Things have been really busy with school, especially with programming assignments. Also, my computer died last Thursday, so my whole weekend was shot. I got a new computer. It's alright. The screen's not as big or ... resolute?..., and it's running vista, but it also has about 6 times the memory and nearly 4 times the disk space of my old one. It also weighs much less and takes about half the voltage of the old one. Plus, new laptop means new battery, so I should be able to use my laptop portably again.
Some of my stuff from my old computer got backed up. It should be most of my important stuff, but I'm not ready to restore stuff yet. I've got a lot of schoolwork to do in these next few weeks. I want to look into putting a virtual machine on here, too. I think that I'll get around to that in the second week of July at the earliest. So, also, don't expect any story stuff until July 18th or thereabouts. Speaking of the story, I've recently been inspired regarding another story. Long story short, it's about supers. You heard me.
Also, regarding my play-by-email RPG, I'm still waiting for some feedback. If any of my players are reading this, I only have a partial response from M, and I have no response from C. You know who you are. However, I don't think that anyone reads this, so I'll be e-mailing folks. Maybe I should mention my blog there.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Announcement: Story Delayed (again)
Well, it looks like I'm not getting any story stuff out this week, either. There's just too much stuff do to for school. As it stands, I'm going to aim for the 20th, with a fallback date of the 27th (the last Friday in June).
Here's what's up:
Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, I have an exam. Then, I'll be spending the afternoon trying to do a programming assignment that's due Tuesday, which requires me to be in the labs. If I'm lucky, I'll get it done then - if not, then I'll be spending Friday in the labs, trying to finish it. Thursday night, I have classes.
Friday depends on Thursday. My first priority is to finish that assignment, since the labs are closed Saturday and Sunday. The remainder of pre-evening Friday should be spent on reading the Ovid and other stuff for Monday (and roughly also Tuesday and Wednesday).
Saturday will be a mix of working on a different programming assignment (also due Tuesday, but not requiring the labs) and reading. Sunday is more of the same, though how much more depends on my luck Thursday and what I accomplish prior to that. Ideally, I will be done with both programming assignments and all of Monday's reading before the end of the day Sunday. Extra time, if available, should be spent on doing more reading for later in the week.
So, that stuff pushes back the next most likely date to next Friday, June 13th. I'm really not going to rely on being sufficiently lucky to get my first story post out by next Friday, especially when that Friday is a Friday the 13th. However, I'll see whether I can manage to get something very very small out this Friday.
Here's what's up:
Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, I have an exam. Then, I'll be spending the afternoon trying to do a programming assignment that's due Tuesday, which requires me to be in the labs. If I'm lucky, I'll get it done then - if not, then I'll be spending Friday in the labs, trying to finish it. Thursday night, I have classes.
Friday depends on Thursday. My first priority is to finish that assignment, since the labs are closed Saturday and Sunday. The remainder of pre-evening Friday should be spent on reading the Ovid and other stuff for Monday (and roughly also Tuesday and Wednesday).
Saturday will be a mix of working on a different programming assignment (also due Tuesday, but not requiring the labs) and reading. Sunday is more of the same, though how much more depends on my luck Thursday and what I accomplish prior to that. Ideally, I will be done with both programming assignments and all of Monday's reading before the end of the day Sunday. Extra time, if available, should be spent on doing more reading for later in the week.
So, that stuff pushes back the next most likely date to next Friday, June 13th. I'm really not going to rely on being sufficiently lucky to get my first story post out by next Friday, especially when that Friday is a Friday the 13th. However, I'll see whether I can manage to get something very very small out this Friday.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Announcement: Story Delayed
Well, I'm not getting a chapter out this week. Some stuff came up for school, and I need to take this weekend to catch up and get ahead. That way, there can be story stuff in later weeks. There *might* be a little something for me to post this week. I won't know for sure until Friday, though.
Basically, what's throwing me off is an issue with one of my computer courses. If I wanted to do the work on my home computer, then I'd need to install some stuff, which requires XP Pro (and I only have XP Home), which in turn requires, among other things, that I clean off some more space on my drive - not to mention the stressful and time-consuming process of dealing with whatever will go wrong when I change the OS. So, rather than try to do all of that in a short enough time to be able to do my first assignment on time, I'll just use the lab computers. I would use a remote connection, but apparently, the university is not set up for that right now. They're working on it, but I don't even have a timeline for that. So, I have to go into the labs, but that's still preferable to the alternative, at least for now. Anyway, I have to use the labs during certain specific hours of operation. So, I have to schedule around that. Most of my delay already happened, in that I had to find out all of these issues and figure out how to deal with them.
So, this week, I'll be using the labs Thursday, and Friday if I don't finish Thursday. So, at worst, for Friday, I'll be working until the labs close. I'll know by the time that I get home whether I'll have anything to post here. Either way, expect something to be here the following Friday.
Basically, what's throwing me off is an issue with one of my computer courses. If I wanted to do the work on my home computer, then I'd need to install some stuff, which requires XP Pro (and I only have XP Home), which in turn requires, among other things, that I clean off some more space on my drive - not to mention the stressful and time-consuming process of dealing with whatever will go wrong when I change the OS. So, rather than try to do all of that in a short enough time to be able to do my first assignment on time, I'll just use the lab computers. I would use a remote connection, but apparently, the university is not set up for that right now. They're working on it, but I don't even have a timeline for that. So, I have to go into the labs, but that's still preferable to the alternative, at least for now. Anyway, I have to use the labs during certain specific hours of operation. So, I have to schedule around that. Most of my delay already happened, in that I had to find out all of these issues and figure out how to deal with them.
So, this week, I'll be using the labs Thursday, and Friday if I don't finish Thursday. So, at worst, for Friday, I'll be working until the labs close. I'll know by the time that I get home whether I'll have anything to post here. Either way, expect something to be here the following Friday.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Announcement: Story Publication Schedule
Now, I'll tell you about the other thing that I've decided to do regarding my story. I'm going to try to publish at least one chapter or section per week, starting next week. I would start this week, but it's kind of late in the week, and I'll probably spend this weekend trying to hang out with friends, get ahead on reading (for school), and work on the story. Also, I don't actually plan to publish anything the weeks that I have exams, and the weeks that my computer science projects are due. I might, but I might not. Regarding this, I have a heavy schedule for the next 8 weeks, and then a light schedule for 5 weeks thereafter. I should be fine for those five weeks - a 1-credit phys. ed. class and a 2-credit humanity - so I only might skip the last week (or two, if I have to do a paper for that humanity) then.
I'm also hoping to publish some schematics (Did I mention that my story has science fiction in it?). I plan to aim for once per week (following the same restrictions as above), but I'm only going to make once per two weeks be as high of a priority as the story itself. That being said, I might actually make more schematics than one per week, since they're easier to do than writing good prose.
Also, be warned that school still takes priority. I might have to drop down to no publications for a while, if school gets too busy. Also, don't forget that writing is an essentially artistic process. Even if I do have free time, I might get stuck when trying to decide how to phrase things, or in what order to present information, or even (for some - usually more minor and temporally closer - events) in what order certain things should happen. It's kind of like writer's block, but I don't know if that phrase really applies. I basically have the story in my head, and I just need to write it out.
So, expect some story next Friday (May 30th), and I might get a schematic up tomorrow.
I'm also hoping to publish some schematics (Did I mention that my story has science fiction in it?). I plan to aim for once per week (following the same restrictions as above), but I'm only going to make once per two weeks be as high of a priority as the story itself. That being said, I might actually make more schematics than one per week, since they're easier to do than writing good prose.
Also, be warned that school still takes priority. I might have to drop down to no publications for a while, if school gets too busy. Also, don't forget that writing is an essentially artistic process. Even if I do have free time, I might get stuck when trying to decide how to phrase things, or in what order to present information, or even (for some - usually more minor and temporally closer - events) in what order certain things should happen. It's kind of like writer's block, but I don't know if that phrase really applies. I basically have the story in my head, and I just need to write it out.
So, expect some story next Friday (May 30th), and I might get a schematic up tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Announcement: Story Publication Format
I've come up with a format for when I start publishing my story on this blog. I'm going to use a numeric spread, of integers within [0000, 1024]. Other than for something that must be the first, second, or last, I'll place things at relative midpoints. So, the first thing will go at 0512, then the next will go at 0256 or 0768, depending on whether it goes before or after it. I don't intend to use all 1025 integers in that range - I'm just using that range to give me plenty of places to fill in all over the place. I have more information to post about this, but that will have to wait until later.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
I've Found Something: Car Wars Podcast
I found the Car Wars Podcast. I guess that it was down for a while when I was looking before. I just happened to stumble across it again.
Here it is: http://cwhnj.com/madhat/carwars/podcast/default.htm
I've only listened to the introductory episode so far.
Here it is: http://cwhnj.com/madhat/carwars/podcast/default.htm
I've only listened to the introductory episode so far.
An Honorable Mention of Gary Gygax
I happened to run across this: http://www.websnark.com/archives/philosophical_snarks/
I only skimmed it, but it seems to be a thorough analysis of the late E. Gary Gygax's contributions to modern society. Of note, he basically fathered RPGs as we know them today, he helped to make fantasy mainstream (rather than just a subtype of sci fi), and he generated the generation of billions of dollars of international revenue. (By "generated the generation", I mean that, while he did not actually generate the revenue himself, he did make the generation of the revenue.)
R.I.P., E.G.G.
I only skimmed it, but it seems to be a thorough analysis of the late E. Gary Gygax's contributions to modern society. Of note, he basically fathered RPGs as we know them today, he helped to make fantasy mainstream (rather than just a subtype of sci fi), and he generated the generation of billions of dollars of international revenue. (By "generated the generation", I mean that, while he did not actually generate the revenue himself, he did make the generation of the revenue.)
R.I.P., E.G.G.
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