The campus was pretty stale today after work.

So, I know it’s summer when the campus starts acting a lot less lively. I’ve been here four years, and each summer the campus goes through this, I miss it being all crazy, all the time.

Although me and my friends boredom, outside of work, has got us hanging out again, which is a nice change.

Coding Away

Goofing off, the only way to code. That’s Renee, in the back, with all her paper :)

I think I mentioned before about how much time I’d be spending working on the Cobweb project. Already I’ve been spending 6-8 hour days working on it.

We had a meeting this morning with the lady in charge of working with the College Executive Committee, and already they’re excited to see what’s coming out of me and Renee’s office.

We have a lot of work to do this summer, the site is going to be an intense platform/application; meeting the most up-to-date standards, working well with the rest of the university, mingling well with content management systems and publishing software. It’s hard to think such a massive piece of work will be coming out of my little lappie (laptop).

Me, mighty mouse and my trusty lappie at work.

I’m trying to develop the site to be as much self managing as possible, letting anyone publish content at will, while the website does all the nasty work in the background. And, I don’t think they quite get how complex everything is, and so they’re rushing our already ‘pushing it’ December deadline.

But, as always, I plan to stand my ground and focus on quality work.

Tennis

Soo and James at the Tennis Center on another windy day. May 12th 2008

I haven’t been spending a lot of time at the NMSU Tennis Center since my arm getting better, it’s been windy day after day. My arm was at about 70%, this morning hitting with Jason, preparing for a match tomorrow.

Although he almost got past me today, me winning 7-5, I was crippled :)

I also haven’t been off to a good start on my goals for the summer, especially the one where I’m going to work out like a beast and get in shape for some tournaments. But, I’m working on that; if they would just quit bringing cake to the office, you know I have to have at least two slices!

Home Life & Travel

Walking along the bike trail. Travis, Las Cruces, NM

Oh, and I’ve also been walking everywhere since my bike was stolen.

So, I’ve been getting in a little extra excersize for all the wretched snacking going on at my casa.

Chips from left over Taco Shells and Baileys Salsa

So, I thought I’d throw a summer update out there. Actually I was bored, but it just proves my point!

Yesterday I accidentally poured coffee all over my computer. I thought it was going to slow, and I thought some caffeine might help it out.

Really, it was a little spill, not even a spill; a dribble. But it seems to manage leaving my keyboard un-useable, which for me, is not a good thing. And here I am stuck in a computer lab, like taking the city buss because you were caught driving drunk.

I don’t know what I am going to do, I doubt Acer is going to make it easy for me. So, I’ve considered getting a new Mac, and giving the Acer to my brother [he can fix the keyboard].

I’ll keep you updated, for now it just sucks. Actually farming sucks, I’m going to stop crying. At least I didn’t drop it in the toilet this time.

P.S. My phone number has change, check out my Facebook to update your phones.

Well, I thought about going home, but then I opened Windows Vista Calendar, and thought, maybe I should share my Vista experience with everyone.

Microsoft Never Goes the Distance

What is the deal with Microsoft just not getting it right? I’ve had my share of all operating systems, and Microsoft just doesn’t seem to get it right. I mean, I’ll be the first to say Linux never gets it right, but anyone with IT knowledge knows Linux is a server operating system [that works], that some people are trying to convert to a desktop environment, yet, to no avail. But that’s okay, they haven’t been around for years as a Desktop OS, Windows, on the other hand, has.

Even Mac OSx hasn’t been around as long, and they hit the spot for the everyday user. I had a Mac for awhile, no complaints, easy to use, it even looked better.

But recently, after loosing my iMac, I was financially bottle-necked into buying a PC. It came with Windows Vista, but I don’t know if I was more excited or scared to try it out. Upon starting it up and digging in, I had to say at first sight, I thought, maybe they got it right this time.

Using Some Apps

It’s been a good seven months, and I still stand that Windows Vista almost got it right. Like Windows Calendar, seems to be a great application ‘ala iCal. I enjoy working in Windows Calendar, until, of course, I’d like to publish a calendar; given I can successfully subscribe and email bits and pieces of my calendar to my friends. Windows Mail is a god-send, in fact, it’s probably the most useful tool in the Windows Vista suite, and most complete.

Windows Movie Maker is very basic, iMovie, of course, whoops it’s ass! And what is the freaking problem with web-cams? Why can’t I record myself directly into Windows Movie Maker? That was my favorite pastime on my iMac!

I still don’t use IE, although it’s not that bad [Firebug users know what I mean], and Windows Photo Gallery works just as great as Windows Media Player, which, in my opinion, whoops iTunes ass, given you know what you’re doing. But, if I asked my mom to find a video in my WMP or Photo Gallery, she’d be so lost.

How did Microsoft decide that was the easiest way to browse videos, music [oh, and all that other stuff]?:

But, when it comes to WPM, I love that I can just drop files into my Music and Videos folder and everything, as if by magic, pops up. I can also tell it to ignore my Pictures folder, which has tons of random [un-entertaining] videos. I can keep WPM an entertainment center, of sorts. But, that’s only because I installed a giant codec pack, I don’t recall ever doing that on my iMac.

I mean, why can’t I export an OPML in Internet Explorer, all the cool kids are doing it? And, why can’t I open ISO’s, or .tar.gz’s? It’s open source, just throw it in there. Oh, oh, and that reminds me, how come when I open a .Zip file, extracting a text document takes nine years? Who has nine billion years to empty their Recycle Bin? What is even going on? Oh, and sometimes, I can’t delete files; what’s up with that?

But, all in all, I really like Windows Vista. If asked to go back to Mac, I really wouldn’t have any real reason. The real fact of the matter, although, is that I fear Microsoft is just going to mess all this up. I’ve seen the new Live versions of some of the Windows Suite applications, and my God, they are a mess; cluttered and to complicated. That might get me back on a Mac, just because the thing with Apple is, you can always trust they are paying attention. I worry Microsoft is having a short burst of actually paying attention to the details, and then when they have us, it’s back to making money!