nsobject — LiveJournal

nsobject

[	userinfo	\|	livejournal userinfo	]
[	archive	\|	journal archive	]

You know you are old when...	[Apr. 13th, 2007\|12:11 pm] nsobject
I was in the Silver Platters on lower Queen Anne (fabulous store!) when I saw a display of stuff from the Damned. They just reissued the first album with a bunch of extra stuff. I don't own it on CD, so I was interested. Then I noticed something weird – this was the 30th anniversary edition. 30 Years! Holy crap! This stuff is ancient! I've been listening to the Damned for a long time, but their early stuff never seemed that old before now. It is amazing what a little sticker can do to alter your perception of time...
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The Glove

[Aug. 31st, 2006|01:53 pm]

nsobject

[	mood	\|	content	]
[	music	\|	The Glove - Blue Sunshine	]

Blue Sunshine by The Glove has always been one of my favorite records. It lends itself quite well to rainy days and introspection. It was recently re-released and re-mastered with a second disk of rarities and demos.

I'm listening to the second disk for the first time. Apparently Robert Smith was originally going to sing all of the songs, but was strongly discouraged by his record label. To make a long story short, those demo versions (with Robert Smith singing) are on the second disk. It's really strange listening to them. They are still great songs, but are very different with Smith singing. Anyhow, I encourage anyone who is a fan of the original to check out the new second disk.

That is all...

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Tim Eyman...

[Jun. 6th, 2006|12:15 am]

nsobject

[	mood	\|	optimistic	]
[	music	\|	Melotron - Stirb Fur Mich	]

... is such a fuck-tard. It looks like he won't have enough signatures for his anti-gay-rights-initiative after all. There is still hope for this country.

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Taxes

[Apr. 16th, 2006|07:32 pm]

nsobject

[	mood	\|	accomplished	]
[	music	\|	Editors - Munich	]

I just finished filing my federal income taxes. This is the earliest I have ever filed. Woohoo!

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LJ Security

[Mar. 18th, 2006|04:43 pm]

nsobject

[

mood

aggravated

]

So I just got the following notice from LJ when I posted the last entry:

Logging in to server... Also, the server has a message for you:

Your password must contain at least one number or symbol. Your password is too easy to guess. It's recommended that you change it, otherwise you risk having your journal hijacked. Visit http://www.livejournal.com/changepassword.bml to change your password.
Updating journal... Update successful. You can view your updated journal here.

On the surface, this seems like a good warning. However, it points out a really bad design in LJ. In order to know this, LJ has to keep all of our passwords in plaintext in their database. THIS IS A REALLY BAD THING! You should NEVER keep passwords in plaintext! This is a common mistake made by junior programmers. When storing passwords, you should at least store the hash of the original password and a random numeric value called a salt. The theory here is that, if anyone gets the password list, they will have a hard time reproducing the original password from the hash. As it stands, the LJ administrators have access to all of our passwords. A disgruntled admin can just sell that to the highest bidder. Way to go LJ!

And people make fun of Microsoft for doing bone-headed things. Jeez...

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What have I been up to lately?

[Mar. 18th, 2006|04:33 pm]

nsobject

[	mood	\|	optimistic	]
[	music	\|	The new Covenant CD	]

Several months ago, I officially got sick of my job as a programmer/writer on the .NET Framework SDK. The .NET framework is pretty much baked, so there aren't a lot of exciting new features. In addition, I was getting burned out on being the security guru for my group. (You can only answer the same security questions a few times before it gets completely frustrating.)

So, I started looking around the company for a new job. I applied for a developer job at an unreleased product, but they lost their funding and had to pull the position. I was kind of bummed because it looked like a cool group. Then I saw a listing for a programmer/writer job on the Xbox 360 Software Developer Kit. I really want to get out of the programmer/writer track, but I decided that the Xbox was cool enough to make an exception. To make a long story short, I got the job, and I'm now working on the docs for the version of Direct3D for Xbox 360.

The new job is a lot of fun! I get to write sample apps for the Xbox 360 and I'm learning a lot about graphics programming. I haven't had this much fun since the early days of the .NET Framework. I put in long hours, but I'm working on video game programming, so it doesn't seem like real work. I'm the only person working on the graphics docs, so it's pretty challenging. I also have an Xbox 360 sitting on my desk. Fun.

I started the new job in early January and it has been consuming my life. It's a strange convergence of hobby and work.

That is all...

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The Game

[Feb. 5th, 2006|07:20 pm]

nsobject

[

mood

aggravated

]

Anyone can win on questionable calls. Don't feel too good about yourself...

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NYC

[Dec. 16th, 2005|11:59 am]

nsobject

[

mood

excited

]

I just got back from spending four days in NYC with my mom. The trip was a complete surprise to her. She had no idea we were going until the day before we had to leave. I printed out the e-ticket and handed it to her at the 5 Spot. She had always wanted to go to NYC in the winter, so she was pretty shocked and happy.

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