A quick update on what i’ve been up to

I’ve done a few things here and there this winter break. My law school career is coming to an end — I’ve just 1 more semester to go! Anyway, you can tell from this blog’s evolution that that I like to blog mostly about techie/geeky/nerd things like computer programming, linux, and the like. So that’s what I’ve been doing these days — my most precious, last real “winter break” before getting a job in the real world. Yes, I could work for someone — but I’m going to be working the rest of my life!

Some things I’ve done recently, or am getting into:

• I got rid of Xubuntu (gasp!) on my old laptop, and replaced it with Arch Linux, after hearing one rave review of it after another. This is the distro that has slowly and steadily climed up in popularity on DistroWatch, enough to rival and surpass Gentoo, while being similarly focused on simplicity and end-user configuration (not “factory defaults” like Ubuntu or Mint). The install and setup wasn’t so smooth, as the wikis and beginner guides were, though highly informative, not really comprehensive. But after I got it running — I too have been generally impressed with Arch, and the whole Arch community, and its pacman packaging system, along with the ABS/AUR duality for getting packages.
• I started learning text-based (aka “console” or CLI for command line interface) clients for many common things I do on the computer. So far I’ve managed to use and configure irssi for IRC, and I also use aria2 for bittorrent. I want to look into tmux (replacement for GNU Screen), alpine (email client), bitlbee (for AIM, MSN messaging from inside irssi), and clex (file manager). Why a sudden emphasis on console clients, instead of graphical ones based on GTK or KDE? Well, for one, text-based ones run faster, and are more stable. And once you set up text-based clients and have them configured properly, they are easier to use and are much more efficient time-wise to get the same thing done.
• I switched my default shell from bash to zsh. The tab-completion feature alone makes the switch worth it, in my opinion, as well as the somewhat-difficult-but-doable themeing of the prompt. There are tons and tons of features in zsh that are customizable (the man page for zsh is broken up into 17 sections!), that I will slowly start to learn as I get more and more into programming as a hobby (shell programming, to be more exact).
• I stopped using xfce4-terminal (aka “Terminal” in the XFCE desktop environment) because of its poor color support (it only has 16? colors) and, after a series of changes, finally settled on a custom, AUR-based package of urxvt (rxvt-unicode) that supports 256 colors. Now my vim looks virtually the same as my gvim using the zenburn theme. Yay!
• I started exploring other programming languages a little bit. So far, I’ve decided to get more into Haskell and Factor. Haskell has a reputation for being rock solid, from what I can glean from the blogs and news sites out there, while Factor is cute and interesting with its stack programming model. I also want to ditch Ruby and get into Python (I’m tired of writing “end” over and over again), so I’ll look into that more in the future (although, this would mean that I would have to rewrite my custom Rails app that I made last year using Django or something else, even — but I think the sacrifice would be worth it).
• I got back into practicing the guitar again — but this time focusing only on my classical guitar and playing older songs (not modern ones from rock bands) like the short pieces by Carcassi.

I’ll probably write the obligatory Arch Linux “first impressions” review in the future, from my unique experience of having switched from Linux Mint to Xubuntu to Arch Linux in the course of about 1 year, never having used Linux in the past. Was the switch to Arch worth it? Yes. I’ll explain as much as I can, and why you should also switch, in the review.

Spring Break 2007

I know, it’s been several months since my last entry. So, here are some quick updates in my life:

• My fall semester grades were a hodgepodge mix. All in all, I was still able to fit into the top half of my class, which I think is a good thing.
• I began writing my resume and cover letters for prospective employers for this summer, but found out that I really need to up my pace in the work/outside-school area to impress employers. I might end up doing pure volunteer work this summer just to build up my resume. My advice to those who are aspiring to join the law school lifestyle: get a job/internship/volunteer position NOW!
• I have a ton of work to do in my classes right now, but I find myself putting things off until the last minute. Oh, that’s me since kindergarten. Still getting used to doing things BEFORE they are due. I went to a top-25 college for undergrad, and let me tell you: once, I was able to study a mere 4 HOURS TOTAL on the DAY OF THE FINAL EXAM for a history class, and still receive a B+ in the course. Law school is much, much different. You really can’t cram here. So the bottom line is: I’m having trouble stopping my old procrastination habits. Any tips to help me combat this?
• I came across a job info site that ranked the 50 best jobs in the country, and ranked at #37 was “Lawyer.” The bad news is, it had the worst ratings in terms of flexibility, creativity, stress, etc. Hmm, I’m really starting to wonder how bad a job as an attorney can really be. Don’t attorneys work less hours than a med school grad doing his residency at a hospital?

So that’s that. I’ll try to post more things as my life becomes ever so intertwined with the law.

Vacances d’Hiver

Finals are over! I’m really hoping for some ripe apples. I’ve never complained about bananas before, though. Bananas give you hope. I hate cats. Dogs and frogs are not very good company. OK this plant and animal kingdom metaphor is going out of hand… I’ll stop.

Anyway–I got nothing planned for winter break. Nothing! I did start playing video games again. I don’t think my generation will ever be able to quit. I guess it’s like smoking. Like any obsession, you can only replace it with some other new obsession in order to quit. Until I find that new obsession, I probably won’t–oh wait, I already do have a newfound obsession. The study of law!!! Of course! How could I overlook the progress of my life so obtusely? I admit though, whenever I get a chance to see some courtroom action–or even bits of law-related movies (I watched a bit of “The Firm” today)–I hesitate to switch channels. It’s been ages since I’ve watched television. I can spend hours on it, though, now that I have no obligations until January!

I’m supposed to be researching prospective employers and start thinking about specializing in certain areas of law. But isn’t it a little bit early? Seriously, I still have 5 semesters of law to go through. I’ll ignore the law career workshop emails for now. For some reason the holiday spirit and law employment research just doesn’t seem to mix very well, at least not right now with me. I probably won’t post something until I get some GREAT news about my fantastic grades. I’m not superstitious, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Summer break…

After graduating from college, I spent 2 weeks in Japan (actually more like 3 days in Japan) and the rest in South Korea. It was a blast, as I had not been in Korea for over a decade. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and above all was surprised at (1) how well the Japanese are organized as a functioning, societal unit and (2) how much Korea partied and celebrated the FIFA World Cup matches in rooting for their home team, the Red Devils. I remember the cheering and millions of fans all dressed in red, starting the cheer at dinner time, going all the way through the night, all the way throughout the game which actually started at around 4 am the next day, local time. (Actually, I fell asleep at 5 am and that was only up till about the first half of the game). The amount of cheering, although very high-spirited and displaying a fine example of national unity, was, in my view, a complete waste of time. Let’s think for a moment: is soccer THAT important? The answer, as long as nations move on the basis of things other than sports, will be a resounding “NO.”

So now that I’m back, I’m spending summer vacation in the Bay Area with the parents. Actually, I’ll be living with my parents for some time, well into my first year at law school. I missed being at home after going to college far away for 4 years. And now I don’t have to deal with living with roommates. Roomates are fine, but there is a kind of relaxed atmosphere felt exclusively in the home of your family members.

I’ve been reading “The Complete Law Companion: How to Excel at America’s Most Demanding Post-Graduate Curriculum” by Jeff Deaver, and it’s pretty good. He lays it down plain and simple, in a straight-forward manner what law school is like. I bought a couple other books on the same topic online and will be reading those in the upcoming weeks.

Spring break…

I’ve been relaxing here under the cloudy skies of the Bay Area for the past week, eating healthy amounts of Japanese cuisine.

I also managed to memorize 95% of “Wait There” by Yiruma on the piano. It’s a lot easier to play than I had originally expected, because of the large passages that repeat, with little or no alterations. This song will soon make its way into my standard repertoire, which consists so far of 5 Beethoven sonatas and 1 song by Schumann. I plan to keep practicing these songs I know until I have them down perfectly; it will take a lot of dedication, but the end result is definitely worth every ounce of effort.