Monthly Archives: November 2007

Information Overload Via RSS

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Eureka! I found out where a good chunk of my time disappeared to. RSS feeds and my favorite feed aggregation tool: Akregator. RSS feeds are an invaluable tool and using them feels like holding a hand on the pulse of the Web. However, I realized how much time I wasted because I subscribed to a few news and planet feeds.

Every morning would start with firing up Kontact, and reading my e-mails. Then I would do the same with the RSS feeds. Then I would scan each story, decide upon its usefulness, upload the useful ones to my web browser, read them, bookmark and catalogue them. Only by the time I finished a good chunk of the day past by. Oh my.

I realized that I had become an information junkie, and nothing was getting done. Initially I switched off the automatic retrieval. But that was just a half measure. Instead today, I took the drastic step of deleting the news and planet feeds. Now I can get work done, and do the things I should do. Like updating this blog. 😉

A Note to Any Future Employers

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So you typed my name into Google, and found this site popping up as the second result. Congratulations! You just found my blog. You are probably surprised, that you found it so easily. I was surprised when I Googled my name today too.

I welcome you. I just want to point out a few things, before you go and delve into this blog too deeply:

I started this blog when I was still in university, and made it public so that my friends and colleagues could read up on some of my thoughts. Most of my posts are either about some academic idea I juggled in my head or its about tiny snippets of my life. As life goes, there were ups and downs. Sometimes I achieved something great. Other times I failed. I learn from my mistakes, and by personally challenging myself. But with so many posts, I don’t see why I should scurry the blog into hiding. The Open Source Gamer (formerly Mlaren Dreams) has been around for a while now. Just because I sent you my resume, should not change things.

I want you to get to know me better. But I want to point out my achievements rather than my idle ranting. Take a look at the open source project I lead: justCheckers. I gained a lot of experience about developing in an open source, de-centralized manner.

I also love to write, and have written a few articles, some of which are on my blog:

Oct 12, 2007: Thoughts on Richard Stallman’s “Free Society, Free Software” essays,
http://opensourcegamer.blogspot.com/2007/10/free-society-needs-free-market-and-free.html

Sept 28 & Oct 02, 2007: Reviews on Kubuntu 7.10:
http://opensourcegamer.blogspot.com/2007/09/initial-impressions-of-kubuntu-710.html
http://opensourcegamer.blogspot.com/2007/10/settling-in-with-gutsy-beta.html

Sept 17, 2007: How to on Fixing NVidia graphics on an old Toshiba Satellite
notebook:
http://opensourcegamer.blogspot.com/2007/09/penguin-and-rusty-wrench.html

Dec 10, 2006: Gaming: Simplicity, Good Graphics and Open Source Gaming
http://opensourcegamer.blogspot.com/2006/12/gaming-simplicity-good-graphics-and.html

I have also written a series of quantum computing articles, for a science and technical writing class. Unfortunately, you will not find them here. Feel free to ask me about them if you decide to interview me though.

You may also notice, that I don’t talk about my previous employments. I don’t do this, because I think it would be unprofessional of me to disclose potentially sensitive material. And because I don’t like to complain about people behind their backs.

I want to show you that I have an organized work ethic and that I am self-motivated. I even invented a new organizational technique based on operating system process management: Task Logs (1) (2).

Finally, I want to thank you for reviewing my application, and looking up on me. I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely,
Dorian Pula

Looking Forward, Looking Backward

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One of the hardest thing to admit is one own errors. Today I finally confronted two of them. A while ago I opened up two different FOSS projects on SourceForge. I soon realized that I did not have the time to work on them and school. So today, I finally found the courage to ask the SourceForge to remove those projects. The projects basically only had a basic amount of code, and an unmaintained website.

Instead I want to concentrate on my involvement with the justCheckers project and make that a successful venture.

The Strept Empire Strikes Back

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I have been sick these past few days, with a painful case of strept throat. So I have been unproductive until today. In more positive terms, I help host a side event for the 2007 Annual Symposium of Streptococcus. Now I have to clean up after the mad bacterial partying. Yum.

In other news, I got a rejection e-mail for a job at Canonical. Oh well, it was too good to be true. Still it was worth the try.

Tomorrow the job hunt begins for real.

The Open Source Gamer Looking for Work

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I am currently looking for work, so if anyone is interested in a software developer or software engineer position please let me know. I have experience from university (finished my B.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Toronto) and from my open source projects in:

  • Java development.
  • PHP and JSP scripting.
  • Database (MySQL and SQL Server) programming.
  • Technical, computer manual writing.
  • Graphics: mostly Java AWT and SDL.
  • Website development (XHTML, CSS and Javascript).

I am looking something that I can either do at home or commute to in Brampton, Mississauga or Toronto. So if anyone is interested please send me an email at:

dorian dot pula at gmail dot com.

Thanks in advance for all offers.