f(x)

Sometimes I think in terms of math. It's kind of funny because I'm not too good at it.

So when I'm thinking of relationships and soul mates, it's weird that I default to formulas and statistics.

Let's say two people are together. At that very moment, I'll think "x = y". Well, people are more complex than a simple x or y, but I think we're all slaves to our genetics and life's experiences (for simplicity's sake let's say that sums up to a nice equation of sorts).

Then we need to factor time into our equations. People aren't constants, people change. Johnny started drinking and Susie really let herself go. We're more like f(x) and y(x).

What's the odds that you'll grow out of your partner and want something completely different? Were you the same person you were a year ago? 5 years ago? 10 years ago? How will your partner react if you're not the same person he/she married?

So we're each a unique formula that's changing, some more so than others. Not only do we have to find the right formula that matches us, we also have to make sure we're on the same timeline. I could be a x^2 and she could be an x^2, but if I'm at x=3 and she's at x=5, we're at different places in life.

Communication and time helps manage expectations and solidifies who you are, but maybe some formulas are too different. Maybe some people don't have any single soul mate.

Maybe some of us are a variation of pi. Or maybe this is all crazy thinking and I'm just being irrational.

Challenge Accepted!

A coworker sent me a link to an interesting programming challenge. It's a project from the CDC trying to raise awareness of influenza through innovative technological means.

They supply the datasets and from there pretty much let you run with the idea. I like how this type of challenge inspires real thinking.

This weekend I drew up some design documents and started on the User Interface programming of my application. I'm trying to remember to keep it small and to scale the project up only after I meet my previous goals. I already know that the database portion will be the most challenging aspect.

It's a little difficult working on a project by yourself. I find it really fun to cut sounds, draw graphics, and program the same project. However, I'm pretty terrible at Photoshop now and it is kind of frustrating when you're stuck debugging code that you've been staring at for hours. And for some reason, the worst part is that it always gets lonely doing this.

I'm sure other people have teams, but I can't seem to interest any of my friends. They either seem pretty content working for someone else or they don't have a relevant skill set (and lack the motivation to pick one up).

We'll see how this goes. I gotta remember; think big, but take small steps (and compile frequently).

Once I'm done with this, if anyone has an Android phone, I'll buy you a beer to download and test the program (on anything other than a Nexus One).

People need to get mad

I want kids. Not now, but maybe someday. I wanted to put that out there since it might make me a little biased for what I'm going to write.

I'm mad. I'm frustrated. I'm most of all sad.

The last couple of days I've been working on a report that compares hospital data across California. I'll limit this post to four factors.
Cost - Cost for the hospital (staff, equipment, etc.)
Charge - How much someone is charged for services rendered (whether it's billing the insurance company and/or the person)
ALOS - Average Length of Stay (for the person staying in the hospital)
Discharge - Number of cases seen

In California (2009), rough figures put the average case for a children's hospital charges $8000 a day, with an average of 5 days stayed, which comes out to a whopping $40,000 a year. (I don't want to mention how much it costs actual hospitals)

We need to keep in mind that:
1.) A children's hospital isn't just for normal newborns. These are specialized children's hospitals that treat the most severe cases. Costs and charges are expected to be higher.
2.) We're also looking at the average cost/charge/length of stay when the median is probably a better indicator.
3.) Insurance may cover some/most of the costs.

Most likely insurance will only cover a partial amount and if they do, I'm sure they'll fight tooth and nail for every penny. Even if they don't, how do normal people afford the rest?

You take out a loan and setup a payment plan while some guy is gaming the healthcare and insurance system? If it's not the financial market, its the healthcare market or some other market. It just seems like the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

The people representing us in Congress have net worths starting in the millions. They don't have my interests at heart. When will people get mad and say enough is enough?

Coffee and Code

We got a cat! Her name's Reddit; she's a stray that my roommate's friend (a vet) found out on the streets. She's about 2 years old, has an odd fascination with paper, frequently jumps on keyboards, and loves to wake us up at precisely 6 am on weekends. She's so cute though!!

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

I've been hanging out with friends a lot more lately. We've been playing frisbee golf and softball, hiking, climbing, watching movies, and some social drinking. The interesting part is that the different groups of friends I know are 'mixing together' and it's creating a surprisingly fun dynamic. Usually I'm with one group or another since their interests seem so different.

Last week I did a 12 hour workday because of a new system implementation. I've been feeling a little burnt out so I asked for today off. Today's a coffee and code (for fun) day!

Can't wait for Spring Break! I'm hoping for better weather so I can start surfing again.

Blessing in Disguise

I haven't logged into my RSS feed in a while. I forgot to take someone off the list (that I've been debating whether I should talk to) and curiosity got the best of me; I read a post of theirs and matched it up with the time. Yep, I'm never talking to that person again.

It's like in Ecuador; if you meet someone that borrows $20 and never returns it, be happy that it only took you $20 to realize they're a waste of time. Sometimes bad luck is really good luck in disguise.

Love is a verb

Love is a verb, an action occurring in the present. Without working on it constantly, it just becomes the past.

New Hardware

Last weekend I splurged and upgraded my Macbook Pro from the 2009 version to the latest 2011 version. Although there's no real differences aesthetically, the internal switch from the old Core 2 Duo processors to the new Sandy Bridge i5 processor has made a huge difference in compile/run times.

The only other bottleneck was the 5400 RPM hard drive, which I promptly switched to a 256 GB Sata III solid state drive. Even though OSX doesn't have TRIM support yet, I'm hoping the hard drive performance won't degrade too much before Lion is released in June (which should have built in third party TRIM support).

In terms of what I'm using the hardware for, I've been documenting what I've learned about Android programming over at code.google.com/p/wliu/ under the 'Wiki' section. I'm still not sure how to use collaborative software like github, but it doesn't really matter yet since I'm still a one man team.

Right now I'm working on the framework for a flashcard program; I figure I can study for my Medical Terminology class and learn how to program at the same time. There's a lot of possible neat twists on how people learn, but for now my goal is a simple working application. Basics first I guess.