Dzikipedia

Apparently, it’s been about 5 months since I actually posted anything here.  Funny thing is I’ve actually started writing 3 posts.  Maybe I’ll actually get those out.

In any event, some friends and I are going to Martha’ Vineyard for the 4th this weekend, and I get to come back Monday night to some baseball.  Baseball season is upon us again, and I’ll be keeping track of my stats once again.

Also, the PMC is coming near.  If you stumbled upon here and want to donate, feel free to help out!

Also also, got a nice new car.  2007 VW GTI.  There’s some nice pics over on my Flickr page.

Once I get back, I’ll set up that baseball page, till then, have a fun Fourth!

There’s this little barber shop in downtown Woburn that I go to, and they do the ol’ “Lather and straight razor” your neck thing. Normally, I don’t mind this. However, when he’s in the middle of shaving, and “Stuck in the Middle With You” starts playing, let’s just say that I was having some immediate fears. Mostly, I blame Tarantino for this random nightmare. In any event, you try being in that position and NOT being freaked out

Tonight I’m twittering the World Series Game 1 tonight. Feel free to check it out:

http://twitter.com/dzikipedia

Earlier today, the other Adam and I were chatting about how both of our names are pretty distinct, and that when you google either of our names, there isn’t very much variance in the people it returns. This sent me into a google frenzy.

First off, Google: Adam Dziki. This returns 2 distinct people (as far as I can tell). Myself, and a Polish proctologist. While I don’t believe there is a direct familial relationship, my parents told me that when I was born, they heard that there was a Polish doctor with the same name. Now, with the overall accessibility of the internet and information available on the ‘net, I can see exactly what he does, as well as w

hat he’s written and taken part of. The interesting thought is if this other Adam Dziki has sat down and googled himself, and thought “who is this American software engineer with my name?”.

Secondly, Google Image Search: Adam Dziki. The scary thing is that Polish Adam Dziki and my father, David Dziki, have the same exact hair. Straight from the 70’s! Here’s a comparison:

Adam Dziki	David Dziki

Now that I look at it, it’s closer than I thought. Freaky.

What was also freaky was that Adam noted there was another Adam Darowski out there who was also 29 years old.

I had a similar idea a while back when Joseph Dziki friended me on Facebook. Joseph was my grandfather’s name, so I was very confused to see that name friending me on Facebook.

Small things like this go a long way to show how much the world has changed with the invention and availability of the internet. 30 years ago, I might not have known about a Polish doctor with the same name as me, or the other contingent of Dzikis out in the mid-west.

This post was originally supposed to be live from the finish line, but my phone and wordpress do not get along.  Anyways, here goes!

So I’m sitting here at the finish line for the PMC’s Wellesley to Wellesley route.  I finished about an hour and a half sooner than I planned.  So the people who are planning on coming down aren’t here yet.  I’m pondering going back out, but that’s just wrong. There was some sign confusion in the loop, and 10-20 of us ended up missing a solid 12-15 miles of the loop…. suckfest.  Oh well, I’ll make it up next year.  In either event, I raised $2100 (and counting!) this year for the Jimmy Fund, which is awesome.  I’ll need to get $3600 next year :-p

The ride itself was fine, there was only one point where I actually feared for my life… stupid van.

Also, hills suck.

Anyways, back to welcoming the fellow riders across the finish line.

WHEW!

So I’ve been playing baseball in a 21+ league for about a month now. I’ve only got 2 games in so far (one rained out, one I skipped to go watch Lowell Spinners). I decided to keep a personal scoresheet for the games I’ve been in. You’ll notice the “Baseball - ‘07″ link up top. Yes, the page is ghetto-tastic. Yes, I’m 0-2 so far. But one was a good shot to center, and I walked twice, so I’m only regretting striking out terribly that one time.

I’ll spare you all the Schilling-esque pitch by pitch of every game, but I’ll try having next week’s game listed up there so if you wanted to come out for some baseball, you’d know where to find me

Till then, I need sleep. 3 days till the PMC! (well, more like 2.5)

The PMC is a week away (Sunday, August 5th). Last weekend, I did a practice run of the route I’ll be riding. 4 hours to ride 47 miles. Not too shabby. Just about the same average speed that I’ve been getting on the shorter rides.

Completing the practice run did a couple of things. Firstly, it got me a little more familiar with the route so I had a better idea of what I should look out for next week. It also proved to myself that I can do this; even in decent time.

So looking forward, I’ll be getting ready for the ride. An hour or two on the bike every day, eating better, etc. Next Saturday I’ll probably do about 36 miles in the morning (Lowell and back), and then carb-out Saturday night in preparation for Sunday.

The interesting thing about this whole ride is that, before last October (yes, I started road biking last October in New England), I hadn’t been on a bike since I was in 8th grade. I took a pretty nasty spill on a dirt road and really didn’t feel like biking for a long while. So from October of ‘06 to now, I’ve gotten back on a bike, got myself up to 47 miles, and am ready to go.

Lastly, but not leastly, I want to thank everyone who has helped me out so far in raising money for the Jimmy Fund. It’s such a great cause, and the PMC is a great way to donate to them. If you haven’t donated to any causes this year, this is certainly a good one to start with.

http://www.pmc.org/mypmc/profiles.asp?Section=story&eGiftID=AD0092

So for the past year of work, I’ve been a software engineer working on my company’s first commercial product.  The DDD is a medium-fidelity training and measurement program, think “real-time strategy” game.

So I’m pretty sure that my working on video game design and development in my software engineering class in my senior year helped me to get this job, as the basic principles of the DDD were pretty much in-line with what I was being taught.  A good example of a class coming through, and helping me get this job.

Anyways, back in April, the DDD 4.0 was officially released to the public. It was a crazy time, and something that many of the developers had not been a part of before (Aptima is a government contractor, dealing with smaller projects rather than commercial releases).  This monday, the software has been made more readily available by going here.  This site will allow anyone who is interested in the software (or who is interested in what I’ve been doing for the past year) to try an evaluation copy of the DDD.

Requirements:

The DDD is a client-server application, which will allow for you to host a simulation from one computer and play as a client on another machine.  You’ll need Microsoft’s .Net 2.0 (or higher) Framework, as well as DirectX 9 or higher to run the software.  To run the client, we are also using Microsoft’s ClickOnce deployment tool, which will need a plugin run for either IE or FF (see documentation).

So I have picked up 4 of those tickets that I mentioned in a previous post. Here’s more info as to what you get with the package:

Each State Street Package Includes:

A Right Field Box Seat Ticket (go to http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/seating.jsp to review)
Entry to the park and access to the pavilion starting at 1:30 pm until 3:15 pm
A premium menu that includes Sirloin Steak Tips, Caeser Salad and Statler Chicken Breast. Complimentary Soft Drinks. Cash Bar.
It is anticipated a Red Sox player will sign autographs for as many as 150 kids 16 and under.
Full access to the big concourse in right field to watch batting practice and all of the pre-game preparation.
A limited number of State Street Package purchasers will be selected to help catch the flag as it drops from the Green monster when the PMC logo is unveiled.

To donate to the PMC, visit this site:
http://www.pmc.org/mypmc/profiles.asp?Section=story&eGiftID=AD0092

Hopefully, this will push some of you towards helping me out. To be considered for the Sox game, you need to be one of the 3 top contributors by July 8th at midnight.

So a year ago today, I made a post elsewhere that said the following:

What does basketcase mean? It means that it’s 5:30 am, and I am feeling:
Anxious
Excited
Scared
Confident (but not cocky
Old
Young
Confused (apparently)
Nervous
Tired
Crazy
Stressed
What can invoke all of these emotions at the same time? First day of real work? An hour commute? The unknown? I’m sure tomorrow will be better (except for the tired part, damnit). But I’ll have an update later tonight to lay down how things went today. I bet today will mostly be paperwork anyways.Yipes … just yipes.

This post was at 5:30 in the morning before my first day of work. Times have definately changed since then. First and foremost, I’ve cut my commute down from an hour each way to 10 minutes each way. Secondly, I’ve gained some confidence in what I do, and feel that I have improved my problem solving skills. Looking back, it’s been a good year. Looking forward to see how the next one shapes up

And now, one final exercise, let’s see how many of the aforementioned adjectives are still applicable to me:

Anxious
Excited
Scared
Confident (but not cocky
Old
Young
Confused (apparently)
Nervous
Tired
Crazy
Stressed

So yeah, something don’t ever change. My anxiety will always be there, especially when there’s stress. My confidence and excitement have easy become much more noticeable, and the way things are shaping up, shall continue on the up-and-up. And the old-young thing will probably remain true until I get to like age 27.

Also, some upcoming cool (dorky?) news, more as that develops.