So this is what it's like to be old
6 days ago | Random | Comment [1]My hands have gotten significantly worse in the past few days. Typing is what hurts the most, so my blogging is limited. I apologize.
Rescued from the crash and burn
14 days ago | Random | Comment [2]It’s been a lot of hard work, but I think our amazing IT guy Jeff has managed to fix my computer. The Sims 3 still doesn’t work (which is a shame, because that’s the game I really want to play), but we suspect it might be repaired on the next patch.
In all, it took a new case, a BIOS update, a video card driver update, several monitoring systems, some uninstalls, some reinstalls, dropping it twice on cement sidewalks, and… well, let’s just say it’s been a frustrating few weeks.
Jeff is pretty much awesome, though – and Fallout 3 runs like a dream. It’s a pretty boring game, but I digress.
So far, Toby is really sticking as a name for my new computer. I’ll probably go with that. Sergei just didn’t suit it, even if it is a cooler name.
I’m all set funds-wise again. After being paid for teaching, I shoved some money into savings and have some left over.
Expenses planned or desired:
- a PS3. I will not get one, however, until I can find one with proper backwards compatibility. I did not spend hundreds of dollars on my PS2 to not be able to play my games when I upgrade. It’s not like it’s a huge leap, either. PS3s come with some major investments though – controllers, games, all that garbage that makes it cost far more than the initial expense.
- an HD video camera. I miss making motion graphics. I want to start doing more with live video.
- a shoji screen for my bedroom. Jysk has been out of stock of the one I want for over two months.
- a nice pair of turquoise shoes with heels.
I’m just now hunkering down to my summer projects – pretty much all websites. We’ll see how they go. Creat Multimedia for my art and illustration, Jamie Isfeld for my professional web blog, Skyscape3 for my personal stuff, and IAteWinnipeg for deliciousness.
Get it done, why don't you
25 days ago | Random | Comment [2]My class is wrapping up. I’d say it was a success – even though it was my first opportunity to teach the Advanced half, the students seemed to pick up on it well.
I still have to finish marking final projects, assemble all of my materials, and do some invoicing. However, overall I believe I’m on track.
I also am writing a guide for new-to-developing developers about things like hosting, domain name purchasing, content management systems, contracting, and so on. I think I’m going to write my guide as something for me to add to my future site redevelopment, and just link my students to that – considering it’s not officially part of the material, that should be fair.
I assumed I’d have a bit of a lull – not so. The comic con geared straight back up lately. I’ve got cards, business cards, stickers, and a few guides to start on. I’ll do the best I can.
At work, everything’s going fairly well. My current project is on track – it’s just a matter of pulling the right stories in the right way.
I really want to sit down and write a content management system to specifically work in a way I always wanted, but could never find. Fairly simple – needs to write to some databases for comments, do a bit of AJAX updating on a ratings system, and have a nice backend for upload and tagging. It would be mostly for my use – but hey, I might release it later. It’s not too hard by any means… but it’s a challenge for me.
After modifying a BIOS thingy and doing a memory check, it appears the new computer is fixed. It needs a name now, since it’s really no longer Timothy, just built with a few of Timothy’s parts. I’ve narrowed it down to either Toby or Sergei. I think I need to work with it a bit more to pick one or the other.
I want to purchase an HD video camera and a PS3. These purchases will have to wait a bit until my finances calm down a little, but they add up to less than $1k together. The PS3 is going to primarily be a media centre, and the video camera is so I can start doing more motion graphics and possibly even some compositing.
I’ve been feeling really, really worn out for several days now. I suspect it’s the weather, but I’m not sure. It might be a residual effect of ending teaching.
Maybe I’ll take a break soon and just work on getting everything sorted and in order in what I’m gradually beginning to accept is my life. Maybe not.
One thing is for certain: I have a lot of work to do. Wish me luck.
If I could keep spam in a folder
25 days ago | Random | Comment [2]My spam emails are now very… custom. They talk to me directly in the subject line, but the actual content has ripped and replicated standard newsletter templates.
“Your sister is waiting at lunch”, “what did I tell u”, “Why weren’t u at party?” and even so far as “You suck” and “U bastard return my calls” show up from time to time.
Mind you, I know they’re completely false and randomly sent – I get just as many “brother” and “coworker” emails on my personal account as anything accurate toward me. They still resonate a bit, oddly enough. I suppose my spam emails are a lot like horoscopes, if I look at it that way.
They’re also increasing in volume – from a prior 3-6 per day to 10-20 per day. Not sure why. Nothing has made it through Gmail’s excellent filter, but there are a lot that arrive regardless.
I do check my spam folder and clear it out. I hate having anything marked as unread. However, reading these ones are little reminders of things I’m not doing… and that’s kind of odd to experience.
Have you noticed an increase in spam? Any intelligent, thought-provoking messages written by someone who doesn’t care about you and will try to scam you out of your personal information?
How spending feels cheap
47 days ago | Random | Comment [4]I bought a new DSLR. An Olympus E-520. I have a thing where the first picture I take in a new camera has to be of my old camera, so I set up my Fujifilm F30 and started shooting. I took three pictures, put it away, and have no desire to ever use it again. It’s not fun to use, it’s hard to see things in focus, and it gets dirty really easily. I only ever wanted a DSLR so people would get out of my way when I took pictures because no one respects a point-and-shoot photographer, but now I just don’t care to take it out from its case at all. The case is nice though.
I bought a new MP3 player specifically for jogging (a Sansa Clip – black). I loaded it up with my entire jogging playlist (most of my music collection I actually enjoy listening to), and found it weighed in at only 437mb out of an available 2gb. I have no desire to seek out new music to fill it. When I went jogging to the Forks today, I went mid-afternoon and it was so crowded that it made me angry – jogging is supposed to be the one thing that stops me from being angry for a while, so I wasn’t impressed. I saw a pretty bird though – possibly a Nashville Warbler, but I’m not great with identifying birds.
I tried assembling my computer. No matter how hard I try, I still can’t get the BIOS to beep. I’ve pretty much given up. At this point, it’s all I can do to keep myself from throwing the entire $1200 worth of parts in a dumpster outside. I don’t want to ask someone else to fix it. It’s my job to know how to build my own machine.
I buy and eat too much food. I like cooking, but I don’t like that I either eat what I cook or let it go bad and waste that money. In my fridge I have chicken fingers, eight servings of stir fry, steak, hummus, salad greens, a cucumber, mini-tomatoes, and more. I eat when I’m not hungry because I don’t want the food to go bad. Grocery shopping is one of the most relaxing things I do, so it’s hard not to pick up just one more thing. My cupboards are close to the bursting point, and I don’t really want any of it.
My only motivation is crossing things off of to do lists, and even that isn’t enough. I’ve had so much extra time because of this long weekend and I don’t have an urge to do anything – especially not relax.
I still have to finish a painting, write a quiz, and go to Gimli tomorrow. Not really excited for any of it.