Fuzzy Thoughts

Ah, the summer. After about 5 months of classes, I finally get to relax… a little.

My summer started with three final exams. Or well, one exam, one paper, and having to watch a class on artifical inteligence do presentations. After presentations on Friday, I had the weekend off, and then it was off to work, for two weeks without a day off. And these weren’t your regular 9-5 days. This was 10-12 hour days, out in the sun, sweating. After the first two weeks, it was Memorial Day, so I got that off. Then it was a couple of 6 day weeks (still working 10-12 hour days). Now, I’ve been working 45 hours a week in the store. It’s easier, but I think I’d rather be in the field still. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot to do out there now, since all but a few of our pools are open, and there isn’t enough to need three people. Going from $800+ a week to half (or less) of that is not fun, especially when you could use the money.

In addition to that, I’m also teaching again at GeeksToGo. I’m filling in for a few teachers over the course of the summer, since people go on vacation and need their areas covered. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue when my school courses resume in the fall. Unfotunately, that all depends on my schedule and how much work I think I will have when I get the course syllabi.

In terms of this site, my summer goal is to finally create a new theme that I like for it. It will still contain elements of this site, but the layout will be slightly different. Color schemes might also change, I haven’t thought about it yet. So far, all I have figured out is a rough idea of how I want it layed out. I also want to start posting more now that work isn’t occupying a lot of my time (but how any times have I said that?). Hopefully I can find time (and topics) to be able to post something. There are a few ideas about topics floating around in my head, but those might argument based papers that I write and upload in a post; there is one post that I’ve had here as a draft for a few months, maybe I’ll finally be able to update and finish that one.

Elsewhere on the web, I’d like to update my facebook profile, and tweet a little more. I would like to post some things at my notepad, since I haven’t really had anything (or time) to post there since I first opened the site. I also need to find a new theme for over there. At first, I liked what is currently there, but I’m not really a big fan of it anymore; not for what I want to be able to turn it into. Maybe I’ll use the theme that I eventually use for here, just in a different color scheme.

A friend recently sent this to me on facebook. I figured I’d share with whoever stops by and reads. Excuse the lack of blank lines, for some reason I can’t get them to display :s

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be a Republican.”

“I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.”

The man smiled and responded, “You must be an Obama Democrat.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?”

“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You’ve risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it’s my fault.”

So I decided to make a post with where I am online (sites I own, and social media/networking sites). Here it is, for your viewing pleasure.

My sites:

1. Fuzzy Thoughts – That’s this site; my personal blog where I ramble on about whatever I feel like it. The site has gone through a few revisions since I first coded the pages by hand. It first started out as static HTML pages with an external CSS page. The next version wasn’t really a new design, but instead switched to using PHP so that I could have just one file (each) for the header, footer, and linkbar. This meant that if I wanted to change something about them, I only have to edit the respectful file, and didn’t have to edit each page, saving me time. Eventually, I switched to WordPress, and haven’t looked back. You can read more about this site at the about page. (Excuse the broken twitter widget, it’s on the to-do list )
2. Ryan’s Notepad – Don’t ask me why I start new sites when I don’t have time, but I was bored over spring break, so that’s what I did. A place to remember and share what I’ve learned, it’s off to a good start (I guess…. I mean, it’s only been online for a week or so). There are some rough ideas that I have about what exactly to do with the site, and I mentioned them in my previous post (Busy, busy, busy), but they are something that I need to take and write down further, if only for my own benefit.
3. Picklvision.com – Where brain cells go to die. Site I started with some friends… or rather, they wanted a site, and I agreed to host/admin it, while they did the content for it. Since we’re all college students with a ton of other responsibilities, the site is often on the back burner, just waiting for one of us to have time to work on it. (And it looks like I need to do some work on it… but it will have to wait for next weekend)
4. Hacktheplanet.us – A couple of years ago I had plans for that site, but I never found the time to work on it (hopefully that doesn’t happen with Ryan’s Notepad). I still own the domain name, because I like it, and am using AdSense for Domains on it.
5. 2Skewed.net – Can’t remember why I bought this, other than I wanted the name. Currently also used for AdSense for Domains.

Social Media/Networking:

1. Facebook: Yes I am on facebook; no, I’m not putting a link to my profile. I’ve recently decided that I’m going to leave facebook for people that I know in real life. I haven’t decided what to do with the people that I’m friends with whom I’ve never meet before. I’m probably just going to go through my friends, and if I don’t recognize the name, remove them.
2. Twitter: I’m @ninjaWR on twitter. Feel free to follow me if you wish to.
3. MySpace: I have an account, but only because some friends use MySpace instead of Facebook. The extent of customization I’ve done to my page there is to change the  order my friends appear in.

Heh, looks like this is the first real post I’ve made here in almost two months. Guess that means I’ve been too busy; hell, I’m still busy, and have other things I should be using this time for instead of making a post on a site that hardly anybody reads.

So what have I been keeping myself busy with? School and work, mostly. Even though I’m considered a part-time student, I seem to be doing more work this semester than any other, probably becuase I’m doing my thesis this semester. So far, it’s about juvenile sex offenders… and even though it should be further along than it is, it isn’t. I’ll probably focus on how requiring some juvie offenders to register is a bad idea… just need the time to read and write. I still work at the cafe on campus; I’m there three nights a week, working about 20 hours per week. After three years of working there, it’s the same stuff everyday. Hopefully once I finally graduate, I’ll find some job that doesn’t have me doing the same stuff everyday.

My presence on the web has changed a little too. Since I don’t have the time to committ to it at the moment, I stepped down as a teacher at GeeksToGo! late last month / early this month. It was a fun time, just can’t commit to something when I don’t have the time. Which is why I can’t really understand why I started a new site… probably because I can work on it on my time schedule, and not anybody elses. Ryan’s Notepad is my online notepad; the purpose of it so far is to write down things I either figured out how to do, or used some obscure search terms to find. This way, I don’t need to go scrambling to find directions, and can share what I know with others. Right now it’s just me writing stuff; the plan so far is for me to get it started, and then possibly ask some friends if they want to help write. Long term (but what exactly is long term to a college student) is that I’d eventually ask for user suggestions on topics to write, or even user submitted material. We’ll see how things turn out though.

So what’s my excuse on why there probably won’t be posts here for another month?  Probably same as this time (work and school), and that I will be putting time and effort into the new site. We’ll just have to wait and see when the next time I post here is (besides the posts I’ll be writing write after this, and scheduling to post at a later date).

… Alternate title: ideas while in bed, posted from my phone, to expand on later.

1. What I’ve been busy with
2. My wishlist for facebook
3. What I’m going to be busy with

Funny things happen when I’m bored, not all of which are productive… but I guess this one was… kinda. Made a program that will take a word, and rotate the letters 13 letters over. So A becomes N, B is O, C is P, etc. Not a sophisticated code by any means, but it will prevent someone from reading a message over your shoulder (once its been run through the program).

Download Rot13

Save it as Rot13.class (make sure the R is capitalized, or bad things will happen).
Open up a command prompt
At the prompt: path/to/java path/to/Rot13 someWordHere

When using it, the .class does not need to be added for it to work from the command line.
It will give a warning if the OS isn’t Windows, just ignore it… I was making this when I was bored, remember?

The plan for this one is to eventually make it have a GUI, read from a file and save to a file, and handle more than one word From there, maybe I’ll turn it into an applet so it can be used from a web page. But since this is a boredom project, there’s no guarantee as to when this will all get done.

One of the mailing lists I am subscribed to talks about the OA. Back in November, a former lodge advisor for one of the lodges had recently passed away. As usual for the list, several members posted comments about him, how he had been an inspiration, one of the good guys, etc. One of the people posting posted a set of “rules” that had been inspired by the former lodge advisor. Although several of them dealt specifically with the OA, most did not, and apply to life in general. Below are some of the ones I feel apply to everyday life.

1. Never give away your only copy of any document.
2. An e-mail is always better than nothing, a phone call is always better than an e-mail, a face-to-face visit is always better than a phone call.
3. Make sure your private conversations are truly private. Know who is listening in on your conversation and who will likely hear about it later.
4. Always be friendly to secretaries, assistants, and support staff. They can make your day bright or be your worst nightmare.
5. Return messages promptly. They took the time to contact you.
6. Give a person the benefit of the doubt, especially when no one else will.
7. If you aren’t willing to help make it right, don’t criticize.
8. It doesn’t matter that your actions are honorable if they are perceived otherwise.
9. Emails are easily sent and just as easily forwarded.
10. Proofread EVERYTHING before it is mailed. Trust no one else’s command of the English language or proper grammar.
11. Never forget who your friends are.

I might have to argue on the email, phone call… one though. I’d rather get an email than a phone call. If someone emails me, I’m able to keep the email in my inbox, or move it to another folder. If I get a phone call, I have to write down anything important, and then hope I don’t lose the paper… which given the way my desk looks, is more than possible

A few days ago I was linked to this site where it had quotes retail/service/support employees had had with customers. Below are links to six that made me chuckle for one reason or another.

Night Vision Might be Good Too
You Know you had too Much to Drink When…
The Return of Captain Obvious
Captain Obvious to the Rescue
Four Words: Bow Chicka Bow and Wow
Blurgh is Right

So I haven’t written anything in a while, and I don’t like that. Well, finals are here, so that means after this week I should have some time to write some stuff becuase I want to, not because I have to. And since I’m taking classes part-time next semester, that means I might actually be able to write stuff doing the semster as well.

Also here (well, almost) is WordPress 2.7!  I’ve been a happy user of WordPress since 2.0.x, and I can’t even think of using anything else. I’ve been using the development version of WordPress for a few months now, and I can confidently say that users are going to be shocked when they upgrade to 2.7.