Last night I finally broke down and downloaded the new version of Visual Studio 2008 Express and directX9c SDK. I found a really cool tutorial online for learning how to program video games. Granted I already know how to program windows GUI applications in C++, the last of my few contracts have been in VB or VBA, so my actual ability in C++ is a little rusty and I’ve been planning to get back to it for some time. Specifically I really wanted to finally put some focus on getting good at it.

Here was the tutorial site that I found:

http://www.directxtutorial.com/

So just this morning I followed the first tutorial for DX9 and got the little windows application to display a blue screen, then fade it to black, and fade back to blue in a repeating cycle. It’s still a little jerky so once I get it nice and smooth I’ll see if I can post some source code and a downloadable exe in my software section. I haven’t had this much fun in a LONG time!

Once I get this thing working a little better in the direction I want to go, I’ll probably post a web forum so members can come and hang out and have more interactive discussions.

In my day job I work work as a government contractor for the Dept. of Revenue. I’ve been working really hard now for 10 months to develop a fully integrated Sales & Use Tax Calculator Audit Management System with a back-end TeraData Database Management System driving the SQL system. This is for the State of Missouri.

Last month they finally signed the change request document that says I get to move forward developing and testing all the key changes they wanted to make from the system I had developed up to that point.

Basically the tax calculation system I designed to manage the loading of data was designed to load using one method, and the Missouri Dept. of Revenue decided they wanted to change the way the data is loaded requiring a complete end-to-end redesign of the loading system. I worked really hard all week long to try and find a way around this debacle!

To make a long story short I thought I would never get the whole thing pulled together! I even went so far as to say that the entire concept of revamping the design was completely out of line, and nearly refused to develop it since doing so would put me to blame when it didn’t work or cost to much time to maintain. I really believe that it is important to stick up for proper design considerations that can affect the cost of development for the project within the company. I would hope that others see that as a strong point when the alternative is the repression of open minded design considerations. In the end I can say with pride that it actually worked! Furthermore it worked quite well, well enough for me to be proud of my work with is all that matters in the end!

Apparently my boss knows something that I don’t, that I must be better at programming software then I think. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’m pretty darn good!! But now, after this, I’m starting to think that he might be right! Let me tell you that is really an amazing thing for someone to believe in you that much after you’ve come from the situation that I’ve come from. For instance most people probably wouldn’t believe that I was told I was so stupid that I would never finish grade school. I was also told I would never finish high school, and I was told by many professors at several universities that I was to stupid to ever graduate from college, also that even if I did happen to graduate from college I would never be able to compete in the professional market place.

I don’t mean to get a big head or anything, they just keep putting stuff on my desk that I think I’ll never get to work, and then I get it to work in record time and its amazing! Like I’ve got some kind of magic fingers or something. I have nothing else to say…because it’s beyond my understanding…

Seth

I was going to comment on this article:

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/The_Appeal_Of_Mars_999.html

But I’ve been to busy at work and at home to really put together anything as of yet, since I wanted to post pictures along with my argument. I’ll have to get to it later.

I did, however, want to note these two articles also recently posted on the MNSFS mailing list:

http://www.rocketryplanet.com/content/view/192/38/

And:

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/searagon.htm

For those of you who don’t know the NSS is building a grass roots response to the LoST legislative action. NSS of course being the National Space Society. LoST of course being the new Law of the Sea Treaty that puts Private Property on celestial bodies in Serious Jeopardy.

You can read more for your self here:

http://www.nss.org/legislative/

This was recently posted on the MNSFS - Minnesota Space Frontier Society mailing list and I had a response that was interesting so I thought I would post it here, hopefully to drum up some conversation.