{ Monthly Archives }
June 2005
boox
I remember, when I was just a tater tot, reading in some children’s story or other (I think it was a Doctor Boox story) about how someone wanted some free time or something to “catch up on his reading”. It took me a while to figure out exactly what they meant by that - the obvious interpretation just seemed so strange that I couldn’t believe that grownups had so much reading they had to do, that they would fall behind.
Man, I don’t think I’ve ever been more wrong.
So, not to jinx it or anything, but it looks like I might be giving up the bachelor’s life, and take a full time position at frog, maybe even starting as early as next week. The time and the commitment required are going to be a pretty big shock to my carefree contractor’s lifestyle, but I really shouldn’t turn down the money at this point, and it’ll be good to hang out with some other nerds on a daily basis again for a while. Nothing’s final, so there’s still a world of possibility between me and an interminable series of days at the office, but hey, stranger things have happened.
In other grownup news, I made it through my third “Game Programming 101″ class at ACC. Turns out, if you spend a couple hours putting together notes and writing them down on index cards, the lecture part goes a lot more smoothly, and I actually have stuff for people to do during the “make stuff go” portion of the class. The syllabus for the class has changed some from last semester - we’re supposed to be focusing less on the act of programming, and more on the general role of the programmer on a development team, and how they interact with other departments, and whatnot - but I think I’m adapting okay so far, considering. I’m actually bucking the change just a little, and doing a python crash course this week, so we can get to the fun stuff next week - starting the main game project for the class - and so the students will have a better foundation in general programming nitty-gritty when I start talking about broader issues in development, and waving my hands around a lot more. Which should be pretty impressive, because I’ve almost taken flight a couple times as it is. Anyway. Python, yeah. Who would have thunk? More on that later, if I’m not too ashamed.
links for 2005-06-26
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I totally need one of these.
big daddy
Stayed a few hours extra at the office, to get some stuff done for the big meeting on monday for the big meeting on tuesday, and to make up an hour or so from thursday, when I needed to leave early to put together a lesson plan for my class - which, it turns out, makes things go much more smoothly. Got home, had the “what are we doing for food” conversation, the answer to which turned out to be, “we’re going to the Alamo to see Land of the Dead, right now!” Excellent zombie pre-show, the usual tasty foodstuff, and a pretty darn good movie, overall. Not in the top five or so zombie movies, but totally enjoyable, if a little heavy-handed with the social/political angle. I missed the Shaun of the Dead guys, but Tom Savini got to do a little undead ass-kicking, which sent the audience into fits. I love the Alamo.
Today was AGD meetings, working on direction, and how to grow our membership, and what’s going on with the economic impact study, and what we’re presenting to the advisory board next week, the usual. Still pretty fun, still pretty excited about what we’re doing and where we’re going with stuff. Afterwards, I braved the wilds of Westlake to check out a new comics and game store, to scope it out, see if they would be interested in letting us put flyers up, or sponsor stuff, or work with us somehow. The guy there was totally friendly and helpful, and I reckon something can be worked out. I couldn’t go away empty handed, so I picked up a couple packs of this interesting-looking little pirate game, came home, and spent some time putting together little plastic ships, before hunkering down for some reading and research.
Tonight, hopefully get some documentation cranked out; tomorrow, get an early start on my lesson plans for next week, so I don’t have to completely stress out and try to cram something together in the short hours directly before the class. Should be a pretty packed week again, between finishing up my contract at frog, classes, meetings in the evenings, and… yeah, that should keep me busy for a while.
autolicious
Hey, lookit that. Delicious added a thinger to automatically post whatever you added to your bookmarks to your Movable Type blog every day, and it looks like it works. I use delicious a lot, since I’m moving between at least three computers all the time, at home and at the office here, so this is probably going to be happening pretty frequently. Now it looks like I’m posting, when I’m really just being lazy! Yay internets!
(Also, don’t forget about the daily link puke from #noisier. More stuff from more of the usual gang of idiots, only with a dramatically increased likelihood of urls and commentary containing profanity, pornography, and general sedition. View at your own risk. Do not click before consulting a physician. Pregnant women and people with heart conditions should avoid the #noisier blog at all costs.)