Taiidani.com

I’ve been having so many problems lately with different services that I figured I would itemize all of my issues here, in no particular order:

• Tumblr has been extremely slow logging in. This apparently was due to failing server hardware, but since the hardware was replaced the issue has still been occurring.
• Tumblr’s queue system didn’t work at all, leaving all messages in the queue and requiring manual publishing. This looks like it has been fixed.
• UAA’s SharePoint servers seem to have blacklisted the IP address I was using to update my timesheet web app. This has essentially destroyed my ability to parse timesheets that are put on the site, eliminating my data source.
• Facebook has been unable to support OpenID delegation. I am using MyOpenID but am delegating through my taiidani.com domain name to preserve control over my authentication source. Everything else has worked like a charm, but Facebook refuses to get with the program.
• Google Voice has been listing all callers to my phone as ‘Blocked’ on the caller ID. This is a declared known issue with Google Voice so it will hopefully be fixed soon.
• Google Voice has had major time delays on phone calls between one person speaking something and the other person hearing it. This has caused almost all of my recent calls to end with frustration. No ETA on a fix, but the forums are exploding with people declaring the same problems.
• Google Voice has been occasionally forgetting to connect my phone calls, resulting in a missed call record on GV’s end but no record on my actual phone. Hopefully this is related to the other problems and will be fixed.
• AT&T (or GV) seems to have problems sending touch tones through it’s network. It caused lots of problems trying to verify my phone on GV and forced me to remove my phone as an authenticator for MyOpenID.
• Apple’s Push servers seem to be up and down lately, causing my connection to GVMax to be spotty at best. I have to be constantly logged in to Google Talk if I want to receive my text messages. Of course I can just turn txting on for my iPhone again and have it work, but the temptation of free txting is very persuasive.
• Dreamhost has been unable to verify my Amazon S3/Cloudfront account, so I haven’t been able to connect the two accounts until Dreamhost gets back to me on why it won’t recognize the credentials.

And all of these problems have happened in the past week. No wonder I’ve been getting annoyed by technology lately, eh?

I’m not sure that I’m comfortable yet posting full choreography ideas to my blog yet, but since this was quickly written down on my iPhone while eating lunch and only serves as a reminder, I think I can post it. It’s a quick bit that is meant for throwing at a group of dancers (6+ preferably) in a 1 hour span that will cover a 2:30 minute long song. It has two movement phrases and the rest is structure, but overall it should look very impressive if it can be done in the time limit. Hopefully I’ll get to use it for my composition class later in the semester.

Part 1 — Group of dancers, at least two, circling the center of the stage in opposite directions (clockwise & counter-clockwise). Movement style move similar to flocking rather than a specific shape, think whirlpool.

Part 2 — A second group of dancers, at least 4, walk SLOWLY (1 large step per measure) to the center to form a square or grid pattern. This should take 8 complete measures with the 8th one allowing some break of the pattern in order to set up at individual spots.

Part 3 — Group #1 flocks off the stage to separate corners. Group #2 performs grid-based choreography for 3 measures, ending in a gathered group upstage.

Part 4 — During the 4th measure (distinct section of music) Group #1 flocks back in and joins the gathered group, then they all head back to center and set up in another grid.

Part 5 — First half of new group, containing most members of Group #2, perform grid choreography 1. Other new group containing mostly dancers from Group #1 performs new choreography 2. These movements are meant to link.

Part 6 — These movements continue as the song fades out…

In my spare time this week I’ve been following a blog by a man named Sahil Lavingia. Sahil has a challenge going that he can make a full iPhone app in a single week and is blogging all of his progress on his One Week App site. Each day so far has been full to the brim of peeks into his development process and so is extremely helpful to anyone thinking about making their own app. No, I’m not planning on making one anytime soon, but with the iPad around the corner I feel I should keep my Cocoa skills up to par in case my CS capstone relies on the device.

This semester has been completely full of dance for me. I’m literally dancing over 26 hours a week. As a result of this, my new home is the dance studio over at UAA. It’s a crazy type of thing because I really feel comfortable there. Immediately when I walk through the door I really just want to go straight into the floor and start stretching.
Even better, I have keys! Being a New Dances choreographer is just cool. I can go into the studio (with permission) whenever I want and work on all of my various assignments and experiments without stealing time away from class. Very homely