tekchic

I believe I could’ve come up with the theory of relativity instead of Einstein if I just had Eric Johnson’s “Cliffs of Dover” playing in the background while working. Just my random thought for the day. My ipod playlist today is hilariously schizophrenic. I think I’ve got everything from Bhangra dance mixes to GnR to the instrumental from “The Saint”. Throw in a little bit of Squeeze, Scritti Politti, Gravity Kills and Eminem, and I think you’ve got the picture. lol.

Well lookie lookie what decided that it’d work today. Here I go promising 4-5 new blogs a week minimum and I get into blogger.com last night only to find “The engineers are working on the problem, sorry for the inconvenience, you still suck though.” message.

At least it’s up this morning. I was surfing around last night and happened to go out to http://www.wickedlysmart.com and saw that Kathy & Bert have a new book out that’s in the “Head First” series! *happy dance* And one that I really need! “Head First Design Patterns” is the new book, and if you’re a programmer and unfamiliar with the Head First series of books, you don’t know what you’re missing. These books are AMAZING for just pure learning content, as well as making the concepts you’re learning FUN. The books are just chock full of puzzles, crosswords, drawings, diagrams, silly pictures, even sillier captions, etc. As a big game/puzzle fan, I remember so much more by going through the examples in the book, and I’m having a blast as well. Kudos to Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates on their latest iteration in this series (I learned that from the Head First Java book). Your book series is the only one that would make me leave my cozy fireplace at 10:15pm and drive out to Borders to pick up because I *HAD* to have it that second! I only hope there’s a Bela Fleck and the Flecktones reference in this one like there was in the first one… ;)

So, curled up with book. On couch. Studying till 1am. Then I go to sleep around 1:30am. By 3am I’m rousted awake by yet another nightmare, only this time so vivid that it seemed real, and I tried to shake it off like water on a labrador’s coat, but it wouldn’t shake. So I wrote it all down. Chilling stuff, really, but I think I actually got the first two chapters for my new novel written. If the ideas come pouring in as fast and furious on this one as they did for the first two chapters, I think I’m home free to finish this novel by spring and start sending out requests for submissions and query letters. Fingers crossed. Bet you didn’t know I even WAS working on a novel too, did you?

Well the end of a wonderful, long weekend is at hand. It’s been fun, relaxing, and I got caught up with lots of sleep. I didn’t get all the cleaning and laundry done that I wanted to, but who ever does? :) The gigs were fun, but I’m pretty worn out and looking forward to a normal work-week.

I ordered a 7200rpm Hitachi 2.5″ 60gb hard drive for my Toshiba M205 tabletpc yesterday. From what I’ve read, it REALLY increases performance over a 5400rpm hd. Boot time and app startups are supposed to be nearly twice as fast. I’m trying to figure out how to use Norton Ghost to get the data off the old hard drive and directly onto the new hard drive as an image, so I don’t have to spend the next month setting up a new system. I’ve got WAY too many hours in the setup of this tablet to have to start over again, I just don’t have that kind of time.

I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to do to redesign tekchic.com — I might start devoting a few minutes in the evenings to getting it a little bit polished. I’d like to add some kind of art section that way all my drawings, sketches, flash animation, etc, are in one place instead of scattered all over my blog. I think I’m going to reenable comments in posts as well. Soon. :)

We had so much fun playing Thanksgiving night @ Gray Snail. The crowd was FABULOUS! I went out tonight to check out a few local bands. One is really talented, but just doesn’t relate well AT ALL to the crowd. The second was just downright awful. The third “sounded” great but was so heavily sequenced that it was one of those “is it live or is it Memorex” kinda deals.

I hung out with a friend at the clubs tonight, real great, mellow guy. We had fun just hanging out — it’s nice to be on the other side of the stage sometimes just watching a band. It’s even better being ONSTAGE though, I gotta admit :) Tomorrow night (Saturday night) we’re playing @ Cronie’s. Truthfully, I have a hard time getting fans to come out to the Venue because of its location, but we still will have a great time regardless.

The new job is AWESOME, I know I keep saying it, but it’s true. It’s great to feel relaxed & happy at work again. It’s been years since I’ve felt that.

For some reason I’m craving oysters right now. And it’s 3:30am, so fat chance of getting that to eat at this hour, hahaha! guess I’ll have to settle far some ramen noodles, lol.

I’ll be posting new pix on the band site soon, and some of the new sketches I’ve been working on on the new tabletpc. This tablet has really changed the way I use a computer, I absolutely LOVE it! There’s nothing more fun than curling up in a ball on the couch and using my laptop in tablet mode to do some sketching I flash animation. It’s done wonders for my creativity lately! Tn fact, this entire post tonight was done its digital ink, and the handwriting recognition is probably 98% perfect, which really makes it easy to work with.

Keep checking back for more blog entries, I think I’m gonna up it to 4-5 entries a week now! :)

My first week at Lufthansa Technik Composite Tulsa is almost finished. So far I’ve really enjoyed it. The people here are just great to work with, and I’m enjoying the challenges that are ahead with enterprise application integration, .NET, and some of the manufacturing software that they’re running. Only downside to the job is having to be here at 7:30am to support the plant floor… I’m toddling in bleary eyed around 7:25am, that’s a little rough, but I’ll adapt. It’s kinda nice to be curled up on my couch at 5:15pm all settled in for an evening of coding pleasure. :)

I got Everquest II a few days ago. Well done, Sony! I’m playing on the Najena server, it’s a really full one, I know that…. my toon is Astarielle, a dark elven magess with hopes set on being a fiery wizardress. Pretty fun stuff. I’m still also playing LLD (Lands of Light and Darkness), but I’ve been so busy with work and all that I’m not leveling as quickly as I used to. Oh well, c’est la vie.

Falling into the swing of things here at work, so I’ll get back to my studies for my MCSD again, I took about a week off trying to get settled in and handling the job changeover, etc.

Band’s next gig is on Thanksgiving night at Gray Snail….come on out and dance yer turkey off! :D

I had a blast playing Fishbonz last night — the crowd was fabulous and responsive. The new owner really cleaned up the place, and it shows. Great place to play!

Tomorrow’s my big day at Lufthansa. I’m looking forward to it, it’s like taking a block of clay and turning it into a sculpture. The raw potential for integrating their applications intrigues me, it’ll be both a challenge and a blast.

Today’s my brother’s big 21st b-day. Happy Birthday, Josh!

I bought a Toshiba M205 TabletPC this past Monday for my new job @ Lufthansa. I have barely slept all week because I’ve been using it so much. As someone who’s owned laptops for 10 years or so, this machine has really changed the way I do things, both for work and for hobbies/entertainment

For example, I’m writing this blog on my tablet right now, and it is automatically converting my handwriting to text. the handwriting reco is near 100% perfect, and I’m basically scribbling as fast as I can.

It’s also small and light enough that I can use it in bed, in my car, on the go, and just tote it around in a tiny neoprene bag. Enuff for now, I’m gonna go back to playing on my new Tablet!! :)

Whoever you vote for today, just make sure you get out there and vote. And do research before stepping into the booth, be an educated voter, not an ignorant yahoo. Decide what issues are right for you and choose your candidate wisely. That’s my vote blog/plea/rant. :)

Had fun at Cronie’s last Friday night. The staff was excellent and the crowd was a blast. Thanks to Mark & April Radix for the visit, I missed you two! Glad I got to catch up with ya on good ‘ol ADS…heh.

Been studying maniacally (do I ever do anything NON-maniacally?) for the 70-315 MCSD exam. That’s the one that’s for ASP.NET Web App Development using C#. I’m hoping to test before the end of the year. What materials am I using to study for the 70-315 you might ask? I’m using the MS Press Self-Paced Training Kit, the full set. I also picked up Amit Kalani’s 70-315 book from Que Publishing because it got EXCELLENT reviews on Amazon as well.

I have a TON of electronic versions of most .NET books I’ve ever wanted, but I’m finding that I study better with the dead tree editions. Basically the way I study is go through the book in detail a chapter or section at a time. Do all the labs. Write in the margins judiciously (hey, it’s MY book, I can draw stick figures if I want to!). Then when I finish that concept or section, I pick it up in another book and wash/rinse/repeat. Then when I finish that, I’ll log on to Skillsoft or VTC and go over that concept yet AGAIN in either video or multimedia format.

Yeah it’s not going to get me my MCSD in 3 weeks flat, but you know what? I’ll not only be able to clearly explain the concepts to my border collie (maybe even my yellow lab), but I’ll also have a nice code library from which I can refer to when I have a question in the future. And I guarantee I’ll know HOW and WHY to code something a certain way far better than the average Joe that schlepped through the Bigfoot Braindump and walked in cold to take the test. My goal is to pass each test one and only one time apiece, and in the top percentile. I’m an overachiever, so what? ;-)

Yes, I do take practice exams as well (Transcender), but only after I’ve finished the two books in their entirety, all the labs, and have covered all the concepts via VTC or Skillsoft. By that time I’m familiar with the concepts and the whys and hows that the test is just a formality. I’m a pretty voracious learner, but it’s what I enjoy.

Another weekend. I’m going into this one a little bit sleepy. Had the last bit of auditions last night for the new SMiRK member. I’m glad we’re done. Now it’s a matter of getting that person prepped. Check the SMiRK website for the new announcement coming soon.

I’m really wanting to get back to doing more .NET stuff… my day job right now’s been doing straight C++/Windows programming. It’s mostly the drive that’s just wearing me out. An hour and a half drive each direction to and from work is a killer. By the time you get home at night and do a few chores it’s time to go to sleep, wake up, and turn around and freaking drive back to Bartlesville again. By the weekend I’m so dead I just want to fall through the front door, onto the couch, and snoredrool for a solid 10 hours. But usually it’s more like fall through the front door, grab clothes and PA, and turn back around and go to a gig.

Oh well, I’m sure things will turn out for the best, whatever that might be.

I’ve had to stop using my cellphone as an alarm clock, this is the 2nd time in three nights that two different people have deemed it fit to SMS me between the hours of midnight and 3am.

I know I’m in a band, and I know on the WEEKENDS I do flip hours… yep on a typical Friday / Saturday I am up until around 4 or 5am. I don’t think they realize that come Sunday night, I’m trying desperately to get to sleep by 11:30pm so I can get the requisite 4 or 5 hours of sleep so I can get up and drive 70 freakin’ miles to work in the morning. I do have a day job, like most of the rest of the planet. I’d lurrrrrve to be just a rock star, lol, but I gotta make the coin too. I don’t mind getting calls or SMS messages, in fact I’m more apt to respond to an SMS message than I am a phone call a lot of times. But darnit use some sense and try to keep from SMS’ing me at 2:15am on a Sunday night or 12:30am on a Wednesday night! :P

Anyway that’s my rant for the day. I’m sure it’s just because they don’t know me too well, my closer friends know that sleep is a commodity and a luxury that I really don’t get, and when they mess with my sleep they walk the fine line of death ;-) Considering I get probably a total of 25-28 hours of sleep in an entire WEEK (you do the math on that one folks), I’m kinda protective of my naptimes, heh.