Maze Solver [3]
The C port of the core maze solver is done, tested, and wired into the OS X app. The solution line comes out so much cleaner now.
Curtis Jones
Enchiladas (Made in China)
Super Taco Express: a Mexican restaurant staffed entirely by Chinese people, including a guy with a perfect American accent. Watching them make my enchiladas, not laughing out loud was a struggle.
Maze Solver [2]
Ported the maze solver core to C and got it compiling. With pre-allocated memory pools instead of the Objective-C object churn, I have high hopes for the speed. Benchmarks to follow, after Phantom of the Opera.
Maze Solver
My mind was under-used, so I pointed it at solving mazes. Here's the algorithm that searches like water flowing across a level floor, complete with pseudo code and a few stubbornly imperfect mazes.
New Yorker Phone Etiquette
Strange phone calls keep coming to my hotel room. One caller claimed to be the FBI; another insisted that if this were a Marriott I'd answer the phone differently. There isn't a lot of trust going on here.
Sean Tracy
See the "Sean Tracy" name in this photo from the Talkeetna roadhouse? He was the first to trek from Death Valley to the top of Denali, lowest point to highest in North America. And tonight he emailed me.
Unit Testing
I prefer UPS, Pepsi, and McDonald's despite never shipping, drinking soda, or eating fast food. Somewhat related: I hate unit testing, not in theory but in practice, where it stands in for basic engineering competence.
A Bar
I can forgive my hotel gym for skipping a bench press. But no pull-up bar at all? And every treadmill faces a wall of mirrors a foot away. I don't enjoy making eye contact with myself while I run.
Cotopaxi
The specific volcano isn't decided yet, but I'll be in Ecuador by mid-January. Cayambe promises some sweet ice climbing, assuming any ice is actually around that time of year.
Donation #20
Blood donation number twenty, and this one sprayed across my arm, shirt, and face. The newly cheerful technician scrubbed at the stains while I considered timing my exit, lips bloody, to greet the next donor with "the food here is delicious."
