Christmas this year wasn’t too bad. Everyone I got a gift(s) for really seemed to appreciate what I’d gotten them. Got Dad a bunch of tools, something he always seems to need but never seems to have. I’m guessing they’ll all be missing too in just a few weeks. Got my younger brother Assassin’s Creed 2 for the xbox 360 and a big book of dogs. He’s always checking out different dogs online, not sure why but he likes that a lot.
I also got my older brother a credit card sized survival kit. It’s actually really cool, has a knife, whistle, light, toothpick, tweezers, and a fire starting thing all in a tiny credit card size package, very cool. Also got him a survival book to go along with the kit and a Judas Priest boxed set.
My Mom has had a pretty rough year. Losing her Mom, some of her siblings acting certifiably insane and really treating her very poorly, and my brothers just really letting her down. So I made her a big collage of old photos to remind her of the good times, back before everyone was so messed up. I scanned and re-touched and cleaned them up in Photoshop, bringing a lot of the ancient one’s back to life. She really appreciated it a great deal, and happy cried. So that made me and everyone else very happy, so that was a really good thing.
I got some pretty cool stuff too. We always joke that my Mom always buys us the worst clothes, which she does. So as I’m opening stuff up, she says how she asked the girl in the store to pick stuff out for me. I thought that was pretty funny, and it actually did work. All in all a pretty good Christmas with the family.
Was up till 6:30 AM coding last night (morning). I was beginning to speak in crazy talk due to the last of sleep, so I figured it’d be best to call it a night and try to wake up early to finish our hack up. Oh, a very solid back end developer who just started up his own company is partnering with me on this hack.
We managed to make use of several API’s in building our hack:
- YQL
- social.profile
- craigslist.search
- Social
- Geo
Based upon the Yahoo! profile of the logged in user, it searches Craigslist sleezy personal ads in the city of NY (and wow there’s some very interesting ones) and displays them on a map for the user along with more information regarding the compatible person. It uses keywords in the logged in users profile to search for a personal with something(s) in common. It makes use of several API’s in a fairly easy to navigate interface.
I have to say that Yahoo! puts on an incredible experience. Everything is completely first class, and I can’t believe that none of the developers here had to pay a cent for all the luxuries that they have shown us. A very classy company, and thanks for the amazing hospitality.
Foosball tables, fast wi-fi, electrical outlets everywhere, and a constant stream of food and beverage are going on. Also Rock Band Beatles on a big screen isn’t too bad either when you need a break from coding. Though after the hours I’ve been here, I must admit I currently despise every song they’re ever recorded.
Also, I haven’t met a bad developer here either. Everyone while competitive, is extremely anxious to help solve a problem when someone finds themselves stuck. It’s really an amazing experience and thus far I’m very glad I was able to attend. Plus they gave out awesome stickers and a very cool t-shirt too.
Later today hacks will be presented and judged, with prizes handed out. So, I gotta finish this thing up really soon.
So far Open Hack Day has more than lived up to the hype. Met some really cool people so far. It’s fun to talk about all the different web technologies with them and hearing what languages and tools they work with on a daily basis.
The keynote by Clay Shirky was really good. He mostly went over how the web has changed how information is now being shared.
I went to the YAP session. Which was a pretty solid into to writing YAP applications.
Next session was YQL. Which was so packed that people had to sit on the floor! The guy sitting next to me was a pretty strange breather, which is always annoying. Plus he coughed while drinking a soda, which meant that I was kindly sprayed with some soda on the left side of my body. Very gross.
Lunch was awesome. I made a new friend all the way from Japan. A very interesting guy. The carrot cake stole the show in my opinion. Extremely good stuff.
Now I’m off to some more sessions, while trying to form a solid hack team for later tonight.
I arrived in NYC for Open Hack Day today. I didn’t feel like driving into Manhattan and paying gazillion dollars to park a car that I wouldn’t be able to use, so public transportation was my mission. NGM and Geoff both highly recommended some cool trains to take into town. I know I’m a little bit crazy, but I felt like going old school and taking a bus in from AC. Like I’m on a class trip!
The ride wasn’t all that bad really. There was a really cool old guy sitting next to me. I was hoping he’d share war stories about fighting Nazi’s to save the world. Sadly he just slept the whole ride up. Oh and he did smell too. Wow, riding the bus was so awesome, not for everyone though but a very interesting experience nonetheless. I will have to try the train next time to compare the 2.
Once I arrived at Port Authority (or something like that) I um kinda got lost finding my room. But after walking around a whole lot, finally found it and I think it’s pretty nice and fancy inside. I don’t get out much so it could be a dump, but I’ll share photos once I get or find a usb cable for my camera.
There’s so many people walking around here. All the girls seem to wear super tight black pants and it seems like the guys spend too much on their hair, weird. Oh some high school girls called me a “hottie” and I might still be bright red from it.
I went to Reckefeller Center and checked out Nintendo World. It’s really awesome inside, I’d of freaked out to of been there when I was growing up. I was so bummed that they didn’t have the Tanooki Suit Mario t-shirt in my size or any size close to my size for that matter.
Toys R Us is right by where I’m staying, and it’s massive inside! 3 stories, with a ferris wheel and some amazing lego sculptures. I kinda wanted to be a lego sculpture as a child, so I do have a very fine appreciation for such craftsmanship.
I ate lunch at some deli and had some cheesecake too. Seemed very New Yorky a thing to do. I think I might eat at this cool looking BBQ place across the street for dinner. Then try to find a usb cable so I can share some of the photos I’ve been taking throughout the day.
Gotta register for Open Hack Day now and figure out what sessions I want to attend and see if I can form a team to work with to enter the hack competition with.
Went to the Phillies vs Astros game last night with some co-workers. It was actually my first trip to Citizens Bank Park. I’ve heard many good things about it, and was glad that it lived up to the hype. Sooooo much nicer than the Vet that it replaced.
We carpooled up there which was cool. I got the night off from driving since my back seat is quite cramped and Geneva Convention laws prohibit 2 individuals for such a journey. Also, being cramped in car you do learn a lot from these people I work with but only seem to interact with in a work environment. Oh yeah, and carpooling is good for the environment too.
Scumbag got us free parking, and free is always very good. When we got in and figured out where our seats were I got a chance to walk around a bit and check out the different stuff at the park. Sadly only kids are allowed to run the bases, that’s so unfair.
Scumbag had to say hi to a ballgirl, so I said “hi” too. Then then gave us a free hot dog and soda ticket and we got them to sign their baseball cards to give to Geoff. So that was cool, he seemed to really appreciate the gifts.
The Phils went on to win the game, I don’t recall the score but it was fairly exciting. A grand slam, some home runs, good stuff.
Wow, I just witnessed the most amazing thing on lunch today! While dining at Moe’s (my favorite lunch spot) the person sitting across from me witnessed a man in a suit just walk out of the bushes. It’s like he just appeared from nowhere.
He was amazing. He continued to walk by us and around the shopping center. This extremely strange act on his part has lead to much giggling on my behalf. I can’t help but randomly giggle for the rest of the day now, it was that amazing of a site!
One theory has him leaving Volcanic Eruptions. Is that place even open during the day?
Another theory consists of him being spawned from the earth itself. Honestly I’m leaning towards this one. He just seemed to strange and out of place to accept a more logical theory.
