Bruce Update ::: 28-Feb-2005

Time for an update...

BBN Technologies (Boston):
Haven't heard anything firm back yet. I do know they are contacting some of my references.

EA:
Will be flying out this Thursday to interview on Friday. They are flying a number of recent college grads out on the same day, so I'm not sure how this is going to work but it should be interesting. Wondering if they are doing some sort of group interviews or maybe there won't be any formal "interviews" and they just just to see a bunch of us to screen out the ones they want to pursue?

Gabriel Entertainment (Indianapolis):
I interviewed at the only game company I know of in Indianapolis on Friday for a lead programmer position. The guy wants to know what salary I expect/want. Hard to figure out what to say when they just ask you.

These are the most promising right now. I think I can set up an interview with Pandemic at the GDC.

Since EA is flying me out this Thursday and the game developer's conference is the next week (only about 45 minutes away) and my sister is only about 75 minutes away, I have planned a little trip. EA on Friday, GDC on Wednesday-Thursday and I'll visit my sister and her husband in-between.

Also, I'm in the process of setting up a new personal website - joshuachapman.com

Freedom (I have my first set of wheels)

Well, today I acquired the first significant acquisition of my life. I purchased a used 2003 Accord Coupe EX with the capital assistance of my father. It's a Blue 2-door (coupe) with a black fabric interior. It's a 4 cylinder automatic, with a 2.4 liter 160 horsepower engine. I am pretty pleased with the purchase. I thought we got a good deal. The car is a 2003, but it only has 14,600 miles on it, that's about the equivalent of 1 years driving (15,000). We got 2,800 dollars of the Kelly's Blue Book suggested retail sales price. So, I thought we did a good job negotiating. Now I have to do adult things like pay for insurance and the like.

J.J. Update

Well, after months and months of my bank account dwindlilng and seeing the number grow smaller and smaller on my monthly statement, I will soon have weekly inflows of cash. I have secured a part time job with a local manufacturer. I'll be working for a company that produces machines that are used in created paper cups and containers. I'll be doing random jobs for the company's CFO. He's a really cool guy, very outgoing and nice. I got this wonderful "hook-up" because the guy is in my dad's Bible Study group. It should be nice working for him. Should be nice to get into a business and see how it works.

The News from Bwastun

Things have been really crazy. Ups and downs. I got back from my interview in Cambridge late Tuesday and then the next day my grandfather passed away. I was fairly close to him (visited a lot) until I left for Taylor. In recent years he had developed severe memory problems so that he couldn't remember anything from one minute to the next, so it was kind of hard to have a conversation with him even. Kinda hard. Oh, and my EBay stock dropped by 50%.


So, I headed out east to Cambridge this past weekend to interview with BBN Technologies. They invented the Internet. No really, they did. They launched the Arpanet in '69 which later became the Internet that we know today. They also demonstrated the first dial-up modem in '63. More recently they have been creating military training simulations and designing military equipment for the DoD and DARPA, and are working on fiber networks that transmit using single photons thus making it impossible for crackers to eavesdrop on the transmission undetected. Here's the company timeline if you want to check it out: http://www.bbn.com/About_BBN/History_and_Timeline/Timeline_1960s.html

The interviews took the better part of two full days. They went well. I got a positive email back from them already. I think there is a good chance they are going to make me an offer.

The place was pretty cool. I don't think I've ever seen that many hard-core geeks (I mean that in a good way) in one place. Everyone one friendly and smart. If it weren't for the length of the interviews (and the fact that I had to give an hour long technical presentation to a room of mostly masters and PHD's) it would have been one of the more pleasant interviews I've had. They were mostly non-technical, which surprised me a bit considering EA took it upon themself to drill me with technical questions for most of the interview when I was applying for just an internship there.

Some interesting facts arose about the place:

-Everyone gets their own office, there are no cubes.
-They do mostly government contracts and big brother won't let the researchers work more than 44 hours on average per week (there's a penalty if they do). So they stick to that max.
-Everyone gets to pick out what kind of computer they want (laptop, desktop, Windows, Linux, Apple, as long as it works for the projects you are on)
-The majority of their work (in the dept I would be in at least) is done in Java, so I would need to make my peace with Java.
-I was asked several times about what I thought of Lisp(the computer language not the speech impediment) and promptly offended several people who apparently thought Lisp was God's gift to man. Actually by the third time I answered more cautiously. Makes me think I must have just missed the positives of Lisp when I did those class projects. A couple people were pretty hard on C/C++.
-They serve beer at company functions
-They will pay 100% of further education (including books) and they are practically in walking distance from MIT (there are lots of big colleges in the Boston area of course)
(Maddog, you know anything about how hard it is to get into MIT?)

While out there I got to see Boston and the area a bit. Saw a bunch of the historical sites (graves of famous people, Paul Revere's house, the North Church where the lanterns were hung, Old Ironsides, etc.)

I have a phone interview with EA tomorrow (Fri) so the job search is moving along.

Now here's the question: if I have the choice of working at a place like BBN on researchy and military type stuff or working at EA on the next big game, which do I choose? Which sounds more impressive? Which will attract the ladies? ;) I expect you all to give your opinion on these questions in the comments.

GEOFFREY!!! Where for art thou?! Talk to me about Boston and MA!

24 More Shooting Less Drama

I just viewed the last episode of 24 (the episode that aired on February 14th). I was a little disappointed to see so much drama. This whole story line with Edgar mother is just an attempt to fill time. Here is an idea, more action, less drama. They made is seem like it was nobel for Edgar's mother to kill herself rather than face the radiation. There is no reason for 24 to make such statements. They only statements that need to be made, are those that show Jack Bauer, kicking some terrorist butt. I am assuming that next episode should have some action and I am looking forward to that. So, lets hear some 24 talk. There has been way too much technical computer talk on this Blog. Lets talk about something more exciting, there is nothing more exciting than 24.

and can you feel zacLove tonight?

Well time for me to join in on the updates...

I'm living / working in West Lafayette at WLFI TV-18, the local CBS station. (actually thé {only} tv station in town)

I'm a news Videographer [according to my business card] but I also edit, do some reporting/writing, and teaching of cute interns

main complaints of my job: I'm using an old camera which they don't make replacement parts for anymore; tape2tape editing equipment that was new when 486s were new; newsroom computers running on 64MB of ram & 200Mghz; station vehicles that give you back problems; and annual salary a whole 25%! above the national poverty line

good parts of the job: I get to shoot on a Sony Betacam UVW-300 w/ a sweeeeet manual Canon lens w/ 2x extender; I get to work in my major & do creative work; I get to spend more time out in the field than sitting behind a desk; everyday is different & I get to learn a lot new things (some neat: how steel mills work up close & personal; others boring: city budget talks & talks & talks...); I make enough money for rent, insurance, & ramen noodles (when I get over time, I can even afford a hamburger! :)

overall I enjoy where I'm working, and feel like I'm growing in my craft / getting better at what I do.

Q:What is going on in my love life?
A: & n b s p ;

[if you don't know html click here]*

at least my mom wanted to send me something for Valentine's day, but didn't find anything in time and so she said (direct quote) "buy yourself some extra pop and candy and I'll pay you back".... i feel loved

other parts of my personal life: I bought a DVR which changed my life (or at least the TV watching part of it); my old P3 is now collecting dust & I'm running a AMD Athalon 2700+ w/ a full GIG of ram & 256MB video card; I'm currently building custom Biker Scout (aka Scout Trooper) armor to wear at C-3

I have yet to find a church here in Lafayette, although I'm often in Chicago and go to the Vineyard church near my home. in my current failed church shopping experience I've seen some Purdue student focused congregations that aren't too deep of messages, some slow paced older churchs (kinda like Upland friends) and even some 'our very rare Sunday talking about our finances w/ a tiny bit of sermon' that I was lucky enough to sit in on

My '89 Volvo is now in the shop for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. and so I am feeling really really beaten up. I'm running out of savings, don't have enough to buy a new car, and I'm not sure what to do. (I know it isn't the biggest thing in the world, but being car-less really puts a damper on a lot of things, so THIS I could use some prayer on)

I am now also thinking about the next step to take in my life, easist thing would be to get another photographers job in a different city (w/ anywhere from a 18-55% raise depending on which market / station I go to). Although being totally single (for the first time in 3 1/2 years) I have been also thinking / talking about doing some video work for missons organizations. Which that would be kinda like the army.

"Travel the world... meet interesting people... and shoot them!"

Of course, I'd be using a camera and not a boom-stick. I still have some time to decide, and I need to do a lot of prayer before I move on.

well, that should hopefully be enough for now

~zac


*if you still don't get it & n b s p ; = nothing

2004 Puppet Awards

Rules: Well, I make the rules and alter them at will. Basically I award whatever awards I feel like to movies and games that I first saw/played in the year in question, 2004 this time around.


~~~Best Movie~~~
Return of the King: Extended Edition
(I’m awarding this to RotK despite it not being an entirely new movie partly because the Puppet Awards were absent last year so RotK didn’t get anything when it was out in theaters.)

Runners up:
Shrek 2, Spiderman 2, American History X



~~~Best comedy~~~
Shrek 2



~~~Best Computer Generated Movie~~~
Shrek 2



~~~ Scariest Movie~~~
The Exorcist
(Yes, it took me a while to get around to seeing this)



~~~Movie with Best Soundtrack (not necessarily original)~~~
Shrek 2 (I love this movie)



~~~Best Foreign Film~~~
Hero


~~~The Tasteful Nudity Award~~~
American Beauty (as usually)

Runners up:
None



~~~Best Blasphemous Movie~~~
Saved (OK, maybe wasn’t all that Blasphemous)



~~~Best show about a girl with supernatural powers that she can’t control that causes her to help those around her that was canceled by Fox without even airing the remaining already filmed episodes~~~
A tie between Wonderfalls and Tru Calling
(Fox was truly on a role the winter of 2004. Both are available on DVD now though)



~~~Worst show that was wisely canceled by Fox~~~
Forever Eden



~~~Best Reality TV Series~~~
The Apprentice

Runners up:
The Simple Life 2, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé
(Over all I think the best “reality” shows are mostly the ones that don’t just star “real” people. I don’t consider Paris, Nicole, Trump, or the Fiancé “real” people)



~~~Best non-CG Animated Movie/Series~~~
Broken Saints (www.brokensaints.com)

Another surprise to me. I thought some anime would win this, but instead we have an online Flash animation. The Broken Saints series is sort of an animated graphic novel, pretty unique in both style and story. Granted I didn’t watch as much new anime as usual in 2004 or maybe this would be different. 24 episodes, 12 hours total. The free online version is good, but the DVD version, with better art and professional voice actors, is better.



~~~Best Anime~~~
Rurouni Kenshin TV series (The Trust/Betrayal OVA is better, but I saw that years ago)
(Again, I didn’t really see that much new good anime in 2004. I guess I could cheat a little and say Millennium Actress, which I saw late 2003.)



~~~Best TV Series~~~
24



~~~Best video/computer game~~~
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay – The Developer’s Cut (PC)
This one caught me by surprise, I thought for sure Half-Life 2 could win, but I enjoyed TcoR considerably more. It had great stealth, the best hand-to-hand-combat yet in an FPS, a good story, unique gameplay (for an FPS), and it had Vin Diesel.

Runners up:
Ninja Gaiden, Half-Life 2, Pirates!
Note: I haven’t played GTA: SA yet or I suspect it may have been a contender)



~~~Best FPS Game~~~
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay – The Developer’s Cut (PC)



~~~Best Action Game (non-FPS)~~~
Ninja Gaiden

Runner’s up:
Crimson Sky (Xbox)



~~~Best Strategy Game~~~
Kohan 2
(all things said and done though, I’d rather play Total Annihilation even though it’s rather old now and I’ve been playing it for years)



~~~Best RPG~~~
Tales of Symphony
(Especially great if you have a couple friends to play it with)



~~~Best Game that I’m not sure what genre it really is exactly but it deserves to win something~~~
Pirates!
(maybe simulation/RPG/adventure?)



~~~Best video/computer Game Graphics~~~
Doom 3
(Almost nothing else compares to the lighting and shadows in this game)

Runner’s up:
Half-Life 2, The Chronicles of Riddick



~~~Best Identity Crisis in Music~~~
Bright Eyes for releasing simultaneous country and synth(?) albums, both of which are good.



~~~Best Song No One Has Ever Heard~~~
Faerie’s Aire and Death Waltz
http://www.sjmp.com/waltz.htm



I will respond to any requested categories if people want to name some in the comments.

State of the Bruce Address ::: 4-Feb-2005

- rkstormer -

Thought I'd drop a post updating you all on the recent happenings in life.

I am currently working a fulltime temp position at Lilly in Indianapolis. I'm mostly doing web stuff using ColdFusion (the web programming language not the theoretical physical phenomenon of nuclear fusion occurring at low temperatures investigated by Edmund Storms) and some MS Access database work. (By the way when I spellchecked this document it wanted to replace ColdFusion with Goldfish. So it's good to know it's a recognized language and all.)

Out of the three main projects I've worked on while here, one was quite successful, one had horrible scope creep until it got huge and then was canceled, and the last one was scaled down into near oblivion before it was launched just last week.

This third project I'd been working on since sometime in August. I had it finished in early October (this is when is was supposed to launch). Then the launch date got delayed, the business process that the system was to support was changed (repeatedly actually) and I spent much of the following months changing the system everytime upper management decided to change the business process (which was about every couple weeks). Pretty much each time my system got smaller and smaller. I figure I probably could have developed the silly thing in 2 or 3 weeks if they had just known up front what the final system was to do.

My group is being moved up two floors in our building, not sure why. I asked if another group needed the space - no, it's going to be vacant. Also, we are not allowed to move anything ourselves. There are special contractors who must move your stuff (including computer, phone, etc.). By the time you figure the movers, the activating and deactivating of network ports and phone lines, and changing everyones location ifno, it's said to cost in the thousands per person to move, and that's not counting the down-time when you aren't fully set up either place and can't work. I moved here once before and I couldn't do anything for most of two days.

Also, catbert has informed me that my department is being renamed to "Global Quality Assurrance - BU WHA HA hA".

I'm applying to some companies trying to find a long-term job. Mostly game companies, but I'll be flying over to Boston next weekend for a day-and-a-half interview with BBN technologies (with Dr Diller's son). They do military simulation and quantum encryption (read: data encryption that is, based on the laws of physics, unbreakable) research among other things. It would be nice to stay in the mid-west, but I am afraid I will likely need to move farther to get the kind of position I want.

Well, that's what's going on. I'd appreciate prayer regarding my job search and I'll keep you guys updated on how it's going. Later.

Gmail

Well boys, I know that some of the more technical guys here have probably heard of Gmail. Up until today I have found it very hard to get invites to get in. I now have an abundance of invites and I'll post them for anybody that wants an account. If you don't know what it is, check out the main site to learn more. Here are the invites. Each one is only good for one use so if one doesn't work then just try the next.


http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-b1648915e6-4f03544351-3540959a90

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-48194492d0-294e97b188-c2b36721f6

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-5cdf5243d5-4cebb8eca4-2efe606c29

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-1e8a0b8fa5-5938d950d9-e1bfef0d78

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-5cdf5243d5-c04322b305-e280f221d3

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-1e8a0b8fa5-bc72d78ce0-f44ae3276b

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-8ce39298ec-6e37849e9b-8f83d7e7fa

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-8ce39298ec-c4d6d94f1f-a0688e13d2

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-4f34dd2a51-64ab54eb88-aa9b846713

Recent Ex-Resident of Center Foundation

Well, it's official. I packed up and went back to Terre Haute, but not before I led Indiana State to the NCAA football championship (Caleb would know what I'm talking about).
I am wondering when the next big gathering of Center Foundation alumni will be. I start my internship in a few weeks, but I'll be free during the weekends. Plus I will return to campus on the 23rd for my comprehensive business exam. In the meantime I'm the official housekeeper of the Hoxworth household.
Anyway, my sister's boyfriend was baptized yesterday, so I assume things must really be going serious on that end. I am still single in that department, so I am living my life right now as a bachelor (which, of course, always has its positives).