The last book I read was about different thinking techniques and how one way to use and strengthen the R-Mode part of my brain was to just write. It said a blog was a good way to do this. before my blog has been entirely about informing people of what I'm up to. I will start mixing in with those updates my thoughts blog posts. they will be about all kinds of topics and I will just put my thoughts on that topic. Maybe it will get you thinking too. this is my first one. It came to me as I was making my lunch...
I’m living on my own... I’m at that point in life where I am actually living away from home. I have paid for my summer housing. I pay for all of my food. I pay for all of my expenses this summer. While I’m sure there are a lot of things that I still get through my mom, such as insurance, or from others, such as the money my grandparents give me when I go home (Thanks), I am at a point in my life that is really odd to think about. I say this realizing that there are still a bunch of more steps until I am truly living on my own but I also feel like this is a pretty big step in life. My whole life, all 20 years of it, has been a journey just like anyone else’s. But it has never felt to me like I have made big steps; Getting my license, graduating high school, getting accepted to college, being in a dorm at college all felt like they were just the next step in life. People would always ask if it felt odd or what did I think about it. I never thought it felt odd and I always just felt like it was the next step. I was going with the flow of life and these were the steps that came next. These decisions were not hard ones. They didn’t require much thinking. I guess it was because they were something you knew was going to happen your whole life. As a kid you know you will drive eventually, you know you will graduate high school and go to college (or at least I did. I had the great support of my family to let me know that I was going to exceed in life by going to college. This is a luxury that not everyone gets.) But I never really thought about getting away from home that much. I didn’t mind living at home. I know many people who left home as soon as they could because they couldn’t stand it there; they had to just get away. But because this is not something I thought about. This like all the others was going to happen eventually, I knew this. But I always thought it would come after college. But here I am, summer between sophomore year and junior year and I’m living on my own. This is two years earlier than I expected. Every now and then I just realize where I am in life and I’m kinda reflective on the truth. It makes me think of what’s coming next. I have a feeling that graduating college will seem like just another moment in life. But the hunt for a job, that will feel odd. The reason I am living on my own is because I know that the more experience I get in my field the better off I’ll be after college.
When I first sat down to write this I was reminded of a conversation I had with a girl from the United Arab Emirate (if you don’t know where that is look it up). She was a College Student. She had mentioned how we all (as in Americans) move away from home very quickly. We don’t stay with our families like people do in her region. In their culture they stay with their families until they are married. That is when they move out. We on the other hand tend to stay with our families until we get a job and can support ourselves. It is at that point that you move out. This caught me by surprise. I had never thought about this concept before. Our culture is so independent and as a group we take pride in our individualism. I had never even thought about living at home after school. If you think about it as a kid you are home until you are done with your education then you move out. And from what it seems to me, as a parent you know your children will move out after school. This is just something that we all know will happen. Have you ever thought about doing this differently?
Living away from home and on your own is something that we all do eventually. I’ve known that my whole life. I just didn’t know eventually would be so soon.
Can you remember when you first moved away from home? What did it feel like? Where did you live? What prompted this move? How old where you? Take some time to reflect on these questions. Feel free to post your answers or thoughts here.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Climbing Videos part 1
Here are some of the climbing videos that I said I would put up (actually these are all bouldering videos). I still haven't been able to get the other video to work. I might just end up putting up the whole thing if I can't find a way to edit out the unimportant middle part.
This is a V4 I've almost got down. I only have the last hold that I can't make. it took me a while to get to this point the hand grips are not the greatest
This is a V0 that I decided to turn into a dyno. I like dynos so I will go around and try to make them. In this case I started on the V0's second hand hold and I jumped over the 3rd and 4th then I grab the 5th and last hold. I think this is one of the better dynos I have done. this is the furthest I have gone sideways with a dyno. It took me 3 trys to get it.
This is a V4 I've almost got down. I only have the last hold that I can't make. it took me a while to get to this point the hand grips are not the greatest
This is a V0 that I decided to turn into a dyno. I like dynos so I will go around and try to make them. In this case I started on the V0's second hand hold and I jumped over the 3rd and 4th then I grab the 5th and last hold. I think this is one of the better dynos I have done. this is the furthest I have gone sideways with a dyno. It took me 3 trys to get it.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Update #28
Okay so since the last blog I have done a bunch I guess.
I watched the movie Taken. got it on netflix. It was really different. A feel good action movie. It was an odd combination but it was pretty good. maybe a 3/4 stars of 5. but I thought it was good. its basically about a father who does everything he can in an attempt to rescue his daughter.
I have also gone climbing some more. I have decided to start taking videos of the climbs instead of pictures. I then ran into a problem with editing them. So I will get some videos up here soon but I have to work out a few things first. I was told that someone was looking for some videos. I will have the new ones up soon but there are already some on the blog. you can find my 5.10+ climb on the post: Update #22. You can also find a bunch of pictures on the post: Climbing Competition.
As a general pointer, if you are looking for something I have blogged about in the past you can search for it under its label. so say you are looking for all of my posts that talk about climbing. if you goto the right of where this blog is (in that right sidebar) at the bottom of the sidebar there is a thing that says labels. under there it has a bunch of labels click on the label you want to see and they will appear. and if what you are looking for isn't on the screen you can look for older posts (it is sorted by when they are put up. the newest are at the top) by going to the bottom of the page and clicking "older posts".
I have been working a bunch too on both projects I am on. The UN one last week had a bunch of meetings that through off my schedule a bit and made it difficult to start up on the IBM project but I plan to get caught up by the end of the week on the IBM one. I plan on loosening up my schedule in an attempt to get more flexible times on projects.
I have also found this thing on iTunes call itunesU. schools put videos of their classes on itunes for free that people can watch. A bunch of school have classes up there ranging from MIT to UNH. I have started looking at single variable calculus from MIT in order to better understand it. As a programmer it will be needed.
I went to camp this weekend. It was great to see everyone again after so long. I have a new trailer so it was nice to see that finally. I hung out with my friends a bunch and did a bunch of different things. my grandmother made a cookie/brownie thing that was different but good. it tasted like a cookie but with the texture of a brownie. She also made me a Strawberry shortcake.
I have finished the book that I was reading in the last blog. I have since then ordered 3 more and I should finish the 1st one of those on Thursday. this one is about understanding how the brain works in order to be able to learn better. it has a focus on programming but can really be applied to anything. It talks about R-Mode to L-Mode flow and different techniques to help you learn and work better. I'm almost done with it and I'm pretty happy with it. The other two books are also about programming in a way. one is about management of technical people such as a software development team while the other is about staying passionate about what you do.
I have also got an account on Twitter. Twitter is an online thing that can be seen as a micro blog post. It basically answers the question what are you doing now. the posts are always short (under 140 characters) I have put a gadget that puts my twitter post on my blog. you can find them on the right of this post towards the top of the page. they are under the title of twitter and will be updated more often. you will not get an email when a new twitter post is put up so if you are wondering what I'm up to and I haven' posted a blog trying looking at the twitter feed in the corner it may give some insight into what I'm doing when I don't have time to write a full blog. for example I posted stuff about the new books 4 days ago, itunesU 5 days ago, and Taken 6 days ago on twitter.
I watched the movie Taken. got it on netflix. It was really different. A feel good action movie. It was an odd combination but it was pretty good. maybe a 3/4 stars of 5. but I thought it was good. its basically about a father who does everything he can in an attempt to rescue his daughter.
I have also gone climbing some more. I have decided to start taking videos of the climbs instead of pictures. I then ran into a problem with editing them. So I will get some videos up here soon but I have to work out a few things first. I was told that someone was looking for some videos. I will have the new ones up soon but there are already some on the blog. you can find my 5.10+ climb on the post: Update #22. You can also find a bunch of pictures on the post: Climbing Competition.
As a general pointer, if you are looking for something I have blogged about in the past you can search for it under its label. so say you are looking for all of my posts that talk about climbing. if you goto the right of where this blog is (in that right sidebar) at the bottom of the sidebar there is a thing that says labels. under there it has a bunch of labels click on the label you want to see and they will appear. and if what you are looking for isn't on the screen you can look for older posts (it is sorted by when they are put up. the newest are at the top) by going to the bottom of the page and clicking "older posts".
I have been working a bunch too on both projects I am on. The UN one last week had a bunch of meetings that through off my schedule a bit and made it difficult to start up on the IBM project but I plan to get caught up by the end of the week on the IBM one. I plan on loosening up my schedule in an attempt to get more flexible times on projects.
I have also found this thing on iTunes call itunesU. schools put videos of their classes on itunes for free that people can watch. A bunch of school have classes up there ranging from MIT to UNH. I have started looking at single variable calculus from MIT in order to better understand it. As a programmer it will be needed.
I went to camp this weekend. It was great to see everyone again after so long. I have a new trailer so it was nice to see that finally. I hung out with my friends a bunch and did a bunch of different things. my grandmother made a cookie/brownie thing that was different but good. it tasted like a cookie but with the texture of a brownie. She also made me a Strawberry shortcake.
I have finished the book that I was reading in the last blog. I have since then ordered 3 more and I should finish the 1st one of those on Thursday. this one is about understanding how the brain works in order to be able to learn better. it has a focus on programming but can really be applied to anything. It talks about R-Mode to L-Mode flow and different techniques to help you learn and work better. I'm almost done with it and I'm pretty happy with it. The other two books are also about programming in a way. one is about management of technical people such as a software development team while the other is about staying passionate about what you do.
I have also got an account on Twitter. Twitter is an online thing that can be seen as a micro blog post. It basically answers the question what are you doing now. the posts are always short (under 140 characters) I have put a gadget that puts my twitter post on my blog. you can find them on the right of this post towards the top of the page. they are under the title of twitter and will be updated more often. you will not get an email when a new twitter post is put up so if you are wondering what I'm up to and I haven' posted a blog trying looking at the twitter feed in the corner it may give some insight into what I'm doing when I don't have time to write a full blog. for example I posted stuff about the new books 4 days ago, itunesU 5 days ago, and Taken 6 days ago on twitter.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Update #27
I finished reading the book this week. I really feel like I learned a lot from it about programming. Since then I have already started to put it to work at work where right now me and the other flash programmer are talking about the architecture of the game. I'm using concepts of general programming in order to make it easier to maintain and test. I have since talked to a few people asking what books I should read. I just emailed my adviser asking him what books he would suggest so that I can keep learning.
I watched a movie although I forget what it was called. it was okay but not what I was expected I felt like it was really fast paced plot wise which was odd. it wasn't the action packed kind of paced but the movie covered a lot of things in a short amount of time.
um well since the last blog I've gone climbing and worked on a few new routes and bouldering problems. I have also gotten into the project that I have been the last two weeks and feel like I've got a pretty good hold on the project as a whole. the other job doesn't start until next Monday so that means that I got a 4 day weekend so today I went in and paid off my housing for the summer then played games all day.
My new roommate brought his PS2 so I've been playing one of my favorite games. I played the first one and once I got the second game in ther series my PS2 broke so I never got the chance to play it. so I want to get a chance to do that. So I'm replaying the first one now. I also played some rockband and right now I'm playing another game with my friends.
I watched a movie although I forget what it was called. it was okay but not what I was expected I felt like it was really fast paced plot wise which was odd. it wasn't the action packed kind of paced but the movie covered a lot of things in a short amount of time.
um well since the last blog I've gone climbing and worked on a few new routes and bouldering problems. I have also gotten into the project that I have been the last two weeks and feel like I've got a pretty good hold on the project as a whole. the other job doesn't start until next Monday so that means that I got a 4 day weekend so today I went in and paid off my housing for the summer then played games all day.
My new roommate brought his PS2 so I've been playing one of my favorite games. I played the first one and once I got the second game in ther series my PS2 broke so I never got the chance to play it. so I want to get a chance to do that. So I'm replaying the first one now. I also played some rockband and right now I'm playing another game with my friends.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Update #26
So I've got another job. Just got the offer yesterday. it is at the same place so now I'll be working on two different project there. this will give me a fullish week schedule. I wont be working 40 hours a week but prob somewhere around 35 hours. I will start on that one next Monday.
I made a trip back home Thurs into Fri. I was there for about 24 hours. I went back to see my mom since I would not see her on Mothers day. I also dropped off some stuff that I didn't need since I am staying up here and I also picked up some other things. While I was there I visited my brother at school, he was packing and I think he was leaving at some point that day. My friend Kim brought me home so we ended up watching 2 movies. I also went over to my grandparents and talked to them for a bit.
I have rearranged my room a bit. The way it is set up now is good because I can now look out the window from my desk. I can also watch TV from my bed too without having to turn the TV.
I went climbing today. they were in the middle of putting up new routes so there were only a few that I could go on. I went up 4 new ones and up a half finished one. I then went upstairs to boulder. I did a few routes and started working on a new one that I will hopefully get down the next time I go.
I made a trip back home Thurs into Fri. I was there for about 24 hours. I went back to see my mom since I would not see her on Mothers day. I also dropped off some stuff that I didn't need since I am staying up here and I also picked up some other things. While I was there I visited my brother at school, he was packing and I think he was leaving at some point that day. My friend Kim brought me home so we ended up watching 2 movies. I also went over to my grandparents and talked to them for a bit.
I have rearranged my room a bit. The way it is set up now is good because I can now look out the window from my desk. I can also watch TV from my bed too without having to turn the TV.
I went climbing today. they were in the middle of putting up new routes so there were only a few that I could go on. I went up 4 new ones and up a half finished one. I then went upstairs to boulder. I did a few routes and started working on a new one that I will hopefully get down the next time I go.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Update #25
So I've been keeping up with the idea of waking up early and getting work done or at least doing something since my last post. every morning my alarm goes off at 9:00 and I hate myself for interrupting my summer sleep. I had no reason to get up other than my own will. for some reason it worked and now I have the time to blog in the morning.
Well since the last blog a few things have happened. I am no longer going to Texas, I got my grades back, and I got a job.
The conference that the other students and I were going to speak at was canceled. apparently its a bad idea to have a bunch of medical experts at the center of the flu breakout. It makes sense they want people to be able to help their own hospitals and stay away so they themselves don't catch the bug and bring it home. or at least I think that what the reasoning was. I don't blame them but I'm kinda disappointed that my trip was canceled. I was looking forward to going to a conference and going to Texas. I hope I'll get the chance to go to another one.
I got my grades back and they were okay. B-, B,B+,A-,A-. this brought my GPA down by 0.1 but I am still on the deans list. I'll have to try to bring it back up again next semester.
So I got the job I applied for. after the slight set back on getting notice I was offered the job yesterday. I understand the reason for the setback and as far as I can tell they still haven't hired anyone else. I think that some strings may have been pulled in order to let me know back quicker because I had to leave for the summer otherwise. but anyway that starts right away.
yesterday I was able to finally go out and get my passport pictures. so now I should have everything I need I just need to send it out. I also got my hair cut and I got some hooks from walmart.
I have also continued in my productivity crusaide. I am continueing to read the book. I ran into a few different parts that were slightly over my head but it gave me an idea of where I should be heading as a programmer. I have also worked a little more on my website.
I went climbing yesterday and got down two new routes without falling. these were routes that I had finished before but I fell when I tried them. I need to remember to bring my camera next time we go.
Well since the last blog a few things have happened. I am no longer going to Texas, I got my grades back, and I got a job.
The conference that the other students and I were going to speak at was canceled. apparently its a bad idea to have a bunch of medical experts at the center of the flu breakout. It makes sense they want people to be able to help their own hospitals and stay away so they themselves don't catch the bug and bring it home. or at least I think that what the reasoning was. I don't blame them but I'm kinda disappointed that my trip was canceled. I was looking forward to going to a conference and going to Texas. I hope I'll get the chance to go to another one.
I got my grades back and they were okay. B-, B,B+,A-,A-. this brought my GPA down by 0.1 but I am still on the deans list. I'll have to try to bring it back up again next semester.
So I got the job I applied for. after the slight set back on getting notice I was offered the job yesterday. I understand the reason for the setback and as far as I can tell they still haven't hired anyone else. I think that some strings may have been pulled in order to let me know back quicker because I had to leave for the summer otherwise. but anyway that starts right away.
yesterday I was able to finally go out and get my passport pictures. so now I should have everything I need I just need to send it out. I also got my hair cut and I got some hooks from walmart.
I have also continued in my productivity crusaide. I am continueing to read the book. I ran into a few different parts that were slightly over my head but it gave me an idea of where I should be heading as a programmer. I have also worked a little more on my website.
I went climbing yesterday and got down two new routes without falling. these were routes that I had finished before but I fell when I tried them. I need to remember to bring my camera next time we go.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Update #24
So since my last update I have finished school for this year and my finals. My work for the semester is over and I have nothing left that I "need" to do. I Find this odd, due to the fact that there always seems to be something I need to do. However I'm filling my time and trying to be somewhat productive.
This large amount of free time means that I can finally get around to those things that I have wanted to do but just never had time to. I started to read a book about programming that I have meant to to for the last 8 months. I even started trying to design the layout for my website last night. If you didn't notice you are currently on my domain. however I don't have a host yet. The reason for this is that I don't have a site to put up and that until I do I plan on saving the money that would be wasted on a host with nothing on it.
I decided that this week I would try to wake up at a reasonable time so that my sleep schedule stays somewhat regular. This also means I have more free time to do stuff. So when I woke up I showered and promptly became productive and started self teaching myself html so that I can write my own web page, none of that template stuff I want this page to be 100% me.
Backing up to the start of this weekend. I spent Friday sitting on the couch all day waiting for an email from the place where I applied. I would refresh my email every 5 minutes or so hoping to get something back saying one way or another. unfortunately 10:30 rolled around and still no email. I call up the person who I was waiting to hear back from. I told him I needed to know by the next day or I was going to have to move home. He told me he would call me back. I think he called his boss then called me back. he told me due to things beyond his control that he couldn't let me know until next week... Oh well. I understand why however I don't feel like typing out all of that so for now you can know that I'll be up in VT for at least another week.
When I hear back I will either move back home or stay up here depending on if I got the job or not. This means that I have this whole week to do whatever I want. I will try to make the most out of it. I plan to finish that book and I will try to make some headway on my website, along with a few other things I have meant to do.
Well that's all I have for now. My new roommate just walked in and I'm going to help him move his stuff.
This large amount of free time means that I can finally get around to those things that I have wanted to do but just never had time to. I started to read a book about programming that I have meant to to for the last 8 months. I even started trying to design the layout for my website last night. If you didn't notice you are currently on my domain. however I don't have a host yet. The reason for this is that I don't have a site to put up and that until I do I plan on saving the money that would be wasted on a host with nothing on it.
I decided that this week I would try to wake up at a reasonable time so that my sleep schedule stays somewhat regular. This also means I have more free time to do stuff. So when I woke up I showered and promptly became productive and started self teaching myself html so that I can write my own web page, none of that template stuff I want this page to be 100% me.
Backing up to the start of this weekend. I spent Friday sitting on the couch all day waiting for an email from the place where I applied. I would refresh my email every 5 minutes or so hoping to get something back saying one way or another. unfortunately 10:30 rolled around and still no email. I call up the person who I was waiting to hear back from. I told him I needed to know by the next day or I was going to have to move home. He told me he would call me back. I think he called his boss then called me back. he told me due to things beyond his control that he couldn't let me know until next week... Oh well. I understand why however I don't feel like typing out all of that so for now you can know that I'll be up in VT for at least another week.
When I hear back I will either move back home or stay up here depending on if I got the job or not. This means that I have this whole week to do whatever I want. I will try to make the most out of it. I plan to finish that book and I will try to make some headway on my website, along with a few other things I have meant to do.
Well that's all I have for now. My new roommate just walked in and I'm going to help him move his stuff.
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