TEZ and DRO

How do we give thanks?

2008-10-23T16:35:16Z

Prompted by the upcoming Thanksgiving season, I wanted to talk about how to give thanks. So, how do we give thanks? By sharing with others. This is the most important part of Thanksgiving: getting together with family, making food, and sharing food and reflections with each other. However, sharing can extend beyond the family dining room, into the community.

When an individual is given food, shelter, and security, it becomes possible to be a contributing member to society. This kind of sharing directly helps raise people out of poverty. Habitat for Humanity aims to build houses for people that cannot afford them, providing shelter. Groups like Emergency Food Shelf provide food to those than cannot afford it. With shelter and food provided for, a sense of security can take place.

When an individual spends all of their time working to secure food and shelter, they have no time for education, reflection, or helping others. By working to eliminate poverty and homelessness, it directly contributes to education by making time for children to attend school and adults to pass on their knowledge to a younger generation. This is the root of the problem with global poverty, the “haves and the have nots.” Within my generation, there is a lot of talk about “changing the world”, as there has been within young people of every generation. This stems from a deconstructionist attitude, and has been exacerbated by the hyper/radical individualism that is rampant in America. Day after day, young men and women drive their cars to work or school, sit in a office or classroom, then go home and wonder why the world is such a messed up place. There is too much focus on the global problems of the world, and not enough “thinking local.”

My challenge to all those young men and women that want to help the world is simple: Get involved! Talk is cheap, and you can talk and sit on your hands all day long, without helping anyone. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or Peace Corps. Donate food to your local food shelf. Find a local non-profit that helps serve the goals of food, shelter, and security for people within your community. As the health of your community increases, so will it’s strength. Encourage people to find their potential to share with others and “pay it forward.” If we do not help each other at the lowest levels, it will be impossible to change the world we live in.

There is extreme selfishness in the world and it must be challenged by sharing, without expecting anything except a sense of accomplishment in return. Do not expect others to be supportive or grateful for you sharing, because praise-seeking is just a form of addiction. If you heart is happy when you share, then it is simply the right thing to do. Lastly, when someone makes fun of you for doing good, remember that is only their way of not looking inside themselves.

May all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving that is full of sharing and love.

YUP!

2008-06-20T21:12:03Z

I really don't have anything to say. I re-PS3'd myself yesterday (now with backwards compatibility and an extra 40gigs!) and I started playing Metal Gear Solid 4 last night, with an all-weekend session to follow. I'm also going to a local park where they show a movie on a huge inflatable screen every Friday- this week it's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Very cool. I am sad it is going to cut into MGS4 time, but I think this is a good example of my effort to be more sociable instead of locking myself in my house all the time. It is a great sacrifice. But I'll probably be playing it once I get home until the sun comes up anyway.

Oh yeah: So far, it's freaking awesome, btw.

A Better Find for TextMate

2008-06-20T14:06:31Z

I just found the rather excellent Ack in Project TM bundle. I like the output format better, and it searches unbelievably fast compared to the standard TM “Find in Project”. Happy day!

Oh yay, I’m a total geek again.

2008-06-15T19:29:50Z

It’s been years since I’ve done any kind of legitimate coding/web design. Dro didn’t stop, and now he’s like some kind uber-nerd superhero ninja guy. I have no problem with that. But I have spent the past week doing a lot of reading and tutorials on PHP, and more specifically, creating custom Wordpress themes from scratch. After spending a few days on a custom theme, it’s starting to actually look pretty nice (screenshots or something soon). I’m still struggling with a few things; my footer is being a pain in the ass, and some of the formatting (it’s using two loops in columns for the two different types of posts) is finicky. I also need to figure out a better top menu system, even though the current one works fine. But I’m only a few days into the theme itself and understanding PHP in general, so I’m feeling pretty good about the progress that I’m making. I’m hoping to have the main page mostly working by the end of the week so I can start on the single page view and few of the other custom pages. I’d also really enjoy knowing how to add a search bar to the header without it automatically creating a new line for itself, but I have not found a fix for this either. All in due time, I suppose.

Luckily, it would appear that Dro is back. He had to move, which I guess I was aware of months in advance, but he still disappeared for a week or two, right when I was in need of his sagely advice in the areas of PHP and other things. But he’s back now so I can spend my days hounding him through IM for stuff he probably thinks are insanely simple while he curses at me for bugging him during work or whatever. Just like old times.

Don’t think that means he’s going to be posting a lot again or anything. He’s too busy being a superhero ninja guy. I, however, have very little life and a lot of free time. Right now I’m spending a lot of that time reading a book called The Terror by one of my favorite authors, Dan Simmons. The book is starting a little slow, but the concept is strong enough on its own to make me finish it even if it’s garbage, and nothing he’s ever written has wound up being garbage, so I’m pretty sure he is going to pull it off. <3, Mr. Simmons. Keep it up.

Oh! Also, I pounded out two chapters and another 4000 or so words in my book last night. I managed this because I realized it might be better for the story to pick up at a more interesting point than just progressing in chronological order (got the notion from The Terror, as it really helps to draw me into that book’s story). This allowed me to set up one of the main characters much faster, as well as go back to the first big-ish event through a flashback. This event also allowed me to write about the supposed antagonist characters, something I had not yet done as I figured them out in my head in the years between the first draft and what I am working on now. It was great finally putting them down in words and describing their more complex actions, which work out perfectly in my head, but are a (fun) challenge to describe on paper. This version of the story is already turning out approximately a million times better than what I had written years ago (and thank god for that); I’m very excited to keep working on it. Perhaps I might even get the nerve up to post bits of it on here. We’ll see. I’d like some confirmation that it’s actually halfway decent before I start really throwing it out there for all to see.

And that’s the post.

It Makes My Day

2008-06-14T20:36:45Z

Errant has written a very nice comparison of CI and Kohana, touching on almost every feature that I think makes Kohana great. It’s good to see an honest and down to earth review from an outsiders point of view.

Friends Like These

2008-06-09T15:50:40Z

Zoon.

2008-05-15T18:17:40Z

So it’s like this: I really like the Zune. Dro doesn’t, but he’s become one of those Mac fanboy clones that hates everything that Apple doesn’t do and can’t come to grips with the fact that Microsoft actually topped the iPod in features and usability. So his opinion doesn’t really count for jack anymore in this department.

I dig the big screen, I dig the interface, I REALLY dig the features (FM tuner for NPR, wireless sync, etc). I don’t like the PC software so much. The fancy little touchpad thing the newer Zunes have is very nice to use, but the fact of the matter is some kid in my area is selling his old 30gb for $100 (new 4gb Zunes are $150). I am having a difficult time resisting such a deal. It’s a brown one, the model that got all kinds of crap from people because it’s brown. Well, guess what, internet? I like the brown one. I think it looks fine. I might even think it looks kind of good. Frak off (oh god, I’m adopting Battlestar Galactica lingo and I’ve only watched one season).

So with 300 extra dollars burning a hole in my pocket and Gamestop not allowing me to put it down on next month’s 80gb PS3, the world is basically forcing me to do this and get a Zune. I’m also considering a digital camera, because it sucks not having one. None of this is set in stone, I still need to work out all the details for my summer semester funding and how much it’s going to cost to have the internets at home again. Finances are a pain. This would be much easier if I was just rich, because then I could buy all this stuff AND a Tesla.

In other news, Dro is coming up from the good ol’ cities tomorrow for the weekend, at which point there will apparently be a party. He’s fleeing the state in a month or so, which makes me think this might be the last time I see him for a long time. Remember Dro? He makes posts here sometimes, or he did until he got sick of me immediately posting after him and degrading them. We have a complex friendship. We bond over tasteless internet humor:

Yes I know, it’s a bad one. We discussed it. The LOLgas is just too grim and ironic to not find at least a little funny, though.

Anteaturday?

2008-05-10T20:16:58Z

I know; classy, amirite? Anteaters Wearing Sweaters has made me temporarily obsessed with the funny-lookin’ creatures. I’m sure it’ll pass in a week. Much to talk/write about. .

I wrapped up the first season of BSG last night. It was pretty good stuff, although nothing was too surprising. I’m mostly just waiting on answers about what occurred before episode one, but I’m told they trickle that out kind of slowly. I can deal.

I’ve got lots of non-recreational typing to do tonight and tomorrow. Many final projects to get done (some less on time than others), and once Monday rolls around, many final tests to take (some less on time than others). It’ll be a relief when this semester is over- it sucked hard. I don’t suspect I did too well this semester which will be a good kick in the arse to do well from now on; I think I slacked because of making it to the Dean’s List last semester. Naturally, I took this as a sign that I should take a break instead of keeping on a good roll. Tezology 101, kids. I’m looking forward to three weeks of not doing schoolwork (and filling out forms for student loans instead), and my cake-ier classes over the summer which will probably still be a bit of a pain because it’s crammed into half the time of a regular class.

But at least I still have my job which I enjoy quite a bit, and I’ve even been making new-ish friends in the past week, something I haven’t done in the real world for…yeesh… years, maybe? Something bad like that. But it’s all coming back to me. I’m actually finding that I was pretty good at the whole socializing thing before I got on a self-conscious kick. The next trick is to find a balance between the internet, gaming, and social life that’s actually balanced. I tend to just hop around extremes (internet crazy for a few months, game crazy the next, completely ignoring both for a while whilst going out and doing things), which I considered fine and others maybe considered endearing in the past, but it’s time to behave like I’ve got things together. It could result in me actually getting things together!

Also, I might exercise this summer. We’ll see if I can start on a “diet” that would actually provoke some meat to grow on my bones with which to turn into this thing people call muscle. I might just be cursed with uber-skinniness, but I figure it’s about time to find out for sure.

Now that I read all that, it seems like a hefty to-do list for the next few months. But I feel like I’m awesome enough to pull it off. And as the great philosopher Parappa once said, “I gotta believe!”

The Week In Summary

2008-05-09T21:26:47Z

I am very good at avoiding finals. VERY good. This weekend, I have a lot of reading and typing to do, and on Monday I have four quiz/test-ish things to take. Three of them are late, yes.

I’ve also got the end of Battlestar Galactica season 1 to watch. I’m also very good at watching Battlestar Galactica. You might be jealous if you saw it.

Hopefully, somewhere inbetween the one awesome task and the one lame-ass task, I will sneak in some writing. I couldn’t bring myself to do any this week, partially out of guilt since I wasn’t getting any assignments done (not doing homework leads to me not doing ANYTHING out of guilt- it’s weird and I need to get over it; I could be on season 2 of Galactica by now), and partially because I wasn’t sure how to start the next section. But I’ve done much thinking about it this week, so I think I’ll be able to pound out a couple thousand words over the next few days.

Also, I’m currently broke so it’s not like there’s anything else for me to do.

I Am So Into Battlestar Galactica

2008-05-05T20:07:51Z

My “Freaking Nerd” level just went up about a zillion points. I’m only three episodes into the first season, but I’m already sold (actually, I was sold on it about a year ago but I’ve been avoiding it, just like I avoided Stargate SG-1 and Heroes). I really enjoy the main premise of the show, an almost-decommissioned ancient battleship suddenly having to protect/escort a convoy of humans fleeing from robot oppression, and constantly being chased. It kind of reminds me of Homeworld, which is to this date one of my favoritest games of all time.

<-- Homeworld, if you are not aware, is totally rad. Imagine Warcraft, but with full-3D tactical maneuvering and frigates instead of orcs. Cool, right? Now imagine it’s actually 100x cooler than that sounds. Now you have an idea of how kickass Homeworld is. The game uses classical music to set the mood, which tends to make large confrontations even more intense. While the story isn’t anything special, it does throw occasional memorable curveballs; I think my favorite section is getting trapped in a resource-rich nebula by a cult-ish collection of ships insisting that you must be destroyed for desecrating holy ground. You decide to book it, but they block your ability to warp out and send an insane amount of tiny fighters at you, roughly 10 times more than you have at that point, and your best hope is to withstand the assault and destroy the ship disabling the warp drive so you can get the hell out of the nebula. When you finally accomplish this, you warp out, only to find that you’ve been pulled out of warp before exiting the nebula by three more of these ships, which naturally also means three times the number of fighters, offset by errie, soothing string arrangements. To quote Teen Girl Squad, it’s soooo good.

Anyway, with a good fifty episodes of Battlestar Galactica to watch and assurances that it just keeps getting better and better, I think I’m in for a pretty nerdy summer.

Also, as a side note: You may recall my review of The Arctic Monkeys’ album Favourite Worst Nightmare last November, where I gave it an enthusiastic “Meh.” Recently, it has been at the top of my listening list and I’m loving almost every track. I went back to read the review I wrote, and now all I can say is I didn’t know what the fuck I was talking about. The album is fantastic, as good as Whatever I Say… and in some respects better. It’s infected my brain and it even makes me want to start learning the guitar again, especially now that I’m Guitar Hero-less. It would also serve as a decent attempt to counter the copious amounts of geek that I will be injecting into my brainpan-humidor.