Found an interesting blog about Scala

http://macstrac.blogspot.com/2009/04/scala-as-long-term-replacement-for.html

Tonight's Java developers meetup fully booked at 166 attendees. And the subject is Groovy on Grails. Groovy is something I never heard of, but the blurp it's an OOP-JVM scripting language. Sounds familiar to Taak.

So I do what I always do with something I don't know, I looked it up on Wikipedia. The code sample looked a lot like Scala, cool. Then there was the first citation on this quote from the author (James Strachan) of Groovy: "I can honestly say if someone had shown me the Programming in Scala book by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon & Bill Venners back in 2003 I'd probably have never created Groovy."

Wow, I followed the link. Not only is huge proponent of Scala but also there are many great resources he had linked on his post.

Starting on Scala

So my bro just sent me some books and a few tutorial on Scala. It's new to me, so here we go. I'm starting on "Beginning Scala" seems like the best book to start with. Then that leaves "Programming in Scala" , "Programming Scala" from The Pragmatic Programmers and "The Definitive Guide to Lift - A Scala-Based Web Framework."

Let's see how much I can learn in week (by Saturday)!

Internal Speaker for Compaq CQ56-115DX Notebook

After I stepped on my Vaio mini-laptop, I realized "whooops!" I need another laptop. A blessing in disguise, the Vaio was 3 years old, slow, clogged up with whatever useless junk. And a great chance to dump Windows.

I hopped on my bike and was at Best Buy, licketty-split. "Sir can I help you?" turned in a quick "What's the cheapest laptop here?" I fended off the upsell and got my hands on a mispriced Compaq with a real AMD processor. I didn't want to hear about how this box doesn't work well on Windows 7.

It was mismarked $50 less at $349. Cool. Paid. Done. Back on my bike towards home.

I installed Ubuntu 10.04, everything was smooth except my speakers didn't make any sound. I checked the soundcard settings, it plays sound through the headphone jack. Hmmmm.

Google saved the day. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1451767

A quick installation of some software and a reboot then my speakers started making music!

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-lucid-generic

Rudiments

I'm back to playing the drums. I'm surprised after a 4 year hiatus how well I actually play and how much I've actually retained in skills. 

For about a thousand dollars, I picked up a Roland Midi drum kit. This thing is great, I can practice and play wherever I want and at a low volume. Since I don't need to bash these fuckn drums, I moved from 5B drumsticks down to 8A drumsticks. "Use your wrists kid!"

But now, it's back to basics. I found this great website that has all the rudiments I need to practice. Yeah, the ones I never bothered to learn before. I might as well learn them now; starting with the paradiddle!

http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments/16singleparadiddle.html. 

One Of These Days I Gonna Get Organized

I think the Buddhist saying go like this: Happiness is the absence of want.

Hello Europe Here I Come

Making it to Amsterdam might cost me 40% less by next year. In 4 months the value of the US Dollar has risen from .62 to .74 compared to the Euro. Watch out France and Germany, I'm also headed your way, this time flexing my maybe almost equally valued dollar. Beers and brats, I think I'll be able to afford a few.

Last time was close, this time more than close

I've been reliving the 2004 Presidential elections. Four years ago at this time; Bush lead with 264 projected electoral votes, while Kerry trailed closely behind with 253. Michigan and New Hampshire were tied and I predicted with Kerry's strong debate performances that he would win. But early Wednesday morning when Bush barely pulled ahead in Ohio, my heart sunk with the realization that Kerry would lose. That I America would lose, and I that I would lose.

On Wednesday, when I got into the fortified Republican strong-hold, known as my office, I swore off politics. I placed a moratorium on all political news coverage. I was gonna have to find something else to occupy my time. And I thought maybe for the next four years. The war in Iraq was gonna have to go on without my dissenting opinions.  So I enrolled for classes at the local community college.

This time around, Obama is leading McCain 349 to 174, with Ohio, Missouri, Virginia, and Florida in his projected win column. These are states Bush won four years ago. My source, then and now, is http://www.electoral-vote.com. If reliable as they were four years ago, Tuesday night should be a good night for me and I won't have to think about enrolling in school Wednesday morning. But after the win, is there that much to be happy about?