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)

Concerts in Vienna

Two weeks ago I went to Vienna for a weekend break. Since I have been living in Scandinavia for the last 3 years, I am used to planning my trips in advance. This doesn't imply that I am following my plans, but that's another story.. The story here is about booking online tickets for a concert in Vienna's Opera.

AVOID http://www.viennaconcerts.com
This website looks nice and serious and comes first at google's results if you search for "concerts in vienna".. However, there are some small details that noone ever reads in the terms and conditions.

I booked a ticket for "The Magic Flute" and I paid 43€. I was going to get the ticket from the box office, just before the start of the performance..
It was only when I got the ticket in my hands that I realized that I paid 13.30€ more than the price of the ticket!

The price of the ticket was 29.70€!!!
Believe it or not, I had to pay 45% more than the original price!

Then I read the terms and conditions and I could see that
"Opera / Musical Prices
...
The net difference between prices listed at www.viennaconcerts.com and the face value of the opera tickets is generally 25%. For some ticket categories, due to high demand, the difference might be higher than 25% but not higher than 34 EUR / ticket. Very few performances and/or ticket categories where this difference is higher than 34 EUR / ticket are clearly marked as "incl. special purchase fee"."

Yeah.. Thanks.. I am happy I didn't pay double price..

Just avoid ViennaConcerts website..

How to create a SQL script that executes other SQL scripts

Yesterday I was facing the following problem..
I have several sql scripts that I want to call from a single sql script.
I am using SQL Server 2005.
I have found two ways of doing it. The first one is by directly calling the scripts one by one, and the second is by calling all the scripts in a folder.

First of all, you need to set your server to accept 'xp_cmdshell' commands.
This is done by the following code

USE MainDB

GO
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0
GO

Now, let's assume that you have a folder at D:\Test, which has 3 files,
Test1.sql
Test2.sql
Test3.sql

The first way, which is the easiest way to execute this files by a sql script is by the following

USE MainDB

EXEC master..XP_CMDShell 'osql -E -i D:\Test\test1.sql'
EXEC master..XP_CMDShell 'osql -E -i D:\Test\test2.sql'
EXEC master..XP_CMDShell 'osql -E -i D:\Test\test3.sql'

If you want to run all the scripts in a folder, then you can use the following script

USE MainDB

CREATE TABLE ##SQLFiles ( SQLFileName VARCHAR(2000))
GO

INSERT INTO ##SQLFiles
EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'dir /b "D:\Test\*.sql"'
GO

DECLARE cFiles CURSOR LOCAL FOR
   SELECT DISTINCT [SQLFileName]
   FROM ##SQLFiles
   WHERE [SQLFileName] IS NOT NULL AND
         [SQLFileName] != 'NULL'
   ORDER BY [SQLFileName]

DECLARE @vFileName            VARCHAR(200)
DECLARE @vSQLStmt             VARCHAR(4000)

OPEN cFiles

FETCH NEXT FROM cFiles INTO @vFileName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
   SET @vSQLStmt = 'master.dbo.xp_cmdshell ''osql -E -i "D:\Test\' + @vFileName + '"'''
   EXECUTE (@vSQLStmt)

   FETCH NEXT FROM cFiles INTO @vFileName
END

CLOSE cFiles
DEALLOCATE cFiles
GO

DROP TABLE ##SQLFiles
GO

This code will work if you don't need a username and password to connect to your database.. If your configuration is more complicated, you will have to add some more parameters to the osql. Read more here

Graduated!

Finally, I graduated..
I am not sure if I am happy for that.
Lately I have been planning to travel with Erasmus program to Australia! Since, I have graduated, I don't have this option anymore :(

But, anyway, it's good when things that are supposed to be done, are finally done!

Now, let's study something else..
Psychology and Law seem to be the main competitors..

News

It's been a long time, so I will just post the headlines of my news.

• No news about the flash project.. Still not sure if I passed/graduated or not.
• I have applied for a position as Teaching Assistant again from September.. It was fun :)
• I am considering some new projects for the summer.. Mainly websites..
• Still working at the bar of my kollegium on Thursdays and Saturdays.
• Still working at EasyTime International
• I start to like running medium distances (5km).. Competition is the best motivation!
• I, finally, applied for a visa to US and A. I have booked an appointment and on the 13th of July, I will go to the US embassy to try my luck..

I will come back with something more interesting soon.. I hope :)

Flash project news..

"The Multi Media Lab is being used for other purposes the next few days blah blah blah blah ...your deadline for handing in is prolonged.
The deadline for handing in your written reports in Multimedia Production for the Internet is Thursday 24 May 15.00"

This means that I have one more day!!
I might finish it after all!!

I guess that tonight I will upload my Arkanoid on the web just for fun..
Tomorrow I will have to start optimizing and writting the report..

My Arkanoid will for sure be better than this and worse than this. At least my initial version. Maybe in the future I will enhance it, but now I don't have time..

Flash Project

I will not write much, because I am too busy..

I am planning to implement an Arkanoid (BreakOut for the nerds out there).
I started yesterday by creating an engine (partly from the web and partly mine). I am very close to have something nice, but it still needs a lot of things :(

I might finish ITU this semester after all..
Life is full of surprises :)

Flash and ITU in general

For many reasons, I was thinking that it might be good (or, not bad) to finish ITU the next semester, and not now(as it was planned).

Since I have a full time job, I am not in a hurry. I like this country and I am planning to stay more anyway.. So, I can continue being a student and meeting more new people while having fun with my last course :)

So, the deadline for the Flash project is not a deadline anymore :D

And I am thinking to spend some more time on social activities and hobbies.

• I am looking for a dSLR (any suggestions are welcome)
• I will start playing at Amager Volleyball Klub Mixed Team(already playing at mens team)
• I will start learning danish.
• I will travel more.

and more to come..

Flash

Another thing that keeps me busy these days, is my last course at ITU. The course name is Multimedia Production for the Internet, and mainly it covers animation and programming with Flash.

I have to find something nice to make in flash for my final project(or exam).
I was thinking to implement a small adventure game, but it will require too much time(which I don't have (or I want to spend it elsewhere))..

I am also considering to create a website for Ellas, which is a Greek restaurant situated at Copenhagen..

The back-up solution is to make a useless website with no subject and nothing to say, where I will implement all the techniques that we learned, just to illustrate that I know what I have been taught :)

The deadline/exam is the 22nd of May.