Minnesota Hotdish (Tater-tot Hotdish Recipe)

In my previous post I told a story about "Lazy Man Hotdish." So, for my follow-up post I'm going to treat you with my "Tater-tot Hotdish Recipe."

Here's my recipe: (Tater-tot Hotdish)

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Brown 1 pound of "Hamburger" in frying pan.
• In a mixing bowl dump in a can of "Cream of Chicken" soup, then dump in a frozen bag of "Mixed Vegetables" and finally dump in a can of "Cream of Mushroom" soup. Stir mixture until the "Mixed Vegetables" are evenly mixed in the "Cream of..." soups.
• Spread the browned "Hamburger" evenly into the bottom of a rectangular cake pan.
• Spread the "Cream of.." plus "Vegetable" mixture evenly over the top of the "Hamburger."
• Top with frozen "Tater-tots." Be sure to place them in one-by-one so they are tightly packed across the entire surface.
• Bake for awhile (about 45 minutes). When the "Tater-tots" are brown, it's done.

Hope you enjoy!

Minnesota Hotdish (Lazy Man Hotdish Recipe)

Okay, I'm a Minnesotan. I've been making Hotdish my whole life. However, I never really knew what Minnesota Hotdish was until a friend of mine had me over and we decided to make "Hotdish."

He said, "We have a starch, a meat, a vegetable, and some sort of cream of something soup. I think that constitutes as a Minnesota Hotdish." When he said that, I thought, hmm... I never knew there were rules for it. So, today I looked it up on Wikipedia. Low and behold, he was right!

I always make "Hotdish" on my stove-top. I never knew that I was naturally doing it right, until now! All of my Hotdishes follow those rules. Basically, I make this when I don't feel like cooking.

Here's the basic recipe that I follow: (Lazy Man Hotdish)

• Fill the bottom of a large frying pan with "Noodles" (any noodle that's handy) spread out until the bottom of the pan is covered. Add water until the noodles are submerged. Cook on high-heat until the noodles are done.
• Drain most of the water. Just grab a fork or spoon and use it to block the noodles when draining over the sink.
• Once most of the water is drained, put in a can of "Cream of Something Soup" I usually use either "Cream of Chicken," "Cream of Celery" or "Cream of Mushroom."
• Stir until the "Cream of Something Soup" is mixed evenly with whatever water was left-over from when you drained it and make sure all the noodles are covered evenly.
• Now add a can of "Whole Kernel Corn," "Green Beans" or "Peas."
• Then add a can of either "Tuna," "Chicken," "Salmon," or "Deviled Ham."
• Put it back on the burner, set to a low temperature and stir until everything is evenly mixed.
• When you get sick of waiting for the stuff to cook, it's done.
• Scoop it into a bowl to eat. For the finishing touch add salt and pepper.
• Put the rest into a storage container and refrigerate.

Note: Hamburger is a popular meat used in Hotdishes, but I don't usually use it because then I'd have to brown the burger. I'm lazy. So, I use canned meat. Usually tuna or chicken.

Qooxdoo Changes

Well, I was just over at the Qooxdoo site. They are now at version 2.0.1! With the 2.0 release they've branched it into Website, Mobile, Desktop, and Server Editions.

I thought this would be a good starting point for the new version of my mapping application. During the rewrite, I created some design documents as well as a project journal. I think what I should do is do yet another rewrite for Qooxdoo 2.0 (I can't find my user-authentication back-end anyway, plus I had some issues with the way it worked). I can reuse most of my code, it's a matter of putting the pieces together. So, with the new version - I think a rewrite is going to be my best option.

I should probably try to get my old-code working anyway to make sure the server is configured correctly, but that will be a task for another day (I'm dreading it). I'll be able to test the mapping data using QGIS, so all that's really needed to be tested is Mapscript and the rpc-backend for Qooxdoo. Maybe I'll just test it with new code, that way I don't have to tinker with the old stuff - it's kinda a pain in the ass.

When I did the rewrite I made a Yii web-app that served as a launching-ground to my mapping application. It was kinda of a website that flushed out the details of the actual application. However, I could never get the user-authentication to work smoothly. It appeared to work smooth, but I knew what was going on behind the scenes and didn't like how it was written. Now that Qooxdoo has a special library for Websites, maybe I can use it instead of Yii. I toyed around with jQuery not too long ago as well, and from the sounds of it - it seems that Qooxdoo's Website module has features that work similar to jQuery.

I put Aptana on this computer for a different project, but I think it's time to stick with one thing - mapping. My uncle asked me about my mapping project this summer. I told him I stopped working on it. Maybe that was also a sign to keep at it. Uncle + Elysian Shadows Dev Team Inspiration = Continue onward with my mapping project.

My friend that originally got me into mapping has moved far away. He was the one who knew about GIS and could answer all my questions. He kinda gave me a crash-course in mapping. I've been given enough knowledge to at least get some results in this project. And... There is a GIS user group an hours drive from here once I really get into it. I'm sure if I show them what I have (once I have it) they'll be more than happy to answer questions I might have.

I've kinda gotten off-topic here, but isn't that what a blog is about? Ranting about whatever comes to mind.

Dreading the Server Config

One thing I hate is setting up and configuring servers for custom applications. That's exactly what I have to do... I started on it for a little while this morning...

Got Apache, Postgres with PostGIS, PHP5, and PHPMapscript installed. I started setting up Postgres - I think its done, just need to import some mapping data and test it. I think I have PHP and Apache done as well, phpinfo() shows that the Postgres PDO driver is enabled as well as the Mapscript module. So, that should be ready. Just need to do a bit of testing and try to get some old code plugged in and working.

I wonder what version Qooxdoo is at now? Ever since version 1.2 it seems that they've been releasing updates/changes more frequently. For me, I don't like that. That means the version I'm dev'ing in is getting older faster (not really, but it makes it feel that way).

Importing some test mapping data should be pretty easy. What I'm not looking forward to is getting all my old code to work. I didn't have a very good backup system. There's a few pieces to the puzzle that still need to be found. Mainly, my user-authentication server-side code and database sql file. I'll also need to get a copy of Qooxdoo and hope it's compatible with my old code. So, I have some digging to do.

I now have a server running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS that is running all programs mentioned above. It's also going to have my code hosted using git. Plus, I have an Ubuntu One account now so I can put snapshots of milestones up to the cloud. So, the file-backup situation seems to be well-in-hand.

I still have a long way to go before I can get back into coding. I hate you server.

Elysian Shadows Devs Have Inspired Me

Head on over to http://elysianshadows.com to check out their projects status.

Quite a few years ago, I ran into "Adventures in Game Development" on YouTube (must have been about 4 years ago). What they were doing looked fun. So, this lead me to start into game development of my own. I tinkered, a lot. I wrote mostly experimental code, as time went I tried writing a small game. I actually completed a break-out style game, then I tried another platform-style game. Anyway, the game-dev days kinda fizzled out - as is true with most projects I attempt.

Many years ago, around 2004 I was working on a mapping program. I learned a ton, and had a working application with only a few minor bugs. That project never panned out to anything. Then a few years later, I stumbled across Qooxdoo. Immediately, I thought - hey, this is perfect for that mapping project I was doing a few years back. So, I began learning the Qooxdoo Framework and made pretty good progress. Nothing that would be publicly usable, but a fun little toy was born. I stopped working on it after a few months and again, nothing came of the project.

Then in February and March of 2011, I resurrected the old Qooxdoo mapping project. I had to rewrite pretty much everything, because Qooxdoo had gone from version 0.6 to 1.2+ in that time. After about two months I had the same toy as before, entirely re-written. I had added a few new features too. But, as we all know, the project again fizzled and faded.

Okay, now onto the actual title of this post...

I was just browsing around and happened to end up at the Elysian Shadows website. Wow, it has matured. And, they are still making "Adventures in Game Development" videos! I thought, these guys rock because they can do what I have never done... They have stuck with the same project for four-years and it's still going.

So, that got me to thinking... Just think if I stuck with my mapping project since 2004. That would have been eight-years of development. I was thinking how cool my mapping application would be if I had spent that much time dedicated to one thing. So, hats off to you Elysian Shadows Dev-Team! You have inspired me!

Time to turn this what if, to why not. Why not spend the next eight-years on my mapping project. Sure, I could have long breaks from it. But, when I do work on stuff - I already will have the project sitting there waiting - calling out to me. No more, hey this would be fun to try! I've spent most of my programming experience as a tinkerer - a tinkerer that never actually has a true-project.

I know I can finish projects. I've programmed for other people before, and completed their projects. Might as well complete one of my own for a change. Or, not complete, but continually develop would be a better term. Good projects are never complete. They are continuously evolving into something grander and grander.

We'll see how true to the words of this blog-post I am. Will I follow through and stay dedicated to my mapping project? I should almost start a poll. If I look at my track-record with personal-projects I'd vote NO. However, maybe this is a turning-stone. Maybe I can follow through. Only time will tell.

Blender

Well, I've been toying around with Blender off and on since early this year. I thought I'd make a post to kinda date my official Blender binge start date.

I decided to set programming aside for awhile (at least as a hobby). I've really fallen in love with Blender, especially since the 2.5 series release. It's interface is much cleaner than previous versions, imho. I've been doing tutorials and even ordered a couple DVDs from the Blender Foundation e-shop (hopefully they will be here this week).

I'm really starting to get a feel for the work-flow in Blender. I have all the commonly used hot-keys memorized as well as the mouse-buttons. Blender is starting to feel more like an extension of my hands rather than a clumsy mind-numbing tool with too many controls (like when I first started using it).

I've mostly been modeling life-like head models from reference photos. However, just this last week, I was in the commons area in my apartment and there was a guy working on something on his laptop. I asked him what he was working on. He had a book for learning C++ through game programming. So, I told him that I have a few books he might be interested in. I grabbed my two C++ books and a 2D game development book I had and brought them down to him. I told him I won't be using them for awhile because I've been spending most my free time trying to learn Blender. Then he said "I have a book on Blender." Ooh. I asked if we could swap books for awhile - so he got the Blender book for me. It's called "Introducing Character Animation with Blender" by Tony Mullen.

That's really cool because animation is one of my main goals for learning Blender. I've always wondered how to rig a character for animation. Eventually, I'd like to make fun little animations. So, that's what I've been doing the past couple days. So far, I have the body of the character from the book complete. I kind of just looked at the pictures to do my modeling though, because I don't like the way he does it in the book. Now it's time to do the head. In the book he uses extensive use of the Knife Tool on the head. I hate the knife tool - it seems to mess up the flow of the mesh for me. So, for the last I dunno, hour or so, I've been downloading David Ward's Johnny Blender 3 tutorials on YouTube. He starts with the head, so I only need the first few. But, I figure I might as well get the whole series. I might want to go through it when I'm done with this book. Anyway, the reason why I'm using David's videos for reference is because when he box-models, I've never seen him use the Knife Tool. I need a quick reference for figuring out how to get the edge-flow right without that damn Knife Tool.

So, there you have it. I'm a Blender learner now. I know it seems like I jump around to different projects all the time - and nothing ever comes of them... But, that's why I'm posting this. I really like Blender and want to get good enough at it to do some fun animations. I've always had an interest in art and 3D modeling. I just never gave it a try. This is the beginning of that try! Wish me luck!

Got my Xbox 360 Yesterday

I got my Xbox 360 yesterday. Picked up Assassin's Creed to go with it. I have to say, that game is pretty good.

Now, onto the XNA Game Studio stuff... I followed the instructions on the App Hub site on how to connect the Xbox to the development environment only to find out that I need a subscription to App Hub to do it. App Hub costs $99/year. So, I decided not to do that. I might as well wait until I have a working Windows game to port to the Xbox before signing up. The reason... I have never completed a project that I've started to date. I figure if I do finish writing a game, then would be the time to start up an App Hub membership.

So, when I develop my Windows game (to port to the Xbox 360) I will only be supporting the Xbox 360 controller. No keyboard/mouse etc. Basically, I'm going to write an Xbox 360 game without an App Hub subscription. Then, if I do actually complete the project, I'll purchase an App Hub membership so I can try it out on the game console.

I suppose. This is enough of a post for now. ttyl.