Top 5 Songs/Artists/Genres To Write Code To

The geekdom series continues with the top 5 things to listen to while coding. I know this seems like an obscure post, but there’s actually a lot of theory around it. You see, geeks (read “coders”) like me need time to “get in the zone.” In other words, we need time to drown out the outside world and get focused on what we have to do. I’m not trying to say we need special attention or job is particular hard (it isn’t)… it’s just the way it is with writing code… very similar to writing an essay or doing a very hard math problem. Sorry, I always digress. Back to the point. Here’s the list.

5. The Rockband Soundtrack (No link, search for them on The Pirate Bay)

Caught some of you off guard with this one. Yeah, it’s number 5. It’s good for the casual day of coding at work, when you’re just not quite sure what to put on iTunes/Rythmbox, but you need something. The nice variety of upbeat tones can get you to lunch, at least.

4. Norah Jones (Samples Link)

With a deadline quickly approaching (or in my usual situation, already passed), nothing can calm you down and keep you from over-stressing quite like Norah Jones. It’s also fairly ambient. You don’t feel compelled to listen to the lyrics and lose your focus like you would some other artists. Her soothing voice is just enough to get you through the hectic times. I won’t list examples — they’re all good.

3. Coldplay (Samples Link)

Hmmm, how do I classify this one? I think it could be best described as “power-coding” music. You don’t want something ambient, but you also don’t want something that’s going to make you rock out of your chair. Coldplay seems to strike a nice balance between the two. And of course, their music is weird, so it probably fits your personality pretty well. Check out “Clocks” (of course), “The Scientist,” and “Square One.”

2. Death Cab for Cutie (Samples Link)

My girlfriend will probably get very excited when she reads this one. But the truth is, it’s really good music to write code to. I’ve found on more than one occasion it gets me into the all-praised super-focused mode, when the best code is written. Just an all around great band and good music to type in the geekbox to. Check out “Passenger Seat” (so beautiful), “Translantacism,” and “Brothers on a Hotel Bed.”

1. Digitally Imported — Chillout Station (Website, Stream Link)

Number one by a long shot. Why? This station only augments the effects of the aforementioned super-focused mode. Get in the zone, turn this station on, and watch your fingers steamroll through a project. This particular music seems to be best accompanied by coffee, lava lamps, and complete darkness (minus the lava lamp glow of course). If you’re feeling rich, spring for the Premium subscription. The quality difference is noticeable even for casual listeners.

Of course, it depends entirely on your personal tastes and preferences. But if you’re lost or just looking for something different, these 5 are a good place to start.

That concludes this geekdom post. I’m going to run out of these eventually. But until then… I’m open for suggestions on other good music to code by.

Suck Up’s We all Know Them

How to Change the World: The Art of Sucking Up

Check out this article about the best way to be a suck up. It gives you some perspective on how we suck up with out even knowing and how we can totally blow the efforts of our sucking up.

Think to yourself, who is the worst suck up you have ever met, then read this article.

I would love it if you leave a comment on other names for suck ups. Please keep it pg-13 🙂

Dark Window Themes? Yes Please.

Never underestimate how much nerd-fu I can bring to the table. The following post is packed full of nerdy goodness.

One of the things I really enjoy about Ubuntu (and most other distros) is the plethora of available themes for the gnome window manager. Being of great geekdom, nothing says “geek it out” like a nice, slick, dark theme. The combination of dark room + lava lamp + dark ubuntu theme + gedit = some good late night code writing sessions.

Anyway, I decided to give Windows Vista a shot this weekend, since the improvements listed in Service Pack 1 seemed promising. After successfully downloading and installing the service pack (a 2 hour adventure), I became stuck in a perma-reboot loop. I’ve since learned that it’s actually a Blue Screen of Death error, but Vista is set to reboot on blue screens by default. A novel idea. Instead of showing the user a tragic error most likely caused by shitty software design, let’s just reboot the machine and hope it goes away. Microsoft really loves the Plug ‘N Pray strategy. I really don’t know where Microsoft starting going wrong, but I do have an educated guess on what (or who) is driving them into the ground.

To make a long story short. It’s back to XP for windows tasks, and onto Ubuntu for the rest. I’ve made several attempts to go completely 100% Microshaft free in the past, but it’s going to take several attempts to get used to the differences. With Ubuntu 8.04 quickly approaching (and 8.10 right behind it), it can only get easier. A world of open-source excitement awaits!

College is a scary place.

College is a scary place.

Even though I am only a freshman in college, I have come to realize that college is a dangerous place. Lately the news has been filled with college students being killed, raped, robbed, or having their cars blown up. During fall quarter of this year, I personally knew someone who was robbed at gun point with four of her friends on Halloween night just 5 minutes outside our dorm. A student in my roommates art history class was killed in a car accident on his way home for spring break. And today, a girl was leaning against a railing on the fifth floor of our dormitory when the railing broke and she fell from the building. She was rushed to the hospital, I have no idea if she is alive, and there are police cars, reporters, and photographers surrounding our dorm. I cannot even imagine being in that girl’s position.

We all know that the world is a scary place, but why does it seem like college is one the scariest in our lives? Whatever the reason, I know that I am really freaked out to be in college right now and sometimes I feel as if I am holding on tightly for my life. It’s crazy how it takes months for a life to be born, but only seconds for a life to end.

I’m really scared right now.

Here is the link to the news article about the girl falling from my dorm…http://savannahnow.com/node/468126

Relationships: A World View

Sadly I believe this is the world view of relationships. I know many people my age who are engaged or getting married soon and I see this very logic behind some of their relationships. Now am I a hopeful romantic, because I believe there is a lot more to relationships than this. I believe that honest, original, and unconditional love can be found in a relationship with someone. I believe that we don’t have to settle, that we can find that “Fairy Tale” romance.

When I was growing up which in all honestly wasn’t that long ago, the ideals of love came from the Disney movies and cartoons that I watched. Dreaming of a princess to rescue was not uncommon. Today though, children and teens, only see love in a way that reality TV and MTV portray it. There are shows like Cheaters, The Hills, and The Bachelor which make relationships seem so worldly, logical, and under appreciated. No wonder the divorce rate is rocketing higher.

Kids may view relationships now in a completely selfish way. Who I date is how others see me, I need to get married first, Have a kid first, date as many people as possible so I know what a relationship is. They never take time to care for the other person, invest in the other person, or truly learn to love the other person. Like our housing, our relationships are being turned out like cookie cutters.

This video will help you better understand what I mean.

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.fliggo.com posted with vodpod

The Enquirer – XU grad’s blog helps him live life as soldier

 The Enquirer – XU grad’s blog helps him live life as soldier

Check out this article its about my friend Nate, who was my Young Life leader in high school.

My dog Farts

So my family has got yet another dog to add to our zoo. We now are up to three dogs and two cats. Its a mad house when you walk in the door. I will say however that this new dog, an almost two year old huskie, is absolutely adorable. She is playful and well behaved, when she wants to be. She loves to chase down a tennis ball and acts like a lap dog when your on the couch with her.

Anyways, last night I was working on some stuff and watching TV. As I was sitting there this awful repugnant stench came across my olfactory glands. I thought to myself what is that, its so bad. The only other one in the room was Andi, our new dog. She was dead asleep on the couch, all sprawled out like she owned the place. I couldn’t believe the smell was coming from her and sure enough a few minutes later I heard a little squeak of a fart come from her, and again the room was filled with an awful stench. This went on for the next hour till I couldn’t bare it anymore and went to bed.

My dog farts, so beware!

Here is a pic if you want to see her.

Andi Napping

All out there

So a few weeks ago my sister mentioned to me that she was really upset because many people around her and people she meets seem to be very vocal against Christians and against a lot of different people. She was upset because she was worried people assumed she felt the same way and that people didn’t see her as a Christian. After talking though, she realized that they didn’t know her at all and hadn’t spent enough time to analyze her actions or her words. I told her that they were just people who are probably angry and need to vent. Then I realized that people do this to me too sometimes, in fact often when I am not around other Christians. When my sister and I were downtown we met this guy handing out pamphlets for some random political candidate. He also mentioned we should walk the other way to avoid the Christian rally and group on the other side of the street. He called them bible-bashers and righteousfolk. We were kinda just upset that he felt it important enough to let others know how to avoid people who are doing ministry in the city. Not only that, but this was another example where somebody assumed that we did have a Christian faith. We were inclined to go across the street and see what he was talking about. When we went over there we saw people who were holding up signs and handing out pamphlets for their church. However, I didn’t see anyone that would be what I consider a “bible-basher”. It made me realize that maybe he assumed everybody disliked people.

Then something like this happened to me a little while later. I was at lunch with these guys and they started to pretty much make fun of Christians and discount the Bible. I let them know in the most non-judgmental way I could that not all Christians were how they described and spoke up on my faith. But it still startled me how bold people could be.

So here is the thing, do people assume that me and my sister don’t have a faith? Is it because we are not acting the right way or showing love for them enough? I struggled with this a lot and this is what I have come up with. This sort of thing happens when I am around people that I am just newly visiting. People I spend much time at all know that I am a Christian and my ministry, I enjoy sharing this part of my life. Maybe it is because these new people I meet are just a lot of times not paying attention and are consumed with their world and what is around them. This is why I need to be so careful to not consume myself with the world, but with the Spirit. I also need to be sure to be very accepting to everyone. Maybe it is because they don’t care what others think and say whatever they want. One thing that pointed out to me is that Satan is using this as a way to shut down Christ’s ministry. If non-believers can be this bold about how they feel against Christians, how much bolder should we be to love the people around us and share our faith more actively? It also makes me more inclined to embrace people like this because they have probably a reason to feel this way. I need to make sure that I am not holding back on loving people and that just loving them is not enough. Anybody else see this pattern or is it just me and my sister?  So I am going to make it a point to be all out with sharing my faith and do this better.

Late Night Rambling of a Third Shift Worker.

Well as my first post on this blog I thought I would share of the things I have realized while working third shift at a hotel.

1. Looking at the clock is enemy- This is a concept that I have understood my entire working life however with a job like this the clock is defiantly the enemy , when you only have about an hour to and hour and a half of work there becomes a lot of down time which just moves slower the more you look at a clock. I have found this to be more true at this job than any other.

2. America needs Sleep- I have found that every shift I can find some one who is on-line just about till 4:30am that just can’t sleep this changes from night to night and some nights it is different people for every 20 minutes or so but all ways some one. On a related note I saw a story on 60min. that talk about how lack of sleep can lead to all sorts of negative health issues such as type 2 diabetes just as one example.

3. I am great at completely wasting time- I have found that even with all this paid time to do what I want like read the bible have some quite times or just sit in thought of the greater things in life. Not to minchin I could be working on a club talk or getting the script ready for club, and even figuring out what I am going to do about school and getting a job. What do I do with this time if it is not what I just said I could do well, I watch movies on my laptop and search the Internet for hour at a time( and I must say the Internet bore me now) and for the real wast of time that will not surprise any of you I spend a lot of time staring at my self in this big mirror by the desk I sit at all night. You might be asking your self why does he look at him self so much it is simple I like to try and come up with new funny faces to make or work on old ones.

I would like to conclude this rambling by encouraging you guys and gals to not wast all your time and to get some darn sleep getting up and playing on the computer will not help with this just stay in bed.( if you do find your self a wake and need some one feel free to send me a message).

Best of the Best for OS X

I’ve had some time to get used to using Mac OS X, both at work and at home. I’ve also had a great deal of exposure to a multitude of programs (mostly free) that are available on Mac. I’m going to have a geek moment here and highlight my top 5. Most of you already use a lot of these. But none of you use #1, which confuses me. Anyway, on to the show.

5. PandoraJam (Link) — Music player.

If you’re as much of a music lover as I am, you’ve probably already been introduced to pandora.com . Here you can input an artist that you like, and they will go out and find other artists and music that have similar musical qualities, and play the songs for you (did I mention, for free?). Anyway, PandoraJam is a magnificent mac-only interface for playing and recording… yeah, recording music from PandoraJam. The trial is free and never ends, and the only drawback is every now and then you have to click the “Demo” button again and start recording. But seriously, pay for it. This developer did a great job.

4. VLC (Link) — Media (everything) Player

Disclaimer: This isn’t a mac-only product. It’s actually completely cross platform compatible. But I do run it on OS X, and it’s completely wonderful. VLC is a video/music/media/whatever player. And when I say “whatever,” I really mean everything. I’ve never come across a media player so versatile. It has a ton of built in codecs and features that make it pretty much top of the line. Other things that make it good: It’s free, it’s light-weight, the interface is small and simple. Oh, and ever have a video where the audio and video was off? Yeah, it has settings to adjust that too.

3. Adium (Link) — Instant Messaging

iChat video is cool and all, but Adium is hands-down the best instant messaging program I’ve used, on any system, ever. With plug-ins galore, this program can pretty much look and do whatever you want it to. It has support for pretty much every chat client out there (except IRC, but who cares), and is so customizable. Did I mention you could customize it like crazy? Yeah. You should do that. It’s worth it.

2. TextMate (Link) — Text Editor

Okay, this is where I lose some of you. TextMate is a text editor. That’s it. …. WAIT! Actually it’s a lot more than a text editor. It uses these packages called “Bundles,” which there are hundreds of, to support programming and text manipulation. You can download a bundle for just about every programming language out there, and it ships with several dozen. I use this for pretty much all of my text editing. Okay, developer hat is coming back off for #1.

1. Quicksilver (Link, Download) — Perfection.

What is it? What would you like it to be? Okay, that’s what it is. Quicksilver can be summed up by the caption on it’s website: ” A unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data.” Personally, I use this program to quickly open programs, operate iTunes, write emails, add items to my to-do list for work, open web pages… I’ll stop there, but there are tons more. Basically, you assign a hotkey for quicksilver (I use Alt+space, it’s easy to hit), it pops open a window no matter where you are, you begin typing what you want to do (program name, artist, url, etc etc etc), and it will search it’s catalogue for applications and activities that match what you’re typing. It’s incredibly simple and easy to use, and there are plug-ins for pretty much everything (have you figured out that I like customization yet?). If you do download this, make sure you slowly work your way through the preferences and plug-ins list to get the perfect setup for you. Read the documentation linked in the title. It’s important. Don’t skip it or skim through it. Seriously.

So that’ s it. Some of those I know most of you will never use, nor do you really need to. But #1 is definitely worth checking out, even if it takes some time to setup just right for you (don’t skip it!). Anyway, have a nice weekend.