[	Tags	|	butterthug, codethug, da projekts, daydreaming, inspiron	]
[	Current Location	|	Elizabeth	]
[	mood	|	accomplished	]
[	music	|	Styrofoam : Couches in Alleys	]

Right now, I am smug as a bug in a rug. It's getting towards the end of this class, and I am glad to see that everything (except for the bill) is shaping up nicely. Right now I am installing Visual Studio on my personal machine. Lately, I have been unsure about how I can or should work on projects for KHC. Up until now, i have been doing it all on my work computer, which seems like a great alternative to carrying a second machine. We have had another round of layoffs, and I don't want to be in a position to be reprimanded. As much as I like the idea of Java, I find it hard to believe that anyone could bang out applications in Java as fast and easy as I do in .Net. When I look on Planet Source Code, the Java applications seem to be rudimentary at best. Today, I got frustrated with how much arbitrary information I am required to know. Actually, I am less frustrated with the requirement, and more frustrated with my ability to know it easily. At any rate, I banged out a little memorization and testing application modeled after SuperMemo. I called mine ButterMemo, and I will be posting it up on Planet Source Code when I get a chance. At some point, I would like to add a grading function to keep track of what the user has been quizzed on and what answers were incorrect. The basic idea is that the popups would show reminders at intervals. An item that has been shown would go into a queue for that user. Every now and then, the user would get a question (chosen from the recent reminders) that they have to answer. If they answer correctly, that card is pulled from the users queue. If they answer incorrectly, the card stays in the queue. So far, I have the cards and the questions, but not the grading.

[	Tags	|	chilltyme, da projekts, daydreaming	]
[	Current Location	|	Elizabeth	]
[	mood	|	contemplative	]
[	music	|	Rush247	]

Rahsaan was full of fire. The Object Library had given him so much energy. He had worked on it all day at the office. It was coming along nicely. When he got home, he took off all of his clothes and started playing HALO. He was just starting a game when he heard a knock at the door. It was his neighbor. He had never considered himself to be an unfriendly guy, but he was really starting to dislike the neighbors and their kids always knocking on the door. This was especially annoying because they would always do it during the “decompression hour”. When he got home from work, he liked to spend at least an hour not talking to anyone. It had been the same when he lived with his wife. It had taken her a few months to learn about it and to get over the initial offense. He had lived in this location for a year, and they had not caught on. The neighbor needed a ride to the bank, and to the garage to pick up his car. Rahsaan had already put on his clothes, so he agreed to make the drive. When he got in the car, he continued to play his audiobook (Clarence Thomas) while his neighbor talked. The entire trip was less than a mile. Rahsaan was unsure as to whether or not he should be annoyed because the trip was so short (why not walk) or glad because the trip was not longer (Gas prices were $3 and rising). The local coffee shop was having trouble with the Ethernet connection, and he had offered to provide support in exchange for free coffee because he liked the fact that they were so close. He had imagined himself walking to the coffee shop, but never liked carrying the laptop.

[	Tags	|	.net, blah blah blah, blog, butterthug, codethug, coding, complaining, da projekts, daydreaming, frustration	]
[	Current Location	|	Elizabeth	]
[	mood	|	accomplished	]
[	music	|	Neighbors getting high	]

• 05.08.07
• Well Happy Anniversary! A year ago today, I started at SI International. I remember when I got there, I felt seriously outclassed by the other talent. Now, a year has passed, and I feel seriously outclassed by the other talent. It seems like I have a great knack for the impressive new technology that's always on the bleeding edge. I like working for SI, even if I am now part of a project that helps Immigrants get into the country. At least it is helping them get in legally. In fact, some of my "ShotGun Innovations" May be credited with streamlining the process, making it easier to distinguish who should stay, and who should go. I got a little bit frustrated tonight. earlier, I went to the Artful Dodger after work to work on some work. When I got there, I didn't have my charger, but I did have a full battery. My machine took forever to boot up, and I didn't have the reading material I had printed up to read with me. When I did finally get up and running, the project was locked, some problem with Visual SourceSafe, I think. Also, the network at the coffee shop was down, so I couldn't get online. I came back to the apartment, installed Visual Studio on the DeskTop, and started sorting through my CD collection. I am trying to get File backups, Applications, and application backups organized into the various CD binders. The kids upstairs are getting high, making a lot of noise. I need to go to bed, even though I am not tired or sleepy.

[	Tags	|	.net, asp.net, blah blah blah, codethug, coding, da projekts, daydreaming, optimistic, passingtime, podcasts, what are tags?	]
[	Current Location	|	Elizabeth	]
[	mood	|	awake	]
[	music	|	Sly & Robbie	]

1. 05.03.07
1. Right now, I am sort of frustrated, because I am so energetic. I am tired, but wired, all at the same time. I recently came up with a couple of cool RAD (Random Application Development) ideas that I have actually started to work on. As I recall, both of them were described earlier in another BLOG, so I won't bother to re-hash the whole thing. At any rate, both applications are working in beta form, and are providing me with basic usefulness. I could see both projects being useful on a larger scale, but I don't know how to convince others of this. Right now, I am debating as to whether or not I should just use the apps, or try to distribute them in some way. I guess I should examine why I want to publicize the apps in the first place. On one hand, I simply want to support the whole open source concept, but on the other, what good does it do to put it out if no one uses it? If I have to hold every potential users hand throughout the entire process to keep them interested in the concept, but it's still open source, so there is no money involved, the apps are not open source, but open ended liability. Looking at the Flash Card Reader on Planet Source Code (http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=5671&lngWId=10), I currently have no comments. Does that mean that
1. no one bothered to look at it (not likely)
2. everyone who looked thought it was shit
3. some liked it, but didn't bother to comment
4. No one could figure it out.
2. I guess I'll never know. That's the bad thing about open source, the lack of monetary involvement deprives the developer of an essential metric. It also deprives the user of any sway they might have over the developer.  I can imagine The conversation (if there was one) between Open Source Developers and Open Source Users to be something like the following.
1. "Why should I add your most desired feature in the next release, What's in it for me? You are not paying me for it? I gave you the source code, add it yourself. Don't forget to keep me posted so I know what you have come up with."
3. While I don't want to be like that, I have a job, and I am not looking to create another one. I think this would be useful, and I want others to. Maybe that's the major issue. I want others to find it useful. People don't generally find software useful, but rather, they find the software that best delivers the usefulness that they want. The product is not to be the focus, but rather, the features and ease of use associated with the product. That is certainly what is missing with both of these applications. Both are written for me, by me, and the ease of use has taken a back seat to the function. That's fine for me, but for another, it would be an impassable roadblock.

[	Tags	|	da projekts	]
[	Current Location	|	Elizabeth	]
[	mood	|	chipper	]
[	music	|	ZipDrive Grinding	]

• 
• Poor Mans Content Management System
• Narrative
• All talk and no action means Rahsaan is Full of shit. The idea is simple, the user identifies a watch folder, and as files are added to the folder, they are evaluated, and if necessary, added to the database as a binary file. During the evaluation, other things can happen, for instance, files that are already resident (as identified by the CheckSum) do not need to be added. In addition, simple processing can occur on known file types. That would mean that a text file, or a word document could be 'read' and keywords could be identified. The documents on the File System would be replaced with links to the document as resident on the database. I am envisioning this as a link to a web page with the FileID. The web page would take the ID, and return the file in binary format for download. Versioning could also be handled in the file evaluation. For example, if a file is resident, and another file is placed in the same location,  with the same file name, it would not replace the existing file, but would be placed as a new version of the same file. This would allow for easy rollbacks if necessary.

[	Tags	|	da projekts	]
[	Current Location	|	Elizabeth	]
[	mood	|	chipper	]
[	music	|	ZipDrive Grinding	]

• Flash Card PodCast
• Narrative
• I love flash cards. I also love PodCasts.  I could bring the two together by using the text to speech engine. The TTS would read down a list of cards, saving each as an mp3 file. While the cards would actually be resident on the database, the card reader would look at XML outputs of the cards. This would allow for the XML formatting, which would allow greater flexibility. I am envisioning having 2 voices read the same card, one for the front, and another for the back. With this being the case, I guess that most of the programming would be in the card reader. The reader would need to be able to look at multiple cards on one XML file, and save each as a new mp3 file. The PodCast portion of this would be somewhat less intense, just giving users the ability to subscribe to the PodCast, and updating the PodCast XML file as new mp3s are added.