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January 27th, 2012
09:24 am
The company plans are going well, but i need to look for talent who'll be available when deadlines come due.
I'm interested in finding a full-time developer as well.
I'd pay for time out of my income from the contract.
at some point I'll also need some good with business or accounting to help keep track of things.
Let me know if you count as available talent or know someone who may be interested.
There are a lot of really cool projects on the horizon that I don't currently have time to pursue with my day job, but they're REALLY COOL!
Current Mood:  optimistic
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January 12th, 2012
04:34 pm - The best idea I've ever had.
Details on the company I'm starting:
At the moment I want to keep my day job, so i'm mostly organizing this venture and ensuring it is viable before i retire into it.
Originally it is to address the fact that someone can spend 4 years learning computer science for a degree, and not get to the point that they are making a company money until they've been a hired professional for at least 6 months.
Everyone knows that hiring an entry-level out of college is an investment as they won't produce in a quantity worth what you're paying them.
I want to use paired programming to teach people how to program, on real-world actual applications, not exercises a professor made up and doesn't have time to explain.
Right now I'm skyping with my apprentice, doing screen sharing and talking through my process. I may get another apprentice soon, and I'm writing actual contract-jobs that I've turned up as a developer. I'm charging less than contractors normally do because I already have a 9 to 5 job with benefits so i don't need to earn my salary in one or two weeks of work.
A next step would be to upgrade from Skype to something like Go To Meeting which would let me screen share, and surrender control of the PC (or vice versa) so I can ask the apprentice how they would do something and let them write parts of it to track their progress.
If I can get some help turning this into an actual education with a curriculum and milestones and some idea how long to keep someone an apprentice, etc, I could easily build a trade-school where developers don't spend 4 years at it, and come out junior-level or better - the point at which where they're worth a paycheck.
Let me know if you're interested.
Current Mood:  hopeful
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January 11th, 2012
01:13 pm - new beginnings
On the plus side, I'm starting a company!
Still looking for talent and people capable and able to fulfill on desktop and web applications, and people to negotiate price, as I know I won't ask for enough.
Details to follow.
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01:11 pm
so, i officially have 14 dollars to my name and 36 dollars of credit limit remaining. I really need to not give so much to the homeless.
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December 12th, 2011
02:13 pm - Further reply to Brian's challenge (see previous post)
I believe that the hate the sin not the sinner doctrine is frequently acted upon as an excuse to use religion to justify being mean to people.
I consider some sins to be relative, tied with our own spiritual journey. My classic example of this is with drinking.
- if i have renounced alcohol due to a problem with alcoholism, then drinking any amount is a sin because I would be unable to moderate my intake and it would turn into abuse
- if i am NOT an alcoholic and alcohol has no power over me, then drinking is not a sin.
In the case of alcohol, exactly what sin is being committed is moving into a grey area. Perhaps it would count as idolatry because i'm submitting my will to something other than G-d. In which case video games and television are idols for me. Very likely the sin is more along the lines of abusing oneself or putting oneself in a position to abuse others.
Officially i don't believe it is my job to define sin, we're given a good handbook, but it was written by the only being which can make that distinction, G-d, and interpreted through a cultural context of limited social evolution, and the handbook doesn't cover every topic.
I believe stoning people (or the death penalty in any form) is wrong in any context, but not only is it was used as an alternative to prison in a justice system for nomadic people with no jails, it is explicitly required if you catch someone in the act of numerous sins. We are no longer nomads, there are now better ways to deal with personal indiscretion. And the Jewish people recognized this as well, for the most part their justice system adapted once they stopped wandering.
Everything the bible tells us has to be continually reinterpreted and not "updated" to fit modern times but "understood" within the context of the time it was written and what was the ultimate intent, also within the context of what we now know to be "good." This is the basis of following the spirit of the law, rather than the letter.
All "fundamentalist" forms of every religion on earth tend to stick to the concept of stoning, abuse, and persecution of people who aren't like them and i believe this to be wholly wrong on several levels - morally evil for one, frustrating because they use religion as an excuse to do horrible things that are never justifiable in the modern age, and a prideful act to say they know A) G-d's will or B) right from wrong in the matter of another person's life.
I grant i'm making the same judgement about the ones doing the stoning that they're making about the people condemned, and i still consider myself to be in the right and them in the wrong, but i make that judgement based on the case that no-one has the right to persecute, cause harm, or kill another human being except G-d itself (who doesn't exercise that right) - especially not "agents" of G-d in human form being assholes to each other.
To return to the topic at hand, hating oneself. Experience tells me that many people, if not most of them, are pre-programmed to do just that.
People who don't hate themselves tend to fall into two categories, those who externalize that hate to others, and those who have come to terms with who they are, have the courage to love themselves anyway, extend that love to as large a group of "everyone" as they can manage, and continually work to get over their hangups about whatever sub-groups of "everyone" they haven't managed to allow themselves to be okay with yet.
I also think the journey of finding yourself deserving of love, and by extension everyone else, and continually challenging whatever programming you have to the contrary is the primary job of Humanity, whatever the religion. Love is so much more difficult to have and express than hate, and so much more rewarding. This life is hard enough that we are called to take care of and be of service to one another.
Again, take these theories with a grain of salt if you like, i don't have scriptural basis for much of it. Even so, it is the only way I know of to make the world a better place with each generation, and we are certainly called to make the world a better place and be good stewards of the resources given to us (including our fellow humans)
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December 8th, 2011
02:27 pm - this is me.
Cap'n Brian Ugalde
So during Sunday School's lesson on loving the hated, Alex asked us who do we hate? i eventually answered with "I hate myself, when I... (such n such...)"
The Bible talks alot about hating another person, hating the Lord, hating the sinful acts, hating the Devil/Satan, hating Jesus, etc. but what about hating oneself? i feel like i know the answer to this, but was wondering others' thoughts.
GO!
someone else: Genesis chapter 1 talks about how we're created in God's image... how can we hate anything or anyone that's created in God's image? On the other hand, hating our actions, like our sins, is a good thing. God hates sin...why shouldn't we? :) thanks for the study break.
me :
Christ came to fulfill the Law because the Law brings death. In my own case i couldn't extricate my sin from my identity, hatred of the one caused hatred of the other.
I demand of myself that I be perfect and given a moral basis to stand on I will condemn myself for all the ways I'm not, and no matter what nothing is ever good enough. I used to think the only way my life would have meaning was if I died to save the life of another.
This seems to be at cross purposes to the generosity and love i would give to everyone but myself. I can't condemn others for what they do partly because it isn't my job, but also because i see in them the way they reflect God's design, whether they are actively living out that potential or not.
I had to extend the love i have for others and the love God has to me and the ONLY way i could manage to do that was throw out the whole system. The only way i could let myself be human was to throw out the measuring stick, rather than internalize it.
Now i'm an unrepentant sinner because it was the only way i could be myself and love myself.
Repenting for anything would just be a lie, I don't lie. Until I can keep my word, i won't give it.
God wants us to come as we are, this is me.
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10:10 am - Stolen...
By 30, you should have:
One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you’ve come.
A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.
Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.
A purse, a suitcase and an umbrella you’re not ashamed to be seen carrying.
A youth you’re content to move beyond.
A past juicy enough that you’re looking forward to retelling it in your old age.
The realization that you are actually going to have an old age—and some money set aside to help fund it.
An e-mail address, a voice mailbox and a bank account—all of which nobody has access to but you.
A résumé that is not even the slightest bit padded.
One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry.
A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra.
Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.
The belief that you deserve it.
A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don’t get better after 30.
A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship and all those other facets of life that do get better.
By 30, you should know:
How to fall in love without losing yourself.
How you feel about having kids.
How to quit a job, break up with a man and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.
When to try harder and when to walk away.
How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn’t like to happen next.
The names of: the secretary of state, your great-grandmother and the best tailor in town.
How to live alone, even if you don’t like to.
How to take control of your own birthday.
That you can’t change the length of your calves, the width of your hips or the nature of your parents.
That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over.
What you would and wouldn’t do for money or love.
That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs or not flossing for very long.
Who you can trust, who you can’t and why you shouldn’t take it personally.
Not to apologize for something that isn’t your fault.
Why they say life begins at 30.
Read More http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2007/02/things-women-should-have-and-know-by-30#ixzz1fxaRNU2R
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August 9th, 2011
02:52 pm - gah
I just stood in front of everyone in my department here at Crate and Barrel and told them about William's murder.
Those "what make you interesting" questions are a bitch, eh?
I truly believe that all people are essentially cut from the same mold. Wherever you go and the more people you meet the more obvious that our differences are unique, personal, and individual, but we all started the same.
In a sense, that which makes us unique are the tragedies we've suffered and the decisions we've made regarding them. How healed we are, what interactions and activities we feel comfortable with, what triggers our flight-or-fight response are all unique to us.
Maybe it says something about me that all I could think of when I was told I had to introduce myself was William. It probably says I'm depressed, obsessed, and overly focused on tragedy; but the anniversary of William's death is this Friday... so, I'm going to be focused on it for a while longer yet.
Hopefully plugging dad's book What to do When the Police Leave: A Guide to the First Days of Traumatic Loss helped someone in there. It is statistically unlikely that no body in a crowd that size will have suffered a loss of this kind.
Time will tell if I've committed some damaging faux pas, or time will sweep it under the rug and no one will care.
gah,
Paul J.
Current Mood:  pessimistic
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August 5th, 2011
06:45 pm - Second game review - now to challenge myself and finish it
I have been playing a lot of Genji: Dawn of the Samurai. Genji is another quasi-historical samurai drama, they seem to be high on my list for the moment, this one following the story of Yoshitsune, a lone hermit with a magical stone called an Amahagane that allegedly increases a person's strength and speed. The opening movie shows the Taira clan gaining power in massive war against the Minamoto clan because they had more of these Amahagane than anyone else, rendering their generals and leaders nearly unbeatable on the front lines.
What is immediately most striking is the stark contrast of game-play styles compared to Onimusha. ( Control scheme rant and feature breakdown )
The story follows Yoshitsune as he discovers he's the son of the leader of the defeated Minamoto clan and pledges to take back the land from the Taira clan. He happens to have an Amahagane inherited from his father and doesn't understand what all the hubbub is about at first.
A party of Taira clan warriors attack his home attempting to steal the Amahagane in order to steal it, grow powerful, and thereby earn a promotion. Yoshitsune defeats them soundly and follows a mysterious ninja who shows up to help.
The ninja leads him to a hiding place of the resistance forces... all three of them, including the little girl who is strangely knowledgeable beyond her years.
Personally I don't believe the Amahagane makes you stronger - fighting makes you stronger through an experience based leveling system - the Amahagane charges up with energy that when released alters Yoshitsune's perception of time so that time slows down and he can perform highly damaging and preternaturally effective counter-attacks. The time-slowing feature drastically improves one's survivability when surrounded, allowing the owner to occasionally pull off inhuman maneuvers, and thereby save themselves from situations that would normally kill them - the battle experience for which will feed their ever increasing strength... That is my theory anyway.
The Taira clan has so many Amahagane that they have begun using them in unnatural experiments, the results of which form many of the bosses you may face - they have discovered a way to permanently bond an Amahagane to a person's or animal's body giving it incredible strength and susceptibility to mind control, but the stress causes them to behave unpredictably at times and periodically go AWOL.
As Yoshitsune defeats enemies and takes their Amahagane he can return to camp and have them fused together "drastically multiplying their power" which it doesn't do. It DOES add one extra time-slow-down charge to the Amahagane, and they can be used to stack. Moves that go too fast even for the original counter will have an extended opportunity to counter when you layer on more slow-down.
I don't want to give everything away, so I'll wrap up here. The story progresses in predictable ways and the game sometimes feels like it is on rails. One difficulty for completionists is that there are two playable characters in the game and each environment generally has a special bonus only accessible to one of them. I find myself traveling to every location except the next story destination with each character two or three times in an attempt to find everything. The effort has paid off several times with rewards of new equipment so is usually well worth it.
All in all, it is a fun game with a level of challenge that continually shifts between excruciating and then too easy and back. It is fun to play, has creative enemies that become more difficult on par with your character's growth, encouraging tactical play, and offers a painfully small number of healing items unless you buy them in stores. One nice thing is that the stores tend to sell actually useful equipment that isn't too quickly out-stripped by what you find so sometimes it is worth it (especially in the case of armor) to save up for something nice. Too many games overlook offering incentive for the player to use the store.
Until next time, much love!
PJ
Current Mood:  chipper
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July 9th, 2011
10:25 pm - Raaar!
First game of completion challenge DONE!
Final notes on Onimusha
Enemy difficulty scales rapidly, master the subtle counter and instant-kill maneuvers. By "subtle" I mean "impossible to pull off on purpose" so, best of luck with that.
And save all the healing items for the end of the game. Those bosses are Fierce >_< erg.
Also, love the block button, this is not Devil May Cry, blocking is your friend. I'm not even sure Devil May Cry HAS a block button, that's how much I've used it.
In my spare time off of videogames and work I've been watching a few TV shows on Hulu.
Most notably, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Coffee Prince, and Misfits
Not too sure about Misfits yet. The others are definite likes.
Much love!
The Jenkins
Current Mood:  accomplished
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