What have you been up to?
 

Inspired by a recent thread regarding the lack of community feel, etc... I decided to start this thread so those who want to reconnect withing the community could chime in about their recent projects and/or events in their lives.

As for me... I've been mainly pre-occupied with family life... chasing my 1 year old around the house and getting ready for #2 to arrive in August. I have a new employer, yet still work for the same DoD contract. I was employed by three different companies in the span of 2 months, mainly due to following better benefits and a higher salary. I've also been addicted to Xbox Live, particularly Call of Duty 4, so most of my "free time" I waste away gaming.

As far as projects go, here is what I have been up to recently...

1 ) Using C++, I'm trying to streamline a home surveillance system that is derived from the camstream program. Getting it to record video when the motion detectors outside light up the night, then to go dormant when the lights go off. Already setup scripts to upload the most recent snapshot from the survelliance to apache so I can monitor it from the web. Really looking for a way to pan and tilt the camera using some web based interface.

2) Working on a system backup program written in Perl.

3) Using C#, working on image analysis and comparisons from images taken from the surveillance system mentioned above.

4) Using PHP to tie into a userid and password management system to provide a user authentication API to an Oracle based web application.

5) Due to being diagnosed with high blood pressure I am writing a blood pressure monitoring program using C#. I already wrote a web based app for this using PHP with a MySQL backend.

6) Creating a few websites for local business using PHP and MySQL. In some instances, used the Drupal CMS.

7) Wrote a few web services using C#.

8) Eventually going to finish building a beowulf cluster.

9) Tinkering with the Blowfish cipher using C++.

10) Wrote a client/server app using C++ and PL/SQL to tie into a Oracle Internet Directory web portal that is the front end to a large data warehouse.

11) Reviewing Oracle Identity Manager and Sun One Identity server in attempts to replace our home grown userid and password management system.

etc...

Re: What have you been up to?
 

A lot has happened in my live over the past year. I retired from computer programming about 8 months ago and started getting social security (yea, all you younger people who have jobs are now supporting me :). Got sick quickly of nothing to do so I went to work part time at Wal-Mart as a cashier.

And just this month I started getting medicare because I turned 65 in February. I have two grandchildren -- granddaughter is 21 this year and grandson is 17.

The only computer programming I do nowdays is what it takes to help people out here at PFO and at DaniWeb. I've been a member of PFO for several years, but was not active until just recently.

Re: What have you been up to?
 

Well I have been pretty busy this past year. I finally graduated with my BS degree last August. I was offered a job to move to the Philly, PA area but got a better offer here in Fargo, ND so I decided to stay here. I am kind of regretting not moving because it would have been a good experience to get out of Fargo, but I think I made the right move professionally. I am now working as a Web Programmer for a private company called Swanson Health Products. I have been trying to get back up to speed with my Java skills, since that is what the website is written in.

As for side projects I haven't really been doing to much except getting back up to speed with Java. I am currently writing a forum software in Java (JSP/Servlets) using the Spring Framework and Hibernate. I am only really writing it because it is a system I know how it works and is a good way to help figure out the frameworks.

@IR
Have you done much work on the cluster? I saw that you were going to work on building one of those and thought it would be interesting. I have been considering doing that for a while now, but really don't know what I would use it for.

@Ancient Dragon
I think that after I retire someday way way way down the line, I would have to get a part time job as well. I think I would get really bored not having a job at least part time.

Re: What have you been up to?
 

Going back as far as June, I got my degree, went to Europe for 2 weeks (first time leaving N. America), and in July started working at a large software company in Redmond. Been working quite happily there, though work is busy/stressful enough that I get home and have little energy for programming projects. Lately I've been working on stuff related to Silverlight 2 though, and it's bringing the energy back; now if I could just get some creative juices flowing again. In the rest of my free time I've spent much of it playing Halo 3, only recently breaking the addiction with Mass Effect.

Re: What have you been up to?
 

I've been busy with school, this week alone I have two take-home Mid-term exams and two large assignments. - Software Engineering at Conestoga College :)

Still not sure what I want to do with my life, for some reason right now mathematics excites me more than computer programming :\

I've been throwing around ideas of projects I could do during my time off in the summer (April - September), I definitely want to take some time to play around with the Cell processor, either on a PS3 or using IBM's simulation software.

Re: What have you been up to?
 

i'm new so ever since i signed up till now i been just reading posts trying to learn more

Re: What have you been up to?
 

I can't express how nice it is to see you guys post updates like this. I guess I didn't realize how big a part of my life PFO was until cscgal's poll showed up. I know I've never been big in conversations, and no one knows me, but I have been trolling around here for a long while now.

Sentimental stuff, aside.

@Ancient Glad to be supporting you. I 100% believe that communites should support their elders.

@IR Congrats on the new arrival! :)

@Big K It's good to see you post again!

My life's... I am attempting to enroll in college. And, after having been robbed at knife point where I worked last November, and testifying against the guy, I'm attending stress counseling, while looking for a new job.

PROJECTS! I've got three albums that I've been working on since last summer. Each one has a main focus -- techno, rock, and acoustic, but the genres all tend to bleed together. I hope to get them fully mixed and professionally mastered by the end of the year. I also hope to begin playing out again shortly... I've got the itch.

I'm working on a hybrid web-browser/data management program in C++; based on Mozilla.

An open source icon editing software that is functional, but hasn't been released yet. I think I need to do an overhaul on the code before I do anything with it.

A baseball team management simulator in C++ -- 2 version: a prototype using wxWidgets, and a DirectX-based one that I can use to build up my library. Haven't decided if that will be open source, yet, but I'm learning a ton while working on it.

I'm still doing some freelance web development in PHP/PERL. Worked a lot with Drupal and Joomla over the last year. Just installed b2evolution on my web site (sig,) and I love it! I can't believe I've had a web site up for almost 9 years and never put a blog system on it.

I put the books I was writing on hold. I just haven't been in the mood lately, and I just entered a local essay contest, so I'm kind of waiting to see how that turns out.

Lastly, I've spent far too much time playing full-tilt-poker on-line (no money involved, just for fun,) and SimCity 4.

Re: What have you been up to?
 

@Ancient Dragon: Congratualtions on your retirement! Hopefully, I'll make it to see my retirement. I'm glad to see all of that SS tax going to good use! :) I don't think I could stay away from coding for very long, so even in retirement, I would have to write the occasional program... keeps me sane. We have way too many asshats at our local walmart, would never work there. I think I'd spend retirement backpacking the Yukon if my health allowed it. My father retired not too long ago, but it is one of the non-stop types, so he always finds random things to do. I took my daughter out of daycare and I am paying them to keep her during the day now, mainly so they can get some quality time with her... my parents love having her around. She keeps them young.

@big_k105: Congrats to you as well, for graduating with your BS degree. Last I heard from you, I thought you were going to Philly. Everything happens for a reason man, I'm sure in time you will end up where you need/want to be. I actually accpeted a job offer out of state, with the North Carolina Dept of Justice... the day I turned in my resignation my employer (as of two DoD contractors ago) offered me more money to hang around. I notified NC-DoJ about the increase in salary and unfortunately, they couldn't match it. That same night, I found out about #2 coming around the corner so we opted to stay. Then a few months later my department was subcontracted to yet another DoD contracting company, where my salary was raised significantly and better benefits were provided. No matter how much you try to get away from your hometown, something always draws you back... I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I've left here three times and each time came back. One day, I'll make it outta here! Sounds like you have a fulfilling job and an interesting project to work on. As far as my beowulf cluster, I have the hardware for a low-end prototype (just six nodes), I'm trying to decide on operating system at this point... looking at parallel knoppix and CentOS. Two nodes were recently yanked because I needed a dedicated Solaris x86 box so I could support source code on that platform, and one was used for Windows 2003 Enterprise for support of a few active directory programs I've been cooking up, which is also used as a printer and file storage server. I was wanting to use the cluster to model hurricanes and tornados... was also considering applying it to protein folding projects. But basically, I just want to get a simplified, scaled down system running... then purchase identical hardware with top of the line specs to have a production level cluster.

@Jimbo: Congrats on your degree as well! Shhh! Don't tell the Linux nazis you are working for Microsoft. :) Just kiddin'. I've thought about having an IIS web server runing over w2k3 to support ASP.Net development and a few web applications that I want to write in C#. Silverlight looks promising, I may even tinker with it a bit. Halo 3 started collecting dust when Call of Duty 4 was released. I haven't gotten into Mass Effect yet, but contemplated it.

@Benoit: How many more years do you have to go before you graduate? How about writing software to solve mathematics problems, you get both of your fixes in one project. :) Good luck on the Cell processor...

@Captain119: Again, welcome to the community! We're glad to have you aboard!

@dr.p: PFO is a hidden addiction that integrates itself into your everday life. I used to have withdrawals when I didn't visit the site. I gradually weened myself off, but hope to be more pro-active in weeks to come. Sucks that you were robbed at knife point, glad you are okay. In my state, we have the Castle Law... as to where we have the right to kill anyone that threatens us or our property. I'm sure there is some fine print to it, but in your case it would have been justifiable homicide if you defended yourself (had you had the opportunity to do so). You write your own music? Wouldn't mind hearing some of it... Sounds like you have a tons of ongoing projects as well, the hybrid web-browser/data management program in C++ is particularly interesting to me. I opted to use Drupal over Joomla for a content management system on a few sites I am working on. Looking to overhaul a few other sites soon. What were the books you were writing about? I usually get my gambling fix at the local casinos while playing roulette or craps... glad to see someone is saving their money. :) Good luck on the essay contest!

Re: What have you been up to?
 

Only taking 2 classes this semester, and working ~32 hours/week at my new(ish) job as a programmer/tester.

Most recent project I worked on for myself was a cryptoquote solver. Most recent project at work was/is bug hunting in a Java applet.

I've also been tutoring lower-division Computer Science students at school in the evenings.

In regards to my personal life, I've just been trying to spend as much time as I can with my girlfriend and friends whenever possible. Also trying to save some money to move back out of my parents house. I've been living at home again since October when I broke up with my ex-girlfriend and moved out of our shared apartment.

Re: What have you been up to?
 

I'm sure the law would understand protecting myself. I would hope anyway. :) All I could think at the time, tho, was "OH $@#! KNIFE!"

http://neeley.org/?con=music Bunch of amateur mixes and recordings, but it's always up there.

It's a day dream... I just want a browser that helps me keep track of data, and classify it in a better way than just using bookmarks and del.icio.us. It's one of those things that may never happen, and I'll most likely find some awesome plug-in for mozilla that does the same thing. But, you never know.

Can you elaborate on #10 on your project list, a little?

I dug joomla's power, but drupal's simplicity won me over. Did that get you too?

Life fiction, mostly. I used to be a big Kerouac fan (style, not content,) if that helps any. I like the prosey rants about everyday people and events, pace changes. He wrote like music; like jazz. In my two favourites he did, anyway.

Thanks! :)