One thing I have always considered is going into the Peace Corps to do volunteer work in an Eastern European or Central Asian country. Reading through the website, they say you should apply at least a year before you’d like to depart so that you can be trained in the language of the country and different customs.

I know, you’re asking yourself, “Stephan, didn’t you just get a job?”. Yes I did. I am not looking to go in the near future, but it’s a definite possibility in the next 2-3 years. It would allow me to do something good for struggling people and give me a chance to photograph the lives of the people, maybe exposing their needs to more people.

More research on my part needs to take place before I just jump in and since they will be holding an information session here in Dallas in the middle of this month I will probably go.

Something that I have noticed in my move to the MacBook Pro from my Windows machine is that it takes some time to get used to the folder situation.

I am used to the Linux file structure but just trying to get everything organized the way that I would like to is a daunting feat. I have my own account on the machine and I do not know if I like it or not. What I have started doing is putting my coding projects in a subfolder of the HD main directory. For my personal documents I put everything in my account’s Documents folder.

The pictures folder is strange as well. I have decided that the best way to go is a portable harddrive for my music, movies, and pictures. Why a portable harddrive? They’re powered thru USB and they’re light, making them easy to take on the road.

Speaking of pictures, I can already tell that I am going to hate iPhoto or at least I think I am. More experimentation is definitely needed but from what I have done so far, it just does not give me enough control. Where is a simple off/on switch for making iPhoto the default program for my camera?

My plan over the next few days is to get Apache running along with MySQL. I installed Xcode and started doing some Java 1.5 development, which has come along nicely (gotta love generics!). I am going to see if I can do a little Cocoa development with Java as the documentation is pretty good.

One thing that still frustrates me is that when the screen is closed or the computer goes to sleep my wireless connection dies and I have yet to figure out how to get around this. I like my IM client to stay connected so that I get people’s messages when I am gone but I just can’t seem to get it that way.

I am still very pleased with my purchase and so far my development has become a little smoother and very mobile (something I needed).

I went and looked at a Volkswagen Passat today and needless to say I am tired of sales people.

From the beginning of the visit I told the guy helping me that I was merely interested in pricing and options. I said that I did not want to buy today and just wanted to get a feel for what I could expect in terms of monthly payments. Of course, this isn’t how it ended up.

I explained what I was looking for, a no-frills Passat, and not surprisingly they did not have any at this location so I was shown an upgraded version that was “near” my price needs. I then asked if they had TDI models available… They didn’t.

Before I knew it I was test driving a Passat and have to say it was a great ride and I really like the car. They then had me sitting down going over prices and monthly payments. About five minutes into this I got wise and immediately started being defensive.

The salesperson that was helping me went for backup (I think he was new) and before I knew it there was another salesperson sitting down next to me telling me that I was “wasting their time” if I wasn’t going to buy a car. I snapped back with a “I’m wasting your time?!” and was greeted with a glare from the guy. He then proceeded to ask me what he could do to get me to buy a car today to which I replied, “nothing”. I continued to explain that my intention was never to buy a car, but instead to come in and get prices so that I could compare my options and look at Audi knowing what else is out there.

I left a little discouraged because I like the Passats and don’t want poor salesmanship to spoil it.

Don’t you just hate it when you pick something up from the store that you didn’t really want or mean to get. I picked up jelly yesterday not even really thinking about the difference between it and jam. Getting home I realized that jelly wasn’t what I wanted. Jelly just does not have the same flavor or texture as jam and I knew this but did not think about it when buying it.

Hate it when that happens.

I was watching TV passively last night and saw a commercial for Conan. In the commercial they talked about the website for the show and had a picture of a computer (looked like Mac) and on its screen was a browser that had the buttons of Firefox.

It’s creeping in and I like it!

I have had a laptop now for about four days and I have already developed a pet peeve. If I am going to pay for wireless access, it should at least be decent wireless. I am not saying it has to be super fast, but it should at least stay connected for more than five minutes.

A coworker and I both have been extremely frustrated trying to use the internet in the hotel and we’ve both been tempted to ask for a refund. It’s a small amount, but I don’t think I’ve received $5 worth of internet.

I am in search of a good BitTorrent application for the Mac. A few people have recommended Transmission and I like it but I would rather have something with a better UI. Any suggestions?

The MacBook Pro has arrived.

On Friday I went to the Galleria and shopped for a MacBook Pro. My goal was to decide between the MacBook and the Pro, immediately seeing the glossy screen as a problem. To me, for reading text, the glossy screen just had too much glare and I can’t imagine trying to use it outdoors. The keyboard on the MacBook was interesting and seemed easy enough to use. The keys themselves are smaller than the Pro and are recessed down into the chassis of the laptop. I did not mind that, but the Pro’s keyboard just seemed easier to use.

The last thing that sold me was the RAM in the MacBook. By default it ships with 512MB but the catch is the fact that it’s spread over two 256MB chips. If you want to upgrade, you have to buy at least two 512 chips to get the full GB of RAM.

Needless to say, I decided on the Pro and I am getting all of my software setup to work the way I want it to. I accidentally set iPhoto to auto-associate itself with my camera and now I cannot figure out how to get it to stop. It’s not that I mind iPhoto, I just don’t want to experience any of the horror stories I’ve read about the library becoming corrupted.

A little side story about my purchase experience. I arrived at the Apple store at 8:30pm, they close at 9pm. I shopped and compared until 8:45pm and decided on the Pro and asked if they could install the RAM that evening. The salesperson was nice and told me they could. He ran to the back to the MacBook Pro and I waited in line to pay. As I came to the register, the time was right at 9pm. The sales person told the manager that he was going to have some RAM installed to which the manager replied, “No, clock-out and leave, they can bring it tomorrow”. I was taken off guard by this because of Apple’s usually great customer service, especially in store. Well, I just decided I would install the RAM myself and headed home. Getting home and opening up the box and popping open the screen for the first time I realized they sent me home with a glossy screen MacBook Pro, something that was not even supposed to be in stores yet. Needless to say, I went back to the store where a group of employees gathered around to see the first glossy MBP in the store. They were really nice and quickly got me a matte screen MBP and installed the RAM, a much better experience the second time around.

I have been in Houston since June 4th working on training and meeting with the office management down here to discuss things like Sharepoint and some project management issues.

Quite frankly I’m ready to get back to Dallas. It is not that I hate Houston, I am just ready to get in a groove of work that does not involve an extended stay hotel. I figure that if I am paying for an apartment I should at least use it.

I won’t be back in Dallas until the evening of the 23rd. Up to that point I am trying to find interesting (cheap) things to do in the Houston area. Since I grew up here I’ve seen most of the tourist attractions that the people I am here with want to see.

News about the incidents involving the Marine Corps in Haditha has slowed recently. This is probably because of the death of Al-Zarqawi, evening bombings in Kirkuk, and most recently, President Bush