The rest of my life

New Location

2007-05-23T00:32:00.000-07:00

My blog has been moved to here.

I am using wordpress now because it allows for more control and freedom. Also, I merged my two blogs- this one and my design and usability blog...

Cheers!

Ipod- fixed?

2007-03-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

My ipod was dead for several days. It had a sad face on the screen and all of my attempts to charge, use, connect, restore, or even reboot into disk mode were failures. Apple's support site told me that it was in need of service repair, and since I don't have any warranty services or whatever, it would cost a pretty penny to fix.

My Dad tried to pry it open with his keys, figuring "hey, if it's broken, we might as well open it up and have a look." He was likewise unsuccessful.

Then, all of a sudden, while trying to wrestle it open, it turned on and it was running in normal mode! It's working now, but I don't trust it... we'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

If my ipod really ends up failing on me, I was be completely music-less in my travels, since my car stereo was ripped off about 6 months ago...

2007-03-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

Intelligence is something of a scourge to neuroscientists and the rest of human kind alike. Its definition and understanding has flipped, swayed, and morphed over the last 100 years so much that the confusion around it is more than beguiling.

I am a believer of the multiple intelligences idea- that there are different types of brain specializations that cannot qualitatively be compared against each other to show how smart one person is over another, as we often try to do today. E.g., a pianist vs. an athlete or an accountant. I also am a believer that these different types of intelligence may possibly use the same exact methods- hierarchical temporal memory systems interacting with lower-level brain structures (emotional, etc.) and motor generator circuits.

However, today I just want to talk about that area of intelligence that we typically use in our daily life(without care) to describe how smart somebody is. What I mean is that quality of some person that we describe as that broad result of their genes, their grades in school, and their breadth of knowledge that we perceive when we interact with them.

I believe that this understanding of intelligence can be separated into two semi-distinct areas. One, is that amount of knowledge- or Memory. This is a common judgement of someone's intelligence. We see it in game shows like jeopardy, Who wants to be a millionaire, and in most tests that we are given in the school system. This area of intelligence is simply due to (first, of course the underlying allowing structure and ability provided by the genome) the amount of stimuli and the ability to retain the stimuli representations. If I never learn anything intelligent or retain anything I've learned, I won't appear to be so smart.

I think the second area- which may even be more important- is the ORGANIZATION of this knowledge. It is how somebody's thoughts are structured. It is what pops out to somebody when they process some stimulus because of how their output is structured in accordance with that input.

For instance, If I remember everything from the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", that would be very impressive. I would probably do very well on a comprehension test. However, if I don't organize my thoughts and beliefs in accordance to what I've read, I won't get much good out of it. If I don't associate some of the meanings from the book with other meanings in life that can be equated with some of the situations in the book, then I won't be able to apply the book to anything in my life, and I will not have gotten much good from it.

I believe that this organization quality of intelligence is what makes somebody creative, or intuitive. I believe it is also what makes somebody "level-headed" or have great "common-sense". Further, I feel that if I want to be very sharp, wise, smart, agile, etc. (indeed, intelligent in all of it's forms) I need to master this essence of having an organized mind model. I think it takes both areas- amount of knowledge, and organization of it- to be truly intelligent in the sense that we use in our daily language.

I'll leave this post with a question- How can I purposefully make my organization better? Is this something that I can modify by learning a lot and consciously making connections and metaphors with other parts of my knowledge? Or is it handled by my genes exclusively, meaning that all I can do is learn and lot and read a lot, hoping that my brain will organize it well due to its ability to structure my neuronal connections in accordance with my DNA?

...Maybe both?

What skill would you like to improve?

2007-03-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

I saw this question asked on somebody else's blog, and I immediately got a rush of excitement. I thought it was a great question because it shows what your short term and long terms goals are (or how they are affected), and it also gives the answerer an opportunity to reflect on their self-image and organize their scattered thoughts into ones that are progressive. We should all do this from time to time.

The problem is: I can sit here and rattle off about 50 skills that I want to improve- and I'm not stretching it either. Don't believe me?
creative writing, drawing, speed reading, critical thinking, quick thinking (on my feet), inhibitions, running, keeping a healthy diet, basketball (collection of skills), designing interfaces, organizing, keeping to schedules, scoping time and projects, social skills, speaking skills, speaking in public, story telling, snowboarding, backpacking, survivor skills, beer brewing, graphic design, 3D and CAD Design, building with raw materials, fixing automobiles...

I'm half way there and I haven't even gotten to my relationship skills, household skills, and any work-specific skills like project strategy,prototyping, or web design skills...and it only took me a minute or two.

Am I too unfocused? I mean- it's really unrealistic for me to reach a level that I'd be happy with in just a few of these areas, let alone all of them! But, why can't I just stick to a few things I am good at and make myself better? Why do I spread myself so thin? Am I lessening my potential for greatness??? Am I a scatter-brained, indecisive, identity-less dreamer?

Anyway, I realized the question was asking for the ONE skill most desired to improve. So, my answer is doing comical impressions of mutual friends.

Philosophy of Argument: Use this tool

2007-03-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

The next time you're involved in an argument with a person (as opposed to a lamp or guinea pig), here's a great weapon to keep in your arsenal: the redirect. It's name is derived from the move in martial arts where you take an opponent's hit and gracefully use their momentum to redirect the blow back towards them. It works well in martial arts and it works just as nicely in argumentation.

here's an example:

Person 1: Killer whales kill people! They are dangerous and we need to rethink whether or not humans should be interacting with them as pets and performers!

Person 2: No no no, orcas are friendly, intelligent creatures. When you hear about attacks and fatalities in the news, it is usually because the orcas are just playing. They don't mean to harm the people.

Person 1: Exactly! You are absolutely right and that's my case in point right there. Whether killer whales have intent or not, they are still dangerous!

Person 2: hmm, I'm in your corner now. Well done.

Ok, so the last comment is figurative. But this is what person 2 would probably be thinking...

See, what you do is you take one person's point or counterpoint, and you validate it and at the same time show how it actually supports your claim! If you are successful in this endeavor, the result is that your opponent has his/her argumentative fire minimized significantly and it forces them to teeter on the thought that you and him/her are really on the same page, but that you were just there first! I'm not saying that they won't still have a counterpoint afterwards, but if you use this tool, the likelihood of having a great counterpoint in light of your redirect will be greatly decreased.

It's a simple weapon to use, but it's hard to master. You can't use it often either. But when you see an opportunity, you attack!

Anna Nic-OLD NEWS

2007-02-16T01:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry if I seem apathetic, but ENOUGH with the Anna Nicole reports on all the news stations! Yes, unfortunately, she lost her life. Yes, her son had died too recently. And yes, she was a celebrity that was in the news often. But why should every news program focus half of their content on speculations as to her death and anything else about her life that they can get their hands on??

To be honest, I was interested to hear that she died- because it was a shock. And I will be slightly interested to hear how exactly she died. But other than that- DROP IT. It's boring, repetitive, negative, non-progressive, untruthful (in many cases), and honestly unimportant.

Matter of fact, don't even watch the news. I'm with Brandon Boyd on this one- all the news does is depress you these days...and if it's not depressing, it's usually silly and contrived.

Go read a book. Go plant a tree. Go stomp on weeds. Go running to your local park and beat clumsy adolescent kids at some sport. Anything- just don't watch more useless reports about a deceased celebrity that really has no effect on the world - or your world - at all.

Now distributing codyBREW

2007-02-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

My first successful batch of beer! It's a pale ale, and it's called...pale ale. It's good though- it tastes like something I would buy.

Well, more exciting I guess is that I was able to create a label using an automatic seal generator and adobe photoshop. Here it is ->

No, there is no significance to the fist logo. I just thought it was appropriate for some reason. I am happy with the beer brand name though (codyBREW). Savvy?

So, now the beers sit in branded bottles in my fridge and are given to those select few who want some. Perhaps you'll be able to place an order in the future, and I'll have a variety of brews to provide at a competitive price, but for now just hit me up for the paley!

Cheers

New Years Resolution(s)

2007-01-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

When all is said and done, there are two types of people in this world; people that make personally powerful resolutions and follow through with it to completion, and those that make personally powerful resolutions and follow through with it until February, when they decide (consciously or not) to give it a rest.

I assume that the latter makes up about 98% of people that make resolutions. Would you agree?

Well, I'd like to see if I can venture forth to that mysterious 2% of the human resolution race (those that believe in making them). If I am able to do that, I think I will feel much better about myself because not only will I have completed my personal goals, but I will have also followed through to completion- something that requires a lot of mental strength and stamina...

Anyhoo, here are my resolutions for 2007 (I think it's ok to have more than one, as long as they are well-grounded):

To lose weight and gain fitness... I purposely am not going to quanitfy this goal because I am not sure what I want. But here's an indirect way of doing it- I'd like to be able to run a 5k in under 25 minutes

To either be employed at another company that pays well and has great benefits, or to land a permanent position at HP

To save up enough money to go to the Bahamas with my sister in December!

To have taken steps further in my relationship with Lauren (and for any of you who doesn't know what that means- it means a ring! and for those of you who don't know what that entails- it entails fundage!)

So, in summary, it looks like the things that are personally powerful to me for the year 2007 is physical fitness and... money? Sounds like the basis of all new years resolutions, huh?

Let's see if I can follow through!
;)

Divided attention and the amazing relevance of unrelated things

2006-10-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Now, if that's that not the raddest title to a cognitive science book or paper that I've ever seen, then I don't know what is...

No seriously, here's my question:

WHY IS IT that people often find it comforting or even necessary to "fumble" with inanimate objects when performing cognitive tasks? In my last quarter at UCSD, I knew a guy in one of my project groups who found it helpful and insight-giving to kick around a little soccer ball in the lab while trying to think about critical parts of our project. In fact, it was almost debilitating for him not to have a ball to kick against the wall if there was a pressing issue amongst the team. I mean, he was a smart guy, so he was doing something right. It just always struck me as odd and a little irritating to be honest.

But, I realized that we all do this stuff! Myself, I find pleasure in clicking on and off the caps of dry erase markers when I am trying to think brilliant thoughts. It REALLY does help. You might argue that this is just the effect similar to the placebo, whereby the actual belief that it helps me leads to the justification when I perform it....But why is this so prevalent? And why can't we just imagine fumbling with things? Why is the physical action itself so beneficial? Its all over the place:

people often pace back and forth when concentrating

they may tap on things

they may pick their nails (I admit, I pick at my lips when concentrating sometimes)

they might twirl a pencil

many people keep toys and thing-a-majigs on their office desks

straying from physical fumblings, people often listen to music, which becomes a source of competition with the senses!

So here's the issue: When people find that they need to rely on their most concentrated wits for a difficult issue, whether it be an emotional one or a cognitive one, you would think that they would employ every psychological resource they could towards working on this problem. But they don't! In fact, quite the opposite; they take on other tasks that engage the body in irrelevant actions and perceptions...And it works!

I spoke to my uncle about this once, and as soon as he got the gist of what I was pondering, he interrupted me and left the room, returning with a little foam-brain toy that is slightly smaller than one's palm. He explained to me that he keeps these and other little meaningless objects in the center of board room tables, because he finds that people always gravitate towards fumbling with them during difficult conversations, and he believes that it helps lead them towards more creative ideas.

I have to say that I believe this to an extent as well. But I want to understand why it is that this happens. Why should fumbling result in more brilliant thoughts than quiet stillness?

Some possible (albeit far from complete) explanations:

engaging in simple tasks that require minimal conscious effort can inhibit centers in the brain that block highly abstract thought

physical activity releases endorphins making it more enjoyable to move and fumble with things. If an activity if more enjoyable and a person acquires a more positive attitude, cognition can often improve

If attention is too focused, there is too much neural activity flooding through the same circuits, so it may become harder to result in unique and intelligent thoughts

(MY CURRENT FAVORITE) How did we learn things when we were little children? How did we develop our perceptions of the world and even ourselves? We played with toys! We learned cultural customs, physical mechanics, and new ways to interact! Additionally, in a time where many of us were so much more imaginative, we used our imagination to create story lines and reinforce consolidated memories from other stories we had seen on television and read in books. Toy-playing was a very important activity for our cognitive development. Perhaps this gives us much insight into why it is often so comforting to do similar toy-playing in our adulthood.

new J-O-B

2006-10-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

well, I've finally got a "real" job. That's right, I've left the dungeons of the hospitality industry that catered to my education needs of flexibility so well for last 3 years and I've acquired a position that's actually in my realm of study...pretty exciting!

I am working at Hewlett-Packard, under a contract with a consulting firm, whereby I am the technical writer for the Human Factors Engineers in the home photo printing research and design sector. I've been there two weeks and I a still have a lot to learn.

My short term goals: learn as much as I can in my niche to become a valuable asset, and perhaps land a position within Hewlett-Packard.

Long term: To get my Masters/PhD and become a designer or usability engineer. Eventually, I would like to either run my own project team, or develop my own company (of course I do, right?)

So much going on

2006-08-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

In the last week I have:

participated in my usual work/school grind schedule

said Goodbye to my close co-worker

had a great night out at Dave & Buster's to celebrate it

learned how to read barcode

found a new favorite television show: Dog- the Bounty Hunter

visited with my Aunt & Uncle from Ohio

applied to several companies and have begun talking to one of them

totally nailed my calc 3 Midterm

attended a SandCHI-UPA meeting about web 2.0

It's the summer time and there's still so much going on. Summer's supposed to be relaxed, no? I suppose I like it though- I mean, I'm not stressin' or anything.

To be honest, I feel like I should be doing a lot more. This weekend I didn't meet up with my friend Natan to work on our project, CORTEXT because we are both up to a lot of activity. But I need to start doing more work on my own terms with it. It's an AJAX platform for studying the brain in a collaborative way on the Internet. Basically, we want to completely change the GUI of the site, add more functionality features, and change the way the scripting works. When we are finished, it will be really awesome but that all depends on when that will happen. We are just doing it for our own interests, so it's hard to find a lot of time with other responsibilities, ya know? Besides CORTEXT, I want to buy supplies to start brewing beer from home. I'd like to actually work on my own website for a change, and I'd like to clean my room, go work out, and find a damn job... I also want to go to the zoo- that sounds like fun right now.

But yeah, Dog- the Bounty Hunter, what an awesome show.

on the hunt

2006-08-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I've now got two more classes under my belt - Philosophy of Cognitive Science (PHIL 150), and Brain-Computer Interfaces (COGS 160). I ended up getting an A in both of the classes, so that's great. To be honest, I wasn't too worried about my grades since I am almost done, but it's nice to keep my high GPA solid...good times.

anyhoo, my big task is to start job hunting. I won't say where, but I have between 5 and 10 companies that I have been looking into , which all have job openings in user design/usability engineering, and don't require me to move to the Bay Area.

It's so funny, but I always forget how bullshitty my area of concentration is to the layman. I mean, I remember when I first met people at UCSD that were into HCI and user design, and it really seemed like a stretch of the imagination to understand why it is interesting or important to be able to know how to interview users and intelligently design products in a user-centered fashion. To be honest, it sounded really trivial. It's only when I started getting training from my courses, working on projects, and reading papers and books on the subject where I realized that usability REALLY IS a big problem in everything all around us. This keyboard I am typing on right now was made to NOT be usable as to slow down the speedy typists back in the day when typewriters jammed from pressing the buttons down in succession too fast. That's kinda funny. Now the QWERTY keyboard is a convention, so it is "good design" to keep it that way in similar devices. That may not be a great example of what I am trying to say here, but there are countless examples of bad design out there- read "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman (met him a few months ago). Everything that is not made by nature is designed (good or bad). Now, when I try to explain this field to people I get one of two responses:

"That is really not that interesting, and I want to walk away and talk to somebody else" (well, they may not say this, but I can see it in their eyes...so long as they're not rolling them at me.)

"What does that have to do with Cognitive Science?"

sometimes that last one throws me, because I really have to make all kinds of connections to why it is that neuroscience is taught in the same classroom (and on the same day) as contextual design...like, "well, humans have brains and I have been trained on the mechanisms of how it processes information and produces thought. It just so happens that people use (or misuse) their brain when they use technology and other types of tools. better design of these tools along with better design of workspaces and social structure can really make a difference in the efficiency of their use."

Sounds pretty good right? I believe it... But I still have trouble explaining why it is that I know how dendritic branching of neurons occurs and how that relates to web development...

maybe one day I'll figure that one out (without rolling my eyes at my own self)

Redemption

2006-07-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've taken the time to write. The funny thing is that I've actually had more time as of recent than I've had during the past few months. However, I have one strong excuse- I didn't have my trusty computer. That's right- it took a dive. And you know another thing- it decided to crap out on me on the night before my final presentation in my major course!..

Yeah, the graphics card died, and since it is integrated into the mainboard of the laptop, the whole mainboard had to be replaced (expensive!). So after I pulled an all-nighter re-creating my work that I had been working on the previous 3 weeks and presented to kill off my quarter at UCSD, that's when I got depressed about not having my computer anymore...

After a couple of weeks wallowing in my own grief, I found out that I was lucky enough to have a buddy whom I work with who wanted to give me his laptop since he never uses it for anything other than playing solitaire. Good for me since my next big step is to find a great job, which I need a great portfolio for. But I need a laptop to work on my portfolio to show it off. I really lucked out. And as if that wasn't good enough, the guys who were imprisoning my laptop until I paid them a couple hundred bucks just to look at it and diagnose it decided to go ahead and let me walk away with my hard drive in this new little transfer case that lets me plug my old hard drive into any computer via a USB port and use all of my old files! They figured they could sell off components from my HP (like the LCD screen- it was a widescreen), so they let me off the hook for free. Woohoo! So now I have a new little laptop to work with plus the luxury of all of my old data- i love it.

"Just when I think you couldn't do anything dumber... you go and do something like this...AND TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!"

- Harry from Dumber and Dumber

I dunno why this quote strikes me, but I love that movie. Plus when I was trying to think of the word that defined my computer situation and solution (redemption), this is the movie-line that came to my head and helped me think of the word... so take that for what it's worth.

Well, what I really wanted to talk about it something that may take up a lot more space, and I assume that I will have better thoughts to speak of by tomorrow. So without any further ado, I bid you farewell.

And now, a test

2006-06-26T01:19:00.000-07:00

This is simply a test- I just installed one of the latest firefox extensions called "Performancing." It allows me to edit my blogs at anytime within my browser- no need to load my blogger page and log-in anymore! More to come...

Dealing with the uninformed

2006-06-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

So, what are you supposed to do when you talk to people about subjects in which they have no knowledge? For instance, if you are at work with an elderly co-worker and you two stumble upon the subject of science, or technology, or something like that, and you hear the person speak of things that are just nonsense. Do you correct them? Does it matter? For instance, I could have stopped this person and given them a lecture with drawings and all to explain how things really are, but I just sort of avoided the whole issue, and ended the conversation with one of those cliches, like "yeah, the world's a pretty crazy place..."

I suppose my problem is that I don't like to boast about any booksmarts that I may or may not have, and I don't like to make people or situations feel awkward. I don't want people to feel like they aren't as intelligent as they think they are- it's depressing to me. Is that right? Or am I just too sensitive about interacting with people?

This probably stems from a conversation I had with some college friends of mine a week ago; it seems like I live a dichotomy of a lifestyle to where I talk, think, and act a certain way around my intellectual friends, and I talk, think, and act another way around my non-intellectual friends. To be honest, I don't mind it at all- it balances me out. But I think it leads to a lot of awkward social interaction for me- as if I didn't have enough of those types of problems.

An End; A Beginning

2006-06-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, here goes nothing. I am 22 years old, just on the brink of graduating from college, and I have no idea what the rest of my life has in store for me. I've blogged before for course requirements, but I've never actually kept my own blog for my personal posts. Hopefully I can keep this up- I have too many exciting side projects that always seem to die off...I aim to keep this as a record of my progress starting off with the rest of my life, as well as a resource for self-therapy. I enjoy writing and I sometimes feel as if I don't do it enough.

I suppose I will just start off my blog with a running start- no point in long introductions and deep philosophies just yet:

Today I had my last final. The class was COG 175: Altered Sates of Consciousness. The test was a breeze and I am honestly glad that I didn't put hours upon hours of study time into it. A couple was more than plenty. Although I still need to fit in 3 courses over summer to get my degree, I feel as if I am coasting from here on out (even though I know that my last calculus sequence course will end up giving me some sort of complex when this summer is over). I can now look forward to some free time though until then...and I am glad that Lauren is happy for me (that's my girlfriend). I always feel bad when I have to study or meet with school groups instead of hanging out with her...

oh, and by the way- I tend to use too many of these guys --> "..." at the end of sentences.

I guess it makes my writing seem more dramatic...