Dasher part 2

Now back to Dasher. This is too fun not to play with! Okay now onto some work with this program.
Yesterday I started using this program just as a thing to play around on, now I'm finding that I almost prefer to use it, when I compare it to a regular keyboard. While I can't get the words out as quickly I do like it for the following reasons:
1) It feeds my natural geek.
2) I seem to make fewer spelling mistake than when I use a normal keyboard (because I can see each possible word in front of me and the most probable spellings are the largest things on the screen, rather than having to guess how it needs to be spelled)
3) It's fun to feel like you are driving a word.
4) I can use while holding the cat in my lap.
Time for me to explain a bit about how the program works. Imagine a racing game where you know approximately where the next turn was going to be, but that the track was all was changing - now imagine that the track has an infinite number of possible routs for you to follow, but only one will get you to where you want to go. With me so far? I didn't think so , it is rather difficult to explain - though if you try it everything I just wrote will make perfect sense. Here try it: http://www.dasher.org.uk/TryJavaDasherNow.html Iknow that it is a bit small but it should give you some idea of how Dasher works.
I'm sure you are asking yourself how anything like that could ever be useful to anyone, but just imagine that you broke your arm, this would provide a quick way for you to be able to quickly type out long documents with very little practice, now imagine that you had a more debilitarting problem this would be an absolute lifesaver.
This could almost be the first step towards that 3D computer environment that sci-fi writters like to write about, a guy can dream.
Yes I only used my mouse and Dasher to write this post.

Dasher - not the reindeer

Well, I'm trying out a program called Dasher http://www.dasher.org.uk , I even had a nice message all "typed” out about what exactly Dasher is and my experience with it so far - but the program crashed when I was almost done, needles to say I am a bit annoyed. I will try to write it out again tomorrow. For now I'm off to bed.

Sleep

I read a rather interesting article on the BBC site: Article Link

I have been interested in sleep for a while; you know, how much is needed, when the best time to sleep is, etc. One thing that I have concluded (rather unscientifically), is that everyone is different. I can't see two people having the same exact *perfect* sleeping patterns (though there are a lot of people in the world).

For example, if I was left to my own devices, then I would go to sleep around 4 or 5 am, and sleep till about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. So, I'm a night person, who needs about 10 hours of sleep to feel perfect throughout the day; most people think I'm crazy for needing that kind of schedule - I think they are crazy for not needing that.

Now another interesting topic is polyphasic sleep, where you take multiple short naps, rather then one long sleep. I have been wanting to try that - but it just doesn't fit into my work schedule.

After all this posting about sleep, I'm ready for bed.

Women of Faith

Every year that I have worked in hotels in the Des Moines area, I have encountered people coming in for the "Women of Faith" conference. Every year I'm surprised at just how rude the women are who come in for this event. I have not had one year that I haven't caught at least one of the women lying to get a lower room rate, or some sort of discount; yes lying, and obvious lying as well.
I could say that I'm the only one who has ever noticed this, but I'm not. Coworkers see it, people from other hotels see it, even a waitress at a local restaurant commented on it to me (without me bringing it up first).
I would just like to say, if these are the people who represent women of faith, then I don't want anything to do with their faith.

Okay, that particular rant is over - thanks for listening.

Tomorrow starts it all

Well, I start my new job tomorrow. I guess you could say that I'm a bit on the nervous side; I don't know anything about the company, or the people in it. Wish me luck.

Abstinence

Recently I have come across multiple reports of abstinence programs not really working; one was on the TV (CNN I think but I can't recall), and another was on a recent news article http://www.rxpgnews.com/health/Abstinence_Education_Programs_Have_No_Impact_on_Sexual_Beahviour_23770.shtml or http://preview.tinyurl.com/2thgc8 Both of these reports got me thinking about these programs, why they seem to have difficulty working, and what would be a better alternative.

The programs*
These programs teach about the the possible consequences (pregnancy, STDs, etc.) of pre-marital sex. Many of them will involve signing a contract, where the person signing states that they will not have pre-marital sex. Some of them will even give out a token (ring, necklace, etc.), that the person can wear to show that they are pro-abstinence.
These programs having been receiving increased government funding, now at $204 million. These programs can be presented by a religious organization, a school, general public organization, and possibly others.

The Problems
Many problems with these programs exist. Let me point out a few:

• These programs teach abstinence in exclusion of anything else. That means the programs basically say "Don't have sex before marriage", and that is it.
• These programs do not teach how to properly handle a situation where you do have sex before marriage.
• Many of these programs are taught to children in elementary and middle school, and are not brought back up in high school.
• High school is when many teens would start to have pre-marital sex.
• Many of these programs are voluntary, and don't reach everyone.

Possible solutions

• Let's teach abstinence, in *addition* to teaching these kids how to be smart about sex. After all, sex isn't a disease, it is a wonderful thing - but like anything else in life, you need to be smart about it.
• Teach the use of condoms, and how to properly use them.
• Teach about the use of birth control pills
• Teach the statistics of how likely you are to acquire a disease or get pregnant if the two things above are used, and if they are not.
• We send kids to school to learn, not to have information withheld from them.
• Start sexual education early in life, and keep it going till they die.
• In other words, start teaching children about sex, why it's good to wait, and how to handle it properly if they can't wait - but make sure that the education continuesat least through high school.
• Make the programs mandatory. I *had* to learn American history, and Home Ec. this needs to be one of those classes that people have to attend. And no, I don't think teachers should be able to say that their children can't attend (they are as likely to have sex as anyone else).
  

*Please keep in mind that I have never attended one of these programs, so my knowledge on them is purely what I have heard, not what I have personally experienced.

UPDATE: A new article appeared in the USA Today - read it here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-04-15-sex-education-grants_N.htm

Good news

Well, I finally have some good news, I have a job. Well, it's kind of good news - as good as it can get when you consider that I have to work (after all, who really wants to do that). I will be the general manager of a hotel in Ankeny. I hope that the job is going to be fun for me, I will know on Monday when I start. This will help with the bills and such.

I feel like I was going to write about something else, but I can't think of what it is - so if I think about it, I will post it later.

Peeps

Well, today I found one of the best sites on the net. http://www.peepresearch.org with a text like

Most people think that Peeps are primarily sugar. We all know that sugar dissolves in water. This means that Peeps should dissolve in water, right?? Wrong!

how can you not think this site is great? Give it a try.

Getting Things Done

I ran into a new idea (okay, not a new idea, just new packaging), called "Getting Things Done" - well it's new to me. As near as I can tell it's about dumping all the info in your head and life into a medium that can remind you (what medium doesn't really matter). It's also about sorting out your tasks and projects into an easy to work with form so that you know what you have to do, and what step(s) needs to be completed next.
For the longest time I have been searching for a way to organize my life (mainly work), so that I can get everything done - and have time to do it. One of the main things preventing me from doing that is I'm forgetful of anything that does not interest me. This way of Getting Things Done seems like it is custom built for me to get things done. I can't wait till I start working again to try this out for a true test - but for the time being I will just have to use it at home; I even found an extension for Firefox and Gmail to help with that.
On my searching for info on GTD (Getting Things Done), I found an interesting article - which is loosely related to that, here is the link Firefox OS.
Okay, I think that is it for now.

Been a while

Okay, so it's been a while since I have written. First there wasn't much to write about - bad weather, working, etc. Then about three weeks ago, things changed; the weather got better, Jana and I paid off many bills, and I got let go from my job. I can't begin to tell you how all three things just seem so much better to me. The weather is a rather obvious thing when I say it is better, as are the bills; the odd thing is the job, the job I had was not really that fun for me, I would work 11 hours a day, see Jana maybe 3 hours a day if I was lucky, and be on call 24/7/365. Needless to say I was upset the first hour after I was let go (the day before didn't go so well either), but after that, I could explain why but I was just so happy, all smiles, and jokes. I don't blame the hotel, or the staff, it just happened. My only real annoyance with it is the timing - I would have preferred that it happened after the vacation that I had planned for May.

The first week I just sat around, and worked on my resume here and there, the second week I went out and started hitting the pavement to get my resume out there. I'm finding it difficult to find good places to drop it off at (I've been rather picky), by the end of last week I had four interviews, and I'm having another tomorrow.

On a positive note, Jana and I got a membership to a 24 hour gym near by, and have been exercising almost everyday since. I know I'm starting to feel better, and I think Jana is too. I had Jana take a picture of me today (with no shirt on) so that I can compare it with a photo of myself after three months.

Well that is all for now - wish me luck with the workouts. :)