Robots Don’t Sleep

This isn’t exactly news, but regardless, I am very excited. Please bear with me.

I am well aware that this may not mean anything to anyone that may read this blog, but I have something special to announce. I have waited at least a month to say this, but I am very excited to announce that in less than 2 weeks, I will be making a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada! I was lucky enough to receive a free ticket to MIX, a Microsoft conference that has a strong focus on the correlation between current internet technologies and design. The talks are presented by very high-profile speakers in the industry, and I actually follow a lot of these guys on twitter, or I subscribe to their blogs on Google Reader.

The code that I write is lagely inspired by the things that these people write! I know it’s super nerdy but c’mon!

I am not only excited to make my first trip to the real Vegas, but I am really looking forward to the chance to network with some of these bigwigs in the industry. I can’t believe that this opportunity just fell in my lap out of nowhere. At the same time, however, I am extremely humbled at the fact that I will be representing my company (along with my CEO and boss) at such a huge technology event. I have even considered entering in a Rock Band competition.

Besides the fact that I haven’t worked with very many web-based technologies as of late, I still believe that I have an interest in where a lot of the current trends are going. For example, I have been doing Silverlight 2 work on and off, as well as giving talks at SoCal Code Camps and participating in Silverlight labs in Irvine. Most of the talks that I am planning on attending are either Silverlight 3 or Expression Blend related, and I have been advocating on the behalf of Silverlight almost nonstop since it was released a few months ago.

It’s time to switch to the dark side, Actionscript Nazis!

Wow… haha. But seriously, all joking aside, I think that this year’s MIX Conference will be extremely rewarding and I’m very lucky to be given the chance to attend such an event so early on in my career.  To make this blog post that much more boring, here are some of the sessions that I am planning on attending:

• What’s New in Microsoft Silverlight 3
• Integrating Microsoft Expression Blend with Adobe Creative Suite
• How’d they do it?  Real App.  Real Code.  Two Weeks.  Nothing but .NET (Scott Hanselman!!!)
• From Concept to Production: Microsoft Expression Blend
• User Experience Design Patterns for Business Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 3
• Consuming Web Services in Microsoft Silverlight 3
• Deep Zoom++ : Build Dynamic Deep Zoom application with Open Source
• Touch and Gesture Computing, What You Haven’t Heard (Joseph Fletcher!!!)

I’d like to add that almost all my former classmates from school do web-based work with their companies, while I have done hardly any web-based work so far at all.

So… yeah, it’ll be nice to rub it in their faces when I get to meet a lot of these famous Microsoft people face-to-face.

Haaaaah, it’ll be great.

Today was the beginning of my third week straight of going to the gym and my attempt to sustain an active lifestyle. Between weightlifting, running, and biking on the weekend, I’ve been surprised at how little effort it has taken. It seems to have fallen into my every day routine, and it’s very refreshing to know that I haven’t met any real challenges in trying to meet my goal. This isn’t very fitting, but a lyric just came on iTunes that says “Pain is only a pulse if you just stop feeling it.” I thought it was kind of interesting.

I’m kind of anxious for the presidential elections to be over. I think almost everyone can agree that it’s turned into a bit of a circus. I guess I’m generally tired of political strategy getting in the way of real issues, and the use of gimmicks and distractions by both presidential candidates. I have no doubt in my mind that Obama will be our next president come election day, but I feel like I’ve been following this 20-month road only for it to turn into a round-about discussion about nothing at the very end. I know who I’m voting for, and I’m tired of hearing about it all.

On a side note, I’ve also been getting back into playing guitar recently. My playing has been sparse at best in the past couple years, and I feel like I have a renewed interest in learning new songs and trying to improve myself. Maybe it’s a trend in life - when you try to improve yourself in one area, you start developing a want to improve in other areas as well. The only downside is that I haven’t had much time outside of work and the gym to explore other opportunities, like making friends and meeting girls. Oh well.

I noticed an interesting thing while biking these past two weekends. I used to take a lot of time out of my days in the past to reflect on things, and over the last year or so I’ve digressed a bit from that. I used to sit and listen to music while writing; I used to write music; I used to walk places and spend time alone in preparation for what I thought my soon-to-be future would be. Now, in riding 20-plus miles a week, I’ve had time to really be on my own, alone in my environment and I’ve had time to really think. It’s refreshing, but I have found myself thinking where hours of my time have gone. Whereas I would usually attribute this loss in time to surfing the internet or something as time-consuming and relatively pointless, I now can be proud that I’m actually moving toward a positive goal that I’ve set. A week from now, I hope that I can say that I’m starting my fourth week of bettering myself - in discipline and in persistence.

This weekend was spent on a nice, short trip home to see family that I haven’t seen in years. Reunions aren’t really my thing, but it was relaxing to spend an entire day at a lake in the mountains. Between barbequeing, not catching any fish, drinking with relatives, and playing guitar in the rain, I have to say that it was a success. It’s so strange any time I go back home, but this time I got to meet a ton of new people, and the definite lack of stress that comes with fishing in the mountains was welcomed with open arms.

The weirdest part about this weekend was seeing everyone grown up. It’s amazing how much 2-5 years can change people - sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. It also forced me to take an introspective look at myself and how much I’ve changed over the years. I won’t go into any details, but it was probably the first time I’ve dug that deep into myself without sinking into a slump. Turning myself inside out was never this painless, and it was never this rewarding. I didn’t think my perspective could get much fresher, but it did, and it was a pretty amazing experience.

Also, I saw The Dark Knight twice, and am planning on seeing it again - hopefully in IMAX. That movie has restored my faith in a lot of ways, and it will remain in my mind for a long time as one of the first great things I have experienced here in California. The first of many. Right along with watching the sun set behind the ocean. Right along with conquering my first mountain on a bike.

For now, I just need to work on taking things one step at a time.