minutes I had left to pack and then headed out to her place so we could head out. On the way I stopped by wallgreens to buy another glasses screwdriver and some extra screws. And while we were driving up, I managed to get them back into some sort of a working condition, although they're a bit crooked.
We arrived at Woodstock as the sun was going down which is kinda depressing since it happened at like 7pm. Way too early. One of the highlights of the trip though was a guy standing outside in Woodstock with a GIGANTIC sign that said "The President and the FBI are torturing me!!" which was…kinda strange. There wasn't a protest going on or anything. Just a lone guy hanging out with a sign that's bigger than car.
Finding the venue was a little tricky because it was dark and they didn't really have any signs which pointed out where it was from the road. We managed to find the right place though and it was pretty nice inside. Well kept up, cool bar, nice little place. The first person we saw when we got in was Joey Eppard, pretty much the brains behind 3. Wassy stopped to talk to him and I mumbled some things (I don't do well when I talk to people that I admire) and then we lounged around for a while until it was time for the show to start, had a couple drinks…relaxed. That kinda stuff.
The opening band was Freddy and His Fingers which were ok. They were a bit too pop-y for me and the songs started sounding the same. Aparantly they were big on the college scene as there was a whole bunch of younger kids that were there and dancing (and a couple of female to female makeout sessions to boot) in the front of the stage. By the time they had finished we were ready for 3. Except that we were going to have to wait for around 30-45 minutes while they cleared the stage and everybody working there stopped by and dropped off towels and water bottles and such.
But then 3 hit the stage and it was awesome. We were about 2-3 rows back from the stage near the middle (although we got pushed a little right as the show was going). The beginning was a little rough due to the moshing that was going on, but I managed to shield Wassy from the worst of it and didn't get hurt so we stayed there through the whole show. We were just on the edge of where the mosh pit was located. The show was great though. Good setlist, including a little acoustic solo spot in the middle, and an impromptu song with the original bassist and drummer from the band who were in the audience.
By the time the show was over, it was around 12:30, so we were in for a long drive back. Since I fixed my glasses, I was able to take the driving home. We made a couple stops for provisions (I needed something to eat) but we ended up making it back to her place around 3am. We had already planned to come back late so I had stuff to crash on their couch for the night.
Saturday was just a day of lots of hanging out and lounging around at my friends place (at least for me and Jay, Wassy was doing some arts during the lounging). I had borrowed Mario Kart Wii from my parents which we did later which was a lot of fun. I need to pick up my own copy at some point as it's a great game to play with a group. It also spawned the phrased "Yabba Dabba Doodlemier!" which was exclaimed after some particularly bad things happened in the game…There was some drinking involved too.
After that we watched a thing on the science channel about what if dragons were real which was…a little far fetched, even after expecting it to be far fetched. I left around 10 because I was about to fall asleep and made it back to my place.
All in all, a very good way to spend a friday night/saturday. It was a lot of fun, as happens with good concerts and good company.
Featured Question: Musical Discoveries
01340 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
How do you find out about new artists/bands?
Sponsored by Blogs.com.
Arrr! Today be Talk Like A Pirate Day, so's I'll be answering like this. Normally, I'll not be needing any other sources for sea shanties as the classics are all ye really need in order t' be lootin' and impressin' the wenches. But! If ye've got an progressive wench on yer hands, ye best be lookin' for something more modern or she'll be leaving you faster than a seagull can steal me sandwich straight from me hands.
So, that being the case, ye best be turning to the internet, matey. I generally trawl the hangouts of the official site of the dread pirate Mike Portnoy as there be a fine host of lads with good shantie sense. Aye, they do know their songs, although occasionally their tastes be a little on the strange/screamy side. Arrr, I can't stand listenin' to groups that wail like they've been tared n' feathered, thrown off the port bow and are currently being devoured by a bunch o' harpies! That's no good!
But when that fails, since sometimes those bilge swillers are out of suggestions, I set out with map in hand to find the hidden treasure within Pandora's box. Ye best be taking advantage of this now though, as those dirty rotten scoundrels at the RIAA have their money grubbing hands around that treasure and want to claim it for themselves. They be looting in the least pirate-y way possible, government mandated royalty payments! Why even Dave Jones wouldn't stoop so low. But, aye, while she be around, Pandora is the companion of many a sea shantie wanting pirate, being able t' tell that ye might like certain dittys based on what ye liked before.
So thar she blows! Ye've wrested me wench wooing secrets from me ye muttinous bilge-rat! Ye'll meet the edge of my blade for that ye pox faced swine!
Apples, Tea and Metal
01341 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Er…I guess those three things don't go terribly well together. Anyway, this post is about apples and an update on my work Tea situation. Also about music.
First the apples. It's fall, which means apple season! Since my friends live closer to the orchard than I do, I've had an agreement in place with them that when the apples come in, they grab me a bag of Honeycrisp apples because they're darn good and they go so fast. So the apples came in and I got my bag and…mmm…apple-y goodness. I am enjoying my apples very much and will work as an alternative to unhealthy snacking that I have a habit of doing. At least for as long as the bag lasts.
Back to the tea situation. It seems that my grandmother ended up with the eventual solution. It's not quite an electric kettle (as was suggested by maura) but close enough. I didn't want to get a cheap electric kettle because I keep hearing things about the water tasting plasticy these days after using them with the cheaper plastics in use these days. But my mom mentioned that when my grandmother goes away on trips, she doesn't want to use the in room coffee maker for hot water and instead brings her own little Sunbeam Hot Shot Hot Water Dispenser. It heats up 16oz of water to boiling in about 30seconds-1 minute, and then dispenses it. The heating chamber is metal too, which avoids heating the water in direct contact with the plastic. So I'm going to try that out today.
And finally, tomorrow is the day when I'm going to drive out to Woodstock, NY with Wassy to go see 3 in concert. It'll be the first time we see them headlining which is going to be really cool. And I get to leave work a 3 because we have to drive out to woodstock, so double bonus! I think it'll be a really good show.
Featured Question: Home Improvement
01343 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
What home improvement would you most like to make to
your apartment or house?
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If I could, I would totally remodel the bathroom in my apartment. It's freaking pink. Not just a little pink. VERY Pink. I don't really understand how anybody thought that this was a real good idea.
It's also the weakest room in the place from a functional standpoint. The cupboards are all a little weird and the doors never really stay closed. It could also use a new toilet and probably some touching up in the bathtub area. And a change of floor material. For some reason it's carpet in there. Carpet in the bathroom just sounds like a really bad idea.
Tea At Work
01343 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
I've started on a quest to make tea at work. Usually, in the afternoons I get a craving for something that's a little bit sweet that isn't water. And since we really don't have anything of the sort easily available, I usually end up hitting up the vending machine, which is bad.
So I've decided that I'm going to start bringing some supplies in order to make tea. First up, I'm going to get a little mug/infuser combination so I can keep doing the lose leaf thing. I figured I'd bring bottled water or use what's down there…not using tap water, especially not the tap water we have at work. And that I'd use the communal tea kettle in the break room to heat the water.
That is until I took a look at the tea kettle that was down there. It appears to be…rusting or something. It's got some black gunk on the bottom and it doesn't really look all that safe for use…so I think I'm going to have to find an alternate method of heating water.
I was thinking of getting a smallish tea kettle for me to bring in and use that instead, but I would rather not have it be used by other people (lest it look like the one that's already down there) which brings up the question of where the heck would I put it so that nobody else contaminates my hot water source?
Sigh…things are never as easy as they start off sounding.
Weekend Report: Gift Edition
01345 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
It's time for another long weekend wrap up post! Well, not so long as it wasn't a terribly action filled weekend. It did result in the culmination of a plan, so I will recount that now.
My friend Wassy had been feeling a bit down for a while. Not really going to go into it as that's not really the point, but I wanted to do something for her. She springs little gifts and such on me when I'm feeling down, so I wanted to return the favor. I can't draw like she does for me, and writing a computer program for her wouldn't really work out all that well. But then I came up with the idea of getting her a little figurine of one of her favorite anime characters, Belldandy from Ah! My Goddess! I don't really want to go into the whole thing, but needless to say, it fit thematically too.
I had planned this since last weekend and it was really hard keeping it quiet because I wanted it to be a surprise. I succeeded, until Saturday that is. Normally we get together on the weekends, but she came down with a cold and was feeling very under the weather so we didn't meet up. The secrecy plan fell apart when I told her I was going over to my parents. I came back and she asked "What'd you steal this time?" to which I responded…"something". And it quickly dismantled from there.
I delivered the gift and it went over really well, so it seems I made the correct choice. Which, being a man, means I have now used up all of my gift giving abilities for the next year or so apologies to anyone who's expecting to get a Christmas gift from me. It probably isn't going to be very good. But I'm really happy this turned out good.
The rest of the weekend was uneventful. Just a lot of hanging out. I started trying to work on a cover of Blackfield – Epidemic on Sunday since I figured out mostly how to play the piano part (which isn't that hard) and wanted to get some practice actually trying to put something together. I got to the drums though and everything kinda feel apart. I am lacking in rhythm I've determined.
Vox Hunt: Best Gift
01347 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Show us the best gift you ever received.
Quite an easy question for me to answer. I don't think I've ever gotten anything that was more thoughtful than this particular gift, and it's one of the few things that…if my apartment was on fire, I would rush into the burning building to save.
That, followed closely by:
Featured Question: Lunch Break
01348 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Do you bring or buy your lunch during the work week? How much money do you spend
on food consumed during working hours?
Sponsored by Microsoft Small Business.
I try to bring it because buying it is so expensive when it happens day after day and I can't afford that. Occasionally I'm bad and grab something from across the street (we have a decent Italian/pizza place across the road here).
I need to get back into the habit of actually bringing my lunch to work. This week I've been just going home on my lunch break because I only live 10 minutes away, but that's a killer on gas too. I'll try to be better about it next week.
As far as amount of money spent on food, my only other expedentures are gum and such. So assuming that I'm being good that week, usually a max of $5, never more than $10 on food and drink products per week.
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