Michael Jordan

So taking a look at communication with Silverlight. Instead of doing a pull from the clients; I'm going to be less lazy and have a full duplex connection.

http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/archive/2008/04/10/pushing-data-to-a-silverlight-client-with-sockets-part-i.aspx

http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/archive/2008/06/19/pushing-data-to-a-silverlight-client-with-a-wcf-duplex-service-part-ii.aspx

I need hosting solutions for this now. This kinda sucks. I don't want to host it ... maybe I can get Ian too. That'd make things easier for me.

More in-depth reading:

http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/archive/2008/06/08/creating-a-silverlight-2-client-access-policy-socket-server.aspx

I'm too tired. But I'll try to read this.

Mahjong

So I'm going to build a Mahjong game in Silverlight.

Why?

It's a straightforward game that can be expanded. I built Super Puzzle Fighter II after a few months of VB. So I think that I can do this. ... ... ... right?

*yawn*. Alright then.

Outline. So I'm planning to make this multiplayer. So, I have to have some sort of server thing going on to host the current state of the game? I guess I can do that on the server and save state in a DB? Do some simple message encryption with a token to state the game you're currently in. Probably some simple rest service. Oh shit, I just realized my hosting web server is in Ruby/PHP. So I guess I can learn how to write and host a service in Ruby / Apache? I think that it's Apache ...

Err ... alright, so server ... multiple clients ... what's next?

Oh right, game logic. Riiight game logic.

I have to write client-side logic for immediate UI responses to actions. Then I have to write server-side validation to be certain that the action is valid. What else ...

There are multiple styles of Mahjong. I'm going with the simplest version.

Anyways that should be it.

What's the fastest way to get this up and running?

Figure out the REST API that the server exposes ... wait, I guess I should learn how to play Mahjong.

Well then,

that's first.

IE8

I have a few VMs, multiple computers.

Hence I open up IE8 for the first time A LOT. What makes you think I want to go through a wizard on the first boot-up? It's not an installation, and pressing escape allows me to use it as intended.

What makes you think I want to go through the wizard? Weird people.

Redux

Being back is weird. I can feel my British accent overcoming my Canadian one.

It's 2am and I'm still up. Why? I have to clean my room. I have restore order into my life. Right now, it's a bit of a lemon party. I have to have a schedule. I don't like schedules. I'm a person who likes to roll with the punches.

I spent my birthday and subsequently my first day in London: writing documentation for a former client and not billing them; thereby saving my coworker 6 hours that he can spend doing on another task. I'm also fighting sleep while at a client during my machine set-up phase. If it were coding then I'd be wide awake. I was setting up a machine and getting permissions.

My life was going to based around my HTC Magic. The connection to Google Calendar was going to be the definitive answer for me. The shitty touch screen keyboard, the horrendous battery life, the service providers blocking the phone has completely turned me off it.

What can I possibly report to you about London? Shower screens are weird. Rent is fucking expensive. All food is fresh, even the frozen ones. Prepaid phones seem cheap (bought a touch screen phone for £19). Rent is commonly paid weekly. Your pay goes monthly.

What else? Being a UK citizen makes travelling to the UK a joke. Painfully easy and I love it.

And I'll Cry If I Want To

So, why am I moving London?

I have good friends over there. Despite my work being mediocre; my coworkers are amazing people. Fun to hang around and a delight to work with. So why leave? It is undoubtedly a small part due to my career choice. If I were to be doing SharePoint development for the rest of my future. I would want my pay doubled at the very least. That is the only way I can be satisfied doing the work. That's no reason to move to London though. I can always fight to move onto a different project. I can always work for a different company. I don't know why I keep moving. I've hated traveling since I was a child. I've been to around 11 schools in my lifetime (not counting gifted and language schools). I hated moving. Whenever things were stable in my life and I hit my groove. I'd have to move again. I'd move from top of my class to the bottom again. I'd get back into fights and spend lunches alone.

So I hate travelling. Kinda stupid isn't it? If I had to say anything is that I need to take control of my life. I need to have some sort of control over what I do. I moved back with my folks briefly and that is the furthest thing from control. I'm alone in London and I'm back to doing everything on my own. I would love to have moved to other locations. I have heavily considered San Francisco. I wouldn't mind working for another startup there. Hang out with Salman. As much as I like hanging around Pritesh and Ian; Seattle is definitely not the city for me. That city looks and feels dead. I would tolerate it if I was younger with them. But everyone's getting older now and getting on with their own lives in that town.

So here I am in London. Not sure what to expect. Not sure what to look forward to. It's weird walking around London. It's a mix of a new city with the odd piece of nostalgia jumping out at you. Whenever it happens there's a bit of a weird feeling in my head and my smells. The mall in Canary Wharf is completely new to me. But when I saw the Boots logo. I get a mental high. It's one of the weirdest things.