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I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. This class shows that saying I’m going to be a programmer really doesn’t mean much. One of my favorite things about about this class was that I was able to get a small taste of many of the possibilities. That way I might find what I want to be when I grow up.

The semester started off in the most logical way, with the history of computers. That was pretty cool. I especially enjoyed learning about Alan Turing. He obviously had an amazing mind. Who knows what other genuis ideas he would have come up with if he had lived out his natural life. After learning some history, we went over the basics: hardware and software. No real surprises there. I’m glad Dr. Brown went through the trouble of making the ALS. It really helped with understanding the evolution of computer languages.

Then we moved on to networks, databases, programming, and security. Nothing really stood out specifically. Of course, we had our Scratch projects. I liked those. It was fun to really be creative. Java class is much more restrictive. I have to push myself if I want to be creative.

Finally, we studied robotics, A.I., V.R., and the interaction between computers and society. We watched a lot of fun and thought provoking videos. We also got to experiment with robots and learn a little about gaming codes. The class was really enjoyable.

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I love video games. They’re such a nice escape from the stresses of life. RPGs are my favorite. I like turning myself into a macho melee player that could make any man wet himself in fear. Very different from being a petite woman who gets anxious when she doesn’t have pepper spray on her.

People value different things in video games. Storyline is really important to me. When Dragon Age first came out, I got really sucked in. I liked that you could make the NPCs hate you or love you. And it wasn’t like the Fable games where you just do gestures or buy presents. The storyline made the emotions seem much more real. You made in game choices that logically would upset the NPCs, and it did upset them. Not like in a lot of games where it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re not going to get a NPC group member so mad they just up and leave.

I’ve been playing WoW a lot lately. Can’t afford Cataclysm yet. So I started a mage. My second biggest dream when it comes to physical conquest has always been to shoot fire out of my hands. Before I show off my avatars I will say that video games are awesome. Unfortunately, they are a very addictive way to turn into an agorpahobe (recluse.) Then again, they’re also a nice way for an agoraphobe to make contact with other people. Really, it’s just a new addictive past time. Like alcohol and gambling, it’s fine in moderation, but one of those things that requires people to use caution.

On the server I currently play on (I say current because I’m very fickle) I have three characters. My main is Akantha whose name means thorn. I chose the name because she’s a Draenei with “thorns” on her head. She’s a prot warrior. When WotLK came out, I made Ammemet whose name is a variation of the name Ammut. Ammut was an Egyptian demoness known as the “Eater of Hearts.” Ammemet got her name because she’s a blood death knight. Most recently, I made Baara. Her name means flame. She’s the fire mage. Meet the ladies.

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Robots seem like infants in some ways. You write a program for a robot, assume it’s working properly, and then look the other way to figure out how to challenge the robot further. It reminded me of working with infants at a daycare. I’d get one sitting up on her own and surround her with cushions. Then I’d turn around to get her some toys to play with (much like adding new code to a robot’s program.) When I turned back around, I’d find her fallen over on her cushions (like turning around to find the robot was no longer following its black line.) Then we had to start over. Some times, I’d even position the baby a little differently to see if it would help, a lot like making small code changes.

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So I got behind in my blogging. <insert lame excuse here> Time to catch up.

Randy Pausch:

I enjoyed most of what Randy Pausch said. My favorite part was when he brought up the conversation with his mentor. “Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life.” I don’t really need anyone to tell me my biggest vice is arrogance. But I still feel disappointed when my sister points out that I’m being a jerk or I notice it in retrospect. I got the impression that this was a vice Randy Pausch never stopped struggling with either.  He didn’t seem to let it limit what he accomplished in life though. So I guess he was able to supress it well enough to get by.

Scratch:

I was slow to get excited about Scratch. I like typing out my programs. There were things I couldn’t figure out how to do without the blank, white page. Then I felt ridiculously silly when I figured it out. Deciding what to do was hard too. It’s frustrating when I can’t come up with something creative. So when I first started writing my little game I worked on it only while I was flying from one WoW FP to another. Eventually I realized I was more excited about writing the game than playing one. Staying logged into WoW became pointless. Using Scratch has me really looking forward to the next Java class. It will be the first time I learn more than just the intro part of a language. I’ll be able to feel enthusiastic about writing a program again instead of  bored rewriting very similar programs in different languages.

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Well, I’ve definitely taken my classes in the wrong order. I already took a database class. Truthfully, I still have my doubts about getting a degree. Something always seems to be standing in my way. When I first started taking classes again I consulted my dad. I told him what RODP offered for IT stuff because taking classes online was what was best for me at the time. He kind of told me C++ was the class for weeding people out. My mom, a math teacher, talked about how much she hated that she had to take C++. So I figured taking a course in C++ was the best way to test my interest or see if I was wasting my time. After I aced that, I went back to my dad. I asked him what I needed to get a job. So he told me to take a database class and a web class. Of course, visual basic was a pre-req for RODP’s database course. So I took that first. Last semester I took RODP’s database course. I absolutely, completely, 100% hated it. The book was awful. The instructor was following someone else’s syllabus. Unlike in the previous three RODP courses I took, there were no online lectures. I thought Dr. Brown was nuts when he said databases were easy. But I guess they really are until you start writing code for user interface. Then it gets painful. That’s when you really need an instructor you can physically go to and have him/her show you why the code you copied straight from the book isn’t working. You have to use something. I forget what they were classes or other software or something. If you don’t choose the right version of whatever it is or the right combination of versions it doesn’t work. I think when I take the database course(s) for PSCC’s degree it will be a lot less painful. Now that I’ve written a web page using HTML, my view of the web hasn’t changed all that much. I think HTML is a great foundation for writing web pages, but it’s really… It’s like using SSH to write programs on. It’s almost silly. Why would you use HTML and Notepad for a serious site when there are all those tools out there that are easier, faster, and better equiped to make a really cool website?

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I’ve written in HTML before. Well, once. It was the first assignment for an RODP course for Adobe. I didn’t like that assignment. Not at first, at least. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to figure it out. But then I found out it was easy. Not only was it easy, I actually understand everything I read from Google that explains how to use HTML. Not like the more complicated languages. When I have problems with those and use Google I just stare blankly at the screen. Of course, that assignment wasn’t as complicated as the one for this class. No tables. Much shorter. For this assignment, I spent an hour just trying to get an image to align the way I wanted it to. So I guess HTML isn’t easy, but it is relatively easy. It doesn’t matter what language I use though, the solution to this problem is always the same. Stop. One hour later, I look at what I typed and, with my brain refreshed, I can find my error much faster. The most difficult thing for me with HTML is how sloppy it starts to look. Especially when I start using long, complicated links. It’s so easy to get lost in what I’m doing. Checking and rechecking to make sure the tags are in the right space and making sure I put in an end tag. I try to make sure I type the opening and closing tags at the same time, but once I start trying to move things around it gets all messy. It’s like writing C++ on UNIX. It’s horrible!

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I’m at a loss of what to say. I loved the Assembly Language Simulator. I learned a lot from it. It made sense. I liked it a lot better than the hardware from last week. Understanding hardware is so close to being simple that I’m overly annoyed by the parts I don’t understand. Specifically, why does it require so much effort for me to understand what makes things compatible with each other? And my lack of desire to learn all about hardware seems to exist stubbornly. Why bother? Leave it to the people who enjoy it. I want to write software. But there are reasons to bother with it. I want to convince myself to care. I’m not doing a great job. I understand all that we’ve learned in the class so far. I understand as much as I can without sitting down and pulling a dead computer apart that I can completely damage. As much as I can without finding someone I don’t mind showing my ignorance to and asking for explanations.

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I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to hardware. I still live in my parents’ home. Yelling, “Dad!” tends to work well when I have a hardware/software problem. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the most helpful when I asked him for help on this assignment. I wanted to be somewhat genuine about the project. If I were to ever build a computer, which I still have no desire to do, it would be a gaming computer. An area that he knows little to nothing about. All I really got out of him was to use TigerDirect.com.

I didn’t start at TigerDirect though. I started with Google. The exact search words aren’t really something I remember, but Google led me to an article with a top ten list for gaming motherboards. The publish date said April 27, 2010 so I decided the article should still be up to date and accurate. I looked at the number one rated motherboard’s description. The author mentioned that particular motherboard didn’t have SATA 6GB/s nor did it have USB 3.0. SATA meant absolutely nothing to me. But the USB I was familar with. So I looked at the description for the runner up, the ASUS P6X58D Premium. It was less visually appealing, but it had SATA 6 GB/s and USB 3.0. The author said the motherboard was more future proof, and that it was the most featured board on the market. So I chose that one. TigerDirect.com shipped it with Intel BX80601960 Core i7 960 Processor, and I liked that because it was one less thing for me to figure out so I just chose that package. Next I chose a video card, the Visiontek 900301 Radeon HD 5750. This was listed on the motherboard’s specifications. The SLI was also on the specifications list, but I remembered seeing the name CrossFire in that rating article. Considering CrossFire is also a much more interesting name, the choice was obvious. TigerDirect.com showed me six CrossFires, but Visiontek’s was the only one that said it was ready for Windows 7. I decided against the other five. Moving on to memory, I noticed there were some blue memory cards. They would match the blue motherboard. The shade I liked best was on the Kingston HyperX. I decided I would use it. The Asus brand name showed up when I searched for sound cards, specifically the Asus Xonar DX PCIe 7.1. I like to think that there would be less issues when parts from the same company are communicating with each other, and based my decision to go with their sound card on that idea. TigerDirect.com has featured products which I used to find the hard drive, the Western Digital WD10EARS Caviar Green. The description said the hard drive was cool and quiet. I’ve killed three hard drives. The word “cool” means a lot to me. For the DVD drive, I just found the cheapest TigerDirect.com had, the Lite-On IHDP118-04. I don’t have the attention span to enjoy many movies. So this drive would only be used for software installation. Cheap is good. The power supply, the Ultra X4, is 80+ bronze certified, ATI CrossFire X/NIVIDA SLI certified, and has a limited lifetime warranty. It was the only power supply TigerDirect.com had with all four of these impressive icons. So I chose it. All I need now is the case! I decided on the Thermaltake VH600LBWS Armor+. This was simple. Looks were pretty much everything. Also, the description went into great detail about its cooling capabilities. Time for assembly.

• The beginning is fairly simple. Lift lever on Asus motherboard; pull up the CPU’s restraint; remove protective cover; insert Intel CPU; restrain CPU; secure lever. The location for the CPU, of course, is the obvious square that looks like a minature sports stadium. Mount the CPU cooler (over the CPU so it can keep it from overheating.) Plug the CPU cooler into the motherboard.
• Insert I/O panel into Thermaltake case.
• Screw motherboard into case.
• Pull away the blue memory socket tabs, and insert the Kingston memory cards.
• Screw the Ultra X4 into the case. Plug into motherboard.
• Remove bay cover from the case. Slide in the Lite-On. Lock the DVD-ROM driver into case. Plug into motherboard and power supply.
• Insert the Western Digital into case. Plug into motherboard and power supply.
• Connect the Visiontek to the PCI slot of the motherboard. Then screw it into the case. Plug into power supply.
• Connect the Xonar to the PCI slot of the motherboard. Then screw it into the case. Plug into power supply.
• Plug in remaining, necessary wires.

YouTube user davomrmac made a large contribution to the steps for putting everything together with his PC Build Series videos.

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     Binary was fun, like logic puzzles, Sudoku, and some of the eighth grade math I’ve been tutoring. It’s all just mind stimulating enough to keep the brain from going to sleep, but not too much concentration required.

    The reference to Carl Jung in the graphic textbook mildly grabbed my attention. Just enough to say to myself, I don’t remember anyone mentioning that in my psychology courses. Of course, psychology of adolescense was pretty Dullsville. I guess it’s possible my instructor mentioned it in there, but I didn’t make it past the first few weeks of that class.

     Every time I hear the idea that we count in base-10, or decimal, because we have ten fingers I can’t help but question the theory a little. We also have ten toes, and I’m sure we started counting before we started wearing shoes. It almost seems like counting in base-20 would have made a lot more sense.

     The week’s lesson wasn’t particularly interesting. Just put a few things in focus, concepts I almost completely  understood. Still, it’s nice to see those things with greater clarity.

     The way technology is changing biology seems to be brought up in class quite a bit, and it always makes me think of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. The woman definitely has a talent for dystopias. I guess the biggest reason is because nothing she writes is particularly unbelievable, but at the same time it’s completely shocking.

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I anxiously delete half my Facebook status updates. When glancing over a newspaper or news website, my eyes will quickly drift to the “So-And-So Got Fired Because of Their Blog/Twitter/Facebook/mySpace Post” headline. So I can’t help but laugh to myself as worst case scenarios race through my mind. I first started taking courses at Pellissippi in the Fall of 2005. I went to Converse College when I first graduated from high school, but that didn’t work out so I started at Pellissippi. I got gutsy and went to Maryville College after a few semesters at Pellisssippi, but that didn’t work out either so I’m back. Unfortunately, I’ve been fighting the wiring of my brain. First I wanted to study history and then go to law school, but I didn’t have the attention span to keep up with the reading involved in history courses. Then I wanted to study psychology and become a therapist. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me I wouldn’t have the attention span for that either. So now I’m back at Pellissippi. After years of fighting the programming gene I’ve clearly inherited from my dad, I discovered I’m good at it. More than that, it’s actually really fun. I’ve rediscovered the concept of making an A. It’s a nice feeling.

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