Let’s talk about the octothorp.  What is it?  It’s what you might call the hash symbol, or the pound sign, or the number key.

#

Kallie had read one of my twitter updates one day, and i tagged something at the end of it, and as she repeated it out loud to me she said “number”.  I laughed.

To be clear, the octothorp is different from the sharp symbol found in music (♯).  I’m not sure what that one is called…

You may have noticed the new page – Words With Josh

I play words with friends (a scrabble rip-off basically) with a few people on my iphone, and I wanted to wrap some intelligence around finding the optimal word based off what letters were already played.  Now, I do not condone the act of cheating when you’re playing the game.  I was more intrigued at the logic that your brain does to determine what words to play.  Scrabble is a measurable science, and there is always a best word to play, it’s just a matter of whether you know that word and whether you recognize where to place it.

I at first wanted to write a complete scrabble game, that would track the entire board and value changing tiles, so that you could play against a computer.  I could still do that, but I would think that no one really wants to play scrabble by themselves, right?

So I set off to at least code what could be useful -IF- you decided to use it as a reference tool.  I made a version available through the blog but also a better mobile version for iphones and such here – http://sixf00t4.com/wordswithjosh.  Give it a shot.  It will help you find anagrams, words with letters in specific places, and even includes the option for blank tiles.  I was thinking about adding the functionality to set letter spaces as score modifiers (triple letter, double word, etc), but I got lazy and really just satisfied with what I have now.  It’s all php and mysql.  Let me know what you think!

So, I’m going to leave the phpnuke system and convert from ravennuke to wordpress.   I’ve had this blog running on phpnuke for a long time, and I loved having the flexibility of editing the code and writing my own modules and having a very full featured site, but I think it’s time to shave it down to what is useful and also maintainable.  I’ve written a php script to convert all the stories from ravennuke to a fresh install of wordpress and I’ll be messing with templates and features in the next month or so.  The demo site is http://joshuadhall.com/wordpress and I’ll eventually switch it over to the main URL once I’m done playing and find something I’m satisfied with.  RavenNuke is still a great product, don’t misunderstand me, but it’s not the best system for blogging.  I’ve made my concerns known to the community for a long time, and have even contributed code that it lacked, but there were projects that kept getting delayed that are already available in wordpress, so that’s tipped me over to the switch.

Here’s the link to the script – http://sixf00t4.com/downloads/?did=65

The list comes from CNN, but I went ahead and got the youtube links for each track.

1. “She Blinded Me With Science,” Thomas Dolby
   
2. “Dare to Be Stupid,” Weird Al Yankovic – Of course Weird all has to be there.  I’d actually put something like “All about the Pentiums” or “White & Nerdy” on the list instead of this one.
   
   Weird Al Yankovic – Dare to be Stupid
   Uploaded by bolton. – See more comedy videos.
3. “Nerdcore Rising,” M.C. Frontalot – There’s actually a pretty cool documentary called “Nerdcore Rising” with a lot of cool information on the genre of nerd core.  Certainly worth checking out.
   

1. “In the Garage,” Weezer – Something by Weezer needed to be on the list.  They would be the fathers of geek rock for sure.  Them with Ozma was a great tour.
   
2. “Through Being Cool,” Devo
   
3. “Code Monkey,” Jonathan Coulton
   
4. “Particle Man,” They Might Be Giants
   
5. “Add It Up,” Violent Femmes
   
6. “One Week,” Barenaked Ladies
   
7. “Weird Science,” Oingo Boingo
   

Updates have been few and far between around here!  I can’t remember the last time I did a personal update, but i don’t think it’s been this year!  I was trying to make an update at least once a month before.  Let me see what I can recap for you…

The wedding plans go well.  We set up TallHalls.com for the wedding blog and information leading up to the event on September 5th, 2009.  I guess I need to get around to posting there as well…

I sold the truck last week.  Moved Kallie’s car onto my insurance and we’re officially a single car couple.  Kallie will be driving to work once she switches jobs, but I walk, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to manage fairly easily with just 1 car.  I barely drove the truck anyway.

We’re heading to Sacramento for Easter for a week.  Should be fun to spend time with everyone out there again!  I think they’re planning Kallie a bridal shower, so everyone should be in.  With that in mind, there are so many events planned in the next few months!  A friend’s wedding this saturday, Easter in California, Greek Easter with the Galis family the following weekend, talks of going camping sometime, another bachelor party in may, then the wedding the last weekend, an Avett Brothers concert or two, maybe a trip to DC or two, and i’m sure work is going to take away some weekend time as well.

Work goes well.  Finally got the bump in salary I was waiting for since last year.  That will help out with wedding funds for sure.  Especially since Deirdre’s the only one living with me in the house now.  Plans are to start moving my desk and other items into the room across the hall from me and turn it into an office/guest bedroom.  I’ve actually been A LOT of time in my room trying to get crap cleaned out and make room for Kallie.  I want to get started on that as soon as possible because it will make it a lot less stressful when she’s ready to move in.  Right now, I’m able to go at my own pace, little by little.

I’ve also purchased P90x. to get my butt in shape for the wedding/beach season.  I don’t want to start until we get back from California, but I’ve done a few sessions of it just to get the feel for it, and it’s perfect for me.  It’s very intense and very scalable to fit what shape you’re in.  I lack the motivation to come up with my own routine, and certainly lack the dedication to stick to a program that I created.  It’s so easy to just pop in a dvd, do whatever he does for an hour, and then be done.  I know a bunch of people that have gone through the program and they love it.  The biggest problem for me will be the nutritional side and eating.  I don’t eat.  It comes with a nice guide there, and Kallie says she’ll help take responsibility for that.  I’ll be sure to take the pictures, but I’m not sharing them until I see results.  I’d really love to be able to dunk again this year, finish a 5k under 20 minutes, and do the urbanathlon again, but under 90 minutes.

I’ve been pretty quiet on the music front.  I have a few tracks done, that i just need to polish and post to myspace, but it’s hard to find the time to dedicate.  I’ve been trying to set up a time to go play open mics with Ben Beitzel, so stay tuned for some live dates.

The LEGO class wrapped up, and it was a total blast.  They said the kids loved it too, and they want me to come back next year.  I plan on doing that, but I’d also like to take a stab at making art using bricks as a medium.  That whole idea is laced with legal problems, as I’ve heard from Nathan Sawaya, but I think I want to start of donating pieces for auction and seeing what kind of feedback I get.  We’ll see how that goes.

Other than that, I feel great, staying positive, staying motivated, staying productive, growing in fellowship and communion with Christ, growing with Kallie, learning from Kallie, enjoying life for what it is, and trying to keep it all going.

$emo = rand();

class dreamgirl{  var $family;  var $body;  var $faith;  var $humor;  var $intelligence;  var $sanity;  var $ambition;  var $interest;   function PhysicalAttraction()  {    foreach($attributes as $key => $value){    return $value;}  }

  function PersonalityCompatibility()  {    while($personality>0 && $interest!=NULL){ 	GetToKnow($personality);	$personality--;	NextStep($thisgirl);	}else EXIT;  }

$thisgirl = new dreamgirl();

>Error on line 21, function "NextStep" not defined.

Next time you’re with a friend on top of Mount Washington looking down at the fountain at point state park, ask them how many rivers there are.  If they’re completely clueless of pittsburgh’s history, I could see someone saying just 2, assuming that either the mon or the allegheny river just flow into the other.  If they said 3, they’re still wrong.  It’s straight out of a DaVinci code or Nationaly Treasure plotline, but the fountain is actually supplied by an underground water souce.  I’ve always known this, but a recent article in the paper reminded me of that fact.  So the real answer would be 4 rivers would be in plain sight.

for more on the under ground "river" – http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/point/point_n77.html

they’re horribly expensive, all they have is crap in them, and at least with the machines at work, it’s all old food.  I bought a nestle crunch bar yesterday because it had a "win a million dollars" game going on, and i felt lucky.  Seriously, i usually go for the nutrigrain bar, but i honestly felt lucky.  so i eat it, and you have to log in to a website to enter the game code to find out if you’ve won.  Ofcourse the website was blocked at work.  so i get home, and go to www.nestletreasurequest.com  At first glance, i think this doesnt look right.  Jewish singles???  what the heck.  but then i see ‘enter game code.’  surely that must be it.  then i get a bunch of links to ebay and crap.  I check the url again.  Then, i look further down on the wrapping.  "Game ends 12/21/06."  WTF  this candy bar is ancient!  I can’t even play the friggin game on it.

alright, i have a chance to fill you in on everything since the last update. It’s been a busy few weeks. so finals for classes sucked, but i got through them with an 88% and an 84%. kinda sucky about the 88%, because I thought for sure I was going to get an A in that class, but I slacked and i get what I deserve. The 88% is the class with the same professor that I had last semester, that cancelled class 3/8 times, and I skipped twice on my own. This semester, I thought it’d be a little more organized, but it ended up the same thing, I skipped twice and he cancelled three times. pretty ridiculous. but another 6 credits closer to the degree, and that’s all that matters. Now i have a writing class that meets on monday nights from 6-8 for 8 weeks. I –assumed–this week was spring break, just because pitt was on spring break, but just found out on friday that I was actually going to miss my first class since I was going to be in colorado…oops. I emailed the professor to let them know that i was going to be out of town as well of my recent job changes. I’m going to get hurt on the attendance/participation grade, but i should still be alright it seems. I don’t know what I am going to do for future classes with my new work schedule. which leads me to work… So i worked my first week in my new position and i really like it. It’s definitely a challenge, and something new. on my old shift, i was surfing, working on code, IM’ing Colin from the UK, and just random stuff, and still taking more calls than anyone else. Last week i didn’t touch anything but work related stuff, i was honestly busy all night, every night. Now a lot of that is just me being inefficient, taking time to get things right and learning new things, and even doing more than what i’m expected to for now to get a handle of what my job deals with, so it should clear up a bit. I’m definitely excited about it though. I fell terrible that I was only there for a week, then on a week vacation, but what was I supposed to do? The tickets were bought before anything of the job was known. So trip colorado. I barely got any sleep before my flight, i was up all night packing and finishing up school junk. I had figured I would have had time to do that friday afternoon, when I used to work that shift, but I was all screwed. Jordan (my flatmate) dropped me off the airport and i got on the tiniest plane. It sucked, I couldn’t stand up in it and my head almost hit the ceiling when i sat. When i got to Minneapolis, I was planning on just getting online for the 4 hours that I had before my next flight, but I saw signs for the mall of america, so i called deirdre up to see if she knew where it was. Turns out it is only a 10 minute lightrail ride from the airport, so i hopped on. Pretty huge place! 3 stories, a concert going on, roller coasters and other rides, and tons of people. I don’t have my camera with me at this second, or i’d be uploading some pictures. SO I met Chris and Curtis back at the airport and we flew into denver. kev and jordan met me, chris, and his brother, curtis, and we all went out to eat and then drove up to Steamboat Springs where jordan’s boss owns a place that he let us stay in. Sunday, Jordan, Chris, and Curtis hit the slopes, while kev and I went for a hike to Fish Creek Falls, which is apparently the same falls that appears on the Coors beer logo. It was a good time, and just hanging out with kevin is a great time. While we were hiking, kev’s brother drew called me, he had no idea i was out in colorado. I thought that was very funny. One thing i certainly noticed was how hard it was to breath with the altitude! I can’t be that out of shape! after kevin left, we just watched the oscars and went to bed. Monday, we woke up, rented me a snowboard, and hit the slopes after the $75 lift ticket. I’m not going to lie, I sucked pretty bad, MUCH worse than I thought. I think after a few times of getting my snowboarding legs back, i would have been better…but i didn’t get that chance. the second time down the slope, I apparently bit it pretty hard. I say "apparently", because, again, I had a concussion and don’t remember it at all. Curtis and Chris saw me bite it and Chris called for medics while Curtis pulled out his video camera. Good boy:) Chris had time to go down to the bottom of the hill, tell jordan what happened, get back on the lift, and come back down to me and i still hadn’t come out of it. We tried getting the video off Curtis’ camcorder, but fricking sony doesnt have the drivers for it available to download, and i can’t find them anywhere, so, we’ll have wait for him to get it on his own. It’s a pretty funny video of me being totally out of it. So they get me on the board, and i’m slowly coming back. they drag me on a snowmobile down to an ambulance, and by the time i’m on the ambulance, I’m pretty straight and remember everything, and feel fine. I’m thinking we’ll just go to the hospital, make sure all is well, then I’ll be on my way. The thing i regretted most about when i had a concussion at nemacolin was not going to the ambulance, just in case. So i get to the hospital, and they say they want to take a catscan. So i lean up, take off my shirts, and lay back down. And they say they want to adjust my bed up a little. So i lean up again, and all of a sudden POP goes my chest, i fall back, gasping for breath and in terrible pain. It’s almost impossible for me to breath. I’m taking very short breaths. So they want to take Xrays of my chest now to see if i broke some ribs or something. They get me into the x ray room, the nurse helps me stand next to this xray board on the wall, leaves the room, takes the picture, then comes back in and repositions me. She does this 2 more times, and on the 3rd, I start feeling light headed, start losing my sight, and i’m like, "umm, i can’t see, I can’t see anything." she runs back into the room screaming "you’re going to pass out!" and throws me back on the bed. heh. so then they take me in for the catscan and then back to the ER. after a while they come in and say no ribs are broke, but that popped that happened was the cartilage that holds the sternum and ribcage together. It apparently snapped or cracked. They said it’s as painful as breaking your ribs. I’m not really feeling pain, just can’t breath deep and it’s hard to find a comfortable spot. They ended up giving me some morphine even after i told them i didnt need anything for the pain. so after a while, they want to see if i can stand again. after some work, i get my body up so i’m sitting on the bed. I’m telling the nurse it’s really hard to breath and find a place where my chest/ribs feel comfortable. She asked if i was sure i didn’t want anything for the pain. I told her that i think they just gave me morphine. So she says she’s going to go check my chart and leaves me sitting on the bed. about a minute later…I start feeling dizzy, and my sight starts going. I’m like…."nurse? nurse…I can’t see again" some guy comes in and helps me lay down gently, and i feel terrible. very flushed and very light headed. So now the doc is worried it’s something with my organs, my liver mainly. Now, this scared me imparticularly, because about a month ago, i had 2 days where i had gray stool. Gross, I know, but i looked it up on the net and they said it could be your liver failing or something. So i’m officially freaking out like the paranoid person that I am. They take the catscan of my mid section and leave me to drive myself mad with worry for my life in the ER again. about an hour later, doc says all is well, and I try to get up again and i can. So the guys pick me up, and we go pick up my prescription for Lorcet (my cousin adam, the pharmacist, says this stuff is the good sheeeet) and then back to the rental shopt to drop off our crap. I’m in the truck with Jordan, and I feel something under my right arm under my shirt. I say to him, kind of still drugged up, "i think i have something in my arm." So i roll up my sleeve, and wham, the fricking IV hook up thing is still there. This inch long blue plastic cap connected to a tube that ultimately leads to my internal veins. OMG. WTF. TAKE ME BACK TO THE HOSPITAL! Good ol’ curt takes some more footage:) so they take it out at the hospital and i go on my merry way. When i woke up today, I felt like I was beaten by 100 african midgets. I couldn’t get out of the bed because anyway i tried to lift my chest hurt, and anything i tried to do with my legs, my right knee hurt extremely. It hurt a little yesterday, but not enough that I thought it would impede me like it did today. After a long time and struggle, i get my self out and take some mad pain killers. Apparently, this stuff is a narcotic….Did i ever tell you I wanted to be a junkie when i grew up? anyway, pain, pain, and some more pain, and we clean up and do some sight seeing at Garden of the gods and such as we head down to canon, where Jordan lives now. So, here I am, high on narcotics, really tired, wishing i could upload some pics and video. Tomorrow i think we’re going to do some more sight seeing on our way back up to denver to catch our flight at 6am thursday. I’m having a blast, and really enjoyed the natural hot springs we went to last night. Clothing optional. sweeet. So when i get back, I’ll post some pics, and then head back home to do some work at the park for the weekend and then back into the swing of work. joy. and on another topic…when i was up late one night last week, I got on ebay. Bad -financial- decision. I just found out today that I won a $450 bass. oh well. And i was the high bidder on an auction for a 2002 dodge ram, but i didn’t break the reserve. So, I’m not tied into buying it, but it’s mine if i want to contact the seller and work out something. Still undecided about that. it’s not 4×4, but it is 4 door. kelly blue book has the value anywhere from 11,500-13,500, and my bid was 11,800. We’ll see. I think that gets you pretty much up to speed. financially hurting, physically hurting, and hurting in a few other ways that i won’t get into. Nothing out of the norm. I’ll try to get the vids and pics up soon. btw, wrote a new song the weekend before valentine’s for my friend Kim. Josh Hall – Me to You. Enjoy!

Nearing the end of august, and i’ve got a lot on my plate. Big surprise there. Majorly back-logged with code work needed in the dragon game. It certainly isn’t a burden though. I find the game extremely rewarding. Having som many interesting people, from all over the world playing, seeing how they all interact, being able to interact with them, as if in my own backyard, it’s just cool. I like being able to give people something they can enjoy. I’ve been playing around with advertising for the game a bit too. ran a week add on fazed.net and now I have been running google adwords for the past week. It’s pretty neat being able to see the statistics of clicks and impressions that are being returned to my site.

apart from the game, I have tons of stuff to sell on ebay and the like. I have to list my dad’s winnebago, his 12 passenger van, and i think we are going to try and sell the big tractor too. My mom has been trying to clean out her basement, and i have a whole bunch of her technical books to throw on half.com, since she is a teacher, these companies send her books to try to get her to use them for her classes, and she gets to keep them even if she doesn’t use them. some of these books have gone for $80 on half. I also have a few monitors and mac crap there that i should throw up on ebay for pick up only.

school also starts this sunday. I have 1 statistics class online until end of october, 1 communication class on tuesday nights starting end of october, and 1 computer class on monday nights running the whole semester. So once that all starts back up, I know i am going to be shoulder high in crap.

Keren and Deirdre came over the other day, apparently Chris is buying them a cheap car since Keren has decided to stay at home and go to Penn State Fayette instead of going down to Maryland for school. When i got back from work, we went and played some tennis. when we got back, they hadn’t seen the house that i’ve been looking at for the past…what…six months now? so we took a walk over there, and there was a piece of paper posted on the garage door. It was from the bank, and had all this legal mumbo jumbo crap like herein in, without, sherrif, notice, hereby, this day, blah blah blah, but it started with “on this 25th day of july” so it’s been there for almost a month, and my impression is that it is some kind of final notice to give them some money. I figure there is probably some set date from the posting of that notice where they start listing the house. I think it could quite easily be 1 month, which just so happens to be today. So i am keeping my eye on the website they are supposed to list the foreclosure on. My lease is up at the end of this month, and i havent done anything about it yet. They are increasing monthly rent too. Last year they did it too though, and I kept paying the lower rate, without signing a lease until sometime november. So i think i have a little bit of some play. It’s $100 extra to do a month to month lease, so i want to stay away from that.

on top of that, Fable, the video game, is coming out for PC september 20th. I’ve played it at Dan’s for xbox, and totally fell in love with it. I fear that it will consume any minute that i can give it, but I also think it will bring me great joy. I don’t consider myself a gamer in the least bit, but when i find a game that i like, i am die-hard about it. So i am looking forward to it, but also not looking forward to the possible damages it could do to my productive life.

as i write this, I am realizing that I really need to do another main site update too. maybe get some more themes in place, make it all a little smoother. that is going to take a lot of time too. Time that i just don’t have. What ever happenned to that 28 hour day movement?