- Over a year later and I'm finally starting to feel comfortable with the technical universe that is Java. Finally got R4 (my laptop/virtual Star Wars Astromech) loaded with Eclipse and Netbeans. Getting familiar with those environments along with reading up on how to create basic projects and code. If you can get past the short ton of...well...everything, it's easy to see why the language is powerful.
- Met a fellow Twitter person and coder at Barnes & Noble last week who suggested some local user groups to check out. Sounds like good learning opportunities for this student. Thanks @scifisamurai!
- Job hunt? (laughs hysterically...)
- Recently started working with Vista's built in speech recognition (something I totally missed when I bought the laptop last year). Having used Apple's version on their multi-media Macs circa 1994 and Acer's Aspire computers in 95-97, I was happy to test and train. Verdict? It works best as an accessory, verses being a primary control. Background noise, even with a headset, still confuses the system. Even so, I was impressed with the accuracy and the help section. You'll have to adjust your web bookmarks and naming conventions some, once you figure out it's way of doing things, but it's worth it. Being able to tell the computer to wake up from screen saver or shut down, is quite fun. Web surfing is also very intuitive. Speech recognition is a tough, tough technology to refine, even with the best training and silent rooms, but Microsoft really has done a good job here.
- After the recent high speed rail event, the simulator side kicked in. I have an itch to try out Microsoft Train Simulator for the TGV, Velaro, Acela, and similar passenger trains. As the magazine Fruits says: Latest Obsession - High Speed Trains
- Been training martial arts and writing Haiku more in the spare time. These are things I've wanted to improve, but have always been so easily distracted from. Might even take up Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) again when I need more decor.
- The quest for minimalism continues. While the studio apartment may look like a camping display, it's simplicity and clean feel are great. When the folks bring down more of my things this week, it will be time for another round of sort 'n' toss.
- I started spinning glow sticks again for some additional exercise. Another small, fun, and low cost skill I'll keep up with. Have also been smacked in the melon more times than I can count. Need more practice, especially for the con raves (well, what few I get to anyway). ;)
- In the early part of November I left Facebook after they randomly made the font small and hard to read. To keep things clean here, that was the last straw in many things I just didn't care for. Like any sensible carbon life form, when you don't like a product or service, you stop using the company and take your business elsewhere. Granted, this is a two edge sword. You lose contact with a lot of people, including business ins, etc, but you also gain a lot of time and feel freer. Don't worry, alternate contact info for the FB folks will be gotten. My departure is not a middle finger to anyone I've come to know through the site either. Far from it. Curiously, there was a person whole veiledly insulted me earlier this year by saying "If someone spends that much time on Facebook, they don't have much of a life." Solely in my case, this person was right. Why? Because I was living vicariously and not living. Well, as you can see, that has changed. :)
- Still can't wrap my head around warm Florida weather. Seems like it should get freezing cold by now, but it's 70's-80's during the day, and 50's-60's at night. Oh, I'm not complaining in the slightest. Trust me. :)
- With Internet being spotty and limited, I've gone back to some of the Star Wars PC games, like Battlefront and Knights of the Old Republic. Been enjoying those much. FPS+Star Wars = win. In better times, I'd like to get another computer and network it for Battlefront 1&2, Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, and Republic Commando. On a related note, myself and a few others would LOVE to see an updated X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter flight sim or something there of. HINT HINT...
I've tried to be more positive of late and reflect that in my media posts. Also tried to appreciate the simpler things more. While life has been tough, half the humbling lesson is finding joy in the midst of chaos. I'm finding that little by little, which leads to tranquility within. This in turn ripples outward and becomes a more natural habit and state. Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) once said "Find balance, Daniel san." He was right.
Hope all of you are doing well and my thanks for reading. :)
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