So far I’ve typed up about 55 pages of content for the PC Basics and Troubleshooting class I’m teaching this Friday. By the time I’m finished I should have around 80 pages of content plus a 20 question quiz at the end. Hopefully I’ll be able to get this done over the course of tonight and tomorrow at work.
Busy, busy
We’ve had a really busy weekend so I haven’t had much time for updates around here. I know you’re probably bored and looking for something to do, so I thought I would help you out with a few “mind expanding” websites:
Mentat Wiki – This wiki is a collaborative environment for exploring ways to become a better thinker. They have some neat stuff on memorization and mental math that I really need to work on.
Be A Genius (…or just look like one) – This site is dedicated to teaching you to effectively improve and display your mental prowess. This looks like some more interesting stuff. I actually haven’t dug too deeply into this site.
So there you go. I expect everyone to tell me the value of pi to at least 100 digits the next time I’m around…
Bath Time
Where’s My Hammer
I’m always looking for better ways to organize my stuff. The problem is, I have lots of it. I have bookshelves and boxes overflowing everywhere.
What I would really like is a nice system of shelves that could possibly cover an entire wall. That way I would be free to organize things however I wanted while keeping everything within reach.
Finally, someone came up with the perfect solution for me. And, they made it extremely geeky:
That’s right, Tetris Shelves. Why didn’t I think of this. There is one unfortunate drawback to these shelves – they cost $7,000 for 10 pieces.
Oh well, maybe I’ll get inspired this summer and build a few of these myself…
Your Linguistic Profile
It seems like I’m on some kind of strange “how we talk” trip lately. Anyway, here’s my Liguistic Profile:
Your Linguistic Profile:
50% General American English
30% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern
Find out how you rate at What Kind of American English Do You Speak? Yes, I have been known to say ya’ll. I’ve even uttered “fixin’ to” on a few occasions…
Now I just need to go back through the test a few times and figure out what I’m supposed to be saying in those situations. Doesn’t everybody push a buggy, bring home groceries in a sack, and drink Coke (even if it’s Dr Pepper)?
Happy Birthday
Yes, April 15th was Paige’s birthday. Thanks to everyone who bought her things from her wish list. It’s much shorter now than it was before, and she got lots of nice gifts.
We spent most of yesterday in Dallas. For her birthday dinner, we went out to eat at Arcodoro & Pomodoro. This was, without a doubt, the nicest restaurant I’ve ever been in. Paige had the Ravioli Arcodoro, voted the best ravioli in the world. It was stuffed with a mix of cheeses and seafood and topped with crushed pistachios.
I had the Stinco di Vitella Logudorese (yes, I copied and pasted that from their website). It was the most amazing veal shank. The waiter told me that the proper way to eat it is to scape the marrow out the bone when you’re done and mix it with some of the risotto. He even brought out a little marrow scraping fork. Paige and I both tried it, but I’ve got to say that the meat was much better than the marrow.
I’m sure we looked totally out of place in that restaurant, but everyone there treated us very well. I’m sure we’ll go back from time to time since the food was so good. Unfortunately, a meal there costs about as much as we usually spend on groceries for a week, but I think it’s worth it. You’ve got to live a little sometimes.
Wicked
Dude, this is like the coolest site ever – Eighties Speak.
I can’t believe people used to talk like this. Thank god I never talked this way. Psyche!
Rolling in the Clouds
Oops
There used to be something else here, but now it’s gone. Sorry about that. I’m afraid I linked to a site that was a little undesirable.
Let’s just pretend this never happened…
Tutorial Updates
I’ve recently updated my tutorial Managing Game States in C++. I added a port of the source code to Object Pascal provided by Marko Peric. Also, I have a link to the French translation of the tutorial provided by Ceasy. Thanks to both of these guys for their hard work.
Also, due to quite a few e-mail requests, I’m in the process of writing another C++ game programming tutorial. I’ll hopefully have it done in a week or so. In the mean time, you can check out my other tutorials on Game Programming, Lua, and SDL if you’re interested.


