Alternating Current

New host

2009-05-15T19:22:00.001-07:00

I've migrated this weblog to WordPress.
Be sure to update your links!

CTo'W

2009-03-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's been a few weeks! What's happening?

I thought I'd stop by and drop you a link to this interesting article about work, hours, and the seemingly odd statement that "counting hours doesn't make sense". Even if you don't really have the option to simply work when you like, and not when you don't, there are some valuable insights about activities that can help increase your energy.

Short post for today. That's all for now!

AC

CTo'W and a personal project

2009-02-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

Hello again! I am back. This week, I'll be talking about LaTeX, XP-Dev, and a personal project I'm working on.

LaTeX is a programming language used to typeset documents. Instead of a WYSIWYG editor like Microsoft Word, it's a WYSIWYM language to describe elements of what you're writing and let styling rules decide how your document should look. This is nice for a few reasons; notably, once you're familiar with the language, it is very easy to create documents. You can write it in whatever text-editor you like, set up your document information (which paper size you're using, whether it's a report, an article, a book, etc.) and go. Whenever you have a section, you just say so:
\section{Section Title}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...

and LaTeX (or one of its slaves - I'm still pretty fuzzy on what happens behind the scenes) will make it look nice for you. The Wikipedia page has some example LaTeX code and the corresponding output to check out. I'm trying to move to LaTeX for future documents - probably my work term report this term, for example - because I don't enjoy dealing with Word to try and get my document to look just right.

Next up: XP-Dev.com! In an earlier post, I mentioned Subversion. XP-Dev is a free Subversion host that includes project tracking capabilities as well. I'm really enjoying it so far - I had a minor problem the other day with something, so I reported a bug. The issue was dealt with in four hours, complete with a friendly, "Hey – should be fixed now :)" I'm working on a couple different projects we're hosting at XP-Dev; for one of them, there are five of us on the team and the forums are proving to be a very useful way to discuss the project. We can also create and assign tasks, so it's very easy to see what's been done and what is left to do. This brings me to...

My personal project! I haven't been making much progress on it lately, but my plan is to write an audio visualizer, like you can see in Windows Media Player or foobar2000 or Winamp or Amarok or whatever else you like. Since I've been using XP-Dev lately, I decided to track the project with its utilities, and create this wiki page describing the project in a little more detail than I'll do here. There are still a lot of details to work out, but I'm looking forward to it! I might wrangle a programmer friend or two into helping me with it over Reading Week... (Not that I have Reading Week while I'm on co-op, but they do.)

That's it for now. Cheers!
AC

CTo'W, round 2

2009-01-28T07:06:00.001-08:00

For those of you just joining us, CTo'W is my "Cool Thing of the Week". It may or may not actually be weekly; we haven't figured that one out yet. For those of you still with us, welcome back! Glad to have you here. Huddle up and let it snow (preferably from the right side of a nice, thick, well-insulated wall), because here we go!

This week, I decided to share an article I read at defmacro.org called Taming Perfectionism, by Slava Akhmechet. I liked this article because it corresponded so closely with what I've been feeling lately - unmotivated to start anything because nothing I do will live up to my own expectations or standards. When I conceive of something, I have a vision in my head, and when I try and implement it, it either disappoints my vision or it falls by the wayside, incomplete. When either of these things happen, I end up frustrated and unhappy, and less likely to pursue another project in future. Slava writes about Wabi-sabi, a Japanese school of thought centred on the concept of beauty as it applies to things that are transient or impermanent. I really enjoyed the article and it helped me understand my own behaviour a little better. I'm going to have to pick up the Book of Tea he mentions... if I ever get around to reading the half-dozen books or so I already have piled up and waiting!

That's all for the CTo'W for now. Work has been interesting lately. I am very enthusiastic about it, and I'm looking forward to see where we get by the end of the week! It's very motivational to be working for my boss; he's an enthusiastic, intelligent guy, and his enthusiasm for work, life, and everything else is highly contagious. Maybe I'll write more about the work I'm doing in a later post.

Cheers for now,
AC

Cool thing of the week, round 1

2009-01-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

As suggested by Abe, I will start posting a cool thing once a week, with arbitrary regularity. This week, it is the List of common misconceptions. There are some interesting things in there - for example, "eyestrain" from reading in low light or playing video games does not explain myopia. Also, black holes do not somehow develop a stronger gravitational field than the stars that formed them. If our Sun was immediately compressed into a black hole, it would have the same mass as it did beforehand, and (hypothetically) the same centre of mass; the Earth would continue to go around it as normal, only without the usual sunlight. (This also explains why the miniature black holes theorized to form at the LHC are not a threat to the planet. You can look up Hawking radiation if you want more information about why they're not a threat.)

I feel that hoarding "cool things" so that I'm assured to have something each week would be silly - I'd rather post everything as I find them and force myself to find something else cool if I run out. On that note, I've been meaning to set up a Subversion (SVN) server for a while now, to take care of versioning schoolwork and my programming projects. This past week at work, I got started setting one up for the job - it turns out it's much easier than I've been expecting, and I'll definitely be using it from now on. The Wikipedia article might be a little technical for you, but it's really cool stuff. Some people say that even artsies should use it to take care of their papers and so on. I'm personally using TortoiseSVN (a Windows shell extension standalone SVN client); I think Visual Studio 2008 probably has its own built-in plugin, so I'll be seeing if that connects to my server as well. If you're one of my less-technical friends, and interested in setting up Subversion for yourself, let me know and I might be convinced to lend you a hand.

Regarding exhilaration

2008-05-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

As promised in my last entry...

Physical workouts are a great way to start the day. They force me to wake up early, and thus, to get to bed on time; they're a great way to get my blood flowing and my whole body started up early in the day, reducing my "boot-up" time; and, I suppose, they're doing my health good.

Beginning of term

2008-05-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Work is exciting - at least, as I get closer to working, it's becoming more that way. Computer setbacks have fortunately been minor, so while I'm not quite yet capable of running the software I need to, I still have other things to do that I don't need a computer for. My project is pretty exciting and my professor is great - and he treats his students very, very well. I've very much enjoyed working for him so far.

Living in residence comes with all the pros and cons I've become accustomed to. My roommate this term is great, as is just about everybody else here this summer. I haven't seen most of them in quite some time - which, in some cases is regrettable; in others, not so much. Living on a floor with a bunch of other students is a lot of fun, but it can make focusing on work more challenging. The laundry is expensive and the food is of a lower standard than I like to think I can cook, but I don't have to prepare it or wash the dishes. Ultimately, the social benefits and supreme convenience of being able to walk to work in ten minutes win out over all the downsides.

Oh yeah; did I mention that I don't have terribly much closet space or shelving to put stuff in? 'Cause I don't like that much, either.

Also we don't have air conditioning.

The jazz band is going well this term. I've taken on a new position in it which comes with a new set of challenges and rewards. I'm enjoying it very much so far. Our first gig will be around the end of June, I believe... at which point the combo should be back together and rehearsing regularly.

Speaking of jazz, and gigs, The Bad Plus are playing in Toronto on June 13, and I think that a friend and I will go.

Lately I've been reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and I've been enjoying it immensely. It's quite the mental workout: I can feel my mind straining and growing while I read it and for a time afterwards. It's quite addictive... I wonder if physical workouts are as exhilarating? I'll have to investigate. More on that in a future post.

Anyway, Monday evening beckons. Be seeing you.

Vacation's end

2008-05-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Well, another break has come and gone. Tomorrow I'll be shopping and packing, and Sunday I leave pretty early, arriving in Kitchener before dinner.

It was nice seeing family and friends again. I got to talk to some old band teachers, which provided some insight I think I'll find valuable while conducting With Respect To Time this summer. I also got to see many friends I haven't in a while, have a few drinks, play a reasonable amount of Brawl, and completely vegetate on the recliner in the family room. Somebody (she knows who she is) I didn't see at Christmas gave me a present that she'd been saving since then. If you're reading this: your Christmas present is full of win! Thank you!!

Last weekend I made a trip to Vancouver, driving one way (Mom drove the other), for my little sister's golf tournament. I had a good time; Saturday morning I stopped by Long & McQuade to take a look at some sheet music for WRTT, and while I saw some things I liked, big band arrangements cost something like $70 a piece. I'm hoping that the band will have room in the budget for a couple charts, and I'm thinking about getting in touch with a few publishers, like Kendor, to get their promotional CDs featuring the charts they sell sheet music for.

Work starts on Monday and I'm getting pretty excited about it. I have yet to really know the full spectrum of what I'll be doing, but it sounds like I'll learn a lot and like I'll get to travel to Arizona once or twice to work with a reasonably large telescope to boot. I'm more excited about the work than I am the pay, which is saying something given the improvement in pay over my previous co-op jobs.

Unfortunately, there's been a mix-up with one of my professors from this past term and it's causing some fuss about the midterm for that class, and another class has a final pending due to illness at the time of writing, but hopefully those should both get cleared up quickly, leaving me with a better (and more final) grade average for this term. Wish me luck!

Cheers for now; I have a barbecue to attend.

Stormy weather

2008-04-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

I love energetic weather. Strong wind, hard rain, thunder and lightning... Even weather that's less energetic but left of normal nonetheless: fog or mist (especially heavy fog or mist), ominous clouds, intense sunsets...

There's something about interesting weather that I love. The town I'm living in now is much more humid than the one in which I grew up, and as a consequence, fog and mist frequent it much more often. If I'm out and about in such weather, I'm generally grinning from ear to ear.

Tonight it was pouring rain, and on a whim, I decided to go for a walk in sandals, jeans, and a t-shirt. My hair was thoroughly soaked after maybe ten minutes. It was delightful.

End of term

2008-04-09T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hello, internets. I'll be posting some stuff here in future. And right now.
On with it, then.

With Respect To Time had its charity concert tonight in the humanities theatre. What a hit! The combo I started played music while people filtered in, and then the whole band did a nice long set with an intermission and guest choir. Several of the band members expressed interest in the combo afterwards, and our bassist said that one of his old profs was in the audience, and that he wanted to play with us too! I'm pumped about it; it was a total blast and the combo's future looks bright.

Exams start on Thursday for me, so most of my time in the next couple weeks should be spent studying. I think a friend is planning on visiting this weekend to start his move back on-campus for the summer term, and I know the band has a social outing planned after my exams are done, seeing as the director and creator of the band is graduating and moving on. So are some really good friends I've met through the engineering department, the band, and residence.
(*cough*)
I'm going to miss them. Residence won't be quite the same next year - but then, there'll be frosh to take under my wing and other people to meet. As Alvin Toffler said, "Change is not merely necessary to life, it is life."

Now then, it's 3:30 and as I said earlier, I should be spending these days studying - which means that I should be spending the nights getting proper sleep!
Good night, internets. See you again some other day.