Thursday, April 30, 2009

Finally!

Finals are over!
It's been a long week and it ended today with 2 finals (including one in accounting - yuck!). Now that it is all over, let's take a look back at what happened during the semester, but I was too busy to write about!


Donating Plasma

That's right. I've joined the ranks of the strung-out junkies selling my body for cash. It was an interesting experience, to say the least, going in my first time not really knowing what to expect. I'd heard all the rumors - "they use the BIGGEST needles you've ever seen!", "It hurts the entire time!", and "It takes like 5 hours!" - but none of them were true. The one thing that did surprise me was the color of the plasma. It looks like pee!



The donation itself wasn't actually even that bad though. Yeah, they stick you with a needle, but aside from the small pinch at the beginning and having to put pressure on your little wound at the end, the whole process is practically painless. It did take me about 3 and 1/2 hours my first time, but that was just because they had to explain to me what was going on and do some tests to make sure I wasn't really a strung-out junkie. Every time since has been less than 2 hours. If I go twice a week I can get $55 for the week. If I can do that every week will earn me an extra $220 a month, and if I can convince X to come with me that often that is $440 a month! Talk about a side-income! With the wedding approaching quickly and looking forward to paying for insurance, rent, and other "fun" aspects of responsibility, we need every dollar we can manage!


GUI Project

This semester in my GUI (Graphical User Interface) class I was assigned a project to design a functioning traffic-simulation program. I decided to tackle the analysis portion of the program where I had to design the section where someone could analyze difference data sets on multiple graphs. It was a very interesting project, and I really enjoyed the class. I'm so glad that I've found something that I'm good at and that I enjoy doing so much!






Advent Creative


This is the company that I started working for last September doing web development. I working for them throughout this semester and will start working full-time for them during the summer. Here are some of the websites I have helped build while working for them: Vooray, California Home Trading, Ascend Auto, and Mountain West Anesthesia. It has been great working for them and I've gained a lot of experience!


Planning a Wedding

This has probably made up the most stressful part of the semester for me. All the planning, looking at options, and talking about the countless options (none of which really interest any guy...) has worn me out. I'm just glad it'll all be over soon. I can't believe this much planning can go into one day! (well, 2 for us. We're having our reception the night before). Hope to see you all at the reception. May 19th from 6 - 8:30!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

TOP 5 Barats & Bereta

For those of you that haven't had a chance to experience a Barats & Bareta video, I hope that my TOP 5 favorites will give you a good look into some of their funniest work. Find out more at www.baratsandbereta.com


#5 - "Superhero Dunks"



#4 - "Just Wonderful"



#3 - "The Other Son"



#2 - "Cubicle Wars 2006"



#1 - "Mother's Day"

Monday, March 9, 2009

TOP 5 Worst Websites

This is a TOP 5 that I've been looking forward to doing. Being a Web Developer, one thing that is vital to my job is creating a website that is easy to use, looks fantastic, and doesn't inflict bodily harm (or cause the user to want to inflict bodily harm to themselves) in any way. These website gems that I've uncovered are lacking in one or more (sometimes all) of those categories. I'll be sure to point out the key ares of a few of them that you just can't afford to miss. Enjoy!

(NOTE: IF YOU ARE PRONE TO SEIZURES, EPILEPSY, OR MOTION SICKNESS, SOME OF THESE SITES MIGHT NOT BE FOR YOU)

#5 - www.paperrad.org

To start us off today we have a website of this... children's cartoon? Not quite sure what is going on here, but if you click on the main image of the page (it says something about solving problems) you'll see a FANTASTIC video that might help explain a little bit more about the site.


#4 - www.dokimos.org/ajff

My favorite part of this website is, surprisingly, not the headache-inducing background, but instead the error-message at the top of the screen. Be sure you read it in order to get the full experience.


#3 - www.moire.ch

While this site may seem simple and innocent enough at first, after you start moving your mouse over the various links you will understand why this site makes it onto my list. Be sure you click on the link I posted above because they have updated their site. My link points to their old site before it was updated.


#2 - www.havenworks.com

This is a REAL news website. People actually come here to get their news. Now why someone would go here to get their news is beyond me, but if they can navigate the page, understand where they need to go, and not strain their eyes beyond belief... more power to them.


#1 - www.yvettesbridalformal.com

Okay. Just take a deep breath before you head on over to this one. It's gonna be BAD. Once you are at the home page wait for a second to make sure you get the full experience while the page/music loads. Then be sure you click the lady/lamb artwork to head over to the [even better] 2nd page. Isn't the floating image wonderful? Why does it change into that creepy face? Also for your further enjoyment you can view the map to Yvette's location that has been conveniently drawn up in MS Paint (located on the top-left of 2nd page - red text on gray box). Not only is this the worst website I've ever seen, but the music, floating images, and everything else combined together make me question the sanity of whoever designed it!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

TOP 5 Feel-Good Videos

This first category consists of videos that give you that tingly feeling, deep down inside, that just leave you feeling happy. I had a few different videos in mind when I created this list, but these were my top picks:

#5 - "National Anthem at Fenway Park"
This video was shot during "Disability Day at Fenway Park", where they had a special needs individual sing our National Anthem.



#4 - "Paul Potts on 'Britain's Got Talent'"
Many of you have probably already seen this video, but I was surprised by how it made me feel. Maybe I'd like opera? I'm still too scared to try it out. But if it always makes you feel like this then I probably could enjoy it.




#3 - "Christian the Lion"
A really cool story, although the video does a horrible job at explaining the story. If you want to find out more about the story search Google here. P.S. the music is really cheesy.



#2 - "Where the Hell is Matt?"
I don't know what it is about this video that gets me, but there is something just about it that I enjoy. Maybe it is just its simplicity, or there might even be a subliminal message, but I think I could watch it forever...



#1 - "CAN"
This man deserves to be father of the century! I don't think anyone can watch this movie without feeling some kind of emotion and spirit.

Introducing... The TOP 5

I want to start a new series of posts called "The TOP 5" in which I will post lists, videos, websites, etc. of my TOP 5 picks in various subjects. Some ideas that I am currently working on include: TOP 5 worst websites, TOP 5 funny videos, TOP 5 Fast-Food Burger chains, TOP 5 feel-good videos, etc. I can't do this alone though, and I'll need your help in coming up with new ideas for TOP 5 categories. You'll also be able to read over my TOP 5's and add comments or add your own submissions on what you think I left out or shouldn't have included. I'll look forward to hearing your ideas!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

It's OFFICIAL!!!



In-N-Out Burger is FINALLY coming to Northern Utah! You have no idea how long I (and so many others) have waited for this moment. Tears of joy came to my eyes as I watched this video.

For those of you who have never been able to experience a Double-Double Animal Style, I highly recommend that you high-tail it to In-N-Out when it opens (projected for Fall 2009)

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Software Development Isn't A Cakewalk

So I read this blog entry forwarded by a friend to me. It thought it was interesting because I think it highlights the mentality that many people have about computer science. How many time have you said to yourself, "This isn't rocket science, all we need is a programmer to do [insert complicated feature here]". Anyway, I thought it was an interesting and wanted to share it with you to hopefully change your mentality if you ever find yourself in need of someone like me in your future.

Here's the link: http://codeclimber.blogspot.com/2008/04/all-i-need-is-programmer.html

The article rings true to me because I have had several people just over the last semester talk to me about helping them or someone they know to build a website or application. Even my roommate approached me to ask about building a website for his dad to sell something online. I told them it would be a lot of work and that I didn't have time, and they all seemed stunned.

Computer Science is hard work. My boss at work told me that he read an article about how software development was compared in difficulty to physics and rocket science. I haven't read it so I don't know what exactly was said, but if I can get that article from him or if I find it online, I'll post it on here.

Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant. That is all.