What have i been doing

Check out my final project in Web and internet programing at this page.
http://mscsapps.uwstout.edu/WEB07e/homepage.jsp
You can register and play with it. Let me know what you think of it. I did all the design!

How open is Open Source

I read at article submitted to slashdot in which Sun is considering compensating contributors to their Open Source projects. This prompts the question, how open is open source. Here is the article http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/operating-systems/nix/news/index.cfm?newsid=6517.

Looking through the definitions of open source on google, I've found out that all share the common artifact of source code being made freely available without regard to its creation which means that Sun can pay its contributors. But I bet this will shift the tide to creating micro corporations that are not really corporations. The only good thing is that the employees won't have security badges.

Am I the only one reading this?

I guess I am. Well I just wanted to say that I am thinking of setting up a grid in my garage. I will try to post any interesting findings here.

http://wow.acis.ufl.edu/

Chip in

Chip in for my new Dell ....

Dang! no one wanted to chip in for my Dell :(.

I-35W Collapsed bridge

This is a local.live view of the bridge before it colapsed.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=rgwtfy76wmkq&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=6191913&encType=1

Here is an MPR report

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/2007/bridge_collapse/

Barebone Laptops

The joy of owning and using PC's unlike other computing devices (though this is about to change for the cellphone industry with the touted Open Moko (http://openmoko.org/) project), is the ability to modify and customize the system whichever way you deem fit. For most this starts at the Operating System level and of course there software therein.

Currently I am in the market for a new Lappy given that I had to give up my previous one a while ago. My taste for an Asus lappy is greater than ever. Yesterday whilst perusing through the ASUS site http://www.asus.com/, I found out that they are now selling barebone lappys; hot as ever. Given the predicted boom in the laptop market, maybe this is the way vendors should be moving to. Unfortunately non of the resellers had great deals on the barebones but it is a good start. There is a story posted on Digg that references Barebone notebooks or as they are also called Whitebooks.

Update: Here is a chat on whitebooks:http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/trans/sysbuild/05_0729_tn_sys.mspx

Languages

I promised to list the languages that I know ... Chronologically:

1. Ekegusii
2. Swahili
3. English
4. ---And now
5. C++
6. SQL (Yes this is a programming language)
7. Visual Basic (ASP Classic)
8. JavaScript
9. Assembly for PC
10. Java
11. C (In the context of OpenGL)
12. Assembly for MIPS
13. ColdFusion (Did this with the MachII Framework)
14. C# (.Net)
15. Ruby (Ruby on Rails)
16. PHP
17. ActionScript

Grad School

After a 2.5 year break, I am headed back to class this fall at the University of Minnesota. My initial attempt to go back to school for my graduate school studies, which by the way was foobared (This is a term to mean that it did not go well), came about early last year. I was planning to enroll in the MS. Software Engineering that is designed to accommodate working professionals (I don't claim to call myself a professional, I just do what I do). The reason behind the denial was that "..you do not have enough working experience.." save for the fact that I had mastered 15 languages among them Assembly Programming for the PC architecture as well as the MIPS architecture. With that excuse I asked the then Program director what it is that I needed to do before I could enroll (Yeah there is this lawyer guy who asks Jesus what he ought to do to inherit the Kingdom of heaven... Know that story), well my now friend Dr. Program Director told me that I need to learn more programming languages and yeah add another year to my work dossier. Seriously I did not know what language to add ... by then I had Ruby in my docket.. what I did instead is become better at what I already knew and learn to resolve the language conflict in me. In a new post I will post the languages that I know.

To cut to the chase, I did reapply to the same program and starting this Fall I will be in class taking three classes, Software Engineering, Data Modeling and some seminar course.

A random thought

On my bus ride this morning, the guy sitted across the isle from me was reading a CMP published journal whose title was IX Figures .... Something... but essentially it was related to some IX Figure salaries kind of a read. I am not trying to imply that the guy was plausibly earning the IX figures. This got me thinking, in moments notice I was counting my figures to find out what that was and naively try to compare to what I currently make. I realized I make close to half the figures mentioned there, but rationally accepted the fact that I am an upper mid of whatever Figure range I falling. This got me thinking....



We have Mr. Gates, Mr. Buffet, and now a new name from Mexico Carlos Slim Helu. Granted these guys are not IX Figures but most of us try to think of ourselves over there. The question that I had in my mind is what do all these people have in common and what do I do to make their ends meet? I thought I had an answer .... "The Big Picture". All these people see the big picture and not how it all comes together. As the saying goes the devil is in the details.



Does it mean that if you focus on the big picture without much emphasis on the nuances, then you are destined for success? I am sure there are other things that have to come into play otherwise we would all be in the IX Figure or more category.

Is it over

I just completed phase one of my “groundwork” for the actuarial exam which I will be taking on August 23rd in MN. It has been a intensive 8 weeks of preparation and now that I am done, I will be doing practice exams for the next 4 weeks before I meet this exam I have been dating for such a long time..haha. Good things don’t come easy

Going to Harvard without really going there?

He told us, "When you do it, you are competing with the best from Harvard and the rest of the world". That was our program director. He was talking about the Actuarial Exam. Wish me luck.

Lets get over this controversy guys!

What do you think about the two or more theories of creation? They are all very different,aren't they? Thats why we got to narrow them down to one simple, elaborate, easy to understand and a all in one theory.
I welcome all critics, you can critisize what you are about to read but bear in mind that this is a free world and everyone has got a right of opinion.This is mine and mine alone,whether you believe it or not is non of my business.

Considering God's theory of creation against Charles Darwin's theory this is what I have seen this narrowing down to.
As we all know God is the ultimate supreme being, by simplifying this to a more simple and understandable form I take him as being a fruit bearing plant and we people are the fruits.Without him we wouldn't be, so he is the creator.

We as the fruits we bear the seed within us,whem the seed is planted it gives rise to an identical plant as the mother plant-we take the image of God as it is said in the book of life.
So it is this seed that brings livelyhood ande we eat its produce.

But remember we have diverse varieties of plants, this explains the other many theories that exist-different varieties in the same species.

We also have different types of trees,same case as people don't look alike.All these have something to offer and thats why the world is where it is now.

Darwin planted his seed-as we all very well know knowledge and wisdom come from God.
So through Darwin God delivered that knowledge and wisdom to the people of the earth so that from there we get to undrestand because knowledge, wisdom and understanding come from God.

With this I think you come to agree with me that Darwins theory brings the understanding that we so much seek and God's theory makes us believe what I have just revealed to you.

You just have to believe and trust!

How much do we do?

Just how much do we do? This is my question today. Its true that every human being tries as much as possible to minimise tasks that they do but at the end of it all they expect maximum returns. Let me tell you one thing, it will not always work like that if it ever did.

Even Jesus himself couldn't do all for his disciples and the people though he had the powers to do so. Remember when at some point wine got finished at some place? Well, if you do not I beg you to read the holy book. At that instant Jesus had it all in his might to say 'let there be wine' and it was to be, but instead he ordered water and thence changed it into wine. People had to do atleast something to get their max returns.

So it is my hope that people the world all over may realise that they have to toil and moil so as to get good fruit when the harvest season comes along.

Dont stop or relax till the job is done.

Theluji potelea mbali!

Baridi inayonikabili ni ja kimiujiza. Mwili wangu umelemwa na kubadilika mithili ya barafu yenyewe. Kisa changu kinaanzia kwenye kituo cha basi kilichoko karibu na nyumba niishiyo. Nilikuwa nimerudi nyumbani baada ya siku ndefu shuleni, isitoshe kijitihani cha hesabu. Ilinibidi kwanza nitume barua pepe kadhaa kwa jamaa na marafiki ambao walikuwa wameniandikia hapo awali lakini nikawa sina fursa ya kuzijibu barua zao. Baadaye nilijitayarishia chakula na kilikuwa si kingine bali 'pasta'.
Nilipokuwa nikila ndipo nilikumbuka kwamba ilinibidi nirudi shuleni kabla ya saa kumi na nusu ili nikalipe ada ya shule ya muhula huu. Nililiva koti langu la buluu na kuyateremka madaraja. Niliufungua mlango mkuu, nikatupa jicho kituoni na nikajikokota huko. Hapakuwa na mtu mwingine ila mimi huko. Theluji iliyokuwa nje na bado iko nje ni nyingi, kiasi kwamba inaweza kufunika kiatu chako na zaidi. Baridi nayo ilikuwa nyingi nikasikia mfano wa jiwe la barafu. Si suruali yangu ndefu si glavu, zote zilikuwa baridi mithili ya barafu. Hapo ndipo nilipokumbuka Mombasa, Kenya. Laiti ningalikuwa Mombasa kwenye ufuko wa bahari Idi, ningalifurahia jua, maji ya chumvi na hata ya mnazi.
Lakini jambo la kuhuzunisha ni kwamba huku nimekwama. Nitakapoondoka sijui na hata unkiniuliza siwezi kukuambia; sifahamu. Hata hivyo najituliza moyoni kwani miezi michache kutoka sasa theluji itakuwa ni jambo la historia na jua itakuwa ndio siasa.

Ole jino langu!

Tangu nijiunge na jamaa zangu katika nchi hii ni wazi kwamba umahiri wangu katika lugha ja Kiswahili umedidimia. Ni jambo la kuhuzunisha kwamba mtu unaweza ukaitupilia mbali lugha kwa sababu ya kubadilisha makazi. Kwa kweli siku nazo hukimbia kwani tangu kutua katika nchi hi mwaka mzima umeshapotea na isitoshe bado ni hapa na mipango za kuondoka hazimo akilini hata.
Jumatatu wiki hii nililazimika kuenda kumwona daktari wa meno katika kliniki moja huku Eau Claire kiitwacho "Menomonie st. Dental". Nilikuwa nimengoja kwa muda mrefu yapata wiki mbili au zaidi. Jambo la kushangaza ni kuwa baada ya kufanyiwa mitihani kadha wa kadha, daktari aliniambia kuwa jino langu moja lilikuwa na mpasuku, ingawaje mdogo usiweze kuonekana na jicho la mwanadamu.
Habari hizi zilinitia hofu isitoshe wasiwasi kwamba ni wakati tu na nitakuwa bila jino moja ikiwa litavunjika au hata mizizi yake kufa. Daktari huyo lazima alishangazwa nilipomwambia kwamba aushini mwangu sijawahi hata mara moja kumwona daktari wa meno. Pengine hii ndio sababu kuu ya kijibahati hiki kibaya nilichokipata.
Hata hivyo, sijavunjika moyo bado ninatafuna na kunywa vinywaji vya barafu. Ni ombi langu kuwa jino hili litazidi kustawi mpaka wakati ambapo fedha tosha zitapatikana ili kuwezesha matibabu ninayoyahitaji

Finally!

After trying to get onto this blog for days i am here. I sure did need to get rid of that old computer that i had!

Zola

If I wrote a novel called "Zola," would you....my future in-laws, buy the book???

I have decided to dedicate at least an hour or more each day to writing a book that could be categorized into a variety of categories but it is pretty much fiction. The special interest groups could include Latino, African/African-American, and Christianity. I will have to talk to Dickens about it, but maybe I will post some of my work on this blog so that you could critique me.

Anyway, I am pretty excited about this weekend. Dickens and I will be going to an employee party at MPR on Saturday night. I am excited and somewhat nervous. Although the majority of bloggers on this site are males who are undoubtedly not interested in my concern of what I will wear, I will continue posting my thoughts on the subject anyway.

Skirt with a cute blouse? Dress? Evening gown? Something I'd wear to church? Something I'd wear to work? Business-casual? Semi-casual? I have no idea. Dickens will be wearing a suit so I guess I should coordinate with him...maybe we can match. We could be that cute young couple people see and experience some level of jealousy. Hmm...I guess that's not the image I'm going for...but matching would be cute.

Well, hopefully all will work out with your computers (George and Davis). Dickens works on them (or at least one of them) everyday.

Computer Building Part 2

Well part one seemed to have gone by before this blog was set up but here is part 2.

A few weeks ago, George and I ordered some computer parts that were to be used (of course) towards the assembling of his new computer. After a long drive form Eau Claire, George and Davy sat in my home office anxiously watching me put all the parts together.

Pressing the power button, the fans started humming, heads raised towards the monitor in anticipation of the blinking underscore. NONE. I pulled out all the parts and put them back in a couple of times but 4 hours later we gave up. Something was wrong, the processor was either toast, the motherboard was in menopause or the combination wasn't prefigured by the right gods or as Davy put it George had "enyamo".

I shipped the pieces back for more testing as we waited for Newegg to ship replacements for the project. Seems like the replacements will be here some time next week and without George's "enyamo" around or any of the other factors that might have contributed to the start up failure, I will blend all the pieces together and at the end of it hope to have a spanking new Asus system. Here are the specs.

• ASUS Vintage-PE1 533/800MHz


• Intel Pentium 4 524 Prescott 3.06GHz


• 1 160GB Seagate Baracuda


• 1.5GB Wintec Memory (1 1GB, 1 512 MB)


• 1 DVD +- RW


• Nvidia G-force 5200 (128MB)


• Dlink wirelss card

We can share our thoughts

I set this up so we can all share our thoughts and daily experiences. Enjoy!