http://www.aetherial.net/weblog Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:05:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2010/07/one-year-in/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2010/07/one-year-in/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:01:15 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=156 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2010/07/one-year-in/feed/ 1 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/10/what-i-miss-from-academia/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/10/what-i-miss-from-academia/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:13:10 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=149 described why I was leaving graduate school to strike out on my own. In the post, I promised a followup that looked at the things I missed from academia in order to be somewhat balanced in my description of the situation. Here's that list. 1. Most of all, I miss the weekly routine that I was able to keep while in school. This is largely an artifact of taking weekly classes, but having a regular rhythm was nice. In my current role as a self-employed developer/consultant, it's been hard to impossible to get a routine going. Weekends? What are those? 2. One of the headaches that I deal with now is getting payment from clients in a predictable manner. When at the university, that stipend was deposited in my bank account on the last day of the month, rain or shine. Now, when I get paychecks is an extremely variable affair. I have a couple of clients that pay quickly and on time, but I also have some clients who are a bit overdue on their checks. Ironically, the worst offender is the same organization that used to deposit my stipends in such a timely manner. :-P 3. I miss the socialization with my former fellow graduate students. I was smart to find another group to share office space with, so I haven't become an antisocial freak quite yet. However, I do find myself missing out on the frequent lunches that I used to share with colleagues. I'm sure that there are more things that I'm leaving off, but those are the major three. My transition back into the workforce has been a good one (and the right choice), but it hasn't been without its costs.]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/10/what-i-miss-from-academia/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/08/macross-frontier/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/08/macross-frontier/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:27:11 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=143 I'm a big fan of stories and storytelling and during my life, I have consumed a ton of fiction in the forms of books, television, movies, and video games. If I were forced to pick the one that has most influenced who I am, the answer would probably be "Macross". Some of my earliest memories are getting home from kindergarden at my grandmother's house in time to watch the "Robotech" adaptation that aired beginning in 1985. I have always loved the Macross saga, and I'd sooner purge memory of mainstream staples like "Star Wars", "Transformers", and "Lord of the Rings" than give up Macross. Over the years, a variety of sequels have been produced that follow the original 1982 story. Some have been pretty good ("Macross Plus"), others have been mediocre (everything in the Robotech universe post-Macross), while some sequels have been atrocious (Macross II"). It was against this backdrop (great original story, mixed sequels), that I began watching the latest series, "Macross Frontier".]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/08/macross-frontier/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/07/its-like-harry-potter-meets-philip-marlowe/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/07/its-like-harry-potter-meets-philip-marlowe/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:44:25 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=132 "Dark Tower" series and I'm eagerly awaiting the final book of Katherine Kerr's Deverry cycle. Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to discover Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files". I had seen the television series on Sci-Fi some time ago and I was interested to check out the books. In short, I started out with "Storm Front" on my Sony Reader and proceeded to read the rest of the books in a span of about three months on the Kindle. It's a fun series and one that I highly recommend.]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/07/its-like-harry-potter-meets-philip-marlowe/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/07/one-month-into-my-new-life/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/07/one-month-into-my-new-life/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:45:40 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=126 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/07/one-month-into-my-new-life/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/06/kindle-books/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/06/kindle-books/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:13:37 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=123 The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad (Michael Cusumano) Death Masks (The Dresden Files, Book 5) (Jim Butcher) Eric Sink on the Business of Software (Eric Sink) Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur (Pamela Slim) Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2) (Jim Butcher) Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, Book 3) (Jim Butcher) iPhone SDK Development (Adamson & Dudney) Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Dan Ariely) Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big (Bo Burlingham) Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, Book 4) (Jim Butcher) Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid (Denis Leary) If we use March 1 as the Kindle start date, roughly fourteen weeks have elapsed since I acquired it. In that time, I've read eleven books, averaging 78% of a book read per week. And this doesn't count the books that I've been reading in print or via Audible. If we factored those in, I'm probably averaging over a book a week in total. Wow.]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/06/kindle-books/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/9-reasons-why-i-am-quitting-twitter/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/9-reasons-why-i-am-quitting-twitter/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:38:41 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=120 I posted the message above two days ago and I wanted to post a few reasons why my Twitter account is going away: 1. Twitter and Facebook status messages serve the same basic purpose. Facebook has the advantage in that it more completely covers the social network with whom I'd like to share my updates. 2. For people outside of my Facebook network, I'd prefer that they follow my work instead of me personally. It's for this reason that I'm keeping @pwproject and @audaciouscode around. 3. A recent episode of TWIT reminded me how much the whole "Internet personality" thing annoyed me, and keeping a Twitter account around for strangers to follow is a bit too close to that line for me. 4. Twitter has a spam problem and I'm tired of looking into incoming followers to see if they are sapient beings or just SEO/social media marketing droids. 5. I currently feel overexposed online and removing the temptation to tweet about personal stuff helps me regain a bit of opacity. 6. All of the current methods for monitoring Twitter on my desktop fail. They have nice interfaces, but I'd like the rest of my screen back. Chumby + Facebook = WIN. 7. I don't need to be plugged into the online equivalent of the neighborhood party line while everyone worries about the pig flu, grouses about tea bags, or whatever the bored-at-work meme of the week is. (I'm not completely innocent from participating in this kind of behavior, BTW.) 8. My OCD won't let me quit halfway. 9. Blogging is the new retro-kitsch. ;-)]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/9-reasons-why-i-am-quitting-twitter/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/the-comics-for-calories-workout-plan/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/the-comics-for-calories-workout-plan/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:42:47 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=115 Audacious Software up and running. Making a run to Graham Cracker Comics was something that became hard to justify when I needed to push out another software release or tweak the performance of another web site. However, the Wednesday comic book run was a nice weekly ritual that I want to resume. So, in the spirit of getting better exercise and getting back to doing something I love, I'd like to present the "Comics for Calories" workout plan.]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/the-comics-for-calories-workout-plan/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/what-the-wolverine-movie-should-be/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/what-the-wolverine-movie-should-be/#comments Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:44:54 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=100 I've been watching the deluge of trailers for the new Wolverine film with mixed feelings. On one hand, I'm happy to see more comic book films - they make great popcorn entertainment, even when bad. On the other hand, the ensemble being shown in the previews (Blob! Gambit! Emma Frost! Deadpool! etc.) makes me worry that this is going to be a "Wolverine fights a lot of villains" film instead of an earnest retelling of the character's origin. Here's how I would make the film...

]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/what-the-wolverine-movie-should-be/feed/ 0 http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/lazy-weekend/ http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/lazy-weekend/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:22:42 +0000 Chris http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/?p=97 ]]> http://www.aetherial.net/weblog/2009/04/lazy-weekend/feed/ 0