Not a real post

I know I said I'd be keeping up with blog posts and I'm trying, really I am. This email is about something else, so much more important right now though. It's about technology and the classroom, and the students of today's educational system. The video is a little long.. but well worth it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=related

Tar

A Year (Almost) in Review, Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the reviews from heck. This part was originally going to be about my trip to Orlando and the job interview and all that jazz.. but then I sat down to plan out all the parts of this series and it dawned on me that so much more than that happened.

First, a rather painful experience occurred. In early September I had the joy of being in a bicycle accident. It was literally a head-on-head collision with another biker, around a blind corner. After it happened I thought I was doing pretty good aside from a busted lip and bloody nose, but after walking around for a little while I realized that something was not right. A woman saw me cleaning my war wounds in the bathroom and noticed that I was not with it at all and called the paramedics. I got a ride to the hospital in a shiny ambulance and got to be strapped to a backboard for the next two hours as they checked me out. I ended up with a wicked concussion for the night and a really tender/sore neck and shoulder for the next couple of months, but now I'm doing just fine. I figured I'd be okay when it happened, I was far more concerned about the condition of my laptop and phone than myself when the paramedics were checking me out.

The pictures that go with this story have a funny story of their own. I had spent my morning in the lap, as usual, and it just so happened that Erin, Tim and I had taken some fun pictures before I headed off to class. They started out normal enough. Us posing with a red wagon, Erin and Brian (the world's best lab partner) playing around, Erin attacking me with a hammer, etc. etc. Just so happens that about an hour after the picture of Erin "attacking" me was taken, I got in the accident. The next pictures to appear on Tim's camera were of me, bloody, beaten and bruised. The series after that were of course Erin laughing and smiling at jokes later in the evening. As much as I'd like to blame the beating on Erin, I have to admit that it was in fact a bicycle accident and she was a very good friend during the whole thing, even catching a ride from one of her professors to be with me at the hospital.

So it just dawned on me that this is kind of out of order. I talked about Halloween last post and now I'm talking about my accident in September and my trip to Orlando in early October. That's right folks, this traveling fool was in Orlando for a full week back around October 17th. I was attending the Grace Hopper Conference, a conference for women in computing. I received a full scholarship to the event, including airfare, hotel, transportation and food, so all in all, fantastic trip. The conference was held at the Disney World Conference resort, just down the street from the board walk. I ran into friends from North Carolina and Google there and spent most of my trip catching up and networking. It was a fantastic trip, more so in that I got to head down to Melbourne and visit Nanny and Papaw for a long weekend.

I don't have many pictures (none, actually) from the conference itself, but I do have pictures from Bridge Day (they took us to Disney for a behind the scenes technical tour) and from the Disney Boardwalk. They have a Lego store at the walk and I was way too into that.. I had to stop myself from buying absurd amounts of Legos several times. They also had a Disney store that had a giant Stitch over the entrance way that would spit water randomly at people passing in front of the shop. The Pooh store completely grabbed my attention a couple of times, as did the toy store with the build your Mr. Potato Head wall. I was good, though, and only bought one thing my whole trip there and that was a lollipop for Caitlin. Oh, and a pressed penny cause Caitlin collects them.

Alright.. I was going to extend this post to talk about my school work last semester (which was insanely awesome but stressful) and my wisdom teeth/Thanksgiving break, but I'm thinking Part 2 is already too long. I have a lot of pictures that I want to share with you all but it's really hard to cram them all in with relevant text without just making the entire post about random pictures. If you're curious about my pictures (or Tommy's for that matter), check out my online photo albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/tar3820. I like to think that they're pretty well organized. Tommy is listed as one of my Favorites and you can get to his albums through mine. Feel free to download any pictures that you want, there's a link on the right hand menu.

Some people have been forwarding my emails to various other family members, which is fine. If you know someone that wants to know when I send out updates, just shoot me an email with their email address and I'll add them to the list.

Love, Peace and Wildlife on Campus,
Tar

A Year (Almost) in Review, Part 1

This is the third time I've tried to sit down and start these posts. I keep struggling with the way to start.. the pictures to include.. the stories to tell.. remembering the stories I want to tell. I finally decided that I just needed to sit down and nail out the first part of my catch-up posts and do it no matter what. Don't worry about classes, don't worry about knitting, don't worry about anything but writing out what I think I owe you all. An account of what I've been up to.

That's me on September 16th, 2007. I had just gotten back into the swing of classes and work and my friends and I decided to kick off a new school year like we have since we've all known each other. Celebrate Tirrel's birthday. Tirrel is the youngest of the group, but funnily enough, is the first to have a birthday amoungst us. The celebration was mild but fun. Dinner at a local thai place and cake back at Robert's house.

I don't remember much else about that dinner aside from Robert trying on my glasses, me sitting on top of the AC vent, Rachel and Tirrel doing interesting things with their chopsticks, and talking on the phone to Cesar. I remember more about the cake and the unique (and very original if you ask me) candles that we put on the cake. It was the first get together of the year and one of the saddest. Robert and Bria had just broken up and Bria was moving out. Beth had moved to Denver and gotten married. We had all just started realizing that we were all starting to go our separate ways, some of us faster than others.

I've always been a bit more distance than the others, traveling to conferences, seeing family and friends, or moving someplace for the summer to work. Cesar and I were still close at the being of the fall semester and I flew out a few times to see him and other friends in California. I was working my usual 6-7 jobs and trying to keep up with a full class schedule, as well as my friends. My car was reaching it's last leg and I felt like every weekend I was either pulling into or out of DIA's long-term parking lot. Finally the time came where I had to decide to put a lot of money into the Saturn, or just put it into a new car.

I had done some research in years prior and had always kept my eyes open for makes and models that interested me, so when the time came to get a car I know exactly what I wanted. A Subaru Impreza, wagon. After a week of dealing with dealerships, brothers and banks, I had my new baby. 5 speed manual, Urban Grey colour, 6 cd stereo w/ surround sound and upgraded bass, climate control AC, advanced dimming rear view mirror, trunk cover & mud mat, all weather mats, bumper protector, fog lights, roof racks, 68 miles to it's name. I learned how to drive stick the first week I had it. I can't even remember how many hours I spent driving around the neighborhood that first night trying to learn how to start from a dead stop or on a hill. I stalled it at a major intersection the first 3 hours I had it and had to have someone drive it out of traffic for me. It was the first thing that I've ever done on my own that scared me. It was my first major lesson in becoming myself, I like to think.

Branching out into new crafts and projects seems to be a theme for this past year, and what better crafts to learn than making sweets? Halloween was a sugar loaded time of year, Caitlin and I making a Haunted Gingerbread house, sugar cookies and a chocolate cake that would put anyone into sugar shock. Cait and I had received the gingerbread house kit as a gift from my mother and the sugar cookies had been an attempt to use up all of the candy and baking goods I had brought into Chris and Vinna's house. The cookies didn't do a very good job, even with the neighborhood children's help devouring them, and so the cake was made in an effort to whip out all of the leftover candy and at the same time, see how much chocolate I could get into every bite.

Everyone that had a piece of cake had to have at least one large glass of milk to get it down, most people two. I titled it "Zombie's Sugar Rush" because of the holiday, and the fact it would turn anyone into a zombie after the sugar rush died down. It was a triple layer, triple fudge cake with milk chocolate frosting and chips melted between the layers, fudge frosting coating the sides. Candy corns covered the fudge and butter cream icing was on the face of it. It was a cake to go down in history.

I think now would be a good time to end this part of the story. Next post: Orlando! Job Interview! Living in the lab! Stress! Stay tuned for the next post!

Love, peace, and happy sugar rush,
Tar

Here We Go Again

So I'm going to try and keep up with blogging again but I'm not promising anything to anyone. Looking back on the last real blog post I submitted, I realize a lot has happened. The most noticeable thing is that I've returned to Colorado, obviously. Don't start to think that I'll be staying here for much longer, though. California and Silicon Valley call to me.

Um.. so we're just going to do this on a timeline basis and we'll see if I can't get you all caught up..

My last few weeks in California were spent tying up projects, tightening friendships, and trying to delay the inevitable. Mom and Tim came out to visit (she's got pictures), Tom came out for the Google company picnic and to hang out with Cesar and I, and I avoided work. When Tom came out we took a day trip to San Fransico. For pictures of the whole weekend, visit his Picasa site here. We also played games at Google, hung out with my Google buddy Chris, and drove around the valley. Tim's got some more pics that I'll link to eventually, he just doesn't have them up yet.

I returned to Colorado on August 5th and then spent the next four days unpacking, getting my traditional after-work-cold, and sleeping in. Then on August 10th I flew to Charlotte for a conference. There I presented a poster (pretty poster link), gave a presentation, and talked it up with the people I worked with last summer. My poster received first place in the research division and I got a few ideas on what I'm going to do for my grant this year. Also, mom flew out and watched me present, as well as just hung out with me. The trip was overall great, though the weather in North Carolina could have been so much nicer..

August 15th found me back in Colorado, yet again, and getting ready for the big freshman orientation and move-in here on campus. The 16th was the big day and I spent all of it helping herd freshman into their correct rooms, as well as finding their classes and whatever else they need. Also, we found out that mosquitos prefer the taste of my blood over everyone else at the front office. Oh joy. Abby's happy to be back, I think. She had some trouble at first getting used to Megan and Sophie again, but she's getting there. I learned this summer that when I do move out, I'm going to have to get Abby someone to play with while I'm out of the house. She's a very needy kitty.. but only when you're not paying attention to her. Or when she's sleeping..

After freshman move-in I took the weekend off to relax and sleep, then spent the next Monday with Caitlin purchasing books and new bike parts. Caitlin had a great summer, apparently, and we've already fallen back into our old ways. Our first batch of baking went over well with the lab today, as you can see from the picture of Tim to the left there. Classes started on the 21st for me and I'm already living in the lab. Part of me's glad to be back in the trend and the other part of me just wants to graduate. The good news is that unless I can't hold off until then, I will be graduating in August of 2008. Not sure on dates yet, but I'll let you all know. Class breakdown is as follows:

• CS314: Object-Oriented Design. Basically a class on testing and how to design your code. I pretty much learned this all at Google so it's just another snooze fest for me.


• CS414: The more advanced version of the course above. Don't ask why I'm taking the basic and advanced at the same time.. I'm not happy about it either. Worst part is it doesn't seem to be anymore than what I did at Google either.


• CS430: Database Systems. Yeah.. I've taken a course like this already and I've taught a course like this already.. but of course I need to take this one to get the credit I need.. (Bet you can't guess which course I'm writing this blog post in..)


• CS440: Artifical Intelligence. This is the one course I'm actually interested in this semester, as well as am enjoying. The work load is a little high but it's all good. The professor is great and the material actually new and interesting.

I guess the upside of these courses is that I'm busy enough with easy homework assignments to not get too bored. That and they're all on Tuesday and Thursday.. hello four day weekends..

This class is over, so I'm going to go ride through the rain to my next adventure in computing.. oh joy.. why can't the classes be over and I can just go back to doing homework?..

Oh yeah..

Completely forgot that I had to post about this.. but real fast, Tom and Crystal's wedding photos are now available online and for print purchasing. Head on over to http://tomandcrystalswedding.com to have a look!

Also, I love my job. That's why I'm sending this while sitting on my bike, standing outside the espresso bar, waiting for my shuttle.

Love, Peace, and More Free T-Shirts!
Tar

It's a Changing World

So I don't have time for a huge post in that I have a class in 18 minutes, but I think that it's time I at least mention this stuff. In the news recently there has been a lot of complaints about Google's privacy stance and the sharing of information. Most of these complaints have been filed by people that I generally relate to being "old-fashioned." These are the people that aren't used to the world that the Internet has created. The enormous amount of information sharing that is possible today makes it so that no longer is your public activities in San Francisco (for instance) no longer restricted to just that city, but to the entire world. A tourist snapping photos of a public park may take those photos and later post them on the web, where literally millions of people can see them. Every photo and word that I post on this blog is just as public as the Google.com website is. People are forgetting that any average Joe can become the next world-star, just because they were caught doing something in public that was photo-worthy. I'm not here to complain about this. I'm here to support it.

A good article on Google World

Privacy issue with Google Street View

Article on Google's Privacy Policy

Google's Response to Privacy Issue

As Google's data collection stands right now, I don't have any problems with it. All the data that they're getting I could actually get myself, if I wanted to. Also, the services that all of this information provides to users, whether organizations or individuals is invaluable. The fact that some of the information is what people would want to keep private is not Google's fault, in my opinion. I've always held the stance that if you want privacy on the Internet, don't use it. If you want to use the Internet and keep your information private, learn how to do so. The Internet is an extremely powerful tool that can be used to save you time, and money, or make you lose time and money. Using the Internet is comparable to driving. Even kids can drive small toy cars without worry for health risks (comparable to basic web surfing), but put a kid behind a semi or just the family car and dangerous events will take place (comparable to email, web development, blogging, posting images, posting on forums, downloading, etc.). If people are having privacy issues about what is available on the Internet and Google grabbing it, that's their own fault.

As far as images that Google collects with their Street View project, that's a little more complicated. People are complaining that the pictures reveal to the world their nasty habits or private information. What they conveniently forget while suing the billion dollar corporation is that all of the images were taken from public streets with an average camera, which I can purchase a better version of at WalMart. Any average Joe walking (or driving) down the street could take just as good, or many pictures of these people and their houses, and then posted them on an internationally read blog. The only reason people are getting upset is because it's Google, and instead of people having to fly 3000 miles to watch you smoke a cigarette, they just have to pull up their browser.

The Information Age is expanding with each bit of data that Google collects and while the consequences of that growth are hoped to be mostly for the better, the "underage driving" of the Internet in the past has put out a huge amount of data that shouldn't really be public, and is only being discovered as harmful now. People are spending millions of dollars to try and lock down information on the Internet and make it harder to search for, but what that money should really be spent doing is locking down that information more securely so that it can't be searched for. There are systems in place and that have existed for a while that will allow you to not have your information searchable by Google (or any search engine, really). This even covers having pictures taken of you. It's as simple as this, folks: If you don't want people seeing you or your information, don't make that information available in public (i.e. Smoke inside, password protect valuable information, don't upload pictures of private content, etc.).

I'm sorry if this rate seems a bit long or unprovoked, but I've been reading the news and talking to a lot of people that sometimes forget that the Internet extends behind that screen in front of them.

Thank you for you're time.

Peace, Love and I dare you to Google for "Google,"
Tar

Summer Fun

This particular email today comes from sunny Northern California, where I've been living and working for the summer. I can't remember if I sent an email out explaining who I worked for, but it's Google, if you didn't already know. It's hard to believe that half of my summer is already gone. It seems as though I just started last week.

To start out this edition, I'll go a bit into what I work on. I can't give much information about it, but I'm working on Google Docs, an online application similar to Word that I would suggest for all. It has some draw backs when compared to Word, but it also has some advantages over the Microsoft version. I myself work on some of the front end things, such as the look and feel, as well as the features that are available to the users. I absolutely love my work, as well as where I work. It's pretty much like college, except you get to work on whatever you want, as long as it fits the general motto of Google.

On a real fast second note, I'm just going to give a quick apology regarding the language of this edition. I've been reading a lot more, recently, and the book that I'm currently working through has a different tone then most. It seems that that tone has seeped into my brain, however, and I'm doomed to write in it. (See why I'm apologizing? It's horrible!) Abby and I have been reading a lot, as we always do in the summer, and have a new list of recommendations for you all.

• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - An interesting read, recommended by Mr. Hamiltion a few years back. It's an easy read, based in New Orleans, and stars a character that you almost always want to smack. I'd recommend this book mostly to those of you who want something of a different pace, and don't have anything else to read.
• M.A.S.H. by Richard Hooker - This is the book that the movie and TV show are based on, and you can tell by the end of it. While the characters and story line are slightly different, the overall book is very similar. By the end of the piece I felt as if I had been watching M.A.S.H. all weekend, and I wanted to watch more.
• Lullaby by Chuck Palahiniuk - Another disturbing book by Chuck, this time focusing on the mass consumption of materials and how we're destroying our planet. If you like Chuck's other works, you'll like this one as well. It's a quick and, as I said before, disturbing read that I'd only recommend to those of you who enjoy horror stories and books like The Things They Carried (a classic).
• The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer - My favorite thus far this summer, this autobiography is a true piece of work. The book describes J.R.'s youth and his travel into adulthood, how he quested to find a substitute for his father and how he found it in the local pub. A good book about discovering yourself, I recommend this piece to anyone who's struggling with where they want their live to go, or who feel somehow cheated by their situation in life and youth.

Enough on books, though. I bet you're all curious as to what I do while I'm not working or reading. Well, until last weekend, my friends and I would take the train on Saturday up to San Francisco and distribute Free Hugs, a world-wide campaign to spread happiness. I wish I had more pictures of the hugging, but it was actually too much fun to stop and take more. We had people stopping at red lights and jumping out of their cars to hug us. Everyone we passed, even if they didn't get a hug, walked on with a smile. For those of you who wish to do something similar to this, just make a sign with cardboard and go to it, just watch out for private property. We were told by the police last Saturday that we weren't allowed to give out Free Hugs on the private property of the city and that we would be arrested if we tried to continue. Needless to say, that stopped the hugs.

The fellows in the pictures are my buddies, Cesar and Tim. Tim (above) lives in Santa Barbara and came up a few weekends to give out free hugs and just generally hang out. Cesar (right) is actually a friend of a friend of mine, Tim (another Tim who lives in Colorado), who has become a very good friend this summer. He lives just down the road from me and we often go out to movies, dinner, or just hang out in general. He's kind enough to drive me any place my bike can't take me, and he's helped me a lot with learning the new technology I need to use for work.

My bike is almost as important to me as Cesar and Tim are, at the moment. My primary mode of transportation, I bought the bike from WalMart on my first day here. Truly a WalMart bike, I've now pumped about an addition $100 into her so that I can keep riding her to work and around town. That's one of the nice things about this area, it's perfect for biking. Mostly flat, tons of bike lanes, always sunny, and everything's within riding distance. As soon as I finish this post, in fact, I will be riding the 2 miles down to the WalMart to buy Miss Abby some kitty litter. I live about three miles from work, so getting to and from is just as easy with my bike. To aid with the summer heat and riding constantly, I've also cut off most of my hair. My long locks are now down to shoulder length and I couldn't be happier. Sometimes I even wish it was shorter. I plan on mailing the hair (yes, I still have it) to Locks of Love, where they'll turn it into a wig for a child with cancer. If any of you have the ability to grow your hair out, I ask that you do so and donate as well. The hair that you donate needs to be at least 10 inches long, so plan accordingly. Also, a lot of hair salons will cut and style your hair for free when you go to donate, as well as mail the hair out for you.

Hmm... what else to talk about... Well, I guess this is where I'll get random. I have some pictures, so I guess I'll just tell about them. This first one is at the Google Developer's Day party that was thrown after the conference. For the event, Google had tens of arcade machines brought in and setup for free play, as well as about 15 pool tables. Outside on the patio they had free drinks and carnival food (cotton candy, hot dogs, tacos, ice cream, fries, etc.) and all of the tables were whiteboards (something that you can always find at Google) which people doodled on while they ate and mingled. The glasses used that night were glow in the dark cups with the Google logo, glowing in the four main Google colors. Cesar and I each got a complete set of these glasses and they're currently in my freezer waiting for an event to use them with. After the party, Cesar and I went on an excursion into the main buildings of Google and discovered the ball pit, someplace I will surely have to return to and work from. We also discovered some of the other microkitchens and surveyed the food offerings that they provided. For those of you who don't know, within 150 feet of anywhere within a Google building, you will find healthy food for the hungry works. Most of the food offerings are organic and bought from local vendors instead of the major corporations like Lays chips and such. There are also usually some sort of entertainment near the kitchens, including pinball machines, pool tables and Foosball. The Googleplex also has a gym, lap pools, volley ball court, and 14 different cafes, each with their own theme and unique menus.

While Google is a fun company to work at, there's also serious busy going on. You can tell this from the quality of my work notebook. See? I actually doodled that while struggling though a tough programming problem. Working at Google has really stretched my skills and forced me to learn some new computer languages that I had been putting off. I enjoy the struggle and wonder if I'll be able to pull myself out of the mindset that Google has put me in and step back to the one that college provides. While I don't miss the course work of CSU, I do miss the atmosphere and my friends, along with the more laid-back attitude. Don't get me wrong, Google's laid back compared to most companies, but they're still a company and work still has to get done. On the bright side, I should be able to refer you all to a link in a week or so to see some of the work that I've done.

Wow, this email is huge and I feel like I've just been putting off going to WalMart and working on another scholarship application. I'm trying to get a scholarship to a conference for women in Computer Science in Orlando this October, as well as one to a conference regarding my gaming research in North Carolina in August. We'll see what develops.

Alrighty, hopefully I'll be sending you another email soon.

Peace, Love, and Free Google t-shirts,
Tar

P.S. - George and Vassie came out and visited me last weekend and took a few pictures of me and a Google sign. I bet if we bugged them enough, they're reply-all the pictures.