"I miss my programming and friends" written by Paul on estrip.org

08/19/05 07:42 - 74ºF - ID#32177

I miss my programming and friends

So I spent the last week tricking out my computers hardware and software. I think I am just one step short of getting it a new paintjob, a window and some neon. Maybe even hydraulics for my chair and some big speakers. Okay I am not that into it but it's probably close. It is really time for me to return to production mode. I miss (e:twisted) and (e:shawnr) and everyone I haven't talked to in like 5 days during my hermitage. Congratulations on Gamesfirst

(e:shawnr) [inlink]shawnr,145[/inlink]. You did an excellent job.

I hate to admit this in public but in the end I really have to say linux is not for everyone, or maybe it is but not when you have tricked out hardward and lots of it. I mean walmart sells computers running it, and I guess if all you want is a web browser and a word processor then you are set to go. Istill think that mac OS X is by far the easiest OS for anyone with no computer skills.

Unfortunately/fortunately, I also have about a hundred different proprietary hardware parts including a dual xeon tower, a highly proprietary sony laptop, a terabyte of different file types, a web server, a graphics tablet, an ipod shuffle, a external firewire drive hooked up through a pcmcia card and a slew of design programs I had to replace.

I finally got my php ide all set up. And yes I realize there is a chat bug that prints the number of epeeps, they are sharing a variable and that the profiles are all funky looking when you update them. I expect to get to that this week.

I am also thinking of going in the direction of OS software although maybe it isn't necessary now that the web is everywhere and always online.

(e:lilho) and I are going to eat some more squid. Oh and (e:pageseven) is (e:hodown).

Permalink: I_miss_my_programming_and_friends.html
Words: 333
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: events

08/18/05 08:26 - ID#32176

the fair - klu klux lamb?

I finished getting everything to work on linux accept the printer. Maya, zend studio, wireless, apache, php5, pspell and a gigantic assortment of free apps. Now I just need to have time to use the computer instead of just setting it up.

We went to the fair to see all the tasty animals. What is up with this lamb? All the lambs are covered like this. Is it to protect their coat for the show? It kind of reminds me of those italians that cover their couches in vinyl.

Check out the face on that chicken-like thing below. It was on sale for $20. I wish I had more land or that winter wasn't coming. I saw a chicken lay an egg for the first time. It is pretty gross.

Food. Like every Buffalo metropolitan area event, food was the main attraction. I ate italian sausage, fried ice cream, birch beer, fries, and the best thing I ever had in my life. Basically, it combines my two favorite foods - maybe syrup and cotton candy. There is a picture of (e:matthew) holding it below but I ate the whole bag myself.

Then we went to the animal freak show. It was disgusting. I feel bad for giving them money. The animals were in such bad conditions. There were two five legged cows. They had this tiny box with a big snake in it. On the box it said,"ancient belief - touching silver coins to a snake brings good luck" The cage was all full of dirty money. Some of it was even in the food bowl.

(e:ladycroft), they had the biggest zuzchini contest and it wasn't nearly as big as yours. Yous should enter next year.

Permalink: the_fair_klu_klux_lamb_.html
Words: 294
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: linux

08/18/05 03:15 - 60ºF - ID#32175

Linux fun

Everything is finally set up in linux land, accept I can't find a good gui FTP manager. Both kbear and kftpgrabber have problems for me. I drew this evil baby that wants to take over the world in inkwell. The vector drawing capabilities are really excellent.

Permalink: Linux_fun.html
Words: 48
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: peeptalk

08/16/05 11:32 - 74ºF - ID#32174

Food poisoning

(e:hodown). I will give you your own advice back. Take a sleeping pill and drink some gatorade.

One time when I was almost the sickest everabut 8 years ago, I called (e:hodown) to tell her I was poisoned and that I needed help. I wasn't calling for emotional support, I needed to get real help, hospital style. I ended up calling my friend Kirstina but (e:hosdwn) had already said not to take me to the hospital because she was mad at me. i will never forget this.

Then I tried to drive myself to the hospital because I knew I couldn't afford an ambulance. I got to UB south campus from my hous ein Kenmore. Actually, looking back I have no idea why i was there because it is not even close to a direct path to the hospital. I started hyperventilating because I was in so much pain. I really thought I was gonna die. My hands started to clench up. The ambulance guy later told me that is normal when people hyperventilate or are in a lot of pain. So I pulled the car on the side of the street at Burger King near UB south campus. Actually, my hands clenched up so bad and I crawled out of the car toward the restaurant. Some guy parked my car, because I just left the keys in.

I walked in and fell on the ground and yelled, "get me an ambulance I think I have been food posoined." At the time, I was in so much pain I didn't even think about the fact that it was a restaurant. Immediately, everyone put down their food and some people started to leave. I was just lying on the floor clenching my stomach. It was acceptionally painful and I just wanted to get to the hospital. Eventually the ambulance came and it turned out I had some sort of infection.

The ironic part is that this all started with a tofu burger at the Juicery when it used to be in theNOrthtown plaza. The owman said its smelled weird but I thought she was just trying to make it sound gross because it was tofu.

Permalink: Food_poisoning.html
Words: 368
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: computers

08/16/05 08:03 - ID#32173

die squid die

So as my name slowly drops down the latest entry list, everyone is probably wondering what happend to me. I went on a 48 hour convert my life to linux, transfer ~1TB of data onto the new server. I am happy to say it's almost over. I didn't move, it just had to be done. I am sure you can imagine how much media (e:matthew) and I have made over 2 years. Even (e:terry) had 23 GB of stuff including every episode of dragonballz which will burn nicely on our new linux enhanced DVD burner. They are only $59 at compusa and to boot they have 100 packs of DVDs for $4.99. Even the cashier couldn't believe the price. It reminded me of the old stealing days, lol.

The hardest part has been mirroring the server to be exactly as configured on the elmwood red hat box.

I remember life before the computer. I had so much time! I had a vic20 and a C64 back in the 80s but that was pre-modem for me Then from 1995 to 2000, esseentially all of college, I did not have a computer. Like all the other poor students I went to the computer labs at school to type my papers. Does anyone else remember that?

Then I met (e:jacob) and it all changed again. When we moved from phoenix to flagstaff, he sold his computer and got me a powerbook duo 280c. It' size rivals the vaio but not its strength. It changed my life. That's what got me my job in the web lab in AZ, which led to the ibook, which led to my job at Canisius, which led to my MFA, which brought me here fixing this linux box! It's so weird how little things can change your life so drastically.

Permalink: die_squid_die.html
Words: 298
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: computers

08/15/05 12:48 - ID#32172

New Old Computer

While everything else is completely f-ed up I thought I would add to the drama by completely rebuilding the supercomputer into a linux wonder box.

It is really stressful because it is not just for me, it is for (e:terry) and (e:ematthew) and they have to be able to like it too. Right now it looks like crap, bu t it is running suse 9.2 to be upgraded to 9.3 once the DVD finishes downloading from azureus [inlink]computer,3[/inlink] I added a DVD burner and an extra 160GB drive for a total of around a half a TB. Hopefully everything can fit now that windows is gone.

I also went and checked out the treo 650 today and I was disappointed that the keyboard was so small, I couldn't type on on with my adult sized hands.

Permalink: New_Old_Computer.html
Words: 138
Location: Buffalo, NY

08/13/05 01:18 - 79ºF - ID#32171

Crappy mobile Land

I hate living in the land of crappy mobile phones. I really want a new phone. My sidekick 2 died with a plague of insects so as I wrote before I am back to the sidekick 1. My contract expires in october and I don't really want to go back to a sidekick 2 for another year. It just doesn't have enough flexibilty for me in terms of apps, it doesn't record sound of video and it doesn't do wap at all, and most of all it doesn't connect with my laptop to work as a modem.

There are so many amazing phones in other countries. I wish that this sidekick like phone

would come to america

Specifications:

Network: CDMA 2000 1x 1900 MHz
Intel PXA 272 520 MHz
Intel Marathon Graphic Accelerator
Display: 65k colors (240 x 320)
1.3 Megapixel Camera w/ flash
Windows Media Player 10
Wi-Fi 802.11b
192MB RAM / 64MB ROM
1M polygon 3D Game Support
Divx Codec built-in

Permalink: Crappy_mobile_Land.html
Words: 168
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: downtown

08/13/05 11:55 - 76ºF - ID#32170

Little City Less Distraction2

2Last night walking home from Allentown with (e:lilho) we were talking about (e:hodown) and I was telling that I am glad I don't live in a big city as it reduces my exposure to excessive amounts of in-your-face advertisments. There is just something peaceful about an advertisment free space.

Think about it, if you live in NYC or Tokyo or Toronto, it is almost like every surface become a monument to consumerism. Every surface that can, hold a message on what to buy, how you should look, etc. From the light up hightech version down to the glued down paper ones. Even on busy street like Allen we don't have much of that besides that one billboard that is so high up no one sees it.

Imagine being confronted by those kind of advertisements in every direction. I think people will say you become numb to it and it doesn't affect you but that can't be right or no one would invest all the money. I think what really happens is it begin sto work subliminally. You no longer consider the implications of looking or even consider the good in the advertisement but then when you are in the market, the message kicks in and you are like, "I do want kodak film." (e:lilho) was saying that in such a place it makes it more difficult to define who you instead of what everyone wants you to be. I think she has a good point

Sorry I really need a new cell phone so I can get better pics. When I first saw this new light up sign on chippewa I was so sad to see Buffalo, get its first glimpse of Las vegas. Strangely, I think some people would refer to it as progress for the city. Is being exposed to all of the advertisements really progress? I like not having to think about all the things other people want me to want. It's just another form of forced desire. I know I could just not look at it. But when it is flashing and spinning and so giant, do you really have any choice. It is human instinct to look. I hope progress in Buffalo doesn't mean it will ever look like those pics above.

Permalink: Little_City_Less_Distraction2.html
Words: 385
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: games

08/12/05 02:59 - 72ºF - ID#32169

Thesis Meeting

So I met with my thesis advisor today and everything seems to be in order but I have to meet with my entire committee very soon and add a person possible. Then I think I need to get it bound.

I also saw Dave Pape today (sorry the pic quality is so bad) and he was playing the Donkey Kong bongo game that I wrote about last night
[inlink]paul,3754[/inlink]. It appears that in addition to drumming you have to clap. I think it works in a simiilar way to my baby swimmies [inlink]paul,2483[/inlink]. You need flash and a microphone to play with them.

We also spoke about doing some mobile to VR project which would be really fun. I cannot wait for the thesis to be over. It is somewhere around 40 page snow but I have lots more info and so few days. I am also taking on another programming job, making children's games for a site. That should pay the student loan bills. So I am back to having four jobs. I guess I do owe about $86,000 so it sounds very reasonable to me.

Permalink: Thesis_Meeting.html
Words: 187
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: games

08/12/05 09:55 - ID#32168

alternative interfaces for games

Has anyone else notice that 99% of computer games are violent first person shooters. I don't understand that. I don't mean video games in general, I just mean PC games. I guess there is the whole there.com, secondlife.com, everquest, sims thing. What do you guys think?

I mean consoles are full of other types of games, which brings me to my title, alternative interfaces for games. Like DDR and the maraca game for dream cast. Today at EB games we saw the donkey kong bongo game and the playstation version of the same thing. I want to try them but (e:terry) says I won't play enough to justify the purchase. Does anyone have these drum games? I want to try it out.