I have a confession to make: I have generally terrible posture; terrible to the point where it does harm to my back on occasion. This is a fault that I readily recognize, but also a fault that is hard to work on. When I think about it, I try to correct my posture to the best of my ability. However, this only occurs when I realize how I am sittting or standing. My general pose at my computer is leaned back in my chair, providing no support to my lower back, or leaned forward, resting on my elbow with a curved spine screaming its aches and pains at me. (more…)
The Start of a Fitness Routine
20 push-ups. 62 sit-ups. These are my starting points for two very easy fitness programs that I started today. One Hundred Pushups and its sister site Two Hundred Situps are urging people to get in better shape with easy, fast programs designed to stimulate the average person into keeping up with his or her fitness.
The goal of each is simple: complete one hundred pushups (or two hundred situps) consecutively in about 6 weeks. The ease of each program is the hook to get people to try them: the programs only take roughly 30 minutes per week to complete and 6 weeks is not a long time to dedicate to one goal. The go-at-your-own-pace nature also helps to spur people into bettering their health, as the completion of the program involves no competition except the competition against oneself. Of course, both sites also offer a bragging page for those who have successfully completed the program. This is an important part of the social web today and also can give featured bloggers a bit of a push in readership, due to being linked off the heavily-trafficked program sites. (more…)
Google Updates Its Advanced Search
The Official Google Blog has a post detailing the usability tests they put Advanced Search through. It brings to light a few important nuances, such as users many times don’t actually think about the searches they submit. This causes the problem of designing both for thinking users and for non-thinking users. This problem is much like having to design both for power users and non-technical users. (more…)
Applying to Graduate School: Why I Am Doing This
Being an undergraduate senior, I am in the process of deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life. I have that covered, but getting there is the obstacle I have recently come upon. The realization of what I wanted to do came very unexpectedly. Last September I received an email from my ex-boss and mentor, Barbara Helfer. In this email, she suggested that I watch Dateline, as one of her friends was going to be interviewed on the show. Now, Barb is an incredibly connected woman (she is currently a Director of Software Product Management at Leapfrog, Inc.), so when she spoke, I listened. The friend to whom she was referring was Dr. Randy Pausch, and he was talking about living with pancreatic cancer and about his Last Lecture. (more…)
IRC, NoNameScript, and Python – Oh My!
I have been a Half-Op (HOP) for an IRC channel that belongs to the World of Warcraft server I have played on for a while now. Currently I am using NoNameScript, an extension to the ever-popular mIRC that is the workhorse of Windows IRC clients. Most of the time I’m satisfied with its features and what is easily done with it. However, I curse mIRC Script and bring a plague upon both its houses. (more…)
Is installing software harder than it should be?
I got to thinking about software installation today. The reason for this is actually quite important to why this post is occurring in the first place. I was updating my system, which runs Gentoo Linux (and Windows XP) as its operating system. For those of you who have not used Gentoo, I will explain the packaging system Gentoo uses. (more…)