Tag Archive for 'ncsa'

Another End, Another Beginning

Published
by
jk
on September 30, 2007
in Personal
. Comments

After spending a day and a half in Cincinnati, I’m back to Illinois.

Please… no more driving. For a little while? Heh.

Excited? You betcha. A new MacBook Pro waiting for me in less than 12 hours… I kid. I’m very excited about what I’ll be getting to do for NCSA. I got a taste of it after I had a lunch meeting with them this past Monday. This first week’s probably going to be spent on getting acquainted with the system, as well as mounds of paperwork. Delicious paperwork.

I still haven’t fully unpacked. Too much space equals not enough limits on where the furniture can go. Still have little corners of the apartments that I must clean partially due to my OCD-ness.

What else is on my mind…

After 1.1.1, my iPhone is much more unstable than before. I don’t get it. I’ve had it “crash” on me a couple times after the update, quitting out to the home screen from whatever I was doing. I’ve had it get really hot which I can only blame it still looking for a wifi source that didn’t exist (it didn’t disconnect properly or something). I hope it was just a bad string of errors.

Still looking for a new set of headphones and a lighter mp3 player to run/work out with. The iPod shuffle seems kinda expensive for what I want to do… but we’ll see…

Lots of electronic purchases, hopefully, in the future. Lots to do in this upcoming month… I feel like I’m back to some semblance of sanity. I’ll be back to doing my Month in Reviews, and continuing to blog personal as well as technical.

Mind ready. Goals set. Headfirst go.

What’s Up, JK?

Published
by
jk
on September 9, 2007
in Personal
. Comments

For those who want the facts, quick and to the point:

  • I have given my two weeks notice at MoCo, Inc here in Minneapolis, MN.
  • I have a job as a Research Programmer at NCSA, in Urbana, Illinois.
  • Putting two and two together, you get four. Also, a lovely return trip to Champaign in two weeks.
  • Looking for housing until I find an apartment… anyone? I’ll… do some stuff for you… Cook/clean? Large wads of cash?
  • I hope to squeeze in a visit to Cincinnati before starting work, to visit family and friends, as well as pick up more of my junk. (Books, books, and more books.)
  • There is no strict date as to when I start the Research Programmer position.
  • I have bought the iPhone, after the price cut of the year. It’s definitely the best gadget-y device I’ve ever owned. It’s got it’s problems though.
  • Starting next month, the monthly reviews will return. I’m pretty sure things will finally become more settled down.
  • I’m suffering from pain in my left wrist. I have a feeling it’s carpal tunnel. Will need to find a doctor soon… but insurance doesn’t kick it until… I start the new job. Wee.
  • The reason for the “Crap crap crap crap” post was definitely due to the job situation. Hopefully that clears up a few things.

Quickie on the iPhone

As expected, most of this weekend was spent on tweaking and messing around with the iPhone. Definitely a treat for the UI-inclined nerd I am.

  • I love how the phone vibrates/makes a sound when I get any email or text. It’s another way of being notified. Growl is good, but this is much sleeker; having a physical feedback. Now if someone could hack it to display some other data while it’s plugged in, like a dashboard of sorts for everything, rather than having to click on things: A quick summary of everything you need to know.
  • I love having a third screen now that occupies my desk. The screen usage varies from having my email up to listening to music.
  • I don’t like the UI inconsistencies that are all over the place. Oh, it’s much much more put together than any cellphones out there, but for a phone that’s been dubbed the “JesusPhone”, I expected more. But alas, human engineering can only go so far… I’ll probably write more on this as things annoy the crap out of me more and more.
  • Every time I see this phone, I feel like it’s getting smaller and smaller. I’m not sure why. It’s the darn designers at Apple… they somehow made the thing seem feel smaller with each use. It seems that the iPhone got a bit of the Reality Distortion Field from Jobs.
  • The phone portion of the iPhone is great. Calls are clear, and I get more bars than my Samsung phone from where I live. No more running outside for phone calls.