CodeWtrN8

Thanks all

2008-06-24T14:45:00.003-07:00

Well it seems our work has had some effect on Holomove. Up comes the compeuppance.

The board of Holomove is in shock and it will take a while to figure out what to do. But now that Dr. Gough is back, I don't think the company will go astray again. I mean, who's gonna mess with the undead? Things will change for the better. Slowly, but surely. No IPO now, but when we’re ready, we’ll do it the right way.

Thanks to all that have kept in touch and all that helped in their own way. Unlike some, you made the right choices.

I'm not sure what lies ahead. But I would not be here if not for you and I appreciate it. Once more, to all the friends of Nathan, thank you and goodbye.

Shutting down the bad people at my startup

2008-06-19T07:34:00.001-07:00

2008-05-17T11:07:00.006-07:00

Last video post

2008-05-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

I tried to keep this live from the inside thing going as long as I could. No beer. No music. No video. No opinions. Just work. So you won't find any more video blog updates here. I hope you all have a good weekend.

I'm back

2008-05-16T12:27:00.003-07:00

Caught up on some sleep and I feel a lot better. Sorry for the unnecessary drama. Keeping calm and being rational is my new mantra. So it's not the dream job anymore. Eliza did a good job of talking me off the fence. I even managed to keep my cool after being asked to work on some survey Erik wants, right as I was heading out the door. Not that I was hired to do web forms. Breathe in, breathe out. I am just going to keep my head down and focus on the job. Just wanted to give an update and I'll keep the posts coming again. Thanks for all the support.

...

2008-05-15T10:59:00.003-07:00

A lot has happened since my last post which I can't talk about. Sorry to be so vague, but until I can figure out how to react and what to do next, vague is the new black. I don't know what to do and if I figure that out, if I can do it alone. Are my friends here even my friends?

Audible sigh

2008-05-14T14:19:00.006-07:00

I would be willing to let all this stuff go as kooky happenstance, but then there's this

which was the stack of notes and papers I like to call my non-traditional organization system. Obviously meant for me to find, obviously asking for something to be done without just asking. I have enough to do and enough to worry about. I got three calls from work while at lunch. I would like to just worry about one thing at a time (chew, swallow, then work). Actually I would like to not worry about anything. I am in serious need of a snow day. Damn sunny Southern California. I'm not sleeping enough, I am cranky, and work isn't fun anymore.

Freyja Capital

2008-05-14T12:32:00.003-07:00

So tipster OwnD let me know that a new image has appeared on the flickr site from the crossword puzzle.

By means of pixel-magic-bar-code deciphering, it says

haveyoufoundfreyjacapitalyet?

Freyja Capital being the company paying the bills. And where Erik works and the CEO used to work. Okay... not sure what to make of it, but thanks for keeping an eye out for me.

I'm actually going to try to not be a stress ball today and not work through lunch, snack, dinner. There is probably enough food in my keyboard to sustain me for a couple of days at least. Jay keeps telling me to chill out and keeps giggling about something he's done. It is harder to stress out when someone is giggling like it's middle school again. Lunch!

I'm stressing out here

2008-05-13T18:30:00.002-07:00

Things are so hectic here. We aren't working fast enough, there are not enough results. Everyone is stressed out and it's starting to take its toll on me. There's the work. There are questions about my relationship with Eliza, whether that's a good idea. And there are these puzzles that were once fun, but now getting stranger. And probably rightly so, there is the though that I should be careful about what I say on the this blog.

I'm just one huge ball of stress and I don't know where to turn. I'm going to implode or explode, but there's gonna be some 'ploding for sure. Something has got to give.

Okay okay

2008-05-12T19:32:00.005-07:00

So maybe I overreacted on the beer thing (thanks for the support/you should no better). Lesson learned. No more beer at work. But Jay decided there might be a more childish, yet reasonably acceptable way to blow off a little steam in office. We did wait till the Erik and George had left. Getting smarter.

And this is the thanks I get?

2008-05-12T14:26:00.003-07:00

Sigh. Spirits low, folks.

I was thinking I should it go, but before I could even get this post up, the CEO mentions it again. So much for "we want you to feel comfortable here," "we are all about teamwork." I suppose trust falls and name games would be better way to encourage teamwork? We we all willing to work last weekend to keep schedule, but Erik closed down the office for repairs. In my experience, there are two fuels for teams. Coffee and beer. Stress and relief. This wasn't a kegger, it was just a couple of beers. Am totally off base?

Not so sure

2008-05-12T10:42:00.003-07:00

Okay, between having too much fun with Eliza this weekend and nearly forgetting Mother's Day, I still have pestering thoughts about the crossword puzzle. If I follow Alex's logic, there's got to be something more to this puzzle. Something hidden important locate to me puts up two immediate questions: What is that something and Where should it be located?

As Greg and Scott pointed out, all the (intelligible) stuff in the puzzle is:

hidden-images
something-community
important-knowledge
locate-random

I am not sure what to do with Teddy Clippers etc. as it doesn't make any sense. The puzzle was just sitting out on Dr. Gough's desk. So it makes me think the answers are right in front of me. Maybe I'm just bugged by the fact that I didn't figure out the puzzle myself.

Payday

2008-05-09T17:13:00.003-07:00

Gotta love HR and their glacial pace. After eating grubs and rain water for a month, I've finally gotten paid. That'll be my note of the day on starting any job. Prepare to get to work quickly and get paid slowly. Time to pay off the plastic (good thing interest rates keep dropping). But now that I will actually be able to save, they need to go back up. We may be in an "economic downturn" as a country, but I am in a full on recession.

Trying to shut things down here and get my weekend started. Don't forget it's Mother's Day this weekend!

Blogging while you work

2008-05-09T10:50:00.004-07:00

Well this was going to be my video post for yesterday. But every once in a while, they want me to do a little work around here. Go figure. And at the end of the day, I have plenty to occupy my time as you might imagine.

Anyway, George our CEO stopped by to thank me for some advice I gave him on IP phones. I just looked at a couple review sites and figured out what was the seemed to be right for his needs. I've never used one before, but IP -> computers -> developer -> Nate. He's a nice guy so I was happy to help. And being CEO, I doubt he really has time to look these things up. I might go mad if I were in meetings and on the phone as much as him. Gotta love the open office which lets anyone and everyone just swing on by.

And thanks for the twitter adds, but there's been nary a tweet. I am already struggling to keep up with the blogging thing. Twittering might overwhelm my positronic matrix.

Checking in

2008-05-08T11:34:00.003-07:00

Sorry, I have been pretty swamped with work. Personal life is beyond great. Work is busy but fulfilling. Sometimes when you're living your life you forget to blog about it. And besides doing my normal job, there's a lot of things going on to process.

The crossword puzzle I found actually contain message (thanks Nicole): "hidden something important locate." Okay... And apparently there are Holomove packages out there that don't make any sense to me. I mean the site just launched on Monday, everyone is pretty jazzed and working hard. Life is good, I kinda want to leave it there.

This was supposed to be a fun blog (funtastic as Arcas says), so I'm going to try to get back to that. More later.

Public Apology

2008-05-06T22:15:00.004-07:00

So my buddy at work said something to me that really threw me for a loop. He's been noticing my interactions with Eliza on this blog, and he says that it looks like I don't really respect her. In Jay's words: "you look like a jerk." Looking back at my posts, I can see his point. I haven't tried to show all the things about her that I like, that are more than just how she looks. She's smart, talented, driven. She puts up with my corny jokes. She's got a wicked sense of humor that pops out when you least expect it. And when she smiles at you, it's like everything will be alright, whatever it is.

She really is more than a pretty face to me. And it was wrong for me not to imply otherwise. In my excitement, forgot how things on the internet can easily be misconstrued. I am sorry. I guess this is my warning to be more clear in my posts.

Eliza stops by the ol' cube

2008-05-06T12:19:00.002-07:00

Here she is and she’s a little more open to the camera than last time. Good times. But it's hard to concentrate on work as you might imagine.

Damn whippersnappers

2008-05-05T13:24:00.002-07:00

Check out this kid. 17 years old and he's well on his way to building a multi-touch table for OS X. Great project and the kinda thing you read about in the biographies of the big buys in Silicon Valley. I wish I could get stock in him right now. This is a guy to watch.

Bridger's Multi-touch

Hmm

2008-05-05T10:21:00.003-07:00

So I am back at work and looking at this puzzle again. And something's not quite right. Here's the puzzle again.

And here are the clues.

There's way too much going on today (you'll see why soon), but I'll take a closer look later.

Great weekend

2008-05-04T16:32:00.001-07:00

Things have been going really well with Eliza since the conference. We hung out all weekend. It sucks that it's already Sunday, but at at least I get to see her at work.

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched.

YouTube badge

2008-05-02T17:44:00.002-07:00

Thanks to Harper Reed of skinnycorp fame, I added a YouTube badge for all my videos. Neat, lightweight, and I didn't have to do it myself. What's not to love?

The Onion: Nearly 80% Of Roommates Got So Drunk Last Night

2008-05-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Study: Nearly 80 Percent Of Roommates Got So Drunk Last Night

Haha.

Checking in from InterOp

2008-05-01T19:07:00.002-07:00

From earlier today. Gonna go do the Vegas thing with Eliza. Maybe she'll fork over that corporate cash and we'll gamble.

Puzzles huh?

2008-04-30T20:57:00.005-07:00

So as part of my recruitment into Holomove, I had to go through all these puzzles. The founder of the company was all about puzzle so it's part of the company "ethos." Okay. But today while looking in the his office for some kind of inspiration (the office which is still completely intact which I find a little weird) I find this crossword puzzle.

Now Dr. Gough was supposed to be this big puzzle guy. But he's got this super simple puzzle on his desk. I am feeling like these guys built him up when really he just liked to do crossword puzzles in his spare time. I guess that's how myths start.

More from the inside

2008-04-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

Just another video from around the office.

How I got my job (part 3)

2008-04-29T10:31:00.004-07:00

Wow. I really need to get it together. I was supposed to post this weeks ago. Anyway, this part took me a little longer anyway, just not that long. My explanation is below (highlight to reveal):

It took me a while to figure out what was going on with this punch card. I assumed that they would expect me to have access to an old style computer or card reader. And I wasn’t about to use a key punch to actually duplicate the pattern on the card to see if it meant anything. The old “work smarter, not harder” eventually paid off. It wasn't until I was staring at it and noticed how the top couple of rows looked like binary, just 0's and 1's, that I figured it out. The whole damn thing is a string of binary code:

011000010110111000100000011001010111100001110000
011001010111001001101001011011010110010101101110
011101000010000001101001011011100010000001110011
011001010111001001100101011011100110010001101001
01110000011010010111010001111001

If you decode the binary into the alphabet, you get:

An experiment in serendipity

After a crazy amount of searching, I figured out that the phrase is what this scientist Dennis Gabor called his work. He’s known as the Father of Holography and he even has a his face on a stamp. In Hungary, but still. I want my own stamp. Gots to get me one of those.

Anyway, so I respond with saying “Dennis Gabor” and “holography.” Then I get another reply (at this point I’m both intrigued and a little annoyed).

Who was responsible for taking Gabor’s work into another dimension and what was required for him to do it?

More searching. I reply back with “Dr. Emmet Leith” and “lasers.” This was pretty much the last puzzle I was going to solve. After that, I finally got the “send us your resume” and the next day I got a call. How’s that for a pre-screener? Crazy, right? And I’ve been hearing about some developer challenge in the works so I bet these guys aren’t done. They are trying to out Microsoft Microsoft and out Google Google.

Job: check. Now to get to those other pesky items.

Live from the office

2008-04-28T16:28:00.002-07:00

Well, it was live when I shot it anyway. This is my new boss. So you can imagine I have no trouble coming into work. I’m trying to get her to warm up to me. Time to apply the old Bozeman charm. She’s not so buttoned up that she doesn’t have myspace page. The internet stalking stops there.

I think I’m already getting in her good graces cause she's taking me to a conference (InterOp) to help man our booth. Back to Las Vegas, baby. For business travel. Not as exciting, but I’ll take it.

Zealous Autoconfig

2008-04-28T11:24:00.001-07:00

I love you xkcd.

Two post in one day? Welcome to crazyville.

2008-04-25T16:52:00.003-07:00

It's a quick one, but I'm pretty excited. They are finally trusting me to work on something bigger than minor debugging and upkeep. Things are looking up my friends.

My Life in a StartUp , now in Technicolor

2008-04-25T12:11:00.003-07:00

Ok, in my (renewed) attempt to document the life and times of a developer in at a start up, I’m going to kick it multimedia style. Here’s a video from inside Holomove. I promise, I am going to update more regularly. And less typing and more live action.

Coding for 24hrs straight?

2008-04-24T11:35:00.002-07:00

Hackontest. 24 hours of coding. Non-stop. In Switzerland on Google's dime.

Hackontest is a 24 hour programming competition between teams of three open source software projects. The event takes place at OpenExpo on September 24/25, 2008 in Zurich, Switzerland.

There are some pretty interesting projects already registered. I would guess you'd have to be a pretty solid team to be able to work under that pressure all night. Just the time difference alone would mess with my head.

1 week in

2008-04-23T19:21:00.003-07:00

Yup, this my first full week at work, since I started on a Wednesday. The weekend was spent getting things arranged in my apartment. I think I’m pretty settled now. Sorry, in addition, to that I was dealing with some family issues of late, so posts have been more sparse than I hoped.

After interviewing and orientation, they finally let me know that Dr. Gough died in a scuba diving accident last year. It's horrible and I was really hoping to meet him. It would be nice to have a mentor around who knows how to stick to his guns and stick with it when he has a good idea. Sounds like he was a pretty focused guy. Here’s a little clip they played in orientation.

Another gorgeous day in San Diego

2008-04-20T15:16:00.004-07:00

Finding it harder to unpack the last little bits when it’s so pretty outside. And the lack of internet access also helps me not stay inside. Just for comparison, take a look at the average temperatures of the last few places I’ve lived compared to San Diego.

Average Temp in Newport News

Average Temp in Troy, NY

Average Temp in San Diego

San Diego is a serious upgrade.

Some pics of the place:

Friday

2008-04-18T17:24:00.001-07:00

Still not much to report. They are still trying to get me up to speed on all the projects so they can determine what is the best fit. And they are kind of “need to know” around the office, so they seem slow to show me anything. I guess they need a little while to figure out how Nate-tastic I am.

Looking forward to getting unpacked all the way and being done with the whole move in. It’s always when moving you realize how much crap you have.

First day at work

2008-04-16T15:28:00.001-07:00

Nothing too big to report. Orientation. Forms, forms, forms. Checking out the office in more detail. Checking out my desk set up. Per my request, they got me a sweet Dell XPS M1530. With pretty much the max configuration. I couldn’t get them to spring for the Blu-Ray, but I convinced them of everything else.

Feels weird starting work on a Wednesday, but they were in such a hurry, I guess it makes sense. So far, so good. I’m stoked.

So I been thinking

2008-04-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow’s my first day at the new gig. I have been thinking of the spiel they gave me during the interview about visionaries and pushing the boundaries of technology. And this guy Dr. Gough, who is the founder. I actually met him at a lecture way back when and was pretty impressed. They went on about how they’ve studied what makes a good start up and what makes a bad one (told me to look at this post).

Their philosophy on startups is big part of why I choose this job over the other offers out there. They really believe they are going to push technology forward. Not by an inch, but by leaps and bounds. I’m thinking Dr. Gough (who I didn’t get to meet at the interview) is like the guy working on the SkyCar. Having an idea, working hard, building your dream. That’s the way to do it. What’s not to love? And let’s not forget the perks of a well-founded startup. Student loans, you’ve been put on warning.

Somewhat inspired by the My Start Up Life, but with start I am going to try to record my experience of working in a start up. It’s probably been done a hundred times before, but this one will be different. Cause it will be me. Hopefully it will be interesting to someone besides me. But no promises.

How I got my job (part 2)

2008-04-12T20:19:00.006-07:00

As promised…

After some sleuthing, I figured out the answer which is below (highlight to reveal):

Alan Turing and the Analytical Computing Engine (ACE)

Of course, that wasn’t then end of it. Once I replied with the answer, I got this in return:

Same question - Who was he and what was he building?

Attached was this picture:

It’s one of those old-fashioned punch cards. How happy am I to not have to use those for code. Okay, get cracking.

San Diego!

2008-04-11T16:26:00.001-07:00

I’m in. The apartment is pretty sweet. It’s furnished. But no internet yet (waiting for the appointment…) yet so I’m up hooked up here in a coffee shop. Just grabbing some food and checking my email and then I gotta get unpacking.

How I got my job (part 1)

2008-04-09T10:33:00.004-07:00

Now that I have a little down time (most of the packing done), I will explain the strange way I got my interview.

So I found this card after talking to some recruiter at SXSW. The recruiter was pretty vague, but seemed nice (read: hot) enough to take a look at the company. So I went to the site, but it’s gone now because apparently I have the right stuff. I copied the puzzle, which was:

Even people who break new ground have precursors and inspirations. Here is a “shopping list” from one of mine. Who was he and what was he building?

The final equipment as now envisaged will comprise
(i) One master clock involving about four valves.
(ii) Four electronic commutators involving 124 valves.
(iii) Ten transfer gating sources involving about 300 valves.
(iv) Distributional system for Items 1, 2 and 3, involving about 25 valves.
(v) Two hundred dynamic storage units involving about 1600 valves.
(vi) Fifty temporary storage units involving about 400 valves.
(vii) Two input organs involving about 64 valves.
(viii) Two output organs involving about 190 valves.
(ix) Two logical control units or programmers involving about 230 valves.
(x) Four selector trees involving about 3,000 valves.
(xi) Three adders involving about 30 valves.
(xii) Interconnection system of all units via Item 10 involving possibly 250 valves.
(xiii) Hollerith tabulator for input and printing.
(xiv) Hollerith card puncher for output organ.

In addition, he set three goals for his new creation.

(1) The speed of the machine is no longer limited by the speed of the human operator
(2) The human element of fallibility is eliminated, although it may to an extent be replaced by mechanical fallibility.
(3) Very much more complicated processes can be carried out than could be easily dealt with by human labour.

Reply to jobsRTF@mail.com.

Not exactly your standard “submit your resume here” form. Now I could tell you the answer, but what would be the fun in that? I’ll post the answer later.

Never doubt Mr. T

2008-04-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

This was too good not to post.

Mr. T brought boy out of coma

What?

Your Vegas album out

2008-04-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

Saw these guys in Austin. Seriously, check out their new album “A town and Two Cities” on iTunes. Put together pretty well for a debut album. My iPod will be rocking this album on repeat.

Here’s an acoustic version of my favorite song so far if you’re iTunes-phobic.

Now if only someone would fix their website.

Gainful Employment, Baby

2008-04-02T09:27:00.001-08:00

That’s right ladies and gentleman. I just faxed over my acceptance as a developer at Holomove. I start in work in two weeks! This is all going so fast. They wanted me to start earlier and have offered to have me moved. I took them up on the moving help even though I don’t have that much stuff that I’d want to take all the way to California.

There’s also an apartment waiting for me. I can keep it and start paying the rent in May, or I can just use it as a home base until I find something else. It seems pretty sweet, and I hate apartment shopping. So I might be lazy enough to just take it as is.

This is crazy, but I have a good feeling about this. I’m ready to move outta the house and my parents are stoked that I’m not “wasting my life away” anymore. So I am going to throw caution to the wind they say. San Diego, here I come.

April Fools Day Links

2008-04-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

Just a few of my favorite links from the day.
• Engadget and others go magenta
• Toshiba annonce le HD DVD+ !
• XBOX 360 Wireless Helmet
• Gmail Custom Time

My Interview

2008-03-28T10:03:00.002-08:00

Things went well at Holomove, I think. They asked a lot of questions about my background and what kind of problems I had to solve in the past yadda yadda, boring typical questions. I was thinking this wasn’t the company I thought it would be. Then there was some time just to solve puzzles. Not coding puzzles, but just physical puzzles. Like build a pyramid out of these weird shapes. And logic puzzles. Apparently it’s a way to assess my “divergent thinking.” Whatever. But that’s when I really started to have fun with it. I like how it was not just a traditional interview (not that I really know what that is). Feels like they want me to do more than just bang away on the keys all day. I might actually get to think. I think I answered all the questions correctly, but who knows. If I just get to solve puzzles all day, sign me up.

So then I got a tour of the place. It was a cool open office, except for a few rooms, you could pretty much see everyone working. And the gets lots of light. I was afraid it would be in some coding dungeon. The people that I met seem really nice, so I could definitely see myself working there. You have to get along with your coworkers, right? Anyway, I guess it’s up to them whether I am the right “fit” for the job.

10 Ideas That Are Changing The World

2008-03-26T11:31:00.002-08:00

Great article from Time.

It is a little disturbing to start thinking that the world is becoming fundamentally different from when I was born. I am going to hold back on saying that means I’m growing up, but we’re headed in that direction. There are some scary times ahead and that geoengineering stuff particularly creeps me out. I’ve seen enough sci-fi movies to know that when we try to fix one thing, we could inadvertently create something worse. But something needs to be done. Just yesterday a huge chunk of the Antarctic ice shelf fell into the water.

Then again, the article points to some things that are changing for the good. Almost like the whole world is growing up. The search for authenticity is so much of what I’m searching for. It’s more or less why I have been half-heartedly looking for jobs. I don’t want just any job. I want something real. I don’t want to work somewhere that doesn’t really care about what they’re making, as long as it gets made. There’s got to be some passion behind it, or what’s the point. Like the article says, maybe I just want to feeling of something real, good or bad. If it’s fake, fine, but just be honest about it. Like these job posting I see are all about how great the opportunity is then it turns out to be a glorified sweatshop. Maybe I’ll have to settle, but I’m not all about being tricked into settling.

Job Interview

2008-03-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

I have a job interview! I solved that puzzle and sent it off to them. Two days later I am talking on the phone with them and they are saying all the right things. They are flying me out to San Diego to meet with them. So if nothing else I get a free trip to California. They seem more in line with what I want to do, so I am really excited about the opportunity. I don’t want to jinx it, but this is a small glimmer of hope.

Networking pays off (shh don’t tell)

2008-03-21T14:53:00.002-08:00

So, in all my networking, real and forced, I have picked up a lot of my event swag. It’s just been collecting in the corner of my room. Anybody need an XXL t-shirt? I was going through it all today and I stumbled across this company Holomove. Not much to go on, but they’re hiring. Apparently there’s a slowdown in the market, layoffs (like Yahoo). So. I’m open to anything.

But here’s the deal. They don’t just want mad coding skills. You don’t even get in the door unless you can solve this crazy puzzle. Hey, at least they’re trying to keep it interesting.

Luckily, yours truly has never met a puzzle he didn’t like.

World’s greatest developer

2008-03-20T14:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, maybe that’s a bit (lot) overshot. But I want to shake up the world and do something great. I want people to look back and say “Nathan changed the way we look at…” I haven’t quite figured out what that thing is. But I will. All of those start-ups out there with half of an idea are trying to make it work. I just need a good idea. A really good idea.

Learn as Many Languages as You Can

2008-03-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

Learn as Many Languages as You Can

Amen. A good review of new languages to learn. If you're all about coding, this shouldn't be a problem. Maybe not the right ordering, but I agree. More is better. It's weird to say/type, but I really love code. Like love it. Like all loves, it some times drives me insane. But can't imagine doing something else. Coding just fits me.

SWXW 2008

2008-03-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who lives in Austin now, so I thought it was a great time to expand my job search to somewhere a bit cooler. And do some more parent-funded networking. SXSW is so crazy. As people say, it’s like Spring Break for Web 2.0. Basically it’s an excuse to see some bands and movies while telling my dad I am looking for a job. I mean I did see some interesting speakers and have a few good conversations. One of my favorite was “Should Video Games Replace College?” It was an interesting discussion, and of course I am pretty biased. I would love to have had video gaming incorporated in classes. I mean, let’s be honest, how much work did I skip out on to play video games? There were others about how to stay productive in an always online world, but my favorite title was “Your Mom 2.0.” Sounds like the beginning a your momma joke session, but was really about how to make the internet easier to use (for your mom).

Anyway, Austin is all about live music, so I tried to get around and see as much as I could. Hey you never know, I could meet my next employer at a bar. Right. Networking. Anyway, I saw this great band called Your Vegas at a place called the Viper Room or something last night.

Code of Duty

2008-03-11T11:21:00.001-08:00

I am thinking of making a little XBOX 360 game. Just downloaded XNA Game Studio Express and I’m trying to dig in.

Here are some simple GUI control elements for XNA games. This uses events and delegates to link the GUI elements to your game that I grabbed from codeplex

To create a panel and add it to your game:
DPanel panel = new DPanel(Game, 5, 5, 400, 400); // Panel at 5,5 and dimensions
400x400 pixels
Components.Add(panel);

You can add panels inside other panels:
DPanel childPanel = new DPanel(Game, 5, 5, 200, 200);
panel.AddPanel(childPanel);

To register events for your gui elements, you can do something like the following:
DButton button = new DButton(Game, 5, 5);
button.OnClick += new ButtonEventHandler(handleClick);
// Register the click listener

The basic language I think I’ll be able to get. It’s the game development that might be a little bit of a problem. No one needs a better solitaire. I’m better on the other side of the controller in that respect.

MIX in Las Vegas

2008-03-08T18:44:00.001-08:00

Back home after being in Vegas for MIX. I’m pretty impoverished at this point, so I figured I could bug my dad for money if I mentioned “networking” and “Microsoft.” Totally worked.

The conference was good and I actually did do some networking/resume dropping/low-level pleading. We’ll see where that goes. One cool session I went was held by Dan Roam on solving complex problems with a visual approach. Apparently he’s worked with the Federal Reserve Bank (maybe not the best reference right now), the Navy, Wal-Mart etc. and they just love him. I have always been a visual learner, so it’s cool to hear that that could apply to jobs I have in the future (assuming they’ve listened to him). I’m gonna grab his book as soon as it’s available on Amazon (thank you gift cards). It’s called: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. There’s a quick review here.

Massive, Crippling Debt

2008-03-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that I am so over student loans? They give you that year of bliss, where you think “this time next year, I am gonna be making so much money it won’t even matter.” Then they come. Those monthly reminders of how you haven’t done enough, how much you owe. Owe it to yourself to do more, do better. They are like credit card bills but with added guilt. Cause I really need more of that. Dad loves to start the “when I was your age” business whenever he can. How do you argue with a man who was working on a nuclear sub at my age? Engineers always have all the answers and my dad is no different. He thinks he’s seen it everything and he kinda has. After all his adventures and travels, I never have a situation that he’s hasn’t mastered years ago. Aggravating.

A little modeling on the side

2008-03-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

I’ve been spending as much of my spare time as I can on subdivision modeling. I’ve been trying to keep my skills sharp while I figure the rest of my life out. I’ve been using Maya and XSI, one because I have license to them. But two, because they these offer me the most robust modeling tools which makes it so much easier to render objects without converting them to high polygon models. The point counts are so small that it makes it simple to manipulate. But I wish I had something specific and cool that I wanted to do. Practicing for practing’s sake isn’t very motivating.

I’ve so how managed to keep my spirits up with a little CoD4.

LOGO

2008-02-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

What Became of the LOGO Programming Language?

From Wired: "Forty years ago, researchers developed a programming language that would become a brilliant educational tool."

Awww man! I used to looove . The little turtle. FORWARD 100. And you could change the pen color. I had forgotten all about that. I guess that was my first experience with coding. I think I just thought it was fun and remember there was one computer that was "my computer." I used to rush in before anyone else to make sure I got it. Good times.

Biker Geek

2008-02-09T15:32:00.000-08:00

Oh man. Leave it to the internet to prove you’re not that special. Of course I knew there must be other developers into bikes, but this guy’s registered the domain.

He has posted that Indian is taking deposits on the 2008 models. Only $1,000 bucks down. Too bad I don’t have a thousand bucks, let alone the rest of the price. Well I wanted a classic one anyway.

xkcd on Python

2008-02-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Hahaha.

Programming as Art

2008-01-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

“Demo writers went to great lengths to get every last ounce of performance out of their target machine. Where games and application writers were concerned with the stability and functionality of their software, the demo writer was typically interested in how many CPU cycles a routine would consume and, more generally, how best to squeeze great activity onto the screen. Writers went so far as to exploit known hardware errors to produce effects that the manufacturer of the computer had not intended.”

Programming as Art: IHC’s Fave Demos

Photoshop Express

2008-01-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

The editing features on Photoshop Express are really, really fast. It’s amazing how many different effects you can apply at the same time like color saturation or soft focus. You can apply them accumulatively then you can -- at each step -- reverse your decision and when you are finally happy with what you have you can commit your changes. This is the photo editing software by far.

I uploaded one of my favorite pictures from France and touched up the color saturation (my camera has a tendency to wash out colors when there’s flash involved. It was super easy to specify how large the image should be on the embed instead of manually adjusting the height and width in the URL.

It’s still in beta, so it has some kinks to work out. But beta seems to be the new Gold Master these days. Umm, like Gmail. Love Gmail, but seriously, it’s still in beta? What’s it been, four or five years? I guess they think by leaving beta on a product, they insinuate that they are still working to improve it. Great, please do. And things on the web applications really don’t have version numbers. I get that. But please, take off the beta. It’s like leaving the screen protector on your new phone. Eventually you have to take it off and own it.

It’s about that time

2008-01-14T14:47:00.001-08:00

Now that I am done traveling, for the time being, I guess it’s time I found a job. I have kinda looked at some postings, but nothing has really jumped out at me. I don’t just want any job. Maybe I am being a little naive, but I wanted something special for my first “real” job. I have a couple friends who are well-situated in their code monkey lives. They seem to like it, but they barely know what they are working on. You gotta get in on the ground floor of a project I think. Once it’s well established, you’re just completing someone else’s vision, good or bad. With bosses and more bosses.

All that said, I kinda just need to get a job at this point. I am broke and can’t travel anymore. And there is only soo much ramen and so much Star Trek: STTNG reruns I can endure. I have however learned of the arts of ramen from The Official Ramen Homepage. Some of my favorites include:

Corn and Broccoli Chowder
Vietnamese Shrimp Soup
College Ramen Omelet (my friends and I totally did this before I found this)
Easy Peanut Sauce Ramen Recipe (it’s good, I swear)

I really need to get a job. Anyone?

How to Recognize a Good Programmer

2008-01-11T22:34:00.000-08:00

Got this one from Slashdot. I am thinking more about how I need to market myself as a programmer. I guess I always thought I would just talk to fellow developers, but this guy made me think about the business people I need to talk to. Especially if I go the start up route. A little long, but there’s some good stuff here. It’s a good read for anyone looking for a job.

How to Recognize a Good Programmer

New Year’s Resolutions

2008-01-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

It’s that time when everyone pretends that this year will be different. Set huge goals that are mostly unattainable. So in keeping with that, here are my resolutions for this year:

Get a freaking job
Try to catch up with old friends
Start looking for just the right bike (an Indian, please)
Do something with all my photos
Update this blog more often

How many of these will I actually get done? Well, I think I will go crazy if I don’t manage to get a job this year. Student loans are such a killer. Whatever happened to socialism? Sigh.

It’s funny how my parents keep talking about writing, say, “2007” on the their checks, for like a month into the new year. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a check.

Hellboy 2 Trailer is out

2007-12-27T09:08:00.001-08:00

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Really excited for this one. I loved the first one and the trailer looks awesome. Guillermo del Toro is directing this one too, thank goodness. He directed Pan’s Labyrinth in the mean time, which only made me like him more. I hate when they switch directors in a series and it shows (ahem X-Men: The Last Stand). Anyway, lookie lookie and wait for the next trailer to hold you until summer.

Back Home

2007-12-20T19:21:00.000-08:00

Whatever home is these days. Back in the States at least. Having traveled so much as a kid, home doesn’t quite mean the same thing to me as most people. I never got too attached to a place cause I knew we’d be leaving. We always left.

I remember my roommate in college got all upset when his parents converted his room into a guest bedroom. Seemed like he was over reacting to me, but then again he lived in that room for 18 years. Maybe I’d be upset too.

So Newport News is my home base for the time being. Nothing here quite makes me want to stay any length of time. But it’ll do until I figure things out.

Paris. Winter. Awesome.

2007-12-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Okay another quick one. Again having a great time. Funny how that works, when compared to Troy or Newport News. I wish I were staying here for New Years. But I told my mom I’d be home for the holidays. Oh well, at least I'll be able to see my new nephew.

Bozeman out.

Quick update from Sydney

2007-11-14T02:25:00.000-08:00

Having fun. Too much fun really. I don’t really want to go back any time soon. I’ve been up and down the east coast of Australia, going through sunscreen like there’s not tomorrow. More later. Here’s some choice photos.

Off for while

2007-09-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

…to Australia! I’m going to catch up with some friends there and just take my time and explore. Explore = bum around. But it should be fun. I’ll be kinda off the grid since I don’t want to worry about losing my laptop.

After that I think I will try to swing by France or Germany, since I love being on planes for days. Here’s to spending my savings and ignoring my bills.

The Green Man

2007-09-04T17:11:00.001-07:00

I just got back from my first Burning Man. I am exhausted but had one of the best times of my life. The atmosphere there was like nothing I have experienced. Everyone is really friendly and chill. There is no money, no advertising. The only thing you can buy outright is ice and coffee (thank goodness for coffee). It’s all about bartering and sharing.

The art was pretty amazing. There were some ingenious contraptions, like the two semis bent into a ‘s.’ My favorite part was the scavenger hunt that went throughout the city. And it really was a city. There was a city plan and streets. Only bikes and only a few cars that were really more art pieces than cars. It even had an airport, which always sounds like a joke.

I am avoiding putting up any of the art here because the agreement Burning Man. I might put on some Adwords or something to this blog later and I don’t wanna break the spirit. But here are some pics pre-sunburn.

Of course there was the incident of the early burning. Being my first Burning Man, I was bummed to miss the first burning. Some of the people who had been year after year thought that the whole thing had become too commercial and too planned, so it was a return to what it should be. Anyway, it was rebuilt and the then we all got to share in the burning.

It was a lot of fun and I’m definitely considering going next year. I feel like I might need to rest a whole year to be ready for it though.

Scott Hanselman's 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows

2007-08-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

Longest blog title ever. But still, the 2007 list is out. I have been looking at these lists for a couple years and they get better ever time (as one would hope). I kind of measure myself on how many I’ve heard of.

Some new ones from the list that I am particularly fond of:
• Process Monitor
• KDiff3
• Humanized Enso

There’s lots to play with there. Check it out: 2007 list

Just my mood today

2007-07-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

Coder Tricks

2007-07-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

Found this while looking for a simpler the solution this program I am working on for a friend. It didn’t quite answer my question, but might be a good resource if they keep going. It does more than my blog, so I gotta give them props.

Coder Tricks

Last Day of Work Yesterday

2007-06-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well that’s that. The research job at RPI is done. It wasn’t a bad gig and I learned a lot of stuff, but it just wasn’t the place for me. I want to get out there and do something bigger. The life of a research assistant isn’t exactly glamorous by any stretch of the imagination. I haven’t made any strong ties in Troy, I know I want to do some more traveling before I take another job. Oh and I have tickets for Burning Man so, I am getting psyched for that.

So I guess I’ll head to the folk’s house. As much as I’d like to avoid that, I probably should to save money.

Dramatic Chipmunk

2007-06-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

39 Ways to Live and Not Merely Exist

2007-06-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

Great list. As I am packing up and getting ready to travel, the ones that seem most right for me: Travel, Slow down, Rediscover what's important. All good things.

Ones I can’t get around: Stop playing video games. Umm, no. Be in the moment. I like being in the moment, but I feel like my life has always been about being in the moment. Traveling around so much when I was young, I kinda stopped getting attached to anyone or any place. I’ve met some amazing people, though. And if there’s one thing they tried to teach me it’s that you have to settle somewhere. You have to take a stand and make a choice and just be. Somewhere. For more than a moment.

39 Ways to Live and Not Merely Exist

Coding Horror: In Programming, One Is The Loneliest Number

2007-06-19T17:46:00.001-07:00

Great article/summary of articles by Jeff Atwood. Basically, keeping the code to yourself only keeps you from seeing what works and what doesn’t.

If you're serious about programming, you should demand to work with your peers.

In Programming, One Is The Loneliest Number

Skycar

2007-06-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

(I would turn down the sound unless you can understand Russian)

How cool is this? It sure needs a better name than Skycar, but how cool could it be to roll/fly into work in one of these? This guy Paul Moller has been working for decades to get thing off the ground (couldn’t resist). I love that this guy heard about the idea of a flying car and was like “yeah, I could do that.” Of course he didn’t slap something together and call it a day. If you go to the site, there was version after version. The current design is pretty slick and has some motorcycle styling too. Much better than the flying saucer models of the 70s. But he is still at it, and I’m sure there are still people telling him he’s a little crazy. Good for him for having a dream and having the guts to see it through. As one of my gym teachers used to say, “can’t means won’t.” Maybe his gym teacher told him the same thing. Now he just needs to finish so I can have my flying car. And I would need the money to buy one. Hmmm, I guess he has a little more time then.

NOTPRON

2007-05-21T22:06:00.000-07:00

“The hardest riddle available on the internet”

Well I am beginning to believe it. I found this earlier to day and started going at it. Every time I go away, I think of something else to try and it sucks me back in. I love this stuff. Drives me crazy, but in a good way. Cause I know the solution is right there in front of me. The site says only 0.001% have been certified for finishing the game. I want to be in that 0.001%.

I so want one of these with my name on it. Stupid need for sleep…

Panda Bounce

2007-05-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

I don’t know what it says, but I do know I wasted 30 minutes playing it.

Panda Bounce

Bored

2007-05-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

I wanna get away. Away from Troy. I think maybe go visit my friends in Australia. They’ve been saying I should come. I just need to go somewhere. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Troy is not where I’m meant to be. Hopefully there is something a little bigger out there. Or at least in a better location.

Ultimate Revenge on Ex

2007-05-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

Ultimate Revenge on Ex

I saw this a while back, but it makes me laugh every time. I guess my breaks ups haven’t been this bad.

The programming language cycle

2007-05-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

Love this programming language cycle from Megginson Technologies:

Elite (guru) developers notice too many riff-raff using their current programming language, and start looking for something that will distinguish them better from their mediocre colleagues.

Elite developers take their shopping list of current annoyances and look for a new, little-known language that apparently has fewer of them.

Elite developers start to drive the development of the new language, contributing code, writing libraries, etc., then evangelize the new language.

Sub-elite (senior) developers follow the elite developers to the new language, creating a market for books, training, etc., and also accelerating the development and testing of the language.

Sub-elite developers, who have huge influence (elite developers tend to work in isolation on research projects rather than on production development teams), begin pushing for the new language in the workplace.

The huge mass of regular developers realize that they have to start buying books and taking courses to learn a new language.

Elite developers notice too many riff-raff using their current programming language, and start looking for something that will distinguish them better from their mediocre colleagues.

The Landlord

2007-04-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

I’m an Uncle!

2007-04-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

My sister just had a baby boy. His name is Jordan. I can’t wait to get to meet my little nephew in person. Kinda makes me feel old. I used to be the baby in the family and now there’s a grandchild. And I’m sure this will start back a discussion on how I should think about settling down, how I should try to meet someone nice. Or just meeting anyone.

Coding is easier. Let’s hear it for logic.

Countdown to 25

2007-04-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

One week to the big 2 5. One week till I have finally fulfilled my promise. I promised my mom I wouldn’t get a motorcycle until I was 25. Her dad had an accident which shook her up, and she’s convinced bikes are evil. Finally, I can think about getting a bike of my own. I really want an classic Indian , but I’m a little short on cash. Make that, a lot short on cash. And it’s not like the family’s gonna chip in on that one. A Harley would also be good. They’re both pretty sweet rides.

I think there’s something cool about keeping the family tradition alive. Family’s important to me.

All the glory of the universe, in a single Flash app

2007-03-31T10:57:00.000-08:00

"We are able to view all entities, from the microworld to the universe, from a single perspective. By setting them up against a scale, we are able to compare and understand things which cannot be physically compared. Today, using the electron microscope and astronomical telescope, we can see the objects which we have not been aware of its existence before. Are you able to fathom, or even roughly grasp, these sizes? See our Universcale and experience the sizes of various objects."

Universcale

Old school video game music

2007-03-18T10:31:00.001-08:00

Okay don’t hate, but I love old school video game music. Something about it just takes me back me back. To my happy place, when all I had to do was play video games and reach the next level before I had to go to bed. I know it’s weird, but I love listening to it when I am deep in a coding session. It just puts me in the mindset of solving problems. I don’t blast it, but it’s a good background music to keep me going.

Here’s one place I really like: Kohina.org See I’m not the only one.

MyVisual DNA

2007-03-15T16:22:00.000-08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Pretty cool. Neat approach to all those personality test floating around.

MyVisual DNA

Welcome to my blog

2007-03-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

This is my first stab at this blog thing. I can’t promise to be funny, interesting, or even write that often. Maybe I’ll do get around to making this better design-wise. But no promises.