In my daily work I do a fair amount of coding for student information type applications.  This almost always involves using a student identifier (most commonly the student id) within queries.  We have multiple systems on campus that house student information, so this usually becomes a linking by id exercise.  I have always used the practice of coding and housing the 9 digit identifier as an Integer datatype, but for some reason we have one system on campus that houses this 9 digit id as a String.  It works fine within their system (obviously) but when it comes to linking in with others, its a mismatch.  Almost all the stuff I have done lives in a MySQL db, but the String type lives in Oracle.  Most of the time this becomes an issue when linking with Crystal (I’m on version 9).

One thing I can do in Crystal is create a command for my MySQL data which includes a type conversion within the SQL statement.  It looks something like

SELECT firstname, lastname, cast(studentid as integer) FROM tablename WHERE lastname = ‘Smith’;

That way, when I link the table with the Oracle table, the datatypes will match.

Give a baby a laptop and they will go straight to the pools.  Happens every time.

I HIGHLY recommend FreeNAS for anyone looking into network attached storage.  In simple terms, it’s freakin awesome!  I can’t think of a single thing I would add to what they have done.  I set this up a couple of weeks ago and I have been very pleased with what I have been able to do with it. 

http://www.freenas.org

I took these time lapse photos every 20 mins or so during the shop build process, but just recently got around to making a video.

At the end of the semester that is.  As I finish my research paper today it hits me that I am only two weeks away from the end of my classroom work.  I’m not out of the woods yet though!  I’ll be presenting my Graduate project next week, and working on it through the Summer.  If everything goes as planned, I will graduate in December!

We had a baby!

Kyle Maddox Smith. Born Dec 21st, 6lbs 7oz, 19 1/4 in.

Things have been pretty wild here the past couple of weeks. Neither of us knew what to expect with a newborn, and we are learning everything as we go. He sure likes to party at night! All his information can be found on his website, kylemaddox.com

I can’t put into words how elated I am to be finished with this semester. Having so many things happening at once, I was putting my school work on the back burner. It’s no secret. I’m sure my professors were pleased to see my applying myself. Oh wait, they knew me in undergrad so I am sure anything is an improvement over that.

Now onward to more important things, like having a baby. We are hoping it will be within the week. It would be fantastic to have Kyle home for Christmas. Check out everything Kyle at www.kylemaddox.com!

I ran across this new Linux distribution the other day.  Based on Ubuntu, they call it gOS.  Awesome little OS.  I have the Eee PC 4G and this OS works perfectly on it.  Same curve on wireless install as Ubuntu, but once you get it cooking it works great.  I have tried no less than 4 different OSs on the Eee since I got it and this is by far the best. 

Next up, I am putting this on the old desktop in the shop.

gOS – Discover a Good OS

I think not.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476649n

So it begins yet again. Sometimes I think I am never going to escape this school crap. I SURE enjoyed the summer off though. While I could have been working on my thesis, I was doing absolutely NOTHING and loving every single minute of it.

I think I burned myself out last semester. Working 40 hours, doing 9 hours of grad school, and consulting the remaining time was not my idea of fun. Probably not Kory’s idea of fun either. I think I have decided I can handle the semester as long as I don’t have to go EVERY day.

I am 3 classes and a thesis away from the finish line. I am almost there.

Side Bar.. if anyone has any thesis or project topics, please send them my way. I was thinking along the lines of P2P or virtualization. I’m open to ideas.