Large Scale Chess

Large Scale Chess, anyone wants to play?

A few days ago, this was the first time I stumbled upon a large scale chess set at a mall (Westfield Downtown Plaza, which switched owners today) as well as an elephant collection display on the second floor. One side's missing a knight. There's also some large checker pieces lying around nearby should interests change.

I decided to watch The Bourne Legacy since most of the stores weren't open at this time.

Note: See the area where the vending machines are? Behind this are all vacant stores. Combined with those on the second level, that's approximately one-quarter that's vacant. That was one factor to the acquisition. There were better days...

The same mall in Winter 2010, with artificial snow.

Excel VBA Macro Basics (Part 1)

The following is a brief guide to VBA Macros in Excel, how to use them, and in my opinion, what functions you should know about. This is one of my first reference pages, so this page might be updated frequently.

Requirements: At least Excel 2007. Other versions of excel might have ways of accessing / running macros differently.

Note: I'm assuming that don't know anything about macros in Excel prior to reading this.

Setup:

Activate Developer Tab: In Excel 2007 Options under "Popular" submenu. In Excel 2010 you'll have to go to the Customize Ribbon and on the right you'll have the option to check the "developer" menu to enable it.

Access Visual Basic: Using the developer tab, click the button that says "Visual Basic".

Create a Module: Modules are used to run functions / subcommands and store code for any macros or button functions. If you record a macro, a module will automatically be created.

Though it is entirely possible to place functions inside a sheet and run it as a macro, it's typically better to store them in separate modules in the document, because if you happen to delete the sheet containing macro code, you'll lose it. Code related to buttons and other controls on the current sheet have to be placed inside their own sheet code.

Selecting Cells and Writing Data

There are several ways to write data to a cell. Replace "Text Here" with the text that you want in the cell enclosed in quotes. Assuming the cell you wish to write is B2 on Sheet1:

• Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(2,2) = "Text here"
• Cells(2,2) = "Text here" (When Sheet1 is active)
• ActiveSheet.Cells(2,2) = "Text here" (When Sheet1 is active)
• Range("B2") = "test" (When Sheet1 is active)
• Range("B2").Select
  Selection = "test" (When Sheet1 is active)
• ActiveCell = "test" (When Sheet1 is active on cell B2)

Referencing Sheets, Cells and Variables

• ActiveSheet refers to the currently active sheet when that line of code is run. Similarly, ActiveCell refers to the current cell that was selected.
• Worksheets("Sheet1") calls a specific sheet when selecting cells or other commands. Note if a sheet with that name doesn't exist, then an error will be thrown.
• Cells (2,2) refers to the coordinates of the cell in column, row coordinates, with 1 being row A. You can use variables to determine the cell being referenced. If you want the address of the cell referenced in Letter/number notation, use Cells().Address
• Range() can be used to select a single range (such as "B2:C4"), or a series of ranges separated by commas (such as "B2, C2, D5").
  • Alternatively, just enclose the range in brackets. Ex: [B2] = "" will fill in cell B2 appropriately.
• Variables can be defined / saved using a variety of variable types: Integer, Float, Range, Date, etc.

Aesthetic Stuff

• Column widths can be set with Columns("G").ColumnWidth = 10, where G is the column you wish to have selected.
• For a range, use .Interior.Color = RGB(Red:=a, Green:=b, Blue:=C) to change cell color, where a, b, and c are values between 0 and 255 (following the RGB color scheme). To change the font color use Font.Color = ... instead. Examples: Range("F12").Interior.Color = RGB(Red:=255, Green:=0, Blue:=0) shades the background blue.

Review: Asus RT-N65U Router

The Asus RT-N65U Router is the successor to the RT-N56U in the form of ultra-slim routers. Looking for a successor to my old router, which tended to drop its connection once every few days for a small period of time (this prevents me from playing any online game due to the very possibility of being kicked due to a disconnect), I turned towards the ASUS routers for its high reviews and ability to share files.

I found both the N56U and N65U at Fry's. One Fry's store didn't have the N65U in their store, claiming that it was a 'discontinued' model. After looking at both models, I've determined that the RT-N65 would be a better choice for $20 more, due to the fact that it not only offers 450Mbps speed but provides two USB 3.0 ports for remote storage, which more than doubles the transfer speed to newer external hard drives. There were very few reviews on Newegg regarding this product but that's to be expected since it's quite new.

Router from the front side

Notable Features: Able to plug in hard drives and access them either via network or over the internet. Abiilty to create print and media servers. Can create a guest network (very useful if a friend with a laptop wants to connct to your router but don't want them accessing whatever you had lying around in your Shared Docs folder). You can safely plug in 2TB hard drives into the router for sharing - it's possible to connect drives with capacities higher than this, but there's no support if something goes wrong. Increased wireless speed (on a speed test I've found that my wirelessly connected laptop has a faster download speed than my wired gigabit connection.)

Drawbacks: With extra speed comes extra heat. In short, it runs extremely hot. So hot that it tends to overheat within a day of use, causing the router to shut down entirely* (and thus disrupting internet, local file sharing, and remote laptop operation via Mouse Without Borders.) It will power back on after a while, but it clears the logfile (meaning there's no way to figure out what caused the outage) and resets the router's internal clock. Also, any drives connected to the router will no longer be recognized, so you'll have to disconnect and plug them back in.

I bought the router a week ago and have yet to see it go through two entire days of continuous uptime.

Final Words: It's fast, it's easy to set up, but it's certainly not stable. I really like the ability to share files and faster wireless speeds, but the fact that it overheats very quickly means that I simply cannot rely on this router for a constant internet connection. Time to switch to the RT-N66U router.

Fall 2012 in Concepts

Things change - people come and go, and in the long run, the only thing that matters is the big picture - there's a whole world to see and explore. As well as a handful of close friends to share experiences and stories with.

Fall 2012 in Concepts takes a different approach to images - it focuses less on just displaying pictures and places emphasis on various concepts - such as the programming side, covering a variety of topics set for this semester. Although originally started in 2012, this page contains info that goes well beyond that.

Universal Studios Annual Passes

Costco: Selling enough passes for Universal Studios that they have their own line to handle them.

Unlike Boardwalk / California State Fair, which Costco has sold in the past, there's a line to handle passes for this one simply because they sell tickets at a very good deal. They only thing they don't cover is VIP tickets, which send you to the front of the line once per ride and some other additional perks.

Recommendations: If you're planning a trip here for several days (note that you only need two to see everything during peak season), you should probably only get tickets at a Costco in the LA area, because that's where they sell those five day passes for $60 (if you can't find them, annual for $70). Elsewhere (at least in the northern CA area), the only option available is a 2-day pass for $64, and you'll never know when you might return.

Also Note: What you save in ticket costs, they make up for it in food sales. Especially at Ben and Jerry's, where it's $7 for a medium sized ice cream scoop, and that doesn't even include the waffle cone.*

Entering: Long Beach

This year's trip concentrates on the Long Beach area.

Summary:

• 4 Fry's Locations visited (Fremont, Oxnard, Woodland Hills, Fountain Valley). Only two remain before I see all of them in CA: San Marcos and Manhattan Beach.
• 4 malls explored: Northridge Mall (Salinas), Lakewood Mall, Westfield Promenade, Santa Maria Mall, I've seen at least six more malls not visited yet that might complete that one goal.
• Ronald Reagan Historical Museum - contains a lot of interesting / informative things and provides a tour of (a previous) Air Force One. It's much larger than you think, and the small cost of it makes it a good deal. Combined with the Disney exhibit, it makes it worthwhile. Remember, you simply can't do it in under three hours.
• Mariott Hotel (Note: Long Beach location has no separate monitor support, basic internet free.)*
• Piccolo Books - well worth visiting for one dollar books. Don't expect to find guides for software in recent years.
• There's a lot of stuff at Long Beach - lighthouse, Queen Mary, Aquarium, etc. Combined with walking, there really wasn't enough time to go through everything in this area.
• I recommend Long Beach Cafe. Its large portions and low cost (around 10 dollars or so for a dish) makes it worth it.
• First time seeing a Costco Car Wash (at Oxnard) and another Costco close to a mall (Lakewood Mall)
• KBD. Lower amount of tickets for jackpots than you would normally find in Storm Stopper or those other coin games. Plays are 1-2 dollars each, but some tend to pay quite high (see the balloon game and the large one next to it), and ticket values appear to be worth double.
• California Pizza Kitchen's Pizzas are better ordered and eaten inside rather than takeout. When additional toppings are given to you on a separate container, it looks like it could be eaten as a salad alone.
• Go to Universal Studios later at night - parking is cheaper and ride wait times are generally shorter. Allow at least one more hour per show since most shows seem to run at the same time, and they're usually 20 minutes long.
• Jurassic Park water ride - brief zero-g at drop.

Keep Running

Training for a potential 5K run, and saw this graffiti mark twice. So does that mean it's an official course? Maybe not. (An official measurement of the run path maps it to 2.8 miles, the same run distance that was in running the 5k in the 24hr Fitness class.)

Anyways, managed to reduce my run time down from last year at UOP by approximately 25%, down to approximately 36 minutes. Getting better and being able to run for longer periods of time without stopping. However to complete a marathon and place decently I would be required to finish this course in less than 20. That means doubling stride length.

While I can run on this course faster each time, there are a few cases where there is simply no running away from, and will be required to face head on at some point. Like messaging someone that was mentioned on an earlier post.

I have concluded that I cannot finish a decent art project that includes them in a reasonable amount of time at this time, so I'm stuck with a one-liner message at best. I don't expect the resulting convo to go too far.