Not one to keep her feet firmly on the ground.

Timing is a challenge in photography. For photographer and seemingly levitation master Natsumi Hayashi, it takes persistance to overcome it.

It takes her over ten seconds minimum to set up for each photo attempt. She can try a hundred times a day before she gets the photo she wants. She also shoots solo sometimes - Without someone to hit the shutter button for her, she uses the timer on her camera to delay the shot until she can get into position. The results appear to defy the laws of physics. Hit the link for her website with more photos. http://www.yowayowacamera.com

Gmail is Brilliant

I was writing an e-mail to my group mates about a project we are working on. Being the proactive and perhaps overeager beaver I am, I mentioned in the e-mail that I would attach a few docs.

I clicked send - only to realize I forgot to attach said documents.

To my surprise, however, Gmail handily displayed a message box: "Did you mean to attach files? You wrote "Attached is" in your message, but there are no files attached. Send anyway?"

How handy is that?! Completely saved me from making an ass of myself. Now go forth and send e-mails without fear of forgetting e-mail attachments - that is, if you have a Gmail account, in which case - Get to it!

Hyperbole and a Half

Gosh. I neither have the time nor the concentration to tell you how funny Allie's blog is. And I know I shouldn't pretend that I know her or link her blog or mention her name like I know her (since I don't). But I think it's worthwhile.

Just... See for yourself.

Thank you for the link, Phil.

TableAdapter Wizard Query Parsing Quibble

I was working on a little project in Visual Studio 2008 using an SQL database. I went to add a TableAdapter to add some databound features on my form. I was having trouble with my query, but I had written similar queries in other TableAdapters and wanted to leave the wizard to have a peek. Seeking to save myself some typing, I left my query incomplete and I OK'ed my way through the wizard and ignored the parsing errors. I copied some code from another query and re-opened the wizard. The query worked like a charm now. The wizard didn't complain about anything - that is, until I hit the Finish button. I got an error message saying "There was an error parsing the query" followed by the token, line number and offset.

"Hey, what gives? My query is fine!" I was ready to slap a kid, Masahiro Chono-style.

But I figured it out.

For some reason, when you OK through the wiz on an incomplete or bad query, it sticks in the wizard's memory. Now, when you go back to the wiz and type in any query, it will still attempt to parse the original incomplete or bad query stuck in memory.

I was able to reproduce the error by leaving out the column name of the last line of my query, a GROUP BY statement. The token pointed at the BY keyword when I OK'ed through the wiz. This is understandable since you need to give a column name when using the GROUP BY statement. I then reopened the wiz and removed the GROUP BY statement, making it a healthy query. Guess what? The token pointed at the BY keyword still, even though there was no longer a "BY" in my query!

I worked around this by simply copying the query I wanted, deleting the erroneous TableAdapter, creating a new one, and pasting the query in during the wizard.

Lesson learned: Never OK through the TableAdapter wizard with an incomplete query!

Building Academics: Student Initiative to Benefit Institute's IT Services

I'm working on a simple, client-based application to help Student Computing Services manage the inventory of over 960 software titles and the accompanying licenses that they deploy across their four campus locations. But getting here was a little tricky.

At first, I proposed a web-based application. I sought the accessibility of the Internet.

Through several iterations of revising and eliciting client feedback, I learned that the political and jurisdictional circumstances of the client's environment prevent the deployment of a web-based software inventory system. One of the project requirements is that the Student Computing Services Section must have full jurisdiction over the product. This will not be possible with a web-based system. Hosting the database through a free hosting third-party is a security violation. Creating a database server will not be possible without crossing into the jurisdiction of the Networking Section.

The project was forced to become a client-side application. Though very limited in accessibility relative to a web-based system, the client assures me that it will be very useful to the Section. The project will still meet the requirements of the directed field study. It will still be a work of adequate significance and an excellent opportunity for the student to learn and gain experience. It will still involve the planning and development of a database and an application to interact with it.

For now, somewhat disappointed but still determined, I'm continuing to revise the concept and toss the idea around the office to get some feedback. I need to take care not to speak too loudly, though. There's a certain way of doing things around here, see.

Coding begins next week. For the full calendar of events, see this weblink.

Taking Accounting? Take Heart!

If you happen to be taking accounting and are having a bit of trouble, there's one thing that you should do. Show some heart! Continue to work at it. Accounting isn't as difficult as it often seems. It's relevant no matter where you go, so keep in mind that it is very valuable to learn.

The accounting assignment I'm working on is asking students to complete a mortgage repayment schedule. An empty table is provided, making it even easier. This mortgage has an interest rate of 6%, with payments due every 6 months. The question also provides the blended principal & interest payment amount of $12,771 over 10 years. Payments are to be made each June 30 and December 31. No tricks here - The mortgage was taken on July 1, 2007, meaning there are exactly 6 months before the first payment. This question is textbook - just fill in the blanks.

I look up the paragraph about blended principal and interest payments in my textbook. When using this form of mortgage repayment, the cash payments stay consistent - in our case, $12,771 every 6 months. Examining the effect it has on the schedule, when our cash payments are identical, the reduction of principal (portion of our payment towards amount we owe) increases. This is as opposed to fixed principal payments, where as its name suggests, the reduction of principal is the same amount every period while cash payments decrease.

When we've paid for the mortgage at the end of the loan, there is no difference between schedule types. However, when our cash payments are fixed, it's a little easier to foresee what we owe at the end of each period. This may not be a noteworthy advantage, but when we use fixed principal payments, the very first payment we make is the largest payment, with each subsequent payment being slightly smaller. Perhaps it's comfort knowing the worst is over after the start.

The Good Stuff

After a total of 17 hours of editing, we finally have a finished interview video. I've uploaded it to Viddler, however the framerate is absolute crap and I'm not satisfied with it. I'll be reuploading that tonight. Here's the link anyway if you want to see the berry berry bad quality version.

The weather in this city on this day is stellar. So much blue sky out there. If I could fly, I'd be bringing buckets with me to catch all of that sky. It's beautiful. And don't even get me started about the warmth!