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Why We Blog

It’s always so sad for me to see some blogs die off slowly. I think I feel this way because I’m no longer allowed to peer into the head of another person behind the safety of the internet. It’s great to first see someone get into blogging. There’s a usually a flurry of posts, and you can read the passion that they have for it. But then, like everything else, there’s a loss of utility that one gets from blogging. So the blog posts become less frequent, and eventually the blog is forgotten by its master and becomes another dead site among the billions of other websites out there on the net.

It makes me sad that I can’t peer into their brain like a voyeur anymore. I think a lot of us are voyeurs to some degree. I’ll be the first to admit that I get a kick out of reading the thoughts and rants of someone else over the internet. It’s almost like you’re able to connect with someone, and in the least, you’re able to examine their character to some degree.

The way you write, and how you act, on the internet is not who you really are. We aren’t all a bunch of whiny 12 year olds in real life. A/S/L? 16/F/Wherever-you-are? Of course not. But to some extent I really think what we write in our blogs and the way we express things in them does have some resemblance of who you are.

Someone who writes with a ton of grammatical errors, ‘net slang, and misspelled words often isn’t so analytical, or careful in expressing their thoughts. They probably say or write things straight from their brain or with little filter. Or maybe they’re just 12 years old… and no, I’m not 12. I get it, I probably do write with a bunch of errors. And then again, I’m often not so careful in expressing my thoughts (a friend once told me that sometimes I need to wear a muzzle).

A blog that feels pretentious is probably written from someone who is just that.

A blog that is simple and mundane probably comes from someone with a simple and mundane view on life.

A blog written in one large hulking paragraph with no breaks in between is probably written by someone who can talk hours on end without really stopping to think to structure where they’re going.

I’m probably just making a bunch of educated guess, but you get the picture. Regardless, I think blogging is a really good way to connect and express the voice that you have in your head so that others can listen and see just how bat-shit insane you are. Seriously though, I think it’s a great outlet for all our brains to connect when we feel so lonely in a “connected” world.

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On a related note, I would love to blog more often except my mind has been a clobbered by school.  I don’t think writing about programming languages, techniques, and practices is all that interesting or relevant to most readers (and most importantly myself).  Hopefully I’ll have more to say as I can get a better balance on being a student.

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Random Randomness

Taking a break from coding right now to post some random going-on’s right now in my life:

X-mas Break will be a time for me to work on my tan… in the Dominican Republic! My wonderful girlfriend Renata bought us a 7 day all inclusive holiday there as a Christmas gift to me. Whether we’re there in the Dominican or not, I’m really happy just to spend some time with her this upcoming holiday. Taking a break from the code (and from living in my bedroom because of it) to be in the sun again will be fantastic.

Blore.ca is now up again! My friend Jay has updated (basically created) his website. For whatever reason I decided to visit his site, which had no content and was not updated since I’ve known him. To my surprise there’s now content there! I swear, there is a thing as shared-subconciousness. I hope he becomes a blogger and writes lots. Yes… that’s right, I’m calling him a blogger. Since when did calling someone a blogger become durogatory? Anyhow, I think he’ll be a great writer/blogger and that he keeps it up. Check it out at www.blore.ca.

T-Shirts! I recently ordered some t-shirts from this wicked e-store Dirty Microbe. I got two of the three shirts I bought, and I’m eagerly awaiting the last one to come in the mail. I can’t tell you the amount of awesome the shirts contain. Okay, maybe I can through these images: (note: ~/ is home in Unix… gotta represent the geek)

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George St. Pierre: UFC Champion

That’s right folks! George St. Pierre, from Montreal, has won the UFC Welterweight Champion belt tonight against all american Matt Hughes.

Why does this matter so much to me? Because Matt Hughes said plenty of nasty things about Canadians, and that the entire fight itself had somewhat of a USA vs. Canada slant. During the whole ordeal, there were moments when you could hear the crowd chant “USA USA USA”. Secondly, George St. Pierre is a wickedly exciting and athletic fighter. Third, he’s such a polite and friendly guy compared to his opponent. Watching him fight is beautiful.

He seems to be the complete package. A monster in the stand up game, and really strong on the ground too. I hope he stays to defend the title for many more fights to come.

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Code Jam Weekend

So I just had a 4 day long weekend.  We got Rememberance Day off, as well as an extra day for the winter break.

I look back and ask though, what weekend?

That’s right, it’s crunch time for me with 2 very large projects due on the same day at the end of the month.  This weekend has turned into a code jam weekend, essentially it meant me and my teammate Mylore jamming on code in my bedroom for 4 days.  Everyday has been a 10 hour day of staring, spitting out, and digesting computer code to get our project done.

To be quite honest, I really didn’t mind it.  I enjoy programming.  There’s nothing like the 3 seconds of exhilaration after spending an hour to fix a bug.  Okay, that sounds terrible… but I do enjoy it once I get into it.

However, it is a mentally draining process.  After such long sessions, I wonder if I will have the stamina to do this for the next 10/15/20 years of my life.  I can only hope that my business aspirations will carry me enough to feed me later, and then I will only have to program for enjoyment and not for my livelihood.

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RSS + BitTorrent = Sexy

Want to watch your favorite TV shows commercial-free, in high definition, and before they’re aired on cable?  Find out how the internet provides all!
After the dot com bubble burst a few years ago, the internet has evolved to Web 2.0 (yes, this is the actual technical and accepted term). Instead of using the internet only as a method of publishing content, the internet is now more of a platform of communication between applications. The companies that did survive the burst are ones that developed software to communicate on top of the internet, and not rely solely on publishing.

Users are no longer people but are now also applications. With this comes new and slick uses of the internet, such as BitTorrent and RSS feeds.

RSS: What is RSS? RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”, and is a protocol to syndicate data easily. My blog provides this feature. If you’re using a browser that supports RSS feeds, you can add any feed to your browser for it to aggregate your data. In simple terms, your RSS reader (your browser in this case) will notify you whenever new data is available, such as a new blog post on my site.

This helps avoid the nasty hassle of running around and checking all your favorite sites for new posts, as now you can aggregate all the data into one location.

BitTorrent: Remember KaZaa or Napster back in the day? They were peer to peer applications that let you download and share music/movies/etc… with other users on the network. It was great for its time, and without it I definitely wouldn’t have all the music I have today. The only problem with those networks is that downloading large files was slow because you could only download from one source. If wanted to download a movie from someone I could only get it from one source. And unless that source had a blazing fast connection, it was generally pretty slow since it was also distributing to other users.

BitTorrent is another peer to peer protocol but it works differently. Instead, the shared file is chopped up into tiny parts. The uploader uploads these small parts one at a time to different sources, while other downloaders also share their tiny parts with other downloaders. This way, you share the bandwidth of everyone. If you’re downloading you’re also uploading what you have to others, and vice versa. This also means you can download from multiple sources simultaneously (each person giving you their small piece). And like a torrent of bits, you finally get your complete file in the end when the bits are recombined together. BitTorrent has revolutionized the way data is shared on the internet.

You’re no longer restricted by the speed of one single source, but now have the option of retrieving from multiple sources. The combined bandwidth of the whole “swarm” of machines allows for incredible speeds. Huge files, such as movies and TV Shows that were cumbersome to download, are now easily accessible. The BitTorrent community has grown so much that I can now watch my favorite TV shows BEFORE they even air on my television every week.

RSS + BitTorrent????

So what is this RSS + BitTorrent that I talk of? Well, I used to have to hunt every day for my weekly TV shows on BitTorrent. Why watch my favorite shows on TV when I can watch them in high definition and without commercials on my PC?

But I want to be lazy. There’s no denying that turning on the television to a channel is much easier than hunting down and downloading a torrent. I want my cake and to eat it too! I want to sit on my lazy butt… and just hit play. I want my weekly show to be shown in high def, with no commercials and interruptions, and I want to see them as early as I can (at least before it airs on cable).
Well, RSS comes to the rescue. Using a BitTorrent program that supports RSS feeds, I can now download a torrent automatically from an RSS feed. The program (I use uTorrent) sits there and waits for the feed to tell it that a new torrent is up. All I need to do is to give my program a list of shows I like watching, and after that one time setup it will now auto-grab them for me.
So now all my weekly shows auto-download for me. No more searching for torrents, no more waiting and scanning for when they’re released. They come in as soon as their hot off the press, and all I have to do is watch when they’re done.

Who needs cable TV nowadays?

What You Need:

It’s a lot simpler to set this up than it sounds.  First of all, grab uTorrent from the net and give the readme a quick glance over.  Then, find a good torrent site that supports RSS feeds.  Then you’re off to the races!

Depending on the torrent site you use, I usually find that the speed I get my shows is mostly limited by my internet connection.  Enjoy!

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Memory Lane

Last night my buddy Greg was visiting in town.

Greg worked with me during internship last year.  Internship was a really fun time in my life, and so it was nice to hang out and have drinks.  Tin showed up too, as well as a few other familiar faces.  I even managed to convince my next-door neighbor Kim to join us, since someone’s gotta break her hermit tendencies.

Hanging out at the schwanky Seude Lounge, it was nice to joke around with the fellahs again and bring back some memories.  It made me realize that my internship is in many ways a part of my youth, and a part of the whole “growing up” process.  I’ve no idea who I’d be today if I didn’t work out East.  I’d miss out on meeting the people I did meet out there, and learn all those important points in being independent.

Anyways, a few things we recalled from our time in Ottawa:

• Me waking up to find Tin’s legs wrapped around Greg in a Montreal hotel room after a night of heavy partying.
• The two of them pointing and laughing at me on the ground with my dislocated knee. “Ha!  His knees broken.”
• Tin knowing exactly where to look for our friend’s porn stash.
• Finishing shot after shot of Jack Daniels… and then simulpuking.  Me in the kitchen sink and on Dave’s shoes and Greg in the toilet.
• Countless momma jokes directed at Tin… mostly because we know how much they bug him. :-p

Fun times!

I also got a chance to see Sammy again, a pretty smart fellow who I met in Toronto.  He worked at Red Hat and Tin and partied with him when we in TO. He’s a new blogger, so to share in the blog goodness here it is: http://slamy.wordpress.com

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Bell Horror Story

Okay, so maybe “Bell Horror Story” is an exaggeration, but here is my own clash with the huge telecommunications company and their utter lack of customer support.

I lived in Ottawa last year for my internship, and being the geek I am (or rather, any red blooded westerner) I had to subscribe to high speed internet. I signed up with Bell for their high speed service.

The service was great, and I got pretty blazing fast speeds for a dsl service. I couldn’t complain. Eventually my internship ended and I returned my rented modem as I moved back to Edmonton. This was at the end of December of 2005.

Three weeks later I got my credit card statement showing a charge of $207 by bell. There’s no explanation at all. A week later I get a letter in the mail for the charge, filed under “miscellaneous charges”. Hmm…. wtf? There surely must’ve been a mistake. Mind you, I never authorized them to charge that amount to my card… they just went and did it.

I call their help desk. After being put on hold for almost 40 minutes, I finally reach someone. I find out that apparently I hadn’t returned my modem, and that’s what the charge is for. The person on the other line is of no real help and they said they’ll “transfer” me to someone who can fix the problem. Phone goes dead… click. Thanks buddy.

I email them, and through their lengthy email screening process to finally get a reply in March. They said I did return the modem, and that I’ll be receiving a cheque in the mail in 4 to 6 weeks. Hooray!

Six weeks pass and no cheque. By the time that happens, I’m on the road for a big two week road trip and fly back to Ottawa for work during the summer. I come back in September expecting a cheque from them. Nope.. no deal.

Again I call. Again I get put on hold for a ridiculous amount of time (45 minutes this time around). I talk to someone who can’t solve my problem and transfers me to someone who should be able to help me. “I’ll transfer you now sir… *click*”. I’m starting to think that the “transfer you to someone important” really is a “I’m going to hang up cause we don’t want to help you” maneuver.

I take the email route, and find that the bell website will only handle emails if you are a current bell customer. Great. Just fantastic. I send one to the old replies I had and cross my fingers. A week passes by and they apologize, saying my money is on its way again and will be here in 4 to 6 weeks. This time, 8 weeks pass by before I get my cheque… which is today. I love how it took them 10 months to figure out that they charged me unfairly, without my authorization, and that I had to hunt them down to fix things.

I’m never going with Bell ever again.

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