| oh my... jesus? |
[01 Apr 2005|02:07am] |
So, somewhat randomly, I ended up trying out for Jesus Christ Superstar today (the musical Gina and C.J. are putting on). There was both a singing and a dancing part of the audition, and while I could have just done the singing part, I figured the dancing would be fun (and I figured Gina and C.J. would get a kick out of me going through with it, hehe).
Have you ever seen one of those scenes from TV shows or movies where the somewhat large guy character goes and tries out for some kind of dance thing? (I'm pretty sure Joey from Friends, or maybe on that new Joey show did this, but it's an oft used concept.) Everyone else watches it once and then starts going through it, all doing pretty good, while our character looks all confused, gets in everyone's way, and possibly even hurts a few people when he actually tries to do the moves that he keeps forgetting? Yeah, that was me. I succeeded in tripping the guy to my right and stepping on the hand of the guy behind me.
By the end I was no longer able to sit down or stand up without extreme pain in what Oreana says are my "quadricepts" (or maybe I already forgot what she said). I also slammed my right knee into the floor at one point. I'm still having a hard time standing and walking around ;P. I'm just glad I lived through the whole thing. Auditioning for Hamlet on the Moon tomorrow is going to be much easier.... (And regardless, I'm going to be working with Daniel on technical stuff for it... sparks, robots, etc.... so I'll have something to do.)
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| and now for the hard part... |
[25 Mar 2005|03:01am] |
I finally got sick enough of C++ that I've designed my own programming language and am working on porting menes over (which, most of the time, is causing me to realize I forgot to add something important to my grammar). My new language is called ++C. I got the idea for it after reading a paper called "A Modest Proposal: C++ Resyntaxed", where the two authors came up with a new, simpler, syntax for the same underlying programming semantic as C++. The new language could be parsed with an LALR(1) parser and was generally much cleaner. My language is LL(2) and takes much from them but took full liberty to change anything I disagreed with. Also, reading their paper I noticed they broke the language in a few places... they over-simplified templates until they had a different semantic. (But at the time C++ wasn't standardized and noone really understood templates well, so no one would have noticed; not that many would now, either.)
The first even remotely complex file (and really it's not complicated at all) I ported over was block.xxh. Apparently, .xxc/.xxh wasn't ever used as a file extension before and no language registry lists a ++C, thereby making my language name choice both funny (based on the old joke about wanting C to be better _before_ you use it, which a postfix ++ operator such as C++ will fail to accomplish) and as yet unused: probably because it's impossible to search for on any search engine, a detriment I don't care about as I don't expect anyone to ever want to use it for anything.
I'm still missing new/delete syntax, I'm going to remove all the little () blocks after typedef/function/etc. and add an attribute system like C#, and I haven't thought much about how I'm going to syntax the overloaded operator definitions, but already I have something that I can start porting with. Even without doing the type analysis, this is going to let me add things like: break/continue labels, implicit This_ typedef for all types, dynamic instantiation of objects by name without needing special macros all over the place to register things, automatically generated serialization stubs, and _maybe_ enough pointer/value type diffentiation to get type-accurate garbage collection (for the few places where I want such a thing).
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| "Confessions of an Unrepentant Code Commando" |
[22 Mar 2005|04:46pm] |
Commandos can do what grunts do if they have to, but they don't like it; they are better than grunts, they know it, and they act like they know it. (If you've ever known a bona fide Green Beret or SEAL, you know what I'm talking about.) Grunts, whether alone or in arbitrarily large groups, cannot do what commandos can do. That's why the military goes to great expense to create such people, even though they are a pain in the ass to work with.
[ http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/3/10/113513/407 ]
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| The Madwoman of Chaillot |
[04 Mar 2005|02:22am] |
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Oh, so for people who read this, that play that I'm in is actually starting ;P. Friday (as in Today or Tomorrow, depending on if you are still awake) at 9pm, and 2pm and 9pm on Saturday. Girvetz 1004. Free.
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| A Change in the Docket Algorithm |
[19 Jan 2005|03:24am] |
| [ |
mood |
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 lonely |
] |
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music |
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loud (really loud) fan noises |
] |
There are a few situations I hate being in. One of them is having to ask the question "Can I call [so-and-so] now?". Maybe I think it's too late, or that I think they are busy, possibly that I'm calling them too often. In the past I have attempted to minimize my ability to cause this feeling in others. I tell _anyone_ who ever expresses a concern over calling me that they can call 24 hours a day: if I don't want to receive their phone call, I simply won't answer it; and if any phone call would be inconvenient, I will make sure my phone doesn't ring. If I really care about someone I'll even explicitely tell them that I will probably wake up to answer their call anyway (something that tends to apply to all people anyway, I hardly ever do selective caller group screening, even as amazingly setup I am for it, day or night).
However, I've decided today, after spending weeks in the most painful version of this that I've ever had to experience, that this isn't enough. I now extend this further guarantee: that no matter how much I may not want to talk to you, I _will_ answer your call in the shortest time period possible. If this requires me to use pay phones or carry about hand-crank cell phone chargers, so be it. _All_ calls, regardless of purpose or utility (so even if I can't or won't actually help you with whatever you need) _will_ be answered. And not just some day, but soon.
To steal a line of reasoning from a book I flipped through recently: calling people is easy. There is no excuse to not call someone. There's always some time in transit between places and always other routes to getting or returning messages. I _accidentally_ call people from my pocket... it can't possibly be difficult. If you aren't answering someone's call, you probably hate them.
Note that this only applies to communication that involves a telephone currently: so text messages and phone calls. In other words, I still feel free to ignore your IMs.
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| WannaWiki.com |
[19 Nov 2004|12:09pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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 amused |
] |
OK, I haven't even looked at any of these articles yet, but the very idea of this website sounds _awesome_. Completely random How To articles. Seeing the juxtoposition of ideas made me smile today, which was itself quite a feat.
Most Popular Articles:
Be a Computer Engineer / Cheat on an Exam / How to be a Pimp / Fight Zombies / Use A Wiki
Newest Articles:
Fake your death / Propose to your Girlfriend / Summon Captain Planet / Learn To Shave Your Face / Use my mac as a WebDAV server
Requested Articles:
Understand Shaft / Travel to Europe / Get a Free iPod / Break up with a Girl/Boyfriend / Get an Abortion
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| Fluoride in Tea |
[09 Sep 2004|04:50am] |
At some point ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) devilfish was interested in my statements that tea contains fluoride. Here's an abstract of a paper from Chulalongkorn University entitled Fluoride in Black Tea. (Note that for a quick counter, danopato will argue that even if this is true, the fluoride is probably not bio-available anyway.)
( Extended Commentary )
[Edit: replaced an occurance of 'fluoride' with 'tea']
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| Java's Wrong Attitude |
[19 Aug 2004|01:15am] |
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From an article I read today:
"SWT folks have felt the pain, and are trying to make Java viable as one of the ways to write the best Windows gui application. The fact that any of the Java community resists this is unfathomable to me. It is tantamount to saying, 'we don't want Java to meet your goals because they are wrong, our goals are better'. To which I say, 'great, then Java is a religion not a development tool and I don't have time for religion, I have an application to ship'."
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| I need to stop being so nosy... |
[12 Jun 2004|04:26am] |
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So tonight, as I left campus (at around 3am, a perfectly respectable time to leave campus if you ask me) ( I got pulled over. )
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| The Making of Change |
[07 Jun 2004|08:10am] |
Everyone wants an electronic copy of my speech, so here it is. I did end up making last minute changes and edits. I was practicing the speech in the parking lot, scratching stuff out with a fingernail clipper, when I decided "I need a pen.". I looked around. "That old woman over there... she would have a pen!" Lo and behold, I was right: she did. As I was sitting there making my additions she asked me if I was graduating, to which I responded affirmative. "Consider it your first graduation gift." She came up to the stage later before the actual ceremony to get my picture.
I added the lead-in right before while wandering the stage talking with people, and I finally got the end of one of the sentences working (one that I had just cut the night before as I didn't want to have to deal with it anymore) while I was on stage. Nothing quite like Danna, however, who apparently had a pen on stage and was scratching away at her's _during_ my speech ;P.
The version presented here includes all edits. But, seeing as I'm Jay, I can't just post something simple. I have to make a big deal out of it. So here's the "behind the scenes look at the making of change".
( What Almost Got Written )
( Lack of Input )
( Discussion of Vague Humor )
What follows is unofficially named (and thank God I was avoiding humor, as I would have _had_ to include this title somewhere and it's damned cheesy... and for some reason even slightly familiar): ( I See Graduated People. )
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| Just under the wire! |
[06 Jun 2004|12:40am] |
This week's fortune: "you would be wise not to seek too much from others, at this time".
I've _finally_ finished writing my speech. (With only 10 hours, 20 minutes to go before showtime!) Although the perfectionist in me will probably still be rewriting stuff up until the last possible second.
I've become so numb I can't feel you there
I've become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you
- Numb
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| Consider Me Helpful |
[05 Jun 2004|02:42am] |
If anyone's moving (and I don't have some rather fixed prior arrangement on said day), I'd love to help. Seriously. I _want_ to help. I frankly don't understand why people hate helping other people move. And I've done some hairy moves.
( Stories of moves past [Edit]. )
I think it comes from not having had to move myself much. I've moved twice in my life. I don't even remember the first time, but it was easy. We had both of our houses for at least a few months of overlap as we remodeled it, so stuff got to be moved over slowly. The second time was when I moved here to California. Since then I've been living in the same place. I found an apartment I liked and stuck with it. Story of my life, really.
And I'm largely _still_ moving in. Every half a year or so I bring another big box of stuff from Chicago. I don't even have a table to eat off of yet. And I only got any ornamentation around here a few months ago when Pat decided to renovate his living condition.
So really. Call me. I'll come and carry something. Or pack something. Or whatever you need me to do. And even if you don't need me to do anything, call me anyway and give me something to do for the hell of it ;P.
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| I Love Google Sometimes... |
[09 Apr 2004|08:31am] |
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Hot! I somehow got Google to index my journal. If you search for 'glr barcelona', I'm hit #6 (why did Google remove the numbers...). #2 for '"barcelona stinks"' (not that all that much comes up for the latter, hehe).
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| Barcelona Stinks... In the Literal "Sense" |
[05 Apr 2004|12:35pm] |
(Local Time: 22:35.) Barcelona smells horrible. I'm quite serious. The entire city smells like a combination of cigarette smoke, car fumes, and shit (I'm not sure what from, but there _does_ tend to be a lot of it on the ground). You'll be walking down a side street and suddenly a gust of foul smelling wind will gush past you from an alley. It's quite horrible.
( Bob Marley and Old Books )
( Keyboard and Internet Administrivia )
Most of the music I've heard here is in English. It reminds me of that funny video with the Japanese people bopping along in the car to the rap music, having no idea what's being said. The restaurant Mark and I went to on the first day was playing U2. The music playing at the Internet cafe as I am typing this paragraph is one of my favorites: Sting's Mad About You.
Ok, I think it's finally time for me to find some dinner :). (Spanish people eat late, so I was waiting for it to get a little later before going anywhere today. Yesterday, most of the few other few people at the restaurant at the same time I were other Americans or Brits.) Actually... damn... I just noticed as I put together my local timestamp thing for this entry that the entire Internet cafe is on London time for some reason. *Wonders if restaurants will even still be open, hehe.*
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| A Morning in Old Town Barcelona |
[05 Apr 2004|05:58am] |
(Local time: 15:58.) So I just ran into an example of a system that should have been run through a model checker such as SPIN (a la the conference I was just attending). I'm at an Internet cafe, and I went to buy a ticket using the little machine. I read all the instructions and futzed around in my pockets and put in two Euro. The machine showed my credit, and then a second or two later went back to the start screen. What happened is the damned thing timed out. The people who designed the system failed to make sure that all states where money was entered would eventually lead to a state where either a ticket was produced, the money is returned, or the user explicitely presses the "screw it, I'm sick of this, take my money" button (a property that would be very easy to express using simple temporal logic operators). I had absolutely no way to prove what just happened, and even if I did I don't know enough Spanish to really explain it, so I just sighed and put in another two Euro.
( Morning Wanderings )
( Spanish Ubiquity )
( Chasing a Stray Dog )
( More Flying Rodents )
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| Random Spanish Notes |
[05 Apr 2004|02:38am] |
(Local Time: 12:38.) Many of the restaurants have English menus, but I swear they are _horribly_ translated. I went to a restaurant last night that decided to just give me an _only_ English menu and I wish they had just given me the Spanish one. I actually found myself asking the waitress "Is 'potatos with spicy sauce' 'potatas bravas'?". I ended up telling her my order in Spanish, hehe. One restaurant whose menu was posted outside actually translated "potatas bravas" as "spicy hot" with no mention of potatos.
I also keep seeing various seafood dishes done "fisherman's style" which I actually think is a horrible, widespread mistranslation of either "in marinara sauce" or "marinated". The Spanish version is like "[clams] marinar" or "[clams] marinara" or something (I forgot which), and the English becomes either "fisherman style clams", or the really, really weird "clams in a seamanlike way".
( Further Random Comments )
[Edit]I forgot the little local time indicator and I also managed to forget to type the punchline to the magazine stand porn commentary.[/Edit]
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| Final Conference Update |
[04 Apr 2004|04:58am] |
(Local Time: 14:58.)
( SPIN Dinner )
( The Next Days' Talks )
( jMonitor Presentation )
( A Few Last Details )
( Workshop Dinner )
( A Realization About Grape Seeds )
Today my original plan was to go back to the conference for the second half of AVIS (a workshop on "Automatic Verification of Infinite-State Systems") but all the talks looked like they would be over my head and I pretty much verified that to myself by glancing over the copy of the conference proceedings that I had picked up during the day yesterday. So instead, I decided to just sleep in really late and wander around downtown Barcelona looking at shops. *Logs onto the Internet to post this and catch up on correspondance for the last few days.*
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| C++, C--, and CCS |
[02 Apr 2004|04:42pm] |
(Local time: 02:42.) Sometime in the middle of tomorrow I'm going to go through here and edit this to add the names of the talks as I managed to leave my schedule at Murat's hotel so I don't remember exactly what everything was today. :(
( Morning's Talks )
( SPIN Tool Demonstrantions )
( Afternoon Presentations )
( The Friendly Editor, CCS, and Stack Frames )
( Hardcore C++ Conversation )
( Broken Spanish, Broken English, and Frenish )
Ok, I'm going to cut it here before I describe the dinner as I'm really tired and I want to go to bed. (Yes, I realize I'm falling behind, but tomorrow is the end of the busy part of the conference so I'll be able to catch up in time for the end of the conference the day after, hehe.)
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| To Make Something More Clear |
[02 Apr 2004|01:45pm] |
I mentioned it before, but I think I want to reiterate it:
( Unfriendly People (Mainly Professors) )
I don't know... frankly, if anyone was thinking about doing it in the future, I disrecommend they attend this conference. The main reason to bother actually going to an academic conference rather than just reading the papers in the proceedings is to get to talk with the people at the conference about related topics, or to ask them questions, and this is just not a good atmosphere to do that in.
( The Professional Developer's Conference )
Well, I'm off to walk over to the building the SPIN conference is being held in. I'm going to watch all the Tool presentations there. *Will cover the two talks he saw this morning in a later post.*
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