MUL.DILI.PAT
So I found out about this place called ETCHamac that laser etches customer images on PowerBooks and iPods. I’m pretty certain I’ve posted about this site before in a previous post (but I feel lazy right now). Either way, I figured out what image I’d like to have laser engraved. Let me know what you think:
I’m still toying with the idea of engraving Ishtar’s face tattoo, but maybe I’ll do that on my iPod =P
-Tom
I’m too tired to go on at length at what has transpired in my life… mostly because with the exception of a few small events, life has been uninteresting. Of note, I applied for a job at Panic, which I hope works out, but I got an email from them stating that they got a lot of entries, so I’m not holding my breath, though I hope for the best.
In other news, I made a quick trip to NYC and later, Albany, because Eileen was in town from Japan to take the Bar exam. I’m still convinced this is just some twisted plot of hers to become a lawyer and then turn around and sue me. Well, if so, I prolly deserve it =P Also, I must state publicly that driving in and around New York City is a bitch, but the Catskills is a beautiful region. Woah.
Learning to program in Lisp is slow going, but productive. It’s a very interesting language. I purchased Unison (from Panic Software, natch) to allow me to read the comp.lang.lisp Usenet newsgroup. It’s pretty enlightening, albeit intimidating. There was one post about Lisp programmers needed at CMU for a robotics project. Needless to say, I applied.
Hrm… oh yeah, might as well make a quick note about my current love life: still sucks, carry on. I think one of (the few) cute female workers at AQ actually hit on me, but I only heard part of it, and when I asked her what she said, she blushed and quickly said it was unimportant. Oh well, as a rule, I don’t date coworkers. bleh
BTW: I just picked up the entire Macross saga on DVD. I shouldn’t have, but it is no longer being released by AnimEigo and it’s getting harder and harder to find. So I took the plunge before I found myself scouring eBay for a used copy.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled normalcy…
-Tom
So I have this idea for a startup… it’s totally in a different direction from what I originally intended, but I have fait in the idea. Since it requires a lot more refinement, and because I have the slight fear of having my idea stolen (my blog may be unknown, but Google still pulls me up), I’ll only write some keywords so I don’t forget it after I’ve gone to sleep:
-Tom
Ok, so I’ve mentioned that I am interested in starting my own software startup. So far, no progress has been made. So here is what shall be done. Here is an outline of things that need to be done, and here is what I plan to do about it:
I imagine this will be a 3-stage process to developing an “idea”
STAGE1: brainstorm… what do people on a regular basis that would benefit from having a well-designed product? Examples would be calendar programs, note applications, etc… basically throw it all out on the table and see what we come up with
STAGE2: take the promising ideas and research what software is already out there. It doesn’t matter if there is competition or not, if we have an idea that will stand on it’s own with no competitors, so be it, if we are pursuing an existing idea, what is out there, and how can we make it better?
STAGE3: this stage should maybe go first, but it does rely partially on identifying what kind of software to pursue. In this stage, we profile the average Mac user, and define a sub-class of users who would use our product. From here we can determine what the priorities are, and design our product with that in mind.
From this point on, I’m in Stage 1… time to begin brainstorming.
-Tom
I got my copy from Amazon in the mail late on Saturday, and after getting very little sleep and reading it mostly straight for the last day and a half, I’m done. Wow. I have to give mad props to J.K. Rowlings for surprising me, even though I was pretty damn certain I had it all figured out. Then again, I did have my suspicions that I would be fooled at the last minute… which I was. I won’t be too specific, since this is not a book review, nor do I wish to introduce any spoilers. I’ll just say this: In some respects, a lot of people will be happy, and in others, people may very well be upset with what happens in this book. Either way, the word “slut” is used in the book, which thoroughly amuses me =D
-Tom
So yeah, I still have much love for the Robovie-M/S mentioned in my previous post, but damn, if the Chroino were to ever go on sale, I think I’d buy one just to hump it. =P
I want.
-Tom
This article showed up on Slashdot and is a good read for those of you who may be interested. It is about what some prominent computer programmers think of Programming as an art. It’s also cool to see that this paper by Donald Knuth was linked, which explains why his seminal series The Art of Programming references art, and not science…
-Tom