Author: Joe

Taxes and Toys

I finally got around to doing my taxes. 2010 was my first full year of working, but the taxes were actually easier than 2009 (using an online tool so I don’t actually have to fill in the paperwork myself) since I didn’t have to enter anything about being a student. Of course I also didn’t get as much of a federal refund because I couldn’t claim student credits, and for some reason I actually owe Colorado $5. Guess I’ll have to check on my deduction settings at work for this year.

Reid brought his collection of twisty puzzles to lunch today. He has quite a collection now. Several of them are simple (2x2x1 being notable in that God’s Number for it is 3), but on the complete other end of the scale (in terms of number of possible arrangements) he’s also got a Megaminx. My favorites of the set were the Pyramorphinx and Master Pyramorphinx, though the 3x3x2 was decidedly interesting and would be fun to work out how to solve it. My lunch break went long by about an hour since Reid and I both were ahead on hours for the week and I lost track of time while playing with and discussing the different puzzles.

Needless to say I’ll likely be ordering some of the types soon if I can find sources that don’t sell knockoffs, though perhaps I’ll wait till I’ve worked out my Square One. I’m not too interested in the simpler puzzles, though some might be worth getting for the sake of learning how to solve the simple cases before moving on to the more complex.

Custom puzzles also came up (one site worth of examples). My understanding is that those are all made from molded pieces, but 3d printing would make them simpler to create even if the finish leaves something to be desired.

A 3d printer (specifically a RepRap) is something I’ve been interested in for a while, but I still haven’t convinced myself that it’s worth the money for the kit. The kit I think looks the best (reasonably up to date, wires cut to length, electronics don’t need soldering) even includes a heated bed, but it’s priced in euros and is all in metric (which I think is the base design, though there is a variation in US sizes). It also hasn’t been sold for long, so he doesn’t have a stock of pieces and the available quantity is at -11 so who knows how long it would take to get shipped.

The kit I recognize from last spring when I looked this up is still exactly the same as far as I can tell, so it’s still using an older generation of the electronics, and they seem to have a dislike for line breaks so it’s really hard to read what’s included in the kit. The price is a bit cheaper, but it doesn’t include the heated bed which is highly recommended for some print mediums.

The reason I’d go with a kit instead of sourcing everything myself is that I’m more interested in working on software (and I’d likely write/edit the driver software) than working out problems in the hardware. The kits all have a large markup over the materials cost, but it saves so much time attempting to make sure everything is compatible and putting together so many different orders for parts.

Speaking of software, I’ve got a project that I’ve been considering for a while that I might as well get started on. If I make any progress or even get it working I’ll probably post something about it later.

Ski Trip

It’s spring break, time to go skiing. Well actually, the fact that spring break is occurring had nothing to do with the trip, save for the fact that lift tickets were (I assume) more expensive and there were a lot of people around (it wasn’t too crowded today but I suspect tomorrow will be considering the line of people renting when I returned my stuff). I don’t know what prompted the trip to Breckenridge, but I certainly appreciate Ryan for inviting me along (so I didn’t have to drive or go alone, the primary reasons I haven’t done more snowboarding).

Today was the best day of snowboarding that I’ve had (not that there have been many, I think this makes 6), largely thanks to Ryan and Scott (one of Ryan’s friends) waiting up for me occasionally and challenging me (by leaving me behind), but also because I finally feel confident enough in general to make turns and such without slowing down first. The fact that my stomach was somewhat unsettled for most of the day was annoying but I wasn’t going to let that prevent me from having a good time.

It was a somewhat warm day to start with, but the wind on the lifts was cold enough that a jacket was still required. Or in my case: the risk of falling and sliding meant that I wasn’t about to take off my jacket, though unzipping it part way was comfortable at times. After we left the peak 8 base it did feel chillier, though that was probably thanks to being less in the sun or later in the day, depending on where we were.

Breckenridge was where we skied in January, so I knew my way around peaks 7 and 8 reasonably well. That said, I wasn’t quick enough to realize which lift we were going up on the first run and ended up stuck on a catwalk because I was unstable on the slope before it flattened out and slowed down. That’s still an improvement over how I did that run in January when I never managed to get to the catwalk without falling and having to unstrap one foot to push myself along.

It only took me a couple runs to get back in the groove to the point that I could s-curve my way down the mountain smoothly, and if Scott and Ryan weren’t just pointing downhill and going (basically whenever they were trying jump or to cut through the trees) I could sometimes keep them in sight. The main problem I still have is runs sloped severely off to the right for a long ways, where I’m on my toe edge and generally don’t feel comfortable enough to do s-curves, so I end up just drifting down slowly. Well, that and I don’t do great at high speeds or well at all on really steep spots, so I don’t try anything harder than blues. I also refuse to try moguls, but I don’t view that as a problem.

I didn’t manage to fall spectacularly this time, or rather I managed not to, though that’s not to say I didn’t fall. There were plenty of spots where it was a bit icy or otherwise unfavorable where I fell flat and slid, the worst spot being on a blue at the top of peak 9 where I went to avoid a skier that had fallen and discovered why he’d fallen. I didn’t hit him, but I felt like I came closer than I wanted to. My worst fall was from trying to turn on a blue on peak 7 where it was a steep slope and I slipped and pretty much slid to the bottom of the steep part before I could get up.

Besides getting my own equipment (boots, snowboard, and helmet), which isn’t likely to happen, what would have been most helpful would have been a camelbak or something like it so I don’t have to dig my water bottle out so often. That would also free up a convenient pocket on the inside of my jacket for something, though I don’t know what I’d put there except my goggles or gloves while I’m off the slope. I also need to remember to get sunscreen. Ryan shared his today (though I think I still managed to get my chin sunburnt), but as far as I can tell there isn’t a bottle anywhere in my apartment.

There’s probably more to tell, but I was up before 6 and spent the day being far more active than usual so I’m exhausted. Perhaps I’ll add to this post tomorrow.

Dust

I’ve been having trouble lately with my desktop crashing when I’m playing WoW. It always happens after I’ve been playing for a while, but it doesn’t matter how long my computer was on before I started up WoW. That and the fact that it produces a colorful pattern on both monitors led me to blame my video card. Updating the drivers had no effect, so now that it happened on the weekend when I wasn’t really doing anything I decided to dust the case and pull the video card.

My case isn’t oversized (at least this one isn’t) so it’s not easy to get the video card in and out, but I’m glad I went to the trouble. I also extracted a large amount of dust from the fans that were readily accessible. It’s now cleaned out as well as I could manage without taking the cooler off or getting a can of compressed air, but there’s no way of telling if that worked without spending a lot of time stressing it, so I guess I’ll go back to playing WoW.