Smart phones

One thing that I think that I would really like to have is a cell phone and pda all in one. I don't use my cell much, but like to have it for if my car breaks down or whatever. I like to have a pda with my for appointments, contact info, ebooks, etc. I find it a lot easier to use a address book feature in my phone to call people so I don't mess up the number, but it's harder to maintain on my phone where I can only punch things into the numeric pad and have a limited space for names etc. And I can't back it up to anything.

So I was checking them out at bell and also at futureshop, but really, I don't need a new device that much. I can think of a much better way to spend 1000 $. Like saving up to pay for my taxes. I have no need to be on the bleeding edge by being an early adopter. I'll follow the wave somewhat. If I could ever get a work place to get me one, I'd do it though. :-P

It's not so much the initial cost that I am also staying away from. It's the starting rate of 45 - 60 $ a month cost. Right now I am on a 13 $ / month plan with bell (plus call centre; plus the "radio frequency tax"; plus, well, tax). It's actually cool 'cause there is no way that anyone knows about that plan... people at the stores don't know about it, and no one will tell you about it unless you ask. Do I need more than 30 min. / month? Not really. Do I need 150 "real time minutes plus evening and weekends"? No. Blah.

I also checked out camera's tonight... but I don't think that I will pick one of those up till I need to. And right now I don't need to. I can wait or borrow my dad's if I want to take some pictures. How many digital camera's do you need in a family anyways? Blah.

Listening to: Space - Avenging Angels

QotD

Stolen from slashdot:

QotD: Eschew obfuscation

Big Day

Tomorrow is the big day. Yes, it's Canada Day, but it's also my first event. I'm a little nervous... but it's not a distance I have not done before. I think that I'm just nervous because it's different from what I have done in the past. I'll just try not to stress about it.

But speaking of Canada Day, does anyone have big plans? So far mine include wandering around downtown, watching the fireworks, and then going home to get enough sleep to go into work the next day. :-P

GMail going prime time

I think that I am going to start using my gmail account more often now... I'll still keep my sympatico account for other things (and since I have had it since I was 14...).

So, if people want to email me and try it out, that's cool with me. ;-) My address is firstname . lastname @ gmail.com

Listening to: Otis Day and the Knights - Shout

Under promise, over deliver

One thing that I wished a lot of people did was to say what they are thinking. Sounds like a dumb request eh? Well, if you are not going to be able to make it out to see some friends, or you are not going to be able to get something done, just say so.

For getting things done, it's a lot better to not constantly have people's expectations let down. After a while, they will simply stop believing you. It's that simple.

People respect honesty. It's all part of managing expectations. If you at least tell them what you honestly think will be done, even if it's not the answer you think they want, in the long run it's better. It's short term pain for long term gain. Why don't more people see this? I think that they just take the easy road and are not looking far enough ahead.

Now, the questions that everyone should be asking themselves are: am I being honest / realistic with these people? If not, why??? Is this how I would like them to deal with me our roles were reversed?

If you keep on letting people down, they isolate you because they can't trust what you say.

That's probably the loop then I guess.... person A says what they think person B wants to hear so they will like them / not raise a conflict. Person A breaks promise with person B. Person B doesn't like person A and doesn't want to deal with them. Person A wonders why no one wants to deal with them. Person A wants to be liked. So when person A deals with person C, the make even more promises that they cannot keep because they think that's what person C wants to hear. Rinse, repeat.

Listening to: Underworld - Surfboy

Names in email signatures?

Something that doesn't make sense to me how people have their names in their email signatures and then sign it as well. I was talking to Laura about this and I am just wondering if I am crazy for not putting it in.

I think that it's a carry over from when people signed paper memos when they have to have their name below the signature because the signature was unreadable. Why would I have to put my name in my email sig? It's in my email address, and I sign it too. That's twice already. Do I need a third? Do people want a third?

I just think that's it's silly when people sign their name, and right under it is their email sig with their name in it too. I don't work for the Department of Redundancy Department.

What's "standard" for email sig's where you work? Do you think that it's silly / dumb?

Listening to: The Crystal Method - True Grit

Funny exam

I always thought that I had thrown away a few questions in a few exams while at school. I found out that someone way out did me. Yikes. You just have to check it out in picture form. Way to get your moneys worth in your education! ;-)

Eclipse macros

One thing that I loved when using Eclipse was some easy auto complete stuff. Like if you type in stdout or stderr it gets changed to System.out.println(); and System.err.println(); (respectively).

Now I'm trying to use this with WSAD 5.1 (built on E 2.1). Does anyone know how to turn these on? I looked, but I couldn't find anything. Any suggestions?

Listening to: Johnny Favourite - Inside Out

Labour shortage

One thing that I never thought of before was how we had a critical labour shortage! So tragic. Let's hope that people from around the world will be able to pick up the roles that Canadians are too shy to do. Think of the economy people! Think of the children!

hahahahahaha....

Listening to: Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers

Rib fest

For anyone in Ottawa in the next couple of days, you may want to check out rib fest on Sparks St. I'd make sure you went nice and early if you are going for lunch though... maybe a nice Sunday brunch of dead cow? mmmm! Too bad it's not mother's day...

Listening to: Faithless - We Come One

GMail

Thanks to Peter, I got an invite to GMail today. ;-)

I don't know if as many people are going to switch over now that other free services like Hotmail are going to follow suit with big ass storage. It'll be very interesting to see how it all works out.

Now the question in my head is "is this the end of the desktop email client?" Space is no longer an issue really, connections are getting faster and faster, people are usually "online" as long as their computer is on (as wireless is becoming more popular). Other than events being fired at the user as in popups or wherever, I can't see a big draw for desktop apps... I'll think about this more.

Listening to: The Crystal Method - I Know Its You

Do you use labels in your UI?

It's pretty dumb, but I never knew about "labels" while at school. I only learned about them after I left. Why didn't I use them when at school? Probably 'cause I stayed away from UI like a plague. Hey, I may have used them in my UI class, but I tried to block most of that one out.

Try out a couple of check boxes:
Without a label
With a label
To operate the first check box you have to check on that little box. To use the second all you have to do is click on the text that applies to it. A much larger target and much easier to use. And of course they are not just for check boxes, but everything (radio buttons, text fields / areas, drop downs, select boxes, ...)

This isn't just in html, but other (desktop) UI's too. Now that I know about them, I am noticing them. I can see where people have used them, and where they have not. It's cool and makes things easier to use. ;-)

I get it now

I kept on thinking that all the political signs up were just annoying. Now I understand really why people put them up. I understood that it was to show everyone how they were voting. Do I care who you vote for? I didn't.

People get elected by winning a majority in their district. No surprises there. So every vote not for the person that wins is essentially wasted. So if you were in a area where all the signs were Liberal and you were going to vote Conservative, you know your vote will be wasted (more or less). So you might as well talk to the Liberal rep. and make sure that your views are represented.

I don't remember what it's called, but it's a group behaviour where you go along with the majority (even if you think that it's wrong). So that's what the signs are for: to make people vote the same way, not to tell everyone who you are voting for.

I think that my breakthrough is too subtle to describe it well here. It's just one of those "see the light" kind of moments that I thought that I would share.

Fighting something...

Right now I feel like I'm fighting a cold or something... and doesn't help that my shoulder and neck are still giving me trouble (but it's getting better). I just hope that I am able to fight it off...

Update: After drinking a bunch of OJ, I'm feeling better. And my neck shoulder's feeling much better too... I can look at the ceiling again. ;-)

Listening to: Chicane - Halcyon

Funny poll

In a totally unrelated poll to anything, but I just thought it was funny, you can see what the slashdot crowd thinks people are.

Great pants

Have you seen that commercial for these kaki pants where I guy spills a ton of coffee down his front, and it just sort of brushes off his pants? I read about the nano-tech that they use to do that years before I actually saw those pants in the store. Then I bought some. Today that purchase paid off. I dumped coffee all down me, on my shirt, on the keyboard, chair, ... and it just brushed / wiped off my pants. No stain, no mark. Sweet.

So, the moral of the story is: if you buy the right clothes, they allow you to still be a slob without looking like one. ;-)

Listening to: Queens of the Stone Age - Another Love Song

Any takers

Does anyone want to run with me July 1st? If you're thinking about it, you can check out the flyer (pdf) and then register. I think that I am going to do the 10 km. There's a 5 right after. I was thinking about doing that one as well, but I don't know. I still have to make up my mind about that. It looks like you'd have to either enter twice or something weird, I'm not sure.

So, does anyone want to come out?

Massage is where it's at

I went for a massage tonight because I had messed up my neck and shoulders pretty bad this weekend. It's really quiet amazing how much can be done to fix up someone. I probably should book another one sometime soon (in the next two weeks), but I'm going to see how I am over night. I'll probably start having them on a "regular" basis as more a preventive care kind of thing. It's expensive, and I don't have anything that covers it, but I think that it will be well worth it.

Can't stand it anymore...

Ahhhggg! One thing that's been pissing me off is useless email messages... Most people set up "away" messages when they go away. So when you email them and they are gone on vacation, training, whatever, you get a message back right away saying that they are gone. Simple, eh?

Other places have everyone send out emails saying something like "I'll be away tomorrow, contact bob if you have any problems". Do I care if you are away tomorrow? Do I know you? Why the hell are you sending this to everyone???? This is email spam as far as I am concerned. Turn on the away message on your email and phone and don't bother everyone. Well, I don't really care if you bother everyone, but stop bothering me.

Listening to: The Civilian Project - Save Yourself

Leaders debate

Well, one thing is sure after watching the leaders debate tonight. There are not any good choices. Laura thought the leader that came off best was Gilles Duceppe while I think that Harper did quite well. Not that I am going to vote for either one of them. They both scare me.

So, now that I have that part figured out, I have to check out the rest of the guys (or women) in my riding and see who would be the less of evils. I don't think that I would have a problem with voting for any party if I really liked their message. But what I keep on thinking about is that who ever I vote for, I have to believe that they are responsible (since it's a responsible government... hahaha...).

Let's think about it for a couple of minutes. Think of someone that you trust enough to give 1/2 your pay cheque to, someone who you trust to look after you if you get sick, and someone that will stand up for you about what you believe. That's what you are picking when you vote.

Listening to: Chemical Brothers - Come With Us

Creepy

After watching the trailer for the Polar Express I was a little creeped out. It reminded me of a slashdot story that I read the other day about as animation, games, and robots get closer to "real", they just look creepy. People just accept things that don't seem to be real as "okay" because they are easily identified as being fake. When it starts to look "real" it gets really strange because it's still not quite right. I think that the article likened it to a death mask. No one wants to see a cool cgi film and have it in the back of their head the whole thing that the people look dead.

I guess that we are in that spot right now that's between believable and obviously fake. We've come so far in the last 10 years in computer graphics, I wonder when we'll get over this problem. The human mind is very hard to fool when it comes to peoples faces.

Moving out

Something that I have been talking about for a while and have not done anything about is moving out. There are a couple of things that I would like to happen before I do this. 1) have no debts (like my car). This isn't too big a thing right now. 2) have enough money in the bank to be able to float on if I didn't have any income for a couple of months 3) For my job to be somewhat stable in case my contract didn't get renewed 4) be able to have enough money to saved up to be able to go into debt big.

This seems like a really weird and silly thing to say, but ah well. I think that when I move out, I'd like to do it into something that I can own, like a house or condo or something. I don't have huge requirements, but I would like something that would be worth going home to. And I don't want to kill myself to try and pay it off.

Do other people think that I am nuts for thinking about buying something like a house? Or do people just alway think that I am nuts? It's hard to tell...

I just feel that it's getting to be that time to actually move out of my folks house into something of my own.

Listening to: Jefferson Airplane - Don't You Want Somebody to Love

Vote now

Something that I didn't know that you could do: you could vote now. I still have not decided who I am going to vote for, but I'll have to figure that out soon.

Listening to: Enio Moricone - Ecstasy Of Gold

"I'm technical"

Nothing sets off the warning siren in my head than talking with someone about what they do and they say the infamous phrase "I'm technical". Maybe it's just a misalignment of what I consider "technical" and what other people consider it to be. If when explaining what you do you have to add that you are really a technical person, chances are that you are not. And for the most part, these people scare me.

I knew someone once (and Peter remembers this guy) who wanted to over see a project (and review the code!) that Peter and I would work on. He wanted it done in "asp" (like the snake, not "eh-ess-pee" like it is normally referred to as). We didn't know what he was talking about, but figured it out after a while. One of the things that makes me want to run away screaming is when people who I don't think are technical, and they think they are technical, try to tell you how to do things when they are totally out of their depth.

I understand that I am a young guy and don't have a lot of experience. Fine. But I think that I have a good idea of what my boundaries are and when to defer to other people. I don't think that some people know theirs. In whatever job you have (or life for that matter), just know what you can talk about with authority.

I had a conversation with someone recently where they said "I'm technical" and then backed it up with saying that they "knew about Java, WSAD, Oracle and where they fit in". Yikes! I don't consider that technical at all. That's like me saying I watch ER, so that makes me medical staff.

And I think that this is how there are software projects that get way out of hand. People think that they have the skills, the knowledge, etc. and they really don't. I on the other hand know that I don't, but I'm learning fast. ;-)

Listening to: Aqua - Cartoon Heroes

For all those people out there who have their birthday today, June 8th, I just want to wish them a

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Circus

Laura and I took my sister to the Children's Festival this last Saturday. Short story: it was wonderful.

Here's what we saw:

• Boy Called Rubbish
• Peking Acrobats
• Aché Brasil
• Circo Comedia

The Peking Acrobats were mind blowing... I still can't believe it. And they do things without any safety nets or wires. It was a wonderful show. I wish that I was able to take pictures of the events, but of course they don't allow that. And in the case of the acrobats, it would be dangerous too.

I have never gone to a "circus" before that I know of. I thought that it would be different than it was, but I was pleasantly surprised. And I learned other things too: if something doesn't seem too well organized before you get there, don't expect them to have food for you. Listen to others that tell you to bring food. Or just say "screw it" earlier and walk across the street and get some good food. That and childrens' festivals will likely have face painting, so scope it out early so there are no tears at the end of the day. I really wanted my face to look like spider-man... I'll stop now, it's just too emotional to talk about so soon after... *sniff*

Listening to: Madonna - Don't Stop

Consulting

Since there is a hiring freeze at work, I have to move to working through a consulting company. I think that I will be going through coradix. From what I have found out, they have a lot less overhead compared to other companies. So, I don't have to get incorporated or anything, all I need to do is get a GST number and then I'll be working as a "sub contractor". That's the plan at least. Now I have to do other things like get some form of health plan. This looks like a good resource.

Now (following like 6 people's advice) I just have to open up a separate bank account so that I set aside enough money for taxes and other big ticket items. I think that I should actually sit down and plan out a budget so I can make sure I'm moving in the right direction. That and see if I am paying off my car too fast / slow, buying too much "stuff", etc.

Listening to: The Bloodhound Gang - Magna Cum Nada

03 or 04?

Quick question before I run off to bed... are we considered the class of '03, or 04? I never went to school in 04, but that's when the ceremony was... Okay, I'm done my random thought now.

Listening to: Robert Miles - Dreamland - 03 - Fantasya

Fast food kills

I was just reading a post that steve made about a movie called Super Size Me. Pretty scary when you think of if you eat a lot of it, it will have serious effects on your heath, and in less than a month. I knew that it was bad, but I didn't think that it was that bad. Yikes. Now I just have to go see the movie... off to ByTown I guess. ;-)

On an aside note, I think that I finally figured out the trackback thing. You don't target the same url as you link to. Humm... it would have probably have helped if I had just RTFM

Listening to: Philip Glass - The Grid

Couldn't resist

I couldn't resist, but Peter pointed me to something really interesting. It's a shinning example of what your co-workers can do for you. A co-worker of mine said that he thinks that cube was foiled, and he may be right.

Listening to: Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dollars

Tax Calculator

Andrew here at work pointed out to me a handy tax calculator. This way you can get a good idea of just how much you are not going to take home... ;-P

Listening to: Johnny Favourite - When I Found You

The future is now

After a friend at work pointed me to an interesting article about "DNA computer" that fights cancer it got me thinking.

All that stuff in sci-fi books about The Future we are starting to see. Robots that do boring household chores and other tasks; wireless tech that works magically for 99.999% of the people without them having a clue how it works; tech that allows people to communicate anywhere in the world, in real time; being able to "create life" on the DNA level... the wonders just go on.

Hell, they've been working on stuff from Star Trek for years. We already have the pda's and communicators (and I think hypo sprays). They're working on the "transporter" idea now too (with light). We're starting to understand our world on a level that can be hard to wrap your head around (at least for me). And people will continue to push what we know because I'm sure we are no where near the "right" answer yet.

What are we using all this knowledge for? Well, since we're still human, some good things, some bad, and some funny. Funny entertainment things like Shrek 2 which is a great movie. (whew! Got that plug in there...)

I just think that it's cool. I have to start reading more sci-fi now to see what other people have envisioned for the future. ;-)