Dvorak followup

I have now had a week or so of practicing with the Dvorak keyboard, and I am still liking it. There are a lot of varying reports as to how long it takes to make the transition, anywhere from two weeks to two months. The problem is that “they” never say if they are using the Dvorak keyboard exclusively or not. I cannot use it exclusively because the programs that I use at work rely heavily on shortcuts, which are mostly under my left hand. Also, when I get really busy I cannot afford to take four times as long to type an e-mail.

I am hoping that by forcing myself to constantly switch back and forth, I will retain the ability to type with both layouts. However, as soon as my typing speed on the Dvorak keyboard gets anywhere normal, I’ll probably only type in Dvorak and use the standard keyboard for my applications. My typing speed is now up to 19 wpm. I actually did not test it before with the new layout, so I only know that I feel like I am typing more quickly. I am trying to decide what a “normal” speed would be for me, but I will probably just switch when I can type fluidly without pausing to think about where the keys are located. I think that once I get to that point, my speed will really pick up.

Right now, I find that when am typing on the qwerty keyboard too slowly, and I have to think at all about what letters I am typing, I will usually type the wrong letter. Luckily, I do not normally type very slowly or think about where the letters are at too much.

Did anyone else decide to try learning the new keyboard layout? It is so much fun, seriously. Now if only it where as easy to learn a new language.

The Dvorak Keyboard

When I took my very first typing class, I remember learning that the standard QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow typists down. On the original typewriters, if keys were struck in close succession, it would jam. So they designed a keyboard that made typing as difficult as possible, ie. The most frequently used keys were placed further apart and not under the “home row”.

At the same time I learned about an alternate keyboard called the Dvorak keyboard that arranged the keys in a very logical pattern. The keyboard arranges the keys so that vowels are all on one side, mostly under the home row. It also tries to have your fingers roll in, since that is more natural for most people. Some people report that after using it they experience an increase in writing speed. It is estimated that the average person’s fingers travel 16-20 miles on a QWERTY keyboard per day, while they would only travel 1 mile on the Dvorak. This means that someone is less likely to have injuries related to repetitive motion on the Dvorak keyboard.

As some of you may have guessed, I have decided to see if I can make myself learn the Dvorak keyboard. Actually this entire message has been typed with it. What’s cool is that I didn’t have to go and buy a new keyboard to do it. Windows allows me to switch the key mapping in one of the property settings, and then it put a little keyboard icon on my task bar so that I can quickly switch back and forth between the two keyboard mappings.

I am typing at a speed of about 10-20 wpm right now, and my normal speed is around 77. It is hard but actually pretty rewarding. Let me know if any of decide to try learning the Dvorak keyboard.

Look what Zog do!

This is a rendering I did for some very wealthy people who wanted to know what their condo was going to look like. I picked out the decorations and had a little help with the color. I think the curtains are pretty sweet.

Hobbies

I'm totally with Dustin here, I just have too many hobbies. Between reading, disc golf, writing, carpentry, archery, the occasional volleyball, and of course video games, I don't have the time to concentrate on any one thing. It is a good thing that I don't fish or hunt regularly.

I'll start writing again as soon as I have some inspiration. And it will not happen tonight.

The funniest video I have EVER seen

Seriously, Jen and I just about died laughing. Click on this link to see the video. If you are in a laughing mood, you should be rolling on the ground. If you are not, wait until you are in a good mood. Whew...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSs7NCWp6kA

Field Trip Friday

Since I went to school in Africa and was home schooled through 7th grade, we didn’t go on field trips very often. I actually think that I went on about 3-4 in my entire time in school. My work has helped to make up for that a bit though. We get to go on “site visits” to see the buildings that we have designed while they are being built. Today I went on another site visit to the “United Health Group” building that is going up in Minnetonka. UHG is actually the company that was interested in interviewing Jen. It’s a small world.

The building that we checked out today was mid-construction. You could walk on all of the floors, but the glass was not in all of the walls. Some areas were pretty well finished off, and other areas won’t be done for months still. We checked out the bathrooms and watched a guy putting tile in. We got to walk on the roof of the building (it 10 stories, so the view was fun). They had huge industrial heaters that looked like airplane turbines. You could see huge blue flames roaring inside them. They were quite toasty. On the way to the roof, we got to ride in the construction lift. It was mostly like an elevator, but had plywood on the sides. There was an old man sitting inside that apparently does nothing other than operate the lift.

Safety is very important to Opus, so we had to wear hard hats and safety glasses (normal prescription glasses do count) and hard soled shoes the entire time. I feel very official and important when we go on the site all dressed up like that.

The entire trip took about an hour and a half. It was a very good way to spend my afternoon, since I got back and felt like I barely sat down to work before it was time to go. This is the 3rd or 4th site visit that we have made since I started at Opus. I’m finally making up for all of the field trips that I missed out on in school :)

Escolia- Part 3

A diagram showing the surrounding planets and spaceships floated in the air in front of Jon. The ship of the woman he had spotted earlier was highlighted, and his intended intercept path was blinking.

"Sylvie, run a scan of her ship to check fer other life forms." Jon said in his best pirate's voice.

"It be looking like it's just her aboard, captain." Sylvie said, doing a much better pirate impersonation.

Sylvie seemed to have gotten into the mood of being a pirate, complete with her own very authentic looking outfit. Jon was a little annoyed that she seemed to be doing a much better job at it than he was, but he decided to keep it to himself. A piece of floating text indicated that they would intercept the vessel in another five minutes. Jon looked to the first mate's chair to see Rakthor sitting up like a small child might. Apparently Sylvie had helped him find a piece of cloth that he wrapped around his head, and he even had a little sword that he was swishing around in the air.

Jon had Sylvie run a background check on the other ship to see who it was registered to. She found that it had been rented out to a human from the space colony Nebul named Gwen Lasater. The ship was due to be returned in a few hours. Jon smiled to himself. A rental spaceship would be perfect because it would simply return itself when given the command. He wouldn't have to worry about someone finding it and wondering what had happened to its pilot.

A short while later they were actually able to see their target. It was a small craft, only intended for short jumps between space stations. They wouldn't have any trouble catching it. Jon took a deep breath to calm his nerves and maneuvered his ship behind hers. He directed the ship's gravity well to bring the other ship to a stop. While the gravity system was directed at another target, there was no gravity on his ship, so they all floated from their seats. Rakthor began enthusiastically launching off of walls, squeaking little battle cries as he waved his sword around. Sylvie floated in front of Jon, blocking his vision. Jon reached out his hand in annoyance to brush Sylvie away, and his hand went directly through her. He realized that of course Sylvie had no reason to float, since she was just a holographic projection of the ship's computer. Jon blew at her, as if she were a wisp of smoke he was trying to make dissipate. At that moment Rakthor careened off a wall, directly into Sylvie. Her projection appeared to be bounced at an angle away from Rakthor as he sped by.

Their gravity well easily pulled the smaller ship in close, and Jon hailed the ship to attempt communication. He put his best confident grin on his face, and hoped that it would also be a bit intimidating. The air in front of Jon shimmered and displayed the face of the woman he had noticed in the spaceport earlier that day. She had a slightly annoyed look on her face.

"What is this all about? You better have a good reason for delaying me like his."

This was good. He expected her to be a little annoyed. "My name be Jonathan Wyndham, and we be space pirates." He watched her face and tried to gauge her reaction. She didn't appear very concerned, but he couldn't really expect anyone to have heard of his name yet. He growled an "Argh" at her for good measure before continuing. "We will be taking you hostage Gwen, and if ye don't struggle too much then ye won't be getting hurt."

"And why are you taking me hostage? Do you think that I have money, or someone who is willing to give money for my release?"

Jon laughed. "Do ye really think that I can be fooled so easy? We will see if ye be changing your attitude after you've been in isolation without any food fer a week." At that moment, Rakthor slowly floated past, growling fiercely at a cushion that was floating just out of his reach. Jon sighed. At least Rakthor had looked angry at the cushion.

"Rakthor, take a tranquilizing gun and go sedate Gwen." The obedience that had been genetically engineered into the giant fly kicked in now. Rakthor's wings began to buzz, and he abruptly changed course to retrieve the weapon from a storage panel. Jon watched as he flew from the room toward the docking tube. Jon activated a control from the terminal beside his chair to cause the docking tube to snake out to Gwen's ship. Looking at Gwen's image, Jon saw that she was finally looking a little bit worried.

Gwen said, "That creature is going to put its filthy little hands on me?"

"Don't worry about Rakthor. He won't harm ye unless I tells him to, and the genetic engineers put a propensity for cleanliness in him. He washes his hands as often as any human does." Jon hadn't actually paid for that particular genetic enhancement, but he didn't want this woman to know that he was cheap.

Gwen sat in sullen silence and swiveled her chair away from the display. Jon called up a display to check on Rakthor's progress. At first he couldn't find him, the fly didn't appear to be anywhere near the docking tube's entrance. Finally, he looked around and saw that Rakthor was next to a service shaft. As he watched, Rakthor started darting around corners, pretending to shoot at imaginary targets. Suddenly, the gun went off and a dart careened off several walls before striking him in the abdomen. Jon swore silently to himself as he unstrapped and pushed off to do the job himself.

As he entered the chamber leading to the docking tube, Jon retrieved the gun from Rakthor's floating body and proceeded down the tube. He opened Gwen's ship slowly, expecting an ambush of some sort. She was sitting calmly, facing directly toward him. Jon trained his gun on her, preparing to fire.

"There's no need for that, I'll come along peacefully." Gwen said in a resigned tone. "Just let me activate the return sequence on this rental so that I don't get charged for having it out for too long."

Jon watched her, his heart pounding in nervous excitement. Gwen reached slowly toward the terminal beside her, probably so that he wouldn't think she was up to something and shoot her. She entered a command that had been queued there and computerized voice informed them that the ship would be returned to Nebul ten minutes after they left. Jon followed her out of the ship and into his own. Rakthor's body was still floating where Jon had last seen it. As they entered the ship, Sylvie reoriented the gravity and they sank to their feet.

Jon directed her to the guest quarters that he had prepared for her. It was a standard sleeping compartment, but he had disabled all the terminals in it. He didn't want to have her going through any computer files. Gwen seemed to be grudgingly acceptant of her current predicament, and she entered her quarters and began looking around. He suddenly felt very awkward, not sure what to say next. If he wished her a good night, he would seem too kind. What did you normally say to the person you had just kidnapped before locking them up? Having never been rude or mean before, he didn't think that he would be able to begin now. He decided on a noncommittal approach.

"Rakthor will be guarding yer door. Once the tranquilizer wears off of him, that is." There, he hadn't been mean or nice, he just told her how things were going to be. As he backed out of the door, she turned to him expectantly. He waited to see what she wanted, but she didn't say anything. Shrugging he exited the room.

"Good night, I hope you sleep well." The words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to catch them. He reached quickly to close the door, but not before he saw a smirk on her face.