Ramblings by Chase

For TJOC 2008 (and beyond) information, please go check the TJOC Development Blog.

Well, like I said about this time last year, camp is over for the year. I also said last year that I had all sorts of exciting things to share, and then I never followed through. Well, I’m saying the same thing this year, but I can promise you that you will see more TJOC related posts in the next few days and weeks. I have *so* much to do before Christmas time that it isn’t funny, but at the same time I asked for it (and think it’s a great idea, since I was the one to propose it).

Here’s a quick run down of items I’ll talk about before too long:

• New application process for next year (all online)
• Major updates to the Diagnostic O written (which was online this year)
  • Tests for all experience levels
  • Part of the application process
• Results and lessons learned from TJOC 2007
• And don’t forget the weather stories …

‘Tis the night before TJOC and all through the apartment, not a soul was sleeping, not even me …

It’s been a long rampup to camp for me already, and camp doesn’t officially start until tomorrow (well, later today). We did the Diagnostic O written test online this year, and since I’m the one that suggested it and have the skills, I was responsible for implementing it. Not that I’m complaining … it really is a cool project, it’s just my timeline really sucked. I waited too long to really get started, and that left me almost too little time to get all the core features completed before we needed to roll it out to everyone.

But, all of that to say, I’m not the only one up late. There are still last minute test takers going right now. An email was sent out earlier today giving an official cutoff of 8AM CST on Saturday and there have been quite a few new users and test attempts since. If only more of the students had completed it … we just had barely broken 50% this morning.

I guess there are still a couple of hours ……….

It’s been a very long while since I’ve taken the time to write anything here as you are probably well aware. I have a little time to kill before a meeting this afternoon, so here goes nothing.

Since the last ‘personal’ entry I have is really back in the summer there’s a lot to fill in. First off, I got a new kitten on October 11th, 2006. I’ve named him Spot after the various spots of white fur that are in his coat. He’s a very good natured cat and gets along very well with Mocha.

I started letting him out on my balcony after a week or two, and not but about 3 weeks after I got him, he got stung by a wasp right above his left eye. He developed a little foam at the mouth and his eye was watering like mad, but after less than a minute the foam was gone and once I wiped out his eye he seemed fine. I took him to the vet anyway since he was so young and I was a little worried about long-term effects. The vet gave him a shot for the sting and a couple of his baby shots all at the same time. He’s doing great these days with absolutely no apparent ill effects.

I’ve had a birthday and we all celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, and a New Year since the last entry here. It was good all around. Erica bought me a bunch of DVDs to add to my collection and the family as a whole bought a new TV (very nice). Too bad I’m not around to use it.

I’ve been eying up the Nintendo Wii for some time, but I’m inclined to let it come down in price some first. That probably means a couple of years, so I may not hold off that long, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to happen in the very near future. It sounds more promising every day as I read reviews and see new games appear. Play over the Internet will be nice as games begin supporting it.

Speaking of game consoles, I’ve been using my Gamecube a lot lately playing the Splinter Cell series of games. I’ve played, and beaten, all four at this point (including all the co-op missions in the last two). I even went back in Splinter Cell: Double Agent and played it on Elite level (the highest, no ammo, insane AI, etc) all the way through with not too much in the way of difficulty. It turns out that my general strategy, and that of a coworker and friend David Smeeton, is to use the gun very little anyways, so not having it available wasn’t that big of a crutch. Now it’s time to find similar games in the Stealth Action genre.

It’s getting a little lonely around here since Jimbo and Colin both have moved on to greener pastures. Jimbo’s back in Chicago for a while with his parents and Colin is at Rockwell Collins in Iowa. We all still call or chat online a fair bit, but it’s not quite the same.

I’m working on some very cool stuff for TJOC this year. We are going to try to do the bulk of the Diagnostic O written test before camp starts this year by pushing the test out onto the web. I’m currently building all the infrastructure for that right now. It’s taking a while due to the fact that we have such a diverse set of question types. Once we get past the rush to use it for camp this year, we plan to add some tests to the pool for instructors or students to practice with. The plan also includes getting a few real study/training resources avilable on the TJOC website.

My car turned a year old about three weeks ago and I did my first real damage to it at about that point. It’s not really bad or even noticible if you don’t know what you are looking for, but I backed into a pole and scratched the bumper a little as well as indenting it ever so slightly in one spot. Like I said, not bad, but still rather annoying since I’ve really tried to be careful.

Well, I need to run for now. If anyone can think of some area I skipped (other than work for now) that you’d like to hear about or hear more on something I did hit on, just leave me a note here or drop me an email.