With all the stuff that I'm learning this semester, along with everything I'm going to learn during my last year and a half at Point, I decided that now was a good time to get started on formulating a resume to showcase my work.
The site I made for myself is in really early beta form:
http://students.uwsp.edu/clesl961/wdmd
Just some tables and a nice little background picture for now. After I learn some more Javascript and whatnot, I'll make it a nice little portal webpage that takes people to my resume, previous projects and works, all the whathaveya's. My current resume is in the form of a Flash-based ePortfolio that I made last year. It was completed in a week's time, so it was terribly rushed and lacks a lot of functionality that I would like it to have. The portfolio is a simulation of a computer's interface, and in that week's time I managed to get only a few tiny little interactive functions implemented. After this semester, I'm going to redo that portfolio with the knowledge of how to REALLY make that interface behave like a computer's interface. I'm also going to work on creating a new animated Flash movie at some point, but as soon as the portfolio is ready, I'll be sending it just about everywhere.
I don't know who will look at it, or who would even consider hiring me, but I'm optimistic that someone out there has a spot for me to be creative.
Or if worse comes to worse, I'll spend a few years starting out as a code monkey. On the bright side, that kind of job would let me earn 3 times what I make right now. If I budgeted my money wisely, I could get my college loans paid off within 5 years. Then it's time to look at buying a DeLorean ;-)
I watched wrestling last night and I feel like I lost two hours of my life. Which I probably could have spent playing MGS2, or watching Eureka Seven, or maybe even doing homework! I've really outgrown pro wrestling, save for TNA Wrestling which is alright I suppose.
I picked up some albums of the Red Elvises. They sound pretty decent, I'll have to listen to them a lot more to get a feel for them. Also, I re-synced my iPod to have albums from Stars, Snow Patrol, and Tantric. The last time I synced it, I had nothing but random single songs that I happened to like, and I was growing tired of it.
Tantric, in particular, is a band that I really enjoy, mostly for its deep guitar chords and the growl-edged vocals. When I say "growl-edged", I don't mean it like some kind of awful death metal music where the singer just screams like a gorilla into the mic, this is more of a hardened growl that's a part of a smooth, deep voice. If anyone can put it more eloquently, I welcome it :)
I suppose that's enough for now.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Sunday, October 07, 2007
A little update
So this weekend, I will have worked for a total of 11 hours, and for any part-time job, it’s hardly tolerable. However, the paycheck will be all the sweeter with those extra hours.
I’m taking a digital photography class and I’m enjoying it. Right now I’m working on a photo essay of 20 pictures that depict one aspect of campus life. I decided to take pictures on the erratic behaviors surrounding the Sundial on campus. I’ve seen people draw chalk, hold little events, and I even saw a bus that ran on vegetable oil sit parked in the sundial, as sort of an exhibition on alternative energies. Not only that, but I’ve also heard stories of wiccan rituals being performed on the sundial. However, I haven’t really seen anything as interesting as the things I’ve mentioned actually happen on the giant Sundial. I have one more day with the camera, and one more day before the essay is due. I have 1 or 2 pictures that I’m pleased with enough to keep in the essay, hopefully tonight and tomorrow will yield the other 18 I need. Picking a topic for a time-sensitive assignment that relies totally on luck was probably a bad idea. But we’ll see.
Arizona Iced Tea is amazing! Unfortunately, it doesn’t really have anything of nutritional value. AT ALL. Looking at the can now, I’ve noticed that it only has sodium and sugar. I picked up two cans mainly because they were really cheap and hold about 23oz of tea. Oh well.
I met a girl in my Comm class by the name of Jenny. I enjoy talking to her. I showed a picture of her to Henry, and mentioned how she likes to play World of Warcraft, watching the Packers, having a dislike for all things Country, and he pretty much demanded that I marry her! We usually talk during class, but this past week I got her to hang out in the library’s café with me for a good hour and a half to talk about all sorts of stuff. She’s a bit quiet when she talks, so I do my best to listen intently towards what she’s saying. I’m not sure what to think of her yet, our chat last Thursday was a little difficult to get through because she was living on 2 hours of sleep and drifting in and out of the conversation. I’m not quite sure what to think of her just yet.
I s’pose that’s all for now.
I’m taking a digital photography class and I’m enjoying it. Right now I’m working on a photo essay of 20 pictures that depict one aspect of campus life. I decided to take pictures on the erratic behaviors surrounding the Sundial on campus. I’ve seen people draw chalk, hold little events, and I even saw a bus that ran on vegetable oil sit parked in the sundial, as sort of an exhibition on alternative energies. Not only that, but I’ve also heard stories of wiccan rituals being performed on the sundial. However, I haven’t really seen anything as interesting as the things I’ve mentioned actually happen on the giant Sundial. I have one more day with the camera, and one more day before the essay is due. I have 1 or 2 pictures that I’m pleased with enough to keep in the essay, hopefully tonight and tomorrow will yield the other 18 I need. Picking a topic for a time-sensitive assignment that relies totally on luck was probably a bad idea. But we’ll see.
Arizona Iced Tea is amazing! Unfortunately, it doesn’t really have anything of nutritional value. AT ALL. Looking at the can now, I’ve noticed that it only has sodium and sugar. I picked up two cans mainly because they were really cheap and hold about 23oz of tea. Oh well.
I met a girl in my Comm class by the name of Jenny. I enjoy talking to her. I showed a picture of her to Henry, and mentioned how she likes to play World of Warcraft, watching the Packers, having a dislike for all things Country, and he pretty much demanded that I marry her! We usually talk during class, but this past week I got her to hang out in the library’s café with me for a good hour and a half to talk about all sorts of stuff. She’s a bit quiet when she talks, so I do my best to listen intently towards what she’s saying. I’m not sure what to think of her yet, our chat last Thursday was a little difficult to get through because she was living on 2 hours of sleep and drifting in and out of the conversation. I’m not quite sure what to think of her just yet.
I s’pose that’s all for now.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
The Seventh!
Yes, I feel it! I feel it burning inside of me. That competitive spirit!
I want to roll with the big dogs. I want to be the best, the brightest. I want to compete with the best out there and show the world I'm worth my salt and then some.
I want that Producer spot!
I won't settle for this job I have! I won't settle for being a tech support guy. I want to get out into the world and make shit happen. I want to meet with people and listen to their aspirations and their dreams. This job is just temporary. I'm not going to be the guy that seems to live in the computer lab.
And if I back down from here, from now, even a little bit, then everything I'm working for will have gone to waste, and I'll be back where I was before. I won't let it happen!
I want to roll with the big dogs. I want to be the best, the brightest. I want to compete with the best out there and show the world I'm worth my salt and then some.
I want that Producer spot!
I won't settle for this job I have! I won't settle for being a tech support guy. I want to get out into the world and make shit happen. I want to meet with people and listen to their aspirations and their dreams. This job is just temporary. I'm not going to be the guy that seems to live in the computer lab.
And if I back down from here, from now, even a little bit, then everything I'm working for will have gone to waste, and I'll be back where I was before. I won't let it happen!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Sixth.
I know it's been awhile, but I really needed to write today.
I should give you fair warning -- there may be emo-ness in this post.
Lately, I've concluded that if I have a particularly good day, or a moment in the day that something is going particularly well (as in better than usual), that something of ill will is bound to follow. Last month, I had what you could call a great day -- I was feeling particularly witty and sharp that day, it was a beautiful day outside, and I finally bought myself a couch for my bedroom. I had a great day going for me. But then later that night, I ended up in the hospital suffering such intense pain that I couldn't even think straight until I was jacked up with morphine (oddly enough). A fantastic day, more fantastic than the others, that went completely to shit in the matter of ten minutes. What a letdown that turned out to be.
Now let me take you to this past Friday. I had another particuarly great day going for me. I paid off my landlord for the semester, I actually WON money in poker for the first time ever, and James & Andy & Jarryd and I had an absolute blast making random pop culture references and voice impersonations. It was a glorious day. But yesterday was not so great. I worked a painfully boring 9 hour shift without a packed lunch, I found out that students were vandalizing computers in the labs, any snow that I plowed off the sidewalk just drifted right back on, and then came Andy's party. I had a great time talking with the 8 of us that were there, but as more people came in (i.e. random people I don't know), the atmosphere changed into the inevitable drinking party, where the rooms fill up with people and group discussions are impossible. But that's not what made things bad. As this happened, suddenly my mind went blank. I couldn't think of a single thing to talk about with anyone. I tried to come up with things to say, but none of it was funny or relevant. And on top of that, I can't drink soda or alcohol (doctor's orders), so with all these things considered, I was completely out of element and out of place in a drinking party. When Ana & Erik & James started doing improv, I couldn't come up with an idea for the life of me. My mind was still drawing blanks. So shortly after the improv was overwith, I took my leave. At that point I felt so socially awkward and out of it and stressed out from the crowded atmosphere that I didn't want to talk to or look at anyone. After I got home, I had the fun luck of my nose starting to bleed. As I expected, after something out-of-the-ordinary-fantastic happens, something extremely shitty happens to bring things back into balance.
I've concluded that I need to take a break. What I need out of my weekends is quiet time for relaxing and unwinding. I don't have much time during the weekend to do this anyway because of work, so the time I have now is going to be spent relaxing and doing the things I need to do, so I won't have another freakout like I did last night.
I have a lot of good things going for me right now, with the prospect of better things coming my way (like getting my truck back, which is huge) but I need to get away from having something occupying my weekend every single goddamn weekend. You call it boredom, I call it relaxing.
Take care.
I should give you fair warning -- there may be emo-ness in this post.
Lately, I've concluded that if I have a particularly good day, or a moment in the day that something is going particularly well (as in better than usual), that something of ill will is bound to follow. Last month, I had what you could call a great day -- I was feeling particularly witty and sharp that day, it was a beautiful day outside, and I finally bought myself a couch for my bedroom. I had a great day going for me. But then later that night, I ended up in the hospital suffering such intense pain that I couldn't even think straight until I was jacked up with morphine (oddly enough). A fantastic day, more fantastic than the others, that went completely to shit in the matter of ten minutes. What a letdown that turned out to be.
Now let me take you to this past Friday. I had another particuarly great day going for me. I paid off my landlord for the semester, I actually WON money in poker for the first time ever, and James & Andy & Jarryd and I had an absolute blast making random pop culture references and voice impersonations. It was a glorious day. But yesterday was not so great. I worked a painfully boring 9 hour shift without a packed lunch, I found out that students were vandalizing computers in the labs, any snow that I plowed off the sidewalk just drifted right back on, and then came Andy's party. I had a great time talking with the 8 of us that were there, but as more people came in (i.e. random people I don't know), the atmosphere changed into the inevitable drinking party, where the rooms fill up with people and group discussions are impossible. But that's not what made things bad. As this happened, suddenly my mind went blank. I couldn't think of a single thing to talk about with anyone. I tried to come up with things to say, but none of it was funny or relevant. And on top of that, I can't drink soda or alcohol (doctor's orders), so with all these things considered, I was completely out of element and out of place in a drinking party. When Ana & Erik & James started doing improv, I couldn't come up with an idea for the life of me. My mind was still drawing blanks. So shortly after the improv was overwith, I took my leave. At that point I felt so socially awkward and out of it and stressed out from the crowded atmosphere that I didn't want to talk to or look at anyone. After I got home, I had the fun luck of my nose starting to bleed. As I expected, after something out-of-the-ordinary-fantastic happens, something extremely shitty happens to bring things back into balance.
I've concluded that I need to take a break. What I need out of my weekends is quiet time for relaxing and unwinding. I don't have much time during the weekend to do this anyway because of work, so the time I have now is going to be spent relaxing and doing the things I need to do, so I won't have another freakout like I did last night.
I have a lot of good things going for me right now, with the prospect of better things coming my way (like getting my truck back, which is huge) but I need to get away from having something occupying my weekend every single goddamn weekend. You call it boredom, I call it relaxing.
Take care.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
The Fifth.
Do you ever have times where there is a song stuck in your head and you can't get it out? What about multiple songs? What about songs that don't leave? At any given time of the day, there is usually a song playing in my mind. It's as if I have my own tiny jukebox inside my brain. The only things that stifle it are when I'm listening to music (in a physiological sense), or engaging in some sort of activity. I study to music, I browse the Internet with music, I play World of Warcraft with music, I do a lot of things with music in the background, and I believe this is why at any given time of the day, I have songs stuck in my head. There's only one downside to all of it, and that's when I want everything to be quiet around me. It seems like I have to focus intently in order to stop myself from recalling one of the thousands of songs I've heard of in my lifetime.
If I can get out of debt sometime soon, there are two things I want to look into purchasing. A car, and a computer. They're equally important to me, actually. It's obvious why I would want a car, but I would like a new computer because my profession calls for a machine with high-end graphics and capabilities. I'm debating between getting a PC laptop, or getting a Macbook Pro and having part of it run Windows XP (or Vista if they release the drivers for it). Getting a car and a computer will cost a lot of money, so I am currently thinking of ways to accelerate my savings. Borrowing from my parents has always been a possible option, but being the stubborn self-reliant person that I am, I try to avoid borrowing money from others (unless we're talking about a bank).
Last night I was going to attend James' Dad's 60th birthday party out in Birnamwood, but unfortunately my stomach decided to give me problems all day at work. After work was over, I took down some antacids and tried to relax, but then I had another symptom that kept me anchored at the house for the rest of the night. For awhile I started to think that I had the stomach flu, but nothing major has happened since. My stomach is bugging me again today, so we'll see what happens today.
I'm currently trying to get my hands on a complete discography of Weezer. I liked their '90's work, so I'm going to acquire all of their albums and see how I like it.
Until next time, take care.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
The fourth.
I apologize for the long break in between updates. I was hoping to do this daily, but alas, homework got in the way. Having a 17 credit workload has its disadvantages, I guess. Anyway, it's gotten warmer outside and we have running hot water in the kitchen again. Unfortunately the pressure is rather low, and we don't know why that's happening. My guess is that the pipes are cracked in the crawlspace, which would explain the drop in pressure.
James and Scott are going to see Great Big Sea next month. The day that they're going happens to be the day after my birthday, and I'm going with them! James invited me to come along as my birthday present, so I get to indulge in some Celtic/Rock awesomeness. I just acquired a discography of all their work, including some live tracks, which I plan on listening to a lot in the coming weeks. Great Big Sea's music has a very lively & happy aura to it, it's good stuff to listen to at just about any given time.
A new group called Vegapunk is currently translating every new episode of One Piece over from Japan. They've translated the last 3 episodes and they're doing a damn fine job of it. Unlike previous translators, these folks take the rawest form of the episode they can, which is broadcasted in 720p High-Definition over in Japan, and release those with subtitles, making for superior visual quality. The only downside is, my little Mac Mini's video card can't handle the 120fps frame rate of the show, so I have to wander to a lab on campus to watch it, and bring some nice headphones with me. I could always watch it on Henry's computer, but being the stubborn fool that I am, I would probably want to hijack his computer, bring it into the living room, hook it up to my widescreen monitor and my stereo system and just take it all in, since I could (theoretically) do that.
Anna Nicole Smith is dead. Or is she? I'm starting to wonder the validity of this woman's death. The current autopsy report states that she died of "natural causes" at the age of 39. She's famous for being a former Guess Jeans model, Playboy Playmate, gold digger, and an overweight reality tv star who then later got thin from a dietary supplement, and constantly sleeps around with so many men that she doesn't know who her daughter's real father is. With all this weird drama, who's to say that it isn't some ridiculous scheme to run off with her lawyer boyfriend, or some other boytoy she's been futzing around with. The woman is a living soap opera.
Yesterday I tried Rasinets for the first time, ever. Chocolate-covered raisins are delicious. At least I think they are. Maybe it's just the raisins that have me digging them so much.
Guitar Hero and I have paths that should have crossed each other 2 years ago. I love music-driven games, but somehow I keep avoiding the game. I really want to play it, and sometimes I get so tempted that I want to pick up a PS2 for myself just to play Guitar Hero. I guarantee you that I would probably play it every day until I mastered it and start kicking everyone's asses at it the way I usually dominate Donkey Konga. Out of any video game on the market right now, Guitar Hero is the one series I want to play the most. Some way, some how. . .I'll get my hands on it.
That's about all I have for now. Until next time, take care.
James and Scott are going to see Great Big Sea next month. The day that they're going happens to be the day after my birthday, and I'm going with them! James invited me to come along as my birthday present, so I get to indulge in some Celtic/Rock awesomeness. I just acquired a discography of all their work, including some live tracks, which I plan on listening to a lot in the coming weeks. Great Big Sea's music has a very lively & happy aura to it, it's good stuff to listen to at just about any given time.
A new group called Vegapunk is currently translating every new episode of One Piece over from Japan. They've translated the last 3 episodes and they're doing a damn fine job of it. Unlike previous translators, these folks take the rawest form of the episode they can, which is broadcasted in 720p High-Definition over in Japan, and release those with subtitles, making for superior visual quality. The only downside is, my little Mac Mini's video card can't handle the 120fps frame rate of the show, so I have to wander to a lab on campus to watch it, and bring some nice headphones with me. I could always watch it on Henry's computer, but being the stubborn fool that I am, I would probably want to hijack his computer, bring it into the living room, hook it up to my widescreen monitor and my stereo system and just take it all in, since I could (theoretically) do that.
Anna Nicole Smith is dead. Or is she? I'm starting to wonder the validity of this woman's death. The current autopsy report states that she died of "natural causes" at the age of 39. She's famous for being a former Guess Jeans model, Playboy Playmate, gold digger, and an overweight reality tv star who then later got thin from a dietary supplement, and constantly sleeps around with so many men that she doesn't know who her daughter's real father is. With all this weird drama, who's to say that it isn't some ridiculous scheme to run off with her lawyer boyfriend, or some other boytoy she's been futzing around with. The woman is a living soap opera.
Yesterday I tried Rasinets for the first time, ever. Chocolate-covered raisins are delicious. At least I think they are. Maybe it's just the raisins that have me digging them so much.
Guitar Hero and I have paths that should have crossed each other 2 years ago. I love music-driven games, but somehow I keep avoiding the game. I really want to play it, and sometimes I get so tempted that I want to pick up a PS2 for myself just to play Guitar Hero. I guarantee you that I would probably play it every day until I mastered it and start kicking everyone's asses at it the way I usually dominate Donkey Konga. Out of any video game on the market right now, Guitar Hero is the one series I want to play the most. Some way, some how. . .I'll get my hands on it.
That's about all I have for now. Until next time, take care.
Monday, February 05, 2007
The third.
It just keeps getting colder outside. The furnace has been running nonstop at my house all weekend, it's a sure thing that the house is not very well insulated. And not only that, the pipe for hot water in the kitchen is frozen. I'm going to contact my landlord and see what he thinks we should do.
So last night I attempted to install Mac OSX on my PC, with limited success. I got as far as the very beginning of the installation of the operating system (the Apple Icon), but after that it kept notifying me to restart the computer. I believe the reason why it won't go any farther is because of the hardware being incompatible, which makes sense. I'm trying to install an operating system on a machine that it wasn't built for at all (a Pentium 3 machine, and the requirements for it to run properly is at least a Pentium 4), the chances of it being stable are <1%. So currently, I have a spare hard drive that is petitioned for Mac OSX to run on any computer with a Pentium 4 (or AMD or higher) processor. If you have a spare Pentium 4 machine laying around, by all means let me know, because I'd love to see this work. Otherwise, I'll just wait until I can acquire my own cheap Pentium 4 computer.
I acquired an early release of Fallout Boy's new album, Infinity on High. I haven't listened to it yet, so I don't have an opinion on it yet. I also acquired the World of Warcraft Burning Crusade soundtrack. The soundtrack is simply amazing. If you play WoW, you probably don't pay that much attention to the background music, but to me the music practically defines each and every area you visit in the game. It sets the tone for the lands without flaw. The guys that created the music deserve recognition for what they've done. Of course, if you've played the game for a total of 21 days (like me), the music probably gets annoying and you'd rather listen to your own music instead. Still, Blizzard has some smart people arranging their music.
So the Colts won the Super Bowl. I'm mostly impartial about it, after all I'm one of the few Americans that wasn't at work who chose NOT to watch the Super Bowl. I was pulling for the Bears to win mainly because I wanted to see Chicago break the mold of crappy performances that they've had over the past 20 years. I wanted to see them rub it in the faces of Packers fans, who for years kept chanting "the Bears still suck". Well, unfortunately the Packers fans continue to be right. No Super Bowl Shuffle from the Bears this year.
So for the next six months, the only things happening are training and the NFL Draft. Sundays will once again be pretty quiet at the Convent house. No outbursts of random player names, no Pizza Hut lunches, no constant clapping when the Packers do a decent play. I'm impartial to it all since I do most of my work upstairs and I can't hear anything from the living room unless someone cranks the stereo up. But the tone of the house will be different on Sundays, unless we start to find Golf interesting to watch.
Until next time, take care.
So last night I attempted to install Mac OSX on my PC, with limited success. I got as far as the very beginning of the installation of the operating system (the Apple Icon), but after that it kept notifying me to restart the computer. I believe the reason why it won't go any farther is because of the hardware being incompatible, which makes sense. I'm trying to install an operating system on a machine that it wasn't built for at all (a Pentium 3 machine, and the requirements for it to run properly is at least a Pentium 4), the chances of it being stable are <1%. So currently, I have a spare hard drive that is petitioned for Mac OSX to run on any computer with a Pentium 4 (or AMD or higher) processor. If you have a spare Pentium 4 machine laying around, by all means let me know, because I'd love to see this work. Otherwise, I'll just wait until I can acquire my own cheap Pentium 4 computer.
I acquired an early release of Fallout Boy's new album, Infinity on High. I haven't listened to it yet, so I don't have an opinion on it yet. I also acquired the World of Warcraft Burning Crusade soundtrack. The soundtrack is simply amazing. If you play WoW, you probably don't pay that much attention to the background music, but to me the music practically defines each and every area you visit in the game. It sets the tone for the lands without flaw. The guys that created the music deserve recognition for what they've done. Of course, if you've played the game for a total of 21 days (like me), the music probably gets annoying and you'd rather listen to your own music instead. Still, Blizzard has some smart people arranging their music.
So the Colts won the Super Bowl. I'm mostly impartial about it, after all I'm one of the few Americans that wasn't at work who chose NOT to watch the Super Bowl. I was pulling for the Bears to win mainly because I wanted to see Chicago break the mold of crappy performances that they've had over the past 20 years. I wanted to see them rub it in the faces of Packers fans, who for years kept chanting "the Bears still suck". Well, unfortunately the Packers fans continue to be right. No Super Bowl Shuffle from the Bears this year.
So for the next six months, the only things happening are training and the NFL Draft. Sundays will once again be pretty quiet at the Convent house. No outbursts of random player names, no Pizza Hut lunches, no constant clapping when the Packers do a decent play. I'm impartial to it all since I do most of my work upstairs and I can't hear anything from the living room unless someone cranks the stereo up. But the tone of the house will be different on Sundays, unless we start to find Golf interesting to watch.
Until next time, take care.
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