Exciting News!

 Hello!

I want to apologize for my delay in posting. I've been very busy with some stuff up here at college. 

I don't have a whole lot of time to talk, but I do want to share some news. Yesterday, during work, I received a phone call alerting me that my brother and I were voted into the local fire department!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, I'm moving towards becoming a volunteer firefighter! I am super excited and am most likely going to get my gear this weekend. I know it's a large time commitment, but I'm willing to cut some things out for a little bit to do what I need to do.

By the way, I work at a fast-food restaurant here at college. It's called the Campus Cafe. Don't pronounce it like Café though. It was spelled incorrectly, so it's pronounced Cafe! Anyway, I am typically on the fryer, and I really like it, to be honest. It's a good rush that's not super overwhelming. And besides, in late January, I'm going to be making $15 an hour! But money is not the only good part. My boss there is super chill, and I have good relations with all the other employees. So there's a short work update.

I am still working on the really long post! I promise!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to math class and coordinate some rides for this weekend!

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

" Don't stop believin' "

- Steve Perry

Nineteen Today!

 Hello all,

Similar to last time, I do not feel an immediate difference when I turn 19. I like to think that my realizations and new outlooks on life represent mental growth. I would have posted earlier, but I went to a workout/Bible study this morning. Here's a photo of this morning:

19 does not have any major changes in life as far as I am aware; however, this is my first birthday away from my parents. It's not a big deal, but it is saddening to not wake up and be with more of my family on such a meaningful day. 

With that being said, I don't want to present the illusion that today is a sad day. Rather, it is a rather joyful day; it's Friday after all!

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

- Oprah

Long Post Still Under Way

 Hi readers!

Today marks the first snowfall of my college journey. That's right folks, the snow came a little late this year. Rather than in the middle of October, the snow made its first appearance on November 1st, 2021. 

Also want to mention that the long post is underway! 

Lastly, I have another exciting project that I am working on! Oh, and remember that one I mentioned a long time ago? Yeah, I finished and it works! So keep an eye out for two posts about those!

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold."

- Aristotle

I Have Not Left Yet!

Readers,

So I know at this point, you all are probably really confused as to what happened to me and what happened to the second part of the blog. Well, I can assure you that I have not forgotten about this blog! On the other hand, I haven't begun Part 2 yet. But, as events rack up, I realize one of two things is bound to happen: an in-depth write-up takes longer and longer, or the details fade and fade until they are forgotten. 

On that note, I plan on starting Part 2 today! I really hope I can get it out soon, and then I'll hopefully go back to blogging after individual events. 

I know this blog post is short, but I think I'm going to end it here!

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

- Confucius

The Update: Part One

Well hello again ladies and gentlemen.

Today is the day that you have all been waiting for: the update on my college journey. 

Well let's start from the beginning. The trip up here. 

I remember leaving the house very well. Tory, Ezra, Bri, and Big Joe all came over to say good bye and help load the car (which was filled top to bottom by the way). Leaving wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to be honest; I guess I was just so excited! After we said our goodbyes to my brothers, friends, and cats, we were off. 

The trip started off smoothly, with part of our journey going by my grandparent's old house. It was nice to see it again, and it made me wonder what they would think of me now. These thoughts were eventually interrupted after my mom slammed on the brakes a little too hard and brought down a bunch of stuff in the back. She got really emotional after this, exclaiming that she felt bullied because we were all joking about her driving abilities. It was a silent, awkward car ride for the next hour. And then the rain came.

We were looking on the radar a few hours prior, but we were not expecting what we got. We're talking people driving 10 miles per hour on an interstate bad. Here's a video during the beginning of the storm; my mother was still driving at this time. 

Eventually, the storm got to be a little too much for my mother, so my dad decided to give it a shot. Spoiler alert, he pulled over too eventually!

After we got through the storm, we pushed through Ohio, which turns out to be the most disliked state in Michigan too! Here's a picture that sums up pretty much every rest stop in Ohio: 

We didn't travel through Michigan for a long time, but we did have to go through it a bit on day one. I remember the Holiday Inn experience well. Apparently, something happened with our payment for the reservation, and we had to try and get in contact with the credit card company. We ended up sitting in the lobby for like fifteen minutes while my parents tried not to strangle the hotel staff. The next morning, we woke up and took advantage of the complimentary breakfast. When I say "took advantage", I mean we really, really took advantage. We grabbed as many muffins as we could stuff in a to go back without getting dirty looks. Needless to say, it got us through the morning. 

Once we got further into the peninsula, my dad decided to give Noah and I a shot at driving. I really enjoyed it! It's interesting to compare a minivan driving 40 miles per hour down a road compared to a minivan driving down an interstate at almost 80 miles per hour. When we got to beautiful Mackinaw City, we stopped for lunch at the iconic Wienerlicious.

Here, they offer wonderful hot dogs and bratwursts. Highly recommend you stop at this joint if you're ever passing through! Now, possibly my father's least favorite part, the Mackinac Bridge.

To easily commute across the Michigan peninsulas, you should take the Mackinac Bridge. Now, the bridge has been around since November of 1957, and has had no major problems with the bridge itself. But, the bridge is an open grate bridge, with very little siding. My father did not like this. So instead of him driving, my mother decided that it would be best if she drove. In the video, you'll see my father photographing a stuffed animal; apparently, it's tradition for Michigan Tech students when they cross the bridge, or something of that nature. 

Once you cross the bridge, it seems like a new world. Here are a few of my favorites taken along the northern coast of Lake Michigan. We unfortunately did not stop at any of these bridges because they were all on the left hand side of the road, and we didn't want to stop and try to cross. I believe all of these photos were taken on RT. 2. 

It's just like the ocean, but better! Less people, less salt, and a lot less sharks! After that, we drove up north towards a town named Munising. This town gave me small, lake town vibes. Really nice! From here, we moved west towards Ishpeming, which is actually where Uncle Rodger moved from! He told my brother and I that he never really picked a side in the Tech rivalry with Northern Michigan University, but he would now pledge to Tech since we were going there! After Ishpeming, the excitement really kicks in because you approach Marquette, the biggest city in the Upper Peninsula! This is also the home to Northern Michigan University. From here, it's about a two hour drive to Houghton, MI! Here's a collection of photos and videos from the journey through the U.P.: 

I also remember seeing a moose, but as we pulled over to go take pictures with the crowd (I know, stupid tourists, right?), it decided that it was done with the paparazzi and strolled back into the brush. Wish I got a picture, but oh well. I did get a picture of the field it had been in however:

Some time during our travels during the Upper Peninsula, my parents let me drive once more. I accidentally drove into the wrong lane, but I quickly and safely corrected myself! It was really just a straight, fast road for a few dozen miles. As we approached what I think was Munising, we pulled over so my dad could take the wheel in the town. 

Before I knew it, I had left Palmyra, PA behind, and had arrived in Houghton, MI.

I'll post at least two other parts. Probably not today though!

As always, 

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"

- Lao Tzu

Another Quick Thought

Hi all,

Just wanted to pop in and post another theory before I forget it. 

Without wasting any time, let's begin.

So you know how some songs just fade out? Well, technically, that's impossible. 

If we were to increase the volume of the song an infinite amount of times, or enough that the song's ending is "magnified", we would find that the song cuts off like any other ending. No song can realistically fade out. 

Next time you listen to one that does, try cranking the volume, and really listen!

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

“Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information”

- Albert Einstein

Just Some Thoughts

Hello readers,

This isn't the blog you're looking for. Let me start by saying that.

I know, I know, it's been a week, and I promise you I will get to it when I can. That post will probably be a super long one, so I'll want to really take my time on it.

Anyway, on to today's post.

I've been thinking about multi-tasking.

Random, yes, but I have been for some reason.

Now as many of you know, multi-tasking in it of itself is impossible. At least, as we think of it. I like to think of all tasks we work on as linear lines composed of just a constant component. For example, 

$y = 5$

would be a train of thought with some arbitrary priority level (since we have no other line to compare it to; read on and it will make more sense!). 

Now, let me describe the graphs you will see in just a moment. The X-Axis is really simple; all it does is measure time! For example, when $x = 5$, we could say that we are five minutes ever since we could think, or five years. The scaling doesn't really matter, and I'll explain why in a minute. The Y-Axis displays the level of priority. The larger the constant, the higher the line. Therefore, the largest constant, or the line on top, is the task we are focusing on at that instant in time. A simple train of thought could look like this:

In this example, you are thinking about a singular thing. There is nothing else on your mind. If I were to switch from one task to another, the graph may appear like this:

Now, this is where the theory comes into play. You know how if you look at a fan spinning quickly, you can see an almost clear picture of the other side? The idea is similar. If we change tasks at an infinitely small time interval, are we multi-tasking? Surely the human brain cannot do such a thing, but thinking about this still excites me! I guess it would look something like this if we were to blow up the intervals by some large factor. 

So next time you look at a fan, think about multitasking.

I guess that's all I have for you guys today. I know it's a stupid theory and obviously not plausible, but it does offer a mental application for some of my math classes!

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."

- Henry Ford

P.S.: I really like this quote!

Eric O'Shea Comedy Show at MTU!

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

As you may have guessed by the title, tonight at Michigan Tech we had a fantastic comedy show brought to us by none other than Eric O'Shea!

He did a fantastic job in my opinion. He went right up to the line, but did not cross it!

Eric O'Shea, as you may know, is a world-famous comedian. For those who don't know him, he looks like Kramer from Seinfeld in my opinion! He's participated in many, many famous events, and even performed with Betty White and Carol Burnett at the Emmys!

I also noticed some comedian "strategies" he used to up his game. The first one was referencing previous skits and sketches. For example, one of his openers mocked how little kids act so dramatic when they are getting yelled or are in trouble! So true! Regardless, he would pull this same move out during a later skit. 

This throwback to the prior skit I think just helps amp up the comedy. I hope that made sense!

He was also really, really good at mocking people and making voices. For example, he does a great Elmo impression. He has some videos of these impressions on his website!

During the show, the crowd, which was rather energetic and excited, clapped at some weird and funny times. It seems like he could not keep us quiet. I remember clapping right after he mentioned the fact that drivers will turn to look at slow drivers when going down the highway. These sort of moments frequented the whole show. He also asked how good the sporting teams were. That ended in a bit of an argument. Some kid in the middle of the crowd shouted, "D1 hockey (which is true) and D3 everything else!". Now, this isn't true. It's actually D2 everything else. Nevertheless, the kid insisted and so did a small other group. I was quick to back up the D2 people of course. Anyway, after we all quieted down, he cracked a few jokes about the argument, which sort of re-lightened the mood. 

There was also this one kid named Erik who really seemed to be a star of the show. Eric pointed out his laugh several times, and really liked him when he realized how similar their names are. Which reminds me; Eric O'Shea does not like modern child naming. I remember him making light of the name Ruth in 2021: "My name isn't Ruth, it's Ruth (pronounced Ruthhhhhhh; emphasize the 'h')!". He said there was also a seven in there somewhere! 

He also mentioned Finlandia University, which I think he recently performed at. Now he forgot the name of the school. Go back and look at what the initials of the school. Yeah. So he asked, and a large portion of the student crowd shouted the initials at him, and at first he got really confused. But he got it within like three seconds. Thankfully. Just some harmless fun after all!

Towards the end of the show, he sat us down and offered some heart to heart advice to us as freshmen. He told us how little ole nerdy him really struggled the first two nights, practically crying himself to sleep the first two nights. 

The third night got even worse; he learned that his parents were getting a divorce. At this point, some smart-ass decided to try and be funny and make a joke out of the situation. To my delight, he was the only one, and many other people stood up and said that he took it way too far. Eric O'Shea also called him out, telling him to stop. Not long after, the kid sunk down into his seat in embarrassment. 

Anyway, he gave us these three tips. 

1. Trust your instincts
2. Happiness doesn't exist
3. Help others who can't help themselves

So the two are pretty obvious, focused mostly on self-confidence and altruism, but the 2nd one is a little more interesting. He claims that happiness is result-oriented, and that's bad. Instead, we should get up in the morning, count our blessings, and be joyful because it's that easy. We can choose to be joyful. 

At the end of the show many people ran to go grab a photo with him. I did not, but I did capture this:

If you're looking for any highlights from his comedy, I do believe this, or something similar is it! He performed one of these at our show, and it was hilarious! I'm not sure if the songs are the same, because I didn't watch the one I shared!

Anyway, I really liked this show, and I highly recommend seeing him if you get a chance!

As always, thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"You guys are the last cool generation!"

- Eric O'Shea

College Arrival

Hello readers,

Well hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the blog. 

Today, we begin a new chapter. The college chapter. That's right folks just yesterday, Friday the 13th, we arrived up here in Houghton, MI, and boy oh boy am I excited! There is lots to discuss and lots to show, but I am afraid I won't get to it tonight. Tomorrow, at noon, my move in begins! I then have some activities and a social to partake in, and I plan to update you all on those, as well as the drive up later this week. 

So far the trip up here has been a blast, and although I miss the friendships I'm leaving behind, I'm looking at it as a break from them, and an opportunity to more naturally become myself. 

So, super short tonight. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm up here and ok!

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

My Knoebels Visit and an Announcement

Hello readers!

Today, I want to focus on reviewing a recent trip to Knoebels, but I quickly want to announce a new, email address which can be used to reach out to me! That's right, I'm offering you a direct line to me, not my dozens of secretaries!

The email is: thequestionableprogrammer@gmail.com

Now, on to the review!

First, let me make it clear: in no way do I mean to bash Knoebels; I had a wonderful time, and would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a good time! I have also never visited Knoebels; therefore, I may be comparing it to Hersheypark, a park I am incredibly familiar with. 

Allow me to set the scene: my twin and I were picked up by two gentlemen who we will refer to as Tory and Gavin. We then proceeded to pick up a friend, who we will call Caleb. We had one other pal who planned on driving himself and meeting us there; let's call him Ezra. Now we have introduced the whole gang. 

Now, it's time for the first stupid idea of the day: this Caleb kid, although smart, has his, uh, moments. In the parking lot, he decided that it would be a good idea to show his concealed carry, 9 MM. Now, please remember: this is a family-friendly amusement park, and not a gun show. We quickly advised him to put it away after he assured us that it was not loading. So, in the locked glove compartment it went. Quite the start to our day, I must say. 

So by now had entered the park, and were making our way towards the back of the park to pick up or admission wrist bands, which Noah and I received for free due to some amusement park agreement. The first ride we did was actually the ski lift ride. We did this because Ezra arrived a little late, and we wanted to do something simple while he waited for his ticket. The ride went up a somewhat steep hillside, which seemed to frighten Tory. Every time we'd stop, he'd flip out. I then had a sudden urge to look into accidents that had previously occurred on that ride; I did find one, but I don't think he died. 

After we finished there, we did it a second time with Ezra, who greatly enjoyed making Tory panic by shaking the cart. Here's a video of Caleb (left) shaking the cart, causing Tory (middle) to freak!

After the second go-around, we decided to try what I like to call "discount Fahrenheit", comparing it to the rollercoaster at Hersheypark named Fahrenheit. The real name of the ride was Impulse. Despite the name, the ride was quite fun and enjoyable. The smaller car, seating only eight, offered a ride to really just my group of friends, and it was nice to see all of their reactions and talk to them throughout the ride. My name originated from the fact that it had similar movements to Fahrenheit, despite the fact that it was about half the length. Although it still had the vertical start, the crazy turns, and the thrill of Fahrenheit, it lacked one other component. True shoulder restraints. These were lap restrains. Imagine Fahrenheit, the ride shown below,

and then imagine the ride shown below, lacking the same restraints as Fahrenheit:

Regardless, we were safe, and it was still a lot of fun. I highly recommend this ride, especially because this is the only metal rollercoaster there to my understanding!

Moving forward, we decided to make our way towards the bumper cars, which were supposedly some of the best out there. Now, I can agree to this, despite the fact that many of the riders did not know how to drive! The bumper cars ran at a decent speed and offered great turning. Hersheypark offers lap restraints in their bumper cars; Knoebels does not. Regardless, the bumping and bouncing was still a lot of fun! I wish the track was larger however. Not only was the track small, but this lead to frustrating and frozen traffic jams. Nevertheless, would still recommend them since they handled so well! Best in the world? I don't know about that! Look here. I find Denmark's take on bumper cars interesting and exciting; no set direction, no vertical pole to complete the connection, and a lack of tight seatbelts. Ironically, Tivoli, the Danish amusement park, had based their design off the American wild-west!

Maybe I'll review Tivoli at some point. This was years ago however, and it's hard to remember specifics. 

After the bumper cars, we decided to check out the haunted house. Now, recently, I visited Ocean City, Maryland for the first time, and I had a blast! The scenery and environment was fun, but the people were rather stupid it seemed. That's for another day though; the point was, I had a blast on their terrifying haunted house. Got a nice picture too:

Anyway, they had employees act as "spookers". There was a Mikey Myers, a Ghostface, a Ring girl, and I could have sworn there was a dude with a chainsaw! These guys were excellent at their job, and they really improved the horror experience! Kudos to you OC MD! Now, back to Knoebels. With this experience in mind, I began to set expectations for the Knoebels haunted house. I knew their wouldn't be live actors here, but I will say, the props themselves were still pretty good. They really got me with lights, sounds, and fast objects. There was this one semi-truck who blew his horn and turned his lights on right in front of us; that really got me. 

So, in hindsight, not as good as OC MD, but still pretty good for a family amusement park. With that being said, they do have a second haunted house; I did not get to try this one however, as it wasn't open, which was unfortunate, because it seemed more interesting/unique to me. It's called Black Diamond if you're interested. I'm assuming they didn't open it due to a lack of staffing. 

After the haunted house, we walked over to their version of the Coal Cracker, the Skloosh, which to me was rather disappointing. My friends seemed to like it however. Perhaps they liked it because you could pay a quarter to splash a cart with a geyser! They asked a kid on the side to splash our car behind them, and we managed to convince the kid that they didn't mean our car. Thanked him on the way off! I didn't like it because it had a few turns, and one major hill at the end. Hersheypark's had more speed and it was longer. It felt like most of the ride was spent going up hills to be honest. The best part was when my brother said his signature line at the top of the hill: "Are my socks gonna get wet?"! Regardless, I'd still ride it. Would I attend Knoebels just for the ride? No. Probably not. 

When we finished at the Skloosh we headed over to get something to eat. We noticed a kid had a frosted cookie on a stick, and my friends desperately wanted to try it. We decided we'd find it after the rides, something of a treat before we leave. We found possibly the most crowded food court in the park, and ended up waiting fifteen to twenty minutes for reasonably priced food. We also found a horse racing/skeeball game, reminding Tory of the GTA V casino! He decided to try and play it until he won the Bob Ross plush. Although he was not successful, he was good. Caleb and him blew at least five dollars on the game ($1 per game). 

After this, we finally remembered that we had to ride the best wooden coaster in America: the Phoenix. Lasting two minutes, reaching a top speed of 45 mph, and a max height of 78 feet, I didn't expect amazing results. Boy was I wrong. This ride was certainly the most fun! It also explains why we waited in line for about a half an hour. The thing with this ride that makes it so special is the fact that it does not have any seatbelts! This meant, you would get some serious air on the ride! We all had a blast, and could not stop laughing! I was too scared to let both hands off the bar, but it was certainly more fun than worrying! It reminded me of the comment at Hersheypark, but better. It's hills were similar, although I think the Comet is slightly shorter, and more boring. The Phoenix was born in Texas in 1947, and reborn at Knoebels almost 40 years later! Both the Comet and the new Phoenix were manufactured by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters.

Finding it hard to leave such a fantastic ride behind, we considered hopping back in line, but chose not to after seeing the line. We then proceeded to head to the Cosmotron, which I thought was the same thing as a Gravitron. It was not. It was most definitely not. Nevertheless, it came out to be one of my most favorite rides there. They displayed a light show corresponding to the song Two Princes, by Spin Doctors. I love this song, so I had a blast. We think they played Thunderstruck during the ride before us. Compared to Hersheypark's Music Express, this rides was significantly better, despite being smaller and not as fast. This ride turned off the lights, sped up, slowed down, turned around, and just offered a great time in a dance-party-like environment. I would've done it again if we had the time! Highly recommend! I didn't even hurt my hip like I do in the Music Express! Ezra, however, did not like it. Ezra says, "Children on the ride produce soul-piercing screams; I have hearing loss". This is Ezra's way of saying he had a good time! 

Next was the Stratosfear. The ride Noah and I both despised for me not to be terrified, I demand a horizontal velocity component! Drop towers don't have that. Close to the Hershey Triple Tower at Hersheypark, the ride stood at a max of 189 feet. Now, let me make it clear: I did not like the Triple Towers. Any of them. And Hershey's was the tallest; so I was somewhat concerned about this. Now, believe it or not, the ride was somewhat disappointing. The ride went up incredibly slowly, gave little warning of the drop, and only did one drop. Tory was all for the ride until he was on it, which is when he began to regret his decision of riding the ride; the drop car just kept rising! I convinced my brother by acknowledging the fact that we may never ride it again. I probably wouldn't pay for that ride; too quick. However, it did go 2 MPH faster than the Hershey's at top speed! Although Caleb and Ezra liked it, I did not. If this is your thing, go ahead. Try it. I won't recommend it though!

After that, we decided to visit the Twister, another wooden rollercoaster. Although it wasn't as fun as the Phoenix, it was still awesome! This ride seemed to be the fastest wooden rollercoaster I've ever gone on! For reference, Lightning Racer at Hersheypark has a top speed of 50 MPH; the Twister has a top speed of 51.5 MPH. Boasting a ride length of two minutes and ten seconds, the ride offered the classic, "OMG, I'm gonna lose my arms if I put them up" for a considerable amount of time. I knew it was gonna be a good ride when I felt the deck rattle as the car flew by! Comparing it to Wildcat at Hersheypark, the ride had more large drops, and a lot less pain! There was still some pain, just less! But what do you expect? That's half the fun! All in all, not as good as the Phoenix, but definitely the second or third best wooden rollercoaster I've ridden (Lightning Racer rivals it!). Highly recommend!

Fun fact, Lightning Racer of Hersheypark was ranked the 6th best wooden roller coaster in the nation according to some chart the Phoenix displayed; the Phoenix was #1, hence why they showed the chart!

We then set off to find the goods we've been waiting for. Food. The others were quick to find the cookie sticks. Caleb found funnel cake. Gavin almost threw up eating the entire cookie! I wanted something else: cotton candy. I never had it, and I wanted to feel like a kid again. I got a $5 bucket of cotton candy, and scarfed it down. It tasted like fur, but dissolved really quick. Unfortunately, when it dissolved it left a slight after taste, but that was it. What I did eat I liked however. I liked petting it because it was so soft and fluffy! All in all, worth the money, and I am now satisfied. 

As we were walking to the food, we noticed a train, and decided to ride it once we had eaten. It was a nice break for Gavin, and a nice trip for me. Certainly not as good as the Hersheypark train, but still pretty good. It was a mile and a half long if I remember correctly. The seating was tight, and certainly aimed more towards children, but I was at least hoping it'd be more accommodating towards adults! Here's a picture of the seating: 

After that, we decided to ride the ski lift one more time, just to enjoy the view, as well as recap on our day. All in all, it was a good day. I wish we could have ridden more of the rides, but the staffing seemed too limited to open all of them on a Monday. One of the rides I wanted to get to was the Flying Turns ride. Look it up! The prices were very reasonable, and was just really pleased with the experience we had there!

Thanks Knoebels!

Well that's it folks. 

As always, 

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"Are my socks gonna get wet?"

- Noah

College is Fast Approaching!

Hi readers,

I first want to apologize for my disappearance again. I've been very busy at robotics and work, as usual. I promise these aren't empty lies! I truly think my hard work paid off somewhere, but we will get into that later. 

First, let's revisit some stuff from other discussions. Two blogs ago, I discussed my grandma's passing, but I did not mention that she suffered from dementia. Dad, if you're reading this, please skip the next few sentences. Anyway, many of you know my brother is a big fan of country music; one of his favorite songs is called "Numbers On The Cars", by Riley Green. On the way home from work, my brother would often play country music, and he would almost always make sure this song was in the queue. The more and more I listen to it, the more and more I realize how perfectly it described my grandma's state. So. Kudos to you Riley Green. 

Anyway, great country song, highly recommend. 

Moving on, let's discuss the competition: CHSy Champs. Ever since the end of the official 2021 season, my team has been preparing for this offseason. I've been showing up as often as I could, programming autos, practicing, climbing, and addressing issues as they appear. Going into the competition, I felt really confident in the robot, and myself, which was something I hadn't seen in a long time. All in all, despite the fact that the competition was outside of FMA, lacked interesting competition, and we didn't win, I still had a great time. I personally feel like the team had a rocky start, but greatly improved after the second match. Our performance was enough to put us in second and ally ourselves with the first alliance captain, another out-of-state team from Rochester, New York: Team 340. Unfortunately, a combination of disappointing second picks and an unlucky round robin, we went home without a win. I still believe we were the best robot there, and I think the numbers hold to prove it. Here is the Blue Alliance page for the event, as well as the Twitch live stream link. I definitely recommend looking for our close, yet successful, triple climb, as well as our highest scoring match (198)! I can't say I didn't perform without a little help however: 

Yes, that's right: the powdered root beer made a return for my last competition! For those who are unfamiliar, my team has been doing a "ritual" where the driver, or drive team, drinks this disgusting powdered root beer purchased from a specific Dollar General in York, PA. Now, my friend told me that this root beer was not from that specific dollar general, which therefore resulted in a lack of additional luck. Perhaps this is why we lost?

Work has also been very stressful, as it seems as though I have a bit of a mutiny on my hands at times. All I'm going to say is that employee morale has been quite low, and that put's a lot of stress on me as a leader. We did just have an employee party, so I hope that brightened the general mood. It was my brother's first time on Storm Runner, and it was also one of the last times I'll ever see my one friend Aidan. Aidan and I have been pals since the beginning of high school, and now he's moving to Missouri. I just hope God gives him some sense of direction with his life, because he got potential and drive! So, this next Coke is to you Aidan. Cheers!

I've also been spending a lot of time at my internship, which is currently testing the working, prototyped wind turbine my boss has been developing. I've done a lot of algorithms and generator setup, which has been proving more and more useful as I gain more and more direction in life. Go support them for funding round two!

Now that I've talked about that, let's look forward. My graduation party is on the 7th of August, and I was very hesitant to give out invitations, because these parties stress me out. I get stressed when I feel as though I am being judged, and for some reason I feel almost selfish for hosting a party to celebrate myself. I know when you put it that way it sounds weird, but nevertheless, is that not what's happening? 

I also just received my AP test scores back. It seems as though the universe is trying to improve my lack of self-confidence, because apparently, I did incredibly well on my tests. My scores from this year and last year are:

1. English Language and Composition: 4
2. Calculus BC: 4,  AB Subscore: 5
3. Physics I: 4
4. Computer Science: 5

I'm very proud of these scores, and they will certainly help me cut off some credits. In fact, with these scores, I'm qualified to start in Calculus III! That would be stupid though, so I'm probably going to start in Calculus II. 

Moving onto how I feel about college. As college gets closer and closer, and relationships just happened to get more stressful, I began to put two and two together. I'm not great at sensing emotion, making friends, or just expressing myself. Combine this with a faraway college full of people my age, and it gets a little scary. I'm gonna do my best to build self-confidence and become more extroverted at college. I can promise you that. 

There. I think I covered about everything. I'll touch in again after my graduation party!

As always, thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

P.S. That questionable invention is still in the works, but substantial progress has been made!

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something"

- Plato

Graduation and American Legion Senior Award!

Hello readers, 

Well, today was the day. I graduated high school. It was really nice to see everyone one last time. I said my goodbyes to my outstanding AP Comp Sci teacher, as well as my friends who I probably won't see again. My grandparents came over to see me graduate and share some wisdom; they reminded me of the time I once said I would be amazed if they made it to my high school graduation. Thankfully, they both did!  

Although I was honored to receive my diploma and wear my NHS cords, I was even more honored to display my FIRST cords. Why? Well. 

In my opinion, FRC and its sister organizations teach much more valuable concepts than some of those taught in school. Not only that, FRC also provides experience with real-world applications. You ever hear people complain that schools should teach how to do taxes instead of dependent clauses? It's the same idea. 

What was a little ironic and concerning was the fact that the FIRST cords looked remarkably similar (red, blue and white) to those worn by the people entering the armed forces! I got some odd looks when they asked those who were entering the military to rise and I didn't! That's ok though. 

Back in 2016 and 2017, I wrote in a time capsule. Possibly the heaviest thing of the night was looking back at each of those. In the 2016 one, I was actually able to predict the election! My gut still hurts from laughing so hard! I said that I thought Trump would win, and that he would build a wall. One disappointing part was when I compared the 2016 and the 2017 one; you see, in the spring of 2016, my grandpa passed away, and when I wrote the first one, I asked myself if my grandparents were alive. And as I expected, the 2017 one then brought up the sad fact that he did pass. 

All in all, it was nice to look back at those and see my predictions, questions, and expectations. I proudly answered most of the questions; for example, one asked if I was going to be an engineer, and I happily confirmed that! Another asked if I was going to PSU, and we all know how that went!

Anyway, what's left? Oh yeah, my mom was crazy emotional. I guess I understand it though. 

Lastly, I emailed the people who gave me the $1,000 scholarship at our PAHS award ceremony! Here's what I said: 

I don't want to keep this one super long, so I think I'll wrap it up!

As always, thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

P.S. I have another VERY questionable "invention" on the rise! Keep watching!

"All gave some, some gave all"

- Howard William Osterkamp

Graduation is on the Horizon!

 Good day readers,

It has come to my attention that I have not posted in quite some time. Perhaps I was too busy? Who knows?

Anyways, I was reading through a recently discovered blog. I think it's hilarious that I have never found this before given the authors! Check it out if you have some time!

Moving on to what has happened; let's see if I can summarize it in one really long sentence, because why not?

After receiving my recognition, the idea of leaving my schoolmates and teachers behind really hit me, but not like a brick, no; instead, I like to think of it as a really friendly and aggressive slap in the face, making part of me want to sit down and riminess, and another part of me want to run away as fast as I can, and this goes for most of my teenage experience; for example, both robotics and work are incredibly vulnerable to this line of logic; after working countless hours at both robots and work, it dawned on me that a part of me would not miss the grind.

So I hope that disgusting sentence helped you understand where I have been, as well as what I've been thinking recently. In case it didn't however, I will go into more detail. 

So I have totaled close to a thousand dollars in earnings recently, so if that doesn't give you an idea of how much a part-time, weekends-only worker works, I don't know what will. Sure there were a few weekdays here and there, but those were only five hours, which isn't too long compared to the classic 13 hour shift I usually work. Lastly, let me make it explicitly clear that I died after that vaccine! I was up till about five AM with an awful fever and muscle aches. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, I missed the Food Truck Trek, but I heard good things. It seems in about five years our teams gonna be really big!

Now that work has been explained, let's move onto robotics. I suppose I should start off with senior night?

First off, it was a blast, so thank you everyone that did attend, or at least attempted to!

Next, it is unexpectedly important to say that I did not cry! Unlike a lot of seniors, I did not stop showing up to robotics. I need to attend to teach people, fool around, learn, and grow, in that order! Last night, a student from the class of 2020 created the ultimate drift bot using a Cheap and Dirty Radio Control set from Andy Mark. We have been working on perfecting the drifts for a long time, and I think we got it. The best part is, it can pull +3 people! It also can seat one of them on its chassis!

Now, moving towards a more focused and questionable task, I am almost done with my part of the driver station! I have completely remodeled the way this team programs robots in Python, making the process more user friendly and more modern! Again, very sketchy, very questionable. It is certainly possible that the poor RoboRIO will be trying to do too much at once, but hey, it wouldn't be questionable otherwise! I am really excited to see the final product of the driver station, using my exciting networktable-value publishing system and another student's ingenious web design and backend abilities! Wow, that is going to sound really bad out of context. Here's a graphic for understanding backend:

So apart from an absolutely fantastic senior night, nothing has changed too much there; still questionable! Moving onto the Sunday after senior night, May 16th, 2021!

For those who didn't know, this Sunday was the Drydene 400 at the Monster Mile, or Dover International Speedway! This was my first NASCAR race, and boy oh boy was it a blast! I had the time of my life and definitely learned to appreciate my hearing! From the moment we saw rip-off Chase Elliot to the moment Alex Bowman crossed the finish line, I was in paradise. The race was also very special because it was the first time in Hendrick Motorsports' history in which they earned a 1-2-3-4 finish, meaning that their four drivers conquered the top four positions. What made this even more remarkable was the fact that only two of the drivers had excellent starting positions. While William Byron and Kyle Larson both had optimistic starting positions, the other two were not so lucky. Chase Elliott unfortunately had to start from the rear, and Alex Bowman had a solid start in the middle of the pack. After an exceptionally fast pit stop, Alex Bowman was able to get out of the pits and take the lead, passing who I think was Kyle Larson. 

When I came to the race, I knew I wanted some Chase Elliott gear. I think every Hendrick Motorsports fan has some sort of Chase Elliott gear! But I also wanted some of Jimmie Johnson's which would be harder to find since he was no longer racing in NASCAR (he drives the #48 Carvana in Indy Car, also really cool!).But I did however find a piece to remind me of his Lowe's sponsorship!

Back in 2001, Lowe's partnered with Jimmie Johnson, who was a nobody at the time. Why? Great relations with Hendrick and a promise from the legend Jeff Gordon, former Hendrick Motorsports driver of the #24 car, claiming that Johnson had great potential. 

Some people think Lowe's left because Home Depot, the classic Lowe's rival, bailed in 2014. It is certain that the reason they left had to do with business however; Lowe's loved Jimmie!

Anyways, after I saw Alex Bowman in Jimmie's famous Ally car cross that finish line, I knew that although the drivers have changed, my favorite car has not! I think it's time to say I am a proud Alex Bowman fan after that day; or better yet, a fan of the #48 car!

I also had all of my AP tests over the time I was missing. I absolutely wanted to die on the Calculus BC exam, but the Physics I and the Computer Science A exams went very well! Yesterday, I finished all of my finals, except the second part of my calculus one. Ironically, apart from my computer science and English exam, I did the best on the calculus final! Or so I think!

Now on to a little more discomforting subject. Last Saturday, as much as I hate to say it, my grandmother passed away. She was a legendary cook and a legendary grandma! She always loved given whoopins', and I'm sure those will be carried on by my cousin! I never went to Disney World with my dad's parents, but I do know my cousins did, and boy oh boy did they have a blast! It makes me happy to think that my hardworkin', firefightin', grandpa and his good boy Tawny have been joined by my grandma so they can feast at the big table with the big man!

As an introvert, I find funerals very uncomfortable however, so I am a little concerned about that, but I know it means a lot to my dad and the rest of my family, so I'll tough it out. 

I still remember where I was when I learned that my grandma died; my mom told me that morning that they were expecting it soon, and that was all I could think about on that beautiful, Saturday drive to work. When my brother hauled his lazy butt in later that day, I told him to be cognizant towards the fact that she might pass, and he seemed a little shook, but seemed to manage himself well. Later that afternoon, my brother went on break, and returned to tell me she had passed, apparently she had left us earlier that morning. I still remember sitting in the back room, making about a dozen money bags for my clerks. I was a little shocked because I thought she had a little more time. I guess not. 

But people die, and that's life. I think I've talked about this unfortunate subject a lot at this point, so I'll shut up now. 

All in all, my eventful absence has been filled with ups and downs, but I think I'm going to use the "ups" to look at the good in the bad in the "downs", if you catch my drift. Oh, that also reminds me, I'm now practicing skateboarding at robotics! But that's a story for another day!

Congratulations if you read this far, but like always:

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer

"Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going, because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive"

- Ratan Tata

COVID-19 Vaccine!

 Hello readers,

Yesterday, around 11:30, I received my COVID-19 vaccine. It was the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, known as the Janssen vaccine. I had work later that day, and was fine going into my shift. I could tell my brother was a little uneasy, but not too bad. About half way through the six hour shift, my brother told me he was not doing too great, and was considering going home. Our boss knew we got the vaccine today, and she was perfectly fine with us leaving. About an hour later, my brother decided to leave. He struggled a bit to get to my mom's car to say the least. I decided to tough it out and finish the shift. By the time I got home, I was pretty dead. I had a light fever, soreness, and a little bit of nausea. I laid on the couch until about 5 AM, when I decided to go to bed. My brother was already out, and I was exhausted. I woke up today around 12:30 with a light fever and a little soreness. I unfortunately could not attend the 2021 Food Truck Trek, which was really disappointing because I was really looking forward to attending. I might call off of work tomorrow. I don't know. 

Anyway, I am happy I got the vaccine because that brings us one step closer to herd immunity; even if that means I have to take one for the team!

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

2021 At-Home Results

We won!

Ladies and gentleman, my team has claimed its first blue banner! Two of our mentors even made a cake to celebrate!

I know the cake may not look the most professional, but it was the best any of my teammates could do. It also tasted quite good! 

I learned that we won when I was sitting in my seventh period class, HACC United States History, last Wednesday, the 21st of April. An alumni/mentor of ours sent a screenshot of the events page and a "we won!!!!". I didn't do anything for the rest of the class to be honest! I was ecstatic and quickly informed by brother who was sitting right in front of me. 

Alright, that's about all I have to say I guess. It is current 6:52 in the morning on a Sunday, so I am kind of tired and also very busy. The reason I'm up so early is because I have to work a double today. But that's ok because I don't mind my job. 

Until next time, farewell.

The Questionable Programmer

"We are the champions" 

- Freddie Mercury

So I'm Receiving Recognition

Hi readers, 

First off, I know this title may be a little clickbait. I acknowledged it, so it's not greedy!

Anyways, apparently I am in the top 5% of my graduating class, which consists of about 280 students I think. If you do the math, that means I am one of 14 students. 

Now, if you're reading this, you probably know me. And if you know me, you probably know that I'm an idiot who applies himself when interested. 

So how did I manage to rise to the top 5%? Dedication. Effort. Focus. Respect. Punctiliousness.

I also feel it's because some of my classes have not been the most challenging. In fact, in my freshman year I took your typical, college-prep classes. Why? I was not as dedicated or as interested in the sciences as I am now. But thanks to robotics and friends, I have changed by ways and look forward to challenge! Especially programming challenges!

For this recognition, I did have to choose a mentor. It doesn't matter what relation you have with the mentor, as long as they influenced your education. So naturally, who better than a robotics mentor? I selected my team's head mentor; let's call him Joe. So Joe has been here about the same length of time I have, and we became very close throughout this experience. My brother and I still learn, build, and even snowmobile with Joe! I could not be more proud of my selection, who also happens to be a frequent reader!

I'll update you guys with my "keys to success" once I develop them. 

By the way, still first in our division, but 20th in the world unfortunately (I think I'll live). 

I worked my first double shift last Sunday too! Super fun and adrenalizing! I really enjoyed transporting my coworkers, which actually included a team member's sister! But at the end of the day, the radio was the coolest part!

Lastly, I am developing a series of lessons for teaching students who to program on my team. Or, at least how I think programming and the programming department should look. I will share all of this eventually, but I want to finish it first!

I also have some very exciting events approaching, but I will wait to share those until next time!

Once again, thank you for reading!

The Questionable Programmer

"A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning." 

- Brad Henry

2021 Results Update

 Hi all,

I don't want to waste your time so I suppose I'll jump right in. Although this title is partially clickbait, it is still partially true! We did submit all scores last Thursday, and when we did, we were still in first in our group! This is great news, and I really look forward to seeing if win! Technically, we already unofficially won our division, but I need FIRST to say that for it to be true and exciting!

Our division's scores can be found here if you have not seen them yet. 

I apologize for not updating on Thursday or Friday, but I think this is close enough! 

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

2021 At Home Season and Catch Up

Hello readers,

I'd first like to apologize for my disappearance once more; I have been awfully busy with work events as well as robotics of course. 

As most of you know, the FRC 2021 season is a little special, to say the least. Rather than hosting the typical build season with in-person events and a World Championship (which we attended in 2019!), they decided to create three different challenges encompassing both those who have access to their robot, and those who don't. 

For those who are interested in FRC Game Theory and Design, there was a challenge for that. There was also a product design challenge for team's who are more focused on universal and community impact. More information on these two challenges can be found here.

Personally, I took more interest in the third challenge: the at-home challenges. These were challenges that involved the robot and its capabilities, such as cycle speed, accuracy, driver skill, and autonomous potential. 

Long story short, we were randomly assigned a group of 29 teams to compete with, and it seems pretty good. 303, Test Team, was the only team I recognized from the FMA district however; all the others are new to me. 

We generally have really strong scores across the five challenges. Not perfect, but good; in fact, maybe good enough to win our group? Maybe. We are interested to see how other teams do, but so far no team has compared to our scores. Until now. 

FRC Team 3130 of Minnesota is here with some good scores, and it's rather frightening. We are about even, and I have yet to see them post scores to the two shooting challenges. I need to get the autonomous challenge faster to secure a win however. Nevertheless, there are less than three days of competition left. All scores are due on the eighth by 3 PM Eastern. Tomorrow I plan on speeding up that auto, and taking Wednesday if need be. 

Nevertheless, we are going to do the best we can, and if we cannot beat them, too bad so sad. Nothing much we can do about their score. But I remain hopeful. I look forward to updating you all on the eighth. 

Small rant time. Skip if you want. 

So when I first started the season, I was excited to see FRC's unique take on the 2021 game/games. My opinion of the 2021 season gradually declined however. To be honest, I feel as though it is a lot more tedious and frustrating than a normal season. I also really dislike the way FIRST is handling the scoring. For two of the scores, they state that if you over-score yourselves, accidentally or purposefully, they throw your score out. If you underscore it, they do nothing. It's like The Price is Right. Yet unlike The Price is Right, this infuriates me. I think it's stupid that one small mistake or difference in opinion is a throw-away of what could maybe be the best score ever. It's not like teams would argue; they basically have no valid way of arguing since they have no idea who scored their piece. 

Although the Power Port challenge, a challenge which includes 60 seconds of cycling and shooting is exciting, it is, in my opinion, almost ignorant of the robot's skill compared to the skill of the human participants. 

By forcing two people to collect the same three balls from either behind the power port or in front of it (depends on which configuration you used), you are testing the robot's aim, and that's about it. Speed of the robot does not play a huge role, but human speed and hand-eye coordination do. FIRST prides itself on offering activities that give the competitiveness of sports, but also the joys of robot skill and performance and not the physical potential of team members. Speed of the robot is typically regardless because humans will usually take longer than the robot. This challenge also frustrates me because the challenge incorporates little of the robot. For us, it was really only the shooter and the aiming components. We didn't need the intake and the climber, and that goes for most challenges to be honest. It was always these systems. I felt disappointed in the challenges we received. To prevent being overly hypocritical, let me lay down a few suggestions: a speed-climbing challenge, an auto challenge which involved shooting, or a color wheel challenge. 

Although my proposed challenges present a plethora of difficulties, isn't their job to overcome these? I don't think the challenges are that difficult to implement, and I certainly think they provide a better alternative to the 2020 game people were looking forward to playing. Shooting these yellow dodge balls repeatedly is quite boring, and drivetrain skill is certainly nothing new. 

All in all, I feel as though these games are the "tip of the iceberg", and that this season could have been so much more if they put more effort into these at-home challenges. 

However, what's in the past is in the past, and I certainly can not change it. 

End rant. 

In early March, I managed to earn myself a promotion at work. In fact, I am now an assistant supervisor. My tasks are much more different than what they used to be, but they still revolve around the same core concepts: respect, treat guests well, and honor our founder. I look forward to dealing with the Karens and helping out my coworkers across the park! My first day is this Sunday, although it was originally supposed to be the past weekend (one of my close friends and team members got COVID-19 [he will be ok]), so hopefully I can inform you when I also inform you about FRC Team 3130 and our performance. The shift also happens to be a double shift, 0830 - 2100 *excited nerd noises*!

Easter was also yesterday, so it was nice to see most of my family together and healthy too. 

I have a lot of stress on my mind with these challenges, so the sooner its over the better I suppose. Just gotta do my best! 

Again, sorry for my disappearance; just know that I'm still here, and still coding. 

Just kidding! Look here for my most recent work involving Bezier curve generation and following. If you wanna see the inner guts of it, trace it back to the swervedrive.py file in the subsystems folder and locate the methods you are interested in (which is most likely the slope finder of higher degree Bezier curves!) This code certainly lives up to my name of, The Questionable Programmer. 

And with that ladies and gentlemen, I bring this to a close. Thanks for sticking with me once again, and I look forward to writing to you all very soon. 

Sincerely,

The Questionable Programmer

"It always seems impossible until it's done." 

- Nelson Mandela