Splat.

So, I have successfully plastered myself against a wall with all of the work that I've stacked on myself. Somewhere along the line, I thought it was a good idea to accept a second job here at school during the summer. My workload has exploded from 15 hours a week to nearly 40 hours a week.

"Adam. Quit your complaining. Most people work 40 hours a week and you don't see them complaining."

You're right. I don't. And in fact, I used to work more than this per week. Back in the day, I worked for the State of Minnesota at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. I worked there during the week for 40 hours, and then I was still employed at Target on the weekends, working another 30 hours. 70 hours a week baby, this is nothing. But wait, my story gets better! I'm also taking a summer class, CS 111 because I need to get a higher grade (B- or better) to get accepted into the Computer Science major in order to finish my degree.

"Pfft. That's nothing. People go to school and work full time jobs all the time. They're called graduate students."

Yeah yeah, I realize this. I mean, again, I used to do that. Referring back to my 70 hours a week, I also was a full time student at St. Paul College. 70 hours + 16 credits = batshit crazy. Now I'm only 40 hours + 4 credits. Not too bad. Life can get a bit crazy and stressful, but nothing out of the ordinary. But wait, my story gets better! I'm also doing some freelance web design projects for 3 different people.

"Now you're just pulling my leg."

I wish I was. I'm kinda hungry because I ran out of money for groceries and am stuck eating ramen and tortilla chips until June 18th. One of the projects I've kinda let slide more than I should because I believe down-time (7-ish hours a day) can strike a nice balance. What does my downtime consist, you ask? About 4 hours of sleep and 3 hours of video games/goofing around on the internet. Sometimes I change around my sleep to gaming ratio, but on average, that's what I get.

So that's my life in a nutshell. It is a poor excuse for not putting up any casts recently, but it's the best I've got. I've got some 'vacation' time coming up next week, so maybe I will try to put together a few special casts while I'm out in San Diego, California. Perhaps you all can watch me get burnt to a crisp. So yeah. Who knows. Maybe after work tonight I'll put something together.

A day late and a dollar short

Thanks for everyone who replied on facebook, sent @me tweets on Twitter or sent me an e-mail about my idea for GameShelf. I've decided that I'll be sharing this application once I have a beta version ready for release. I don't have any clue how long it will take me to write this up, but my current goal is to have it done before school begins in late-August.

This brings me to something else I wanted to talk about. I know every college student says it, but I feel that I need to add my opinion to the already overwhelming pool of people: I can't wait to be done with school.

I say this not because I have been in school for the past umpteen million years, but because I am super excited to get my career started. Although it sounds boring and tedious (because it is), I look forward to the day when I'm spending my life in a poorly lit office with no windows, being bathed in soylent green, and working on the next generation of computer software. Why do I look forward to such a grim future? A job where printer paper will have more color than my skin? Because I will feel like I am contributing something useful. Right now, I'm writing code that I may or may not reuse, learning languages I won't every touch again, and studying studying theories that may be obsolete by the time I hit the real world. To me, this doesn't seem like a good use of my time, but I understand the need for it. In many other majors, the coursework that a person learns in their college career, as long as they get a job/career in their field of study, proves useful right away and typically stays with them until they're done with their job. Computer Science on the other hand, is not that nice. For example, I'm currently doing a lot of work with higher level languages (C++, Java, PHP), because that's where my field is. Why do I need to learn Assembly? Yes, it is a useful language to understand how electronic logic works, but doesn't do much else for me. Isn't that what the engineers are for? Since they make the hardware, they should program its basic logic functions and then the higher level programmers take it and make it something the sheeple can use.

Now, before you say "drop out of school and just jump into the workforce". No. There's a several reasons why I'm going through the painful process of college and the most important of those reasons is that most firms don't hire anyone worth doing anything unless they have a degree. Yes, I could work at a help desk and get my techno-fix that way, but it wouldn't be as satisfying, nor would it be a career.

I also don't want to turn into the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. I'm not looking to make a ton of money for some sort of product that will revolutionize computing and force the majority of consumers into blindly accepting my product, then forcing them to use only it for the rest of their lives. If I'm going to be working with people, I'd rather work alongside them instead of above them. Yes, I understand why positions such as project leads and managers exist, but that kind of stuff doesn't matter to me. I feel that when I find my niche, it'll be in a small development firm (hopefully my own), where I am working with about five or six other programmers to create something great. Something that may or may not revolutionize computing, but revolutionize the experience of using a computer/technology.

So that's my little rant for today. Hopefully I will have some sort of cast up this weekend. I've got coding projects coming out my ears, so we'll see. My goal is a video cast, however, you may have to suffer with just a plain old audio cast.

Not ____cast worthy

Just as a brainchild I want to write down (and hopefully not get stolen). I'm gonna start working on a personal application that I'm, for the moment, calling GameShelf. This program/application will act as a virtual 'bookshelf'. Instead of holding the titles (and covers, publishers, synopsis info, etc) of books, I want it to hold video games for all current systems with similar information. At the moment, I am thinking of developing this application just for Facebook and Android Market (v1.5+). The reason I'm kinda throwing this out there is to ask this from my readers/viewers/passerbys: If something like this was available, would you use it? You would be able to keep track of games you've completed, games you're in progress of, and games currently on your wishlist.

Please drop a line for any suggestions, or even if you'd simply use something like this.

Podcast number two!

So, I've put together another audio version for my blog. Podcast-style. Which also features opening and closing music by Tom Lehrer! Anyway...

Click this link to download the mp3.

If you enjoyed the music by Tom Lehrer, you can get more here: Last.fm on Tom Lehrer
Preserve: Nothing wasted. Everything gained.
And this is the realm of the World of Darkness

And the podcasting begins....

So, I decided to record myself again. This time, in a podcast/audio only form. :) Anyway. Here is a link to the mp3.

Download the Podcast [EDIT 05/22/2010 - I properly edited this post, so now there isn't any awkward silence. Huzzah.]

As I have mentioned in the show, here are some links for you to enjoy.

Dr. Who - The Tenth Doctor
Wil Wheaton's Radio Free Burrito
Games-Workshop Warhammer

If you enjoy this, please feel free to contact me via a comment reply, e-mail, tweet something to @ninjaweasel, or whatever!

I'm not dead yet

So, it has been quite a while since I have posted anything. My original intent was to have a daily video blog going, and then I got sick, then I got busy, and the finals hit. But that doesn't excuse me from at least trying to TYPE a blog post. Ya know, since that's how blogs originated.

So, I just wanted to share that I'm not dead yet. What I have in progress is an audio blog (possibly a video blog if I can find a place that doesn't look like a mess...or I can't find a place to host audio) that will be summarizing the past while of my life, a nostalgic moment I had earlier today about video games, and a glimpse at the upcoming projects I have this summer. I will also be sharing some notes on my Warhammer painting diary, and anything else that may come up between now and my posting of that.

Alright! Let's hear it for the second episode of the video blog!!! ...yeah, that was lame. I apologize for the crappy audio-video sync, but as soon as I get my act together, I'll be uploading videos that actually are timed correctly.

Again, thank you to all three viewers that I have that read/watch my blog. You are my heroes.