End of the year

As many other posts I'll open this one saying I've not been writing here for a lot.

Actually, more than one month. But since today's the last day of the year, I thought I'd take a little break from my busy time.

Busy because it's "holidays". Not quite.

Even though we're in the period between Xmas and New Year's Eve, I've been an awfully lot busy with the projects and the study. Just think that on the 26th night, me and Luciano had to have an all-nighter, till 7 am, to complete the Software Engineering project that we had to submit. Hopefully it was a good job.

Beside the other project, that is scheduled for the 9th January (Web Technologies), I've been with my head into Algorithms & Data Structures, because that's the last exam that is blocking me from having my apprenticeship. Once I'll be done with that, it will be time to choose the place where I will have that. I have in mind a few places, like the Elasis (a data-center of the Fiat group) in my city (that if they'll accept me, of course) or some company that develops Android applications.

Yea Android...because lately I got a new smartphone. I was dubious at first because I've never really been into cellphones, but considering they're now more like pc than anything I decided to give it a try. We (Me, Luciano and Daniele) found a good deal to enter in the Android world: Huawei Ideos ( check it here ): Android 2.2 Froyo, 3.2 MP camera, Wifi, GPS, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, bluetooth, etc all for 99 euro (6 months of Mobile Internet included!).

I am aware it's not the best google phone out there for the specs, but it's for sure the best in the specs/price ratio, and I consider it a starting point, while I don't learn how to develop applications for that platform / framework.

Since coding Android applications is basically Java with a different framework, it shouldn't be that hard to get into it. To start with it, I bought a book: Android - guida per lo sviluppatore wrote by Massimo Carli. I think that's the only book written by an Italian about Android.

I've been reading it a little (not much time to spare :/ ) and I'll try to finish it before february, when the volume 2 will be out. I guess I'll talk to you guys about Android and some apps in the posts of the next year.

In this period also exploded the WikiLeaks affair, that shaked the whole political world. I hope that in the next year we'll be able to hear more about the info that Assange managed to secure.

This year (as Angelo said yesterday night on skype) passed quite fast, but still I have had my fair share of nice memories. I've met new people, met again people from the past that became part of my present (and hopefully my future) and consolidated the bonds with the poeple that have been with my throughout these years.

In these last hours of the 2010 my mind goes to my family... to my university friends (Luciano, Angelo, Daniele, Mario, Enzo,Ciccio, Luca... wah too many to list them here...sooorreh)... to my guildmates(Franz among all them because he got an Ideos too!)(even though we haven't played much after Aion, I have a lot of faith in GW2 and D3 for the next year)... to JuJu (hoping next year will be better than this one)...

...and of course to my s.w. May (even though you're a cheapo!)

...and of course to my bear Tay (get home soon, we have a lot of mangas to discuss about!)

...that's it. Bai.

Maybe not...

...am I forgetting someone? Uhm...

...someone cute, airheaded, violet and moe?

Ups :X

Happy Happy New Year Little Pan

and I hope that this new year your dreams will finally come true :)

PanAlarm v. 0.3a Preview

The distance between the hearts

I stumbled upon this italian text that I found really deep, so I thought I'll translate [I hope in an appropriate way] and post it:

A day, an indian thinker asked the following question to his disciples:

"Why do people shout when they are angry?".
"They shout because they lose their temper" answered one of them.
"But why to shout if the person is on his side?" asked again the thinker.
"Well, we shout because we wish the other person listens to us" replied another disciple.
The master asked again: "Then is it not possible to talk to him with a low voice?".
Several other answers were given, but none persuaded the thinker.
He then affirmed: "Do you know why you shout against another person when you're angry?

The thing is that when two people are angry, their hearts get really far from each other. And to cover this distance you need to shout to able to listen to each other.

The more they are angry the more they will need to shout to listen each other.

On the other side, what happens when two people are in love? They won't shout, they talk suavely. And why?

Because their hearts are really close. The distance between them is really small.

And sometimes their hearts are so close they don't even talk, they just whisper.

And when the love is even more intense it is not even necessary to whisper, they just need to look at each other. Their hearts understand each other.

And this happens when two people that are in love get close.".

Finally the thinker concluded saying: "When you discuss don't let your heart get far from the other person, don't say words that may enlarge the distance, because a day will come in which the distance will be so great that they won't cross anymore the road to come back.".

Mahatma Gandhi

Getting back on the road

I know I know,

it's been more than a month (not that many of you care eh :X ). But it's been (as usual) a (really) busy period (Okay, maybe more busy than usual).

Uni's semester started and I am at the uni almost every day of the week.

Worst part of it? I have to give up on (most of) my naps! >=/

Best part of it? I get to eat pizza with my friends 3/4 days per week! >=]

Half of the courses are quite interesting, and for the other 2... One is with a weird but funny professor, while the other... well it's not exactly my kind of bread, but I gotta bite at it anyway (studying that it's taking me about the same time I need to study all the other 3 together!).

As plans for the immediate future, I plan on restarting to practice swimming (as you guys should know by now, I had not a good experience with jogging >>; ) , which should be good to stay fit and not annoying, unlike... well you know.

I forgot to say that during these months, starting on August, I tried one of those Pay-To-Click sites. While being generally diffident to that kind of stuffs due to the many scam sites there are around, I decided to give a chance to one of them.

Neobux to be correct.

So far it seems it's working. It doesn't require a lot of time (2 minutes per day?) and slowly but costantly is netting me some extra cash. Yea it works because I already got my checkout twice.

How does it exactly work?

• Once everyday you get 4-5 links.
• You click on a link and wait for 30 seconds (in this time, as long as you leave the page open you can do other activities, like browsing other pages on your browser).
• Once the time-bar filled up you earn 1-5 cents according to the kind of link (Green or Blue).
• You can have your check out once you hit a min of 2 USD and have it immediately on your PayPal / AlertPay account.
• Once your account has 30 days of activity and 100 links clicked, you can have others signing up and adding you as referrer. They won't lose anything, but you'll get some extra money out of their clicks. Since your friends won't get anything less by it, there is nothing bad being your referral.

I know it's not much but other sites that promise higher rewards, most of the times don't give you anything at all. It's not a way to get rich, but it works. And for the little time required, it worths the little bother, as long as you do it everyday.

Personally I chose a moment of the day, and do it always then, avoiding to forget about it.

If now you want to give it a try, just click on the banner I posted on the bottom.

It's fast and if you don't have an AlertPay / PayPal it takes just a few mins to register one of them.

Doing so you'll add me as referrer, but as I explained earlier, there is nothing to lose, and I'll appreciate it :)

Mid-September comeback

It's a couple weeks into september, you can smell the hair of school starting everywhere and also university (final year we hope) will be starting in another 2 weeks.

I can't really say I relaxed this summer but at least I've put a few nice things into my bag, and I've gotten more friend with that old folk named Java.

I don't know if I feel annoyed by the fact university is starting or if I am brimming with excitation because I want to get this degree done, but this will not change the fact that the 27th everything should be on the move again, with those 4 courses left, and I'll have to have them done this year (at least I very hope so).

I hope I'll match the shape (of mind) I had in the second semester of last year rather than the first, because yea, aside from AION time's theft (even if after the first month it wasn't that much), I felt really lazy, while in the latter I was eager of getting things done. In the end, in both semesters I passed the same number of exams with the same average score, but it was easier to do it so with the, if you pass me the joke, "Eyes of the tiger".

Sadly (just because it's an annoyance), in October I'll have that little surgery, it's gonna be a tuesday, not sure yet which one.

Oh and, yesterday evening, while I were having one of my relaxing showers, I realized there is a person who really cares about me, and stands me and my 'bursts' when we argue, and thinking of losing you saddens me.

Weird place, I know, but being under the steamy water pouring down, not only washes away my fatigue and stress but also make me ponder on several important things.

Lub j00 ♥

I'll leave here a song's I liked in the past days even though it doesn't reflect exactly my mood

And now back to Java and SQL coding!

Snap'd

I am a few hours into September, and I can definitely say it didn't start well.

Everything has a breaking point, even the most resilient of materials, even the nicest dude.

And I am no nice dude.

I've got a big disclaimer on my back, I've always made it clear to everyone that gets close to me.

I am not patient, and as much phlegmatic I can be, when poked on the wrong note I am not meek. And then I snap.

When that happens, I feel it all on the base of my neck, I feel the whole area getting stiff and those nerves stretching spasmodically as if they want to keep me still, to not move.

I feel my lips getting sore, and tightening on each other as if they want to keep my shut, to not talk.

Inside my brain, a table-tennis match is being played, with an heavy lead ball bouncing on my head's walls.

My rational self, tired by facing reality, realizes that everything in this world is futile, raises a wall around me and falls asleep.

My emotional self, numb by facing reality, realizes that once again, the more affection you give to someone, the more you get vulnerable to sorrow.

My cynical self, awakens to face reality, and realizes that once again, others are not worthy of all that consideration and I should just focus on myself.

Luckily, I don't rely on others.

But it seems that letting others rely on me too much is not a good idea aswell.

September just started, and with this chilled wind is not announcing anything good.

It's better I turn off this pc now, I don't even feel like having the screen's light on my skin.

I'll just be on my balcony and bathe in the gale, maybe it'll snatch some of my ill feelings and let me have a quiet rest.

Last drops of August

Hello people!

August is dripping away, and for a lot of you school is at the doors.

As for me, and my university bunch, we'll be lucky if everything starts in October (due to a lot of manifestations for cuts to Universities budget and Researchers hiring). In a certain sense this is nice for those like me that started summer just a month ago, around this period in July. In fact this leaves me the time to work on a software I have in workshop to gain some cash, and finalize some stuffs without the pressure of classes.

As for the "stuffs", I have 'finally' 'almost' 'totally' decided my new pc specs.

I know, I know, I am at this since more than a month ago, but too much came up, included the summer holidays for resellers.

Defined:

-CPU- (Intel i7 930)

-MOBO- (Asus P6X58D-E)

-RAM- (6Gb (2Gb x 3) OCZ DDRIII Triple Channel 1600 Mhz)

-HDD- (Generic 7200 rpm 1Tb)

-SSD- (Seagate 64Gb)

-RW-DVD- (2x Generic)

Undefined:

-GPU-

Gainward GeForce® GTX 460 1024MB "GS-GLH" (Barcode: 4260183361213)

Gainward GeForce® GTX 460 2GB "GS" (Barcode: 4260183361220)

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 Amp! Edition 1 GB

Asus ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5 1024MB

Gainward GeForce® GTX 460 1024MB "GS" (Barcode: 4260183361190)

-MONITOR-

Viewsonic vx2268wm

Samsung 2233rz

As you guys can guess, I am going for a nVidia 3D Vision setup.

For those of you who don't know what a nVidia 3D Vision is, or just randomly read that name a few times: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/3d-vision-home-users-uk.html

I am having in these days a price check up for the GPUs and Monitors (yea it needs to be a 120 hz monitor to be compatible). Particularly for the GPUs, they are all based on the Fermi GF104 GTX 460 architecture that actually seems to have the best price/performance ratio in the enthusiast market segment, if I find a nice bargain I may get 2 of those and go for a powerhouse SLI.

Both those monitors have the same TN panel, so it's mainly a matter of which one will have the lower price.

I'll keep you updated in the next entry about how this will develop.

As for health, I removed my suturation knots, and I am now dealing with the leftovers of my contusions.

As for MMORPG, FFXIV Open Beta should be due the starting of September, I hope I can go finally go to GameStop to pre-order my Collector Edition copy.

Oh and yea, if any DODF (Dragons Of Dark Flame) former member is reading this, and has FaceBook, please get into:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104522560622&ref=ts

it's our FaceBook group, and we're trying to revitalize it since our "break" is almost over.

See ya!

Injuried x_x!

Yea...

as you can guess from the title, I got injuried.

Nothing too serious, kind of.

[Warning: next paragraph could be a little bloody]

As you know I am doing jogging everyday, and as part of my training I used to do stair climbing - sprints - stair climbing over a platform used as stage for concerts in my park.

So on monday, as always I started doing it but...

The stairs broke and left me without any land under my feet.

I fell, forward, over the other stairs.

I stood up right away, and realized that I hurt my leg.

It was in fact covered by blood from my knee to the ankle, and my shoes, my white shoes, turned red.

I staggered to the nearest fountain to wash away all the blood, because I thought I couldn't go home that way, otherwise I might over-worry my parents with the sight of all that blood (it was really a lot).

So I put my leg under the water and with my hand I started washing away the blood. It was there I realized the wound was quite deep because with my hand I felt that over the lag it wasn't only blood, but also something else that felt gelatine-like, probably the flesh that got gouged away.

When the blood stopped for a while, I started walking, slowly, dragging my foot, to my home.

In the middle I got a little dizzy, probably due to the blood-loss and the fact I had nothing but a watermelon slice for lunch. I also noticed I had a wound on my hip at this point.

I reached home, had a shower, disinfected the wounds (and realized I had another on my abdomen). It got clear I needed some treatment, so I ended going to my uncle's place , since he's a surgeon.

He realized the wound on the knee was deep, about 3 cms, and it reached the bone.

So... I got 4 suturation knots right away, without anesthesia.

It wasn't particularly nice when he tightened the thread, no screams though, I think I have an high tolerance to pain.

Medications on my hip and abdomen.

I had to take also anti-biotics of course.

The day after, to be cautious I also had a shot of an anti-tetanic syringe. During the night I also realized my shoulder hurted coz I probably hit it too.

Prognosis:

2 days of immobility for the leg

4 days of anti-biotics (2 x day)

In 8 days I should remove the stitches.

So rest for me in the next days. It sucks I had other plans, but oh well, I'll have to postpone them x_x.

Kind of weird that you suddenly don't find stairs under your feet, especially when they planned them for a stage.

Oh also I realized we went over the 1000 views, Thanks Guys :)

Someone took away the Sun...

...and without its light that brings warmth forth, I feel chills of emptiness on my skin.

Last night I had a dream.

I were still having my works at home, while in the middle of chaos, I felt someone holding my hand. Surprised, I turned in that direction, and it was a person, a really dear person to me. One of those persons you keep close to your heart and you can wait years to meet. She came from far away, it was her first time in this country, yet it looked like it was a natural frame for her. Just that touch, just discovering her face, filled my chest of joy. I felt suavely overwhelmed by a feeling of sweet incredulity mixed to rampaging happiness. That kind of fulfillment that makes you forget about all your troubles and all your bitterness.

I'll skip on some of the details of said dream, but I can say it made me realize once more, how much I'd wish to share a smile face to face with that person.

Anyway the second week of training ended.

During the first day I still had some minor pain at the quadriceps, but that eventually went away the day after.

The other days have been quiet, during which I improved my efforts to train.

The last day, friday, was different. I felt reaaaaaaaaaaally lazy and not in the mood for it, but went to the park anyway. Jointly with my lack of enthusiasm the park was strangely filled with people, at least 10x the usual amount. So even attempting to run through, it ended as a dodge / slalom circuit. Quite different, but not the best for the purpose I had.

So all considered, it seems I survived to the first weekend break, which I was afraid would be my biggest threat. The all-day-training is proving useful for my lazy mind.

Beside this, I took part to FFXIV Beta Phase 2 (which ended a few days ago, I am now waiting for Phase 3 which will start mid-August).

I have to say the game is nice. At first we had terribly low speed to download the client, since it's a sort of p2p torrent downloader, ETA was... a few months. Some days after, evidently having more seeds, I managed to complete the download in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The pc I tried the beta with barely met the min reqs. Even so, adjustic the graphic settings the game was playable. After a few days I realized the game was running in a more fluid way. It seems SE is working effectively on optimizing the game for the launch.

I'll skip over the details and mechanics everyone probably know already like Active / Passive mode, Armory system etc.

Overall the game mechanics worked fine, it felt different from the usual button smashing mmorpg, it had a more strategical feeling. Even with effects to min, the graphics were really astounishing, and the outskirts of Limsa Lominsa, the first city I've visited, looked really bucolic. Limsa Lominsa was really really big, its architecture develooped on several islands, connected by bridges and passages, with structures that had different plans. At first I got lost (for those who played Aion, L.L. is about 3-4 times bigger than Sanctum, and way less linear), but then got the hang of it. Mobs had an AI that you rarely find in a MMORPG, other than fighting on the spot, they tend to run away when low on health, to circle around you to attack you from the back, to call reinforcements, or to get advantage of terrain, especially if they have ranged attacks. If mobs are together they'll usually act as a party, buffing each other, healing among them, timing their attacks, even do the Tank & Spank like players would.

Other than the cookies I found anyway some minor issues that, standing to their notes (SE is seriousely listening to the testers, and fixing the game accordingly), should be corrected by the release time. Among those I thought to point to:

• Somehow clunky camera, it rotates too fast at times and there is no option to reassign keys or set the mouse sensibility.
• Lack of Jump / Sit actions (not really a biggie, but some people may be used to jump like rabbits and have fun from it).
• I felt the need of an hot-button for the interactions, without having to go through the main menu (accessible through the HOME key)
• Aswell as it was annoying to have to repositionate all your skills on your bar when you switch between classes.

Now I am eager to see the result of our testing into Phase 3.

If, like me, you guys want to try it too, and haven't been chosen so far, boost your chances applying to the contests for Beta Keys at:

• FFXIVCORE
• FFXIVCORE (2)
• EORZEAPEDIA

Good Luck! :)

Summer Storm!!!

Fifth day of training straight since Monday. I am afraid I overexerted myself, causing some minor pain to my rear left quadriceps. Nothing really serious, it'll be probably gone by the start of the next week when I'll have to get ready again. After some laps of run I was on a bench, nose pointed to the sky, taking a break from my push ups and I noticed that on the plumbeous background made of solid clouds, there were some scattered and formless ones, looking strangely close to ground and moving remarkably fast. I thought it was weird, but it may have been caused by the wind that was blowing, raising moreover dust and soil.

Some hours later, I was having, as usual, dinner in my garden, this time sharing the meal with some neighbors. I was just done with my hamburgers and drinking some Pepsi when the sky broke into thunders and lightnings. The subtle wind, became a gale. And rain, heavy, thick rain, started to fall down alongside with a concrete hailstorm. Useless to say our dinner ended in a tragi-comic way.

This month's weather has been quite bizarre... The first ten was torridly hot, then halfway it turned mild and windy, and then today it seems someone up there forgot to close the tap. While I enjoyed the refreshing afternoons in the park, I hope this won't ruin the dinner with my friends I organized tomorrow. Nor it will drag till the next week, turning this summer period upside down and making my training impossible (yea yea, even if I don't really like it, I am getting into this training thingie).

Attached to this entry you guys can find some pictures that my colleague Vittorio just shot in the storm.

Training Training Training x_x!!!

And here we are 4 days into my intensive training X_X

I have to say that the hardest (and most painful) day has been the 3rd though.

While the first one, was dedicated to soccer, the successive ones have been run, push ups, sit ups, sprints, chair climbing and the like of this. I've been doing this in the public park, and, considering the season, I've been blessed with a mild weather, a little sunny but with a refreshing wind.

Altough I know it's not the best of the plans to train like this everyday, I realized that for my lazy self, it's better to do the same work (be it a game, a project or... training) everyday, just to keep myself set in that particular state of mind. In fact in the past when I tried training and did it day in / day off, I ended postponing the run indefinitely. I hope I'll survive to the weekend's break.

I also realized I really dislike running without a goal, a purpose. And I hate it a little bit less on a tapis roulant (maybe because in that situation I can disconnect my brain and not think about it, while in the park I have to dodge the other people :X ). Soccer, sports in general and even stair / wall climbing is more affine to me.

I am considering the purchase of a cyclette for the cold and rainy winter period.

Why?

• As just mentioned, in winter the weather isn't that nice, so having it in home make so you can't justify the lack of training with the "I don't want to get drenched" excuse.
• With a cyclette you can do other stuffs while training (ie. watching tv / pc , reading something, etc etc)
• A cyclette doesn't take as much space as a tapis roulant.
• You need to train always, and not just in summer, but during the year there is never enough time.

Wew. Exams done.

It's been about a month since last update. An intense month.

In this period, the works at home finally ended, and I have managed to pass the 4 exams I planned (I completed the last one this friday). Last one was particularly interesting, being a JAVA/Oracle 10g SQL application, and I had my friend Luciano as partner, so the long nights (we worked our butts off till even 5 am) weren't that tiring. Exams went all as expected, with nice scores. I was planning to have another one on September but teachers decided for a strike to block that exam window, so no way.

Now that 'holidays' started, since I am ambitious, I have several plans:

• I'll try to get back my fitness with Bike, Jogging and Soccer.
• I'll develop (with Luciano) some commercial softwares to save up some money for our upcoming trip oversea.
• I'll try to write some new poem, since the lack of time during the year forced me to dilute my activity.
• I'll try to read some new manga and watch some of the heap of movies I downloaded but never opened.
• And if I have some time to spare, I'll try to relax a little. As strange as it can sound, I am really lazy but I can't seem to stay put without doing something big.

Today, this night to be more exact, I had my first soccer match. We chose the only cold / windy / rainy day in the whole month, and started playing at 10.30 pm till after midnight. I am happy that even though it was half an year I didn't play I managed to score 2 times.

In the next days I hope to finally define my pc components, even if the particular period isn't the best as suppliers don't provision their stocks before August. I am afraid it may slip to september... well as long as it's before FFXIV launch it should be fine.

Also I plan to have some BBQ with my friends before everyone leaves the city. Oh yea, I am eating almost every evening / night in my garden, so it's quite a nice diversion.

Anyway, I am a little tired after all that running, so I may just go and hit the pillow now... okay okay I'll play some PSP first :)

Stressing weeks >:|

Oh Phew!

It's been a long long time since the last update eh!

As it's easy to assume it's been a very very busy period, not only because it is exam period (I am half done, well maybe a little more than half done) but also because we're having restructuring works at home, so it's such a mess...

Just think that in the past weeks I've had to live (study and sleep) in like 4 different rooms (including kitchen and living room). Hopefully my room will be operative again in a week (my room's new painted walls look nice, I think I'll share some pictures in the future).

I'm happy this stress will end also because once we're set I'll go get my new pc. Most likely it'll be an Intel i7 930, 3x2 DDRIII Triple channel, not sure yet on the GPU, probably an ATI Radeon HD 5850 (the 5870 costs too effin' much).

Oh and guys did you hear? Final Fantasy XIV is scheduled to be released the 22th of September!

I am so hyped about it :) I am excited thinking I'll finally play again with my DODF guys.

Too bad just the PS3 version is scheduled for 30th March >=| Oh well...

Happy Birthday PanPan! :)

Yea guys, it has been quite a busy period, with both works at home (we're restructuring) and with lots of projects in preparation for the exams.

Anyway I am here to write today particularly for a dear person :)

In the exact moment I am posting this, it's her 21th bday

She's a person I've known since like... always. But lately we've got closer.

That's why, as a little token for her b-day I wanted to dedicate a little poem to her.

Lots of people often appear to cross your way

without leaving on your life a single mark,

A few others instead, while looking astray

jump into your little world and make it spark.

We have known each other since a lot of time

but last months made the past years look gray

'coz what rain couldn't, a lone drop got to fray

making the wasted 'ol moments look like a crime.

Anyway I won't sulk on what already fled away

'coz I'm sure nothing will add any further delay

and only managing to live our movie day by day

We'll be able to catch together as much as we may

And so hereby I want you to see,

'n even more feel to which degree

how dear & important you're to me.

Happy Birthday Angel n___n !!!