Wow, I've got to start writing more often.  This seems to be a trend with this blog, I need to get in the habit of noting things better.  Those of you who know me well know I'm bad at that kind of stuff (like keeping in contact, etc)

Lots has happened in the past couple years since I posted. Most wouldn't be interested in hearing about it, so I'll skip the small stuff :)

Still in beautiful Colorado, and loving the atmosphere

Working on some side projects at the moment around home automation that might take off soon, I'm excited about that a lot.  I'm focusing on a platform called Arduino, which is essentially a microcontroller that's not quite a computer, but is programmable and can do so many things, your mind is really the limit.  Since I'm working on some stuff that's not released yet, I can't elaborate too much, but keept your eyes peeled for an update at some point.

Anyway, on to some other topics of interest at the moment -

I'm still liking my job here in Colorado and the company I'm working for.  Eventually, however, I want to work for myself!  I think those of you that know me best won't be surprised at hearing this.

We'll see what happens!

I've brushed up a lot on my skills in the past couple years with programming, web design, Android, and Linux OS.  I've got some projects in the works using these technologies, so maybe I'll get lucky.

We built an office in the basement of the house for me to work in when I'm working at home, and I did some really cool work on the ceiling I will post here at some point.  Turned out great and I really like it a lot.

I'll try to be better at posting things, and hope that will happen soon.

Hello!

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd better do so!

Denver is treating me well, although I wish my wife liked it better.  She's waiting on the department of Education to approve her Teaching License so she can get a job in one of the local school districts.  They've been sitting on her application for nearing twenty weeks now, which is RIDICULOUS!!!  Hopefully it will be approved soon though, and she can get back to doing what she likes -- teaching.

On the Android development side of things, I've been having issues for the past few months with a corrupted install of Eclipse and Android dev toolkit.  It hasn't been letting me compile any of my code at all.  With the holidays, hustle and bustle of my job, I've been so busy I haven't had the time to fix it, until now.  Got it all back up and running from what I can tell, so I should be cranking out an update soon.

A good friend of mine told me that he didn't like my design of the UI in my app, so I will be experimenting with a design mockup a friend of mine over on Reddit.com did for me.  Should make Decide 4 Me feel more like a mechanical app, rather than old school photoshop.  We'll see what happens.

Other than that, I've been enjoying a lot of time on the mountain out here snowboarding.  I got some new gear for Christmas (thanks honey!) and will be giving that a whirl hopefully this weekend.  It's been over seven years on my old stuff, so I think I definitely got my money's worth on that.

Enough for now, have a good one!  I'm going to try to start posting more regularly with cool stuff I'm finding on the 'net.

-Nathan

Decide 4 Me - Now Released!

Decide 4 Me is out!  I worked really hard to get it ready to go, and I think that people are really going to like it a lot.  Here's a feature list:


-Yes or No
-True or False
-A,B,C, or D
-First, Middle, or Last
-Red or Black
-Heads or Tails
-Positive or Negative
-Rock, Paper, or Scissors
-Agree or Disagree
-Hi or Lo
-1 to 100
-A to Z
-Pick my Lotto Numbers - using Powerball as the initial lotto type
-Pick my Keno Numbers
-Russian Roulette - with sound effects

You can find it in the Android Market, or follow this barcode to it straight from your Android phone using Barcode Scanner!

Decide 4 Me Full version out in less than a week!

I've been working hard lately to get the full version of Decide 4 Me out onto the Android market.  I've made big strides and am very close now!  The full version will have no ads, and will require no network access (which someone complained about in my comments.)  They're only required for the AdMob ad content, but oh well.  Can't win em all.

In any case, you'll see it soon!!
-Nathan

Colorful Colorado!

Well, I'm finally here.  I'm in Colorado!  It feels really weird with Jenn and the dogs being back in Kansas City with me 600 miles away.  The new job is great though, and I am excited about starting over at a new place.

Inspections on our new house are today, and I hope that they go well!  If they do, then the house will be ours!  The house is gorgeous, and I can't wait to move in as soon as possible!  The house won't be right without my girls in it though, so it will be lonely until they come.  I'll post some pictures of the house as soon as it is official too.

This, of course, is another setback to my finishing Decide for Me.  I'm working on it though, and hope to have it finished as soon as possible.

The largest setback is finishing one of the scenarios.  I had to create it differently than others, this one is completely programmatic, so it's interesting as I've not done one like that before.  It's good practice though, and something I can add to my repertoire once I've finished it.

More news soon!
-Nathan

Decide 4 Me - LITE update released!

I've released an update to my Decide 4 Me - LITE app today, and coming with it is a complete overhaul to the look and feel of the app.

I've changed it to behave like the full version of Decide 4 Me.  Now instead of the small buttons and limited functionality, there is a lot more built into the LITE version.  There is now a scenario picker view where you can see all of the available options in the LITE version, and some of the included ones in the upcoming full version.  I also added a KENO MODE which can randomly choose up to ten unique numbers for you to play Keno with!

The rest will have to wait for the full version which is nearly completed.  I've got a couple really big surprises in store for it, so keep checking back for updates!!

Decide 4 Me is coming along nicely!

I've been working hard at designing the full version of my Decide 4 Me app for the Android platform.  As I am including tons more functionality, it has forced me to do a complete overhaul and redesign of my code, which is a good thing.  Not that my existing code in Decide 4 Me - LITE was bad, it was just too simple to support the features I want to include in the full version.

I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but it's going to be a really cool app, one with more features and more advanced than any of the competitor apps out in the market.  This app will literally be able to make any decision for you that you could possibly imagine with the sheer number of decision scenarios it contains.  Since it will be a paid app, albeit very inexpensive, I want to give the user a huge amount of value for their money.

I am so excited about this, I can barely contain it!

In order to get the word out about the full app when it is released, I will also be overhauling the Decide 4 Me - LITE app to have the same functionality, however the number of scenarios will still be limited.  Trust me, this app is going to be worth every penny!

-Nathan