Μπορεί να είδατε το σημείωμά στα Αγγλικά, αλλά καλού κακού είπα να το βάλω και στα Ελληνικά.

Είναι πια καιρός να πάει το μπλόγκ διακοπές και φέτος. Αν και εγώ θα είμαι σπίτι, ο Μάιος είναι τρελός μήνας με εξετάσεις, εργασίες, και διάφορα άλλα που πρέπει να κάνω. Ο ιστότοπος αυτός και το μπλόγκ χρειάζονται και μερικές αλλαγές, οπότε αφού δεν έχω και πολύ χρόνο σταματάω να δημοσιεύω καινούργια άρθρα μέχρι να τελειώσω όλες τις δουλειές μου... δηλαδή μέχρι την μέση του Ιουνίου.

Το άλλο μου μπλόγκ περί των σπουδών μου (το οποίο είναι γραμμένο στα Αγγλικά) θα παραμείνει ανοιχτό αφού μάλλον θα το χρησιμοποιώ για μαθήματα και είναι στην υπηρεσία blogger, οπότε δεν θα χρειαστεί να κάνω και πολλές αλλαγές εκεί. Αν θέλετε να το παρακολουθείτε όσο λείπω από εδώ, κάντε κλικ εδώ.


Καλές διακοπές και σε εσάς!

It's that time of the year again!

Time to take this blog off the front burner, put it on the back burner, and make some website updates. Yes most people tend to do these updates while keeping their blog in service, however with Final Papers and Final Exams coming up in the Month of May, I've decided to take my blogger's vacation now

I will still be blogging on my ID blog (click here to go there) since this is my school/education blog and I will most likely be using it for classes.


I shall return here sometime in mid June


The photo is a shot of Zakinthos from Kourouta beach, in the evening - a place I wish I were spending my blog-vacation

Tags: personal, vacation

Άσχετο, άλλα χτες συνειδητοποίησα κάτι. Εδώ και μισό χρόνο έχω κόψει πολλά πράγματα που είναι κακά για την υγεία... και το περίεργο είναι πως δεν το έκανα συνειδητά! Τι έκοψα;

Πρώτα απ' όλα το αλάτι. Ναι μεν που και που μου αρέσει να έχω κάτι υπέρ αλμυρό, αλλά σε γενικές γραμμές δεν βάζω αλάτι στο φαΐ, και το προετοιμασμένο φαΐ που παίρνω μαζί μου στην δουλειά έχει λίγο αλάτι μέσα του - τα λεγόμενα «low sodium».

Έκοψα τους πολλούς καφέδες. Ναι μεν του αντικατέστησα με τσάι, αλλά λέμε τώρα...

Έκοψα την ζάχαρη στο τσάι. Όταν έπινα τσάι έβαζα αρκετή ζάχαρη μέσα. Τώρα επειδή βαριέμαι να προσπαθώ να βρίσκω ζάχαρη στο πανεπιστήμιο την έκοψα.

Έκοψα την κόκα κόλα και γενικός τα ζαχαρούχα αναψυκτικά. Καλά αυτό το έκανα συνειδητά Που και που θα πιώ καμία κοκα κόλα με βότκα, άλλα δεν κατεβάζω τα δίλιτρα όπως παλιά.

Τελικά τώρα που δεν καταναλώνω αυτά τα πράγματα σε μεγάλες ποσότητες όπως παλιά η γεύση τους είναι πιο έντονη όταν τα καταναλώνω σε μικρές ποσότητες! Κάνουμε και οικονομία

Tags: food, health, φαί, υγεία

Τις προάλλες κοίταζα στο google images να βρω μερικές εικόνες από ελληνικά προϊόντα για ένα μάθημα που έχω. Το μάθημα είναι περί κουλτούρας και πως την συνδυάζει στα μαθήματα διδασκαλίας μια ξένης γλώσσας. Εγώ φυσικά ενδιαφέρομαι να για την διδασκαλία της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας αφού εδώ κοντά δεν υπάρχουν πολλά μέρει για να μάθεις την γλώσσα.

Έτσι λοιπόν άρχισα να κοιτάζω για προϊόντα που μπορεί κανείς να βρει σε περίπτερα. Πράγματα όπως η σοκοφρέτα, τα τσιγάρα, τα διάφορα νερά και τα Δρακουλίνια.

Τέλος πάντων, κοιτάω, κοιτάω, κοιτάω, και βρίσκω μια φωτογραφία από συσκευασία Cheetos Δρακουλίνια. «Cheetos Δρακουλίνια;;;» σκέφτομαι Ένα μικρο κομμάτι από μέσα μου πέθανε. Τα δρακουλίνια ήταν κάτι Ελληνικό και τώρα πια έχει γίνει πολυεθνικό εντός Ελλάδος γιατί δρακουλίνια δεν μπορείς να βρεις στην Αμερική.

Που καταντήσαμε

Να μια κλασσική διαφήμισή για να θυμόμαστε τα παλιά λοιπόν.

Tags: personal, δρακουλίνια, περίεργα

Χτες έγραψα για μια στοίβα από παλιά αλληλογραφία.

Όλο αυτό φυσικά δεν ήταν ξεκάρφωτα Τις προάλλες και άλλοι στο Ελληνικό Καφενείο έχουν αρχίσει να αναρωτιούνται τι απέγινε ο τάδε και ο τάδε από τις παλιές καλές μέρες του Yahoo Chat πριν δέκα χρόνια.

Λες να είναι επειδή έχουν περάσει δέκα χρόνια και τα ρολογάκια μέσα μας να έχουν αρχίσει να χτυπάνε; Πολλές φιλίες, ελληνικές και μη, άρχισαν πριν δέκα χρόνια σε yahoo chat, κατά την φάση του web 1.0. Με μερικούς έχω κρατήσει επαφές, και με άλλους όχι και τόσο.

Αυτοί που είναι εντός τεχνολογικών κύκλων έχουν επαφή μαζί μου, οι άλλοι όχι και τόσο επειδή ποτέ δεν είχα χρόνο (από τότε που άρχισα πανεπιστήμιο ) να κάθομαι να γράφω μεγάλα γράμματα

Τέλος πάντων, τελικός και εγώ αναρωτιέμαι που βρίσκονται όλες αυτές οι γνωριμίες από το web 1.0 με τις οποίες έχω χάσει επαφή. Αν διαβάζετε το μπλόγκ, ρίξτε κανένα email ή βρείτε με στο φέιςμπουκ.

Tags: yahoo, old school, chat

Recently I was going through old correspondence that I had saved, you know, the old school type. The one that is handwritten, stamped and mailed. The one that you waited for a week or so to show up to its destination. Yeah, that one.

In any case, along with handwritten letters, I also found out printouts of my first internet friendships and it struck me as intriguing that it's been ten year since I've known some of these individuals. People that were once random connections in a chat room, talking about soccer, or how college compared between the US and their country, are now acquaintances or good friends.

With some people I've stayed in touch, I've found on Facebook or some other social network, and with others I've completely lost touch. Just like physical addresses, people move out of an email or an IM username and then they become incognito.

It's interesting to look back, even as recent as ten years ago, and see what's happened to acquaintances and relationships. Today's youth probably won't know what it means to be to lose touch given that they friend everyone they know on Facebook (and Facebook-like services). I guess for them losing touch won't mean not knowing anything about their former acquaintances... This is interesting to think about...

Tags: memento, letters

...or octapus in Greek.

This is an awesome little animation

Tags: animated, youtube, video

I saw this image on the FAIL blog a week ago and I thought I should share it with you.

It reminds me of a story a friend once told me of his/her actions while drunk thinking that he/she was a merman/mermaid
(articles are intentionally both male and female to protect the identity of the friend)

Tags: FAIL, friends, stories, humor

A while back I saw this comic book cover generator on one of my contact's profiles on Facebook.

Since I had nothing to do the other day I went through the generator and made myself info a super hero - batwings and all!

If you've got some time to waste and want a comic book cover of your alternate persona, head over to:
http://www.cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/

Tags: personal, entertainment, Silly, comic

Every now and then I take the Myers Briggs type indicator test. I tend to fluctuate between an INTJ and an ISTJ. Typealzyser analyses your blog for it's own Myers Briggs type. According to typealyzer this blog is an ESTP.

Who would'a thunk it?

ESTP - The Doers
The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Analysis
This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing.

Tags: blog, MBTI

OK...this thing has been going on for a month now and it's quite bizarre.

Initially I could not start my car up. I let it be, came back to it and it started without a problem.
The check engine light came on, but it turned off after driving a little while
I thought it may have been the cold weather and so I didn't think twice about it.

I drove the car from the sheltered garage (avoid the snow), parked it at home.
30 minutes later I get back into the car to go somewhere. I get out of the car for a couple of minutes.
I get back in and go somewhere else. 45 minutes later I get back into the car, it doesn't start!

OK, I leave there over night (AAA was going to take up to 60 minutes to get to me and I was 10 minutes from home walking)
Next morning I start it up without any problems! I take it to my local mechanic.

Round 1 repairs: He checks the battery. It is weak.
OK, it's been 5 years since I changed batteries so I guess that was the problem because the starter
didn't have any problems and the electrical system checked out fine.

I get the car and a week later (I don't drive often), same problem!
I go to pick up some stuff, run into a store, five minutes later I come out, no problems.
I stop by an art opening, stay 30 minutes, car won't start!
I walk home (15 minute walk), I come back an hour later - it starts without problems! WTF?
Oh yes, the check ending light comes on and stays on.

Round 2: I take it back to the mechanic, they put the car through its paces (they took longer to call me back).
They said the battery was a bit weak, they replaced it (under warranty).
They checked the spark plugs, they were clean, the started still seemed fine.
Weird!!! They didn't charge me a thing for this lookup/repair.

So today (a week later), I head to the gas station. shut down the engine. fill up car. start it up again without problems
I go to the mini-market, go in get some groceries (less than 5 minutes), come out, car starts without problems
I had a craving for a donut (no joke!), I go to my local donut business, get my donuts, stay less than 5 minutes, car refuses to start (argh!!!)
Same thing - the engine cranks, it just does not start up!!!
I leave it there for an hour while I walk home (15 minutes away), and come back an hour and 15 minutes later.
It starts up without a problem, and the check engine light is on.

Seriously, WTF???

Tags: personal, car, volkswagen, beetle

So... I had a crisp $100 bill the other day that I found in an unopened Christmas card.

Yes I do occasionally get money for they holidays and I like to deposit it as soon as possible so I can pay the bills.

Anyway, I went to my school's ATM machine and I was looking for an envelope. - no envelopes to be found.

It turns out that the brains of the ATM division of Bank of America decided to create new ATMs that count the money for you, scan it to prevent fraud and do all the magical work for you. In theory this is is great! No miscounting of cash, no operator errors, just efficient banking.

In practice, this concept is an epic fail.

I put my $100 bill in and the machine did not recognize it.

I tried again, still didn't recognize it

I tried a third time (third time's the charm, right?) and this time the machine almost mangled my money!

Sorry bank of america, your ATM is an epic FAIL.


More on the ATM here

Tags: ATM, banking, FAIL

Happy New Year to everyone out there!

Love, peace, health and happiness to all

Tags: wishes

Merry Christmas to all!

Tags: wishes, holiday

I wrote a few days ago about the need to write emails as a means of communication when we have SMS, blogs, microblogs, flickr and friendfeed to keep our friends and relatives up to date with our comings and goings.


Now, when I was in High School, and I had recently moved back from Greece, I had started to write letters to two or three friends of mine. My address became known and soon more friends had been writing to me and I back to them. This continued up until I was a sophomore or junior in college and at the climax of the letter writing years I had at least twenty to twenty-five pen pals from Greece, but also from Germany, Norway and China!


I enjoyed getting letters from friends and writing letters to friends. Letters took anywhere between two weeks to two months (depending on how frequent correspondence was), so news accumulated and you had something interesting to write! In addition you could take you time, compose your thoughts, bring out your best (or worst) penmanship and...well the only word that comes to mind is: accessorize.


Then all of my friend went to college too, and some who were older got jobs, so they stopped writing as often. Eventually when email was the new things in two (for them) they decided that they would email. This worked out well initially because people did not have too much time online so emails were still here-and-there and news was still plentifully.


Eventually, however, emails got sloppy - no subjects, two lines in the body like "how are you?" with nothing else - at this point I lost interest in correspondence, or emailed once in a blue moon when I had time to really write something that had attention to detail and would not be a canned email I could send to all my friends.


Now, I've lost day to day contact with many people I used to know, some that I consider good friends! It's time to pick up letter writing again - show attention to detail. No typed letters - handwritten, on good paper, with a good ol' postmark on 'em.


Sure it takes a week or more to receive it - but good things are worth waiting for!

Tags: letters, letter writing, old school, mail

I had a random thought the other day spurred by an email I had received by a friend of mine with a minor complaint that I don't email my news to said person that often. This got me thinking. So my question is this In the age of social networks, twitter, RSS and blogs, who still uses email as the only method to keep in touch?


Thinking of my online habits, I don't spent that much time in chat services as I used to. My work/life balance thing doesn't allow it. But there is a lot of information about what I think and do online. I use twitter, I write in my blogs, I post photos on my Flickr account and update my status in various social networks. And to make it convenient for people, I use friendfeed.


With so much information about what's going on in my life, taking 5 minutes to email each individual person I know with the same news seems like a waste of time. I always thought of email as impersonal, and I would prefer to write a letter to someone to keep in contact, but is it really necessary for regular news dispersing communications these days?

Tags: technology, communication, web2, blog, twitter, questions

I've been thinking about certification lately. You know, the kind of certification bestowed upon you by a professional organization like ICIA, ASTD or the PMI to name a few.

Many of my classmates have been certified, or are in the process of getting their certification, and they all swear by it. Having been certified by ICIA, I kind of wonder the relative value of certification. Now in order to get certified I needed to know a body of knowledge, I took a test, and I passed. I also had to abide by a professional code of ethics.

That's all good because I knew my stuff and I agreed with the code of ethics. The problem was that I really didn't see any monetary benefit from being certified, and I needed to keep renewing my certification by taking continuing education classes and filling out the paperwork, and paying a fee for renewal of my certification. This is the case with most certifications out there.

Looking at the job market, even for the coveted PMP and Six Sigma (after all my background is in management), I still don't see that many jobs that require these certifications. A recent statistic I saw quoted something like 6.5% of project manager job opening requiring PMP certification.

If experience is what matters in a job, and you need experience to get these certifications, why would one spend the time and money to get and keep renewing a certification if there isn't a monetary benefit?

Now I know that there are two benefits: you are part of an association, and that has its perks such as job boards, and continuing education to keep your skills current. The second benefit is that when someone sees that PMP, CTS, CISA (or whatever acronym) after your name, it's like an unspoken bond, that you've both gone through boot camp together, survived it and now you're brothers. OK, that's good I suppose, but as Cuba Gooding said in Jerry Mcguire "show me the money"

Do others have views on certification? I'm interested in hearing them

Tags: certification, pondering, economics, PMI, ASTD, CTS

I remember a while back listening to the Digital Campus podcast and there was a mention of how Wikipedia moderators have been cracking down on uncited articles.

While searching for my name on cuil.com, I found a few copies on the MacAst article that I had contributed to.


**flashback**
Before MP3 playing software was given away with the Operating System (or as Freeware on the internet), you actually had to buy the software (circa 1998). I had purchased a program called MacAmp which was later renamed MacAst.

The program was nice, working under MacOS 9, it had a small footprint and the nice thing about it was that it had an extensible architecture which allowed people to create localization files called Phrasebooks. I had created and submitted those phrasebooks to the MacAst people for Greek, Italian and French (available in the download section and through archive.org).

Years later, when I stumbled upon the wikipedia entry for MacAst, I added some information about it, namely about it's extensible Phrasebook architecture, I mentioned the localizations that were available, and gave myself credit for the three that I had done.


**flash forward**

I clicked on the wikipedia link to go to the main article for MacAst and the article was not there!!! What had happened?

Well, There were two articles, one on MacAst (which seemed to me pretty balanced, despite the lack of references), and one for MacAmp (which the wiki people thought was one sided).

The wikipedia people merged the two articles and kept the one sided one, and edited the heck out of it. Now, I can go ahead, and cite archive.org and a few news released from various mac websites of the time to give the article a bit more meat on its bones, but this lead me down a thinking path: What happens when you don't have citations? How do you cite that?

There is another wikipedia entry that I contribute to, the entry for the village I grew up in Greece. Most of the knowledge I have of that place is either first hand - I grew up there, I roamed about, I know of the places, or second or third hand - my grandmother, or neighbor told me a history of the village, or told me of a story that has been passed down in the oral tradition from one generation to the other.

In these instances what do you do? Do you record these things on your blog or website before you contribute to the wiki entry or what? It dawned on me that what wikipedia is trying to leverage is the knowledge that is within all of us, and some of that knowledge is tacit. You know it's true, you just don't remember what the source was, or there is no written record, or you can't admit to knowing about it because you got just happened to find a 'beta' of an unreleased piece of software that never made it to market that you weren't supposed to have anyway...

Going heavy handed with the editing seems to be a detracting feature of current day wikipedia...

Just my two cents...

Tags: wikipedia, technology, citations, oddity

Going off the grid for a little while (vacation).

Back to blogging sometime in mid-to-late October

Tags: vacation, blog

OK, so the monthly public transportation experiment begins!

The rising cost of fuel, tolls and parking is costing me $90-$100 per week to go into work. In contrast, public transportation would only cost me around $40 for unlimited travel. That is a sizeable chunk of change!

In the past, I had used public transportation to come to school or work, but the overall cost at the time was more expensive than driving, and not as convenient! The train station was not near, busses took forever, and the cost was about the same as it is now. Back then I had no tolls (and when I did it was $2/day), gasoline was $20 to fill up for the week, and parking was $4/day for a grand total of $40-$50 per week. The speed/cost factor did not dictate a switch to public transport.

Now, on the other hand, it does. If this goes well, I may also trial it for the fall semester.

Tags: public, transportation, work

Painting is going slower than I had anticipated.

On the plus side, I am done (or almost done) with sanding most of the re hard-to-remove paint off most of the wall. Now the hard part starts: using a heat gun and a scraper to remove pain off the door, door molding and window molding. Hopefully the weather this weekend will be sunny and I can get (most) of this done. I am looking forward to the cleanup, and the painting, so we can use our deck.

Tags: home improvement, painting, slow

Yes, I will be breaking the chain or rather the mesh!

The volume of chain emails that I get has gone down as people have matured in their email use, but I still get four or five chain mails per week. I realize that most people who send these emails our are doing so because they care about the subject, but simply clicking forward, without cleaning up the list of 100+ other recipients is simply unwieldy!

I am all for a good cause, but if it’s hard to read, it goes in the dumpster.

Tags: chain, email, argh, annoying

OK...
I am not a happy camper!

My car made weird sounds when I turned the steering wheel. I took it to my local place for an oil change (regular maintenance) and asked them to look into it. They told me that the steering column was leaking power steering fluid and it will need to be replaced by the dealer. I am not upset that its leaking, after all my car is 8 years old, so some major maintenance is expected at some point. I am upset because in mid-february I paid close to $1000 for a new steering column at the dealer because the old was leaking.

So... they charged me for something they did not do, or the parts the put in were bad. I don't see anyway that my day to day driving could cause this damage, because it's the same route I have taken to work for the last four years! I filled up my power steering fluid and I will be going back to the dealer soon...

The other thing that went this past week was my hot water heater! Well, it was 14 years old, so it was expected...it's just an inopportune time.

Salavabitsch!

Tags: home improvement, plumbing, car, beetle, #@!?!@#

Painting is still a no go.

I had underestimated how long it would take to actually strip the paint off to a point where the surface is paintable.

I would say that I am 75% done, but I think I am done for the day. Resuming the project next weekend.

Tags: painting, pain, home improvement

A few days back I was at an event where it was appropriate to give out a business card - it was a quick way to exchange information.

This however was my first time handing out my business card and it felt a bit weird, well...maybe not weird, but unnatural, or not second nature.

At moments I felt it may have been a bit forced, at other moments I felt a bit 'stop-and-go', trying to find the appropriate timing to exchange business cards.

So what was the lesson learned? The exchanging of a business card is an art that I have not mastered - time to practice!

On the upside, people seemed to like my moocards

Tags: personal, work, school, GIDA

Well, I overestimated how long things would take.

Not done, not by a long shot - taking a break now...

Tags: painting, tired, overestimate

OK, after years of saying “we’ll do this”, we’re finally painting the back porch.

I wonder how tired I will be after the scraping, sanding, priming and painting…

Tags: home improvement, painting

Well, today was sticker shock day! I knew it cost me a pretty penny just to show up to work, but the costs are going up! In 2007 it costs me under $50 per week to drive into work. Today I went to get gasoline ($3.70/gallon), it cost me $47 to fill up my Beetle.

So I started pondering the updated costs.

$18.00 in tolls per week
$47.00 in gasoline per week
$35.00 in Parking costs per week

Grand total: $99

Now… rumors are that parking will go up to $12/day, and gas is slated to go into the $4/gallon range.

Update costs:
$51 Gasoline
$18 Tolls
$60 Parking

Total: $129/week

Jeez!


I think that over the summer I will trial taking public transportation ($163/month).
It adds 2 hours to my commute per day (4 hours of commute total), but the costs are insane!

Tags: money, costs, driving, work

I just got my May statement for my Lufthansa Miles & More account. I signed up with them because they were my preferred airline when traveling abroad. I also got a credit card (with an annual fee!!! – who still does that?!) to earn more miles.

I checked my account on Miles and More and I see that my miles expire! Yes indeedy, they do expire! KLM-AirFrance’s miles don’t expire! Why do my Lufthansa Miles Expire? What a flawed business model! I think from now on KLM-AirFrance-Northwest will be my airlines of choice!

Tags: lufthansa, skymiles, expiring, absurd

…and its got a hood!
Last year when I got my MBA I missed out on getting my cap and gown. I did not intend to go to the graduation, but I wanted it nonetheless since I paid for it. This year I do not intend to go to graduation either because I have to take a personal day from work in order to come to the place I work to walk in graduation – it’s a waste of a personal day! The good news though is that the ceremony for the college of management is at 1pm, and it lasts an hour! This means I can take my lunch hour and go celebrate a bit with my classmates.

Tags: Graduation, cap, gown

OK people! All men to stations! Finals are upon us!
Having already put the finishing touches on the projects for my two Instructional Design classes, I am now working on my Applied Linguistics final. Three essay questions, each a minimum of four pages in length (or is that max? hmmm), with references and citations, proper grammar, and spelling and of course logic! It will take me the whole weekend, and then some, to finish this monster!

Tags: homework, school, hardwork, projects, research

Just wishing a happy May Day to all!

Tags: general

Man, the temperatures have increased rather rapidly! Summer is here! We’ve gone from chili to rather warm (t-shirt weather) in 3 days, or less!

Not that I am complaining, I like the warm weather

I only wish I was at Kourouta.

Tags: weather, temperature, hot, sunny, switch

March 22...
my week off,
my 'spring break'
is almost over
spent most of it reading,
but I am hoping to go
to the origami exhibit today.

I did quite
a lot of work this
week, but it still
amazes
me
that
it is
almost April.

Where
does
the
time
go?

Tags: wow

Time sure does fly...it's already March!

When did that happen? At this rate the semester is almost over.

Where does the time go?

Tags: time, school

Happy new year to all!
Well 'Turbulant 2007' is gone and a brand-new, unknown 2008 is here upon us.
I wish to all a happpy and prosperous new year.

When I was a kid today was the second of three opportunities to carol (the other two are Christmas Day and the 'theofania' - whatever that is in English)


Πάει ο παλιός ο χρόνος
Ας γιορτασουμε παιδία
Και του χωρισμού ο πόνος
Ας κοιμάται στην καρδιά

Καλή χρονιά
Χρονιά πολλά
Καλή χρονιά
Χρονιά πολλά
Χαρούμενη χρυσή πρωτοχρονιά!

Γέρε χρόνε φυγε τώρα
Πάει η δική η σειρά
Ήρθε ο νέος με τα δώρα
Με τραγούδια και χαρά

Καλή χρονιά
Χρονιά πολλά
Καλή χρονιά
Χρονιά πολλά
Χαρούμενη χρυσή πρωτοχρονιά!

Tags: New year, wishes

We've had our first real snow storms up here for the Academic year...mayhem...simply...mayhem...
Took me more than 3 hours to get home last Thursday, and today almost got towed because my town declared a snow emergency as I was sound asleep (at my normal time)

Oh we.., at least some people are having fun...

Tags: ihatesnow, weather, snow, cold, Photos

Here is an image of Greece from space. Pictured are some some of the fires that are currently burning up the country.
I can't really describe the anger, and sadness, that this situation makes me feel. Whole villages have been burned off the map, people are losing their lives, property, livelihoods and precious forrest land. 150 fires started in three days, and it's suspected that all this is due to arson. Honestly, I don't know wtf is wrong with people. This year happens to be an election year, and you know that politicians will use this for political gain - I hope they don't, but I suspect they will.

Tags: Greece, fire, arson, images, space

Last Friday I finally had my surgery to remove the pylonidal cyst that had been bugging me since February.
The doctor had warned me that post-op would hurt...and it would be a quite literal pain in the butt.
I went into surgery fearing the worst...anesthesia takes care of pain during surgery...but what about after?

Well...it darned sure is quite a literal pain in the butt...and I've gotten tired of resting on my belly and my side (because I can't really sit on my posterior just yet). The pain medication does take care of the pain, but it's percoset, which makes me a bit woozy. I hope I can sit normally again...sometime soon!

Tags: medicine, surgery, pain

With the unfortunate breakdown of my mac, despite the fact that I can still get online with it, and accomplish much (if not all) of the work that I need to accomplish with my computer, the last four years I've been completely wireless. I've been using WiFi to get online, thus the notion that I would go and seclude myself to another room every time that I want to check out something on IMDb (or something else online) seems rather foreign.

I spend far too much time everyday looking things up, checking forums, responding to email - making it inefficient to have have to seclude myself when I need to do one of these things. I was thus considering buying a Nokia N800 internet tablet. I can browse, have my RSS, my email, my internet life all at the palm of my hand. There are a few things though that I don't like about it though:

1. No PIM! I know that it is not meant to be a PDA, but a device of such size, and abilities, should have both a robust addressbook and calendar application! I know that there are a number of open source programs that can be installed, but some of these utilities should be pre-installed on such a device.

2. Apparent lack of mac compatibility. I would like to easily import and sync addressbook, calendar, notes, music, videos, and bookmarks with my Mac. Even though this device is mean to be used by itself, without the need for a computer and synchronization, it would be nice to be able to accomplish these tasks!

3. No TomTom! I would love to get a software navigation package for North America. I already have a bluetooth GPS unit, but no software is available (just software)

Tags: Nokia, N800, internet, purchases, wifi, technology

Yesterday I had a Keroro Gunso moment. I needed to feel like I needed to get something accomplished. After, quite literally, many months of feeling like I am spinning my wheels at that place, I started on my final approach to finish my ASP.NET project for my Object Oriented Systems Class. Working on Virtual PC though is very...very...very slow. So I put on a few podcasts on my speakers, gathered my cleaning supplies and set out on a mission to clean as much of the house before I had to go to class that evening, and work on my OO project when Virtual PC caught up with what I had asked it to do. So I was working on my project, and while I was waiting, I did some cleaning.

The result? Quite a few rooms are much more neat compared to before, cleaner, but not sparkling. I feel that warm fuzzy feeling again! You know! The one that you get when you do something and you can see noticeable results and someone appreciates the fact that you put effort into something. Yeah, that! Oh, yes, I did make progress with my ASP.NET work as well! It was slow...but made progress none the less.

Hello, I am 26 and I am looking for a job for the first time!

Yes, I know, this isn't the first time I have looked for a job, and whatever job I get will not be my first job ever - however this time period marks a seminal moment in my development as a professional and as a person since it is the first time I have applied to more than two or three places, and I am trying to figure out 'what I want to be when I grow up'. I started working 10 years ago when I was in high school, as an IT consultant of all things. However I was not looking for a job, it just fell in my lap and I loved it. However being a high school student, I could only work in the summer.

When I started college I started working on campus, but again the position fell in my lap as there are always workstudy jobs available on campus. Then, it wasn't a big leap to go from workstudy to full time employee - sort of a promotion really. Moving laterally within departments (for increase in pay of course) was the next move. In the mean time, I got my BA in computer science, my MBA, a couple of certifications and I am finishing up an MS in information technology. Education-wise I truly believe that I have out-grown my current job. This is not to say that the job I have is beneath me, to claim that would be arrogant and untrue - a job is a job.

However, there comes a time in a person's life where just going from job to job because it is convenient, or pays the right salary is no longer an option. Looking for a job that fulfills you emotionally, and fills your wallet with cash (to pay all of life's expenses) is quite a daunting task. Looking for a job - or rather a career, is like looking for love. It is a relationship, companies and the people that work for them have personalities, and those personalities must match and complement yours. They also have skills, wants and needs, and those must also complement what you bring to the table. A bad match can spell disaster both for the person applying and for the company (Enron anyone?).

So where am I looking? Monster, HotJobs, Craigslist, HigherEdJobs and LinkedIn. I've sent out a number of resumes and cover letters, and I am still continuing to do so. It is not an easy task, and it's time consuming - but the rewards promise to be great. -- this is quite a learning experience! I am 26 - and looking for a job for the first time.

The trip to China, a 10 day school sponsored trip (3 credits in international business) is now down in price thanks to the Confucius institute!
The original price was $2500 + transportation costs...now it's $1000 ($1200 max) + transport costs (which might be around $1000.
Room, board, transport in China is all taken care of with this price... I had made up my mind not to take classes this summer, and I don't know if the class will count as an Information Technology class, but I am seriously reconsidering taking this class in China ...
Thinking hard... hey at least I will be away from the dysfunctional organization for 10 days and I will be exposed to a whole new environment

10 years ago I got my first paying job.
Oddly enough, it was as an IT consultant - I guess some things are meant to be

Quite honestly, thinking back, I never really had one of those 'When I grow up, I want to be...' kind of moments.
We never really discussed it in school (in Greece), I guess that's because your test scores determined what school you would go into, and consequently what you would study as a major, thus what your would do when you grew up. For those in the group that did not like what they tested into, there are always careers in sales and customer service. So I am sitting here today (doing homework) and I get this thought in my head...'when I grow up, I want to be a...' and I am trying to fill in the blank. It's really quite difficult to pick actually! I like many things, I can't just pick one, and if I were to pick one, chances are that I would get bored after a while, wanting to change gears into something else.

Any jobs out there fore someone that loves technology, blogging, gadgets, foreign languages and video games (among other things)? that will pay so that I can live above poverty level? There probably are - just need to look closed, eh?

I've been using 'widgets' for a while now. in QNX, I had the sidebar, which I disabled because I really hated the fact that it took up so much real-estate!

When MacOS X 10.3 came out with dashboard, I really liked it and I started using widgets again - especially mail notifiers, adsense, analytics and machine stats. On windows, there was no equivalent (built-in) until Vista came out with the sidebar. I updated to vista on my work machine a few weeks ago, and gave the sidebar a whirl - and ever since I have not been able to being myself to turn it off! I really hated the taking up of space on QNX many moons ago, but now with the ability to see what's in my gmail-box, and what's new in my RSS aggregator, I think it's really useful.

Now I am a bit torn. I like the ability to put away my widgets when I am not using them, like the MacOS' dashboard, but I also like having some widgets visible, sort of like Classic's Desktop Accessories (DAs). I downloaded Yahoo! Widgets and I find it interesting that there is an HUD (Heads up Display) mode, but there is also the ability to have them floating around. I find, though, that I quickly get fed up with the floaters and I just shut down Yahoo! Widgets.

Now the main reason I got Yahoo! Widgets, was to get a Y! mail widget that told me not only how many messages I have, but also what the subject and sender of those messages are! Something that did not come with any such widget...


eh... this was a pointless post...(did it make sense?)

It's been a while since I had to go to a hospital - I hate being cut - at least the doctor and the nurses had great bedside manner.

...oy... I hate feeling sick...darned cold!

Of course the temporary license says "This does not serve purposes of identification"

errr...so if I get stopped by a traffic cop, I can't give him this document to positively identify me when they ask me for my license and registration?

Happy New Year to all!

Πάει ο παλιός ο χρόνος, ας γιορτάσουμε παιδιά
και του χωρισμού ο πόνος ας κοιμάται στην καρδιά. 


Καλή χρονιά, χρονιά πολλά, καλή χρονιά χρόνια πολλά
χαρούμενη χρυσή Πρωτοχρονιά.

Γέρε χρόνε φύγε τώρα πάει η δική σου η σειρά,
ήρθε ο νέος με τα δώρα, με τραγούδια με χαρά.

Καλή χρονιά, χρονιά πολλά, καλή χρονιά χρόνια πολλά
χαρούμενη χρυσή Πρωτοχρονιά.

Μα κι αν φεύγεις μακριά μας στην καρδιά μας πάντα ζει
κάθε λύπη και χαρά μας που περάσαμε μαζί.

Καλή χρονιά, χρονιά πολλά, καλή χρονιά χρόνια πολλά
χαρούμενη χρυσή Πρωτοχρονιά.

I know...it's all Greek to you

Heard back from JapanesePod101.com (more specifically from Peter-san), and they have been looking for people to expand the learning methods from JapanesePod to other languages! Pretty cool! As soon as I tie up loose ends with school and work I will get in contact with peter to see if this is something we can accomplish (yay!)

...just kidding! It's only my birthday

...must write this darned finance paper now!!!!
We're down to the wire!

The day before Turkey Day!
I am not a big Turkey fan, but what the hey!
Eat, Drink and be Merry!
Took the day off work today (although I do have to work on Friday - which is fine, I am more productive when other people are not around)
Working on Projects today - taking a small break from my T-Mobile project, but is starting to be written today, and I am also continuing with the writing of my IT strategy project.
It will be a busy day...along with trying to help out around the house (if I can manage to actually help instead of creating more work )

Alright - back to work....

Neck is getting better, although I still feel like someone's stabbed me with an ice pick... (at least I am walking less like Mr. Roboto today compared to yesterday and Sunday).

Car is in the shop, good thing is that the part is under warranty, so it will be relatively cheap to fix. The bad thing is that I have to use public transportation today and tomorrow - this will be an experience!

...literally!

For the last couple of days I feel like such an old man!
My neck hurts, I cannot turn my head without experiencing pain.
Generally when I get this I have slept in a weird way (like sleeping on my arm) but it goes away in a day.
It's been two days already!!! ...maybe I am just impatient...

Recently I've noticed many companies asking me to go paperless, stop my paper bill, and signup for automatic payments!
While this is quite convenient, if it works properly! If you go paperless you get email notifications with a URL to go to a secure site to view your bill.
If you've got an over-agressive spam filter those notifications go to the trash. Ah! This is where the automatic payments come in! You can link your account to a bank account or credit card to have your bill automatically paid! Again this is a nice feature, but your bill paying is automatic so if you are one of those "out of sight, out of mind" people, you might just forget that you're hemorrhaging money. Let's not get into disputes over billing errors and automatic payments.

One thing that really annoys me, is that as a consumer I don't get a price break when I stop my paper bill and/or go automatic.
You are cutting back on the costs of paper, printing, mailing and processing when you do this. Why should I not get 1%, 2%, 5% off (or whatever is fair) my bill when I do this?
What is the incentive? I like my paper bill because it is a reminder to pay up, and it gives me an opportunity to review my expenditures.
If things are online, or in a non-tangible form, then I have less of a reminder that something needs to be taken care of. So if there is no incentive to switch, why do it?

Yep!
No peep on this site (unless you read Greek), but here's the news: AK & Kristin are now married!

(Now I now if you are reading the blog lol)

Ouch!
My hard drive crashed and I lost all my data...needed to do some reconstituting of the website.
I did have some backups, but I was not backed-up enough...
I was working on a Classical Greek Grammar...that's gone...must start from scratch! (and I was 80% done! arghhh!)

No more messing around! I got a 500GB hard drive to do more comprehensive backups

wow!
Triple digit temps today, something unusual for here.
Our governor wants us to turn down our A/C units because of a electric grid overload.
Hmmm... How about they turn down the A/C in the state buildings where everyday it is freezing no matter what the temp is outside?

All rigghhhty then!
Safety over convenience. I agree, but this MAJOR fuck up is adding an extra hour to my commute each way!
Now they are examining more tunnels because they might suffer from the same problem - tunnels which I use!
So I might die, be injured, or just inconvenienced and lose a couple of hours of my life each day in traffic.

Maybe its time to invest in some audio books - at least educate myself while driving...

My back tire was in bad, bad condition, so I took the day off (or part of it anyway) to get my tire replaced.
The culprit for the tire's bad condition is that the car is nor properly aligned! As a matter of fact my front wheel also was starting to show early indications of the back wheel's ailment.
So I dropped my car off, bright and early, at the goodyear repair shop down the road, and was given a two hour quote for things to be done.
It has been 2 hours and 20 minutes - still not done... argh!

My dad is an auto-mechanic, but he lives a bit far away - so having him look at the car is not viable at the moment (oy!)
Anyway - let's see the quality of work that comes out - I am optimistic

Strike one up for the crazy weather!
Neighboring towns have flooded. I think my two also has some minor flooding.
Boston was awful last Saturday - crappy roads with potholes and a lot of water.

Crazy local weather!
It's been raining for the last 5 days - now we're under flood-watch

Hey Mr. Weather guy! Time for the sun to come out!

TurboTax was easy - taxes are done - waiting for my refund.
Better to have Uncle Sam owe you, than you owing Uncle Sam
Doing taxes on my own was less daunting than I thought

It's time to do my taxes...
Like a typical procrastinator, I got the software (TurboTax) - installed it and waited.
Then I tried to do my taxes, filled out my general information....got to the W2s...and I freaked - for no reason - just got intimidated.
So tomorrow is the rematch! Taxes - I'm coming after you...with revenge!

Restarting Club-Admiraty - version 5.0... now with more "stuff"