…take a look here.

well. my project, which i announced recently, is done. for now. hopefully without any bigger problems.

just upgraded to newest ubuntu. upgrading went pretty smooth, smoother than i expected after last time’s experience. i tried the new visual effects (seeing this screenshot, i’m wondering why i didn’t had this custom choice), and disabled them after a few minutes. for me, most of them are too annoying (i’m switching between windows and desktops all the time). well. the user interface feels slower than before (even after deactivating the visual effects), but it’s still ok. the tracker is annoying, eating up system performance and it’s ignoring the preferences (which say: don’t run), but after deinstalling it, everything’s fine. for now.
now i have to find out how to install a local version of apache with php, and of mysql, to make working on my project a bit easier…

every time i plan to start a new project, let it be a web project, a programming job, a latex document (or a combination of those), i’m thinking hard on whether to use something already existing as a base or whether to do everything myself, from the scratch. for latex documents, i usually reuse macros i’ve written myself. for programs, i use libraries like opengl and zlib (two random names coming to my mind, there are of course a lot more), i reuse my own code, and write the rest from scratch. for this blog, i used wordpress, for usage statistics i use phpopentracker. and, of course, i use php and mysql as backends. even though i could implement the whole stuff myself. if i just would have enough time… but i don’t, and so i have to cope with all the restrictions, specialities, whatever these programs and libraries are throwing at me.
the reason why i’m thinking about this at the moment is a new project of mine i’m thinking about, which i’m planning to code more or less from the scratch (using, of course, some backend stuff like php, mysql, phpopentracker, you name it). i just started drawing some sketches, like its logical structure with hints on the physical implementation. sometimes i wonder whether i should spend more time on such things. despite there probably already exists a system which does exactly what i want, making one yourself is way more fun. although its also way more work.
let’s see if i manage to pull this one through… wish me luck.

it’s amazing how fast it is getting dark outside; it’s pretty obvious that summer is gone. even though, today the weather was pretty nice, at least during the afternoon: the sun was shining, and in the sun it was pretty warm. well. after spening two more hours in the darkness (why are there seminar rooms with no window to the outside?), i decided to grab the chance to enjoy the scenery at the zürisee, and then, on the way there, i decided to take a boat trip. and so i did. it was really beautiful, watching the waves, the sun, though it tried blinding me, letting the thoughts wander around, listening to good music (communic, unholy, swallow the sun). it was fantastic. even though the sun began hiding, swallowed by the mountains, the air getting chilly, even cold. the waves are fascinating, changing from a plastic like look to very complex patterns in a minute, somehow reminding me of fractals.
then, coming home, while darkness is crawling upon the sky, changing into blackness, as it is now, only artifical light left. me sitting here, typing, drinking hot chocolate, thinking. the sun is gone for today.