I've written before about fictious Budaors West Consulting. Yet another example when the blog spills over into the physical world: (some details blurred but nothing added)
On Friday I met Timi, the Hungarian blogger of atlanta.freeblog.hu. She came to Atlanta when I left in the August of 2005, and although we've never met before, I've been following her adventures ever since. (I actually started my blog as atlanta.freeblog.hu before my launch in June 2005, but decided to change the URL as it might have become inappropriate, since there was no telling where I would end up after graduation.) Yesterday, I found her at the Arts & Crafts Fair in the GT Student Center, following descriptions in her latest blog entry :)
(Update: here is Timi's entry about the day.)
She is here in Atlanta with her husband, GT math prof Zsolt, who also dropped by... we are both graduates of Budapest U's EECS department. I was happy to meet both of them, and we chatted for quite a while.
As you can see, yesterday was extremely cold: I had to wear my heavy coat, which I have only done once in Atlanta ever before. However, because of the cold weather and me wearing a sweater and warm coat, going to school actually felt like, well, like going to school. You know, like going to Budapest U in the winter months.
(Update: here is Timi's entry about the day.)
She is here in Atlanta with her husband, GT math prof Zsolt, who also dropped by... we are both graduates of Budapest U's EECS department. I was happy to meet both of them, and we chatted for quite a while.
As you can see, yesterday was extremely cold: I had to wear my heavy coat, which I have only done once in Atlanta ever before. However, because of the cold weather and me wearing a sweater and warm coat, going to school actually felt like, well, like going to school. You know, like going to Budapest U in the winter months.
I've always wondered who are the kinds of people who are in "featured sections" and such. Now I know.
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/content/blogsection/22/575/ (randomized image)
(Photo taken in Brela, Croatia, wearing the shirt from the Euroacademy in Greece :)
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/content/view/1246/
(Photo taken at Vienna's airport en route to the Euroacademy, wearing the T-shirt from the Imagine Cup in Redmond :)
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/content/blogsection/22/575/ (randomized image)
(Photo taken in Brela, Croatia, wearing the shirt from the Euroacademy in Greece :)
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/content/view/1246/
(Photo taken at Vienna's airport en route to the Euroacademy, wearing the T-shirt from the Imagine Cup in Redmond :)
Email of the week! I'm happy :)
Subject: streetcar photomontages
"Hi Peter,
I’m an urban planner working on a team studying a potential Peachtree Streetcar. I was searching the internet for information and ran across your streetcar imagery. It’s fantastic! You wouldn’t by chance be looking for a job?
X.Y.
Planner
Urban Collage, Inc.
www.urbancollage.com
404.xxx.xxxx"
Subject: streetcar photomontages
"Hi Peter,
I’m an urban planner working on a team studying a potential Peachtree Streetcar. I was searching the internet for information and ran across your streetcar imagery. It’s fantastic! You wouldn’t by chance be looking for a job?
X.Y.
Planner
Urban Collage, Inc.
www.urbancollage.com
404.xxx.xxxx"
Got an email from the guys at XpatLoop the other day (it's a site for expats and the like living in Hungary). The results are here:
In other news: I spent half the day with adminstration things at Budapest U. I overheard something like mine is the only diploma with distinction (amongst CS grads I suppose), so it's quite a big thing to get this "red diploma"... and that's why it got screwed up. It was called "red diploma" ("vörösdiploma"), because the print color is red when the diploma is with distinction, but since red = communist, and communism is so passé, it's now called "diploma with distinction" (kitüntetéses diploma) :) I will only get the red-printed diploma in September (duh!), because the rector (head of the university) is not available to sign it. Or something.
In other news: I spent half the day with adminstration things at Budapest U. I overheard something like mine is the only diploma with distinction (amongst CS grads I suppose), so it's quite a big thing to get this "red diploma"... and that's why it got screwed up. It was called "red diploma" ("vörösdiploma"), because the print color is red when the diploma is with distinction, but since red = communist, and communism is so passé, it's now called "diploma with distinction" (kitüntetéses diploma) :) I will only get the red-printed diploma in September (duh!), because the rector (head of the university) is not available to sign it. Or something.
This blog was started 1 year ago, with this post! There are some entries dated before that, which were emails sent to multiple recipients: a predecessor to the blog, so I put them in for context. At the time, the blog was written in Hungarian.
I was thinking about starting a blog for some time... it was first suggested to me 10 months earlier, during my first days at GT, after I sent an email about happenings to a coodinator at Budapest U. I decided it would be too much trouble, plus I didn't want random people reading about things I am doing. Then, in the spring of 2005, a friend was studying in Australia and writing about his days... it was interesting to read, and the idea of blogging came again, only to be dismissed as too much trouble, again. At the end of the Spring 2005 semester, in an impulsive moment I started an anonymous blog to post rants... I deleted that blog after two days. After the Imagine Cup Tour, I had lots of pictures and some commentary to share, so I eventually decided on starting a blog, aimed at friends and family in Hungary. I hardly finished uploading pics, when the Graduation Tour began, and the blog continued with its focus on travel commentary and photos.
I never intended the blog to be a diary-style account of daily happenings, but rather "first hand news about Peter". I am also very interested in understanding America (or any other place I go to)... with my personal background, and a Hungarian, and European eye. In the process, I'm also trying to understand my personal background, and Hungary, and Europe, in light of what I experience elsewhere. Switching to blogging in English when I returned home from the States was inspired by my aspiration for a global viewpoint: I felt that writing in Hungarian about the US (and other things) was imposing a too Hungarian viewpoint... an interpretation that 99.8% of the world's population cannot relate to (and not only because of the language).
Writing a blog in this style takes lots of time, because a lot of thought goes into entries. But I have found that I am writing the blog for myself, more than for anybody else. Just the knowledge that a potential reader can come from any part of the world, and that I need to express myself in a coherent manner is very helpful: it forces me to research things in more detail, to think more about the topic... and eventually, to understand it better.
There is no telling what direction this blog will go in its second year. We'll just have to wait and see...
I was thinking about starting a blog for some time... it was first suggested to me 10 months earlier, during my first days at GT, after I sent an email about happenings to a coodinator at Budapest U. I decided it would be too much trouble, plus I didn't want random people reading about things I am doing. Then, in the spring of 2005, a friend was studying in Australia and writing about his days... it was interesting to read, and the idea of blogging came again, only to be dismissed as too much trouble, again. At the end of the Spring 2005 semester, in an impulsive moment I started an anonymous blog to post rants... I deleted that blog after two days. After the Imagine Cup Tour, I had lots of pictures and some commentary to share, so I eventually decided on starting a blog, aimed at friends and family in Hungary. I hardly finished uploading pics, when the Graduation Tour began, and the blog continued with its focus on travel commentary and photos.
I never intended the blog to be a diary-style account of daily happenings, but rather "first hand news about Peter". I am also very interested in understanding America (or any other place I go to)... with my personal background, and a Hungarian, and European eye. In the process, I'm also trying to understand my personal background, and Hungary, and Europe, in light of what I experience elsewhere. Switching to blogging in English when I returned home from the States was inspired by my aspiration for a global viewpoint: I felt that writing in Hungarian about the US (and other things) was imposing a too Hungarian viewpoint... an interpretation that 99.8% of the world's population cannot relate to (and not only because of the language).
Writing a blog in this style takes lots of time, because a lot of thought goes into entries. But I have found that I am writing the blog for myself, more than for anybody else. Just the knowledge that a potential reader can come from any part of the world, and that I need to express myself in a coherent manner is very helpful: it forces me to research things in more detail, to think more about the topic... and eventually, to understand it better.
There is no telling what direction this blog will go in its second year. We'll just have to wait and see...
The College of Computing started doing "student blogs" this January... I joined the ranks this week, so let me give the introductory lowdown: I did my Masters classes at Tech last year (2004/05), and will be heading back to GT for PhD this August. These days I'm working on my European CS Masters degree in Hungary's Budapest U. Actually, yesterday was the end of classes for the Spring semester here and I wanted to submit my thesis/final project, but it turned out nobody is keeping the deadlne, so I can delay it some days (=more work for me). Once that's done, there's still the final-final exams & defense, which should be done by the end of June. Once I graduate here in Europe, I'll pack my stuff and get back to Atlanta (once again), then graduate from GT (with the MS), and then let the PhD begin! In the meanwhile, I'll keep you posted with whatever strikes me... blogging straight from the city of Budaörs West. Oh yeah, and with some photos from Europe :) Cheers!
This is a post with some live experiments... I talk about lots of things on this blog, and this tagcloud shows what: (this is live, so it will update as I go)
And this calculator thinks this blog is worth $5080, yeah riiiight :) (also live, so it will update in the future)
And this calculator thinks this blog is worth $5080, yeah riiiight :) (also live, so it will update in the future)
My blog is worth $5,080.86.
How much is your blog worth?
I did a little javascript hacking last week, and assigned the already uploaded photos to the location-bubbles in My Places. I also added a nice scrolldown effect as an excuse for learning some javascript, so the map now appears inside this page, click away!
I've also been doing some advanced tinkering with Google maps (you can learn about it at this site). Google recently added two additional zoom levels to satellite imagery, from more recent shoots. For example have a look at the southeast of the GT campus: the Bobby Dodd stadium (bottom of screen) is no longer under construction, the building occupying the middle of the central lawn has just been demolished (white patch on left), and the TSRB/Tech Square complex (top-right of screen) on the other side of the interstate is no longer just bare land -- these would show that the photo is from around the summer of 2002.
However, I've just discovered that some cities (like Atlanta or NYC) have an additional zoom level beyond what is accessible via the standard web interface. Check out the GT logo and "Georgia Tech" type on the Dodd Stadium ground at "zoom level 20":
and in Times Square:
I've modified My Places, so you can zoom in to "level 20" yourself. (eg. zoom in on the Atlanta marker for the GT campus...)
I've also been doing some advanced tinkering with Google maps (you can learn about it at this site). Google recently added two additional zoom levels to satellite imagery, from more recent shoots. For example have a look at the southeast of the GT campus: the Bobby Dodd stadium (bottom of screen) is no longer under construction, the building occupying the middle of the central lawn has just been demolished (white patch on left), and the TSRB/Tech Square complex (top-right of screen) on the other side of the interstate is no longer just bare land -- these would show that the photo is from around the summer of 2002.
However, I've just discovered that some cities (like Atlanta or NYC) have an additional zoom level beyond what is accessible via the standard web interface. Check out the GT logo and "Georgia Tech" type on the Dodd Stadium ground at "zoom level 20":
and in Times Square:
I've modified My Places, so you can zoom in to "level 20" yourself. (eg. zoom in on the Atlanta marker for the GT campus...)
Blogs and related stuff are so cool and trendy. Why didn't I think of making Freeblog, for example, I sometimes ask. Well, it turns out that it was created by a single guy (Mr A). From the initial idea 5 years ago, it took more than two years and some intermediate versions until the first public version of Freeblog proper less than 3 years ago. And it turns out that Mr. A was studying electrical engineering at Budapest U -- he was one year my senior until he quit at the end of 2001, and later restarted at another university (quitting that too I guess) while working a 9-to-5, and making Freeblog and related stuff. Freeblog is now run by about 3 people, a coder (Mr. A), an editor and a PR person. I think his story is hmm... way cool and inspirational, though without a happy ending, as of today. I have my feelers out for such things these days, as 2006 smells like a year for business... (links are to Hungarian pages, sorry)
OK now, it is 2006, Google is a multibillion dollar business making money on contextual ads, and I don't even know how the thing works from a user perspective? This cannot go on! :) So I signed up for an AdSense account, and placed an ad box at the bottom of the blog, so it wouldn't disturb anyone, but I could still see ads based on my text. I'm curious what kind of ads AdSense will associate with my pages. As far as I saw real quick, the old months with Hungarian posts get a few English ads, while the newer English stuff gets public service ads (meaning: no relevant ad for this content exists :) in Hungarian... iiinteresting :) I also signed up for AdWords, which is the system for advertising yourself on Google search pages (and on sites which carry ads from AdWords): you associate your ad with certain search words, and the ad will appear (above/beside the normal hits) when a Google search is done on that keyword -- but not always, since there are too many ads associated with any given keyword, so you have to decide how much are you willing to pay to Google (per clicks on your ad), and the ads will "compete" for the space. Or something like this, I haven't entirely figured it out yet. Of course, I'm not paying to advertise anything, I'm just playing with the ad-publishing system: to advertise with popular keywords (like "Microsoft") it seems you have to pay several dollars for each click you get...
By instinct, I almost used 'Budaörs West' as the city name on a letter I'm writing :) Which reminds me, that in Atlanta I was receiving a free IT magazine under the fictional company name 'Budaörs West Consulting' :)
This blog was started on June 17, 2005, but now I've collected some old emails and injected them as entries into the blog, adding a glance of an additional 1.5 years. I've been considering starting a blog since the first days in Atlanta (exactly when writing the now-added emails), but it took 10 months to get down to it...
Brief info: I'll be on holiday next week in Croatia.
Some corrections: Atlanta is GMT-5. There was some confusion with the memorycard I got in New Orleans: first I got a 256meg, then upgraded next day to 512meg. There is also some confusion with what language this blog is written in, but this I still don't know :)
Some corrections: Atlanta is GMT-5. There was some confusion with the memorycard I got in New Orleans: first I got a 256meg, then upgraded next day to 512meg. There is also some confusion with what language this blog is written in, but this I still don't know :)
Greetings from Budaörs West! I'm at home this week, still unpacking and
integrating the past year's stuff with the things I have at home. And
of course working on the trip pics.
All entries until now were on Atlanta time (EST; GMT-6), even when I was in different time zone. Now I'm changing to hungarian time (CET; GMT+1).
All entries until now were on Atlanta time (EST; GMT-6), even when I was in different time zone. Now I'm changing to hungarian time (CET; GMT+1).
Na kerem! Ez itten a blog, a mai nap soran jol osszeheggesztettem. Meg lehet rajta csiszolni, de egyelore eleg jo lesz. Nyelvugyben egyelore a magyar a language of choice, egy kis angollal megbolonditva. Kepekkel most megint nem haladtam, de elobb-utobb oda is eljutok; most mar van Premiere-em is, csak meg fol kell installalni, es akkor videozas is jo lesz. Paran mar lattak, hogy az album uj kulsot kapott, es vannak uj feature-ok is: komment a videokhoz, hogy lehessen tudni megis mi az, pl. itt, "hangjegyzet" csatolva bizonyos kepekhez (amit a Canon audio annotation-nal lehet a kephez felvenni), pl: itt. Az albumon egyenlore password van, viszont a pass kint van a CoC-s lapon. Viszont emiatt nem tudok thumbnail-t ide linkelni, ugyhogy ezt majd meg kigondolom hogy legyen. Most viszont megyek hazit csinalni!
kaptam ma egy FedEx csomagot... csak neztem, hogy mi van,
vajon bombat vagy anthraxot kaptam? Aztan kiderult, hogy a MS
kuldott Office Pro 2003-at, meg Visual Studio 2005 beta2-t! :)
Egyebkent dilemmaban vagyok: a kepeket magyarul kommentezem,
de igy meg az itteniek nem ertik. Gondoltam mar arra is, hogy az ilyen
random torteneseket/beszamolokat egyszerubb lenne egy blog-ra irni,
mint mindenkinek spammelni. Csak ugye milyen nyelven irjam...?
Pl. a multkori torteneseket is kulon megirtam angol es magyar
verzioban is :) Szoval ha van jo otletetek, hogy hogyan csinaljam, johet...
(Ez most egy mini-kozvelemenykutatas.)
Vagy mi lenne, ha minden angolul menne...? :)