Day: August 31, 2011

I have mentioned that, for our GaugeCam project, I am setting up to program our Nook Color.  I downloaded the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE), the Android SDK, the Nook Color SDK (with a Nook Color emulator), and various and sundry other items to get started.  I have been able to write a program that allows a user to enter a web address, then press a button to load a web page into a web browser and show the HTML code in a text field.  Java is the language of choice for most Android programming.  C/C++ is possible, even with QT creator, but not recommended for anything other than spot speedups for a number of good reasons (complexity, compatibility, development tools, debugging, etc.)  I have not been much of a Java guy because I make my living with C/C++ and a little C#, but I have to admit that I am quite impressed.  The image below shows the small program I wrote to access the web with the Eclipse IDE behind it.  Now comes the fun part of designing a more serious program that we can use at GaugeCam.  Notice the web page shown here is the Chapman Kids Blog!

Eclipse IDE debugging Nook Color program via an emulator running on Windows 7

Day 9 of 1000

I work as a research engineer for a medical device company in Research Triangle Park.  I live a little over thirty miles from where I work.  If I leave home at about 5:45, it takes me about 35 minutes to get to work.  If I leave 6:15 or later, it takes me 45 minutes and a lot more driving hassle.  The commute is about twenty minutes longer than I like, but I have found a routine that I enjoy very much.  I have possibly the worst office I have ever had.  It is what most people might call a half size cube.  It is at the intersection with heavy foot traffic.  The rest of my working group is two rooms away.  My boss gave me an awesome computer, so awesome that it generates enough heat to make my cube the hottest place in the building during the steamy North Carolina summers.

Nevertheless, I love my job.  I have a great routine.  The first thing I do when I get to work is make coffee.  Then I go to my desk and eat a yogurt while I read a chapter of my bible on Xiphos.  When I finish my reading, I go to this awesome streaming radio website to listen to Bill Bennett’s Morning in America.  By the time I finish, the coffee is ready, so I have a cup of coffee and eat a granola bar while I read the news headlines and I am ready to work.  The other people start streaming into work around 7:30.  I work with a great group of very bright people, which mitigates the quality of my cube.  That and the fact that I will get a new (to me) office in a new building after the first of the year.

I cannot believe that I enjoy getting out of bed at 5:15 in the morning.  I have turned into my dad.  Life is much better for me when I have a good morning routine.