Songs, Sandboxes and Sendoffs

The word of the week is quiescent.

April 14 - It's been awhile...

How long have you been at your current job?

It's an interesting question. I used to think that a job was something you did for 5 to 10 years, or if you are lucky it turned into a lifelong career with a solid retirement package at the end. I guess growing up when I did, I saw a lot of people who followed those patterns in traditional jobs such as teachers, doctors, lawyers, firemen, policemen and the like. Most people settled into a career path and stuck with it if they were competent or more rarely successful at it and that was the norm for the time.

Apparently things are a-changing... have a look at this:

What a change 25 years makes to redefine what 'career' means ...

Job-hopping is the new normal, at least according to data recently released by Workopolis. According to their study of more than 7 million employment history records dating back to 1995, there has been a huge shift in how long people stay at their jobs. I wonder at where the world will be like in another 10 years in terms of what people will call a career...

And: A Million Dollars, 25 years later?

Back in 1992, the Barenaked Ladies song 'If I had A Million Dollars' was topping the charts and making dreams of dollar signs dance in the eyes of fans everywhere. In those days, if you had $1 million then you truly were among the rich. Yet a quarter century later, inflation and economic changes have meant that a re-examination of what that tidy sum could buy is in order. Over at CBC.ca, a blogger took a look at what $1 million could buy you today in Canada and its rather amusing to see how things have changed into an a half decades. While there's still some things that money can't buy, the overall consensus is that… well, read the article for yourself and you may be surprised.

Still, I won't refuse a million bucks if it happens to come my way...

April 15 - A Late Start

This past weekend, I started watching 3rd season of Game of Thrones, finally.

So far, so good. I've managed to avoid any spoilers, large or small, for the last year and I'm hoping to keep it that way as I work through the third season. I know that the fourth season has begun and that's making things a bit tricky, but given that I don't have a whole ton of time right now while writing my novel, there's no choice but to soldier on. I'm really looking forward to seeing what's in store! In keeping with that theme, here's a GOT-esque( slightly dark sense of humour )work-safe parody video of Frozen:

Aaaannnnd... on another note: the new laptop is fantastic! ( Non-g33ks may tune out now ).

When I was hoping to get a laptop that would fit my needs, there was just a short list that I wanted, beck, NEEDED the thing to have. 1) Fast boot-up and recovery from sleep  2) Great multi-tasking performance  3) Small and light enough to tote around like my old ASUS tablet.

Thankfully, I can report that the Samsung 540U is all that and more! Heck, it even has a touchscreen, which makes it MUCH easier for me to switch over to from my ASUS tablet - it's far more natural for me now to tap or swipe on a screen after using my ASUS, so the Samsung is just ideal in that sense.

I'm very happy with my new novel-writing tool!

Daily usage is smooth and simple too. I flip the lid( its, not mine )open and the system wakes in a second or two, ready to do work. No waiting for a drive to spin up or the internet to connect, which just wastes my time and lets my ideas slip away before I can jot them all down. Enter notes, search a term or two, maybe check my email and away it goes; just as fast as using my phone but without the headache of cramming everything into a tiny screen.

Definitely a writing-worthy machine!

April 16 - Play

Almost every kid loves to play in sandboxes.

I know I did, though I was less enthused in later youth when I found out about how cats saw outdoor sandboxes - yuck. All the same, being able to create imaginary worlds with just a bucket and shovel and a little time was simply magical. I treasure that feeling still.

That was over 30 years in the past. Times have changed and technology has progressed. Now we have very powerful computers and virtual reality technology that we can combine with the latest in video projectors to create… a Virtual Sandbox. There are several different systems around the world that are exploring this technology and one of them is called Sandy Station. It uses a simple sandbox surrounded by sensors and video projectors to allow high-resolution images to be mapped onto the blank surface of a sandbox in real time. The sensors allow the computers to see the height and disposition of the sand particles and adjust the video images accordingly in real-time to… well, just have a look. It's too cool for words:

PS - I adjusted the audio track of the video myself to include the same piano track as Sandy Station's other video, an ethereal piece by Ludovico Einaudi. For some reason they didn't include any audio on the particular video that I liked and thanks to the internet plus a little work on my part, the video you watch above is now by far the better, if I do say so myself.

April 17 - Write On

For four days this week, I socked in five solid chapter edits, plus another batch of enhancements, including switching the name of the primary 'good-guy' weapons to one that's more accurate. Small but vital details like these each enhance the story a little more, so that the whole benefits.

It's really exciting! I know I keep saying this, but I can't wait until I can get this third draft of the novel into your hands. It may not stay in this exact form though: if it's picked up fairly quickly( I hope a year? )by a publisher, then they may insist on a professional edit which may change some details yet again.

So many books waiting to be written...

That's by no means a bad thing: a professional editor can work wonders with a story that's simply 'good' and turn it into a fantastic tale with just a few suggestions. In my case, with all the feedback I've been so graciously able to use, combined with the time I've been able to spend editing the work myself, I think that the book is well along the road towards its ultimate form and a solid start to the trilogy.

Just wait till you see what I have in store for Books Two and Three! :-)

April 18 - Weird Beer

It's safe to say, beer and I mostly have parted ways these days.

Months can go by between beers for me and I tend to forget that they're in the fridge if I do get the occasional six-pack. Bottles of wine in my place also tend to collect dust like sedentary layers forming. Not that I was much of a drinker or connoisseur - I've little appreciation for the finer kinds of alcohol - but the occasional glass of wine or a weekend beer wasn't beyond me. Red wine gives me headaches due to the tannins and I find white wine just too dry…

Which leaves beer, which I also have to be careful with, as craft beer might contain copper and that leads straight into migraines, which I can definitely do without. Tonight I pulled together a send-off party for two people from work were leaving for better things, having a total of three Guinness the whole evening myself. It was a great party with around a dozen people all told at Garrick's Head Pub, which was rather loud and had a lot of grumpy people who tried( some succeeded... ) to steal the chairs around our table with a too-small 'Reserved' sign on it. Beer flowed, nachos were consumed with smiles and laughter suffused the evening, so that everyone went home happy and feeling fulfilled.

The banner I created for tonight's farewell party - I like it!

Back to the beer fans: Some people really love their beer, I realize that. Really, really, really love their beer, so much so that they create a sci-fi anime commercial to advertise their beer. Some go whole hog and hire some of the best Japanese animators to really throw things into the next level? See for yourself how beer and the future collide:

April 19 - Rah, Rah, RPG!

It was all rush, rush, today.

Although I had a shorter shift starting after lunch today, it didn't seem that way. It was extremely busy and with our technician gone, I was given quite a lot to do in our tech center to get computers ready for customers. What I wasn't given was time: as per usual, I kept getting yanked out of the tech center to rush out onto the floor for various silly reasons.

Personally, I find it idiotic that I have to drop whatever I'm doing in order to rush out and assist a random person who's chosen this particular time and date to walk in with what's usually a simple question that gets drawn out into a 10-minute conversation. The priority that my workplace places on people who walk in the door or call by phone is too great, I think. Customers that have already paid for work to be done should be given priority over those who randomly show wanting basic things like ink cartridges, or to have questions answered about technology they could easily find out for themselves instead of taking the easy route and getting us to find their simple answers for them.

But that's what I get for working for somebody else: a lack of choice.

Six brave adventurers, sans silly unicorn, ready for battle!

Choice was what it was all about in the evening, though: I rushed from work up the highway to join another DnD game session in progress at a friend's. Playing a halfling rogue, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, not the least because I had an excellent performance in the one combat that took place and didn't take a scratch!

In addition, I've been carefully crafting a persona of witty banter and unusual situational choices which usually results in laughter all around the table. For all I know, at this rate I'll end up as the de facto leader of the group, which would be amusing as my halfling doesn't even come up to thigh-level on most of the other characters. It's been far too long since I've sat at a table with such a wonderfully friendly and geeky group, so it's been a real treat to trade banter, g33k-references and just to role-play with their like.

A good time was had by all and I'm looking forward to the next session!

April 20 - Eggz

Happy Easter, to those of you celebrating it today. For those with a sense of humour:

Myself, I worked and it was one of the most pleasant days I've had in many months. Apart from accomplishing a lot of minor things that needed doing that have been unable to be completed due to the insane busyness of late, it was just a great day overall. People( customers and employees both )were happy, managers were fairly laid-back and coworkers were all smiles all day long. I headed home feeling a little tired( for some reason I didn't sleep well last night )but without a single iota of stress, which is very much worth noting. If all days could be like today in terms of my workplace, I could almost forget that I am not making very much and take that fantastic feeling with me throughout the week as I edit my novel.

So, to end the week with a bang: Here's highlights from the Space Battleship Yamato movie released last year in Japan. Lots of epic space-battle-boom, though the ending is a shocker:

This weeks blog really flowed together rather quickly: I'd completed it, with pictures, in less than three hours total. Maybe it's because I'm feeling more relaxed or maybe I'm just more into the floor writing these days while working on my novel; take your pick. All I know is that I'm rolling steadily along towards completing my book' s third draft and the increasing excitement I feel at closing in on that goal is a feeling like nothing else. It puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step and makes each day of late something to look forward to. Who could ask for more than that?