Bourne Supremacy

Tonight I went and saw the Bourne Supremacy with a couple of friends. The Bourne Identity had been one of my favorite movies in the last several years, so my hopes for this film were incredibly high. Also, I have never read the books, so I'm not sure how faithful either of the movies have been to the plot. However, from a purely theatrical standpoint, I was fairly impressed by the latest film in the Bourne series. The acting was fairly good. Matt Damon was very impressive as Jason Bourne and was well supported by many actors, some of whom returned from the first film. The plot is incredible. It took me quite a while to figure out exactly who did what and where it was going to end. On the other hand, the car chases which I loved in the first movie were filmed much differently in this movie. It seemed as if the camera was not on a fixed platform, with the camera moving in random directions and seemingly having a hard time keeping track of what it was shooting. I understand that they would like to have the perception of a bumpy car chase, but it was very overdone. It seemed to have similar problems in some of the fight scenes, which were also very enjoyable in the first film with clean, deliberate motions that you would expect from someone as well trained as Bourne. Definitely worth seeing if you liked the first one, but the jury is still out for me on owning it when it comes to video. I probably will, though, just so that I can have the whole series.

Great Hackers

Great Hackers
This article has an interesting prospective on what kind of programmers should be classified as great hackers, how to find a great hacker if you are running a business, and the differences between normal programmers and great hackers. I thought this article had some particularly good information, and used the term hacker in a more pleasant light. Many articles use the word hacker for a destructive virus writer or somebody who steals information. I prefer to think of a hacker as somebody who enjoys learning about computers and who has a natural ability to make them do amazing things. It's also interesting that it talks about how nobody can really tell if they themselves are a great hacker, since they very rarely have anybody to compare themselves to. Great article, gives you something to think about in regards to you and your co-workers.

Vacation

This weekend until Tuesday, I went to visit my brother in Oregon. It was quite enjoyable. I stayed at his house, helped him out in his restaurant a little, and did some touristy things. I went and visited the Pendleton Underground which is a bunch of old abandoned underground connected basements. Among the stops on the tour are a Prohibition Era speakeasy, an ice cream parlor's production facility, an ice making tub, and a brothel which had been bricked up for over 30 years. It was pretty interesting, and the tour guide had some interesting stories for us. It was a long drive home, since I didn't have much to look forward to since everybody else would still be on vacation.

New Software Additions

Tonight I installed Apache 2.0.50, PHP 5.0, MySQL 4.0,
MySQL Admin, MySQL CC, phpMyAdmin, tested the MySQL
connections, and generally got my laptop ready to be a webserver for anything I decide that I want to have around. I think I will use it mostly for having some things like a blog that I can carry around and have handy at all times so that I can keep sort of an online journal of my doings, and upload it whenever I get in the mood, or get near a wifi spot or something. Anyhow, the installation was mostly painless, although I really should document how I do things so that I can repeat them without relearning the hard parts. Oh well, practice makes perfect.

Dell Home Systems Axim X30

Dell Home Systems Axim X30
This is what I'm considering for my next hardware purchase. It's very tempting to get a wireless device that would be able to go everywhere with me, and would be much less conspicuous in the classroom. It seems to me that laptops have not gotten the acceptance that I thought they would, even in the college atmosphere. At 237 dollars, I think the price is right on this little piece of hardware. The only thing that I've seen from the Palm OS side that I have been impressed with lately is a Sony Clie TH-55 that a co-worker has, and the price is roughly double what Dell is selling for. Hopefully I can afford to get one of these in the next month or two.

First Post

Well, this is an interesting new idea. I hope it is kind of fun for me, and also for any friends and family who care to listen while I use the internet to talk about my hobbies and my life.