Sam (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
l33tminion) wrote2013-09-24 04:18 pm
l33tminion) wrote2013-09-24 04:18 pm
Five Years Already!
Sorry to be neglecting this blog so badly.
Time for a quick update: Last weekend was my five-year college reunion (featuring some good food, old friends, and an insane* candidates' weekend design-build challenge activity), the previous weekend went to Davis Megamaze with some friends (about as fun as running around a corn-field maze can be, which is to say fairly fun), next weekend is the Marshmallow Fluff Festival in Union Square.
Performance review time at work has been uneventful. They've really streamlined the process. I'm not going up for promotion this time, but I'm planning to give it another go in six months, so I'm looking to increase my impact. Want to study more, too.
For fun, I've been playing Spelunky again, and a bit of Half-Minute Hero. Short-form but addictive games over the long-form stuff I'm still in the middle of.
Speaking of games, Valve making a big play to move PC gaming towards Linux is interesting stuff. Relative lack of games was a big disadvantage of switching to Linux, but that gap seems to be narrowing on a variety of fronts.
* The challenge was: Your team (of three people) and a randomly chosen partner team build a structure that crosses a four-foot span (between two tables, the structure cannot be adhered to the tables). Your team's structure can only extend at most 60% across the span. The combined structure must pass water from each side to a cup on the other side, and then from both cups to a small bucket suspended by the structure over the center of the span. To win, the bucket must be filled in this manner, and water that has not first crossed the span to the cup on the other side must not spill into the bucket. Teams can only communicate with their partner team by means of post-it notes relayed by the judges. Structures are built with parts purchased from a menu of components with a limited budget (including those post-it notes), and orders of parts are fulfilled first-come first-serve against limited availability. Surprisingly, one pair of teams (of four pairs) actually passed this challenge.
Time for a quick update: Last weekend was my five-year college reunion (featuring some good food, old friends, and an insane* candidates' weekend design-build challenge activity), the previous weekend went to Davis Megamaze with some friends (about as fun as running around a corn-field maze can be, which is to say fairly fun), next weekend is the Marshmallow Fluff Festival in Union Square.
Performance review time at work has been uneventful. They've really streamlined the process. I'm not going up for promotion this time, but I'm planning to give it another go in six months, so I'm looking to increase my impact. Want to study more, too.
For fun, I've been playing Spelunky again, and a bit of Half-Minute Hero. Short-form but addictive games over the long-form stuff I'm still in the middle of.
Speaking of games, Valve making a big play to move PC gaming towards Linux is interesting stuff. Relative lack of games was a big disadvantage of switching to Linux, but that gap seems to be narrowing on a variety of fronts.
* The challenge was: Your team (of three people) and a randomly chosen partner team build a structure that crosses a four-foot span (between two tables, the structure cannot be adhered to the tables). Your team's structure can only extend at most 60% across the span. The combined structure must pass water from each side to a cup on the other side, and then from both cups to a small bucket suspended by the structure over the center of the span. To win, the bucket must be filled in this manner, and water that has not first crossed the span to the cup on the other side must not spill into the bucket. Teams can only communicate with their partner team by means of post-it notes relayed by the judges. Structures are built with parts purchased from a menu of components with a limited budget (including those post-it notes), and orders of parts are fulfilled first-come first-serve against limited availability. Surprisingly, one pair of teams (of four pairs) actually passed this challenge.