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

I decided to split the dashboard into two main elements: the assignment list on the left side and the main calendar. The assignment list will show approaching deadlines and long-term assignments lingering in the future. The calendar takes up most of the view, with a more visual representation of stuff that you have to do. In this case I took a screenshot of my google calendar, but the WebPlannr implementation will look very similar.

Color-wise, It’s green and uh, grey. When I think of schoolwork I think of those green 3-ring binders filled with paper. This might change, but I don’t think the colors are worth fussing over at this point… so long as it’s consistent (and not chartreuse) the colors don’t really matter.

Right now I’m slicing up the photoshop document and slowly translating it into HTML/CSS.

As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged. Design definitely isn’t my strongest skill. Every little bit of help counts!

If you haven’t already signed up, do so here! Also be sure to follow @WebPlannrDev on twitter.

Stay tuned.

WebPlannr is an online agenda book for the busy college student. After finishing my second year, I realized that I only survived my hectic schedule thanks to my little blue agenda book. My book was basically my school life in written form; it held everything from class schedules to long-term assignments. My agenda book was a good solution for solving my organizational woes, but it came with some problems… what happens if I lose this book? What happens if I don’t have it with me when I need to write something down or reference something? A physical book was good for most things, but it only took a few forgetful days for me to investigate a better solution.

WebPlannr solves this.

Webplannr is a service that keeps track of all of your classes and assignments — online. With WebPlannr you can enter, update, and complete your assignments just like you would in your little book. It also allows you to enter classes that you are currently taking, with meeting times and repeating days. All of this information is displayed on a huge calendar where you can see long term assignments and upcoming deadlines. WebPlannr solves one of my problems, and I think it can help other people too.

Now for some geeky details. The application is built on the Django framework running on my Linode box. Django is an MTV (model, template, view) framework based on python. I chose django after picking up python earlier in the summer. I’ve never been much of a programmer, but python made perfect sense in my brain and was easy to learn. I took a java programming class last semester and was constantly frustrated with the verbosity of the language. The app is using MySQL for the database. For the user interface, I’ll be working in HTML5 and CSS3, also using some fancy javascript where I can squeeze it.

So that’s it?

Well… yeah. I want to get a simple, stable, application out the door before fall semester starts. There are a ton of features that I want to add, but the core functionality needs to kick ass before I start directing my attention elsewhere.

Here few ideas that I’m playing around with:

1. Mobile site – I want to have m.webplannr.com bring you to a feature-rich mobile site where you can use the site from your phone. It’s likely that this will happen soon after launch, due to the awesomeness of django’s templating framework
2. Gradebook – A part of the site where you can enter your grades and have your report card calculated before the college does
3. Native iOS and Android applications – I think something like this can really shine with an iPad app

As of right now, I have most of the backend logic coded. The front end, however, needs some work. I’m in the process of brainstorming and sketching out some ideas for user interface elements. Pretty soon I’m going to fire up photoshop and draw with some pretty gradients. Here are some quick sketches:

Yeah, they’re pretty crappy but you gotta start somewhere!

Interested? Head over to webplannr.com and sign up for early access. I’m releasing an alpha within the next two weeks and will be relying on user feedback for making improvements.

As always, you can hit me up on twitter at @WebPlannrDev or shoot an email to dev@webplannr.com

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.

My data is going to make the following assumptions:

1. The actual number of Wheel of Fortune episodes is unknown, but the studio officially celebrated it’s 5000th episode since evening syndication on February 27th, 2009. [1] Adding in a rough estimate [2] of episodes until the beginning of this week, the total episode count is 5,612
2. The Vanna Clap Constant (VCC) is the amount of on-screen claps divided by time spent clapping. The unit is claps/second
3. When Vanna is off-camera and the studio is clapping, she is clapping at VCC (Vanna Clap Constant)
4. Clapping during the intro doesn’t count. She’s not clapping backstage before she and Pat walk out.

I was able to acquire three random episodes from 2010 and 2011 to gather some data. I recorded the total on-screen claps, the total time on screen clapping, the amount of time the studio was clapping while Vanna was off-screen, and the episode length. Here’s my magic Excel spreadsheet where I put all my data:

Let’s look at this for a second. To start, Vanna clapped her hands on screen a little less than two hundred times on average. She was on screen for around a third of the show, which makes sense. She is often standing next to the puzzle which is shown after every spin. When she wasn’t on screen, the entire studio audience and three contestants were clapping almost the whole time. There were only two large chunks of the twenty minute episode where it was silent: the introduction of the contestants and the final puzzle.

For my (tiny) data set, I took the average visible claps and divided it by the time Vanna was on screen. The VCC came out to be 0.452 claps/min. So about half of the time Vanna appeared on screen, she was clapping. That’s much higher than I expected!

To calculate the total claps, I took the total visible claps and added it to the off-screen clap time multiplied by the VCC. The total claps of one twenty minute episode seems to lie in the mid to upper 300s; the average being 355. Wow, so Vanna slaps her hands together about 355 times each show!

Now, for the grand finale!

Using our average clap count per episode, 355, and multiplying it by the amount of episodes, 5612, we get a grand total of… *drumroll*

1,992,260 claps!

That’s one very long round of applause… it would take the average human clapping at a normal 11,000 hours to clap that many times!

Some conclusions:

This is a very rough estimate. I was only able to gather data from three episodes. If I had more time, and actually enjoyed watching game shows, I would have found a couple more and added to my data set.

Vanna was also breifly the host of the daytime version of the show, so the actual number is a bit higher than this. [3]

I’m really curious as to how many more times Vanna White has clapped than a normal human. If someone has access to normal human clapping data, I would love to see it.

This post is more thorough than any lab report I’ve ever done in high school. But this topic is 100x more interesting than putting red stuff into blue stuff and watching things bubble…

Any questions/comments/corrections? Shoot me an email: cbeck527 at gmail dot com

SOURCES:

1. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20090217cbs01
2. 5000 + days since Feb. 27th, 2009 – weekends and holidays
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Fortune_(U.S._game_show)

]]> http://chrisbecker.info/blog/2011/07/how-many-times-has-vanna-white-clapped-her-hands-an-in-depth-analysis-not-really/feed/ 2 http://chrisbecker.info/blog/2011/05/we%e2%80%99re-already-half-way-there/ http://chrisbecker.info/blog/2011/05/we%e2%80%99re-already-half-way-there/#comments Sat, 14 May 2011 04:53:40 +0000 Chris http://chrisbecker.info/blog/?p=159 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.

Truth be told, I just forgot about blogging. I got sucked into the Twitter world and didn’t really look back! Right now I’m taking a social media class and we fortunate enough to hear Chris Brogan speak. For those who don’t know him, he is the author of Trust Agents, and a “social media guru.” One of the ideas he stressed in the book and his speech was having a personal blog to publicly share your thoughts online. With his advice fresh in my noggin’ I have decided to return my blog and start sharing my ideas. I’ll be tweaking the design and content over the next few days… this template can definitely use a facelift.

My blog is going to consist of my thoughts on things. I know that sounds vague and boring, but it won’t be… I promise! Okay, I can’t really promise anything but I’ll try my best to comment on interesting content. One thing I DO NOT want this to be is me reposting content that I find online.

So yeah, that’s about it. Some posts you’ll like, some you’ll dislike, and some will be funny and irrelevant. Also, don’t forget to comment on stuff, I want to hear your opinion.

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.

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.

Now, I bet you’re wondering, “Why would you expect to have a headache?” It’s a little strange, but I’ve been having these headaches every afternoon for the past week. I had no idea, but I was accidentally breaking an addiction. Now, I wouldn’t be totally honest to you, my readers (hi Mom), if I told you I didn’t have an addiction. Caffeine addiction is (was!) one of my vices.

So I like to have a cup of coffee with my breakfast, sue me! In fact, one of my most relaxing times of the day is breakfast. I can get up, hopefully not too early, have my first meal of the day, read some news, and nurse a cup ‘o joe. Once the caffeine hit my bloodstream I was able to function as a normal person in society. This relaxed pace is something that I left behind when I came to college. Gone are the days where I have enough time in the morning. “Breakfast time” is now around ten minutes.

With this routine, it’s really hard to sit and enjoy a nice cup of coffee. It’s hard to suck down the boiling crap that the dining hall passes of as coffee in ten minutes. After many failed attempts, and many a half cup later, I decided to switch to Mountain Dew for my daily dose of heart-pumping caffeine.

This didn’t last long. Shortly after realizing how many calories an extra soda a day was, I ditched that plan. I then moved to the “Coffee After Class” plan which consisted of getting a cup after my afternoon classes. I had a headache in the morning for the first few days, but my body eventually adjusted to the delayed energy boost.

One day I had a slight change of schedule and was forced to skip my afternoon coffee run. This was unknowingly the beginning of the end…

I’m one of those people where something out of sight is out of mind. I’m also a creature of habit. If something in my daily routine is shifted then I just think that it’s going to be shifted forever. Missing this afternoon cup ‘o joe just made me never think about going to the coffee shop again.

As of right now, I haven’t had any coffee for about a week. I’ve noticed that my overall energy level has increased, and that I’m waking up earlier. Also, the headaches are almost completely gone. On the long term, this is probably better for my health as well. Also, when I actually need caffeine to work, like studying or writing a paper, it will be more effective.

This isn’t to say that I’m never going to have another cup of coffee again. It’s just that it has been excluded from my daily routine. I am working on not being addicted to caffeine.

My addiction will most likely return this summer when I’ll have more time in the morning, but for now, it’s gone…

With great thoughts comes a great conversation…

Around 1:00AM this morning I found myself in the lounge, economics materials on the desk, with my good friend Ben. Ben and I usually have great conversations about tons of things, but I think this one stands above the rest. We started off by talking about a floormate who decided to take a job which would require him to give up his weekends to go work in another city. Naturally, my laziness told me that if put in his position I wouldn’t take it. My current work load is enough, and adding another commitment would be a mess. After talking with Ben, I discovered that there is much more to it than that. My mother is a woman wise beyond her years and she told me something that shifted the way that I was thinking about life. I was talking to her about my job on campus, and how my boss wanted me to work more hours if it as possible. My mother was opposed to this. She said “you have the rest of your life to work, enjoy yourself while you can.” That statement rocked my world for a moment. It made perfect sense. Why sacrifice fun to work your ass off, when you know that the rest of your life is going to be working your ass of? As a college student, I have four years of what most call “the best time of your life” ahead of me. Do I want to spend that time working? Hell no.