This is a great photo of my cat Puppy and I.

DavidNeedham.net made the transition to Drupal 6 and WestHost beautifully! I had a few minor hold ups, but all-in-all it ended up being a pretty easy job. The longest part was working on the theme.

When I got to D6 I realized that I'd have to make a new theme. My old theme was just sort of thrown together and didn't really do much for me. I think that this one is interesting and a lot more professional. The original theme I used as a base is called A3 Atlantis, was originally developed by John Forsythe and modified by me to fit my needs and desires for layout and general aesthetics.

My favorite part about this theme is it's ability to adjust the internal sidebar on the right based on if there is content there or not. For example, on this page and all blog pages you'll see content in the darker color to the right and more content farther out on the right. If you go to another page that does not have the internal sidebar content (ie. my portfolio) that darker region goes away and makes room for more content in the main area.

The new site has some new features like the blogroll, comment nesting, and much more coming soon. I've had a lot of time to read every page of Using Drupal by the Drupal ninja's at Lullabot and have lots of ideas for improvements. I highly recommend Using Drupal to anyone that wants to learn Drupal - even if you're already a pro at it.

I have a very exciting announcement coming in my next blog post. Almost everyone that reads my blog already knows my announcement, but I hope to create some suspense anyway. Be sure to check back next week for more information!

I've finally decided it's time to upgrade my website from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6. I've also been wanting to increase my skills by working with a VPS and manage my hosting entirely via command line (as if I had my own linux server). I found a great hosting provider called WestHost who has VPS service at shared hosting prices and great reviews. Now that the semester is over, I actually have time to tackle these things and get a move on!

What this means is that my site will be going offline for some amount of time. Ideally this will only be for a day or two, but my goal is to be back up 100% by January 1st, 2009. I'll also be "unplugging" myself throughout the week of Christmas. That means no email, no internet, no cell phone, and no iPod. I'm trying this little experiment to reconnect to some things I've been neglecting lately - namely friends, family, books, and my personal Bible study and fellowship with God. I'm confident that I'll make it through this drought a better person and much more relaxed than I have been of late. Who knows, I might even make this "unplugging" thing a regular occurrence.

Wow, so it's already Saturday. I'm behind in my blogging! At least now I'm done with all of my MIT meetings, so I can talk a little about how things went with that.

I was a little disheartened at first by the mass numbers of Engineering-related needs of the departments. I saw lots and lots of people doing mechanical and electrical engineering-type things like building and programming with circuit boards and designing robots and similar things - all very cool, but not anything I know about. A few of the people I talked to suggested that I work full time before applying to grad school to get more experience and focus, since currently I have a number of skills but no clear idea about what I want to do with them. I mentioned the Japanese English Teaching (JET) Program to one of the faculty members, and they said that I should jump on that once in a lifetime opportunity before grad school.

Overall, the Design Ecology group looks the best with Information Ecology coming in a close second. That's actually not surprising, since before this year they were the same group. They deal a lot more with typography, design, and interfaces - more or less things we learn at Bradley instead of engineering. They do require a little more programming than Bradley's Multimedia program offers, but my Computer Science background helps with that a considerable amount.

So besides meeting with people at MIT, what else have I been doing? Sleeping. I've intended to get out early and explore Boston but every morning I end up sleeping much later than I meant to. I don't know if it's making up for lost sleep from the Oresteia, Brian and Abigail's homey apartment, or what, but I suspect it's jet lag. :-)

Last night we went to a super authentic Japanese restaurant. It was in a mall with a number of authentic Japanese stores. I was able to refill on Pocky for Men (dark chocolate), Mitsuya Cider candy (soda flavored), and some delicious, delicious coffee milk. :-D

I have notes about things I wanted to blog about... but I can't seem to find them now. If I find them later I'll blog about them then, but I think this is good for now.

I just emailed David Needham, owner of DavidNeedham.com to ask if he is willing to sell his domain name. He's based out of England and does somewhat similar stuff as me (web design, computer repair, networking, etc). So I suppose there might be SOME confusion... but he hasn't updated his site since 2004. So maybe it'll be ok.

I'll let everyone know what he says. :-)

So I'm in Boston. It's cold. Even though my flight was through lunch time, they're not serving any food service on the flight. :-( Lame United, really lame. Fortunately I asked in advance and knew to get something at the airport. I went to quiznos and got a really really yummy cheesy chicken mushroom sub.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I didn't have to be anywhere for another 5 hours or so, so I took my time. I bought a week long metro pass for $15, which was extremely cheap compared to Japan! I took a packed bus (Japan-style) to a sub hub before going on to Brian and Abigail's apartment and MIT.

For now, supper... more coming soon!

I made an observation a couple days ago that a couple recent changes in my taste for coffee has dramatically changed my coffee drinking habits. I've always like frappuccino / coffee dessert drinks and mochas. Mochas, despite their chocolatey goodness, have become just TOO chocolatey. I know, too chocolatey isn't really possible, but I felt like I was drinking chocolate rather than coffee. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, but that's not the point. I went to Kade's, a Peoria coffee shop and ordered a mocha with less chocolate than normal. They suggested that I order a regular coffee with a shot of chocolate instead. Not only was it delicious, but it saved me over $1 per drink ($2+ compared to frappuccino drinks!) That means I can afford to drink coffee more often! I've also recently started noticing that I really don't need sugar or cream anymore! I guess I've finally became "coffee-ly mature" - or whatever term you want to use to describe that. :-)

To further continue my notes for my Do's and Don'ts of airline travel, DO: Wear earbuds during all flights to alleviate ear popping. I always wondered what could be done about the annoying ear popping problem when flying. I realized while flying to Boston last year that wearing earbuds helps make ear popping and pressure in the ears significantly. At first I thought that it helped by holding air in and keeping the pressure constant, but I realized that my ears were still popping - though not as bad as before. It seems that by having earbuds in (or at least the model that I have) it actually opens the ear canal in such a way that you can easily pop your ears throughout the flight - before it gets to the point that it's difficult or painful!

On a side note, I decided not to bring my Nintendo DS for this trip so that I had more time to do other things like read and write blog posts. That's why I have so many right now. I'm currently writing this at my terminal in Chicago just waiting for my flight to board. There is internet here, but it costs an arm and a leg, so I'm writing this in my text editor and I'll post it to my blog when I get to Boston. I've been here at least 30 min, and I have another hour and half before my flight even boards, which leads me to my next tip: DO: Allow as much time as possible between connecting flights - especially if an airport is known for delays (like Chicago, O'Hare!)

The flight to Chicago was extremely uneventful - which is good. The only thing worth mentioning is that the flight from Peoria to Chicago is EXTREMELY short. I don't know exactly how long it took, but from the point that we were allowed to turn on our electronics to the point we were asked to turn them off, I was only able to get through one and a half songs on my ipod.

This flight was free from the airline miles I had racked up from my trips to Japan, but you might ask yourself why I would spend the extra $100 to take such a short flight. Besides gas, parking fees, avoiding horrible Chicago drivers, and the 2-3 hours it would take to get there, it is SIGNIFICANTLY easier to get through security in Peoria. If I drove to Chicago, it would take at least an hour for me to get through security. At Peoria, even with the trouble I had this time, it only took me about 15 minutes from start to finish. As long as I stay in the terminal in Chicago, I don't have to go through security again. To me, that's $100 well spent!

So to continue notes for my Do and Don'ts of airline travel, DO NOT: Start your flying journey at a major airport.

It's not even 5:30am and my day already isn't off to a great start. :-( This has inspired me to write a blog post on the professional side of my site talking about the do's and don't of air travel. It's been done before, and not especially relevant to my profession, but maybe someone will find it useful. I'll start outlining that here.

DO: Arrange transportation to the airport in advance. DO NOT: Ask a friend to wake up at 4am.
I get up at 3:45, shower and get ready, and contact my ride to the airport. He's online, but not answering. He said that he would probably still be up from the previous night's gaming exploits in the World of Warcraft, so I figured he must of just passed out. I was planning on getting a cab when he volunteered to take me anyway, so it wasn't really a huge deal. I went to the Peoria airport's website to discover that they have free parking! I hadn't been aware of this, but it makes this and all future trips significantly more convenient.

You'd be surprised how many cars there are at an airport at 4:30am. I suppose that's a downside to having free parking, eh?

DO: Pre-confirm your flight online.DO: Pre-weigh / size your baggage.
I go up to the United desk and check in. Since I had already checked in online the day before, he said that I could just go to the security checkpoint to get to my gate. I've found this to be incredibly convenient in the past and a huge time saver.

DO: Check the specific security requirements for carry-on baggage
The line for security is short, and before long I'm near the front. I forget to take my shoes off, so they remind me. I didn't take my hoodie off, so they pulled me aside for additional screening. I get padded down / frisked and can go on my way. I forgot to pack my liquids / etc with a plastic bag and have things bigger than however many oz they need to be (a can of deodorant and a full tube of toothpaste).

Fortunately, there was a "Subway" right there which sold ziplock bags for $0.25 for people like me that forgot. They let me take on my aerosol can of deodorant and toothpaste, even though they were technically not allowed. Actually though, I'm quite lucky I got that far. I almost forgot my toiletries bag entirely, which explains why I didn't think to prepare it for flying.

I finally go through security and realized that despite having a peanut butter and nutela sandwich before leaving, I was still pretty hungry. So I went back into the Subway to see what they had for breakfast. It was a legit "Subway" but they didn't seem to have subs or even a place to make subs in the back. Weird. What they did have were microwavable Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, so I got one of those and Starbucks new Dark Chocolate Raspberry Frapuccino.

I had about 30 min before my flight boarded, so I started writing this mini-post. I'll write another one later to let everyone know how how things go!

Whether or not you supported Obama is irrelevant. He is our next president, so try to move past the differences and look at the positives. One major positive that I'm excited about is Obama's stance on technology. From what Obama has been saying through much his running and from his newly updated website change.gov, he plans on some major improvements in many areas. The topics that really stand out for me, an entrepreneur and professional in the field of media arts and communications, are infrastructure improvements and intellectual property reform.

Broadband

"As a country, we have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and electricity, regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise for broadband Internet access." The US is far behind many other countries in availability of broadband service, and in most areas the broadband that is available is of poor quality - especially mobile broadband service. I recently returned from a 3 week trip in Japan. Everyone has a cellphone and they are used for significantly more uses than calling people. After some research, I turned up an article which stated that there are more Japanese who have broadband on their phones than the total number of people that have broadband service anywhere in the US (including broadband at home as well as mobile broadband). The stereotype that technology in Japan is advanced is legitimate, but very often exaggerated. The US could easily catch up, and hopefully with Obama at the helm, will do just that.

Intellectual Property

"The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that in 2005, more than nine of every 10 DVDs sold in China were illegal copies. The U.S. Trade Representative said 80 percent of all counterfeit products seized at U.S. borders still come from China." I am a supporter of giving credit where it's due and paying for things that are used. Many Asian countries (especially China) blatantly support the illegal market of counterfeit products and that not only hurts our economy, but devalues the work that we, as professionals, produce. This isn't just a foreign problem, we have a serious domestic problem as well. Billions of dollars are lost every year because of illegal music or movie downloads made by American citizens and those abroad. The reason for this isn't because people are criminals, it's because the RIAA and MPAA refuse to adapt to a changing world of instant-access media. They have made vast improvements over recent years, with the creation of iTunes and the thousand or so other major sellers of purely digital downloadable media stores, but even that has been fought over tooth and nail.

We, as users (and especially as Americans), want instant gratification and we'll get it one way or another. Whether that means we break copyright law to download that new episode of The Office or buy it on iTunes. Our laws relating to patents, copyright and intellectual property are extraordinarily out of date. Obama proposes reform which promises to "promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated." As vague as that is, at least he's acknowledging that it's something that needs to be fixed.

A way to tell if it's change we should support? See if the RIAA and MPAA support it, then do the opposite. As much as I support giving credit where it's due (in this case in the form of money), I have found over the years that the RIAA and MPAA are greedy and only care about getting their member companies more money - even if it means hindering their customers a significant amount. They release copy protection that installs virus and monitoring software (Sony BMG). They openly protest and lobby against advancing media technology and practices (not to mention fair use).

The only problem I have so far with this planned "change" so far is that it's hard to tell what kind of change to expect. I want to believe that Obama will be smart enough to push intellectual property reform in the right direction, but Biden's voting history supports claims of a pro-RIAA connection - which I find very disturbing.

Call to Action

What can you do to help? Besides praying, check out change.gov and check out the "submit your ideas" area to "be part of the change you're looking for." Tell Obama the problems with intellectual property and how you think IP law should be changed.

No one was available to present, so I have these videos posted. If you come to this class, someone will come in to play the videos for the class, but there is no formal lesson.

During my fall of 2008 semester at Bradley University, I took part in producing a cooperative theatrical / multimedia performance of the Oresteia by Aeschylus.

Throughout the course of this production I was moved from group to group as I completed projects here and there. Here are the groups I was part of and some of the things I did:

• Hardware
  • As lead producer on the hardware team, I managed a team of five students.
  • We used ParticleIllusion extensively to create particle, fire and blood effects.
  • We used Processing to program java to do live motion tracking while adding particle effects to the tracked point.
  • We used Watchout to link multiple projectors into one uniform display on stage and queue up compositions for display during the performance.
  • We experimented with a number of render farm software solutions including Renderman, Queue, and Qube.
• Composition
  • I built "two-and-a-half D" (2.5-D) animations by bringing 2D sketches into a 3D environment in After Effects.
• Film
  • I worked with sequential photographs in Photoshop and AfterEffects to create a dramatic bullet time effect.
  • I mapped particle effects to people moving around to create ethereal beings.

UPDATE: Peoria Journal Star Article Announcing the Oresteia

I came up with a new design for my resume, cover letter, and business cards in my portfolio class. Part of the "package" is to make everything match or at least look related. I realized that my website didn't look very much like my new design, so I messed with some colors and images to make it more appropriate. Once I got started, I was surprised how close it already was. Be sure to check out my new resume here or just by clicking the Resume link above.