Portable Computing Returns!

So, I think a month and a half without a real laptop was just about enough for me. I was forced to use my old Dell CPx (600mhz 128mb ram) for a few weeks. I think I was going through some serious withdrawal without my trusty portable link to the internets. I may require professional help, or at least more vespene gas.

However, I won’t have to worry about that anymore! My Dell XPS M1330 came today, and I’ve been playing with it a lot. I’ll probably post a review at some point, but no time for that right now.

With the reintroduction of a laptop into my life I suspect my blogging activity, and general association with all things social, will increase a bit. I tend to use my main computer for all things fluffy and video game related and save my laptop for all things social and programming related. Clear delineation of workspaces helps my mind maintain the sorely lacking focus needed to function.

Since I play a lot of WoW (which is full screen) there’s no real estate left for things like IRC, AIM, RSS feeds and the like. So, they get relegated to obscurity until I emerge from my gaming stupor, usually after everyone’s gone to bed. But no longer! I hope to be back in a big way. I’m even going to take a few days here and there and maybe work from friends houses (shocking) or places downtown… you know… outside! Good times will indeed be had by all.

My bank account is crying as we speak.

In the realm of technology; I saw the Apple announcement, and I plan on getting one of them thar new fangled iPod touch gadgets. But first I must get Jenn her new iPod classic that was her big birthday/christmas gift. Nothing says love like 160gb of storage with a Futurama quote etched on the back.

When the iPhone came out, I fell in love with the design of the device, but I didn’t want to get locked into a phone. “I want an iPhone, that’s less than 400, with no phone, and a bigger flash disk.” I remarked to a friend. Little did I know that that friend of mine was a secret Apple spy sent to tap my mind for the future of portable audio. Well played Apple…. well played.

My love for multi touch interfaces has been abundant ever since I saw Jeff Han’s famous multi touch panel demonstration video last year:

Jeff Han is just amazingly neat. I just saw that he spun off from the university and formed a company. (Perceptive Pixel) Where he’s continuing to work on large and amazing multi touch interfaces. Hit up the website and check out the video, I love this kind of stuff. Almost makes me want to get into HCI… but not quite.

Today is the car of the cdr of your life.

Taking classes again this semester. This semester I’m taking CSCI-B351, Intro to AI. So far it’s not been too bad. The hardest part has been brushing up on my scheme skills that have lain dormant for 6 years. I finished the first programming assignment with only a minor amount of head scratching, so here’s hoping that the rest of the class will go swimmingly. If not, I will go forth and bug Boco and Joe, for they both took this class already.

By my count I should only have about 10 classes left for my degree. I hope to be done in aprox 2 years. If events occur in such a way that I have to take a 20 credit hour semester in order to graduate in a proper time-frame to make IU happy, then I’ll just have to do that. After talking with my academic adviser it seems that that is a non issue assuming I don’t drag it out too much longer, so here’s hoping.

I still need the following to graduate:

• CSCI-B351 - Intro to AI, taking this right now.
• INFO I320 - Distributed Systems and Collaborative Computing.
• Two 300-400 INFO Classes that don’t count for major. I haven’t found the two I’ll be selecting quite yet.
• INFO I450 - Senior Thesis.
• ENGL W231 - Intensive writing.
• 5 Credits of Nat Sci (one class must have a lab)
• (122 - (ending credit total)) credits of electives. (I think I’m at like 80 credits right now)

So, here’s hoping those last few classes move by swiftly. Having a degree would be a nice feather in my cap. It’s only taken me eight years. Stupid career.

So, it's been a while since I've had a chance to update. A lot's been going on, and I've not been able to keep everyone up-to-date with everything going on in my silly little life. So here goes an attempt to relate what's been going on.

Socialtext

So my emo-hair-tossing entry a week or so ago was in response to some events that occurred that caused me to retract my acceptance of the Socialtext job, and retract my resignation at UITS. Let me tell you how much that made me want to kick puppies.

Thankfully, things got sorted out ( For now; if you want the obnoxious details get in touch with me), and I'll be starting my new job on the first of August. A lot of the stuff that's going on is in the realm of "sketchily confidential company information", and since I just signed an NDA, I'll refrain from spewing it all here for now. Once I work for them I'll probably have a better idea where the line is for what I can (and should) disclose on a public blog such as this. I will say things are good now, and I'm optimistic that they will stay good.

I'm pretty nervous about starting work at Socialtext. This is the first real (non-educational) company I've worked for in seven years, and the first full time job I've ever had outside of the time I've spent at UITS. It's going to be weird transitioning from getting up and heading in to an office, to getting up and heading to my own office. It's going to be a weird transition period, but I have high hopes. I like the people I'm working for and with, and I enjoy the industry. So I guess I'm not all that worried.

Speaking of my office, Jenn and I spent last weekend swapping the contents of our rooms. I now have an office to my very own. It looks like a sty right now, so pictures will have to wait till I've at least attained some level of sanity. I like having my own space, and I look forward to using some money to eventually make it a nice work/play space for myself. I need to get some nice shelves, I forgot how many books I have accumulated. I got rid of approximately 7 trash bags worth of crap I no longer needed during the move. A lot of it was really old debris from life before I met Jenn and it had no real significance anymore. I found the experience cathartic.

Random thought; I need to figure out what I'm going to do about a new laptop for work. I've been rocking my Dell D620 for a year, and I love the line. I'm debating between keeping a similar machine in a similar form or moving to a Dell M1330. Socialtext sent me an email that strongly urged me to get a Macbook, but I'm not feeling much like drinking the kool-aid. I'm really leaning towards the M1330, it's stunning and is sporting LED back light, slot loading cdrom and other niceties. Only problem is that I might not be able to get one till a month or so down the line.

UITS

I've been going through a four week resignation notice at UITS, it's been a little uncomfortable and tedious. I feel bad that I quit, came back, and that I am now quitting again. I wish this had gotten handled better. I think that these events introduced a lot more friction than I was hoping to create in my leaving. So far my old manager has been a great sport about the whole thing, and my new manager hasn't said a word to me in weeks. So there's that.

I have my last EdCert class next week, and I'm not looking forward to driving up to Indy three times, and then having to go up there on Friday as well for some LSP appreciation event they are throwing. Should be a mind numbingly good time. However, I'm kind of looking forward to teaching the class. I always enjoyed the class, I just hate driving for an hour and getting up at 5:30am.

As I clean out my cubicle here at uits, I feel sad that I'm leaving. I had a lot of fun times here (and, yes, a lot of horrible times). I've grown up a lot while working within these walls, and so I tend to wax sentimental about my time here. I think it's a good thing I'm leaving, even if I ultimately come back for some reason.

Jenn wanted me to keep a list of the stuff I found in my cube, and I'm keeping an informal list of the randomness on the wiki at http://wiki.weirdo513.org/?title=CubeContents.