The first day of classes are over and I guess the only thing to say is that this semester is going to be extremely easy. My two MIS professors told me that I would be bored in their classes and that I may only learn a little bit. My Management class focuses on corporation management and decision making/communication at high levels in a business. It seems like a fairly interesting class so I won’t be too bored in there. Political Science will more than likely be the most uninteresting and boring class I have taken in college. The teacher is boring, the subject matter (for the most part) is boring, and it’s a class full of freshmen who have no idea what’s going on.

All in all I am pumped for this semester and I’m wanting to make it a good one, so here’s hoping for the best.

I have updated my class list to reflect the upcoming semester (which starts Monday). It looks like it is going to be somewhat of a breeze so that’s a relief. In all honesty I am ready for school to start so that I can get back into a groove of a schedule and not sitting around waiting for something to do.

I will probably be purchasing a bike here in the next few days since I live so close to campus. I am all for a less expensive way to get around.

Well, I haven’t been called by the doctor’s office yet about my blood work. It’s making me kind of anxious but I know it takes time to run tests and get results, I just wish they could do it a little faster.

Tomorrow is the last day of work for my co-worker Andrew. He’s moving to San Antonio to work for the IT part of USAA. He’s pretty excited about it but it’s going to leave me with a lot more responsibilities here at work. I guess I am ready for that but I really liked having his knowledge of database design here to correct me when I was wrong. It’s kind of like a safety net.

Ah, well, I’ll probably go pick up a few relational database theory books just in case.

I just finished reading an interview with a Microsoft Security Program Manager in Wired and something that manager said struck me as being the slickest way to slide around a question and not give a decent answer.

The question was:

Wired Magazine: It seems like Microsoft is fighting a losing battle with IE and exploits. Is it?

Microsoft PM: Software written by humans will always contain errors. We’re fundamentally changing the way things operate, to help to make software more resistant to attacks. We’re two and a half years down a much longer road; it’s more of a 10-year timeline.

Wow, how about you give a little more vague response? Everyone knows software is inevitably insecure and that only certain measures can be taken. Why not just tell us that everyone at Microsoft is sitting around dumbfounded by these exploits… At least then we’d feel like we weren’t being cheated.

I have been thinking about just using my Gmail account as my primary e-mail account but I am somewhat reluctant for a few reasons.

• No true POP3/IMAP support. This is a big negative for using Gmail because I like my current @badice.com IMAP account so much.
• More capabilities with using a local mail client. Using something Mozilla Thunderbird gives me the ability to have multiple signatures, unlimited space (as big as my hosting account), and more control over what my e-mail looks like.

As of right now I am thinking of buying another domain personalized for me and using that domain for e-mail and a personal site. Still haven’t made up my mind though.

School starts in 6 days and I already have a couple of my books (I am still waiting for another to arrive in the mail). Half.com is a God-send. Being able to buy books at such a reduced price is great and the two that I’ve already received are in great shape, so no dissappointments there.

It seems that everyone and their mom is switching to WordPress for their blogging needs. Chu Yeow did and it seems that he is already very happy with the change.

I am putting the final touches on the database design for the new version of badice.com. I designed it with flexibility in mind and wanting to have the ability in the future to expand it. The one thing I am dissappointed about is the fact that my host does not allow InnoDB type tables. Because of this I am forced to make sure all updates, inserts, and deletions are carried out in the program instead of internally in the database. From a systems design standpoint it is the wrong thing to do. Why?

1. More code
2. More of a chance to miss a small detail. With a parameter in the database design (with InnoDB) you can have all tables reliant on another table delete their records related to a record that is its parent.

That’s all I can think of at the moment, but you catch my drift.

I had my blood work done this morning and I have to say that it was not as bad as I had thought it would be. Yes, being there for 4 hrs. was a little annoying but both of the nurses were very good with their needles and I only had discomfort once. Now I get to wait for the results…

I’ve been watching people move in all over town, either into the dorms or apartments. I am ready for the school to start and get back into the groove of class. I am about to finish working on the classes list and some other little site maintenance.

Tomorrow I will be going in for a regular blood test plus a blood sugar test. The doctor told me that the blood sugar test will take a total of 3 hrs. with the regular blood test taking about 20 minutes.

For the blood sugar testing they will take my blood sugar level when I first get in. They will then give me this thick sugar liquid and take my blood sugar once an hour for the next 3 hours measuring any change that may occur.

I am somewhat worried about the results of the test because it will reveal if I am hypoglycemic or diabetic.

So that will be my exciting Friday. The alternator on my truck was totally shot and completely draining the battery but that was fixed tonight so everything is good again and one less stressful thing to worry about.

Google started trading today at $85 a share which is a good deal lower than what was originally planned. Here is a take on the IPO and what can be expected.

Personally I think the IPO will be a flop… There will be a big interest for the next few days and then it will simmer out and people will realize how little of a deal it really is. What I am truly worried about is how Google will handle itself and the decisions it will make now that it is public.

This should get interesting.