So, new Decade and last semester Ramblings

Hello 2010. I suppose I should recap 2009 and the craziness that ensued. I'm extremely glad I only took 14 credit hours last semester. Last semester was hell. Everything started out alright. I was at least understanding math and I was doing well in my java class. However, as all math classes are to me, things take a turn for the worse, and math, as it always does, started to feel more like a foreign language. At the same time, I was working on a group project. Unfortunately, my group members were completely and utterly devoid of any knowledge or any willingness to learn Java, the programming language. I'm getting ahead of myself. This group project was the standard C212 project of designing a front-end and an AI that interacted with a server to create a multiplayer game that allowed a robot to navigate a game board and pick up packages while successfully avoiding other robots. The two group members I had were terrible. They did absolutely nothing. In fact, I received more help from the Compiler than them. Unfortunately, the compiler can only tell you that you're telling that you're doing something, offering some cryptic hint of what that may be. Then there was math, which for me as always been a struggle. Luckily, I survived both classes. There were also my English class and Psychology class. My English class was pretty fun and my psychology class I did very well in for not caring that much due to the other classes taking more of my time.

Next semester looks interesting and a lot better. I'm taking Mastering the World Wide Web, Computer Structures, Human-Computer Interaction, and another Creative Writing class. I think it should be interesting and hopefully less stressful.

Looking towards this new year, I'm not sure what to expect of myself. I think I'm just going to take it as comes and correct what I see wrong when I see it. As far as technology goes, certainly the next "big things" are 3D Television, "The cloud," and Tablet or Slate PCs. Personally, I'm skeptical about the cloud. It seems that the mainstream technology press is going crazy over it and sure I see its benefits, but I don't think I really want to have my applications access over the net, where they can change at a whim and you cannot revert to a previous version or if they break some compatibility, and certainly there is always the issue of you not being connected to the internet and then not having your application or data. As far as E-Readers/SlatePCs/Tablets go. I think they need to think wider than portrait. When people open a book, it's wider than long and our eyes are naturally placed next to one another, not above one another, which may be a cool mad science project. . .but is hardly the norm.

Well, until next post.