Fear the Crab

I finished work on my Java applet, and it seems to run pretty well. Of course, I have yet to receive feedback from other people using their own browsers. I do know that it won’t work on IE if it doesn’t have any Java plug-ins, and on some machines the layout seems a bit weird. Hopefully the more people test it out, the more I can try and figure out how to make it universal (though the absence of Java in other browsers is something I can’t fix).

Because Min told me that a car alarm’s starter kill was only two wires, I bought an Auto-Lock for the truck, the type that fits around the brake pedal. At first I was worried that it wouldn’t fit, because on the back there is a listing of vehicles that won’t accept the Auto-Lock due to a “unique brake pedal arm design. The Tacoma was in that list, but it was only for 2000-2002 models. Since mine is a 2003, I took a chance, and it paid off. I really don’t know if the brake arm design changed between 2002 and 2003, but the Auto-Lock works for me, so I guess it doesn’t matter. In any case, I have a 14-day return window if I discover something’s wrong.

Titan is feeling better today. Yesterday it seemed something was wrong with his neck, because he walked around with his head low to the ground. Whenever Maile lifted his head, the neck muscles twitched. It was scary. Today, though, Maile said Titan looked better, so perhaps all the guy had was a stiff neck. He is an old dog, after all.

Today’s saying was:
“It spices up your coordination”

Today I got my truck windows tinted. Just the two front doors, since the back already has what they call “privacy glass” which is just a dealer-fancy word for dark tint. There is a slight difference between the front and rear windows, only because the law states that the front must be 35%. I say there’s a slight difference because from afar it looks the same all around. I think only when you inspect real close and the light is just right can you tell the difference. Now I must remember to not lower the windows anytime soon, to let the tint have time to cure.

I finished my 3D tic tac toe game. It’s not required for class or anything; I just did it to see if I could. It works through the command line interface, basically meaning that it runs strictly on my computer and uses a DOS window. My next step will be a highly ambitious project of converting the code to run as an Applet, so that it can work on the internet. If I succeed, I’ll post it on my web page. So far I’ve managed to design the layout and implement a few workable buttons. Later I will work on getting the code to understand when someone actually wins the game.

So I wake up at the usual 4 in the morning, and I do the usual school thing. Only instead of going home and relaxing afterward, I get ready for work and go in for the night shift. I am never, never doing that again. My body and mind kept zoning into daydream, except I wasn’t daydreaming about anything. I didn’t think I would make it through the entire night, but after talking to Maile on my break, I seemed to have pepped up a little. It’s amazing what a short 15 minute talk can do for you.

Of course, having eaten a few chocolate covered espresso beans before work probably helped, too.