Categories
Video Games

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Captain Toad: Treasure TrackerHaving just moved and still settling in I needed something goofy to occupy some free time a month or 2 ago, I picked up a copy of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for the Wii U. Seemed like a light puzzle game, something not too involved.

I was impressed. The art and concept were really cool. Captain Toad and Toadette were very amusing, and the bright colors were refreshing break from what seems to be so many dark and violent video games.

While most of the puzzles were fairly easy to solve, some of the hidden things on the levels were a bit challenging. I do believe I do consult the internet to figure a few out (aka cheating).

Happy and fun stuff.

Categories
Books

The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood BibleA new person at the library with a nose ring recommended The Poisonwood Bible out of the blue. I’m easy to please, so I accepted the recommendation. She then said she never read it, but it was mentioned on a list she saw recently. I didn’t waver and took it home.

It started a bit slow for me and after a few chapters I thought I had gotten a “girl” book. It turned out that it was a good book, and I started to breeze through it once I got going.

I really liked how different chapters were told from different characters points of view. That’s a style that when done right I have really enjoyed in the past.

I also liked that while fiction it did revolve around historical facts. I found myself researching the Belgian Congo a bit while reading. Very interesting.

Categories
Development

FileMerge

I had to compare 2 hefty directories, and was looking for a slick Diff tool to help me out. I really was looking for something with a slick GUI to help me sort through my potential mess of code and files.

After a bit of searching I realized that I had FileMerge already on my Mac as part of Xcode.

Once I fired up FileMerge all I had to do was drab the 2 directories I wanted to compare into each side of the GUI, then run a comparison. It was exactly what I needed for this task and saved me who knows how much time.

Categories
Books

Revival

RevivalI saw a new Stephen King book at the library and figured to give it a shot. I’ve liked a couple of his other books, so why not.

I really enjoyed it. It was a bit on the dark side, but that’s to be expected of course. I’m sure glad I don’t live in on of his stories, those characters sure have it rough.

I’ve never heard of the term “the fifth business”, and now I’m trying to figure out if I know anyone who fits the bill.

The ending was a bit of a surprise even though I was expecting a surprise. So that was nice.

Categories
Books

The Innovators

The InnovatorsWhen I saw The Innovators, then realized whom the author was I immediately made up my mind to borrow this book from the library and give it a read. I really enjoyed Isaacson’s Steve Jobs book and already have a big interest in the history of computing.

It was a really great book. Covering the very early concepts and idea machines, to the transistor, the personal computer and the Internet. So many various aspects were touched upon.

I found the info on the creation of the transistor and microchip to be interesting. I suppose I’d known the least about this respective area compared to the other areas detailed.

It was a long book and it did take me more than 4 weeks to complete, but I did find it most interesting.

Categories
Adventure Development

Drupalcamp NJ 2015

Though I’ve registered for Drupalcamp NJ for 3 years now, this was the first year that I was able to actually attend. The past 2 years were just some unfortunate luck that had me cancel my plans.

Hosted at Princeton, this was my first visit there. The ride there wasn’t too bad and I didn’t get lost. Once I arrived in Princeton it was a bit tricky as it was like a city that was a school. Plus there was snow everywhere, but I eventually found the parking lot and the building.

The keynote speaker did a great job. He talked about ways that you can manage yourself/career. It was very interesting and he was a very great speaker.

I attended the following sessions:

  • Using Media, Picture, and Focal Point modules – this was a pretty bad presentation. It just seemed to rushed and unorganized. I do look forward to checking the mentioned modules and workflow out.
  • 5 Top Drupal Innovations You Can’t Live Without – a solid presentation. Didn’t learn too much new from it, but was enjoyable though.
  • Acquia Workflows for Drupal Developers, Site Builders – I was interested to learn more about Acquia’s offerings. I was impressed by their tools offered and look forward to playing around with them a bit in the future.
  • SEO Awesome for Drupal Sites – good and useful presentation. The speaker was very well organized and pointed out some great tips.
  • View Demystified – a great presenter. While it was a bit more for beginners than I’d of hoped, it was a great presentation.

All in all it turned out to be a pretty great day. Learned a lot and explored a new place. The Drupal community continues to impress me.