infected! (facebookt again, eh?)

"Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you." - facebook virus id 234894

you've probably seen the latest facebook virus that's going around..you know, the little "25 random things about me!" thing. i felt neglected for a long time because i hadn't been tagged. but then i got to thinking...these little notes are strikingly similar to computer viruses. watch out, you're profile is probably infected!

in fact a lot of things on facebook are like that..you get a little invitation from a friend saying they sent you a hug using some facebook extension or another. when you click on the link that extension adds itself to your profile! whaa?

the little apps are a little different from the notes strain of facebook virus, in that you don't have to do anything but click on buttons to get one. notes viruses are even more advanced..they actually take over your brain for a little bit as you, in shameful resemblance to...something that has no brain and no capacity to think for itself...create your own new note, make up 25 ridiculous things that people neither know nor care to find out about, and post it, additionally marking more potential victims. shame on you!

whoever started the whole 25-stupid-things note virus is probably laughing at how many people have his little virus on their profile. just like people who write real viruses do..

just wait..one day there will be virus scanners that scan your facebook profile and try to get rid of pesky things like these.

uta bus routes

UPDATE: this project kindof died when uta bus routes appeared on google maps, and also when i spent the summer *not* in utah and *not* riding UTA busses.

public transportation where i live kinda sucks. there seems to be a general attitude of not caring about it around here. mostly because the majority of people have cars. i don't, however, and the lack of information around here frustrates me.

when i got a job that's about 10 miles away from where i live, i needed to find out what bus can get me there the fastest. of course, not knowing the geography of utah too well it would be nice to have something convenient on google maps or something..but of course there's nothing (yet). the utah transit authority, the people who run the buses, have a website with a horrible little route search and some hard-to-read maps, which aren't very helpful at all.

so in the past couple months i've been using the buses i know work, and when i have time i experiment. today i found a bus that brings me about 3 blocks from home in about 20 minutes, while the bus i had normally been taking takes much longer. wish i had known that before, eh? i almost missed the stop it got me there so fast compared to the other line.

so i decided to work on a little project in my spare time, google-izing all the poorly-organized information there is out there. even if something like this has already been done somewhere on the web (i have found a couple of places where it has been, but not very well), it will be a good excercise in web development, programming, and the google maps programming api, which is always interesting and good!

you'll be able to find updates on this here: http://john.cheslicious.com/utaroutes.

if you ride uta buses, trax, frontrunner, or anything else (that isn't a car) and want to help me, contact me and i'll let you know when i can use your help (when i actually start the project...right now it's just in the idea/planning stage)

yay for knowing how to program, eh? :)

keep it simple

i remember in 5th grade, when i was living in st. louis, missouri, my entire class had a week-long camping trip instead of school. all the 5th grade kids from my school district and the ones in the area, i think, but that part's not important. we did fundraisers before hand, learned to square dance (i remember all the boys were really nervous about dancing with girls. eww.) anyways, the time finally came for us to go. we came to school monday morning with our bags all packed up and ready to go.

i think the teachers went through a checklist of required items. sleeping bag, flashlight, and so forth. that took a while, but we finally got onto the buses and went. of course, the buses didn't bring us directly to the cabins we would be staying in, so once we got there, we would have to hike a little bit, carrying all of our things.

me...i took my bag, walked the 1/2 mile, claimed a bunk, and waited while the other kids made 3-4 trips to get all their things from the bus. i probably chuckled to myself watching them. maybe even took a nap, i don't know..i definitely could have.

i don't know if it's a genetic characteristic, but i definitely either learned or inherited this self-containedness from my dad. i remember my first camping trip when i was 12..."keep all your stuff together johnny, or you'll lose it!", he encouraged me. well i didn't want to risk losing anything, and i don't think i did.

in the programming world there is a little saying that goes like so: "keep it simple" (some people add "stupid" on there, but i think that sounds stupid). in programming, you can imagine, keeping things simple makes life a lot easier for any programmer. i think the same concept applies to day-to-day life just as well. keeping things simple makes things easier. why complicate things?

some more examples from my nerdiness

the most beautiful things in life are simple, and elegant. for example, take a look at apple's computers. i haven't met anyone who has ever said "apple makes ugly machines" because face it..they're sexy. but they're also very simple. take another look at google and some of the products they've made. simple. and powerful. and sexy.

these beautifully simple designs and concepts aren't just beautiful and awesome; they make money. a lot of it. google reported revenue of over $5 billion last year for the 3rd quarter. they're doing something right, eh?

and from my other, (not as) nerdy side

an example that i think everyone (well..almost..) can relate to is relationships. why do they have to be so darn complicated? maybe because you're dealing with people and feelings and deep-down emotional things connected to the very soul of each person involved. it's bound to get a little messy down there, but why not try and make it as simple as you can? there's no need to complicate things by being dishonest, hiding things, not being both a) trusting and b) trustworthy and c) expecting the same from your partner, and the list goes on and on and on. lying, cheating, using, etc only make things more complicated and set people up to get hurt and/or actually hurt them.

i've only ever been in one serious relationship that involved a girl, and guess what? honesty, trust, patience, kindness, communication, love, and so on (all those warm fuzzy things) are what you find at the foundation of that relationship. nothing else. it's amazing and simple. i highly recommend it.

on the other hand, i've known people whose girlfriends were constantly checking their instant-messaging history, emails, phone calls, and being very possesive and untrusting. i don't think either of them were very happy in that relationship, because while one side was trustworthy, his girlfriend didn't trust him. we reommended he dump her. i'm not sure if he ever did, but i hope so! nobody should ever be like that! dishonesty and/or distrust ruin things.

that's all i have to say about that.

keep it simple!