Flu Aware App published!

After much programming, I released my first app!

Please vote for my app here for the CDC Flu Challenge:
http://fluapp.challenge.gov/submissions/3096-flu-aware

It's available for free on the Android Market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.wliu.cdcfluaware&feature=search_result

Here's a few screen shots:

Pictures say it all

It's so obvious, duh... oh wait...

This is how I feel when I'm programming.



This pretty much describes my next month. I have work (possible go live of a physician search for the hospital - will be putting in extra hours there), classes w/ two finals, and a programming competition deadline.

I'm pretty much writing off my social life (or what was left of it). I'll make up for it next month by taking a trip, possibly to New York City or somewhere in the East Coast, I'll see if some Peace Corps friends want to get together.

The programming has been slow in terms of completed/finalized code (and I doubt that I can finish the program before time's up), but I've learned so much in the meantime.

My idea's to download live data through an XML feed, get the phone's current location, convert that location from geocode to an actual usable location, run the location against the parsed XML data, and return with info pertinent to the user.

I haven't been able to parse all the XML data correctly and I've only got the geocode locations to return from the phone. I found an API that takes in geocode locations and converts them to real addresses. Still so much to do...

The deadline is starting to get stressful. When did hobbies get stressful?!

Reminds me of...

Saw a good web comic that's a bit depressing, but it reminded me of an old relationship and made me think about life.

http://imgur.com/a/mTWpc

I love how the comic can be interpreted in so many ways.
* You can take it at face value as someone struggling to get their dream job
* It might be that the dream job is so out of reach and ridiculous that it's akin to applying to be a walrus or lighthouse
* It could be seen as some guy's pride and a sense of entitlement (deserving more than a Wendy's job)
* Maybe it's idealism versus realism (some people take Wendy's job first because they're realistic, then apply to their dream jobs whereas this guy does the opposite)
* It could be the guy struggling against depression
* Or this might just be a crazy man with some serious mental issues

Hopefully he doesn't stay at Wendy's. I guess there comes a point in our lives when our day job becomes our only job and we stop looking for other things, whether for better or worse.

Side note: Neat technology with http://www.tineye.com/ where it allows you to do a reverse image search.

This weekend's google searches

android dev sqlite
android sqlite rawQuery
sqlite browser
cdc influenza rates
US census
united states map
creative commons license
photoshop eyedropper toolbar display
stock paper image
propaganda posters
photoshop vintage effect
android logo andy
cheap plane tickets chile
how to make fried twinkies
how to make beer batter
how to make mimosas
giacomo puccini

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).