Took A While, But I Got It Working

This past week, I spent a number of hours trying to do one thing that I knew could be done, and could have a positive result, but was somewhat frustrating to finally get right. I rebuilt my resume, which I first made and have been maintaining in Microsoft Word for years, in LaTeX.
For those who do not know, LaTeX is a fairly powerful typesetting software that is used for a number of things, such as putting together scientific documents and other published item. The reason is because it is quite flexible and supports a great number of features, characters, and symbols. Of course I was not using many symbols in my resume, but I wanted to try building it LaTeX because I knew it would allow for a more modular design. So, instead of needing to copy and paste experiences in different orders, depending on the position I am applying for, I can just move a couple lines, recompile the document, and I'm done. Also some formatting tricks, like having text split between two, uneven columns can be done automatically by LaTeX, which I have never found a way of doing in Word. Now some things I could not get it to do, but still, it turned out pretty well, and should allow me to do some things more easily. At least it will be easier now that I have it built.

I also took the time to create some modular files I can use and set up some other things for any stories I might release in the future. The formatting is different enough from Word that they end up several pages shorter, but hey, it works and can be read, so I'm not complaining. While I was trying to replicate some of the formatting I was complaining, but I got it done, and it felt good.

Quick Comments on Battleborn

I want to quickly make some comments about Battleborn, an upcoming game from Borderlands-franchise developer Gearbox Software. Battleborn has been holding an open beta this weekend, and I played some in it. Personally, I have not been impressed by it. Part of this is because I feel like I am still in the Borderlands universe with the writing. I do enjoy the Borderlands games, but this is a new IP, so I was really hoping for something appreciably different and not the same kind of humor.
The other, more important issue, is that it has not really felt to me like the characters have much punch to them. I never really felt like the hero, one of the most powerful fighters on the field, but not so much that I can't lose. Striking that balance can be quite challenging, but is so worth striving for, because it keeps the average gameplay rewarding for the player, by your character's effectiveness.
Something else, I did a versus match and the matchmaking was definitely off. The highest level player on my team was level 8. The other team had a level 45, one or two level 30s, and naturally we lost. Should probably never have been in such a match, because such a match should not have been made (or at least the players juggled between the teams to balance out).

About the Weather

When I awoke today, I found a few inches of snow covering the ground that was not there the day before. While some are set to make a big deal out of this, I honestly laugh at it as I put on my warm coat. The reason I laugh is because I can see the balance in it. We had a mild Winter where I live, so it balances out that we have an intermittently cold and snowy beginning to Spring. It might be unusual, but wouldn't it be more unusual if things did not balance out in the end? I would think so.

Of Pots and Kettles (but not Easter)

First, I hope everyone has had an enjoyable Easter, if you celebrate it, and an enjoyable weekend if you do not. Now for the thing I actually want to mention here.

This past week, Netflix, one of the companies that pushed so hard for the FCC to take control of Internet access for the US in the name of Net Neutrality (which is actually counter to any one entity controlling access to the Internet, but that's not the point today) and make rules so-called fast lanes and discriminate throttling have admitted they have been throttling their own customers. For years. If you had an AT&T or Verizon connection when you tried to stream something from Netflix, the stream would be throttled down. Of course Netflix is just thinking of its paying customers, trying to help them from exceeding data caps, unlike those ISPs that were trying to keep network congestion down for their paying customers. Netflix was thinking of its customers so much that it neglected to tell any of them they were getting impaired service, or AT&T and Verizon.

Some would take an opportunity like this to say that one should not trust any companies, but I vehemently disagree. You can indeed trust companies, to do what is best for them. The question is what the company's operating philosophy is. Every decision a company makes will be to increase revenue and/or decrease costs, but there are many ways this can be achieved, and it is the philosophy that determines which choice is made.
Remember that; you can trust that the best decision is always being made. Just wonder about why that decision is considered the best.

The Final Week

This is the final week of Lent, for all of those who celebrate the coming of Easter this way, and I hope everyone's resolutions for this season are going well. I did not really have one until about halfway through. It was to finish a project I've been working on for months now, but sadly I had some unfortunate business to take care of last week that prevented me from working on the project. I might be able to finish it this week, but I'm not sure. The end is in sight though! At least for the first phase. Subsequent phases may take even longer. Last time I completed a project like this (I keep saying that because I curiously do not want to say what it is I'm doing, and I don't know why) the first phase took just over a month and what followed took over a year. I certainly hope it won't take that long this time, but we will see.