Neon Boombox

aSTARick is now included in Neon Boombox - an application to run on embedded Mac systems in cars.

First Snow

Today was Pittsburgh's first snow of the season. I don't care how old I get, I will always like the first snow. Even whipping along on my bicycle it was beautiful (and charmingly cold).
Of course, in typical Pittsburgh fashion, once it stopped snowing, it all melted and became dark, wet, and dreary.

Television Rules the Nation

For the first time ever, I want to thank the TV industry. I greatly appreciate the new trend in keeping intro sequences to a bare minimum. Shows like Heroes, of The Mentalist show just the show's name and creator before throwing you right back into the action. It's beautiful.
Of course we can still enjoy the heinously long intro of shows like Dexter - over a minute and 30 seconds! Bah!

No Longer a Teenager

It's official, I'm 20. And other than some excellent presents (thanks all!) that's pretty much all there is to say.

Coding Nirvana

You may not be able to relate in terms of programming, but just think about the following in the frame of whatever you love doing...
Have you ever been working hard, enjoying yourself, for hours on end - till the point where you are just exhausted, but at the same time you don't want to stop? Well, I discovered something recently. I reached that point where I just couldn't think straight anymore while programming something one night/morning. I had been just screaming my way through this project, but I could feel my mind slowing down - and I had to deal with the complex logics of time! When it finally got to that point where I couldn't process things in my head anymore, I still didn't want to stop. So I didn't. But as I couldn't think straight I decided to just code from the hip (so to speak). Amazingly, everything just worked! Things which should have needed deliberate contemplation didn't. So was it luck? or was it a state of coding nirvana? This requires further study...
In other news, I got my MacBook back all nice and shiny on Tuesday!

:) :(

It's been a busy time. Mid semester break and all. Lot's of deep breathing has been done.
But things seem to be clearing up. I had time to play soccer yesterday - a game. Despite my still-injured ankle I had a lot of fun. Feels good to run around, steal some balls, scrape my knees...
In other news my MacBook took a bit of a spill on Friday. Seems there's no cataclysmic damage, but the top case got warped. And since the top case is connected to the keyboard, well, the price is steeper than I was hoping (but it could have been worse). Plus my MacBook is away for a few days so I'm left without portable computing!
If you would like to contribute to the fix-Chris's laptop fund, donations are welcome.
Also, please buy a shirt - it will get me a good grade in my Entrepreneurial class! I just dropped the prices, so dig in.

Mmm, Ouch, Ooh-La-La

Added to my repertoire of really easy things to cook that aren't that expensive: Panino (which you probably know in its true plural form, Panini [thanks Wikipedia]). Anyway, it's good.
Other news; I had my first soccer practice with my IM team on Saturday. And I sprained my ankle about an hour in. Badly - usually I don't hear a cracking sound when I sprain something. I should be better soon enough though.
And last but not least, help me get a good grade in one of my classes by buying a shirt from cmu.spreadshirt.com. No really, the more you buy the better my grade will be.