The one thing I hate about Chrome

The spell check sucks.

Nano ITX Computer

I was lucky enough to get a hold of a nano ITX motherboard a while ago (thanks Curtis!) and finally got around to using it. I gutted an ancient tower, used the power supply from it, and a spare HDD I had lying around. I had to order the ram for it but everything else on it is integrated.

It's not very powerful but it runs XP and Ubuntu just fine. I was going to set it up as a file server but my mom needed a computer, so its currently over at her house.

This is My Private Life!

Oingo Boingo is easily the best band ever. Enjoy!

SIP Voip over 3G

I have made significant progress with my VOIP over 3G experiment, and would say it's to the point where anybody could use it. My old configuration was Google Voice to Gizmo5 to a SIP app on my phone. The problem with this was G5 didnt integrate well with the SIP app, was unreliable and i would miss calls. Making calls was a pain, they were setup via browser and this was unreliable as well. I had wanted to hold onto gizmo5 as the SIP provider as G5 was the only SIP provider with direct integration with GV.

After much trial and error I arrived at an ideal solution. Incoming calls to GV are routed to the SIP provider sipgate, then to the sipswitch sipsorcery, and onto sipdroid running on my phone. Calls can be made directly on the handset dialer, as sipdroid integrates with the native dialer. When you place a call sipdroid contacts sipsorcery, and sipsorcery runs a script that contacts GV, making GV initiate the call. This is all very transparent to the user and once setup is indistinguishable from the typical call process. These are all free services, and i would highly suggest trying this out.

You may have read that Verizon is going to allow unlimited calls to and from Skype soon. Calls will be routed over the typical voice networks but will require data to initiate the calls. However, they will not allow Skype out calls to phone lines. My next project will be figuring out how to rout all calls through the Skype network without using Skype credits.

Life

I haven't posted in a while as life has been incredibly busy with all the the assignments, the studying, the practicing, other personal projects, and work. I am extremely busy but loving it!

Life is going good, I am taking classes that directly relate to my interests with learning to program (finally!) and learning to build web pages in Dreamweaver and Flash. Astronomy class is incredibly interesting if a bit confusing with all the mathematic formulas and figures that we have to do. Communications is one of the most fun classes (girls outnumber guys almost 4/1).

Guitar class is drastically different than last semester. We covered the material from the first semester in the first day, you need to practice a lot to keep up.

It is incredibly difficult to stay focused on doing homework but I am getting better at it. Writing assignments are probably the most difficult to do, but i have found that having the right music helps immensely. I am doing my best to stay positive, I'm blown away at how much this helps, I've really never been happier.

Some other updates:

After changing the registrar on the website domain from aplus to godaddy, myprivatelife.org is back up. I bought aaronchristiansen.com (directing to this site for now). A placeholder site is up on oingoboingo.org till i get it finished, it's my final project for the web design class. I also made a breakthrough with my Voip over 3g experiment.

School Again

So far this year has been going excellently! After moving into a new apartment that is amazingly awesome compared to the one i was in i was was already feeling much better. Something about the last apartment made me get incredibly depressed.

I had resigned my self to having to go off and work this semester after I had gotten a letter from the school saying i was on academic suspension. I applied a few places but with little luck was on the fringe of leaving to try to find work somewhere else. Luckily after reviewing my grades with the summer semester factored in the school was able to qualify me for attendance and financial aid.

I am now attending classes for my desired major of computer science, and i have never felt better. I am trying to stay optimistic though there are still issues to deal with. The biggest difficulty continues to be staying focused, as it is incredibly easy for me to spend hours upon hours at the computer (reddit). ADD medication helps considerably, but its not a silver bullet by any means. I have fancy organizing systems set up with my phone, but i'm starting to find that writing things down on paper is just easier, and because you see it more often. It makes me wonder though, how do other people go about doing things?

Resolutions

Its 2010! I recall when i was younger thinking that by now everybody would be living in a technological utopia. Here we are, and the only futuristic sort of thing is the fancy cell phones everybody has.

As i look back on 2009 it was okay, I am not especially happy with it but i learned some things. This year has potential to be awesome, and so i'm starting it with some resolutions.

My resolutions for the new year:

Learn to program

Write an android app and get it on the android marketplace.

Take at least 30 credits of classes.

Write in blog regularly.

Complete an epic project.

Get out of debt.

Get in shape.

Get a girlfriend.

Im trying to be realistic and set attainable goals, and hopefully these will be.