Softcore software development » Living

Waking up your computer at a certain time

Cesar — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:39:09 +0000

The goal of my alarm clock website was to actually be my alarm clock. For this to happen, I thought I would need to have my computer running all night long which seemed like a waste of electricity. It turns out, you can schedule your computer to wake up at a certain time by using the task scheduler.

So now I have it wake the computer up at 7:50 so that in 5 minutes it can play the nightingales before playing the Good Morning Dub. One issue though is that Windows will go back to sleep in 2 minutes. You can modify that using a registry key so that it will have enough time to play the music.

Now while the alarm clock website is accomplishing the task of waking me up at the right time, it doesn’t do a very good job of keeping me awake. Maybe I need to make an interactive component to shut off the alarm

Keeping your address updated

Cesar — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:34:19 +0000

As someone who has moved about 3 times in 8 months, I have unfortunately discovered the pains of changing addresses across the broad spectrum of services I am using. I have been thinking lately of something to make this a smaller headache. Much like OpenID makes logging in a more pleasant experience.

But the challenge really is – will anyone use it? And how do I convince people this is a good idea? Maybe good ideas do not need convincing, they just need creating.

A fine day in Toronto

Cesar — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:58:55 +0000

This is my third month back in Ontario’s capital, and my third day living in my new apartment. People have since long stopped asking me whether it is great to be back. I think it is because them assume it is a yes because I am still here But it is apples and oranges. And my answer would not be so black and white. This blog post is not about that, but about how AWESOME the weather is.

I am glad to finally be out of my parent’s place and living in the heart of the Annex. No longer will it take me 1-1.5 hours to get downtown. But I will need a bike to make affordable, lest I drop $120+ down on a metropass each month. Though picking a bike is becoming a job in itself. No use in spending good money on something that will likely get stolen. Moving downtown is a major improvement on quality of life for me, and something I am blessed to afford.

I hope it only gets better. We still have to finalize office space in the co-working space, and I get to throw a house-warming party.

And did I mention that my view is fantastic?

Freshly Baked Bread

Cesar — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:09:06 +0000

I have two wishes for Santa Claus this year: stable software and freshly baked bread.

My first wish won’t be granted. So he is obligated to fulfill the second one for sure. And the second wish is becoming a non-trivial task.

Sasketchewan, where I currently live now, lies in what is considered Canada’s breakbasket. We learned about it in school. They apparently grow a lot of wheat here. Wheat, as you may or may not know, is one of the critical ingredients in most breads.

So why is it that I can’t find a goddamn bakery that makes fresh goddamn bread in the middle of this goddamn breadfactory?

I went to four “bakeries”. Two didn’t sell bread at all, just pastries. One only sold a variety of toast. And the last one, which was only a 10 minute bus ride from my house, and recommended to me by a co-worker, closes at fucking 5pm (isn’t that when most people finish work and fresh bread is something on their mind?)

What the fuck.

When having a discussion with my co-workers about this, here is how they manage to get bread:

Get a breadmaker and have your girlfriend make it for you
Get your girlfriend, which works in a bakery, to get it for you when she leaves work

Either solution requires a girlfriend. Fuck this shit.