Snowman Studios
Work continues to go well. I have completed my first major task on my project. I am pleased by how good the IDE (Independent Development Environment) is. I think I meantioned something earlier about how good Eclipse IDE is. But after getting it to work smoothly with the server software and open source code, I am happy to be working with such good tools.
Next on my tasks will be to learn JSP. It's a lot like html with the power of being a program instead of just being a scripting language.
Two weeks ago I was regularily staying up until 4 or 5 AM. Now, I start getting sleepy around 8 or 9, and make an attempt at sleep around 11 PM.
Work has been going well, I am very excited and pleased. My tendancy to eat whatever food is available has lead to me being compared to the CTO's cat, except unlike the cat I don't have a weight problem. Fat cats....
Programming is hard work. I mean, it takes a lot of effort to get up and walk to the snack room at the far end of the office.
Much of the initial stuff seems to be taken care of for work. They have allocated money to pay me for 25 hours per week of work. I am able to work longer, but I won't be paid for it. I don't mind as the opportunity and experience is more valuable than the difference in pay between 25 hours and 40 hours. Besides, only being expected to work 5 hours a day means I don't have to show up to work until 10 and can leave as soon as 3:30 (assuming 30 minutes for lunch) just as long as I get my work done.
As my contract only goes till the end of the year, there will be an opportunity for them to increase the status of my employment.
Also, they are having me use my own laptop. I don't mind, I'd rather they put the cost of a computer into my pay check rather than providing me with one at the office.
I've got a job and it starts
tomorrow.
I've got a job, and it's at
this company!
Currently, San Diego is experiencing it's monsoon season. This entails multiple days where the average rain fall breaks 0.1 of an inch.
The church service I normally goes to has a cafe after the service. Last Sunday was the first Sunday since they started the service (a bit more than a year ago) with rain. The first couple of days I was being extra careful since the roads tend to be more slippery from the initial rainfall after a long dry spell (the rain get the oil and such on the road up and makes it more slippery, this isn't theory I have noticed this). My car is about as well suited for the rain as cars get (assuming not racing, it could be argued that mine is even better suited than a STi on the basis that you have significantly less power to control). I've seen cars spin wheels, although thankfully I haven't seen them sliding around or skidding.
I've started taking steps to have a more normal sleep schedule. After three nights, I've gotten to being tired enough to fall asleep at 1 AM. This doesn't sound like much, but compare 1 AM to 4 AM and you get the picture.
This weekend I'll be programming learning Java and reading up on the stuff I meantioned in my last post. I want to be able to have as much good to say about myself as possible when I call them up on Monday.
Well, it went ok. Not great, but ok. One of the people I interviewed with was of the opinion that I lack experience. The CEO is unsure whether they have the ability to handle the extra load associated with a jr programmer. He wants to do it, but he needs to keep other people's interests in mind too.
So I've been given things to look into (read stuff off of a
website, specifically under Semantic Web and RDF) and to call him on Monday after he's had a chance to talk to the person who interviewed me first and call one of my references (you know who you are).
Well, I've got my big interview tomorrow. It's at 1:30 PM. Before going to the interview, I have to go in to work for about half an hour. My boss says he wants to see what I look like in a suit.
Today I spent most of my time at work cleaning. Normally this isn't a major thing. But this time it felt more tedious than usual. The vacuuming wasn't too bad, nor was the dusting and cleaning up of cob webs (watching "daddy long legs" spiders get sucked up by a vacuum cleaner is ... interesting; so is hearing and feeling a large piece of plastic get sucked up a hose and go into the machine). But when I got around to cleaning the toilet, it made me think "I've got a degree in Computer Science in Engineering from NU and here I am cleaning toilets, and it's not like I can't program either." I don't know if it was my boss's intent, but after doing that for an afternoon I am much more motivated to strive for perfection at tomorrow's interview.
As far as my prep for the interview, I bought a book on Java ("Just Java2, 6th Edition, 2004"). It's published by Sun and covers the latest version of Java (released last June). I skipped the first chapter ("this is a computer, this is a compiler, etc) and read the second. It looks good. I'll be able to go in tomorrow and say "I have started reading a book on Java" since the job primarily will have me programming in J2EE (a version of Java for business use).
I went off to Dave & Busters tonight, but now I'm very tired (and it's only 10 PM). I'm not sure the cause, but I'm not exactly disappointed either. If I can keep myself from having a 2nd wind, I should be able to get to bed by a reasonable hour.
After hearing about Volition, I contacted Incisix today. This is the company that I interviewed at about a month ago (on the same day as the one wanting me to do testing with HIV). They said that they want to bring me on on a trial basis, and that if they choose to keep me around I will become full time (with a pay raise). They said they wanted me to come in for an interview on Friday, and it sounds more like a check-safe interview than a "prove to us why we should hire you" interview. If I don't totally bomb the interview, I should be starting to work there soon. This will mean a 30 minute commute passing through (and hopefully avoiding) some of the worst traffic in the county. But from what they have told me so far, I'll do it in a heart beat.
First off, I didn't get the job at Volition (the IL company).
I was looking at the list of bugs that people have submitted on
Rome: Total War. It amazes me just how many of them there are.
So, so tired...
Anyway, the newest demo that I've been working on is finished (until Monday atleast...). It's nothing grand and spectacular. It's a stick man. He can't move from his place. But he can throw punches. ... and kick... and this isn't flash, this is programmed in DirectX so it's 3D.
http://www.snowman-studios.com/ms.html
I am rather intrigued as to why, with me being more efficient with my coding (length-wise), that my current project makes for a bigger file than my previous one. Maybe something extra is being linked that I would do better to be without...
Rome: Total War is an excellent game. I only wish I had a better video card...
I went out and bought Rome: Total War today. I wasn't going to have much cash in my pocket until a check cleared, but as I finished Star Ocean I wanted to have something to move on to to keep me busy. I first went to Circuit City and they didn't have it. As I looked at their selection of games I came to the conclusion that they seem to buy a lot of minor PC games and have trouble getting rid of them.
I went over to CompUSA as I know they have a good selection of PC games. They had it, and on sale for $40. This made me feel justified in going ahead and buying it.
In other news, I heard back from Volition today. They wanted to see some demo work. I passed along my demo that I have shown other people. It shows I can do Direct3D somewhat, but it isn't great. I told them about my current project and that I could have something to show them on their desk by next Friday morning. It's definately doable.
