I Published an Android App!

I've made my first published Android! It's called Watch Paint Dry, and...well, that's pretty much it. You choose a color and watch it dry. Yes, it's a silly little thing, and in now way a serious app. But hey, it's still cool! It's free and small, so if you have access to the Android market then go and download it!

 


For those interested, I'm working on a much more-serious-of-an-attempt-and-far-better-quality-game which will be coming (hopefully) soon.

UPDATE: Here's a promotional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCLminnkUU0

ASU Food Adventure: Slices

Slices is also right next to classes, and they have a lot of different kinds of pizza you can order by the slice. I tried the Pesto Chicken pizza, and for $3 it's not bad. Had some nice pesto flavor but I would have liked more in it.

Was it good? Yeah.
Will I go there again? They did have a Barbeque Chicken pizza....


UPDATE: Later that day my class group got a pizza to eat. It was the strangest pizza I ever ate: Chicken Caesar Salad pizza. It tasted pretty much like it sounds. It's good, but the texture of lettuce and pizza crust doesn't go well together.

ASU Food Adventure: Grilled Ave - Teriyaki House

Grilled Ave - Teriyaki House is a small restaurant that opened up, which is also on my route to class. They have egg rolls on the menu, and I really like egg rolls so I gave them a try. Turned out it was a lie; they're actually spring rolls. Sure, it's more authentic, but I still prefer egg rolls. They were all right though.

Was it good? For spring rolls, yeah.
Will I go there again? They did have some nice looking tariyaki bowls....

ASU Food Adventure: Five Guys

So yeah, I know, Five Guys is hardly unique to the area, but I've never been there before, and that's what my posts are about.

I had heard some people say that Five Guys is similar to In-N-Out, and even though I knew it couldn't beat In-N-Out I wanted to give it a try anyways. As a tangent, my family and I REALLY like In-N-Out, perhaps because we were born and raised in California but have since moved away. I mean, when my family brought me down here from Colorado, three of my siblings came with me just so they could get In-N-Out.

Okay, so back to Five Guys. Yeah, tasting like In-N-Out is a bunch of baloney. In fact it's quite the opposite; that hamburger was so boring I'm never going there again. It was just...so plain. On the other hand, that was probably the first time where I got more fries than hamburger. I thought spending more than $2 was expensive, but not when I found out how much they gave me! I didn't even eat it all in one sitting. Finally someone who sells fries at a fair price (I'm looking at YOU, Doghouse!).

ASU Food Adventure: Return to Phoenician Cafe

So the Phoenician Cafe has this big sign outside that says "Student special: hamburger and fries $3.99." Sounds like a good deal, and I see that sign every time I go to class, so I gave it a try. The hamburger had a lot of different spices in it, though I still don't know what they are. It was definitely different from what you usually find, and it was pretty good. The fries were boring though, so I'm glad they provided some ketchup. The amount of food you get isn't a whole lot, but surprisingly I came away full.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? Perhaps so.

ASU Food Adventure: The Herb Box

Huzzah! I've finally found something good! A friend took me down to Scottsdale, and we ate at The Herb Box. I ordered the rosemary steak ciabatta, and it was good. The sandwich had steak with caramelized onions, watercress, and some sort of dressing that was really good! It came with sweet potato chips, which, for someone who doesn't like sweet potatoes, was pretty good.
There are some drawbacks though, that being that it was a restaurant and came with a restaurant price. Also it's in Scottsdale, so without a car I won't be going back anytime soon.

Was it good? Yes!
Will I go there again? Perhaps if I'm in the area.

ASU Food Adventure: Dave's Doghouse

Today I went to Dave's Doghouse on campus. I ordered the Boston dog and fries. When I looked at the menu I thought to myself, "3.25 for a hot dog? BYU's hot dogs were cheaper. And 2.25 for fries? Well, maybe they give you a lot of fries." I was wrong. The hot dog wasn't big and there was only about one potato worth of fries in there. And why are french fries in general so expensive anyways? Last I checked, you can get a bag full of potatoes from the store for just a few bucks, making one potato only costing a few cents. Why charge so much? Is the salt imported? Like, from Mars? Anyways, I digress. On to the positives.

The decoration for the place was neat. There were several different frames of stuff with quotes written on them. My favorite was "If everything is coming your way, then you're in the wrong lane." The hot dog bun was very different: A grilled sliced of bread. It's kinda weird, but it was good. The hot dog itself was good as well.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I got there again? Not for that price.



*Sigh* I'm getting really tired of food that's either "okay" or "not worth the price."

ASU Food Adventure: Phoenician Market

Tried something different today. Went to the Phoenician Market (Or was it the Phoenician Cafe?) I ordered...you know, I don't even remember what it was called. It was lamb and...something with lettuce and...some kinda sauce in a pita. It was good, even though I'm not quite sure what I even ate. So um...yeah....

ASU Food Adventure: Port of Subs

Today I went to Port of Subs. I went there because they have pastrami subs, and I've been craving pastrami for a while. They slice their meats and cheese to order, which is really nice. Added some lettuce, tomato and onions. It was good, but with the other veggies and wheat bread I didn't taste the pastrami a whole lot. I'm starting to tire of only finding "okay" food around here. Oddly enough, this place is just across the street from Subway.

Was it good? Sure.
Will I go there again? If I'm in the mood for a sub sandwich, and not in the mood for Subway.

ASU Food Adventure: Chuckbox

So today I went to Chuckbox, getting "The Big One" and "Chuckbox Potatoes" for $6.50. Can't say I'm impressed. The hamburger was a decent size, though I wouldn't call it "The Big One." It was cooked right over burning charcoal which was nice. The meat may have been seasoned with a little salt or something, but otherwise tasted like plain beef. The toppings were at a topping bar that you can arrange yourself which was nice, but they were simple toppings you'd find anywhere.

Overall it was good, but nothing special. It was basically the burger I'd eat if I had made my own burger, which would have been cheaper. And if I had made my own fries as well they would have been better, since I put Lawry's seasoning salt on mine. Honestly, how come I've never seen a burger joint that uses seasoning salt on their fries? It's way better than plain old salt, I mean...wait, I'm getting sidetracked here. Moving on!

The aesthetic was nice though. The place looks like something you'd find in an old Western. The door handle was a loose bar of wood, the grill was hung over a charcoal pit like at parks, and even the chairs were just wooden crates. The guy doing the burger flipping has skill too. He can flip a hamburger bun sitting face-down on the grill right onto your plate face-up!

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? For that price, definitely not.

Differeing Expectations

Occasionally when I tell people that my major is Computer Science they think I can help them with some problem on their computer. Just because I know how to make software doesn't mean I know how to operate arbitrary programs.

This is a conversation I recently had with someone that inspired this comic:
Girl: "Oh, so would you be able to fix my computer?"
Me: "Likely not."
Girl: "Well, can you hack?"
Me: "No."
Girl: "Then you're useless to me."

Jesse J Does Comics?

I've occasionally had an idea for some comics, so I thought I'd go ahead and make them.

Note: I'm a horrible artist.

Note: I'm not a Bill Gates hater, I just found it funny.

ASU Food Adventure: Smashburger

I've seen Smashburger a few times before. It raised my attention because it's logo reminded me of Gamestop, as shown below.

I ordered the Smashburger, which came with cheese, ketchup, onion, pickles, and their smash sauce. I also got their smashfries which was tossed with olive oil, rosemary and garlic. A lot about it strangely reminded me of the burgers at the BYU Creamery: The loosely-pressed patty, the red onions, the lettuce that wasn't iceberg, and the egg bun. Plus the fact that they had specialty-seasoned fries. All this together costs a hefty $7, plus the crazy %10 sales tax here.

It tasted good. The meat was nicely seasoned and the other toppings went well with it. I have no idea what was in the smash sauce but I barely tasted it. The fries were really good too. If the fries were by themselves then there would be nothing special about them. In the rosemary and garlic, however, they were uniquely very tasty.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? For the price, no.

ASU Food Adventure: Vegetable Salad Sandwhich

I try to make my own food as much as I can to save money, and take what I can to campus. At BYU there were microwaves in nearly every building, so I often took leftover dinners and reheated them there. At ASU, however, the only microwave I've been able to find is in the GPSA building, which is not very convenient. So what I'm trying now is to come up with meals I can make that don't require cooling or heating. The only thing I can think of at the moment are sandwiches, and only the boring kind like turkey slices on white bread.

My first experiment is basically a vegetable salad in a sandwich. I chopped up some green bell pepper, carrots, green onions, lettuce, added some grapes I had at the time, and tossed in some Italian dressing. I put it in a bag to keep it separate from the bread so it's not soggy by the time I eat it. I used Oroweat whole wheat bread.

The end result was...marginally more exciting than turkey on white bread. It was messy, the taste of the vegetables blended together into boring, and the grapes added a nice sweet taste. And I was still hungry.

Was it good? Sa'll right.
Will I make it again? Yes, but only if I tweak it.

ASU Food Adventure: Whataburger

I'm now attending ASU to get my Masters, and it's been a lot of adjustment; new school, new state, new climate, new home...all of these things have been tough, but one of the exciting things is new food. I figured that I'll make blog entries of my new food experiences, though it's probably pointless considering the traffic this blog gets.

Anyways, the first new thing I tried was Whataburger, which is conveniently close. When trying new hamburger places I get their basic meal, which was their classic Whataburger and fries. It comes with mustard instead of ketchup, which I ordered without because I hate mustard with a passion. Other than that it's the basic lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions. The bun was also slightly grilled which I really like.

It's been a few days since I went there, actually, so I can't recall any descriptions about the taste other than that it was okay, and I don't remember the price either, but I remember it not being bad.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? For the price and distance, occasionally.

Not How Competition Should Work

I believe that competition is a good thing in general. It pushes companies to improve their products and services, making things cheaper and more efficient. Yes, it means that those who can't compete end up being left behind. No one wants to loose money, or worse, their job. But for the future of everyone, it's a good thing.

That's why cable and television companies are bugging me lately. Some companies like Comcast have started data caps on their internet service, which means hefty fees or termination of service. Also, sites like Hulu don't get the rights to show certain shows or episodes, or can't show them until thirty days after airing. All of this because cable companies and others don't want to loose money from TV viewers in competition of the web.

This isn't the strive for improved services to beat the competition, this is more like underhanded schemes to hold on to their profits against competition. I wish something could be done, but I don't know what I could do about it.

A Theory for Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Just watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and there's a part that wasn't explained. I'm going to give my theory on what happened, which means, spoilers alert.

So, there's the part where that guy asks the mermaid for forgiveness, and she then kisses him and brings him under the water. What then happened? Here's a nice little theory: She brought him to some magic-thingy that turned him into a merman. Since he was once human, and doesn't want to kill people, he teaches the other mermaids not to kill people. They later make him their king. He changes his name to Triton, and has a daughter named Ariel.

I Made a Video Game!

I made my first video game! When I was young, I decided I was going to be a video game developer. That has since changed to general program designing, but it's kind of an accomplishment of sorts to have actually done something that I dreamed of when I was younger.

The game I created was for a school project, and it's nothing shnazzy: horribly simple, blocky, few colors, and only about five minutes worth of gameplay. But hey, it's still a game! I called it Randzle, and it's a puzzle game with Tetris-like pieces. Randzle is a contraction, with rand coming from random colors, and the zle comes from puzzle. When I was able to add sound to the game though it was a lot better. I used VIRTUALVIBE's AmberTrance from OverClocked ReMix, and sound effects from Gemcraft and SimCopter.

Video Games Used to Bring Women into Computer Science

A recent study gives a solution to a problem I talked about once before.