Teslafreak’s blog

Since that last post, I have actually made 2 more programs for work.  The first was a modified version of the last mentioned one (which included a pretty hefty bugfix).  The second was to be used to clean up some settings after a server migration.  It hasn't been used yet, but the testing looks good.

What else is there to say?  I bought a Lenovo S10.  It's awesome, I have already upgraded the RAM to it's max, and plan in the future to add bluetooth, a WiFi card with better Linux support, and possibly a bigger HD.

That's all

The program for work went mostly well.  Not flawless mind you, but it gave us the information we wanted to know.  My only complaint really is that once AutoIt is in executable form (which it had to be for this purpose) it's errors are completely useless.  I really mean that, any kind of error will generate the same error window, which reports and issue in line -1.  I am guessing this is basically the wrapper noticing that the program it was intended to run has failed (hence failing before the run itself).  It makes sense, but is non-the-less aggravating.

The program was looking for shortcuts (".lnk" files) meeting a certain specification.  We sent to to around 700 or so computers in the company, and it failed on probably around 80.  Unfortunatly, I don't have the ability to find out why...

Oh well, for something developed in about 3 days, not too bad.

Work is still going well.  Definately getting progressively more busy, but thats not a bad thing.  I feel like I am not having to ask quite as many questions (though I suppose you would have to speak with the other people in my department to know if that is accurate).

I still haven't been shooting in a long time, haven't really been yo-yoing (it's tough during the winter).

I have been doing a lot of study in electrical engineering, it's difficult to grasp, but it's almost starting to make some sense.  For anyone interested, I am working through the information on this site.  Great resource, very beginner friendly.

For the forseeable future, I don't really plan on re-subscribing to WoW.  Not that I have any issue with it, I just don't have the time.

Wow.  Man, time flies this time of year.  I have now been at my new job for over a month and a half. 

Well, the new job is great.  I haven't really come across anyone I dislike.  The people are pretty cool, and I am learning a ton.  The company uses a lot of Active Directory managment, Citrix, and Altiris.  I haven't really messed with AD too much before this, and hadn't used Citrix or Alritis at all.  They keep me fairly busy, but not the "so busy you can't think straight" kind of busy.  There is also a ton of space to move up in the company, whether in my own department (which is computer/software maintenance and repair) or going into networking or programming.  I'm pretty happy with it.

Programming wise, I am actually doing a bit for work at the moment.  It isn't part of my job technically, but I have offered to.  I always like to see what I can do.

I am starting to really look into the language AutoIt.  I really like some of it's abilities.  It is flat out great for working with Windows API stuff.

Other then that, I have nearly all my Christmas shopping done.  A few people are more difficult, but i'll figure stuff out.

I start my new job monday.  I can't really say whether I am excited or not.  I have had the same job for just shy of a year, and I really like it.  I hope that the new one will be good as well.  I will probably write about it a bit.

I also just published a tiny compiler command tool I have been messing with.  It isn't very fancy, but it saves me some typing.  You can read about it here.

Lastly, I am starting to scout parts for my next computer.  It will effectively be Kain 3, since my existing one has gone under one major hardware revision since it was built.  I am not looking to be in the super top end market, but something powerful that will last me awhile would be good.  I am projecting a build in the Feb-Apr '09 area.  It gives me time to get past the Christmas season and build up a bit more cash.  Any suggestions here are welcome.

Whoa, that programming tag is quite big in my tag cloud right now.  I must be one of the dullest people on here!

I started looking at the language Objective Caml, and I gotta say, i'm losing interest VERY fast.  All I really wanted to know is how to get some user input.  This sort of thing is not difficult to figure out in most languages (though exceptions do of course exist).  So I tried googling something like ""objective caml" input", not much there, so I got a bit more creative:

""objective caml" stdin"
""objective caml" read"

That got me something, a vague reference to a command called "read_line".  Cool, it could have been easier to find, but hey, now I have a starting point.  So I look that up a bit, and literally all you can find is it's prototype.  While this is probably ok for people who know a bit about programming, it certainly doesn't go into any detail about it's more interesting uses.  Not to mention if you don't know any languages, you're pretty much up the creek. 

Now, I will admit that I was being highly impatient in my searches, but this is pretty crappy.  If I have this much trouble trying to learn to take input, I can only fathom the hours I could spend later on trying to figure out how to do something obscure.  You look at Perl for instance, and you can find more information on dang well near any routine then you will ever need (or want).

This isn't meant to single out O'Caml as a particularly tough language to pick up either.  Anyone ever tried Haskell?  Holy cow!  I wouldn't consider myself adept at ANY language, but I have working knowledge of several, so generally picking up pieces of a new one isn't too difficult. 

Haskell is a whole new experience.  I can only guess that if you have the right mindset it is an absoute pleasure to work with, but without it, it would be akin to a small child trying to wrap their mind around quantum physics.  Granted I knew it would be worse for me, having programmed mostly Perl.  Perl is pretty unique, and is known to fairly well cripple programmers if it is their first language.  FYI, never did get anywhere in Haskell, still don't know how to use any of it.

Forth... wow.  Quite a new concept as well.  There is a good bit of documentation around, but I never did find any I cared much for.  In fairness though, I didn't give forth it's due dilligence.

I know that with some languages it can be argued that it simply hasn't been around long enough to have good documentation.  I don't buy this too much.  NewLisp for instance is developed by a pretty small community, and hasn't been around very long, but has some great documentation.

I'm really looking for a small compiling, very fast, but decently programmer friendly language, and am having a difficult time.  ANSI C is kinda my best choice for small compiling/fast (and boy is it ever both of those), but it is certainly not programmer friendly.  There is also C++, while it is a fair bit nicer to program in, it adds a great deal of overhead in compiling.  I wish there was a good, small, optimizing compiler for Perl code.  I pretty much wouldn't use anything else.

Seriously Perl community.  Someone should make one.  I know that it would be insanely difficult (maybe impossible, I have no idea), but can you imagine it.  There really wouldn't be a good reason to use anything else for any common task.

Oh well, the research goes on I suppose.

ADDENDUM :

Oh yeah, one more thing : APL ... yeah... read the article.  This is one I can pretty much guess I will never understand.

I've decided that (for me anyway) the best stuff to listen to when programming is electronic music.  Which makes sense I guess.  It seems I am not the only one with this opinion either.  My two favorite albums right now are Aphex Twin's "Drukqs" and Squarepusher's "Hello Everything". 

It seems I never get any good time to sit and program anymore (or do much of anything really), and it's great to be able to sit down, write some code, and listen to this stuff.  Even if only for a little while.

My project right now is a data structure for use in future programs.  It was actually originally designed in Perl (since I am quite a bit more comfortable with Perl), but I am writing it in C++.  It works in Perl already, though only the basic parts of it.  The C++ is proving to be quite a bit more complex, but part of that is the fact that I am changing the design a bit in the port.  It will be more useful in this functionality.

I have written some of it, but am waiting to figure out how I want it all done.  I really hate writing a bunch of stuff only to discover the design was bad, and I need to start over (or at the very least, backtrack a great deal).  So I am plotting it out and deciding exactly what structures will hold what, and how the different operations will work.  So far I like it, and I don't think I have any ideas that will be too hard to code yet.

Thats about it.  Work is the same (except I get to work in the area I want a bit more for the coming 2 weeks, which is cool).  Nothing really to report.

If you are interested in the above named albums though, I would suggest at the very least listening to "Vordhosbn" on the Aphex Twin one, and "Planetarium" on the Squarepusher one.  Probably my favorites from the two albums.

So the trazedone didn't really do much, at first that is.  First night I took it, I got a headache about an hour later.  No drowsiness at all, still wide awake.  The second night, same headache, but a highly mild sedative effect.  In this instance, I mean mild to the point that I wasn't even sure it was attributed to the meds, it could just as easily have been a sugar low.  On the third day I went to the doctor again to report that neither one was working.  He told me to stop both the trazedone and the meloxicam (which was continuing to do nothing more then give me stomach aches).  Instead he gave me Rozerum and anti-biotics, hoping that some of this was some weird sinus thing.

Rozerum isn't going to work for me though.  Rozerum requires taking on a highly regular schedule.  If you start taking it at 9 and going to bed at 10, you continue doing it on that schedule.  I can't do that when my work won't give me a static schedule.  So I haven't bothered to.  I took another chance on the trazedone, and it worked.  It has been working pretty well ever since.  I have stuck to the original dose, and just take one about an hour or so before I want to sleep.    I still get a mild headache, but then I go to sleep, and it's gone the next morning.  No other side effects so far.

So, I have been getting a bit better sleep.  Work is, well, work is ok.  Oddly, we have had an astounding amount of grumpy people coming through lately.  My brother figures its linked to now being the hottest part of the summer.  I guess people are just grumpy right now.  So we end up highly busy, but mostly with people that just want to waste our time.  Not to say they all are of course, but a good amount right now.

Other stuff:

• I'm trying to take up wiring.  I am trying to learn some of the basics, and anyone who has any really simple tutorials, please send them this way.  It would be greatly appreciated.
• Along that same vein, I am considering several electronics providers to order some starting parts from, the primary ones I am choosing between are Jameco, Digikey, and Mouser.  Any suggestions here are also appreciated.
• I am also trying to take up microprocessor programming, particularly, I plan on buying an Arduino and an AVR programmer soon.
• I have been doing some programming, but not much

I am trying to shift my work schedule, I am hoping for a 4 day week.  Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri 10-6.  This is good for a few reasons, it allows me to go in only on days that our carpool was needed anyway, and it gives me a day in between to rest up my ankles and such.  Hasn't happened yet, but the person that does scheduling says it may be possible.

So thats it I believe.  Later.

I am typing this on my computer again!  I decided to replace what I felt was the most likely candidate first, so I went out and bought a beastly 700 watt PSU.  I installed that thing (and cleaned my case while I was at it), and it powered right up.

The thing is, that is the second PSU I have had just fail for no apparent reason.  I mean, I run this thing on a UPS unit, so it isn't power surges/brownouts/blackouts.  The only thing I can figure is overheating.  If you have ever been in my room, you know this is a distinct possibility (Its like 80 degrees in here right now).  I wish I could keep it cooler, but the house's structural design seems to forbid that.  Mostly I am just hoping that no other components were damaged in the process.

Oh, and as for work....  So, I did get the full-time position (and a raise).  I also got a better opportunity to work more old PC....for a minute anyway.  The higher up I spoke of leaving is one of the primary people that does old PC work, so with him away I worked a ton of it.  It was great to say the least (not as much walking = less pain these days).  However, he came back, right into his old position.  On one hand it's good, he is very good at old PC, and it should give me a chance to learn more.  On the other hand, it knocks me back out of a bunch of old PC time slots.  Also, the company continues to place what I feel is unfair stresses upon us.  Yes I am being vague, no I won't elaborate.

No programming is getting done, but I am planning things.  The incredible lack of work is largely due to the following paragraphs.

I have been fairly sick for a bit shy of a month now.  I hardly sleep, and when I do it is in short amounts, and not good sleep.  I also haven't been drinking caffeine (largely to try and make sure that nothing keeps me from being able to sleep).  It has made for an interesting time.  I finally went to a doctor to see what is going on.  He suspects that a good majority of what is going on is a result of insomnia, and a fun little vicious cycle.  See, part of what has been keeping me from sleeping well is the pain I have been in.  Lots of it, in various places (mostly legs and back).  Unfortunately, not sleeping leads itself to pretty awful fatigue and body aches after awhile, and you can probably see where this is leading.

Anyhow, he was also wondering whether it could be linked to a thyroid problem, or perhaps sleep apnea (since it is in my family, and I am known to snore, which is a sign of it).  He also decided to perscribe 2 medications for me. 

The first is Meloxicam, which is an NSAID (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug), or for those who are not familiar, it is an anti-inflammatory drug commonly used for treatment of arthritus.  I'm not too happy about it since the only thing it has done to me after 3 or 4 days of taking it is mess up my apetite and cause stomach issues.  I figure i'll give it more time, and see where it gets me.

The other is Trazodone, which is kind of an interesting one.  You see, Trazodone was originally an anti-depression drug, but they noticed that people who take it were really tired.  So they decreased the dosage, and now also use it as a sleep aid.  In my instance it is for the sleep aid aspect (50mg dose at night).  I didn't take it at first since I read that it is quite common for your first few days to be rough, and I have work.  Then when I had an opportunity to take it, I pretty much chickened out.  It's a bad idea to read the lists of side effects for medications.  Now I can't again since I work.  I may take it in about 2 days anyway (when I work later the next day).  I'm not happy about this solution either because of it's side-effects, and the fact that many people believe it should be confined only to the anti-depressant aspects, and only used for that reason.

So, for now I get to just kinda deal with the current state of things.  Which is lots of pain, extreme tiredness pretty much 24x7, a decent amount of difficulty concentrating, and the funnest one of all, unstable mental state.  In other words, I get really mad about stupid crap that normally wouldn't bother me, and also have a really difficult time handling stress, which is why I don't feel like working with customers at work. 

Things are okay though.  I keep feeling like i'm just a good nights sleep away from feeling good, but it's a tougher situation then it seems.  People that haven't had actual insomnia probably don't get it (I didn't either, I mean, how hard can it be to sleep).  Oh, and I mean actual insomnia, not "sleeping poorly for a few days".  Actual insomnia is actually incredibly bad for you.

Anyway, we'll see how things go.  If I actually take me Trazodone, i'll probably report on how that goes. 

Well, I am getting much worse at keeping this thing active, but this time I have an excuse!  You see, my computer has actually been dead for a few weeks now.  I kinda thought I had already put that here, but I guess not.  I went to power it up one day, and it doesn't.  It is difficult at this time to know whether it is power supply or motherboard/CPU, given some of the circumstance, they are both likely candidates.  The MB, the PSU, and the CPU are all under extended warranties from the somewhat defunct CompUSA.  By somewhat I mean that there is no store for me to go sort this out at, but they didn't leave everyone hanging.  An insurance company still covers the components, and is arranging to sort this out for me.  They are going to just reimburse me the cost of the components, since they no longer make the board that I am using, and I pointed out that I have specific needs.

Anyhow, been without it for a few weeks now, and it will still be bricked for a few weeks more I suspect.

In work related news, there are changes upon us.  Two of our four full timers are gone, one of which was also a higher up.  One left to pursue other work entirely, and their last day was yesterday.  The other will still be in the company, just no longer at our location.  Out understanding is that their last day would be a week or so out, but they got a call saying that today is effectively their last day.

I applied to take up one of those full time positions, and am told I will have a good grasp of whether or not I got it by tommorow.  I am somewhat nervous about this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my ankle.  For those who are unaware, I have messed up ankles (and practically every other joint, but the ankles are key here).  I have made great strides in building up endurance to be able to work on my feet and still manage it.  However, it does mean that I can't be on my feet too much in a given day/week/period of time without running into some pretty severe problems.  My hope is that with the full time position, there will be some changes that will allow me to spend a bit more time at a desk, and I am told that may well be the case.