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I’m pleased to announce the alpha launch of WebPlannr!

This first public release is a ‘base version’ of sorts. It includes all of the major functionality I’ve discussed in previous posts, as well as some extras that I chose to throw in. I encourage you to sign up and play around with it, I have no doubt that it will help keep your academic life organized.

There are a few bugs to be aware about:

1. When you go to create a class, the time picker is in 24hr format, even though it says AM/PM. This is an issue with the timepicker package I used and I’m working on a fix
2. The ‘Settings’ page is unfinished and extremely ugly. I plan to add more functionality very soon.

Please, send me feedback about the app! There are definitely some parts that have issues (see above), and I want to hear your thoughts. I don’t want to know if it sucks (it does, it’s an alpha) but how. Your feedback will help me focus on important bug fixes. If you find it useful tell your friends to sign up! The more people that test it out, the better the finished product will be.

Y’all ready for this? Head over to http://dev.webplannr.com to register an account.

As always, any questions, comments, or feedback can go to dev@webplannr.com or @WebPlannrDev

Before you ask, yes I was incredibly bored when this idea was hatched. Yes, this idea is completely ridiculous. And yes, I should have devoted the time to more important work. But what kind of data junkie would I be if I didn’t do some research on such a fun question?

This entire post was inspired by the tumblr blog EpicFacts. On July 6th, they posted this image:

I read this, giggled, scrolled, scrolled back, and thought about it. “Vanna White must have clapped her hands like a bazillion times” I thought. “Well, maybe not a bazillion, probably more like a hundred bajillion. I wonder what the real number is?” At this point, I couldn’t leave the question unanswered… I had already invented numbers to try and describe the total.

Let’s begin.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, just wow.

I’m sitting here writing this with a lump in my throat. I can’t believe I’m already writing about the end of my sophomore year. As cliché as it is, move-in day feels like yesterday. I can clearly picture me and my parents dragging the shit-ton of stuff I brought to college up to the fourth floor of Shaw.

The past year has been filled with ups, downs, and practically everything in between. Fall semester, in general, was pretty boring. I came into sophomore year expecting the friends from freshman year to carry over. They did to an extent, but for the most part everyone had found their respective niches. I spent many a night trying to find people to hang out with, only to hear that they were all going out with their small group. My two best friends even had their own small groups of core friends that they hung out with: one based around a selective college major and the other based around a sorority. To be perfectly honest, I was jealous of what they had. The group of people that I became closest with was a group of 30-somethings that I worked with. This definitely wasn’t a bad thing, but they weren’t people that I would call up on a Friday night to go out partying with. Looking back on fall semester, most of it was forgettable. Sure, I had some fun nights and kissed a few girls but nothing really substantial happened. The fall left me yearning for more in the spring.

Spring semester was, without a doubt, one of the best times I’ve had so far in college. Adults always say that college was the best time of their life, and up until spring semester I had never really felt that way. I was always waiting for that awesome college moment to happen, but it never did.

Looking back, my waiting was why nothing happened. I was too busy waiting for something extraordinary to happen, and wasn’t out there doing it! But I digress…

Spring semester started out great. Everyone was so happy to be back on campus, and the classes were awesome and interesting. There’s something about spring semester that just puts people in a great mood, even if it’s 2 degrees and snowing.

Ultimately, the highlight of the semester (any my college life thus far) was the last few weeks after spring break. One random saturday night I texted my friend Anne Marie to see what she was up to. As it turned out, she was with a bunch of people and heading to a house party on campus. I quickly got ready and met them on the corner outside my dorm. I knew a few people, but for the most part they were all strangers. We walked around in the cold for a while, which is usually terrible, but we were all talking and making jokes the whole time. I could tell that we sorta “clicked” together. It felt like we were close friends.

Eventually, towards the end of the night, a few people had left and done their own thing. However, me and the “core” of this random group remained. We decided to call it an evening and go to the late-night dining center. We sat down and devoured our munchies, joking, talking, and laughing the whole time. On the way out, I jokingly challenged one of the girls, Alise, to steal the napkin dispenser… and she did! It was absolutely hilarious to watch her put it inside her jacket and walk out right past the security guards.

If I look up from my computer screen I can see that dispenser sitting on my shelf; a reminder of an awesome night

We never got into a party, but it was probably one of my favorite nights of college. I knew that I had found my niche, and would become great friends with these people.

The last four weeks of school were an awesome experience. I was having a blast hanging out with this random crew. We would hang out on the quad, eat dinner together, and even just hang out and watch a movie. It was the kind of fun that I had been waiting for… and it happened so randomly!

This whole thing really made me think about choices. What if I hadn’t texted Anne Marie that night? What if she decided not to go out? So many choices were made that night and they all perfectly lined up to form something awesome… what are the chances?! This reminds me of a great quote from the movie Synecdoche, New York:

“There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won’t know for twenty years. And you’ll never ever trace it to its source.”

Seemingly insignificant choices do make a difference.

As a person, I’ve grown a lot this year. I’m starting to get more comfortable with myself, and it shows a little more each day. I’ve also become a lot more confident. Having conversations with strangers is no longer a chore, but something that I enjoy. On the other hand, I still let fear control me a little too much. In social situations, I’m almost always too concerned with the “what ifs” and never actually make a move. This definitely screwed me over in one particular situation this year, but it’s something that I’m working on. I’m learning to just say “fuck it” and overcome the fear.

This year I’ve learned two important lessons: be yourself no matter what, and always go for the kiss… even if you’re unsure.

As for next year, big things are happening. In the fall, I’ll be traveling to London with SU Abroad. I have no idea what to expect, but I’ve been told that I’ll have the time of my life. I’m a little bummed about this because I have a few close friends that will be doing the same thing in spring semester. This means I won’t get to see these people until senior year! Even though I won’t see some people for a while, I’m really looking forward to traveling abroad.

All in all, I would give this year two thumbs up. It was a little slow, and I made some dumb moves, but the last few weeks were absolutely spectacular.

Here’s to a great summer.

This evening, after walking back from an impromptu study session, I walked into my room and poke my head around the partition to see what my roommate was up to. I peer over and see an empty room. My roommate moved out two days ago. That’s when it hit me: my freshman year is basically over.

I’m definitely a creature of habit and finals week has definitely thrown me for a loop. Couple that with the end of the spring semester and I’m totally disoriented.

I’m pretty sure that my brain thinks these finals are basically just huge tests and afterwards my friends and I are going to continue on with the same class schedule that we’ve had for the past five months. I’ve gotten accustomed to this lifestyle and it has become the norm. The “end of freshman year” is basically something that is too far away to care about. On more than on occasion I’ve said something like “See you next week!” only to have the person respond by telling me that next week is summer vacation. With that situation, I laugh and tell them that if I don’t see them again have a great summer but it doesn’t really register. I feel like I am going to see them next week but that is definitely not the case.

Within the past few days, the end of the year has become palpable with one word – Goodbye

It isn’t the temporary goodbyes that strike me, but rather the permanent ones.

For instance, I said goodbye to two of my friends last Saturday. However, I know that I am going to see them next fall when school begins again. This goodbye was sad, and I am going to miss them over the summer, but it’s not like I am never going to see them again.

I’ve already said two permanent goodbyes, and they were much different. Last Wednesday, I said goodbye to a coworker. This guy is a senior, and will be graduating in May. Wednesday was his last day. I had a few minutes to stop by, so I walked into the office and said goodbye. I basically told him to have a nice life, congratulations on graduation from college, and that it was great getting to know him over the past year. He didn’t say anything about it, but I could tell that this was strange for him. It’s almost as if he realized at that moment that his life here at Syracuse University was coming to a close.

I said my second permanent goodbye today. This guy was also a coworker of mine. It went along the same lines as the first. I wished him a good life and such, and he actually offered to buy me a drink (which I would never take because that would be illegal). This goodbye was a little weird to me, because this guy is the person that I am basically being trained to replace in the long run.

With both of these people, I am most likely never going to see them again. It’s weird to think that.

I am a firm believer that anyone you meet has an effect on your life whether you realize it or not. I hope that I have had an effect on these people, because they have definitely affected me.

If the rest of my college career goes as fast as this first year did, than it’s going to be over before I know it. When that time comes, I’ll be saying a lot more permanent goodbyes than temporary.

Earlier today, I felt the familiar buzz of my phone going off in my pocket. I pull it out and see that my good friend Jon had sent me a text message.

21 days left a cuse

Upon reading this I immediately stopped whatever meaningless task I was doing and started to think. My mind went wild. Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was nervous about going away to college, and packing up my clothes in my room. Graduation from high school seems like it was just a few months ago… Events from the past raced through my mind, and I began to realize that my freshman year of college is coming to a close. I then started to think about myself and my progress since late August.

Looking back at Chris Becker of 8 months ago, I’m damn proud of the progress that I’ve made as an individual.

Physically, I’ve gotten taller (hell yea!), lost weight, and lost a lot of acne. I exercise fairly regularly and am actually eating better here at college. Take that, freshman 15!

However in my opinion, my greatest growth hasn’t been physical. College has definitely caused me to change for the better, and grow up significantly. My Nana summed it up well when she said over spring break “I am proud of the man that you are becoming.”

Basically, when I started college I was thrown into a completely “sink or swim” social environment. Having mostly sunk in high school, I was determined to start anew and finally swim.

And swim I did.

At first, it was as scary as hell. I had never met these people before in my life, and now I have to live with them. What was going to happen? It turns out that I couldn’t have met a greater group of people. My floor-mates have become great friends, and I can’t wait to see where things go in the future. They helped me become a more social and outgoing person. Social situations that would terrify me no longer have any affect. I’m not second guessing myself anymore… I’m just being me.

Essentially, I’ve transformed from a chubby computer nerd into a well-rounded, social individual. And I love it.

A good reminder of my progress is my driver’s license. I got my license 3 days before moving into college. If I ever want a nice reminder, I can pull it out of my wallet, take a look at my picture, and look into the past. Oh, how far I’ve come.