crmacd

So I’ve been criticized before for having my computer science students play poker in class. I usually have some type of card game in my beginning level programming classes I teach. Blackjack, poker, or some other card based problem/simulation/game is usually a semester long project. I think it is and excellent example of using some basic CS related skills regardless of the language it is programmed in. It’s great to see there is actually a group that supports this and more importantly has some very significant people backing it. I personally am not very good at poker however I always enjoy a good game.

So all the big projects at work have been keeping me a little busier than expected. In the last month we completely moved to a new house. So there has been even more delay in the projects I originally had planned. Baby steps are need in these times I guess. I started another semester teaching. Coming to the realization that I have been ‘teaching’ college classes for over 6-7 years now is kind of hard to believe. It’s even hard to believe I’ve been out of high school for 10 years. We recently had our reunion and while it was nice to see my classmates … something was very different. Hard to describe really. I personally was very disappointed. I have accomplished quite a bit in the last 10 years and am very grateful for everything I have. However, I can’t help but wonder if I could do even more in the next decade. Only time will tell…

So last time I wrote an entree I was in the middle of a very large project at work. It was pretty big… big enough to end up in Wired magazine. It was weird seeing my work as a published article in a magazine I normally read. The success of this of course led to larger projects which have kept we working 12+ hour days at work. The whole life/work balance has really been off. Thankfully, I have a partner who understands — I love what I do. I’ve also been busy working on a museum exhibit. Hard to believe. I helped design and build a museum exhibit. I’m also exploring some serious media encoding thanks to my new Apple TV. Which spawned me starting up a small on the side software business. We’ll have to see where it goes from here. Lately I’ve been doing some traveling. A definite change of pace.

All in all life is good. Now if only I could get my ToDo list a little smaller.

Been a little busy with life in general. Work, work, work, LEGO user group, and such. I have started to notice I do not code as nearly as often as I used to. I miss it.

As a side effect I’ve begun to question decisions made in the past. We all do it. We wonder if we ever really learned from our mistakes. I can safely say I have learned from most.

As a result of the project we embarked on at work. I have noticed others around me get… well tired. The quality of product our team used to put out has changed.

I noticed that the more and more our LEGO user group does the more and more opportunities present themselves. We are going to do a very cool museum activity - display next year. Makes we wonder where the lines need to be drawn. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

I recently questioned a decision I made in college - not to take a job as a faculty member. I still kick myself. I know I would have my Ph.D. by now. Now I do not know when that will ever happen.

I just do not know where things are headed and right now… I am just not comfortable with the side effects.

Check out the results of a recent project I am working on.