Rory's Journal

I don't know how single mothers do it. I couldn't imagine trying to raise a baby by myself. There are times when I have no idea why he is crying. I can't get a full nights sleep, and probably won't for another two years. How do single mothers balance all the stuff they have to carry with getting the baby into the car and car seat? I have a new appreciation for all of them. And single fathers, too. I know it would be hard to do that without the breastfeeding abilities of a woman. So, I think it's important to note now, that Sonya and I are not single parents, nor do we plan to be. That is a good thing!

My son was born yesterday, March 21 at 4:40pm. I can't believe I have a child now. All the amazing things that this stage of my life is about is balanced with the responsibility and worries that came with it. It's tough for me to be optimistic sometimes. Especially when I am this tired. But, I can look over at him now and see that it will be worth it. Sonya and I named our son Nathan William as his first and middle name. In the tangled mess that the last few days have been I haven't been able to let many people know yet, but hopefully, if you read my blog, then you just found out. We expect to have him home tomorrow. Sonya is doing well and Nathan is, too. We were pretty lucky altogether. I'm learning to be optimistic.

As it turns out, doors make great desks. The doorknob is a place for all your cords and it's a nice, hard wood. As long as you get the flat, unfinished type of doors. Sage advice there.

That's it. It finally broke. I'm going to get a Mac. I have been sorta poking them at work, trying to pull off some more advanced things with them. Things that "normal Mac users" probably don't do. I've managed to run a console and look at the file system and that usually convinces me. It's funny, but I don't like an Operating System until I understand the file structure it's using to hold my data. Laugh all you want, but I just need to know. I wouldn't really call this a switch to Mac as I will still be bounded fully to the literal rig I use for all my other needs. Game programming requires beefy hardware, even if it's defined beefy by a year ago standards. I'm not sure about the actual purchase yet. I'm hesitant to do something when I wouldn't know how to balance my projects and such between them. I think waiting will end up being the only "option" as, strangely, money does NOT grow on trees. Have you heard this? Must be some new research because I always assumed we grew it somehow and that's why everyone was so worked up about deforestation...Hmmmm....

I am starting a list of super awesome programs that people have created that actually demonstrate what smart software is supposed to do. This list will have programs on it that do amazing things and do them well, but are also built in a way that shows an ingenuity and flair that most programs lack these days. Special note: No Microsoft programs are likely to make this list (you do realize using Microsoft technology is like teaching a pig to vacuum right?)

Anyways, I have two programs so far on the list, but feel free to let me know of more and I'll update them. I might even put a special section on the site for it.

1.) DOSBox - DOSBox is a program used to emulate the old DOS OS and run programs designed for it right in a window on your desktop. I love old DOS games. Those games made me want to learn about game programming. So, they sort of made me who I am. As of right now, you can almost use any DOS program inside of it. I think you can even install Windows 3.1 on it. It's main use is for the games that are no longer supported on Windows XP and above, as Microsoft felt that you should have to buy newer software rather then them having to support their own technology. DOSBox is free and runs on Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.

2.) ffmpeg - ffmpeg is a tool that converts almost any video, music, and image format to another. You can even multiplex streams together. It'll also take the audio layer out of a video file and put it into a separate audio file. You can take a video and capture one or all frames to image files, or vice-versa to make a video out of images. This thing is so amazing for changing your media files that I'm questioning why someone would use something else. Well, besides that fact that it has no GUI for user interaction and is completely command line driven. It comes as a source distribution and can be compiled into an executable for any platform. I have noticed it's tough to compile on Windows, but it's not Windows fault. It's just because of the compiler I have to try it on isn't well supported.

If you have an interest in these things, try out the programs and support their amazing efforts.

In a world of constantly moving time, I can only recall twice that time has stood still for me. Both of those times involved my heart.

Did you know that NASA is finishing up putting a permanent network node in orbit of Mars? That means that Mars, another planet, now has better Internet than some places in Montana. That just might be a disgrace to someone. On that note, I sure wish I could crank a 50 Meg a second connection into my apartment... Ok, so I'm spoiled when it comes to the Internet.