Sape’s Blog

Hopefully this little rant, which I will turn into a blog post, will help me figure out how much a MacBook Pro is worth to me. First things first: A computer, in its simplest form, is a tool. A very modular tool.  This isn’t a Mac vs PC (really, Mac vs Windows since PC is a Personal Computer) but rather an inner discussion on if I want to spend the extra cash just to get a Mac. Lets be real, a Windows machine with nearly identical hardware (Intel Core 2 Due, 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA Graphics, 200GB HD, etc) is less expensive than the Mac. So does the Mac merit the extra cash, to me? O and Linux is not in the discussion because Adobe Suite doesn’t run on it.

My laptops:

• MacBook Pro 15, 2.3 Intel Core 2, 2 GB Ram, NVIDIA 256, 250 GB HD, with the LED screen (Work Laptop, could buy it from them for $1400, ebay for less, but had to give it back)
• HP Pavillion dv6587se, 1.8 Intel Core 2, 3 GB Ram, NVIDIA 256, 300 GB HD. (Personal, got it slightly used for $500)

First, a program breakdown.  What programs I use that are Mac or Windows exclusive, what are both, and what I prefer on one or the other. And I avoid using Microsoft Office, so that is just off the list, else I would put it on the “runs better on Windows” side.

How valuable are the programs that are only available on one OS too me?  Does it improve productivity? Easier to use? More stable? Give me less aggravation? Will it help me earn more money?In most cases, it’s more a matter of usability. For instance, Trillian and Adium are nearly the same, but I prefer Adium’s look and feel to Trillian’s. The harder case is Notepad++ or TextMate. Both are excellent apps. Excellent plugins, easy to use, stable.  But TextMate has better keyboard shortcuts for auto complete and directory reading.  But Notepad++ also has nice auto complete, can read directories (via exploer plugin), and a built in FTP (but not sync). If I had to pick, I would pick TextMate, but am perfectly happy with either one. Really, the best text editor would be the light weight of Notepad++, the text manipulation power of TextMate, and the parsing and sync ability of Eclipse.

I don’t use Unity or XNA enough right now to merit one over the other. I hope to get more into game development, for serious games or not serious games, soon, but until then those will be a straight wash. Same with XSI (there’s Modo for both), and I don’t do much modeling. And also with Visual Studio. I don’t use VS enough right now, but have in the past and will in the future, so that’s like half a point. Man, I should put point score.

So the software pretty much comes down to what I am working on. Now, mostly web, PHP, so its a wash.  If I needed to do .NET, Windows would win. If I needed to do Unity3D, Mac would win. Next is hardware interface. The construction, feel, and ease of the basic hardware for an average Windows laptop and a MacBook.

I would have to pick the MacBook on design. Smooth curves, simplest shape, sturdy feel.  When you close a MacBook it just feels closed. The HP I have, has bumps and uneven surfaces. Mostly aesthetics. Usability: There’s the 2 finger scroll on the Mac. So much better than the side of the damn track pack that sort of works, and always seems to be too sensitive or not sensitive enough. Two fingers, up down, or left right.  Beautiful.  But the real kicker. What I think makes Mac so great to use:

The Apple (Command) key.  And this, to be honest, is what I enjoy the most about working on a Mac. One modifier key. Apple + … On Windows is Alt + Tab, or Ctrl + C, or Windows Key + R, etc. And the placement of the Apple. Right on your thumb. Perfect. I barely have to move my hands on the keyboard or use the mouse.  This does improve my productivity.  Makes me move faster, quicker. Seems kinda stupid, but when your typing away at code, and you need to quickly move around the computer nothing is worse than missing the control key or hitting alt and accessing the file menu.

And the kicker, you can run Windows on a Mac (Virtual or Boot), without having to pull and iHackintosh. If money was not an issue, I would love to get a MacBook Pro. So, if I had the money, it would most likely be worth it. Till then, I will have to keep trying to get Mac to work on a PC.

Today is my last day in Ohio.  I move out west to live with family and get a Master Degeree in Game Development from USC.  Its been fun and painful to live in Ohio.  The Buckeyes will always be #1. I am thankful for my opportunities at Avetec.  But I am very excited to start my new chapter.  I will be posting here about what I learn.  It will most likely be more technical (like tutorials and work samples). But you can infer how I am doing and all the sappy stuff thru those.

I also wrote this post for people at Avetec, so after reading my “Peace!” email and clicking on the link they have something new to read.  Thanks again!

Fight On Buckeyes!

Last week was one of the better weeks so far.  The kids are continuing to work on their own projects, and making great progress.  I hope to be able to post their work next week.  JStall presented to the rest of Avetec and the president of Central State, the college he attends.  Everyone seemed super excited about what we were accomplishing.  Perhaps when this is over, and Jeff and I look back, we too can share that excitement.  But now we are tired.

Missy was much better behaved this week.  She started animating on her own, and created some pretty cool little animations.  One was a worm squirling around and then splattering into a wall.  The other as an eye crying, then a heart thumping.  I hope she saved them so we can showcase her work.  But seeing her finally find something she enjoys was rewarding and energizing.

Kyle is almost done with his spawn.  He only has the face and cape left.  You know, the easy parts… Right.  I really hope he finishes it.  The twins are also beginning to fight less, or at least fought less last week.  Kody finished his chess set and is now working on texturing it.  He is struggling with figuring that out a little bit, but I think he will get it all textured up by the end of the Academy.

It seems the best way to teach them something is to get them started on a project and let them explore.  But getting them to work on a project multi-day/week without ever working on anything for more than a few minutes is very hard.  They will only learn what they need to learn.  They don’t seem to store tricks in the back of their head to use in the future.  That gets frustrating when Jeff and I try to teach them something they need, they don’t listen, then when they need it they ask us to reteach it.

Once we were able to let them explore and discover on their own they seemed to learn a lot and were much more motivated.  But it took us about 4 weeks just to get it to the point where they would rather work on a project than play XBOX.  Playing went from a necessity to something to do during a break.  Seeing that transition was also rewarding.

I think the main reseaon these kids were so resistant to learning was they just didn’t know how fun it could be.  They hadn’t ever really asked the question, “How do they do that?” let alone know any of the tools existed.  Now they have the tools and are starting to ask the question, and are able to figure out how they do it.

I guess my expectations were a little high.  But I don’t think it was unnecessarily high.  Perhaps the education system is failing them.  Failing to create curiosity.  Failing to encourage questions.  Failing to teach them how to answer their own questions.  But its very hard to do that.  It took Jeff and I, teaching the coolest thing we can think of to them, more than 4 long and exhausting weeks.  And we had about a 1 to 1 teacher to student ratio.  And Springfield thinks making one big school is will help them educate the youth.  It won’t.  It will hinder the education.  It was just the cheapest solution.  But that is another issue, I just feel bad that the twins and Missy might not be able to find what they are most interested in so they can pursue it.

I hope this last week can be rewarding enough to continue the program.

Today we played basketball and it was hot outside.

1. lunch
2. basketball
3. coding lesson
4. sleep

The above was part of a simple coding lesson for the kids. Introduced them to blogging and some basic HTML. Which they soon forgot after they started playing Tiger Wood PGA Tour 08. Week 3 went rather well though. Teaching the kids how to program has gone on the back burner because it seems the learning curve is too steep. But last week, week 3 (will get to week 4 shortly), we had just the twins and they were working hard.  Missy was not there b/c she went to another camp for a week and Del, well, lets just say he fights a lot, so he won’t be coming back.  Kody started modeling a chess set and Kyle was digging ZBrush. So it was great. They were working on their own projects, figuring things out on there own–which gave Jeff and I time to rest, plan, and work on our own projects. But they would still nag us. “Jeff! How do I…Oh, I got it.” Jeff would say, “Yes, see, you know all the tools, just stop and think for a second and you can figure it out!” A few minutes later. “Sam! It won’t let me…Nevermind.” All good, except we would still have to get up, get halfway to their seats, then do sit down. Get up, sit down. But they were making progress.

Jeff and I were thrilled they were starting to figure things out on their own.  They still relied on Jeff and I more than themselves, but it was becoming less and less. Then the weekend.

Monday. Missy is back, and with an attitude. No more Miss Pleasant. Kody is distracted again. But Kyle. lacking distractions, is working hard. So now Kody is distracted, and Missy just wants attention (writing on herself and dramatizing everything). She won’t participate in anything anymore.  Just wants to watch YouTube.  We have shown them everything, and the only person who wants to work is Kyle. So I just focus on Kyle. Sitting next to him so we can model together while Jeff gives a new tip. I try HTML again, they can’t follow along anymore. Missy is writing “Who cares!!” in her table cells.

7 days left.

We started a countdown. The twins won’t be there next Wednesday, so that should give us a day off. Jeff and I are tired and just trying to fill the time with stuff to do. Any one have any ideas?

Yes, the posts are going from dasy to weeks. I was never tired after work, until I started the game academy. For some reason I expected the kids to be interested in making games, cool graphics (and HOPED they would be interested in programming).

I don’t consider myself an early starter with computers, Jeff was–he had a computer all his life (mostly those ancient punch cards)–but at 14 I was already familiar with Photoshop and started learn how to make my own websites. And that was all mostly self taught, with some guidance from my Graphic Fartist Uncle and Coding Ninja Nick. But maybe that’s the key. I had some friends and family to support me. Same with Jeff. I don’t think these kids have that positive support for “learning” or self exploration. In fact, I know they don’t.

These kids have had rough lives and broken families. It’s very hard for me to relate to that. My family is awesome, arguably the best in the universe–that even breeds some jealousy or envy with my fiance. I should ask her advice on how to relate to the kids better and adjust my expectations. I don’t want to give up on them, but I also don’t want to exhaust myself the point of never wanting to do this again.

I figured they would like this kind of instruction, as opposed to the more traditional lecture style. Hands on, a short demonstration and a chance to go play. Perhaps they are too young. Perhaps don’t know enough to be interested. Or just too distracted with their own issues. Seems like the only things they are really interested in are playing games and mysapce. The most popular exercise is Photoshop. They love taking their picture and composting it with their favorite celebrity.

We ask them to just look up when we are talking, they don’t. So we remove the internet, they still don’t. Then we close the laptops, they still don’t. We bargain, pay attention for 30 minutes or you can’t play XBOX, and they still don’t pay attention. I have always thought highly of teachers, wanted to be one myself. Now I admire them even more. I’d have to jump off something tall if it was 12 or more of these kids.

Jeff tried to teach them coding yesterday. A simple sub 20 line exercise in Flash. Half of them couldn’t even listen for 35 minutes. One of the kids kept putting his headphones on and I asked him to take them out. He got all pissed off, like I tool away his candy. So when Flash crashed, instead of opening it back up, he goes into Photoshop and does his own thing. That pissed Jeff off and he expressed himself, which I thought was justifiable, and stopped the lesson. I just didn’t care anymore so I let them do whatever for last 15 minutes before lunch (well, still no internet or XBOX).

Missy, the girl though, is “A joy to be around.” Girls do mature much faster than boys (if boys ever mature). I think she keeps Kody in line because Kody has a crush on her. So I don’t know what we will do today. Give them a break? Do individual lessons and more free time. Let them play XBOX all day so Jeff and I can sleep. All can feel all the educators out there, laughing. Touché right? I know my Mother is laughing… Hopefully soon, I can too.

Teaching 14-15 year old kids about 3D modeling and programming is quite draining. Thankfully, I got our intern, Justin, to give the coding lesson for tomorrow, so I get a break tonight (yet I am still up at midnight thinking about it).

Monday (Day 1), we had two new students and girls at that. One was on vacation and the other couldn’t get out of bed. After about 5 minutes, Sleepy throws the mouse down and says “This is stupid!” so Jeff said, “You can go home…” So I escort her out, asking her if she called her ride, but she doesn’t answer and just walks off. Thankfully she got home safely, but I was a little worried. The other kids are great though, and make each day worth while.

We have one girl, Missy, and each of the boys likes her a lil bit. They pick on her like any 14 year old would pick on a the cute girl in class. The all fight for her attention. Some more than others. Jeff and I have to try to moderate it though, because she is the only girl, and gets ALL the attention and she will get sick of it soon. Or not. I imagine that is how my fiance, Candace, was at that age… Cute, smart, soaked up all the attention from the boys…

The Twins and Del are learning a lot. Kyle really enjoys the modeling. If he continues to pursue modeling, he will be abel to choose any place to work. He is learning very quickly. He flew thru Jeff’s wheel tutorial. Kody, his twin, is also learning a lot, but hasn’t quite found his passion. Kody says he likes the coding but we’ll see. Del mostly just likes to play games. But he is also learning quickly.

I am trying to teach them programming, which they no nothing about, while avoiding the boring stuff (like that Hello World from orientation). If the end result doesn’t have that “Cool” factor, and have it with next to zero work, I tend to lose them. Yesterday they got to program for the 360 Controllers, changing the background color by pressing X,Y,A,B. They thought that was cool, but I don’t think they are learning the concepts yet. How can I teach them the concepts without lecturing too them? I was thinking of explaining variables and types like containers (i.e. you wouldn’t want to pour water in a paper bag, you need a glass cup (type) to store the water). Jeff and I were talking and had a good concrete example, using the kids as objects:

Boy Kody = new Kody();
Food Apple = new Apple(Sour);
Kody.Eat(Apple);
Girl Missy = new Missy();
Answer GoOut = Kody.AskOut(Missy);
if(GoOut)
    Kody.SetMood(Happy);
else
    Kody.SetMood(Sad);
print(Kody.Mood);
output >> Sad.

I think that will go well… I am getting a lot of examples from Microsoft® XNA Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now! which is very good for beginners. Next week, rather than MasterMind, I think I will have them try to make Simon. Jeff will teach them to make the graphics for the buttons–we learned how to import a picture into XNA today–and I’ll teach them the more complicated than I thought code. I keep hearing Yoda, “You need to unlearn what you have learned…” Things I think will be simple, get complicated quickly. But I have confidence in these kids.

Well, I just finished the first 2 days of the Game Academy. We got to know the kids really well and gauge their level. It scheduled to be an orientation, to get to know the kids and let them get to know Jeff and I. But, after the first hour of intro, they wanted to get started! So we let them play with the Wacam Bamboos and with XSI. They all loved the modeling, couldn’t get enough. Although, there was one kid, who could not stay off MySpace. Boy I hate MySpace. But we told him he can go do that at the library, so he didn’t come back on day 2.

The mornings are for modeling and graphics with Jeff. They love that. Get to manipulate 3D objects and play with the tablets. Score! The afternoons are for coding with me. I lost them the first day. I did a simple “hello world” in Visual C# Express, but had them going thru the command line to run their exe (b/c if you hit debug it pops up and goes away). But this is the age of GUIs not command lines and I lost them. So I changed it up to make it more interactive with an Echoer. Whatever they type in, is echoed back to them. Then I created a little password guessing game, where they have 10 guesses and they really loved that! So the key is to make it as interactive, and the least amount of work for the most reward. I am going to try and have them create a MasterMind game, which I can’t seem to find in brick and mortar stores. Amazon it is then…

I will try to post up the lessons here as I go thru them (the ones that aren’t created on the fly). We weren’t planning on teaching too much but we had to adjust. I have a feeling most of the teaching will be ad-lib. So stay tuned for updates!

Here is the location on Google Maps as the beach house we are staying at in Hawaii. The island we are on is Oahu. Zoom out to get better context of the location (click the “-” on the map). Or View Larger Map. Also check out the pictures on Katana. Aloha!

View Larger Map

I made a little form to estimate how much I would save if I were to buy a new car vs keeping my current truck. Since I don’t have a car payment, the truck is the winner, but if I did then it will be a closer bet. So here is the little form to calculate if you should get that new Fit. (This isn’t going into how ecofriendly your new car is vs old, just monetary savings.)

The savings is how much I would save if I bought the car. You need to drive a lot and get great gas mileage to compensate for a monthly car payment. Buy I am sure you new that already…

P.S. Here is the formula: (Miles / MPG) * $Gas + Payment = Monthly Cost