My Blog
- The Holiday Season -- (Sun) 2007-12-16
The year has been going by very quickly I must say. I've been in my job for close to 6 months now. I guess it's good that it hasn't dragged on. I don't overly enjoy my work, but I don't dread going. I've learned a bit and get to work on interesting things. I think I'm even finding my place there, though more slowly than I thought it would take.
It's the holiday season and we've been getting snow here where I'm at so definitely feels like it too. I've got most of my Christmas shopping done, which is good since I'm just about out of time. I don't have any big plans for the holidays other than visiting with family like usual. I'm not up for much more though. I've got so much I'm still trying to do. You may or may not have noticed little changes here and there on the site. I try to get myself to keep updating it when I have time. It helps that I enjoy working on the site, otherwise it wouldn't ever get done. Then again, if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't have created the site.
I've been continuing to read. I'm working my way through the Lord of the Rings series and am about half way through the third book so will be finished soon. After that I think I'm going to read this Warcraft book I bought. I enjoyed the game and the story line isn't that far off from the Lord of the Rings. I haven't had as much time to read at work though so may have to find other times to read.
Well that's all for now. I know, short entry. I'll try to add more after the holidays. Until then I hope you all have wonderful holidays, whichever holidays they may be.
- Finished Harry Potter 5 -- (Mon) 2007-09-10
I finished reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book 5) this past weekend. I didn't think I was going to finish for a little while longer because I was just reading a chapter a day at work, but I found as I approached the last ten chapters it was harder to stop reading. This led to a fury of reading, which is quite uncommon for myself when it comes to books. The Harry Potter series has been the only books that I've come across that can hold my attention this well.
I found the book to be another good one, though definitely longer than the others, and yet it didn't seem to have a lot more substance than the others. Some of the story was fairly predictable, but other parts couldn't be predicted. Despite its length it seemed to skip some stuff at the end. In particular, who won the Quidditch Cup and which house one? There's aren't big points, but still ... I look forward to seeing the movie now that I'm finished, just waiting for it to come out on DVD. I'm not a theater person so gotta wait.
Not sure when I'll move on to the next Harry Potter book. I want to take a little bit of a break from the series so I can get to some other things I've been somewhat neglecting. I'm looking forward to the next book though. It's kind of a shame there's only two more. I think they should try to make a cartoon based off the series, though use completely new students that attend Hogwarts. A cartoon would make it easier to show off the spells and such rather than trying to use a real setting and add effects. I'm sure there'll be someone making spin-offs of the series in some shape or another.
- Summer's End -- (Mon) 2007-09-03
Well Summer is about up, and frankly, I'm happy about that. I'm fed up with the heat, I could use some cooler weather. The heat makes me a bit miserable. Its been a pretty slow Summer. I've been doing the new job, but that isn't all that exciting. I've gotten out for some cycling, but it wasn't that fun when it was hot out. Had to get out in the early morning to keep me feeling good on the ride. Drank lots of water too.
I've been making my way through the fifth Harry Potter book, the Order of the Phoenix. I'm past halfway through so far. Been reading a chapter a day at work over lunch. Seems to be a good pace for me. I'm usually terrible at keeping a schedule about things like that and have never been much of a reader, but the Harry Potter series seems to hold my attention well. It's a long book though, taking me a while to get through it. Only two books left after that, then maybe I'll find another series that can keep me awake. I also need to get back to the books I was writing.
Can't say there's much else to talk about from Summer. Been adjusting to the whole career thing. Gotta say, I'm not a fan of it so far. Partly, it's just that I'm getting bored with my work there, but I'm still trying to find my place. I only have one project that I'm playing a big role in and it's been boring just reading for it. I have some other projects coming though that should be more interesting so I just have to be patient and wait for them. Also wish the job was more active. I'm stuck at my desk all day long. My bum gets sore sitting around and I'm sure it's not all that healthy. I'm trying to walk to work on nice days, but haven't had too many of them. Not a big fan of walking and getting sweaty while going to work. It doesn't take a long time to get to work though and it saves on gas so I'm hoping it gets cooler soon.
It's weird coming up to a new school year and not having a class. I've had a Fall quarter since I started school and now it's done. Part of me misses school, but overall it's good to be done. I've got plenty of stuff that I can learn on my own. Still working on my web development skills, my drawing, my cooking, martial arts, and all kinds of great stuff. Just don't seem to be getting things done very quickly. By the time I get home from work and make some dinner I'm spent. I don't feel like doing much else. I force myself to do a little here or there, but I don't even get around to cleaning very often. Oh well, I'm still happy so I must be doing something right. The single life is definitely a good thing. Women are just trouble and expensive.
- Graduated and Employeed -- (Sun) 2007-06-03
Well I've basically finished school (have one last assignment to finish up) and I'll have my Master in Human Factors Engineering. I've been doing the college thing for eight years now and I'm definitely ready to be done, though I admit I like parts of it.
Also, now that I'm graduated that means I join the working force, and I have a job lined up too. I'll be working at SAIC as a Human Factors Engineer, which should be cool. I was happy to find a job. So many of my friends had a hard time finding a job right out of college, though most of them only had a bachelor's degree so maybe that's part of it. In any case I'm not complaining, at least not too much. They gave me what I asked for in terms of salary (which I won't state here), but that makes me feel like I should have asked for more, but can't complain. I've never been that concerned with money, but unfortunately Meijers and my apartment complex don't accept smiles and kindness as forms of payment, so I have to bring in the money, and this job doesn't disappoint.
I'm taking a week off after school before I start working. I was kind of of hoping for a little more time, but I'm sure I would have gotten bored with all that free time anyways, but it would have taken a couple more weeks. I still have plenty of projects I want to get done. At least my job won't be giving me any homework to do ... hopefully. I don't intend to be one of those who takes work home with them. I've been waiting a long time to have my own free time, it's part of why I stay single. I've got too much to take care of to have others getting in the way right now.
Not much else has been happening. My last quarter kept me busy so couldn't do much else other than work and do homework. I'll probably be posting some of the class work I did from this quarter. My one project was pretty neat, and the teacher wants me to try to get it into a journal, but not sure I want to go through that hassle when I just want to relax right now. We'll see though.
I have been beating the gas prices a little bit by biking to work a couple times a week. My new job is only a mile away from my apt. so I can see myself saving a lot of gas by walking or riding my bike, at least on good weather days. I've been riding a little bit more with my free time as well. They almost have a new path open that I'm eager to try out. I've gotten tired of my one path and don't want to drive some where just to ride my bike around, kind of defeats the purpose.
- My Last Quarter -- (Thu) 2007-03-29
Well I've made it to my last quarter for my Masters program. Last quarter in my Ergonomics class I managed an A, which was nice. Never cared much for the class, but at least I was good at the subject. This quarter I'm taking a HCI class and a Designing User Interfaces class. The HCI class is really the same class that I took in my Psychology program. Everything in the book is a review for me, but hopefully that just means I won't have to try too hard and can focus on other things like finding a job. The Designing UI could be interesting except that it looks to simply be a literature class so just a lot of reading and not doing. The HCI class has a hands on project for the quarter.
Speaking of job hunting, it sucks so far. I've had a few companies show interest, but I haven't cared for them. Some aren't even related to what I want to do. That's the bad part of joining those online job posting sites. I've got my resume up on CareerBuilder right now and also with Career Services at Wright State. You can view my resume if you want and pass it along to any employers that are looking for a great employee.
I'm looking for jobs doing software interface design and also web design. As far as location I'm seeking out jobs here in the Dayton area, and also in Colorado, possibly in the Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder areas. My parents have been bugging me to move back to Colorado near them, and honestly it could be time for a change in scenary.
I've managed to continue being a vegetarian, even though it has not always easy. I find it especially hard when going to restaurants. There's like maybe 3 items on a menu that I can eat. Really limits the possibilities. I ate at a Wendy's not long ago and picking something took a while. I ended up ordering a Side Salad, French Fries, and a Frosty. Not very balanced, but oh well. I've gotten better at preparing meals though. I've had good luck with using tofu. I need to write down some of my recipes and post them with my other ones. Partly just so I don't forget them.
The weather has been getting warmer, and I'm excited about it. I've missed getting out on my bike and going for a ride. The sun feels really good. I also like not having to run my heater, a good way to save money. Hopefully my classes won't keep me too busy this quarter so I can continue getting out on my bike and try to find some other things to do.
Well I've got more to talk about, but need to move on to other things for now so I'll try to post again soon.
- Tofu in the New Year -- (Sat) 2007-01-13
A new year is here and an old one has passed on. Personally, 2006 was a slow year for me, pretty uneventful. This year will likely have some bumps in it finishing grad school and joining the real world in a real job. Still haven't decided what type of job I'll be looking for, but will likely be web based for the most part. I may try for different types of jobs though. I'm also not sure if I'll stay in the Dayton area or possibly go back to Colorado or somewhere else altogether.
As part of my New Year's resolution I'm going to try to be a vegetarian, at least for the year. I still have some meat to finish off, but after that I'll stick it out for the year. I'm even trying to cook with tofu, but don't have any experience cooking with it. I've found some recipes and preparation tips, but we'll see how things go. If you've ever used tofu and have some tips, let me know, I'd love to get some help on with it. I've also been locating vegetarian recipes that I can make. The hardest part so far is trying to buy fresh vegetables and figuring out quick meals like I'm used to. I got a crockpot for Christmas so maybe that'll help me out in getting some good meals made.
The reason I'm doing the vegetarian thing is partly for health reasons, and also because it is a common practice for Buddhist. I want to see how I feel living as a vegetarian, to see if I feel healthier.
I've finished two weeks of my class this quarter. I'm taking an advanced ergonomics class and it basically sucks. It's nothing I'll ever really use and don't have much of a care for. I was limited in what I could take this quarter and it was the least crappy looking. This'll definitely be a lack luster quarter.
I've been trying to get myself to focus a little more time on learning Japanese and also on drawing a bit. Gotta keep my hobbies and interest in mind. Happiness is important to me and not going to let other things get in the way of my happiness. I got some french curves for Christmas that I want to try out in my drawings. I tend to most just freehand draw and don't use too many tools likes rulers, protractors, and the such.
- Almost Christmas -- (Thu) 2006-12-21
Well Christmas is nearly here, which means I'm running out of time for my break before I go back to school. I'm signed up to take Advanced Ergonomics. Not exactly a fun one, but didn't have much in terms of choices. Oh well, at least I'll only be taking one class.
I've been moderately productive over my break. Been steadily completing my Online Family Address Book web pages. Got at least a bit of the easier parts out of the way and you can view people's information, but I still need to add functionality that allows visitors to edit the information. I'd show people how it looks, but keeping my family's personal information private is more important. Family only. Hopefully I can get some more done on it before the break is over though, otherwise I may have a hard time finishing.
I've been doing a little business with web design. I have a classified ad setup on WSU classifieds to do advertisements for items people are selling. I've had a few people take me up on it, but they all say they want to pay me for it. Who'd think people would voluntarily pay for a free service? Well none of the transactions are complete so haven't seen any money yet from it, but that's okay. I'm at least getting a little more experience this way.
Haven't been playing my video games too much. Currently I decided to get back into my Zelda games (Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker). Been trying to do the
3 Heart Challenge.
This is where you go through the game with only the three hearts that you start with, which adds more of a challenege to an otherwise boringly easy game. Well it's entertaining enough the first time through, but after that you need to spice things up a bit.I've sent out all my Christmas gifts and sent out an e-card to family and friends so I feel like I accomplished a little there. Heading out tomorrow for the holiday weekend up to the family. Should be fun and the weather is on the warm side so traveling should be nice. At one point my mom was trying to get me to fly out to Colorado for Christmas, but I didn't feel it would be a good year to do that. If you've been watching the news at all yesterday or today you'll know that Colorado is basically shut down from a blizzard. I would have never made it there if I tried. When I'm right, I'm right.
Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone gets time to celebrate the holidays no matter their religion and in general just have a great time.
- End of Fall quarter. Now what? -- (Wed) 2006-11-15
Well the quarter is finally over at last. I was getting pretty tired of it. Only had one class, but it was a pain and kicked my butt a little at times though I think I managed to pull of a B, but we'll see when grades are posted. It should be the last math based class I have to take at school, which is a great thing to think about.
This coming weekend I'm heading out to see my friend Beth get married. Congratulations Beth!! I haven't met her man to be, but I hear Kyle is a nice guy. I haven't seen Beth in a long time now so it'll be really nice just to get to see her again.
Now that school is no longer in my way I can work on other things. I need to finish reading Harry Potter 4 so I can watch the movie that has been sitting on my movie shelf for what seems like a year. School kept getting in the way of finishing reading. I'm also trying to get another book read called Journey to the West. It has 100 chapters across four volumes so not sure I'll get through it. I'll probably get bored after a bit.
I'll probably do some web design over the break as well, but haven't yet decided what all I'll try to accomplish. I was creating a site for a guy, but I haven't heard from him in a while so not sure what'll happen with that. I may try to add some features to the site like allowing visitors to leave comments about my blog entries. I've also been trying to think of ways to create an online address book for my family. There's tons of people and it needs to be more than just an address book, it needs to capture the family tree as well. I have a pretty good version that works, but it is a pain to update so need to discover a better solution. Anybody out there have any ideas for me on that?
I'll of course be playing some video games over the break as well. I still need to get back to defeating the evils in DQ8, and want to play a little Tekken and GTA. If I manage to get through those games and still have more time I'm sure I'll find more to take up my time.
I'd also like to do some drawings. Sitting down and just drawing is something I don't do very often anymore and I'd like that to change. Also want to work on my graphic design skills getting my artwork digitzed where I can make better looking graphics and smooth coloring. I may try to another painting as well if I can think up a nice idea for a painting. I want to try something other than the abstract work I've already done. If you'd like me to do a painting for you let me know and we'll see if we can work something out.
Well that's enough of an update for now. I'll try to post what's up over the break as I get things going.
- School, Dragons, and Donations -- (Thu) 2006-09-28
Well I've been doing the school thing and at the end of week 4, which means only 6 more. The quarter has gone by fairly quickly so far. I may be learning something, but not much if I am. I've taken too many statistics classes as it is. I seem to be doing okay, but have a test next week so we'll see how confident I am then.
I haven't played Dragon Quest VIII too much since my 40 hour spree on it right before school started back up. I play it just a little here and there on the weekends mainly, and have made progress. It's still really fun and entertaining to play so I'm always ready to get back to it.
I've started offering classified ad web page help for people posting classifieds on WINGS and I'm doing it for free. Figure it'll give me experience doing designs for other people than myself. I did put up a donation link on my school and this site through paypal. This way the very nice, friendly, giving people that I meet who want to show appreciation can show it with the green. Doubt it'll happen much, but even a little would be neat.
Finally I'd like to say happy birthday to my sister Chelsea!
- Dragon Quest VIII -- (Wed) 2006-09-06
Over this past weekend I bought a Playstation 2 (PS2) off of a guy for $60. I thought it was a good deal. I actually already had two Playstation games for it; Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross that I would play on my computer using an emulator, but it wasn't as great. I also went out and bought a couple used games from the mall; Tekken 4, GTA: Vice City, and a new copy of Dragon Quest VIII. Probably wasn't the greatest idea to buy all of this the weekend before classes start, but the PS2 was cheap and I've been looking out for one.
I spent most of the weekend playing Dragon Quest ... okay so actually the game says I put about 40 hours into the game over the 3-day weekend. Its been a while since I've done that. And I'm not even half way through the game probably. Others online say it takes forever to get through the entire game and do all of the extra stuff. I like that in a game personally, too many games I've come across and beat in a day or two and then they didn't even have any real replay value. Dragon Quest games have never let me down, though I haven't heard great things about Dragon Quest VII.
One of the greatest parts about the game is that the artist for the characters is Akira Toriyama, who some may know as the creator of the Dragonball series, among others. The character animations and scenary are just gorgious to look at. It's a 3D game, but the graphics are done in a way that makes it look more like an anime film. If you enjoy RPG's, or like Akira Toriyama art this is a game for you. Check it out.
- Switched to PHP -- (Mon) 2006-08-28
Over the weekend I took some time to change my site from HTML to PHP based. The only place you'll really notice is that in the address bar of your browser pages will end in php rather than htm. I did this to help streamline big changes on the site. This way will let me change a file or two and have it effect the entire site, instead of changing each file.
Another addition to the site that you may have noticed is that there is now a styleswitcher located at the top of the pages. This will let you change the look of the page. Currently there's only the default, high contrast, and printing. This printing style should be used if you're going to print the page. The high contrast is for people who have trouble reading the screen. I'll add more style eventually when I have time. I'm thinking of trying for a theme, perhaps Mac theme.
This weekend I was also able to practice doing some XML and XSLT. My recipes in the Food section have been translated into XML files and then I use PHP to do a XSLT transformation on that XML file, which then results in the page you see. The final result looks essentially the same as before, but makes the recipes themselves more mobile if need be. It was really for practice more than anything. One more thing to add to my resume.
I have also made a little change to the blog. At the top of the page you'll notice a RSS link button. This has a link to the blog via RSS. If you have an RSS reader program, or Firefox can also make use of the feeds by subscribing. For Firefox or Opera users there is also an icon in the address bar of your browser at the end that will let you click on it to bookmark the RSS feed.
With all of these changes I may have messed something up in the process. Let me know if something isn't working properly for you. If you're curious about the details of how I'm managing my site let me know I'll share my knowledge.
- Google Sketchup Snapshots -- (Wed) 2006-08-23
I've made some changes to the print style sheet I'm using on the site to help make it look a little better, and to accomodate some of the other changes I had made to the site. Doubt people will need to print from my site very often, but just in case it has been setup to handle it well.
Had some fun at work today using Google Sketchup (It's for making 3D models). I made some setups for a new lab we're going to be using arranging furniture that I created that is all to scale. Below are some links to view some snapshots of what I did.
- Starting blog -- (Mon) 2006-08-21
I'm starting a blog for my web page. Kind of a simple journal thing to keep people up-to-date on what I'm doing. Not sure how often I'll make and entry, but will try to do so on a regular basis. Don't have too much thrilling going on so may be hard to find stuff to write about. I've designed it myself rather than using the online blogging sites. I'm a web developer, and acting like one, haha.
