Update and plans

I have recently discovered coursera.org and I am very excited about it. It's online education at it's best. They offers free university level courses, in collaboration with many  recognized universities, in various fields.
I have already followed, or planning to:

• Introduction to Finance (with success)
• Algorithms I (with some success)
• Introduction to Astronomy (in progress)
• Algorithms: Design and Analysis, part II  (in progress)
• Game Theory (starts in January)

Apart from those, since I do have some extra time now,  I am planning to experiment with functional programming. People have started talking about Haskell and I am curious to see what you can do and how to use such a language. Especially interested in web development with Haskell. From what I hear, it must be exciting!

I am also planning to start an iPad or Android application, just for the experience. I have never tried any of those, so it will be something simple. A semi-static CRM project, where the user would be able to store customers and appointments with customers. That will keep me motivated and will provide me with real challenges.

More news to come..

It's about time...

I decided that it's about time to make my contribution to the human kind.
I decided that I had to create something brilliant, that people will use as a reference for quality.

I have a dream that my contribution will help this generation to take science to the next level.
I have a dream that my contribution will help the next generations to understand this world. 

Let me introduce you to samanat.com

Update after forever...

It's been ages, so I will just focus on the important stuff.

1. I got a new job at Saxobank.
2. I started working on my memory issues...
3. I am looking for a volleyball team

In Saxobank I will be in the team that is working on the platform for trading CFDs. I will be working in C# and some UI in WinForms. I am very excited to learn everything about trading and windows programming! However, I had to say goodbye to EasyTime, the company that taught me almost everything I know, and my ex-boss that treated me like a son.

Everybody who knows me, knows that I have memory issues. I was told that keeping a diary might help. So, I will start writing down, as often as possible, some of the things that are happening to me.

I had training with 2 mixed teams (guys and girls) and it was... fun.
However, I have to admit that it was much more fun when I was in the men's team. So, I am now sending emails to the trainers and I hope I will find a men's team by next week.

TravelLink

I am so much fed up with travel agencies!
I think it's great that they offer better prices and wide range of alternative routes for your trip, but things are getting ugly when you have to fight for your rights.

I bought an Athens-Chania return ticket through TravelLink.
The for some reason, I didn't want to use my Athens-Chania part, but only the Chania-Athens.

Naturally, my first thought was to call TravelLink and ask them to cancel my Athens-Chania part and give me my refund. To my surprise, they said they will have to charge me 40€ for that!! Which basically means that to change a trip:
[Athens-Chania, Chania-Athens]
to
[Chania-Athens]
would cost me extra, and it would cost me about the half of price of the initial ticket!!

So, I called Aegean airlines and asked them what their policy was. They very kindly and carefully explained that it's possible to do what I want, and the travel agency should GIVE ME BACK about 30€..

Now that I had the knowledge, I called TravelLink to explain them what I was told from Aegean airlines. However, somehow, TravelLink persuaded me that they were right and that Aegean was fooling me...

So, back to Aegean's customer service again and asking for some more explanation. Of course, they insisted that I should get money back and that their system allows this change to be done. The only problem was that they couldn't do it because the ticket was issued by a travel agency and the travel agency had my money.

Knowing now that I was right, I sent an email to TravelLink explaining them how the situation is and asking them to call Aegean to solve the issue.

The reply I got from TravelLink was something like "OK, OK, we will NOT charge you 40€ that we said, but we will do it for free. However, NO money back". Of course I couldn't live with that, so I called them and insisted on getting for my full refund. They again refused to give me my money back, until eventually they admitted it!
TRAVELLINK COULD CANCEL MY TICKET, GET THE MONEY BACK FROM AEGEAN, BUT KEEP THEM AS FEE!!!
Then, why the fuck would you charge me in the first scenario??
Bas#$%rds...

WorldTicketShop

Tiesto is back in Copenhagen again!
This guy is amazing and his concerts are always awesome!

So, while I was Binging him, I found the WorldTicketShop website.
Immediately I remembered that I have been there before, when I was checking for tickets for a concert at another country and I remembered that they are EXTREMELY overpriced! Almost doubled priced!! So, I wanted to test again and see if they overcharge for Tiesto's concert in Copenhagen..

The official ticket-selling website for this concert is BilletNet and their price is ~63€.

The price at WorldTicketShop is 179€!

* Both prices include tax, but not shipping..

Friendly advice: AVOID WorldTicketShop..

Restart after install/update on Mac

This an informational post for all the windows users out there.

Well, I am also working on windows and I was tired of listening to all mac users bragging about many things..
One of those things, is that on Mac you don't have to restart after installing applications.. That's also the case for Mac-updates..
More precisely, a mac-friend of mine, told me that I can forget the "restart" functionallity on Mac, cause you never do it!

All this, sounds nice, until you get a mac and you realize the truth..

Of course you have to RESTART your MAC!!

When you are getting the latest updates, you have applications that require restart!
I was shocked when I saw the message, but, well, that's the case.


Oh, and the worst part is that
you DON'T have the option to select "Don't install and NEVER bother me again"!!
You will get those updates in your update list, until eventually one day you are so pissed, that you install them..

For example, I am not using the wireless on my desktop computer, but I cannot avoid installing the update.

Welcome to Mac World..

Hello world!

That's my first post from my new iMac!
I already feel more cool :-)
Finally, I got a new and decent computer!!

I was thinking to try to keep this blog alive, by posting my iMac experiences once in a while..

To start with,
* The 27'' screen is AMAZING!
* The mouse is so cool!
* The remote control is even more cool!
* And of course it's fast (even though for the same money maybe you can get something faster)

I am closing this post only with the positive observations, but I have quite a few negative as well..

Does Firefox suck?

I am(was actually) a great fan of Firefox..
From a user's perspective Firefox rocks!
* there are countless add-ons
* it's faster than IE
* it's competing IE (and no one likes Microsoft)
* it had tabs before IE
* it's customizable

But, from a software developer's perspective, Firefox sucks!
* there are much lesser events that IE!
for example, OnPropertyChange, which is triggered as soon as the element is being changed (and not after the change). Lovely event, missing from Firefox.
* there are some events that are partially supported!!
for example, OnKeyPress is supported for input fields, but NOT for tables. According to some people, it's not usable since it's not editable.. However, when you are creating a table that uses navigation arrows, you need this feature to capture the arrow keystrokes.

It seems that Firefox is trying to limit the freedom of the developer either because it will make Firefox slower or because they have decided that some functionality shouldn't be available to developers...

Of course there are solutions, but they are workarounds that shouldn't be needed..

So, bottom line, we should all praise Microsoft! :)

Skiing period has started!!

I want to make clear that I am still a beginner in snowboarding..



Tomorrow I am going snowboarding again and I hope I can shot a better video :)
(where I will hopefully go faster!)

by the way, I am not spending my free time on programming anymore, but on socializing.. however, I guess that I will get back to ruby and java soon..

History is rewritten!

Ha, you thought that the famous quote
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
is from Thomas Edison????

No no no no!
According to OffRadio, it was Albert Einstein who said it!!!

Off-radio is a great internet radio station from Greece.
So, I think they should stick to playing perfect music...
And if someone is not sure about something, he should ask!
Or do some research :)

Anyways, I hope that soon I will have my first working example of Ruby On Rails system!! It's coming really really slowly, because I have been through major changes in my life!! Such as, following danish lessons :)

Status Update

I just saw my last post and I realized that the two solutions that I had found to keep me occupied and away from my problems, were not very effective..

1. I played World Of Warcraft for about 10-12 hours.. The monthly card was just a waste of money.

2. I worked with www.samanat.com only for 10-12 hours.. The monthly payment at the webhotel was not worth it..

However, I am very happy this period. Loads of plans and traveling and having fun!

Soon I will start working again at www.samanat.com, which is not working because it's without webhotel now :(
I will start (hopefully soon) with a demo of what one can do with ruby on rails..

Oh, and I am looking for summer sports! I am planning to learn windsurfing :)

Getting away with it all messed up..

A lot of things are going really bad in my life those days..
Some people can argue that there are always more that can go wrong, but for the time being, I am not happy..

I am sad, confused, disappointed, nervous, angry, anxious, and the list goes on..

To avoid thinking of everything that makes me feel bad and all the adjectives above, I did 2 things.

1. I bought www.samanat.com and I am thinking of what to upload and how my personal website should look like.. Now I just put an "under construction" page..

2. and more efficient solution: I started World Of Warcraft again..

James - Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)