Monthly Archives: July 2008

Self-Motivation Pre-Game Pep Talk

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I went off-topic with my posts a while ago. You’re probably asking, “Dude, nice blogs where are the gamer posts?” Fair enough.

I’m no great shot in FPS matches. My aim often deviates from my target. And missing another player just gives them a reason to exact gruesome retribution, usually with an overpowered rocket or shower of plasma. So why don’t I leave after a few respawns, and call it quits? Why do I instead rush back into the largest battle in the arena?

Not because I’m addicted to gaming. Not because I’m an aggressive bastard. Nope. I’m self motivated. Faced with a problem or challenge, I try to surmount it. And persist in trying until success or the realization of futility sinks in. I challenge myself to get better. It makes for an exciting game and for a fulfilling life.

So here is a challenge for you: how self motivated are you? Take this test from MindTools.com I got a score of 44. What about you?

As a Tree Grows, So Does One

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In the headlong rush that my week or rather month turned out to be, I failed to notice it. From the parking lot that begins my morning commutes, I just noticed a beautiful tree growing at the side of the street. Thin, olive green leaves sprouting out of gnarled, weathered grey bark, and everything in contrast with the dark grey overcast sky. I’d take a picture, but it is hard to blindly aim a mobile webcam.

I wouldn’t of noticed this tree, if I hadn’t maken time to walk to my bus stop. Rather than engaging in a mad desperate morning dash, I walked. By walking, I could notice things. But only if I knew where to look or by nearly running into them. So it is with life.

The endless stream of tasks, deadlines, wants and desires often takes precedence over the great beautiful things in life. Like a tree, the good things grow on the side. Take a moment, notice them and observe them. You will feel peace.

At Least I’m a Full Employee

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I’m not feeling particularly creative today. Or rather the hustle of both my professional and personal life is taking a toll on my creativity. Also sorting out stuff and figuring out a road map for immediate goals takes time.

At least one of the stresses of whether I’ll work for my current employer more or less disappeared. So it looks like I’ll get to keep growing in my current role as a software consultant. Development in real life differs greatly from the sheltered realm of university. Gathering requirements is more difficult. The code base most likely won’t win awards for breivity, simplicity and elegence. And a perfectionist approach to engineering, will drive you insane or into pessimism. Finally consulting requires one to be diplomatic nearly all of the time. For an asocial (not anti-social, I just need solitude more than others) individual, this can be quite a challenge. So far I think I’m achieving this, more or less.

Writing and blogging at least gives a nice way to unwind. But unfortunately this week is so hectic, that I have very little time. In fact, I got to end right here.

Micro-Blogging

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So far I’ve had some success at blogging at daily intervals. As you may have noticed that the brievity of my recent blogs. First, the device I blog from now doesn’t let my type as fast as a regular keyboard. Second I am concentrating on the science fiction novel I’m writing now. Just finished the rough draft of chapter 3.

An Invitation to a Party

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Somewhere out there in Wolverhampton, UK, four large gents and there large group of friends, followers and groupies are having one helluva party. Unfortunately I’m not with them. As Aq pointed out on a previous blog entry, Toronto is a bit of a ways. And in days of stellar expensive flights, I couldn’t afford such a trip. 🙁

I did listen to the last studio recorded LugRadio podcast. On my N810, a device which first heard about in LugRadio. Or was it from Bert & Ernie on LAS? I keep on mixing up my muppet shows. 😀 And whats up with the melon?

Anyways, thanks again to the entire LugRadio crew, for the crazy banter and great times. You will be missed. And if I ever meet you guys in the flesh, I’ll be buy ya a beer. Or more if necessary. 🙂

Oops, I broke something

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I broke my Internet Tablet today. Not physically.

Rather I used Dolphin from KDE 4 for some file transfers yesterday. Me and my obsession running beta versions. And to add insult to injury, yanked out the cable without unmounting (safely removing) the device. Silly me.

Well now the internal memory is read-only. Dmesg reports filesystem panic, and fsck.vfat errors out. So it looks like I’ll need to backup and reformat that partition. But hey at least I learned to gain root access on the N810 (install rootsh and run sudo gainroot in the x-terminal.

A big thanks to johnx, and others on #maemo on irc.freenode.com for all the help.

Football (Soccer) Madness – A Quickie Update

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Ok, I’m just gonna post a quick update as part of my resolution, to post daily. I reckon that my life is not as half boring as I make it out to be…

I surprised my system admin at work that my N810, is in fact a Linux device. It is true that there isn’t too many Linux of such a small form factor. Updating to the newest version was a great idea.

Also we played a round of soccer (European football). I played a fantastic game. Maybe a bit aggressive, but thats just my intense focus when I game. I would love to do this on a weekly basis.

These past few days, I’ve a bit panicky. So many new adjustments and things happening to me. I am still adjusting. Please bare with me.

A Day in the Life of an Internet Tablet

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While I’m writing this in Notes application instead of Blogger, I’m impressed with my new Internet Tablet. Not as powerful when not tethered to the seamy underbelly of the Internet, the N810 performs well as a handheld computing device. Even the thumb keyboard is quite comfortable. The device can seem a bit heavy at times. But I prefer a heavier sturdy construction, than a lighter flimsier one.

Ok it is not a phone. But that’s a good thing: I don’t have to pay for data charges, etc. That said, relying on open wireless LANs is not best way to go. I’ve seen interesting networking combinations involving USB-OTG cable, which I’d like to explore.

I like the fact that maemo (the operating system stack running the Internet Tablets) lets you run a large number of applications. I will report on some of them, once I upgrade to the latest version of Internet OS2008 later on tonight.

Waiting for Maemo

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Last Thursday I got the chance to play with a Nokia N810 at the TigerDirect store in Mississauga. A pretty nifty device, but the price was not so nifty. So I ordered one via the Web. And hopefully it’ll arrive sometime today. Yay!

My initial review (after using for a few minutes) is that the N810 is a nice little device. I love the fact that I can carry an Internet-capable device in my pocket, without paying gigantic data transfer. Definitely useful to keep connected with people. And having a computing device that I don’t have to share is very useful.

A few negative points: the N810 loads slower than I thought. Faster than most Linux workstations, but slower than my Palm Pilot Tungsten E. The GPS doesn’t lock quickly. And tablet comes with a plastic stylus, instead of a nice rugged metal, rubber tipped stylus.

Getting to run on a Linux environment, means I’m familiar with the applications. Screen resolution is decent enough to handle the majority of sites. The slide-out keyboard is way more convenient than the infrared wireless one I have to tug along with my Palm. And there are a lot of apps already ported to it.

Overall I looking to playing on, working with and developing for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. I can hardly wait to get mine. 🙂