After joining Facebook, I've really neglected this blog. :)
A ton of updates since last so may have to spread this across several posts.
- The biggest update is our Kilimanjaro trip in Jan 2009. Our party of 6 all made the Uhuru peak summit successfully! We used Thompson Safari with Andrew Kitema as our guide. We took the 'Western Approach' route. It was a really nice experience and I recommend it for everyone to do at least once in their life. Not only is the climb fun, but the people there make the experience more rewarding. We have over 3000 pictures and quite a few videos from the trip - took a while to go through them all to make a family DVD.
- Interestingly side-note. The camera I brought with me to take videos got stolen during the flight home (out of my checked luggage). I didn't care much about the camera, but the memory card inside it had all the video clips from the Barranco wall to the summit unfortunately (with some pretty funny stuff along the way). I filed a claim with US Air hoping for a miracle chance of recovering it, but not really expecting anything. Although the camera was not found, to my surprise though US Air sent a check for $345 as a settlement for the loss (I didn't even have to submit any receipts). Doesn't replace the memories, but improved my opinion of US Air a lot. FYI: This was from a Washington Dulles to Charlotte flight where it was lost. Humorously, the package had travelled without incident before-hand from Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Rome - only running into trouble right when we got to the US. Don't get me wrong though, we were extremely happy to be back (and all made a dash to the closest fast food at the Dulles airport which was a Wendy's). :)
- I'm getting real interested in photography now, especially videos. To start with, I bought a Canon HV30 with a few accessories (tripod, external mic, wide angle lens, filters, etc). Also purchased Sony Vegas Movie studio. I've been happy so far with the HV30 video quality - an amazing difference from what I've been used to taking videos with. We'll see how my interests hold up. Sony Vegas software has worked out well so far and I like it. Most of all, it's really cheap compared to the alternative products (e.g. $100 vs $1000). I'd rather spend that difference on a Steadicam Merlin! Here's a link to my first test with it:
http://www.vimeo.com/3523016
- The iPhone app side project has worked out really well. I'm happy with the results so far and am looking forward to releasing my next application (mostly finished). That work was put on hold with family obligations and Kilimanjaro trip, but now I'm ready to work more on it. I really dislike the XCode/Mac environment but it's a necessary evil. I'm not sure if Visual Studio .NET and Windows have spoiled me, or if it's just because I'm not "used to it" as much. Right now, I'm much more productive materializing an idea with VS.NET than XCode.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Thursday, August 28, 2008
August 2008 update
As usual, I've been neglecting to update my Blog so have to catch up for last month. :)
I've since written 3 applications for the iPhone and submitted to Apple to publish to iTunes. They have passed review, but have been waiting in "Pending Contract" status for about 2 weeks or more now. To get Apple to sell your application, you have to set up a contract for the price tier you want to sell it at (in my case 0.99). This includes acknowledging a lot of mumbo jumbo and submitting your bank information for them to pay you, etc. And unfortunately you are left waiting for them to approve it with no status updates in between. Hopefully it won't take too much longer. Once that's done and I have the distribution channel down, I'm going to look into writing more full-featured applications. These first 3 were mainly to get my feet wet on the new platform.
I've started up two more classes at UNCC. This time it's "Operating Systems" and "Global Connections." From the first day of classes, it looks like it's going to be a lot of hassle (reading assignments, homework, and maintaining a reading journal). I much prefer just taking objective tests, but I'll suck it up and execute on what I need to for an 'A'.
Pool league starts up this week-end. I'm looking forward to it, although not playing this first night. We have a strong team and expect we'll make it to the finals. My team consists of some old buddies that work at Microsoft, their wives, and a friend I've known since childhood.
I haven't had much time to focus on number theory. But I did find an opportunity to use a little bit for a 1-off task at work. They needed a way to convert some arbitrary character strings into a unique string of 19-digits. Basically, one system used strings for their ID and another system only allowed 19-digits to represent the ID. So here's some C# code I came up with to do a mapping. It treats the character string as a huge number base 256 then calculates the result modulus a 14-digit and 5-digit prime respectively. The concatenation of those represent the 19-digit result (padded with zeros if needed). Fairly standard number theory, but looks like black magic to many...
----
----
I picked up an XBox 360 game called 'BioShock'. Although it has some mature content / violence, I found it to be entertaining and recommend it. It's a first-person shooter, although also kind of a mystery that unfolds. I like all the tape recordings left around you can find and play to reveal something about the environment or history of the story.
Second wave of immunizations done, and now I have all I need for the Kilimanjaro trip. I'm looking forward to it (Jan 2009). I've been keeping up with my exercise program as well so feel prepared there. I still have some gear-purchasing to do though, but will probably focus on that sometime in December. We have a nice REI store near Pineville Carolina Place Mall I'll be hitting up.
I've since written 3 applications for the iPhone and submitted to Apple to publish to iTunes. They have passed review, but have been waiting in "Pending Contract" status for about 2 weeks or more now. To get Apple to sell your application, you have to set up a contract for the price tier you want to sell it at (in my case 0.99). This includes acknowledging a lot of mumbo jumbo and submitting your bank information for them to pay you, etc. And unfortunately you are left waiting for them to approve it with no status updates in between. Hopefully it won't take too much longer. Once that's done and I have the distribution channel down, I'm going to look into writing more full-featured applications. These first 3 were mainly to get my feet wet on the new platform.
I've started up two more classes at UNCC. This time it's "Operating Systems" and "Global Connections." From the first day of classes, it looks like it's going to be a lot of hassle (reading assignments, homework, and maintaining a reading journal). I much prefer just taking objective tests, but I'll suck it up and execute on what I need to for an 'A'.
Pool league starts up this week-end. I'm looking forward to it, although not playing this first night. We have a strong team and expect we'll make it to the finals. My team consists of some old buddies that work at Microsoft, their wives, and a friend I've known since childhood.
I haven't had much time to focus on number theory. But I did find an opportunity to use a little bit for a 1-off task at work. They needed a way to convert some arbitrary character strings into a unique string of 19-digits. Basically, one system used strings for their ID and another system only allowed 19-digits to represent the ID. So here's some C# code I came up with to do a mapping. It treats the character string as a huge number base 256 then calculates the result modulus a 14-digit and 5-digit prime respectively. The concatenation of those represent the 19-digit result (padded with zeros if needed). Fairly standard number theory, but looks like black magic to many...
----
// Hashes any string into a 19-digit string
string GetHashValue(string
input)
{
decimal hash14 = GetHashValue(input, 99999999999973M);
decimal
hash5 = GetHashValue(input, 99991M);
return hash5.ToString("0".PadRight(5,
'0')) + hash14.ToString("0".PadRight(14, '0'));
}
// Generic version with
arbitrary modulus (up to 10^14)
decimal GetHashValue(string input, decimal
m)
{
decimal result = 0.0M;
for (int i = 0; i < ch =" input[i];" chval =" (int)ch;" result =" a*b^e" result =" 0.0M;"> 1)
{
if (e %
2 == 0)
{
e /= 2;
b *= b;
b %= m;
}
else
{
a = (a * b) %
m;
e--;
}
}
if (e == 1)
{
result = (a * b) %
m;
}
else
{
result = a % m;
}
return result;
}
----
I picked up an XBox 360 game called 'BioShock'. Although it has some mature content / violence, I found it to be entertaining and recommend it. It's a first-person shooter, although also kind of a mystery that unfolds. I like all the tape recordings left around you can find and play to reveal something about the environment or history of the story.
Second wave of immunizations done, and now I have all I need for the Kilimanjaro trip. I'm looking forward to it (Jan 2009). I've been keeping up with my exercise program as well so feel prepared there. I still have some gear-purchasing to do though, but will probably focus on that sometime in December. We have a nice REI store near Pineville Carolina Place Mall I'll be hitting up.
Monday, July 21, 2008
July 2008 Update
Wow, I really need to keep my blog updated. A lot has happened this month which included:
- I got the new iPhone 3G!! This phone is awesome and I'm having a great time with it. Everything works well and the UI couldn't be easier. And since I was in for a penny with Apple, I might as well be in for a pound, I bought an iMac too. :) I'm going to investigate writing applications for the iPhone, as well as just learn more about the Mac platform.
- My first wave of immunizations are complete for the upcoming Kilimanjaro trip. No side effects or painful needle experience. I have a follow up next month to finish off some more.
-My concealed handgun permit came back sooner than expected (around ~30 days). So I can now legally carry a concealed handgun in 31 states (30 other states have reciprocal laws: if you're legal in one, you're legal in the other).
- I've started a new exercise program. It's not much, but consists of regular 30-minute sessions on an Elliptical machine, and varied muscle-group training. To supplement that, I've added some protein powder to my mornings and evenings, as well as keeping up with vitamins. Exercise really does make you feel better overall.
- You can find me now on Facebook. I got into that after I saw some friends were on there, and since there is an easy applet for the iPhone to use. It's really addictive. Plus, you never know who you might find on there that you used to know.
- I started playing FFXI again casually. My wife and I have a few characters we multi-box together. It's a lot of fun, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do as much after the pool league and school start back up.
- I signed up for UNCC Fall classes. I'll be taking 'Global Connections' and 'Operating Systems'.
- I'm preparing to take the new Microsoft certification tests as part of my training exercise this year. I may be able to squeak past them without studying, but it's good to review the 'academic' stuff which can trip you up in a test, and usually has nothing to do with practical real-life work exposure. I got my manager to pitch in for the Transcender study guide and practice tests.
- Pool league is starting back up. We're going to play 8-ball Express again. Most of the original crew is back together and I've taken up the captain reigns for this session. It should be a lot of fun; I'm looking forward to it after we took the session off.
- I got the new iPhone 3G!! This phone is awesome and I'm having a great time with it. Everything works well and the UI couldn't be easier. And since I was in for a penny with Apple, I might as well be in for a pound, I bought an iMac too. :) I'm going to investigate writing applications for the iPhone, as well as just learn more about the Mac platform.
- My first wave of immunizations are complete for the upcoming Kilimanjaro trip. No side effects or painful needle experience. I have a follow up next month to finish off some more.
-My concealed handgun permit came back sooner than expected (around ~30 days). So I can now legally carry a concealed handgun in 31 states (30 other states have reciprocal laws: if you're legal in one, you're legal in the other).
- I've started a new exercise program. It's not much, but consists of regular 30-minute sessions on an Elliptical machine, and varied muscle-group training. To supplement that, I've added some protein powder to my mornings and evenings, as well as keeping up with vitamins. Exercise really does make you feel better overall.
- You can find me now on Facebook. I got into that after I saw some friends were on there, and since there is an easy applet for the iPhone to use. It's really addictive. Plus, you never know who you might find on there that you used to know.
- I started playing FFXI again casually. My wife and I have a few characters we multi-box together. It's a lot of fun, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do as much after the pool league and school start back up.
- I signed up for UNCC Fall classes. I'll be taking 'Global Connections' and 'Operating Systems'.
- I'm preparing to take the new Microsoft certification tests as part of my training exercise this year. I may be able to squeak past them without studying, but it's good to review the 'academic' stuff which can trip you up in a test, and usually has nothing to do with practical real-life work exposure. I got my manager to pitch in for the Transcender study guide and practice tests.
- Pool league is starting back up. We're going to play 8-ball Express again. Most of the original crew is back together and I've taken up the captain reigns for this session. It should be a lot of fun; I'm looking forward to it after we took the session off.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Mount Mitchell
We hiked Mount Mitchell this week-end. We didn't get a full up/down hike, but put in 6 miles (3 up, 3 down). I packed a little too much for the trip (twice as much water as I needed), but better safe than sorry :) It was some good exercise and part of our preparation for Kilimanjaro. There was a bit of rain and thunder for our trip too, but cooled things down so wasn't all bad.
There is construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway that can really bite you if you want to go to Mount Mitchell. Right where the park office is, the road is closed only allowing you to reach it from one direction. Unfortunately for us, we tried to get to it from the other side, and finding out way too late that we couldn't get there. It added about 1.5 hours to our journey having to drive around the mountain to eventually find a path into it.
The GPS we were using wasn't very helpful after we told it to Detour. It kept trying to find other ways to put us on the Blue Ridge Parkway on the wrong side (no option to disable a section of road available to it). We knew we were in trouble when it had us start going down this gravel road (toward "Craggy Gardens"). After that, we hit up a gas station for some advice along with talking to the wife on sporadic cell reception while she looked on google maps. Eventually we got close enough to the other side, that the GPS started figuring things out (but by then we could follow the signs).
Here are some pics from the excursion
http://picasaweb.google.com/CrumpPhotos/MountMitchell
And here is a geocache we hit up while there
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=efd970f9-4783-481d-995b-7f4f8ea6c1e4
A funny thing about this one, with all my recent experience on Geocaching, I've always found a box or canister. This one was a 'virtual cache' which I didn't know about at the time. We didn't find anything, and the coordinates were right in the middle of a construction area (and where the grave of Elisha Mitchell was). We figured something destroyed it and gave up. When I got back I was going to log the situation, but read this one was wanting you to find a plaque and prove you found it by making note of a word on it. Luckily when I explained this to my sister, she remembered the words on it verbatim and recited it to me. Way to go Bek!
There is construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway that can really bite you if you want to go to Mount Mitchell. Right where the park office is, the road is closed only allowing you to reach it from one direction. Unfortunately for us, we tried to get to it from the other side, and finding out way too late that we couldn't get there. It added about 1.5 hours to our journey having to drive around the mountain to eventually find a path into it.
The GPS we were using wasn't very helpful after we told it to Detour. It kept trying to find other ways to put us on the Blue Ridge Parkway on the wrong side (no option to disable a section of road available to it). We knew we were in trouble when it had us start going down this gravel road (toward "Craggy Gardens"). After that, we hit up a gas station for some advice along with talking to the wife on sporadic cell reception while she looked on google maps. Eventually we got close enough to the other side, that the GPS started figuring things out (but by then we could follow the signs).
Here are some pics from the excursion
http://picasaweb.google.com/CrumpPhotos/MountMitchell
And here is a geocache we hit up while there
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=efd970f9-4783-481d-995b-7f4f8ea6c1e4
A funny thing about this one, with all my recent experience on Geocaching, I've always found a box or canister. This one was a 'virtual cache' which I didn't know about at the time. We didn't find anything, and the coordinates were right in the middle of a construction area (and where the grave of Elisha Mitchell was). We figured something destroyed it and gave up. When I got back I was going to log the situation, but read this one was wanting you to find a plaque and prove you found it by making note of a word on it. Luckily when I explained this to my sister, she remembered the words on it verbatim and recited it to me. Way to go Bek!
Geocaching is a blast!
I've been meaning to start Geocaching but never got around to it. That changed this week-end. I bought a Garmin eTrex from Best Buy and psyched up the kids about what Geocaching was. Their eyes gleamed with the thought of a real life treasure hunt. After fiddling a bit with the GPS unit to make sure I understood how everything worked, and visiting the geocaching site (http://www.geocaching.com/) we were off. We quickly found two caches in our area in under an hour.
It was a lot of fun, and a very contageous sport. We then met up with family later this week-end, shared our geocaching experience, and took them along on some hunts in their areas. We've only started this week-end, and already have found 6, one on Mount Mitchell, 2 in Charlotte/Harrisburg NC, and 3 in High Point NC.
The idea is you use your GPS to find the cache, sign your name in the log inside, take an item, and place back an item you brought. There are trackable items as well and we participated by taking one of those from one cache, storing it in another some ~55 miles away, then logging our transaction on geocaching.com. These things can really travel.
One surprise to us was how big this sport is, and how many people participate. There are caches EVERYWHERE and when you find one hidden away, and look in the log book, it's not uncommon to find anywhere from 20-50 entries of people who were there before you. One of the items we found this week-end (a relatively new cache, just created 2 days prior), already had about 8 entries, 3 of which were on the same day as us! One of the harder ones we tracked down I noticed we were the only ones to find it in the last 6 months.
It was a lot of fun, and a very contageous sport. We then met up with family later this week-end, shared our geocaching experience, and took them along on some hunts in their areas. We've only started this week-end, and already have found 6, one on Mount Mitchell, 2 in Charlotte/Harrisburg NC, and 3 in High Point NC.
The idea is you use your GPS to find the cache, sign your name in the log inside, take an item, and place back an item you brought. There are trackable items as well and we participated by taking one of those from one cache, storing it in another some ~55 miles away, then logging our transaction on geocaching.com. These things can really travel.
One surprise to us was how big this sport is, and how many people participate. There are caches EVERYWHERE and when you find one hidden away, and look in the log book, it's not uncommon to find anywhere from 20-50 entries of people who were there before you. One of the items we found this week-end (a relatively new cache, just created 2 days prior), already had about 8 entries, 3 of which were on the same day as us! One of the harder ones we tracked down I noticed we were the only ones to find it in the last 6 months.
Passport arrived!
Wow, I recently went to get my passport renewed, and with all the horror stories of waiting months and months, I actually got mine back in under a week!!!
It may have something to do with the way I filed for renewal. I had lost mine about 2 years ago but haven't needed it so haven't gone through the trouble of renewing. In preparation for my Kilimanjaro trip, I went and filled out the 'I lost my passport' form along with filing out a new application with new photos. Perhaps the renewal in tandem with the lost passport was to credit for the speed.
It may have something to do with the way I filed for renewal. I had lost mine about 2 years ago but haven't needed it so haven't gone through the trouble of renewing. In preparation for my Kilimanjaro trip, I went and filled out the 'I lost my passport' form along with filing out a new application with new photos. Perhaps the renewal in tandem with the lost passport was to credit for the speed.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Sole E55 Elliptical Trainer on the way!
In deciding how I want to stay fit, I did some research and opt'd on buying an Elliptical Trainer. The one I settled on was the E55 from Sole Fitness. Here is a link to the product details
http://www.soletreadmills.com/details.php?name=E55&product_type=ellipticals
The cost was $1500 but I think it will be worth it. I'll post my feedback about it after I get a chance to try it out.
In the mean-time, I wanted to get a head start (I'm impatient). I found a cheap little 'elliptical' unit at Wal-Mart while the kids were picking out some toys. It was the 'Stamina Instride Elliptical, and it was $75. Here is a link to it:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7680169
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. It is a piece of junk. After one day, one of the foot pedals came off. I tighted it back on only for it to find a way to wiggle itself back off. I tighted it back on again - this time with extreme force and it seemed to work for that session. The next day when trying again, one of the pedal legs started slipping off the roller. I put it back on, looked for loose connections and tried to tighten things up (both legs still felt a little 'loose' though). Shortly after that, the whole leg came off the wheel. I could not re-fasten the leg to the wheel and gave up. We disassembled it, put the pieces back in the box, and plan on returning it to Wal-Mart tomorrow. If you're considering this product and find this post, don't buy it!
http://www.soletreadmills.com/details.php?name=E55&product_type=ellipticals
The cost was $1500 but I think it will be worth it. I'll post my feedback about it after I get a chance to try it out.
In the mean-time, I wanted to get a head start (I'm impatient). I found a cheap little 'elliptical' unit at Wal-Mart while the kids were picking out some toys. It was the 'Stamina Instride Elliptical, and it was $75. Here is a link to it:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7680169
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. It is a piece of junk. After one day, one of the foot pedals came off. I tighted it back on only for it to find a way to wiggle itself back off. I tighted it back on again - this time with extreme force and it seemed to work for that session. The next day when trying again, one of the pedal legs started slipping off the roller. I put it back on, looked for loose connections and tried to tighten things up (both legs still felt a little 'loose' though). Shortly after that, the whole leg came off the wheel. I could not re-fasten the leg to the wheel and gave up. We disassembled it, put the pieces back in the box, and plan on returning it to Wal-Mart tomorrow. If you're considering this product and find this post, don't buy it!
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