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walbourn: (Default)
While I was in Texas, some friends were noting I was not posting much to LJ these days. Mostly I've just been really busy, and when I've not been busy I've not been inclined to sit down and write a blog entry. So in no particular order, here is what I've been up to lately:

Work: Most of the last few months of stress, coding, and way too many meetings has resulted in the DirectX SDK (August 2009) release, which marks the the "RTM" of DirectX11, and the related KB 971644 for getting DirectX 11 on a Windows Vista machine--it is built into Windows 7.

We are getting started on content for Gamefest 2010 happening in early February. This year I'm just speaking instead of running a track or the whole conference content, but I am giving three different talks.

Otherwise the usual churn, reorg madness, and change in priorties as usual keeping things 'lively'.

Home: [livejournal.com profile] cuddlyeconomist and I have been working on our fencing project. This year we are only doing the back (the side fences are in crap shape, but there is at least a fence; plus the back has no elevation changes). We made some good progress over the weekend, and then relized Monday night we had to pull of 19 boards and do them over to get it to work out correctly. We of course picked the most complicated fence that takes the most wood, but it should work out well given how exposed to windstorms that part of the fence is. The side fences may end up being either done by a contractor (in whole or in part) and likely will be a more traditional fence. Whatever the case, we have become fast friends with the people at Alki Lumber in West Seattle and have taken advantage of their $20 local delivery several times.

Digipen: I'm teaching at DigiPen this again this year. In previous years I just did the lab proctoring, and this year I'm teaching a whole section including grading, and doing most of the semester lectures for all the GAM400 (Senior project) sections. So far, so good, and the extra cash is defintely helpful with finishing up the backyard project over the winter--phase 2 is getting a bunch of flagstone patios and pathways put down.

Home again

Apr. 26th, 2008 02:50 pm
walbourn: (Default)
Made it home yesterday afternoon from my trip. First time I've been out on a developer visit in a long time, and it was with two others than came originally from the old Windows devrel org. It was fun, although with such an early flight Thursday, it made for a very, very long day. The weather in Cali was sunny and comfortable, but we probably spent a grand total of 10 minutes outside. I'm glad to have come home to sunnier and warmer days in Seattle. No more bloody snow days in April!

Unfortunately, I managed to leave my Zune on the plane. The airline's lost & found service is open the convenient hours of 8am to 2pm, and I discovered this as I got home a 5:30p. Thankfully they have an e-mail alias. Hopefully they will find it and I'll get it back.

Book 13 for Lord of the Rings Online was released Thursday. The kinship is of course busy trying to get through the 100+ new quests in the new area, so the weekly late-night runs to kill the Balrog will be skipped this week. That's probably a good thing in terms of my sleep schedule. [livejournal.com profile] cuddlyeconomist and [livejournal.com profile] dmbergman are still playing, and are stil playing content from the original release (Books 1-8). I probably wouldn't have really bothered playing a second character otherwise, but it's been a fun way to hang out virtually.

DigiPen classes are done for the semester. With my having to focus on Gamefest, I didn't look into teaching over the summer. I think they really want me to take on a full class instead of just doing the lab proctoring, so we'll have to see. I'm not really thinking much past the summer so far, but it's something to consider. I'm hesitant to sign up for grading, but I do enjoy lecturing. Good with the bad I suppose. Naturally they asked if I wanted to teach a class on "XNA", by which they mean the C# managed product which has been allowed to completely consume all our public facing branding efforts, despite the fact that I focus 100% on native professional C++ developers (DirectX SDK, the Xbox XDK, and my combined Windows/Xbox devrel group are all branded "XNA") which have absolutely nothing to do with "XNA Game Studio". Sigh. It's been happening for years, but it never fails to irritate. Still, there are plenty of topics I would like to teach assuming I can find the time.

DigiPen

May. 16th, 2007 01:25 pm
walbourn: (Default)
It looks like I've managed to land a permanent second job if I want it. DigiPen wants me to come back in the Fall, and in fact they'd really like me to teach a full course. Not sure that I'm quite up to that just yet, but it's something to work towards doing I think. I've always had teaching at the college level as a retirement occupation in the back of my mind, and it's nice to find out I might actually have the aptitude for it.

The trick right now is to manage the commitment requirements given my somewhat random travel schedule at work. It helps that their semester schedule doesn't start until September, after my now crazy-ass August event schedule at work. The extra money is nice for doing stuff on the house, I find the idea of being simultaneously a Microsoft and Nintendo employee (DigiPen is owned by them) perversely amusing, and I have access to the Nintendo company store.

As [livejournal.com profile] jeliza says, I do need a new hobby now that I've toned down the gaming habit.

It is a bit strange being at a college, however. I don't feel like I'm three years away from my 40th birthday, but when I'm there I see those 20-something year olds and think "damn, they're babies."
walbourn: (Default)
As of this evening, I'm now part-time faculty at DigiPen University as an Assistant Instructor. I guess that makes me 'over-employed' now...

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