What has been new

Yea, i know I haven't been updating this as much as I should but oh well.I am really excited about starting my new job at IBM. Moving to DC has been a huge culture shock but its all going to be worth it once I start work. Lately I have had too much time on my hands since finding a job for a month probably would not have worked out. I have found this guy to be hilarious http://redlettermedia.com/. His reviews of the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones is incredibly detailed and makes me realize just how bad those movies really were. A word of caution however, he takes on the persona of a crazed serial killer while doing so, which he succeeds in making comical, but might be disturbing to some. I am highly anticipating the release of Starcraft 2, Blizzard's current release date is July 27th, but who knows if thats going to be it or not. I played the beta some and have to say that it looks and feel great. On a different note however, I have heard that actions to abolish net neutrality are once again being picked up by congress despite the FCC speaking for Net Neutrality, it appears as if the FCC has changed its mind since this article.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/172371/fccs_net_neutrality_plan_draws_fast_fire.html

Those against net neutrality claim that they need strong barriers in place in order to properly regulate the internet. However, what these company's have claimed is proper regulation resembles a cable TV setup for your internet.

Whats new with me

I have been pretty busy since i last updated this blog. I got a job after i graduate at IBM! That is by far the biggest thing that has happened to me and am very excited to start my new job. I went to magfest this year (january1st through 4th 2010) and it was amazing! I got to see sid meyer and ask him about civilization 5. He could not comment on it, but he did say that they love to make civilization games, they appreciate the fanbase, and love to make games for the PC. Between those and other comments, my friends and I believe that civilization 5 is being considered if not already in the development stages, but thats just speculation. John st. John, the voice of duke nukem, is as awesome of a guy in real life as you would expect. By far the best thing he did was read the childrens story "goodnight moon" in the duke nukem voice... That was priceless. School has become harder to care about but I am staying vigilent in order to get as much as I can from my last semester here. I still need to get a place for after I graduate, but regardless these are very exiting times!

Update

I donated to Wikipedia! It seems only appropriate as to how much it has saved me over the years and I hope it will always be there for me, and for anyone who needs it.

10/GUI The Future?

I found this link today on reddit.
http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2009/10/13/10_gui/
This looks amazing! It seems like its something right out of minority report. Basically, rather than use a mouse it has a touchpad both hands can rest on and based off of which fingers from which hand are currently pressing the screen, different commands are activated. For example, if one finger is pressing it works like a regular mouse, if two are pressed it scrolls and zooms the screen ect. I just thought this was a cool presentation and am looking forward to something like this in the future.

So much to do, so much to see!

I did some thinking during the week and realized that there is always so much to do! Between all of the well written shows, well made movies, entertaining web series its amazing anyone ever gets anything done at all! Thankfully there are educational websites, certifications of everything you can imagine, and resources that make work easier. It seems like I could spend the rest of my life doing something an not even scratch the surface of all there is to know, but you know what? I like it that way. It might make life harder always having to relearn revamped systems, or introducing superior systems but i am happy for it. Some of the excitement generated here is for Google chrome frame. It means that with IE now being able to conform to HTML 5 that the the internet is going to be changing before our eyes very soon, and we can only hope its for the better, but just knowing that I was here when it happened means I might be able to implement it for the better.

my website idea and more.

So it turns out that the idea for the website that I had with my friend is not as novel as we originally anticipated. The idea was to create an RSS feed program that would allow us to get updates from our favorite employers when new openings were posted to their websites. It turns out job search RSS feeds are nothing new, but something as specific as we thought does not appear to be as available. So we might do something with pipes related to that but thats speculation. Been working on my CSS and javascript in class. While I have a little while before I become an expert, the tutorials on w3 schools have been pretty helpful in learning more about these areas. After I feel a bit more comfortable on CSS and javascript I might move to SQL to polish up that area some. Also , my project management professor has been talking about offering a PMP level 1 certification class and I am very tempted to try it because project management just seems like something that would be good to be skilled at. As a member of SME, I also qualify for earning my Certified Manufacturing Technologist (CMfgT) certification. While not as potentially diverse as a project management certification, it seems like anything that expands my current knowledge can only help me in the long run.

In other news,the new seasons of Big Bang Theory, Dollhouse, and Dexter start soon! So I will be enjoying these shows when I find time.

Im spending more of my freetime learning

I know this is the fourth post in one day but the other entries were from a blog I was keeping on an intranet for a class and realized soon after that it was not accessible to the outside world. So this is the blog entry from today and I promise its the last one. Its interesting how my summer was relatively uneventful but now that I am busy with school is when I do more learning outside of what was covered, I guess its all about frame of mind? I have started learning CSS and some JavaScript in order to be able to start working on building my own website. I don't really want to give away what I am going to try and build but it involves an RSS feed reader and something that probably should have been done a while ago, or has been done a while ago and I just don't know about it. That aside, I am finding my class in project management interesting and am considering getting certification in the spring when I will be more familair with the area. Anyway, my next post might be about my website idea, so until then!

See you around the Blogosphere,
Ryan Luckay