Mid-Year Review

Again, I cannot stress the accomplishment the design and production of the 200,000 square foot bus storage facility has been. Kevin has taken on major portions of the design, drawing and specification production, including calculations, internal and external coordination.  This, while we continue to push forward many other small and medium sized projects.

I have been working with Kevin for over a year now and it is a pleasure. [T]he enthusiasm and energy he brings to the office along with intelligence and professionalism.

Thanks, Boss.

iPad: Week One

Conclusions about the iPad in the first week of real world use.

It is so fun to use. Some of the productivity apps, like Pages and Calendar seem a bit gimmicky, and, at times, difficult to use. Some of the features, however, make it easier to use than the desktop application, according to my sister. (The keyboard takes a lot of getting used to though.) There is no doubt that I can probably get more work done on a real computer (or a netbook), but the iPad is infinitely more fun to fiddle around with. That's not to say it can't be done on an iPad; short of uploading and downloading files to and from the web, and short of flash support, the iPad is an extremely capable device. In terms of portable entertainment, with respect to music, photos, and video, and even browsing the general web, the iPad blows the competition out of the water.

Bottom line? iPad might not be amazing at many things, like typing for one, but the creativity put into the design of its apps and the all-in-one-ness of the iPad makes it worth it just to play around with; I'll put up with it's shortcomings because it's just so fun. I can't wait to see what other creative and interesting apps that are coming my way (after spending a lot of dollars).

I wrote this on my iPad.

End of Year 2008 Reflection

With the holiday season fast approaching and my fall term at National Grid coming to an end, I feel as if I haven't used my time at home to its fullest potential; there never seems to be enough time. A review of some of the things I have accomplished this semester so far:

A. PHOTOGRAPHY
1. Purchased a Sigma 30mm f/1.4.
2. Attended PhotoPlus Expo 2008.
3. Updated my Nikon Lens Lists for Lenses and Camera Bodies.
4. Photo Trip to AMNH twice.
5. Photo Trip to Stony Brook & Avalon Nature Preserve.
6. Photo Trip to Stony Brook & Port Jefferson.

B. WEBSITE & ONLINE PRESENCE
1. Refreshed USuMBS.com and cleaned up Google Adsense and Analytics.
2. Blog: Unnamed Project.

C. GIZMOS, GADGETS & STUFF
1. Apple iPhone 3G.
2. Drobo FW 800 and two 1 TB drives.
3. Crumpler "Considerable Embarrassment" Laptop Bag.
4. Essentially replacing the guts of my MBP via AppleCare.
5. Apple Mobile Me and iMac AppleCare.

D. PERSONAL GROWTH
1. USuMBS 3.0.
2. New-found appreciation for Long Island.
3. Participated in the Obama-McCain '08 presidential election.

E. ACADEMIC IMPROVEMENT
1. Updated Resume to latest version.
2. Review First Aid by the Red Cross.
3. Reading 'Hot Flat and Crowded'.
4. Reading 'iWoz'.
5. Reading 'The Universe in a Single Atom'.
6. Prepping Statistics.
7. Prepping Java.

More on CNN.com

Jeremy Horn from tpgblog.com (which I found via Digg) reviews the top three online news sites, Yahoo! News, CNN, and MSNBC.

Of course, my recent turn to CNN.com is a result of me finding it to be Apple-esque.

Monday Morning Blues

Good morning.

I did not finish what I needed to finish last night. I stayed up late working on MatLab code, and I was stuck trying to get the error checks on the user's input just right. It took more over four hours. Goddammit. We need a user's manual for the program too, so that needs to get done.

This morning, I was reminded that the Canon Rebel XSi is due on this month. It seems is it finally rolling out, and Camera Labs has posted a inital review here. I'm trying to decide between the XSi and the 40D. the XSi is much cheaper and generally sufficient for my needs, but 40D has better performance overall, better build quality, and it has bad-ass-ness that the XSi does not have.

What did you have for breakfast? I did not have any this morning. Not even water. [Sad face goes here.]