Quitting Time

I haven't really done much updating, have I? I mean given the sparse audience that this blog has to begin with, there's really no need to blog. I need to convince myself to quit this five, six year long battle I've had with myself. Life's too short to be bothered by these things. Given the recent string of disasters to hit the world, who knows what's next? Just pray for those who are affected in any way, shape or form.

Out with the New, In with the Old

Windows 7 - I hate you. Aero really needs to stop being so finnicky. Aero off, classic back on. I don't care if I don't get eye candy - I just want things snappy. You'd think having an SSD would be sufficient. But no, Aero has to be that laggy overlay on top of a pretty zippy system.

And why did you have to go and re-organize my bloody control panel? I liked how it was in my old setup. Sure I can change it, but do you think of your non-power users? Why do they have to be put through this whole hell of re-learning where things are located? Why does control alt delete bring up a random screen that blacks everything out instead of the task manager? Every single bloody option that you offer in that menu is available through the start menu anyway. People LIKED old ways of doing things. I for one am not impressed. This is after using Windows 7 for too long. I might just be going back to XP if hardware support comes through.

Old stuff is so much better. Long live XP! That and Windows 2000.

Communication

I woke up this morning to this email from Christina Eftenaru - one of the SFU CS Coop Coordinators.

"Over the last 6 years, I've come to believe deeply in the idea that that becoming a great programmer has very little to do with programming. Yes, it takes a modicum of technical skill and dogged persistence, absolutely. But even more than that, it takes serious communication skills..."

Why? Read more at http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-write-without-writing.html

This got me thinking - I ought to keep blogging. As much as it can turn into a pain in the rear, it will help me down the road. Communication is key for everything we do these days - we're living in the Information age. How else do we expect to exchange information? If we can't communicate properly, it doesn't matter how skilled we are at <$skill>. The best person at <$skill> will be a mediocre person in that particular industry if they cannot communicate. By communicating, we let others know our thoughts. We "get leverage" by letting others know what we really want to say.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. So maybe this is ultimately why I suck at what I do. It isn't because I can't code or do maths do whatever it is. I just can't communicate.

Course Dropped

So I sort of dropped 376 because .. I ended up not needing it. This means..

1) I'll probably be blogging Less again, because I'm not academically obliged to do it anymore. I still might, depending on whether or not I have profound insights to share with anyone.

2) I have to take two courses over the next semester or two as opposed to just the one I have to take next semester

3) My coop Has to go smoothly, otherwise I'll be royally screwed over.

Going to start doing days of gym again. Need to trim myself down and get back to (wait, get To) being under 80kg. My goal for the end of February is to be at 80kg, loaded after dinner. We'll see if I am successful.

Attitude: Lots of vegetables and drink litres upon litres of water. Throw in the occasional chicken breast, eggs, and tomatoes. Rinse and repeat. Find a set of meals that work and stick to it. Stay trim and focused on your goals. You don't want to walk through that dark road again.

Chinese New Year

Just wanted to write randomly about Chinese New Year. Of course the traffic on this blog is so low that no one is really reading it. I just get the odd bot that crawls onto here. In any case, Chinese New Year is today. As a kid I found it really interesting that the Chinese New Year would be on a different date every year. Then I realized the calendar that they work on is old and based around the moon's rotations around the Earth.

In other news, I might end up not needing to take 376. I signed up for the class thinking it would count for my three additional upper division CMPT credits. When I reviewed the graduation plan for my program, it said that these three additional UD credits must come from a list. However, on the SFU official calendar, it only says three additional UD credits with no limitations. Oh the stresses of figuring things out before graduation.....

Boredom

I know I really shouldn't be spending time writing a blog post, but I can't help it. I'm simply too bored right now. I don't want to write my 376 explanation piece. But if I don't put in the effort to work, I won't be able to meet my 3.67 GPA goal for this semester. I must work harder and strive for better things! I guess I should think about how to write this response. I need to keep it in my brain cache longer so I can write properly.

Time to work, ready go!

MSP430G2

I finally got around to unboxing my $2.30 MSP430G2 Launchpad from TI. What a fun toy! All I can do right now is flip the LEDs on and off so it isn't too useful yet. I'll learn as I go whenever I have free time! My goal is to build a controller which will raise and lower my blinds depending on the time of day.

Logically, it is very simple. All I need to do is 1) Get time, 2) run time through logic, 3) raise or lower blinds as necessary.

Of course, all this translates to kind of confusing code for me since I have no previous experience in programming Microcontrollers. My C is also rusty! This should turn out to be a good project for me to work on. :D

The Big Bang Theory, S04e13

Tonight's CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" was quite hilarious. Spoiler alerts to follow from hereon out!

Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, Howard, Raj, Amy Farrah Fowler, Bernadette and Penny go on a road trip for a Science Conference. All the actors with college level education are speakers at this conference. Penny and Leonard attempt to engage in coitus but are interrupted by Raj's request to watch another chick flick. Howard and 'Bernie' attempt to take a 'nap'.

Random blog post is done now!

CMPT370

Where do I start my complaints about CMPT370? Maybe I'll just start in the middle.

The class is absolutely boring. There have been two three-hour long sessions so far and I've wanted to jump off SFU Surrey's top floor a few times already. Could you please give us some hands on work every single class? Your presentations are boring. Your jokes are lame. Please stop.

App Ideas and Others

Recently I've been thinking to build an application which is GPS-centric. It will be a game based around using a GPS, much like geo-caching. I'm not sure how I will develop it, nor what platform use for distribution. I do know that I want to build an application which will actually be useful though.

Lately I've been feeling a bit under the weather. Unlike the weeks in Europe when I could look forward to some amazing trip in yet another foreign country, I only have group activities to look forward to now. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's just the same old activities can wear out quickly. I should set aside one of these weeks in January to hike a trail (weather permitting) in Burnaby Mountain - it would emulate the amount of exercise I had whilst travelling!

CMPT376 Blogging, apparently

When I first walked into CMPT376 on Friday, I wasn't sure what to expect. To be quite honest, it will probably end up being a lot like CMPT320 except with more emphasis on writing ability and not critical thinking. I liked 320, so chances are I'll like 376! At the very least, I won't have to do much more programming. As much as I like computers and being geeky, I don't like programming for school. SFU just doesn't have enough Applied Programming. Most of it is to test your theoretical knowledge of concepts learn in class. What's the point of this? Why not throw problems at us instead, suggest some possible ways to solve it, and let us at it? Wikipedia is such a bountiful resource pool for knowledge that we won't really need textbooks in the future. Why do people in first year have to buy a silly $120 textbook which is next to useless compared to wiki? Textbooks are boring.