Just posting to let everyone in SLC/Maryland know that I'm coming to visit. I fly into SLC on May 9th and will be there until May 15th. This will be to visit/relax/and see Erics wedding reception. From there I will be flying to Maryland for my Masters degree graduation. I'll be there until the 18th when I'll return home to California. If you're around, let me know and I'll stop by and visit.

Works been as busy as ever. We've just released a voice automated dialing feature for the blackberry's (If you have a blackberry, goto m.tellme.com and check it out!) and it required a lot of website changes. You can see my latest change at http://www.tellme.com/you -- the bubble/page change is a new feature I added. Fun stuff. I did get a small promotion though, which is nice. It means that I get a raise while the rest of the company has a pay freeze in effect. (Of course, it would be nicer to get the promotion raise along with the yearly pay raise, but I guess I can't complain.)

My japanese classes have been going well... maybe I'll start doing posts in japanese...

Anyway, off to class. Later!

Ahhh... Since I just spent the last half hour in our hot tub, I figure I'm in prime mood to write... that and I was told to... so...

I've been in Silicon Valley for over a year now. While I lived in Cali before, one thing I do miss here is the stars. Being on the edge of San Francisco and in San Jose means there is lots of light pollution I have to deal with. It's mostly noticeable when I chill in the hot tub and just stare at the sky. It's just grayish black with an occasional star and the more frequent plane. While the night has it's own beauty no matter where you are, it still reminds me of past nights where I spent staring at the sky and wondering if anyone else who shared my thoughts were also gazing into their depths. Neffs park, Petes Rock, and many other places in Salt Lake, the beach in Monterey, any place I could be alone in Iraq, and now my hot tub here. It's strange... I don't remember doing it in North Carolina... I wonder if that's part of the reason I never liked it there. It's always a good place to think. Nowadays I find myself reflecting on my code more often than not, but I still enjoy pondering science, magic, and fiction. Imagination... I refuse to grow old without it! (And grow old I am... I'm most commonly the oldest person at gatherings with my friends... how the hell did that happen?)

For those who actually care what's happening in my life, I guess I should update you on that front. I'm currently working on four projects at work: the car favorites website, the Tellme Website, the Tellme Mobile website, and the SMS code library we use. Generally, it's not bad... but I'm not sure where I went from software coder to web coder. To a programmer, there is nothing more painful! I need to write everything making sure it'll work on many different versions of many different web browsers. It sucks. The good news is that my manger told me that I'm doing the work of someone above my pay level, so there is a very good chance I'll be promoted this spring. Oh, and to any techies out there, if you saw the Ford Sync webpage at CES let me know since it was my code! (I wish they had sent me...)

In other news, as I mentioned before I've fully completed my Masters Degree and am planning to start Japanese 101 next month. I don't know why I'm starting at 101, but when I asked if I could test out of it I was told "That's impossible!" Um.. ok.. whatever. The class costs $20/SH and at 5SH, it'll set me back $100. The MGIB will pay me around $200/month I'm in the class. The class is just under three months long. I'll let you do the math. It might actually come in useful anyway for degrees/certificates that require so many hours per class. We'll see.

Another change that's upcoming is that we're moving to a cheaper apartment. (Like $600 cheaper per month.) It's a two bedroom and almost as much room as our house now. (Albeit the view, of course... I will miss our high ceilings and great view...) Either way, having an extra $600+ per month will be a nice change.

The rest of my time is spent gaming, reading, or just relaxing. Current games are Left 4 Dead, and Bioshock. I also got a Nintendo DS for christmas with a flashcart (got it for school mainly since it has Japanese/Kanji practice/dictionary programs) that I play. I finished Brandon Sandersons Mistborn trilogy, which I recommend. Play Rock band at work after lunch.

Know what... I should probably do something more useful with my time... :P Oh well, life's not worth living if you're not having fun!

Peace!

Since it's getting cooler here in Silicon Valley, I decided to break out my trenchcoat. It's an awesome coat I bought from Wilsons Leather a long time ago. I never really wore it much because the Matrix and school shootings added a bad stigma to it, but that seems to be all over now. I get at least 5 people a day complementing me on my coat. It's pretty cool. :)

Not much else has been happening. Still waiting for a final grade on my school project so I can figure out my (official) GPA. If I get the A I expect, I'll have a 3.79... which means I'm 0.01 points away from graduating with honors. I knew I should have studied... :( Oh, and on the note of school, I just signed up for Japanese classes at the local CC. So much for being finished. ;)

In other news, I finished the Mistborn series from Brandon Sanderson. I have to admit, they were really well written. Or, perhaps I just like the style. Creative use of magic, really interesting world and deity views, and some good plot themes that left me truly surprised at the end of the book. There were some elements that were talked about throughout the series and I never picked up on until the very end. TOR gave the first book away as an ebook a while ago, and I've since purchased the book. I'll be happy to give out the ebook I have in hopes of further spreading his work. If you enjoy fantasy (such as Wheel of Time, or Sword of Truth, you'll most likely enjoy Mistborn. And on that note, he's writing the last book of the Wheel of Time, so this will let you get up to speed on his style.)

Welp, off to bed. Need to get up early to do some changes on the tellme website. They want it deployed before lunch... blah! Who expects a programmer to be awake before lunch?

Anyway, night.

So, yesterday was my final project presentation. You can see the site we built here. (Note: May be removed at any time.) Since I didn't feel like dropping a couple hundred dollars to watch a little presentation, I stayed home and listened to it over a conference call. I'm almost wishing I never called in. Our team was the only team to complete all the requirements, including Paypal integration. So, feel free and buy stuff from that site. I'll gladly take your money. :) Either way, my team is quite sure we aced the project. Only thing left is to walk across the stage. I should order new business cards now with "Matthew Jones, M.S." :) So, now school is out! Which reminds me.. I need to go sign up for Japanese classes....

In my spare time I started to write again. My own little novel that I started writing back when I was 20 years old. Being almost a decade older, I find that I write a lot differently now, which I wonder if it's good or bad. When I was younger I didn't think much of the story.. I just created a character in my head, though of a path he would follow, and then write. What happened to him was chance as my mind thought up little battles. Now, I find myself focusing mostly on the ending and playing it backwards in my head. I think this makes it a little more fluid, but it might lose out on some spontaneity. I also owe a lot of my current mood of writing to Brandon Sanderson. He's writing the next Wheel of Time book so I decided to pick up the books he's already written. I think the Mistborn series was very well written and would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy.

I've also been working on rebuilding my website. It's currently in a 'default' theme mode as I play around with the ExpressionEngine Content Management System. The very flexible and makes it very easy to write dynamic pages. My only problem now is the whole design stuff.... I've never been good at making stuff pretty. And I don't know where to get good images. Meh. Oh well. I'll figure out something.

Oh well, it's getting late and I should actually go into work tomorrow. I hurt my back (again...) and have been on drugs for the first half of this week. It's really hard to keep deadlines when you're brain is in a constant haze and you pass out in the middle of bug fixes. Luckily, I work with some great people and they helped me pick up the slack. Still, I'm going to be working extra hard this week to catch up.

So, good night! And Aghghghghghghgh!

I am just finishing up the last class required for my Masters degree. I'll be graduating on May 16th in Maryland. If anyone wants tickets, let me know.

More info here.

Just wanted to say...
This video is pretty awesome.

McCain, in his Concession speech, just gave one of the best speeches he gave during the entire election. Which, is somewhat ironic, because if he had acted and spoken like this throughout the election, he might have won it...

Oh well. McCain knows it, and now the world does. Obama will lead us for the next four years and possibly more. Lets hope tomorrow puts us on a new path to a better place.

Posted at http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1609

WASHINGTON -- Veterans and active-duty military not in uniform can now render the military-style hand salute during the playing of the national anthem, thanks to changes in federal law that took effect this month.

“The military salute is a unique gesture of respect that marks those who have served in our nation’s armed forces,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. “This provision allows the application of that honor in all events involving our nation’s flag.”

The new provision improves upon a little known change in federal law last year that authorized veterans to render the military-style hand salute during the raising, lowering or passing of the flag, but it did not address salutes during the national anthem. Last year’s provision also applied to members of the armed forces while not in uniform.

Traditionally, members of the nation’s veterans service organizations have rendered the hand-salute during the national anthem and at events involving the national flag while wearing their organization’s official head-gear.

The most recent change, authorizing hand-salutes during the national anthem by veterans and out-of-uniform military personnel, was sponsored by Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, an Army veteran. It was included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2009, which President Bush signed on Oct. 14.

The earlier provision authorizing hand-salutes for veterans and out-of-uniform military personnel during the raising, lowering or passing of the flag, was contained in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008, which took effect Jan. 28, 2008.

Ok, so I haven't written in a while, and when I break the silence it's about politics... I must be getting old.
( Some of my feelings on the elections below the cut. But please, even if you choose not to read them, at least read what I write below. )
This is a defining moment for our future, and it is our responsibility to do what we can to protect this nation. While I would strongly urge you to place your vote for Obama, I feel even more strongly that you should do what you feel best. Don't vote blindly. The constitution grants the right of free speech to ensure that the people know the facts. Of course you have to deal with the bias of the writer/media, but there is enough information out there on both sides that you should, given that you try, be able to make a well informed choice.

Read, research, and VOTE! Vote for our future, vote for our children, and vote for the Country. And, if nothing else, by voting, you'll earn my respect.

If you want a good place to start your research, watch this video from Barack Obama detailing his plans. It is only 30 minutes of your time and the video is so well done that it is well worth the time spent.

Everyone ready for the latest political comedy called the VP Debates?

I am.

Ahh, I've been busy lately. So much for my goal of blogging more. I'm just about finished with the syncmyride.com website work I've been doing so I can go back to writing perl/php. Website stuff sucks. It was bad enough that I had to go back and start redesigning for each different browser. If only they all listened to the w3 standards... whatever.

So, I got a raise at work and my bonus... and then my car threw a rod. So, my old car is being sold for scraps and I picked myself up a 2008 Toyota Rav4. I wanted something with room in the back so I can move things at will, but still went easy on gas and was maneuverable. So far I really like this car.

I also turned 29 earlier this month. Tina gave me a really nice 22" widescreen monitor. It's surprising how much that changes everything. (Coming from my old 19" crt.)

Anyway, I need to go get stridera.com back up.... been putting it off for too long and I need it to host the website we're building for my final project for school.

Later

So... I've had my WoW visa for a while now. I haven't played wow since last year. I just logged into my account and found that I have 9 months of free play I can use/give away. I wonder what I should use it for.

So, I just happened to check out my hotmail account... for the second time this year, and noticed all kinds of emails from various people. So, if you never received an answer... that's why. And now it's too late for me to respond anyway. So, please use my gmail account.

I also paid for another year of Whisperings - Solo Piano Radio. While I know it's not for everyone, I absolutely love it. It's beautiful music and works wonders while I'm programming. I recommend everyone listen to it. Just go to the page and click on the free stream. Awesome stuff.

And as for my fancy snazzy IPhone.... blah. I admit, it's a fun toy. I love being able to ssh/irc from my phone. The problem is... it sucks as a phone. 3G is absolutely shit! I say that in the worst possible way. I never get 3G reception... not even in the middle of silicon valley. Also, half the phone calls I make either disconnect or don't even dial out with a nice "CALL FAILED" message. I finally turned off 3G and use the Edge network since people say it's much more stable. It just sucks that a phone I bought for the high-speed network (leaving my old sprint phone which worked great on 3g) for a 'superior' model and the feature that was so critical that the phone was named after it (IPhone 3G) doesn't even work. There are so many reports circulating the web placing the blame on both Apple and AT&T that I lost track of it all. Either way I don't care. I just wish they would have tested and ensured that these features worked. They had a good guess what the influx would be to the network... AT&T should have been able to provide good estimates for what the network would be required to support. Ahh... crappy.

I'm still working on the ford syncmyride.com site, even though I know little about html. The AJAX/Backend stuff is coming along great. I never was much of an artsy person I guess. Also, NASA never responded to my email. Either the contact info on their webpage is out of date or they don't respond to emails. Ahh, such is the life. :/

And finally, the Japanese class I was going to sign up for is full. I'm on the waiting list. I'm half tempted to contact the instructor and see if I can skip Japanese 101. I know the kana, and they use romanji in that class anyway (lame) so it might be worth it. They start Kanji in 102. I'll have to look into it.

Until later!

So, I've been out of school for a couple weeks... and I already prepared to sign up for a japanese class at a local college. I also sent off emails to volunteer at NASA. Both things that I think will keep me happily busy. Otherwise, not much is new. I'm currently working on the syncmyride.com webpage. I'm adding functionality for Ford Sync owners to add favorites, such as sport teams, weather reports, news, etc. Since I've primarily been a backend developer this is quite a change. I'm doing the whole 'learning via the firehose' method. While I knew HTML, basic CSS, and limited JavaScript, I'm suddenly having to pick up a lot more advanced concepts. The whole page is dynamic HTML with lots of AJAX. I think I'm going to update my webpage after this. (On that note, I still need to move it over to the new server since the old one is doa.)

Other cool news... I've beat a few songs in Guitar Hero 3 on hard! I still mostly fail, but I passed a couple! *heh*

And I just spent the last few hours trying to figure out how to turn my iphone into a pdf reader. It has the functionality innately, but didn't have any good to open/read them. I downloaded a few available ebook readers, but they all used some funky format that I didn't want to be bothered with. So, in the end I gave up and made my own way. Basically I just scp'd the pdf files over to /private/var/ebooks/ and created a index.html file that links to all the books. Simple, elegent, and it WORKS! Bah. Now I have a nice bookmark in Safari that I can open and read my ebooks. While it doesn't remember pages, oh well... it's better than nothing. (It's basically so I have something to read while I'm in the mountains... been going up there often recently to watch Tina's plays.) Oh, and I'll note that in order for someone else to do this they have to jailbreak their iphone (obviously) and install the safari tweak to allow you to view local files.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Later

I made this it's own post because I think this talk is important enough to highlight it. A professor at CMU, Randy Pausch, was dying from pancreatic cancer. Doctors gave him three to six months left to live. Knowing this, he gave an awesome talk about achieving your childhood dreams and how to live your life. Randy died on July 25th of this year.

To watch this talk, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
For more information, click here: http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/

So, it’s time for another real post. First off, I guess I’ll try to explain why I haven’t been posting much. Or, why I have spurts where I post and then don’t post. I consider this journal a hobby. I enjoy writing, and sometimes I just like to sit and do an emotional download to the paper. I find it relieves stress, makes me happy, and it’s nice to look back later on and remember. So, with that said, it seems like I would do it all the time. Well, I want to but I always find myself feeling guilty. Because, I have another little quirk that interferes with this… I procrastinate. So, what happens is this: I’m assigned something. I put that something off for other stuff I shouldn’t be doing. I start to write in LJ. I feel guilty for writing and not doing homework and close lj. I look at homework and start ‘researching.’ Research turns into looking at random webpages. And I spend hours reading talks or webcasts that are somewhat related to computers, but doesn’t really help with my assignment at all.
But, I have good news. That’s all at an end! I just finished my LAST class! No more research papers! No more brain numbing projects! (um.. at least until I decided to go for my Ph.D….)
I still do have a ‘group project’ that I need to finish. Many graduate level students are given a thesis or project they must complete. Our school does the project. The nice thing about this is that I know who will be on my team, and we’re ready to go at the project. It’s going to be cake!
Also, I registered to graduate, so if anyone is going to be in Maryland in spring, let me know and you can watch me. :)
Not much else is going on. I was thinking of applying for an XBOX programming job in Japan. It’ll fulfill one of my long-standing goals and I think it would be a fun job. However, Tina doesn’t want to move and I still like this area, so I’m going to put it off.
However, I am going to start doing something extra. Maybe start playing on a sports team… I’m probably going to take Japanese. We’ll see. I also want to volunteer at NASA. Or write another Japanese Music webpage. I was going to write a iPhone application, but realized that I need a mac to do that… fail. So much to do, so little time!
Anyway, I guess this is long enough… or probably already too long. To the one.. maybe two people who read this all… *hugs*
Anyway, later!

Everything required for my computer, including my shiny new 9800GT, is in San Fran, to be delivered tomorrow.

And..

They just released the specs on the new GTX 280...

God hates me.

I finally got my new computer... well.. at least I'm watching it ship to me. Just left the Los Angeles area. For those interested in specs:

ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF - Retail
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail

I also ordered Mass Effect. I still have an old 19" CRT monitor though... that is the next upgrade. I can't wait to play!

Tina's out of town and I have the house to myself all weekend...

I'm so bored...

I've watched season 1-5 of Macgyver, and I'm starting on season six. I also have season one of knight rider. Old tv shows for the win!

Also, it's time to pay for my livejournal account again... I'm wondering if it's worth it.

Anyway, back to Macgyver.