Day 1

I arrived today in La Havana after my parents decided it would be best for me to spend some time with my grandmother, and learn responsibilities--what a load. The first time I visit this country and my parents decide I should do it alone. And not to a resort, no, to a half broken apartment in the crappiest side of La Habana, or at least it seems to be, for nothing can look worse.

Six months I am supposed to spend in this place. At least I have my computer. Although, there is no internet here. I wonder if they have discovered fire. When I arrived, my grandmother was very happy to see me. I feel bad that I wasn’t as excited. It’s hard to explain, I know that she is my grandma but I have only seen her once and that was five years ago. I feel like I am in a strange place surrounded by stranger people. Earlier, I met my cousins who I had only seen in pictures. They where very happy to see me, and their mother-- my aunt by marriage--told them to hug and kiss me, and then she hugged me.
It was very awkward, and I think she is fake. How could anyone be so happy to see someone they have never met? Anyways, two of my cousins are young. I think five or four years old. The other is older. I think she is seventeen, or a year younger. Anyways, she is around my age. They stayed for about an hour, and asked about my parents and about whether I liked Cuba, even though I have only been here for five hours. I said I did, since I didn’t want to be rude.

Now I am sitting by the window and writing these notes. Maybe when I get back I’ll create a blog. I have always wanted to write and this is as good a time as any, since there is nothing to do. There is nothing good on tv. There are only like 5 channels and two of them are constantly talking about the great economic advances achieved in this island by the sacrifice and hardwork of the revolution. I must be in the shittiest part of town indeed since I don’t see any great economic signs around here.

I am sitting by the window, and I can see the Ocean that starts just across the street. From what I am told, that is the “Malecon” or boardwalk. The sea looks very blue, especially now that it's getting dark. It’s actually beautiful. Just about the only beautiful thing I can see. The neighboring houses and buildings look old, and decaying with the paint flaking or gone showing bare bricks. I cannot believe my parents have sent me here. I must find ways to entertain myself or I will go crazy. It's such a boring place. Even the light bulbs are yellow and tired. And there is nothing good on tv, what will I do without tv and internet? My cousin Elena said she would pick me up in two hours to go out. At least I won't be in this room. It's so plain!
I think I will continue writing later as my grandmother is now calling me to dinner. Rice and steak, although hardly the New York striploin kind. I will write later about my outing with my cousin. Although I don't hold high hopes for it.

The future of abovesoftware....

Yesterday, during a company event, I was approached by a colleague whom I had not seen in a while. He mentioned that he had been reading my blog and was upset at my lack of articles. I found it interesting since it is not the first time that I had been approached by friends and colleagues, and  had been accused of abandoning Above Software.

To be honest, I was not aware that so many people were reading my posts. Had I known, I probably would have written more. In any case, I have promised to write more and as such I have devised a plan on how to organize my posts here-on. I realized that there are two main categories of people that visit this blog: 1) Developers 2) Non-developers looking for something fun to read. I thought of different ways I could try and keep writing for both demographics. Here is the plan:

I will be creating 4 new categories: Announcements, Chapter-by-Chapter, OpenGL Tutorials, Every day nonsense.

In "Announcements" I will let you know of upcoming changes and news regarding the site. Chapter-by-Chapter is an experiment category I have been thinking about for quite some time. I will attempt to write a fiction story on a per-episode basis. I will be releasing each episode each Friday night. 

OpenGL Tutorials will contain tutorials on OpenGL development along with sample code. Lastly Everyday nonsense will contain just that; everyday articles about things that I, and hopefully you,  find interesting. 

I hope you all enjoy the new changes. I am sure I'll enjoy the writing ahead.

On Steve Jobs

As I regularly do on workdays, I turned my computer on early this morning and signed on to MSN messenger. Scrolling through my work contacts I noticed a ticker in the "news" section of the messenger window. It said that Steve Jobs had passed away yesterday, October 5th.

I took my hands off the keyboard, and leaned back on my chair. I took a moment, and began to try to understand what this meant. It would mean different things to different people. To those who pay no attention to technology and the evolving world, a celebrity has died. To his family, a loved one has passed away. The pain will be wholly theirs, though millions more will mourn. But, being spared the crude pain of his death, we, seekers of technology, consumers, developers, and designers, will experience the "cliche," yet romantic notion that an era has just ended.

I have often regretted not having been born in the times of the greats. I wish I had lived when the Beatles were together and John Lennon was alive. I wish I had been old enough to understand who Freddie Mercury was when as a kid I heard him sing. I wish I had been alive when Einstein published the general theory of relativity, or when Sir Isaac Newton was the president of the Royal Society. I wish I had seen Babe Ruth hit a homerun.

Alas, none of these wishes can ever come true. But, I am lucky. I was not born in the 60's. I am not a musician. I was not born in the 20s and I am not a baseball player. I am a Computer Scientist, and I was born in the 80's. Steve Jobs was the Babe Ruth of our parks, and I saw him hit homeruns.

Thank you for your genius, creativity, and everlasting perfectionism. The industry will miss you.

Arrogant or timid?

I feel this is an article I ought to write. I have spent many evenings and afternoons having a few drinks and talking with friends about the fear most people have of seeming arrogant, so instead, they err on the side of timidity. 

I am talking about the difficulty the general population has when having to fill a self evaluation form or when asked during a job interview to describe their strengths. It is sad to see how most of you struggle on how to say why and how you are awesome. I have been shocked by this so much that I feel I must write this to try and help you. There is this notion  that acknowledging self-worth is arrogant and impolite. Instead always smile and say "Well...umm...heee...you know I like to learn, and I work really hard..., but I am not sure about clear strength, you tell me." What is sad is that many people giving these weak answers are actually really good at what they do, and they know it! But they have this idea that expressing those feelings is wrong and arrogant.

The world is pretty small and the competition is huge. If you want to succeed you better start getting noticed. And no one gets noticed by saying "ummm....i mean if you think i can...i mean i'll try...." 

Being arrogant is saying "man I'm freaking awesome" all the time and wearing a shirt with your picture on it. That's being arrogant. When asked why you think you are good; that's a different story! 

Imagine a road ending in an electric fence. Imagine a sign on the fence that says "Trespassers will be deemed arrogant" in red bold letters. Most days you should stay behind the fence because being arrogant, like getting electrocuted, is bad and undesirable. However, when you are asked to describe your strengths, you should picture that fence opening up and a red velvet carpet unrolling beyond. You should picture white unicorns and flowers and trumpets, and yes a guiding breeze urging you to enter the sacred zone, because now it's ok. Now, you can shine.

It is of course important to know your strengths and weaknesses. Worse than being timid and unnoticed is to boast without backing it up. When asked to rate yourself 1 to 5, and you feel that in a certain area you deserve a 5. Give yourself a 5, after all you think you are worth it. When asked to explain the high mark, you should express the reasons with examples so that whomever is questioning it may be able to understand that you are not arrogant, but that you know yourself.

There will also be a time to name your weaknesses. And again many choke and think that this will be their doom. After all aren't weaknesses bad? Let me tell you a little secret. If you didn't have weaknesses they couldn't afford you, I am sure none of you get paid enough not to have weaknesses. Weaknesses are areas to grow into, and learn from. A good company should always help you overcome your weaknesses by coaching you and giving you the chance to learn. So don't be shy about pointing out weaknesses, you will always have some. Weaknesses point to us what we do not yet know, and we will never know everything.

So, please, if I ever have to interview you, and ask you to rate yourself, don't shy away. After all, I have already told you what to say.

In the air

This is not a pathetic attempt at sounding philosophical. I am currently writing this entry aboard an AirTran flight to Buffalo. I am returning home (to Toronto, I will have to drive across the border after landing in Buffalo) from a vacation in Orlando Florida. I will write more about my visits to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the Kennedy Space Center later when I gather my thoughts. This entry is just my way of sharing my amusement at the fact that I am able to write this mid-air.

I remember when not so long ago making a phone call in an airplane was a luxury that cost a pretty penny, and not every airliner would carry such a convenience. Now not only can you use your own cellphone but you can get online through wifi and skype, msn, email, and carry out almost all forms of communications. Then again I am still not sure about what I am more amazed: in-flight wifi, or the fact I am flying at all. Airplanes have been around far longer than the internet itself, but I am still not sure that one is more impressive than the other.

I have a degree in computer science and work in the embedded world, and I still can't help but be amazed at the things we have been able to accomplish. I am sure if anyone in my team reads this their eyebrows would crumple in a surprised look as when I am at work I expect perfection. I expect to create the impossible, and any bug in the process bothers me until we solve it. However, when it's late at night, or when I'm flying ;), and I think about airplanes, and navigation systems, and all the great advancements in technology, I think, who cares about a little bug resulting in an off pixel the fact the screen is lit and I can push buttons drawn on it is amazing!

I have to continue this later, the person in front of me keeps banging his sit on my knees. F*** I hate flying.

Apple, Microsoft, and everything

If you have to wonder what this post is about, then you have probably been living in a hole, in an island somewhere off the coast of New Mexico. In that case, then, welcome; welcome to civilization strange one. Today we are talking about Apple, the silicon one.
If you however have not been living secluded in a cave off the coast of New Mexico, then you probably know of Apple, the makers of iPod, iPhone, iPad, oh yes, and they
make computers too. It's scary, I think, that we live in a society that consumes more electronic apples than the ones that grow on trees. Lately however, it seems that Apple can do no wrong. Any product they launch is record selling, and leaves mobs of "fanboys" salivating and sleeping outside malls and stores hoping to get into the latest trend.

I have for years, to the frustration of many of my friends, been a constant critic of Apple. This year however, to the delight of most of my friends, I bought an iPhone 4. Let me set the record straight on my views on Apple, Microsoft, and "fanboys."

Fanboys:

When I say fanboys, I am speaking of the people who are die-hard apple fans without regards to any bit logic. These are the guys that will pay $1500 for a bag of flaming shit, as long as it has the Apple logo on it. I remember not long ago I was sitting in the subway on my way home, and had to listen to a fanboy secrete a greenish goo of complaints against Microsoft, and viruses, and blue screens. Fanboys love talking about blue-screens, and viruses, and windows crashing. Listen guys, these are not Microsofts faults. Trust me, Microsoft has bigger flaws that actually make sense, flaws which upon mentioning their existence, will not make you sound ignorant and stupid. Those flaws I will site later in a different section. For now I will get back to the notion of blue screens, viruses, and windows crashing.

VIRUSES: The install base that windows has and has had for 30 years is far, far, Peter-Pan's-Neverland-far, greater than Mac OS. Therefore the chances of 14 year old immature programmers been familiar with a windows environment is much greater than with Mac Os, therefore there is a greater chance of having more windows oriented viruses. Also, until relatively recently Apple had not released a SDK for coders to develop on Macs. There is another reason, Apple computers for years have been targeted more to the "artistic community" than the nerdy programming one.

Blue Screens and Windows Crashing:
Again, the install base of Microsoft Windows is so big that if you were to put the windows cds next to each other they would wrap around the Earth several hundred times. Ok, I made that up. But it is really much much greater than Mac OS. By install base, I mean amount of copies installed, but also across a very very wide number of different types of systems. Apple creates the OS but they also create the hardware (yes of course they outsource to Intel and blah, but everything is done to their spec). It's really a lot easier to cater to your own hardware than have to deal with every single company outthere that thinks they can create peripherals. As if this isn't enough, then come the programmers of the world. There are so many programmers in the world that code for windows that if you were to stand them side by side they would wrap around..ok lets not go there, but again a lot more than on Mac OS. These are not doctors in computer science mind you, these are kids that took a programming course and release code on the internet for others to download. There is so much more third party code outthere for windows compared to Mac that if you were to make an analogy of the windows available code as being a giant then the equivalent in Mac code would be a little shit pebble stuck to the side of the giant's ass cheek. So, with the wide range of hardware peripherals that windows has to support, and all the different kinds of people releasing questionable code to run on PCs it is really a miracle that Windows works at all. In fact Microsoft is pretty freaking awesome in this aspect. So please, next time you want to talk to me about Apple and Microsoft, don't bitch about windows crashing.
You can say, "for people who are not tech savvy and may go around the net downloading every little .exe they see, and clicking on every popup, Mac OS may be safer." But what you can't say is Apple is so much better than Microsoft because windows crashes. That's stupid.


Apple:

To me Apple is the greatest designer company out there. They, without argument, have the best looking products available. And have hit the nail on a few ground breaking products like iPod and the iPhone. That is undeniable. I got the iPhone because for me at the moment, there is no better smart phone. I love the apps that we can download. I love the user interface. I love the browser.
However, as a company, I have many problems with it. I don't like the Big Brotheresque way in which it runs its business. As a developer I wish I could write an app for my iPhone and release it. First, I need to buy a Mac. It doesn't suffice that I bought an iPhone. I also need to buy a Mac. Why can't I write the app on my PC? Many will say, hey they own the products and if you don't like it don't buy it. That is true, however, it doesn't make it right. I bought the phone and don't regret it because I like the "smart phone aspect" of it. But I don't like the fact that I need to buy a Mac to develop for it. I think it's a blatant money grab.
I also don't like the fact that they decide what I can and can't put on the Apple Store. Yes, fine, check if it isn't malicious code, but who cares if my app is "useless" to you. You should be able to deny an app based on whether you think it's "useful." Again, it's a totalitarian-like regime which I really don't like.

Microsoft:
It's a great "developer" company, but not design oriented in the least. By "developer" company I mean that they develop for developers first and foremost. It's really easy to develop for windows and the tools are available and mostly free. What I don't like about Microsoft is that the design seems to be an after-thought. Take windows phone 7 for example. It seems to be a great OS, and the tiles are an amazing idea with "live" data showing. But, it looks like shit. 2D squares slapped on your screen, and the titles get cropped around the edges of the screen instead of zooming out, come on guys, give it some effort.


In general, I think Microsoft Windows XP (I hate Windows 7, but this is for a later time) is a remarkable OS, and Microsoft is a really good company with really incredible products, which needs to spend a bit more time on the design aspect. Apple, is an incredible design company which needs to care more about people and really give people a choice. They are very controlling and need to step back and let the consumers make some choices with their products. When I pay so much money for a phone I don't think it should be considered "a license", it's my product, let me use it.

Country Folks

I am writing this entry from a motel on Highway 26 in Blue Mountains. The thing about driving out of the city is that right about when the last building drops below the horizon, everything begins to slow down. The highway is no longer 100 km/h instead it drops down to 80 km/h. High-rises and malls with car noises and crowd chatter are replaced by corn fields and farmland with the music of birds and swinging flora. Instead of 100+ horsepower mustangs, these folks own the original 1 horse power mustangs, no oil change or gas needed, and instead of polluting the air it fertilizes the orchards.

After checking in to the motel we decided to go for a drive around the village which is approximately 15 minutes away by car. On the way to the village the traffic became very slow due to construction on the road. While I waited for the traffic to begin moving again I spotted a group of kids a few cars up the road armed with bags full of apples approaching the helpless cars. "Here we go again," I thought. "Why can't I go a full day without somebody trying to sell me something." As one of the youngsters approached my passenger window I prepared to signal to him that I wasn't interested, but just then the always benevolent and never 'arrrgghhhh' wife of mine opens the window. Fine! I fished in my pockets for a $20 to be prepared for whatever price this little creep would try to take us for. "Would you like some free apples?" asked the boy. Would I like some free apples? Are you kidding me who hands out free anything anymore, let alone free apples? In Toronto if you get offered something free it's most likely deepfried or illegal. I had to put away the 20 dollar bill in order to free my hand to be able to receive for free the very apple I did not want to buy. Who gives free apples away?

Later, on our way back from the village just off Highway 26 I saw a sign advertising honey at a good price. I pulled over and approached the little table by the side of the highway where the honey containers were. The table was in the front yard of a house whose owners I could not see anywhere. What was peculiar about this picture was that I didn't see anyone selling the honey. There, in front of me were several jars of honey and, most interestingly a topperware full of cash. Are you kidding me guys!? Really? Cash? Just lying around, no need for surveillance, or any sort of care? I must have stood in front of the table like a moron for about ten minutes trying to decode this unfamiliar situation. I kept thinking, "this is a trap man, they got snipers in the cornfields!. Touch those jars and you'll get shot. Just walk away..." Then, when I was about to get back in my car and drive the hell away, a smiling lady comes out of the house and waves at us. "Hi folks, just grab a jar and put the money in the box."
She must have read the confusion in my face for right away she said "You are from the city aren't you?"
I just could not believe that you can leave a box full of money and the product you are selling unattended, and not only not have it get stolen, but get the product to sell itself while the box swells up with more money from nice and honest customers. Mind boggling! Apparently however, this is just how business is done on this side of the country.

I love my high-rises, sport cars, and technology infested city-boy society, but it takes a few jars of self selling honey and a self guarding money box to poke a hole in our sophisticated cloud of egotistical realism, and realize that we need to preserve the country folks lest the world implode into a useless goo of materialistic bullshit