My new home is a wordpress blog at www.wgtower.nl
All of my readers should go there for my blogging from now on. This thing here will have no more posts
Showing posts with label general. Show all posts
Showing posts with label general. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
This is why I don't like Mines
I'll wait a second while everyone absorbs that screen shot. Just click it and look at it in full size. still waiting... You got it? So yeah, that's a game of Mines (that's minesweeper if you use windows) that I just finished. 99 mines, time is 5:12. That's pretty awesome. Except that I messed up on the last mine. Those who are familiar with Mines will see, though, that the square I picked is equally as valid as the other one. I did not lose due to a logic error, but merely because I was forced to guess.
And that just bothers me. I like Mines because it is a simple logic game that does not take much mind power to solve but does require some thinking. The problem with it is that most of the games I play end up requiring some guessing to finish. This is frustrating. One guess reduces your chances of winning to a mere 5o percent, due to no fault on your part.
Which makes me wonder, is it possible to generate minefields which are ensured to be solvable without guessing? How expensive is that?
Saturday, 31 January 2009
“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction”
So, the new semester's started, and there's some changes coming this way. First off, I'm moving out, away from the host family I've been staying with, and into to the dorms. This is at the same time a sad and happy tiding, but I believe it to be a necessary and good step in my program. Betty and I discovered that my social life was gravitating away from her house and in to the dorms. In short, I figured I was spending so much time there I might as well get myself a bed. They are way more comfortable then the chairs I spent nights in, in rooms not my own.
I haven't been doing a whole lot of interesting stuff since California. Classes are progressing normally, Chinese is hard, my algebra class is ridiculously easy (come on people, linear equations? It's a flashback to year one of my Vossius career), but getting more interesting every class. On the free time side of things, there's the regular multi player starcraft sessions like always (needless to say, I can kick the asses of a lot, but not everyone in the dorms. Ulukman is like a machine, unbelievable). Also, I've started to play the old Diablo games in anticipation of Diablo 3. While the original will get old in a matter of minutes, Diablo 2 is definitely a time-sucker. I recommend it to anyone who wants to play a good old hack-n-slasher.
The other thing soaking up my time (what I have left after taking off my social life) is Stargate: Atlantis. I have come into the possession of all five seasons of this sci-fi show. I watched the older Stargate: SG-1 a few years ago, and it was pretty good. Atlantis is a step up, however. I can recommend this series to anyone who is lamenting the absence of new, good star trek shows, and also fans of sci-fi in general. This is stuff worth watching.
So, tomorrow is move day. I do not know my room yet, but my roommate will most likely be Kersten, who is also moving out of Betty's house. We will still visit them of course, and call regularly. But it'll be a new and exciting semester.
Today's quote is from Winston Churchill. Couldn't find anything better, sorry.
I haven't been doing a whole lot of interesting stuff since California. Classes are progressing normally, Chinese is hard, my algebra class is ridiculously easy (come on people, linear equations? It's a flashback to year one of my Vossius career), but getting more interesting every class. On the free time side of things, there's the regular multi player starcraft sessions like always (needless to say, I can kick the asses of a lot, but not everyone in the dorms. Ulukman is like a machine, unbelievable). Also, I've started to play the old Diablo games in anticipation of Diablo 3. While the original will get old in a matter of minutes, Diablo 2 is definitely a time-sucker. I recommend it to anyone who wants to play a good old hack-n-slasher.
The other thing soaking up my time (what I have left after taking off my social life) is Stargate: Atlantis. I have come into the possession of all five seasons of this sci-fi show. I watched the older Stargate: SG-1 a few years ago, and it was pretty good. Atlantis is a step up, however. I can recommend this series to anyone who is lamenting the absence of new, good star trek shows, and also fans of sci-fi in general. This is stuff worth watching.
So, tomorrow is move day. I do not know my room yet, but my roommate will most likely be Kersten, who is also moving out of Betty's house. We will still visit them of course, and call regularly. But it'll be a new and exciting semester.
Today's quote is from Winston Churchill. Couldn't find anything better, sorry.
Monday, 13 October 2008
“There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed”
You might have noticed another on of my post hiatuses the past two weeks or so. This time I did not go on a trip, nor did I forget or let laziness get the best of me. So what happened? (Bear with me here, I'm trying to create some suspense. All will be revealed).
You might also notice how I was singing an ode to cycling and exercise in my last post. And I mention that with a reason. Because I was pretty happy riding my bicycle, until September 29, at about 6:45 PM, when I hit reality. And reality, in this case, was in the form of a car. I will keep the accident report short: I flew over the hood, through the air, woke up in the ER with a concussion and a gap the size of a day in my memory, and spent the past two weeks recovering.
So there you go. Americans just can't take anybody doing something healthy on their roads. Seriously though, it was totally my fault. I ignored a stop sign. And well, if reality throws a stop sign at you, and you ignore it, people are going to get hurt. That's just a fact. So now I can't even run for the next month, and I am already bored out of my mind. Might as well start watching the terrible TV over here. The only good thing is the SciFi channel.
today's quote is from Napoleon. My new goal is to get a fantastic friends quote in there, but the only one that made me laugh so far was the one with a star trek reference. Go figure.
You might also notice how I was singing an ode to cycling and exercise in my last post. And I mention that with a reason. Because I was pretty happy riding my bicycle, until September 29, at about 6:45 PM, when I hit reality. And reality, in this case, was in the form of a car. I will keep the accident report short: I flew over the hood, through the air, woke up in the ER with a concussion and a gap the size of a day in my memory, and spent the past two weeks recovering.
So there you go. Americans just can't take anybody doing something healthy on their roads. Seriously though, it was totally my fault. I ignored a stop sign. And well, if reality throws a stop sign at you, and you ignore it, people are going to get hurt. That's just a fact. So now I can't even run for the next month, and I am already bored out of my mind. Might as well start watching the terrible TV over here. The only good thing is the SciFi channel.
today's quote is from Napoleon. My new goal is to get a fantastic friends quote in there, but the only one that made me laugh so far was the one with a star trek reference. Go figure.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving"
Did I mention I was in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this weekend? anyway, it threw a spoke in my posting schedule. We don't do catching up on the net, and I don't have time for that anyways, so I'm just going to continue on as consistently as I can.
For the last, say, 10 years of my life, the bicycle has been my preferred mode of transport. The Netherlands has a deeply ingrained bicycle culture, which is both the reason this preference exists and the method by which it is sustained. Riding your bike through Amsterdam is possibly the only sane way to navigate it. Since no one on a bike there has any regard for traffic laws, driving a car there is virtually equal to murder (suicide is not really the right word here).
However, in The good old USA, riding a bike categorizes you as definitively out of your freakin' mind. Why, that's why god gave us the car, isn't it? Added to that is the complete lack of bicycle-friendly infrastructure, and the fact that everything here is so damn far away from other things. Riding a bike here is, in other words, is a royal pain in the ass, no matter how good a saddle you have.
Having said all that, my host father has recently bought me a bicycle. Not one of those things we Dutchies would use to navigate traffic comfortably, but a racing model. This thing was built for speed. 10 gears on it, which are necessary with all the hills around here. So despite all my complaints, I have been cycling my way to school recently, and it is an absolute joy. Finally exercising my muscles again! What I'm trying to say is, get off your fat ass and go do some physical exercise, you damned americans!
today's quote supposedly came from Einstein, though this has not been difinitely confirmed
For the last, say, 10 years of my life, the bicycle has been my preferred mode of transport. The Netherlands has a deeply ingrained bicycle culture, which is both the reason this preference exists and the method by which it is sustained. Riding your bike through Amsterdam is possibly the only sane way to navigate it. Since no one on a bike there has any regard for traffic laws, driving a car there is virtually equal to murder (suicide is not really the right word here).
However, in The good old USA, riding a bike categorizes you as definitively out of your freakin' mind. Why, that's why god gave us the car, isn't it? Added to that is the complete lack of bicycle-friendly infrastructure, and the fact that everything here is so damn far away from other things. Riding a bike here is, in other words, is a royal pain in the ass, no matter how good a saddle you have.
Having said all that, my host father has recently bought me a bicycle. Not one of those things we Dutchies would use to navigate traffic comfortably, but a racing model. This thing was built for speed. 10 gears on it, which are necessary with all the hills around here. So despite all my complaints, I have been cycling my way to school recently, and it is an absolute joy. Finally exercising my muscles again! What I'm trying to say is, get off your fat ass and go do some physical exercise, you damned americans!
today's quote supposedly came from Einstein, though this has not been difinitely confirmed
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
If you can't decide in a day... you can't decide
I can get quite irritated at the the indecisiveness of some people, Most likely because I am one of those people myself. Nothing annoys us more than seeing our own flaws accentuated in someone else. A few days ago, I went with Betty to the Wal-mart to buy me a cellphone. Of course, it is impossible to go Wal-mart with a woman and a shopping list, buy what you need, and get out. At a certain point you will hear the line "Oh, while we're here..." or one of its many variations, which will be the start of a shopping spree no man can easily endure.
To Wal-mart's credit, they have quite a few different products. And by that I don't mean that they have everything from hunting rifles to peanut butter (they do), but that they have a hundred different brands of peanut butter. Including one that sells 16 kilogram(!!) buckets. But I digress.
On this particular day, Betty had decided to buy some bread, and so it was that I found myself at the giant store's bread section. And Betty was dancing around it like a child around a Christmas tree. Feeling the texture of all the different breads, admiring their looks, marveling at all the different flavours. Seriously, this went on for 10 minutes. I mean, how hard is it buy some friggin' bread!?!
And that's when it got even worse. I know, it's hard to imagine, but she managed it. She did the one thing possible to make this situation even more dire: She asked for my opinion.
As you may have guessed, I don't give a **** about bread. And I was annoyed. Normally, when faced with such a situation, men use tried methods that have been known to work, such as the no-no-yes rule. However, this only works for specific questions ("do you like this?"), not when asked for an opinion. Needless to say, I panicked a bit, and opted for the simple approach: point at the nearest bread and pray she'll just go with that. Luckily, it worked this time, though she caught on to the arbitrary nature of my decision.
The funny thing is, I did the exact right thing one can do in such a situation. If it is that hard to choose between the different breads (and one can abstract this advice to other concepts), it is likely that the choices are equal in value. Which means that more important than what you choose, is that you choose. The worst option you have is not making a choice at all.
Epilogue
Betty's indecisiveness cropped up again yesterday, when we were at an auction. I swear, this man talked so fast it was unbelievable. But I'm straying again. The problem was that by the time Betty decided she wanted to bid on some item, it was already sold. I was determined not to get caught in that habit, so when an old keyboard came up for auction I immediately cast aside any doubts and vowed to get it. And I did. For a measly 80 dollars, I now have a keyboard standing in my room, a re-branded JVC. It doesn't even come near a piano, but anything is better than nothing at all.
Today's title is a quote from "Munich," which is a good movie. Go see it. And sorry I didn't make it with the post. I'm only an hour late in my timezone though.
To Wal-mart's credit, they have quite a few different products. And by that I don't mean that they have everything from hunting rifles to peanut butter (they do), but that they have a hundred different brands of peanut butter. Including one that sells 16 kilogram(!!) buckets. But I digress.
On this particular day, Betty had decided to buy some bread, and so it was that I found myself at the giant store's bread section. And Betty was dancing around it like a child around a Christmas tree. Feeling the texture of all the different breads, admiring their looks, marveling at all the different flavours. Seriously, this went on for 10 minutes. I mean, how hard is it buy some friggin' bread!?!
And that's when it got even worse. I know, it's hard to imagine, but she managed it. She did the one thing possible to make this situation even more dire: She asked for my opinion.
As you may have guessed, I don't give a **** about bread. And I was annoyed. Normally, when faced with such a situation, men use tried methods that have been known to work, such as the no-no-yes rule. However, this only works for specific questions ("do you like this?"), not when asked for an opinion. Needless to say, I panicked a bit, and opted for the simple approach: point at the nearest bread and pray she'll just go with that. Luckily, it worked this time, though she caught on to the arbitrary nature of my decision.
The funny thing is, I did the exact right thing one can do in such a situation. If it is that hard to choose between the different breads (and one can abstract this advice to other concepts), it is likely that the choices are equal in value. Which means that more important than what you choose, is that you choose. The worst option you have is not making a choice at all.
Epilogue
Betty's indecisiveness cropped up again yesterday, when we were at an auction. I swear, this man talked so fast it was unbelievable. But I'm straying again. The problem was that by the time Betty decided she wanted to bid on some item, it was already sold. I was determined not to get caught in that habit, so when an old keyboard came up for auction I immediately cast aside any doubts and vowed to get it. And I did. For a measly 80 dollars, I now have a keyboard standing in my room, a re-branded JVC. It doesn't even come near a piano, but anything is better than nothing at all.
Today's title is a quote from "Munich," which is a good movie. Go see it. And sorry I didn't make it with the post. I'm only an hour late in my timezone though.
Friday, 12 September 2008
Happy Birthday Dad!
Today is my fathers forty-seventh birthday. Congratulations from the states dad! Don't miss me too much!
I've been having trouble getting posts out ever since coming to the states, so I have decided to put myself on a more strict posting schedule. Posts will be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sunday posting will be optional. for those of you following the mailing list, posting there will be twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday. These have all been recorded in my google calendar to remind me. There may be an overlap in topics, so if you follow both of these outlets, be prepared for repetition. Together with the new schedule will be a new format: every post title will be a quote from a video game, movie, book, or other such thing. The post topic will relate to the quote in some way but not to the source of the quote in question. Exceptions are made when a political event or other recent real-world thing will be discussed. I'm hoping this format and schedule will help me write some more interesting posts.
I bought a tennis racket and some balls this week. I haven't had the chance to use them yet but I'm really pumped about that. A few people at the dorms play tennis and I want to play them. There are a few things still on my to-buy list, including a mobile phone and a camera. I've been drooling over iPhones, but I'm definitely not going to buy one at the ridiculous 2-year plan (60 bucks a month!) that they come with. the iPod touch is also tempting, but the 32 gig is too expensive and I still have a good iPod. My inner gadget freak is just acting up again. Especially after seeing the refurbished section at the applestore, with 80GB iPod classics going for just 176 dollars. Every geek in the world has a thing for Apple I guess.
My current favorite songs are "the poet and the pendulum" by Nightwish and "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz. I guess it shows my conflicting musical tastes. If anyone is interested, I will keep listing these as theey change
I've been having trouble getting posts out ever since coming to the states, so I have decided to put myself on a more strict posting schedule. Posts will be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sunday posting will be optional. for those of you following the mailing list, posting there will be twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday. These have all been recorded in my google calendar to remind me. There may be an overlap in topics, so if you follow both of these outlets, be prepared for repetition. Together with the new schedule will be a new format: every post title will be a quote from a video game, movie, book, or other such thing. The post topic will relate to the quote in some way but not to the source of the quote in question. Exceptions are made when a political event or other recent real-world thing will be discussed. I'm hoping this format and schedule will help me write some more interesting posts.
I bought a tennis racket and some balls this week. I haven't had the chance to use them yet but I'm really pumped about that. A few people at the dorms play tennis and I want to play them. There are a few things still on my to-buy list, including a mobile phone and a camera. I've been drooling over iPhones, but I'm definitely not going to buy one at the ridiculous 2-year plan (60 bucks a month!) that they come with. the iPod touch is also tempting, but the 32 gig is too expensive and I still have a good iPod. My inner gadget freak is just acting up again. Especially after seeing the refurbished section at the applestore, with 80GB iPod classics going for just 176 dollars. Every geek in the world has a thing for Apple I guess.
My current favorite songs are "the poet and the pendulum" by Nightwish and "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz. I guess it shows my conflicting musical tastes. If anyone is interested, I will keep listing these as theey change
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
I have arrived
Welcome, everyone, to my first message from the United States.
The trip to Wisconsin was mostly smooth, without any delays or other annoying stuff. It was, of course, tiring, but such things are unavoidable. My digestive system is still a bit upset, and I'm also still tired, but I'm sure I will eventually adapt. The weather here is a nice 25 degrees, mostly sunny (though today is a bit overcast). My host family is a married couple called Betty and Ron (I won't go into last names because of privacy). They have four children who are all out of the house already, and live mostly in Arizona. Ron is a long distance truck driver, so he'll be home mostly on weekends. Betty is part-time medical transcriptionist who I believe works for a dentist.
There is a nice mountain right across from the house, with a few skyslopes and everything. I'm looking forward to winter snowboarding and everything that goes along with that.
School hasn't started yet, it will begin next monday. I met a woman from NTC (my school) at the airport, who gave me a super thick booklet which I haven't read yet, but will. I've driven around town with my host mother, and seen the college already. She seems to think of everything as small, though it is all a lot bigger than what we have in the Netherlands.
This post was written from Betty's computer, but I'll be buying my own soon for the most work I have to do. So I'll see you all soon from my own pc. I'll also be buying a camera so you can all see what my new home looks like.
The trip to Wisconsin was mostly smooth, without any delays or other annoying stuff. It was, of course, tiring, but such things are unavoidable. My digestive system is still a bit upset, and I'm also still tired, but I'm sure I will eventually adapt. The weather here is a nice 25 degrees, mostly sunny (though today is a bit overcast). My host family is a married couple called Betty and Ron (I won't go into last names because of privacy). They have four children who are all out of the house already, and live mostly in Arizona. Ron is a long distance truck driver, so he'll be home mostly on weekends. Betty is part-time medical transcriptionist who I believe works for a dentist.
There is a nice mountain right across from the house, with a few skyslopes and everything. I'm looking forward to winter snowboarding and everything that goes along with that.
School hasn't started yet, it will begin next monday. I met a woman from NTC (my school) at the airport, who gave me a super thick booklet which I haven't read yet, but will. I've driven around town with my host mother, and seen the college already. She seems to think of everything as small, though it is all a lot bigger than what we have in the Netherlands.
This post was written from Betty's computer, but I'll be buying my own soon for the most work I have to do. So I'll see you all soon from my own pc. I'll also be buying a camera so you can all see what my new home looks like.
Friday, 4 July 2008
for the sake of content
So, after almost a month hiatus, I am now back to entertain you with another post. I'm not going to think up any more excuses for not posting. Frankly, with my day job progressing normally, there's just not much going on worth blogging about. I am of course kept busy, implementing the A* algorithm in python and other such niceties. This one jumps out at me since the use of a heuristic makes A* annoyingly unpredictable. Moving around the goal or start points of a graph might work just fine. Alternatively, it could blow up in your face for no apparent reason and take off finding a path to China.
I'm writing this at work right now, to keep myself from falling asleep. Yesterday was my friend's birthday party. The main dish was the movie The Happening, a horror/disaster movie not unlike The Day After Tomorrow. This time around, the plants are angry at us and dispense a neurotoxin that makes people want to literally kill themselves. I am not joking. The movie started with construction workers jumping off their buildings en masse, in an enactment of the infamous lemmings. Though we noted and appreciated the ties between this movie and the suicide bunnies, we feel safe in recommending that you do not go see this movie.
Despite resolutions to the contrary I was (mis)led by temptation to party on far too long, finally hitting the sack at about 3:30 AM. Of course our little kittens no longer have any qualms about going into my bedroom, jumping on my bed, and start hunting one of my body parts that happens to be moving at the time. This was not appreciated, and I conveyed this message to them in clear and concise manner. No excessive violence was used, of course.
I will make a feeble attempt at dragging myself through the day. I am afraid that with my limited concentration, the bugs/lines of code ratio would exceed one, which makes programming an extremely bad idea at the moment. I've decided to focus on the simple things, letting the hard ones for after the weekend, when my mental state has returned to normal levels.
I'm writing this at work right now, to keep myself from falling asleep. Yesterday was my friend's birthday party. The main dish was the movie The Happening, a horror/disaster movie not unlike The Day After Tomorrow. This time around, the plants are angry at us and dispense a neurotoxin that makes people want to literally kill themselves. I am not joking. The movie started with construction workers jumping off their buildings en masse, in an enactment of the infamous lemmings. Though we noted and appreciated the ties between this movie and the suicide bunnies, we feel safe in recommending that you do not go see this movie.
Despite resolutions to the contrary I was (mis)led by temptation to party on far too long, finally hitting the sack at about 3:30 AM. Of course our little kittens no longer have any qualms about going into my bedroom, jumping on my bed, and start hunting one of my body parts that happens to be moving at the time. This was not appreciated, and I conveyed this message to them in clear and concise manner. No excessive violence was used, of course.
I will make a feeble attempt at dragging myself through the day. I am afraid that with my limited concentration, the bugs/lines of code ratio would exceed one, which makes programming an extremely bad idea at the moment. I've decided to focus on the simple things, letting the hard ones for after the weekend, when my mental state has returned to normal levels.
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
School's over for me!
I've been back for a few days now, but there has been so much going on I didn't have the time to get around to posting something. Well then, where to start, where to start...
Probably most important is that I passed my exams with flying colors. Here are my marks:
There will also be german and french marks appearing on my diploma, but I passed those classes 3 years ago with similar marks. Festivities have already commenced to celebrate my diploma.
And when I say festivities I actually mean my job as a python programmer has just started. I'm sitting in an office right now, making a wxPython application that I won't bore you with. It's actually quite fun, though I have spent most of my time reading documentation and experimenting with the GraphicsContext API.
In my previous post I said I would be going on a vacation with some friends. I mentioned Ameland as a likely destination, but actually the goal was Terschelling, the island next to it, throwing all my rabid fans and paperazzi off my track. Actually, I just forgot what island we had decided upon and picked one at random, but he former story sounds more exciting.
Anyway, we had a lot of fun there, the weather was great, and we played midget golf. That's all you need to know really. I will give you one more nugget of information: our vacation at some point involved beer and a soccer match, which we won.
Now onto more important news: exchange. In the middle of my vacation, I took a leave of my friends and traveled to the city of Arnhem, where the exchange information and preparation weekend was held. About a hundred of my fellow exchange students showed up. Strangely, about eighty percent of those also went to the USA, with rather a lot of them going to states in the lake michigan area. About the weekend I could also bore you with endless details, but it should suffice to pass judgement in a single word: exhausting. There was beer here also, and the amount of hours spent sleeping were surprisingly little. Though we were talked to a lot, I would not call the weekend informative. Most of this talking carried the same single message: judge not, for thy culture is different. A not altogether surprising variant to the well known biblical saying.
Last but not least: two little kittens can now be seen walking in our house, chasing each other or sleeping lazily in the sun. The chasing must be quite tiring, I believe. I love them already. Pics will be coming up ASAP. They do not dare enter my bedroom yet, granting me my sleep at night. The stairs are a very intimidating obstacle, I concur. But this will not likely last long. They already wake up my sister wrestling in her room at night. Sometimes even on her bed.
Probably most important is that I passed my exams with flying colors. Here are my marks:
| Dutch: | 7 |
| Latin: | 6 |
| Philosophy: | 6 |
| English: | 8 |
| Chemistry: | 8 |
| Physics: | 8 |
| Math: | 8 |
There will also be german and french marks appearing on my diploma, but I passed those classes 3 years ago with similar marks. Festivities have already commenced to celebrate my diploma.
And when I say festivities I actually mean my job as a python programmer has just started. I'm sitting in an office right now, making a wxPython application that I won't bore you with. It's actually quite fun, though I have spent most of my time reading documentation and experimenting with the GraphicsContext API.
In my previous post I said I would be going on a vacation with some friends. I mentioned Ameland as a likely destination, but actually the goal was Terschelling, the island next to it, throwing all my rabid fans and paperazzi off my track. Actually, I just forgot what island we had decided upon and picked one at random, but he former story sounds more exciting.
Anyway, we had a lot of fun there, the weather was great, and we played midget golf. That's all you need to know really. I will give you one more nugget of information: our vacation at some point involved beer and a soccer match, which we won.
Now onto more important news: exchange. In the middle of my vacation, I took a leave of my friends and traveled to the city of Arnhem, where the exchange information and preparation weekend was held. About a hundred of my fellow exchange students showed up. Strangely, about eighty percent of those also went to the USA, with rather a lot of them going to states in the lake michigan area. About the weekend I could also bore you with endless details, but it should suffice to pass judgement in a single word: exhausting. There was beer here also, and the amount of hours spent sleeping were surprisingly little. Though we were talked to a lot, I would not call the weekend informative. Most of this talking carried the same single message: judge not, for thy culture is different. A not altogether surprising variant to the well known biblical saying.
Last but not least: two little kittens can now be seen walking in our house, chasing each other or sleeping lazily in the sun. The chasing must be quite tiring, I believe. I love them already. Pics will be coming up ASAP. They do not dare enter my bedroom yet, granting me my sleep at night. The stairs are a very intimidating obstacle, I concur. But this will not likely last long. They already wake up my sister wrestling in her room at night. Sometimes even on her bed.
Thursday, 29 May 2008
I am a free man!
Hurray! The exams are finally over, and until august, I am basically a free man! No more school, no more boring stuff, no more nothing. Just me and the things I want to do. And THAT means programming.
But first, next week I'm going on a vacation with two friends of me. A camping trip of sorts. Our destination will most likely be Ameland. Or another of the Wadden Islands. We'll be leaving saturday, and I expect to be back sometime the week after that.
But first, next week I'm going on a vacation with two friends of me. A camping trip of sorts. Our destination will most likely be Ameland. Or another of the Wadden Islands. We'll be leaving saturday, and I expect to be back sometime the week after that.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Yay! Its weekend
Hurray! The first and hardest part of my exams is now over and done. I feel like it all went pretty well. Some better than others, but a good feeling across the board. Latin was without a doubt the worst, and left me mentally completely drained. I couldn't do anything for the rest of the day. Luckily, chemistry was scheduled for the day after that, so I didn't need a lot of preparation.
Three more things are coming up: Philosophy, English, and Math. I plan on finishing English in record time. My Philosophy marks always surprise me (in a good way). It just math that sounds like it could be tricky. However, if I keep going at my current pace, I shouldn't have a problem with any of these, given adequate preparations.
Lesson learned today: when using flite (speech synthesis) on Fedora 9, it crashes. Hard. It turns out the problem is actually pulse audio, so kill that to unfreeze your pc. Thank you and goodnight.
Three more things are coming up: Philosophy, English, and Math. I plan on finishing English in record time. My Philosophy marks always surprise me (in a good way). It just math that sounds like it could be tricky. However, if I keep going at my current pace, I shouldn't have a problem with any of these, given adequate preparations.
Lesson learned today: when using flite (speech synthesis) on Fedora 9, it crashes. Hard. It turns out the problem is actually pulse audio, so kill that to unfreeze your pc. Thank you and goodnight.
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Exams on the way
I'm well into my exams now, and so far it's going pretty well. I've had two already, Dutch and Physics, and I didn't have any problems with either. Tomorrow is Latin, the hardest of all of them, so it's far from over.
Apart from that, there is chemistry on Friday, which shouldn't be a problem, and philosophy, English and math next week. Apparently, the math central exams are always a lot easier than the school exams, so I'm lucky there. I usually get ridiculously high marks for physics with no effort at all (seeming knowledgable and talking a lot seems te be enough), and I'm going for a straight A on English.
And then I'm finally done, free to do the things I like to do. It should be great. I'll see you guys then.
Apart from that, there is chemistry on Friday, which shouldn't be a problem, and philosophy, English and math next week. Apparently, the math central exams are always a lot easier than the school exams, so I'm lucky there. I usually get ridiculously high marks for physics with no effort at all (seeming knowledgable and talking a lot seems te be enough), and I'm going for a straight A on English.
And then I'm finally done, free to do the things I like to do. It should be great. I'll see you guys then.
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Webdesigning
It's been a while, hasn't it? I must have a boring life or something, I don't know. Either way, my family has picked a student for the exchange. She is a Mexican girl. I won't reveal any more private details here, but I have faith it will all work out beautifully. She's supposed to send us a letter or e-mail sometime soon. So I'll get back to you by then.
Now on to the title. A while ago I landed a little job. I am to design a small website for a small family that runs holiday apartments in Greece. A friend of my mother belongs to the family, knows I am 'good with computers' and asked me to design a new website for them. Their current website, which can be found here, basically sucks.
The nice thing is they don't need something a lot more complicated than what they have now. That makes my job a lot easier, and it has convinced me that I'm up to the task. But that's not the best thing about this job.
The best thing is the payment: free stay in one of their apartments on a small Greek island called Nisyros. So provided I can afford the plane tickets, I'm going to Greece this summer! To pay for aforementioned tickets, I'll be working for my dad's company writing some python application.
It appears I have my work cut out for me.
Now on to the title. A while ago I landed a little job. I am to design a small website for a small family that runs holiday apartments in Greece. A friend of my mother belongs to the family, knows I am 'good with computers' and asked me to design a new website for them. Their current website, which can be found here, basically sucks.
The nice thing is they don't need something a lot more complicated than what they have now. That makes my job a lot easier, and it has convinced me that I'm up to the task. But that's not the best thing about this job.
The best thing is the payment: free stay in one of their apartments on a small Greek island called Nisyros. So provided I can afford the plane tickets, I'm going to Greece this summer! To pay for aforementioned tickets, I'll be working for my dad's company writing some python application.
It appears I have my work cut out for me.
Monday, 14 April 2008
Adventures in Mario Kart
This image (courtesy of xkcd.com) originally dates back to Mario Kart: Double Dash, for the gamecube, But I have found that it applies equally well to the new Wii version of the game. I must confess that they have made this new game a lot harder, and that's not just the controls.
This makes the game a lot more challenging and fun, but also a huge frustration to play. The wii's wrist strap is actually a good measure to have, 'cause I had the urge to throw my remote against the wall several times today, after being pounded with red shields and squashed by giant bikes over and over, pushing me all the way back to last place right before the finish line.
Nevertheless, there is something about the game that just makes you want to keep on playing. Despite the back- and neckaches I've been having (My TV is positioned too low) I've been playing it pretty much non stop for the past few days, cursing, swearing, and generally having a good time. I just completed 150cc this afternoon, and now all that's left is mirror mode and of course the delicious online. It's more than enough to keep me busy for a long time, at least until super smash brothers finally arrives (why the hell that game is not out in europe is beyond me). And of course I'll be playing this with my brother and sister for months to come (just like with the last mario kart).
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Happy Birthday Simone
Today (well yesterday technically) is my sisters fifteenth birthday, so let's sing everyone. The real party starts tomorrow, so there's lots more fun to come! Happy birthday, Simone.
I also bought Mario Kart Wii today. I've been playing it all day, and I really do love it. The steering wheel is awesome (an awesome piece of plastic, how about that) and the online capabilities should really up the replay value. The rankings particularly sound pretty awesome to me. The competitions should also be pretty cool when they start coming. This game is a solid buy if you ask me (I advise you don't, though. I'm not unbiased at all).
I fixed the bug that made my library crash under windows. It turns out I was accidentally blitting an image onto itself, which under linux is perfectly fine, but windows starts complaining and segfaults for some reason. Either way, it is fixed now. Updated versions should be coming out soon.
Before I leave, I will give you this fine piece of advice: Don't ever try chinese rice wine. It's a warm alcoholic beverage that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike wine. It's also not at all tasty. So don't drink it. And consider yourselves lucky, because I had to find this out the hard way.
I also bought Mario Kart Wii today. I've been playing it all day, and I really do love it. The steering wheel is awesome (an awesome piece of plastic, how about that) and the online capabilities should really up the replay value. The rankings particularly sound pretty awesome to me. The competitions should also be pretty cool when they start coming. This game is a solid buy if you ask me (I advise you don't, though. I'm not unbiased at all).
I fixed the bug that made my library crash under windows. It turns out I was accidentally blitting an image onto itself, which under linux is perfectly fine, but windows starts complaining and segfaults for some reason. Either way, it is fixed now. Updated versions should be coming out soon.
Before I leave, I will give you this fine piece of advice: Don't ever try chinese rice wine. It's a warm alcoholic beverage that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike wine. It's also not at all tasty. So don't drink it. And consider yourselves lucky, because I had to find this out the hard way.
Friday, 11 April 2008
Not Much Going On
Excuse me for not posting everyday. It's not because I forget this blog or something, there's just not enough going on to be talking about at the moment. I'm taking a break programming games right now. I'll get back on that eventually though, don't worry. School results are in, and there's not much exchange related stuff happening right now. That doesn't leave a lot of stuff to blog about.
I have a couple of unrelated small things going on that don't really warrant a blog post on their own, so I'm just rolling that in one big thing.
I started typing with ten fingers. It's something I always thought would be pretty cool to be able to do, and it would really speed up my typing. I downloaded KTouch and the full text of the GPL v3, and just started practicing. My current speed is about 215 characters per minute, or 35 words per minute. I've also noticed that programming this way is not very efficient, since you need all the hard to reach keys like '(' or '*' a lot more than in ordinary texts, which slows you down considerably.
I downloaded pygame 1.8 and tried it on my machine. It works perfectly. I have had complaints of a 'Runtime Error' when attempting to run my library example, but since that is as much detail as I have, and I can't reproduce the error no my machine, I'm not pursuing the bug any further. Anyone has any further problems and can give me details, please let me know. I also started doing the python challenge. It's a fun challenge for those not quite mathematical enough to like the euler project. There's a lot more use of the standard library going on there. I'm currently on level 10.
The YFU called my parents, and they're going to look over files from possible candidates to come over here while I'm gone. I'm imagining them sitting in the living room, YFU lady with a big catalog in her hands, my parents looking at some chinese guy. Then the lady says 'I also have this Fin. I think he'd be a great fit for you.' It's got a sort of slave market feeling to it, doesn't it? It'll probably a lot different than this scene, though. I sure hope so. For the Fin's sake.
I have a couple of unrelated small things going on that don't really warrant a blog post on their own, so I'm just rolling that in one big thing.
I started typing with ten fingers. It's something I always thought would be pretty cool to be able to do, and it would really speed up my typing. I downloaded KTouch and the full text of the GPL v3, and just started practicing. My current speed is about 215 characters per minute, or 35 words per minute. I've also noticed that programming this way is not very efficient, since you need all the hard to reach keys like '(' or '*' a lot more than in ordinary texts, which slows you down considerably.
I downloaded pygame 1.8 and tried it on my machine. It works perfectly. I have had complaints of a 'Runtime Error' when attempting to run my library example, but since that is as much detail as I have, and I can't reproduce the error no my machine, I'm not pursuing the bug any further. Anyone has any further problems and can give me details, please let me know. I also started doing the python challenge. It's a fun challenge for those not quite mathematical enough to like the euler project. There's a lot more use of the standard library going on there. I'm currently on level 10.
The YFU called my parents, and they're going to look over files from possible candidates to come over here while I'm gone. I'm imagining them sitting in the living room, YFU lady with a big catalog in her hands, my parents looking at some chinese guy. Then the lady says 'I also have this Fin. I think he'd be a great fit for you.' It's got a sort of slave market feeling to it, doesn't it? It'll probably a lot different than this scene, though. I sure hope so. For the Fin's sake.
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
The Results Are In
It's been a while since the last post, hasn't it? I've just been relaxing a bit since the tests. And preparing mentally for the final exams in May. Or something. Now though, results are in, and they are mixed. Let me put up a short list for you. The marks are out of ten, with ten being highest and one being lowest. 5.5 is the lowest passable grade.
I get a second chance on two of these by my choice, so obviously I'm going to try math and Latin again. Those tests will both be next Monday, so I'm not completely finished yet.
- Physics: 8.0
- Latin: 5.4
- Math: 4.9
- Chemistry: coming in thursday. But it's definitely good.
I get a second chance on two of these by my choice, so obviously I'm going to try math and Latin again. Those tests will both be next Monday, so I'm not completely finished yet.
Friday, 4 April 2008
Last Exam Day
Today was my last exam day, starring my physics test. It actually went pretty well, and I had no problems with any of the questions except for the last one (I couldn't remember formulas for calculating dosage equivalent). So what I did was just multiply all the data that was given to me and wrote that down. Such an answer is of course horribly wrong, but what do you do?
From now onto the final exams (in The Netherlands we have school exams given throughout the last three years and country-wide exams given in one week or so) Is about a month, and there's basically nothing in between. So Three weeks of pure relaxation. Except for the studying, of course. I guess that's important.
From now onto the final exams (in The Netherlands we have school exams given throughout the last three years and country-wide exams given in one week or so) Is about a month, and there's basically nothing in between. So Three weeks of pure relaxation. Except for the studying, of course. I guess that's important.
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Second Test Day
Today was my second day of tests. Two tests were on schedule, chemistry and Latin. Chemistry went so incredibly easy it was almost a joke. I was a little worried about chemistry, because I really could not afford to fail the test. Not because of my marks, but because of my honor.
You see, I've always been quite good at chemistry. It's a shame I'm not really that interested in it, because I have some talent for it. Unfortunately, my teacher deems it necessary to explain subjects in such detail that I understand the problem within five minutes. The rest of the forty minutes of that class is then spent half asleep, or chatting with the guy next to me.
I do understand that for most people, chemistry doesn't come quite as easy. But after asking around in class, I have confirmed that almost everyone shares my opinion. The teacher simply doesn't get that the whole class understands the subject already and gets bored. He insists that we stay focused on the practice exercises he makes for us, and threatens to note anyone who doesn't pay attention as absent (too much absence can have serious repercussions).
You can imagine I was not altogether content in that class. Then, a few weeks ago, our teacher, in another one of his rants, said that either we should pay attention or leave the class forever. He was even nice enough not to note us absent, should we decide to leave. I saw my chance. I just raised my hand and said "I would like to leave, actually." He stared at me confused for just a moment, then managed a nod. He mumbled something like "talk to me after class." I nodded back, gathered my stuff and left, and that was that. I went back at the end of that class to talk to him for a bit. He had snapped out of his confusion and asked me if I was sure. He mentioned there were still a few subjects left to cover, which I would have to catch up with by myself. I said this would be no problem. I could see he didn't believe a single word of it.
So now, I had effectively dropped chemistry, except for the exams. I had a great time, doing all sorts of useful stuff in the hours others were hearing about boring amino acids. It was a wonderful decision. The only problem, of course, was that I couldn't fail the test without having to admit I needed the classes after all, so I was a bit worried about that.
In the end, though, that was all for nothing. I caught up with the amino acids the day before the test in about fifteen minutes, and the actual test was a walk in the park. My honor is saved, and life is wonderful. I have recommended my classmates they do the same thing and ditch class. No one has yet, but that may be the better option for them anyway.
If you wanted to know about Latin, it went fine. It wasn't quite as easy, but doable.
You see, I've always been quite good at chemistry. It's a shame I'm not really that interested in it, because I have some talent for it. Unfortunately, my teacher deems it necessary to explain subjects in such detail that I understand the problem within five minutes. The rest of the forty minutes of that class is then spent half asleep, or chatting with the guy next to me.
I do understand that for most people, chemistry doesn't come quite as easy. But after asking around in class, I have confirmed that almost everyone shares my opinion. The teacher simply doesn't get that the whole class understands the subject already and gets bored. He insists that we stay focused on the practice exercises he makes for us, and threatens to note anyone who doesn't pay attention as absent (too much absence can have serious repercussions).
You can imagine I was not altogether content in that class. Then, a few weeks ago, our teacher, in another one of his rants, said that either we should pay attention or leave the class forever. He was even nice enough not to note us absent, should we decide to leave. I saw my chance. I just raised my hand and said "I would like to leave, actually." He stared at me confused for just a moment, then managed a nod. He mumbled something like "talk to me after class." I nodded back, gathered my stuff and left, and that was that. I went back at the end of that class to talk to him for a bit. He had snapped out of his confusion and asked me if I was sure. He mentioned there were still a few subjects left to cover, which I would have to catch up with by myself. I said this would be no problem. I could see he didn't believe a single word of it.
So now, I had effectively dropped chemistry, except for the exams. I had a great time, doing all sorts of useful stuff in the hours others were hearing about boring amino acids. It was a wonderful decision. The only problem, of course, was that I couldn't fail the test without having to admit I needed the classes after all, so I was a bit worried about that.
In the end, though, that was all for nothing. I caught up with the amino acids the day before the test in about fifteen minutes, and the actual test was a walk in the park. My honor is saved, and life is wonderful. I have recommended my classmates they do the same thing and ditch class. No one has yet, but that may be the better option for them anyway.
If you wanted to know about Latin, it went fine. It wasn't quite as easy, but doable.
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