2657 Productions News

March was a slow month, except when it wasn’t…. Which was most of the time by the way. And it still hasn’t really let up throughout this month, hence the lack of updates to this site. I know, it’s not a great excuse, but it’s the only one that I have at the moment.

Life has more or less settled into a steady rhythm, and just as suddenly as it has done so, I’m getting ready to head back for a speedy two weeks in CA full of random traveling between LA, SB, and SF….

So, what’s been going on that has been keeping me busy? Well, one thing was actually my last class—Lifespan Development and Learning—which was pretty interesting. Although I’m not much of a philosophical person, I do like taking a little time for introspection—something which I think is particularly valuable for teachers. Anyway, it was a pretty good class, had some interesting discussions with my classmates, wrote some papers that I’m pretty happy with (and have uploaded to work.mrdwab.com for anyone who wants the academic stuff).

I’d like to comment on work, because some parts of it is really fun and interesting, and other parts are driving me somewhat crazy…. And as much as I’d like to complain here about the parts that are driving me crazy, I don’t think that would quite be professional, so I’ll refrain from doing so.

But really though, the three days I go in each week to work are actually pretty cool, and I’ve learned how to do enough cool geeky stuff to keep myself happy and thinking about new applications of… stuff…. One thing, for example, is my new mini-obsession with scalable vector graphics (SVG). I’ve been working on a mapping project that would have been awesome to do with vector graphics, except that there weren’t any available—only low resolution 640×480 JPGs with an ugly watermark in the middle of them. So, while I’m settling for a less than perfect product for this initial project, I’ve also started a (somewhat tedious) process of making my own vector maps of all the Indian states.

So, what do I like about these SVG files? Well, the scalable factor is always cool, but what I really like is the flexibility in terms of adding layers and assigning different colors to each path that is created. Yeah, I know. That’s a really specific description. Well, let’s say that I had a map of a state with 10 districts, and I had a four-color range for population density, literacy rate, number of televisions per household or whatever else, I could create layers for each of those elements, and have them be turned displayed or hidden using a simple checkbox. Same applies to elements like district names and so on—if you decide you don’t want to view the district names, you can just remove them from view…. It’s pretty cool and geeky, and maybe at some point I’ll put a sample here.

Other than work stuff, Chennai has been pretty nice. It has been hot, but apparently, the real heat hasn’t hit us yet. I guess it has actually been a strange year for Chennai—we had rain as recently as two days ago, and everyone I’ve talked to says it NEVER rains this late in the year. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad one. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

And what about news that’s not about me? Well, I could make it about me actually…. I’m an uncle now! Just in time to team up with the grey hairs that are showing up in my bushy beard…. After many weeks of expecting to have a baby niece to see when I made my short trip to CA—Amy and I even went out and bought little baby saris and other colorful baby-girl clothes—it turns out that I have a nephew to go home to. His name is Liam, and he looks pretty cute from all the pictures I’ve seen so far. It’s going to be pretty cool to actually see him finally (although now I have no presents from India to take back with me…. Oh well…. There’s always my next trip back, I guess).