A few pictures from the campout and such.

sorry for the hugeness of the pics when you click on them, if you hold down the ctrl button then scroll your mouse wheel down it should shrink them

Random spider in my backyard.

roo jr

Mandatory mushroom picture

End of Summer Update

I guess it's not really the end of summer, but work's going to start getting really busy in a week or so, so play time is over :(

This has been a moderately fun moderately stressful summer. Things at work have been a little slow with school out, and due to my lowness on the totem pole at the time I got a mandatory 1 week vacation. I wasn't too worried, I have a hefty pile of bills but I was ahead on my payments and figured I could handle it and just pick up some extra hours next week. Plus that week Mr Bortamus was coming down to visit so I had the whole week of to play, bonus. More on that later. So anyway as the week was winding down I got an e-mail from work with my schedule for next week. I opened it up and I was only scheduled for one day. Yikes. Okay I was in the middle of a two week mandatory (unpaid) vacation. Now the little doubt gnomes were starting to creep in. Well long story short I'm just coming off the end of a three week long vacation. I applied at some other jobs down here but the job market sucks for schlubs like myself. I'm back working again and hopefully things will pick up fast, but I've been living by the good graces of my parents this month, gosh what awsome parents I have.

Work is starting to improve though, we hire a bunch of temps for the beginning of the school season and I'll more or less be supervising them while they're there. Yay for babysitting.

So ya, Brett flew down to visit at the end of July. We had a pretty fun time down here. On his first(second?) night here I took him out in the back yard scorpion hunting. We've just moved into a new house that has been vacant for a year, and we live in the middle of what used to be a huge citrus grove. So what does that spell? Scorpions! Yup good ol' Arizona is home to all sorts of creepy crawlies, and this new place has them in abundance. Well I handed Brett my flourescent flashlight, got the scorpion killing stick and we waged war on the little buggers. The common desert scorpion is slightly toxic, I've been stung three times, it's really painful followed by lots of numbness followed by lots of soreness, but they're rarely fatal. Luckily at night they usually aren't moving around too much, and God in his mercy made them glow brightly under a blacklight, so they're really easy to spot. So while Brett held the light I went about my dirty deed, and in about two hours we squashed around 40 of them. Hoorah! Unfortunately probably another twenty got away, but they'll get theirs in due time. It's like world war three in my back yard with these guys. Oh, and we caught two of them and named them roo and bort junior, cute little guys when they can't get at you, and it's fun watching them eat crickets!

Brett and I went camping up at the Rim above Payson. I hadn't been out of the city for 6 months so it was nice to get to some cooler climates. The area up there is gorgeous, it smelled lovely, and it rained on us for most of the trip, the I spent the night cold, wet, uncomfortable, and I loved every minute of it! After we had dinner, which was a fiasco of trying to keep the coals hot enough to cook the food while diving in my car every few minutes to keep out of the rain (for the record peach cobbler mixed with charcoal ashes and rainwater is not good), Brett took a nap in the tent so I decided to take a walk in the woods with my camera and shoot a few pictures. I didn't end up taking many as the rain picked back up and I wanted to keep my camera dry, but the woods looked amazing, maybe it comes from my farmboy upbringing but being alone out in the wilderness is always such a spiritual thing for me. When you're able to sit and just take in everything around you, the smell of the moist moss and leaves, the faint sound of the wind passing through the trees, the slight movements of the birds and squirrels and chimpunks doing their stuff, it just feels like all the trouble in the world just melts away. I always leave with such a feeling of peace and comfort after times like these.

Well Bort and I had a fun time camping, it was great having him down to visit for a week (plus he fixed the A/C in my car and it only cost 29 cents, woot!) I do so very much miss all my friends up North.

Well that's about all, I might have a part two to this in awhile, but I have to get up and go to work in 6 hours!

Cheers.

~roO

Concerning luck.

I don't know if anyone ever reads this any more, but if for nothing more than an outlet for a overwhelmed mind, I'm just gonna sit and write till I go semi-comatose.

So where to begin. Right after the new year I moved back down to Arizona after having been let go from my previous job. According to inside sources the official statement is that I, "Already had a job lined up, and was planning on moving down to Arizona anyway, and that's why they let me go." Two months and 50+ job applications later, I got my old job back at Milano Music through the good graces of the management there. I have a few different jobs there. I work in store selling instruments and accessories and such, I work in the warehouse organizing the thousands of rental instruments, shipping and receiving products, delivering/picking up instruments from schools and depots throughout the valley, repossessing rental instruments on delinquent accounts, and pretty soon I'll be involved with our soon to be up website. I think my official job title is, "Do what everyone else tells you to do and don't complain" which suits me just fine.

Where was I? Oh, so I've been down here for about 4 months, just working to get out of debt till I can afford to get back into school. Debt is an interesting thing. I worked out a budget with some help last week, and figured that at the rate I'm going, it's going to take about two to three years to pay off all of my debts. I can only compare how I felt when I saw the final numbers as a swift kick to the gonads. I keep waiting for Bill Gates to back over my bike and write me a blank check. If it works in the movies, why not real life right?

Now on to my social life!


...

Alright, got that one cleared up, sorry if it took awhile to read.

So on a bit of a whim, though I've always wanted to learn, I picked up a violin from work a few weeks ago. I'll never be professional, my bow technique sucks, but I can screech out a few scales and a few simple melodies after a total of about two hours worth of practice, so I'm happy with it. I'll never play for anything more than my own personal enjoyment, but I'm definitely loving it. One of my main reasons for wanting to learn is my love of Irish folk music, so hopefully in the not too distant future I'll be playing some toe tapping, knee slapping, or drink Guinness from the tap-ing jigs. Between that, my guitar, and the piano, I'm the epitome of mediocrity. But again, I play for the love of playing, so I'm content my playing ability.

So I was perusing an antique store recently, looking at old books and such. I've always been fascinated with 19th century literature, and through the good graces of my brother I've collected a few tomes from the time period. One is a small copy of "Nicholas Nickelby" and the other is a collection of sermons from a 19th (18th? I can't recall) century Archbishop on the first four books of the New Testament. I haven't had a chance to read it all yet, but it is definitely an interesting read. But I digress. I was perusing the book section when my eyes skimmed across a small picture of a bird on the cover of a small book. On my second pass over the books I noticed the bird was perched on a roman looking bust. My heart skipped a beat. Was that the bust of pallas I was looking at? I quickly scanned the whole book cover, I went weak at the knees. Lo and behold:

It was Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven"!!!! For those that don't know I've been a huge fan of Mr Poe since I first read this poem as a child. I've read his entire works a few times, and I think the man is a genius. Anyway, so here is this book, just sitting behind the glass begging for me to take it home with me. Then reality hit me, either it was way too expensive for me, or it was only a few years old was just a cheap mass print. So I sauntered over to the shop owner and inquired about the age of the book. He said he didn't remember, but that I could grab the book and have a look myself. Okay, if he's letting me handle it it's gotta be worthless. So I walked over to the case and picked up the book. I opened up to the first page.

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, Illustrated, printed........................wait for it................1886! Holy crap! I was holding in my own two hands an illustrated print of The Raven, printed only 41 years after it was first published. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I quickly flipped through the pages, the binding wasn't in good shape, and one or two pages had some pencil marks on it, but I didn't care, I was holding a 123 year old book from one of my favorite authors. The illustrations were incredible.

Okay, if it's this old it must be way too expensive for me, I thought. I took it up to the shop owner, asked the price, and he looked at it for a few seconds and said, "Thirty five dol..." "I'LL TAKE IT!" I almost screamed. I can't even begin to fathom how incredibly lucky I was for stumbling onto this treasure. As soon as I got home I spent a good hour reading the book over and over, soaking up the words, the illustrations, the feel of the leather binding. After the sensory overload subsided, I hopped on the computer to see if I could find any information on the particular print, the illustrator, etc. I discovered that the New York Public library had a copy of the book on file, and through the miracle of modern technology it was possible to read the book online for free. Same illustrations, same book (though it just had a plain black cover) http://books.google.com/books?id=XAkUAAAAIAAJ this just kept getting better. The less I have to handle the book, or let other people handle it the better. I want to build a display case for this thing it is so precious to me, but I was able to download a copy of the book to peruse at my convenience. After finding this little tidbit online, I did a search of the illustrator, a W.L. Taylor. It turns out Mr Taylor was a very prolific and well known illustrator during the 19th century, illustrating several books, and also "The Ladies Home Journal" http://www.wltaylor.info/

So ya, for a paltry sum I now own an important (to me at least) piece of American Literary History. Happy Day! Out of curiosity I tried to see if there were any copies for sale online. I found one on ebay that was printed about 10 years after mine that sold for about $400, and another copy from an online bookstore for about $100. Not that I will ever sell this beauty, but it's nice to know it's not worthless.

Well, I guess I'll curtail the rambling for now. I don't know that it's done anything to help the chaos that's enveloped my psyche, but at least it gave me something to do for an hour or so.

If Programming Languages Were Religions...

Read this on a message board the other day, thought it was funny.


C would be Judaism - it's old and restrictive, but most of the world is familiar with its laws and respects them. The catch is, you can't convert into it - you're either into it from the start, or you will think that it's insanity. Also, when things go wrong, many people are willing to blame the problems of the world on it.

Java would be Fundamentalist Christianity - it's theoretically based on C, but it voids so many of the old laws that it doesn't feel like the original at all. Instead, it adds its own set of rigid rules, which its followers believe to be far superior to the original. Not only are they certain that it's the best language in the world, but they're willing to burn those who disagree at the stake.

PHP would be Cafeteria Christianity - Fights with Java for the web market. It draws a few concepts from C and Java, but only those that it really likes. Maybe it's not as coherent as other languages, but at least it leaves you with much more freedom and ostensibly keeps the core idea of the whole thing. Also, the whole concept of "goto hell" was abandoned.

C++ would be Islam - It takes C and not only keeps all its laws, but adds a very complex new set of laws on top of it. It's so versatile that it can be used to be the foundation of anything, from great atrocities to beautiful works of art. Its followers are convinced that it is the ultimate universal language, and may be angered by those who disagree. Also, if you insult it or its founder, you'll probably be threatened with death by more radical followers.

C# would be Mormonism - At first glance, it's the same as Java, but at a closer look you realize that it's controlled by a single corporation (which many Java followers believe to be evil), and that many theological concepts are quite different. You suspect that it'd probably be nice, if only all the followers of Java wouldn't discriminate so much against you for following it.

Lisp would be Zen Buddhism - There is no syntax, there is no centralization of dogma, there are no deities to worship. The entire universe is there at your reach - if only you are enlightened enough to grasp it. Some say that it's not a language at all; others say that it's the only language that makes sense.

Haskell would be Taoism - It is so different from other languages that many people don't understand how can anyone use it to produce anything useful. Its followers believe that it's the true path to wisdom, but that wisdom is beyond the grasp of most mortals.

Erlang would be Hinduism - It's another strange language that doesn't look like it could be used for anything, but unlike most other modern languages, it's built around the concept of multiple simultaneous deities.

Perl would be Voodoo - An incomprehensible series of arcane incantations that involve the blood of goats and permanently corrupt your soul. Often used when your boss requires you to do an urgent task at 21:00 on friday night.

Lua would be Wicca - A pantheistic language that can easily be adapted for different cultures and locations. Its code is very liberal, and allows for the use of techniques that might be described as magical by those used to more traditional languages. It has a strong connection to the moon.

Ruby would be Neo-Paganism - A mixture of different languages and ideas that was beaten together into something that might be identified as a language. Its adherents are growing fast, and although most people look at them suspiciously, they are mostly well-meaning people with no intention of harming anyone.

Python would be Humanism: It's simple, unrestrictive, and all you need to follow it is common sense. Many of the followers claim to feel relieved from all the burden imposed by other languages, and that they have rediscovered the joy of programming. There are some who say that it is a form of pseudo-code.

COBOL would be Ancient Paganism - There was once a time when it ruled over a vast region and was important, but nowadays it's almost dead, for the good of us all. Although many were scarred by the rituals demanded by its deities, there are some who insist on keeping it alive even today.

APL would be Scientology - There are many people who claim to follow it, but you've always suspected that it's a huge and elaborate prank that got out of control.

LOLCODE would be Pastafarianism - An esoteric, Internet-born belief that nobody really takes seriously, despite all the efforts to develop and spread it.

Visual Basic would be Satanism - Except that you don't REALLY need to sell your soul to be a Satanist...

I can beat up 30 five year olds!

A friend showed me this website, so terrible. I think the deciding factor on my score is that I'm not opposed to using a child as a weapon against other children.

30
Probably the best survey I've ever taken. I'm glad someone has finally addressed the issue of being attacked by a ravenous group of children. It was a serious concern for me, but now I know what my limitations are. If I'm attacked by a group of 40 kids, I'm going to tuck tail and run. However if a group of 25 of the murderous little cretins come after me, they are going down!

I spent the weekend with my family in Arizona for my little brother's mission farewell. It was the first time our whole family has been together in years. Fun stuff. Flying there and back was not so fun, I hate flying. And I seem to have this curse of always sitting next to someone on the flight who's packing down an endless train of Bloody Mary's. Talk about bad breath. Luckily only on one of my four flights did this happen (Granny was holding a baby and packing down the Vodka).

In other news, I was taking a shower yesterday morning before work and felt like I was going to pass out again. Luckily this time I made it out of the shower and to the toilet to puke my guts out and then pass out on the bathroom floor, so at least I didn't hit my head this time. If I ever get drunk and pass out on the bathroom floor of a bar, now I'll be prepared. Boy Scout motto in a real life situation, damn straight.

Just finished reading a book on the history of Ireland. I think I'm going to emmigrate there eventually. Maybe see if I can get into grad school at University College, Dublin. That would be awesome on so many levels.

Going to go watch a movie now. Cheers.

Back by popular demand.

So I received an anonymous tip today that certain unnamed people have actually been checking on my blog from time to time, and were upset that I haven't updated it for several months. Quite a bit has happened this last little while, so I'll try to bring those interested parties up to date on current events.

I'm currently sitting in the front of my Ford Explorer, parked outside my friend's house to get wireless internet so as to be able to complete this blog. Now before you all start jumping to conclusions and marking me as the creepy stalker type, you're too late, I've already be named thus. But perhaps an explanation as to my current situation would help reduce the calls to the police on my behalf. I'm currently living with a friend's family. They have a large shop on their property, and were kind enough to let me clean up one of the upstairs rooms in the shop to live in. While this may seem like a small step above being born in a barn, it is actually quite warm and comfortable. For those of you able to look at my facebook, there are pictures of the place. I have basically everything I need right in one room, (namely my fridge and xbox, obviously).

I'm still working at Melaleuca, and despite the rather long unpleasant last couple of days, I quiet enjoy my work and co workers. Each team at the call center had to decorate their areas for Halloween. The theme this year was Disneyland Rides. Our team was assigned "Tarzan's Treehouse" So we made up the colums to look like palm trees, slapped on some cardboard made to look like a treehouse, and a girl on our team drew a life size caricature of Tarzan and cut him out of cardboard. His manly physique did make me a little uncomfortable, but I delt with it as best I could. We were planning on putting a loincloth made from fabric on him to finish the setup. However there was a delay in getting the fabric, so we had a few comments from other employees about the nude man standing by our team. (He wasn't actually drawn, but from a distance it did look a little sketchy). Today at work employees with children brought their kids around for a call center trick or treat, and would stop at each team to beg for candy. Most of the kids were very polite and only took a piece or two. There were however, a select few children who when offered the candy bowl, tried to take enough candy to put Willy Wonka to shame. One little two year old girl even went so far as to try to boost my candy bucket when I wasn't looking. Fortunately I was able to subdue her hand hand her over to the proper authorities, with only a few minor injuries.

In other news, I've been in and out of the doctor's office more than I care to admit these past few weeks. During the past few month's I've passed out in the shower a few times, and hit my head pretty hard in the process, so they've been doing tests to make sure I haven't given myself any serious brain injuries....what was my name again?... and to make sure I wasn't having seizures. And lastly they checked to make sure my heart was functioning properly. As it turns out I have a resting heart rate of around 95 bmp. Live fast and die young right? Oh, and I also had what Ithought to be a kidney stone, but it just turned out to be an incredibly painful intestinal infection. Which is good news I guess. Aside from that I'm doing provisionally okay in a physical sense.

Aside from all of that, there's really not much going on with me right now. I've been doing alot of reading, I'm actually reading three books at the same time. (Sherlock Holmes stories, a History of Ireland, and a programming book.) Given that I'm a computer science major, and it's every computer science major's secret wish to end up making video games, I've come up with what I think is a pretty cool idea for a video game. A big problem I see with video games today is that there is usually nothing even close to a good plot, just big explosions and women dressed to evidence that their creator is very lonely. I want to make a video game that has a plot that reads like a book, so I thought to myself, hey, write the plot in a book! So I've been working on the story here and there when I can. I've got a million different ideas, I'm just having a bit of a hard time focusing it on a single line of thought, but so far I like where it's going. And in the most likely event this thing never actually becomes a video game, I'll still have a cool story. Given my weakness in writing, I'll have to pass it by my more talented siblings and let them tear it apart. I'm also working on a concept for a movie that we're hoping to be able to start filming next summer, and maybe enter it into a film festival if it turns out how I'd like it to.

Well, I'm wasting gas, I'm tired, and really cramped from the awkward position I'm sitting in, so I'll end with a funny thought I read from that book on Ireland. As the story goes, a priest by the name of Columcille(I think that's how it's spelled) is approached by two men begging for money. The first is a poor and poverty stricken beggar, the other is a chronic gambler down on his luck. The the beggar he gives one gold coin, to the gambler he gives two. When asked by his peers why he would make such a seemingly unwise decision, Columcille leads his peers to a tavern where they find the gambler, who has treated his friends with his newfound money to drinks, and lost the rest gambling, walking a little farther on they find the beggar lying dead on the side of the road. To their question he replies that the two coins given to the gambler have been spread around to several people, and have helped them with food and the like. The coin given to the beggar they find sewn inside his clothing, and as such as completely gone to waste.

I thought that was an interesting little story. And with that, cheers!

~roO

No Such Thing As Originality

So I've been working on this idea on and off for several months. Basically a small autonomous aircraft able to navigate on a programmed path using GPS, and equipped with thermal cameras. The purpose of the system would be for search and rescue purposes. Imagine one of these flying out in the wilderness around where a person went missing. Using the thermal cameras, every time a "warm body" was detected it would send a picture of the body along with GPS coordinates to a base station, who could then direct emergency response teams to the area. Just imagine how much ground one (or several) of these things could cover. And how much faster/more efficient/cheaper it would be then flying helicopters around and search parties and such. Anyway, that's the brilliant idea I've been cooking up for quite some time now. I don't have any techincal details down or anything, but have just been trying build up a concept system, and determine the plausability of the whole thing.

So I was thinking about the possibility of transferring down to BYU next year, and whilst perusing their computer science department I came upon one of the research areas that the school is working on...unmanned aerial vehicals for the purpose of search and rescue. I seriously almost cried when I saw the article (http://research.cs.byu.edu/~hcmi/news_stories/Fieldtest_5_29_08/story.php) I really thought I had a somewhat original idea that could be used to save lives. And it's a research area at BYU. I'm not going to give up on the project, in hopes that maybe I'll be able to improve on what they've done, as there are some key differences in the imaging capabilities for what they have and what I'm hoping for. But all in all I've given up hope that I'll really be able to come up with something truly original/groundbreaking. I am working on a piece of software to cure cancer, but haven't quite figured out the whole cure cancer part of it. Oh well.

On a more positive note, finding this has strengthened my desire to transfer to BYU, and I think the field (Human-Centered Machine Intelligence) is something I would like to focus on as a career.