I love to document, so here I go.

I noticed today that there is an immerging schism in the different types of clothes I have. There are some new clothes, "the new style," which are significantly outnumbered my old clothes, "the old style." Today I conscientiously dressed in "the old style."

Notice the baggy pants, key on the belt loop, and a graphic T with a geek appeal. What kind of underwear am I wearing? It doesn’t matter because I’m a nerd and no one will see it unless the bully depantses me in the hallway.

Tonight I found some preppy clothes that I had worn the previous Friday. This would be the "new style".

Notice the well-fitting low-rise boot-cut jeans… with boots. Then I have the nice shirt that says, "I dress myself." And what’s that? I do think I see a hint of a preppy label above that white cotton belt. My problem here is that, well-dressed or not, I look like a huge prick.

This is interesting, because with “the old style,” I felt comfortable that people wouldn’t assume I was a jerk, but I also felt that they would assume I was a nerd.  With “the new style,” I feel confident they wouldn’t assume I was a nerd, but also feel that I might come off as a jerk.  Clearly I must find a balance or stop caring.

This is more an interesting process for me than anything else. I feel like I’m dressing an avatar of myself for a website more than actually going out in new clothes… which is good, because I’m not going to take offense if a friend tells me I look stupid. Quite the opposite, I think it’s really interesting to hear what other people think.  I always mean to strive to try new things, so hopefully this will give me some useful insights into another subculture at the very least. The journey is more important than the destination anyway…

When I was little, I was fascinated by what I now know are the break lights that are in the rear window of most cars.  When it was nighttime and we came to a stoplight, I noticed how even though I couldn’t see that the stoplight itself was red, there was a correlation between the stoplight being red and the red light in the rear window of the car in front of us.  I wondered by what mechanism the car in front of us knew that the light was red, and thought that it was very useful for cars to relay that information to the cars behind them.

I know now that the key element in making that happen was the driver tapping on the breaks, and in fact the light didn’t signify anything directly about any stop light, just that the driver had his foot on the break pedal.  Even so, I have always been interested in what makes technology tick, and (even more) how to design something that has some kind of interactivity or pseudo intelligence.  To me, code is a form of magic—now hear me out!

When I write a program, I pull the words out of nowhere.  I can take an idea, describe how a program should behave, and it will simply happen.  I said that this was like magic, but now let me step back a bit.  To me code lets me perform a kind of magic that applies to the virtual world rather than the physical, with a bit of crossover via different kinds of human-computer interaction.  The kind of magic that code can accomplish applies to information rather than physical objects.  For example, the idea of someone seeing something and capturing that moment to be displayed on a picture frame in his grandparents’ house is whimsical at least—without any explanation anyway.  However, with a digital camera, an Eye-Fi wireless SD card, and an appropriate digital picture frame, one could take a picture, the Eye-Fi could find an open wifi hotspot, connect to Flickr, and upload the picture for the digital picture frame to download and display.

Did you just yawn there?  Most people would, but that’s kind of the point.  Technology can accomplish amazing things—the sky is hardly the limit.  When dreaming up an idea, it isn’t always important to have it seem realistic at first.  Furthermore, no matter how cool the demo, the actual magic will come down to bits and bytes… but that’s great!  To me, in creating software, the biggest barriers are knowledge, skill, and time.  With those three things one person could create a software product that works better than a similar product by a big company.  Two identical pieces of hardware could be made vastly different with different software.  Firmware updates for portable devices are a good example of this, as are videos games for any given console.  On a console, every development team has the same canvas to work with, and it is amazing to see the wildly varied experiences that different games can create.

I’ve always been facinated by this stuff, and always will be.  That’s great for me, though, because it’s an inexpensive hobby and a well-paying profession.  Ah, I think I’ll write a bit of code right now.

Du Hast by Rammstein

Twisted Transistor

Music is My Hot Hot Sex

They by Jem

All we Are by Fischerspooner

Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie

You are a Pirate by Lazy Town

Amy’s Song by Switchfoot

Born Too Slow

Let Go by Frou Frou

Pain by Jimmy Eat World

Circuit Breaker by Royksopp

Movin’ Out by Billy Joel

I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry

Waterfalls by TLC

He Says She Says by Freezepop
(Also check out Do You Like My Wang and Do You Like Boys?)

The Philadelphia Grand Jury by The Fiery Furnaces (if you are looking for some Inie)

All Around Me by Flyleaf

Just Dance by Lady Gaga

Kittin Is High by Miss Kittin

Shattered by O.A.R.

Faster Kill Pussycat by Paul Oakenfold

Pull Shapes by The Pipettes

Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears

A Cause Des Garçons by Yelle

Zdarlight by Digitalism

Sad Song by Au Revoir Simone

Voulez-Vous by The A-Teens

Veva La Vida by Coldplay

Butterfly by Crazy Town

Do You KNow? by Enrique Iglesias

Amazing by George Michael

(also check out Freeek! ’04)

Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls

Here in Your Arms by Hellogoodbye

Clear the Area by Imogen Heap

Geek in the Pink by Jason Mraz

D.A.N.C.E. by Justice

Daft Punk is Playing at my House by LCD Soundsystem

The Birds and the Bees by Patrick & Eugene

Young FOlks by Peter Bjorn and John

Laura by Scissor Sisters

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

All The Things she Said by t.A.T.u.

The Distance by Cake
(also check out Daria)

First Time by Lifehouse
(also check out Whatever it Takes)

Shake It by Metro Station

Nth Degree by Morningwood

Sunburn by Muse

Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones (for something relaxing)

Apologize by OneRepublic (the one at the end of the album)

A Touch Too Much by PhonJaxx (the original radio edit)

Loud Pipes by Ratatat

Chop Suey! by System of a Down

Wanna Be a Star by Walter Meego
(also check out Forever)

Pork and Beans by Weezer
(also check out Heart Songs)

Makes Me Wonder by Maroon 5
(also check out She Will Be Loved and Tangled)

Porcelain by Moby

Decepticon by Le Tigre

Lollpopsichord by Black Moth Super Rainbow
(also check out They Live in the Meadow)

Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne

Cartoon Heroes by Aqua
(also check out Doctor Jones and Cuba Libre)
Humanity by ATB

Finger Food by Benny Benassi

(also check out Shocking Silence)

The Diary of Jane by Breaking Benjamin

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness
(look up the music video)

It’s Not Over by Daughtry
(also check out Over You)

Hyperlink by Eiffel 65
(also check out Silicon World)

Botten Anna by Basshunter
(also check out DotA)

The Real Thing by Bo Bice

The Rockafeller Skank by Fatboy Slim

Let Go by Frou Frou
(also check out Must Be Dreaming and Shh)

Robots by Flight of the Conchords

Crazy by Gnarles Barkley

Ding Dong Song by Gunther & the Sunshine Girls

The Reason by Hoobastank
(also check out Escape)

You Promised Me by In-Grid

Centerfold by J. Geils Band

Mr. Brightside by The Killers

Pass This On by The Knife

Sometimes by Les Rythmes Digitales

Last Summer by Lostprophets
(also check out Last Train Home)

Thriller by Michael Jackson

Float On by Modest Mouse

Noticed by Mute Math

One of the many wonderful presents (thanks Mom, Dad, brothers, sister) I got this Christmas was a pair of Virginia Tech branded “Mammoth” Crocs from my Dad.  I have to say… I’ve been skeptical about Crocs, but not only are these things warm and comfy, but they show my Hokie pride as well.