An Update Smorgasbord

August 3, 2012 | Category: Cool Stuff, iPhone, Life, Night, Photos, Programming, Uncategorized

It’s been a while! A lot’s changed since I last updated, too.

I recently started my job with FactSet Research Systems. I was in training in Connecticut (headquarters) for 2 weeks before coming back to Chicago and my apartment to work in the Chicago office. Work has been going really well. The stuff I’m doing is pretty interesting and everyone I’ve interacted with has been nothing short of nice, happy, and helpful. I feel pretty settled in already and I think it’ll continue to get better.

This coming weekend I’m going to Lollapalooza to see two of my favorite bands, Sigur Rós and Florence+The Machine. The amount of excitement I am is beyond words. Both groups have been taking over my playlists and my head, and seeing them live should be pretty fantastic.

Work on XKCD Reader 2.0 has been on the back burner somewhat. I’ve been settling in to my new place and learning the area, so I haven’t had too much time to code. That being said work is being done, just slowly. I’m revamping the way it stores comics to hopefully decrease wait time; most of the necessary info will be stored in a database in the application. The image file will still be downloaded because if I tried to store all of the images it would take way too much space! The title, number, alt text and image URL will be stored, however, so no more downloading and parsing. The only time that info will be downloaded is when the app detects that the database is out of date (the most recent comic in the DB is less than the most recent comic on the site), and since that won’t download the image, that download should be quick. I plan to keep working more on that in the next couple of weeks.

I also recently added new pictures to my photo gallery! I recently got my hands on a Canon 5D mkIII + 24-105 f/4 L combo and I’ve been having a lot of fun shooting with it. I posted some photos I took from my apartment, and one or 2 from my trip to New York City (more of those will be going up in the next week). I’m thrilled with the way they turned out, and with the new camera in general 😀 Here’s a link to the album: New Gear, New Places

This last Wednesday finished up a wonderful visit by my girlfriend; she was here for two and a half weeks and we had a wonderful time, from watching the Olympics to trying our hands at cooking (it wasn’t a disaster!) to my friend’s wedding back home to a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. I was very sad to see her go, but so happy that she could come out for a couple weeks 🙂

One thing I’d like to plug before I post this, if you like the magnetic spheres Buckyballs or Zen Magnets, please take a minute to sign this petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/us-cpsc-cease-magnet-prohibition. The CPSC is trying to ban these magnets because some people swallowed them. Some were children who weren’t old enough to play with them, some were preteens and teens who were trying to use them as lip jewelry. Since most of us are responsible enough to use these products and have fun with them, please take a minute to sign the petition!

I think that’s all for now. I’m going to try and post more regularly, so keep checking!

-Craig

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