11/17/2008

I've decided to spend every Sunday evening, when I can, reflecting on the week. Just to clear my head of what's on my mind.

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I'm still out of work, and it's looking like I'll be that way for some time. Companies are stingy, thinking there's enough desperation for them to get lower rates. Thankfully, my finances will last me until next October. Let's hope the economy turns around by then.

I'm again disturbed by recruiters. Not to blame them, but I'm disturbed because I can see how so many systemic failures in our industry start with how we're hired. I've decided to start thinking about this issue more seriously. Though I put it next to another similarly impossible question. "How do you ask a question without betraying your thoughts?"

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In the meantime, I've continued my personal projects.

I've spent the most time on my "chores" program. I've been using a spreadsheet to keep track of the chores and when they're due for quite a while now. I like doing that before I write any software because I want to prove that it's a system that works for me. I've gotten most of the functionality completed, but there's a few things I'd like to finish up before I start using it. Should be this week. I'll offer it for download when I'm done.

I chose to use PHP for the chores program. In the process, I had to learn PHP as I'd never used it before. It's rather nice. I think it's much better than it used to be. I was suspicious at first because it had added object-orientation after the fact. I can't imagine creating anything too complex without relying on more sophisticated systems, such as Java or .NET. I consider it a good teaching language to access web technologies such as HTML, CSS, or Javascript.

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I've been enjoying hulu.com. Been playing a little Fallout 3, but I can't stay away from TF2. I like putting up my skills against real people.