JL's anything and everything

Ronnie Coleman Soundboard

2010-08-25T13:54:00.001-07:00

Love Ronnie Coleman?

Download the "Ronnie Coleman Soundboard" for Android mobile phones and you can listen to your favorite Ronnie Coleman Quotes ALLDAY.

also set your favorite quotes as call/notification tones.

My broken headphones

2009-11-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

So my headphones broke after a few months of using them. These headphoenes are the V-moda Vibe duo

(http://www.v-moda.com/collection/modaphones/vibe%20duo.aspx)

After doing some research about getting another pair I came along this review. Keep in mind that my headphones also broke on the right side.

When My first set of Vibe Duos stopped working, I was unhappy. The sound simply stopped coming out of the right ear.

I realized it was because the "high quality" fabric-covered cable was fraying internally right where the cord connects to the jack that plugs into the phone. when I jiggled it, I could get intermittent sound.

So I returned them to V-Moda and got a free replacement set. After all, they sounded great.

But the second pair broke in EXACTLY the same fashion within 3 months.

So I had them replaced again, free of charge under warranty.

Guess what happened.

That's right, third pair broke in identical fashion, perhaps 3.5 months this time.

So I got a FOURTH replacement pair and sold them on Ebay.

Never Again, I promised myself.

So there we go, as stated in the blog "Never Again"

Lesson Learned

2009-04-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

So since I am slacking at work someone had to refactor my code. Although the code that I wrote started from pretty much the beginning of my career.

I started writing this code and as functionality needed to be added I just added it to the module. I had modular code to a certain extent but used it in the wrong way. When a certain case hit I was using one module to do the other modules task. This made my code confusing for other developers.

Another big thing wrong with that code was that things could be extracted. While programming classes are made to do a certain task, and that task alone. I was making the class do several different things which could be extracted into their own classes.

The lesson learned here is keep my code modular. Refactoring as I go.

The bad habit that I had was started out with a modular design and just adding functionality to classes as those functions were needed. I need to learn to pull that functionality from the class and create new classes which can be used by my original class.

Back from Vacation

2009-04-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

So I went on vacation. Took a break from school work, and work.

It was a good break from everything, I think I really needed that vacation cause I just might be over working myself. The three hour time difference is small but I can actually notice that I am more tired than normal. Catching up on school work and work work is rough with having to work at the restaurant. Cooking at the restaurant after a two week break is kind of rough as well, having to get used to being in a cloud of smoke just sucks.

Back to the same old routine now.

Another thing I noticed is that a lot of the fixes I had done prior to my vacation were not correctly done. I need to start looking into the correct ways to implement my code. I should already know these things but I am still missing them. Taking more care when doing my work might take a little more time but will help me in becoming a valuable asset to any company that I may work for. Plan to read more technical books to learn how to program better. Just have to find free time to do things such as read.

Back to my endless nightmare known as life.

Back to hacking.

2009-03-05T12:31:00.001-08:00

So my task of researching DEM's is put on hold now. Back to hacking.

I think it was good that I took a break and my brain had time to settle. Can't wait till i quit the restaurant and can have free time to do more work related things. I want to make time to do side projects on my own and I want to make more time to read.

The price of my time is currently set at $1500. Is it worth it? Am I going to be able to survive without that extra income?

...

Always weighing on my mind.

SwingWorker

2009-02-17T13:57:00.001-08:00

While researching my first algorithm I came across SwingWorker which is my first step I've taken into threaded applications.

A summary of SwingWorker:

SwingWorker is designed for situations where you need to have a long running task run in the background thread and provide updates to the User Interface when done, or still processing.

Any subclass of SwingWorker must implement the doInBackground() method to perform the background computation.

The workflow of SwingWorker:

1. Current thread

The Execute() method is called on this thread.

(schedules the SwingWorker on the worker thread)

2. Worker Thread

The doInBackground() method is called.

3. Event Dispatch Thread

Invokes the process() and done() methods here and notifies and PorpertyChangeListeners on this thread.

Use at work:

We are using the SwingWorker to make a calculation that deals with the rendering of the graphics which does take some time, so that is why SwingWorker was used in this case.

Just something I learned.

Here is the javadoc

https://swingworker.dev.java.net/nonav/javadoc/index.html

New Task

2009-02-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

So my boss is letting me try a different type of work...

Recently at work I've been "hacking" so they call it, just writing code to do a certain thing (which I still need work on). But now I am going to start looking into algorithms and analyzing outputs from different types of algorithms. I got an "A" in my data structures and algorithms class so maybe algorithms is what I might be interested in.

My approach is going to be research the two data sets first, before even looking at the algorithms, then look at the implementations.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

WHO DID THIS??????

Just passing...

2009-02-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

I noticed when i submitted my code the other day that my habits from school carried over to my work. In school it was always, "just get it working." Now at work it's not to just get your program working, it's catching every little thing that could possibly be wrong. You have to test everything to make sure that your code is functional. I have to try break this habit of just getting my programs to work. It should be simple but it just something i learned about real life application versus classroom applications.

Anything

2009-02-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

My life is slowly moving from reality to living on the net...

I began to realize this when I noticed that I am on my computer for pretty much as long as I am awake during the day. I wonder where it'll take me?

I recently hit another block in my work.

I was trying to reuse a previous algorithm that I had used before and it had failed. Using my resources I found an alternative way to do the task that I had wanted. I think that using your resources is a key point in learning new things as well as recognizing your flaws.

In this case I learned something new about dealing with views of applications. I was trying to modify a screen position and the only way was to change it and convert it back using the view. This did not work teaching me about the view of an application.

Another thing is that we are beginning to work on a unix environment at school. The problems that I had last month with my previous blog (class path) are helping me with the unix environment. Work and school are currently working together to constantly teach me new things.

Work at restaurant...Over it.

So by boss tells me... "um...blog more"

2009-01-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

So this semester is pretty hectic.

I cut my hours at the restaurant down and I still am having a hard time finding time to do everything. With school restaurant work and internship work I want to make a weekly schedule that tells me what to do EVERYDAY! I think this will help me keep up with my school work and internship work, and maybe throw working out in there.

I am slowly becoming a software engineer. Still noobish in a lot of ways, but working at this internship is teaching me a lot of things about working in the industry. I just so happened to go in on a day when requirement documentations (I think that's what they are called, the prequil to design docs) were being presented for our project. That was an interesting meeting for me, seeing the input from a potential customer being transformed into upgrades that can be done with a specific type of software. One thing that I think makes me a major noob is that I am STILL configuring my mac for work. It works for the most part but we have a new system which just threw me off. Configuring your system with path variables and what not is something I really need to learn.

Till next time...

haven't blogged in a while

2008-12-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

So I noticed that I haven't blogged in a long long time. Well that's due to the fact that the semester was coming to an end. With two jobs and full time student it's kinda rough having time to do anything now days. Well here's an update on anything and everything.

With work at my internship. I think I am slowly moving along in my path to awesomeness. My program logic is slowly getting better. Things are coming to me a little bit faster than when I first started. Slowly but surely I think I am coming along with my career. With the help of everyone at my company I hope to keep progressing.

I PASSED ALL MY CLASSES FOR THE FALL SEMESTER!!!
I thought I was having a hard time with my probability and statistice, and linear algebra and differential equations classes but I actually passed. I guess I must have been doing better than I had thought. I also passed electromagnetic fields and waves, and basic computer architecture. YAY!

Work at the restaurant just sucks. I plan to win big on my vacation to tahoe so that I can quit.

Next semester I will continue with another programming class which will be working with Iphone appplications, I hope that this will help me with my hacking career. Also I have a fluff course American studies which should give me some time to mess around with that Iphone app course, (and to keep up with my internship work).

Time after time.

2008-11-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

My time is now getting kinda filled up with all kinds of things. With work work, restaurant work, homework, and school it's kinda rough finding time to simply run errands. I kind of look at it as a "welcome to the real world." Managing time is getting more and more difficult as classes get more and more complicated. Because my time in the office is less and I try to do work from home because of that lack of time in the office I need to learn to commit things more often due to the fact that I work on two different work stations. Lesson learned and hopefully my work habits will get better.

October Events

2008-11-04T18:43:00.001-08:00

1) Lacy Veach day

Lacy Veach day was a very interesting and different event for me. I have never really actually tried to teach someone the basics of programming. Of course I have helped my fellow classmates with some of their programming problems, but teaching someone that does not know anything about programming is completely different. Some of the kids were more interested in just making things move, while others actually took to the concepts of general programming structure. Then we had the "l33t" kids that made games. I actually found myself getting a little flustered by the kids that just wanted to fool around and not actually learn programming (even though that is not the right attitude). I am hoping for a new generation that appreciates programming and will enjoy it as much as I do.

2) Career fair at UHM

Again the career fair this year was different for me. I actually shared with my classmates the experience that I had interning for my company. Also having interned for the summer I learned many things about working in the industry that I think was very good to share with my fellow classmates. I wish to learn more about working in the industry which will help progress my professionalism.

Path to AwesomeNess...

2008-10-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

My path to "awesomeness" after about half a year of hacking...
1) Learn about real projects
Learning about real projects is something that I greatly need to improve on. Following a set schedule has always been a challenge for me. I think that while interning I have just touched the tip of the iceberg when to comes to meeting deadlines. I hope to be put up to more challenges of finishing "real" projects on time.
2) Learn about research
What is research in hacker terms? If it's what I think it is, I have learned a little bit on how to research. For example being new to java i had to look up javadocs for a lot of things that were unfamiliar to me. I think I need to learn more about researching.
3) Learn about software development processes
Wow this is a big one. When working in school I haven't dealt with projects that take more than a month. With these really big programs and multiple developers, I learned about how the repository keeps track of what everyone is doing. The software development thought process is coming to me to. I also learned the effectiveness of working on teams and having code reviews. A lot was uncovered in my code review which led to better functionality.
4) learn how to learn
Learning how to learn is just something i never did, and now i realize is very important. I was a young boy and I am slowly becoming a man because I am learning how to learn. Effectively using resources (researching) is an important aspect to learning and I still need improvement on. My first day of work I learned "how to ask a question," reading that article just pushed my over the top, pushed me to take on my problems and find a solution on my own.
5) Learn how to increase marketability
Increase marketability of what?
6) Learn about the industry
I have learned a little about the industry, not much. Looking at the big picture I learned that contracts need to be won by fulfilling a customer's needs. On a smaller scale I have seen how a small firm actually operates. Developer's build things that could possibly be a great idea, or start building things on great ideas. In both cases a contract needs to be won.

Gotta get to class... edit it soon

Current...

2008-10-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

School:
I am in the middle of a month of midterms that is going fairly well. I am doing well on the midterms, but the graders for the homework are just killing me. Those graders are just really harsh! Managing school and work seems to be doing fine as of the moment. I think that my school work and work work are balancing out quite well.

Work:
I am still in training when it comes to hacking. I think that my thought process is getting a little better. Some things that should come easily are taking a little more time than I would like, but soon I will get the flow of things and will start picking up the pace. My ultimate goal is to be able to be given any task and be able to solve it. I believe that there is a solution to every problem, whether the problem have a simple or complicated solution. And I want to be able to see the solutions. Also, I want to start looking for tasks outside of my work tasks so that I can expand my problem solving abilities.

Chefing:
Working at the restaurant is just a drag now. It's the same thing everyday. Sure there is cash in hand everyday that I work, meaning less trips to the bank, but it takes time out of my day which I would rather not give up.

Starting to Blog...

2008-10-07T15:35:00.001-07:00

Hey...
What Time is it???
not game time...
B-L-O-G-T-I-M-E!!!