Friday, November 14, 2003
So you want to go to college?
I have to admit that I have loved the idea of higher studies for a long time. I have been through it for more than 3 years now and I will say that I have actually lived during these years. This does not reflect in anyway as to my upbringing as a boy. But as a college student you go through many things that you just don't expect to go through when you are at home. You deal with people, situations and events. You learn to make mature friendships and learn to nurture them through many obstacles. That's a time in a person's life where everything is in such flux that no matter which way they decide to go they always have a a chance to go another way if they want to.
One thing that I do greatly admire and appreciate about college study is the amount of technical thinking, innovation and imagination that takes place. Being an engineer I especially look forward to attending the graduate thesis defenses that happen at the end of every semester. These are some of the best and brightest that the school has to offer and they present their best work to an interested and knowledgeable audience. It has to be a high-point in any person's life to do something like this. Obviously the end result of this is that you pass and get a degree from the school where you have spent a major part of your last few years. It is definitely an exhilarating feeling. One to cherish for a long time.
People who do go to college and have the facility to do a higher-level of thinking and imagine and create wonderful things must realize how lucky they are. These opportunities are not availabe to everyone and will never be available to many. These are definitely a blessed lot. Once you realize that I think you will put a lot more effort into your work and a lot more zeal towards reaching your goal.
Education - it is an interesting and a wonderful thing. You have to learn to love it though.
One thing that I do greatly admire and appreciate about college study is the amount of technical thinking, innovation and imagination that takes place. Being an engineer I especially look forward to attending the graduate thesis defenses that happen at the end of every semester. These are some of the best and brightest that the school has to offer and they present their best work to an interested and knowledgeable audience. It has to be a high-point in any person's life to do something like this. Obviously the end result of this is that you pass and get a degree from the school where you have spent a major part of your last few years. It is definitely an exhilarating feeling. One to cherish for a long time.
People who do go to college and have the facility to do a higher-level of thinking and imagine and create wonderful things must realize how lucky they are. These opportunities are not availabe to everyone and will never be available to many. These are definitely a blessed lot. Once you realize that I think you will put a lot more effort into your work and a lot more zeal towards reaching your goal.
Education - it is an interesting and a wonderful thing. You have to learn to love it though.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
All in a text editor, eh?
Have always been a fan of the "vim " command on unix. It is usually the most powerful command I use due to the fact that I use it to change the config files for just about everything.
Two reasons I like vim:
1. Very simple to look at as an experienced user, but extremely hard to look at as a beginner. A great way to show off skills.
2. On a more serious note, it allows for greater viewing space especially on a small monitor without too much resolution. It is a blank screen for crying out loud; therefore, you can use the whole screen to edit whatever file you want to.
I have no aversion to emacs, joe, pico, nano or any of the other editors. I just like vim because I have been used to it for a while now. Initially when I started out learning linux I spent some time actually learning the vi commands. Gradually I got used to doing the "Esc + wq" and things of that sort and eventually I couldn't live without it.
The bad side effect of all this is of course that I can't use a text editor like notepad anymore. Everytime I finish a paragraph or want to take a break from writing I keep pressing Esc+wq. Very frustrating when working in windows.
Anyone else have this problem?
Two reasons I like vim:
1. Very simple to look at as an experienced user, but extremely hard to look at as a beginner. A great way to show off skills.
2. On a more serious note, it allows for greater viewing space especially on a small monitor without too much resolution. It is a blank screen for crying out loud; therefore, you can use the whole screen to edit whatever file you want to.
I have no aversion to emacs, joe, pico, nano or any of the other editors. I just like vim because I have been used to it for a while now. Initially when I started out learning linux I spent some time actually learning the vi commands. Gradually I got used to doing the "Esc + wq" and things of that sort and eventually I couldn't live without it.
The bad side effect of all this is of course that I can't use a text editor like notepad anymore. Everytime I finish a paragraph or want to take a break from writing I keep pressing Esc+wq. Very frustrating when working in windows.
Anyone else have this problem?
Monday, November 10, 2003
Let's Rhumba, Cha-Cha and Tango together!!
Well, that was a heck of a weekend I should say. If anyone at all has experienced the joy of learning something new and enjoying it while doing so then I can bet half of them are talking about learning to dance. I happened to go to a little workshop for learning a few Latin dance moves this weekend. This workshop was for 3 kinds of dances the Rhumba, the Cha-Cha and the Tango. If anyone has seen these dances when danced by professionals you'll see why it is so much fun learning these dances.
If anyone has seen the little dance performed by Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in "The Mask of Zorro" you will see the passion, the motion and the raw emotion that any dance can bring out. It was a great experience. Dancing is all about showing emotion, feeling and experiencing it in an almost pure form. It is a beautiful coalescent of feelings. If you haven't tried these yet you're missing out on a lot of fun. Take my advice and try it, you just might enjoy it.
If anyone has seen the little dance performed by Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in "The Mask of Zorro" you will see the passion, the motion and the raw emotion that any dance can bring out. It was a great experience. Dancing is all about showing emotion, feeling and experiencing it in an almost pure form. It is a beautiful coalescent of feelings. If you haven't tried these yet you're missing out on a lot of fun. Take my advice and try it, you just might enjoy it.
