tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36432754369415998882018-05-30T22:50:24.388-07:00The Other SideThe other side of life, goals, tech, and other stuff in pictures.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.comBlogger395125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-63773019962820949192017-12-30T06:49:00.000-08:002017-12-30T06:49:15.094-08:00And So It Returns<p>Nine months have passed since I left the blog, and my presence on the interwebs. And I've made a decision to return (on a limited basis).
<p>After the disappearance of TV's art blog almost a year ago, I followed more blogs in that area and continued with plans to establish an art blog of my own, but it led me to question what people know about me, perceive me as, and expect of me, so I took the safest path and waited for others to discover me and ask me the right questions, without success. I wanted to talk about something else and get into something new, and be the one that participates in things, but I realize that sitting back and depending on luck for someone to do that wasn't going to help.
<p>I needed to actively find ways to get noticed, so I focused on getting into drawing to replace my ways of running commentary to get noticed and to approach the goals I was never able to complete before. But I struggled heavily on this especially with the load of a fulltime job, and needed a solution to get up to speed very quickly. There were a few other things that I felt were holding me back, and I needed to deal with them eventually.
<p>I'll leave all the details after the break, but long story short I approached TV once again to get the help I needed to move forward (how the tweet that mentioned her was supposed to be interpreted as) and to express how I felt after she called me out (behind my back). It makes me wonder why the entire chain of events even occurred, considering her art blog was the reason I originally decided to approach, and didn't have any means of reaching her otherwise. Regardless, at the very least it helped tie up my loose ends and brought my mind at ease.
<p>I'm strongly considering revisiting Tumblr to post future content (for more exposure), while most commentary will remain here. It might take me a few weeks while I work out a theme and gain enough abilities to develop a new profile pic, but it'll be there. I'm still anxious about heading into this again, but not as I used to be.
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<h3>Since the Disappearance</h3>
<p>I wanted to explore a number of things, but it's fear that held me back, one being that I don't have enough time to do everything given a heavily reduced schedule (instead of a full 9am to 3am day, I have 7pm to 11pm weekdays at most), and the second being I might end up losing something I value a lot. I work on building up my efficiency so I can streamline everything and get more time out of the day to do things, so I bring up Todoist and bought a bunch of equipment (the one that works for me, not the cheapest) to help me with this. I was initially hesitant considering my spending habits might be judged as excessive by some, but my stock gains were able to more than offset these costs.
<p>There were a number of things I got into (such as a number of new TV shows, games, and all of that), but the question I had was - if I started participating in those fandoms, would I get my identity found out and my involvement exposed before I manage to find a proper audience? I ask this because there's at least one person I know who might not be too happy with what I got into, and might see me differently as a result (the reason why I give out general interests and vague on things unless specifically asked). How could I become passionate with something or motivated when I know people aren't hesitant to judge me if I do even a single step wrong, and I don't have the strength to convince them otherwise?
<p>After contemplating for months, I realize there's a loose end that was holding me back, and I needed to deal with it - sooner or later. I have started to care a lot less since the incident, and have almost nothing left for me to lose anyways.
<h3>Return - TV</h3>
<p>I had decided to approach her once again in order to get the help and skills I needed to move forward (resolving what my tweet in Jan was trying to achieve) and attempted to express how I felt when I discovered why it was deleted in the first place, but was hesitant (due to having feelings) and got responded to appropriately, and was forced to withdraw in order to avoid stressing me out and derailing a convo further. It was a particularly risky move, but I felt it was better to say it than worry about what might happen next, because it would no longer be an uncertainty.
<p>Ultimately I got most of the answers I was looking for, and it helped to tie up my loose ends, but I'm still upset from the way I was portrayed and how things were handled from me finding out about her art blog, because she made it personal by involving me as a reason behind its deletion, and art blogs should be used to showcase a person's works and be open to commentary, not be discussing personal matters. But she has a point on one thing.
<p>What I can't decide on is whether I should end my association - it's not something I take lightly. I know she was one of the reasons I was able to get past someone years ago, the reason why I was more content post-college, and why I got into drawing on a much larger scale, but it's starting to cause more problems by holding on (and that's holding me back on some other things as an indirect result). I know she's stressed and desperate for money and I wanted to help, but after what just happened I don't know if I can support (or be with) someone who's particularly toxic and can't own up to mistakes.
<p>What I will be decisive on, however, is to take steps to actively participate in the things I've gotten into since the start of the year without worrying what she (or others) think about me - if I end up getting into a fandom due to her, and she's angry about me being in it as well, it's not my problem. I'll still use her art and WIPs as reference / ideas, but will no longer participate or initiate contact with her blogs (first).
<h3>Return - Tumblr</h3>
<p>After months deciding if I should, I have decided to return to Tumblr myself, free from anyone who had known about my previous blog, so I can attempt to be more open, but it took me a long time to figure out the best (and only) way to approach this, and it came sooner than I felt prepared for.
<p>I had previously strayed away from it to due the useless reblogs, tumblarity mechanic, and because creating one would be redundant to this blog (which had a following at the time). I didn't see a need to follow either, because RSS feeds were handling this and no one irl would be interested in my stuff anyways. But now I see a benefit from being on here again due to noticibility (if I tag it correctly) since I now need to reach a new set of people, and the stuff I reblog or post there will now be the basis on what others know about me and/or what I'm interested in. For too long, I've been relying on others to google search and find my stuff, so if I want any chance for me to be back on the map, I must bring it to them.
<p>Until I get myself properly set up (which I don't have lots of time to do), and gain a new base of followers, expect me to be very cautious on my reblogs, likes, and interests I give out. I have taken steps to ensure this doesn't get spotted by people I know IRL by chance, but I can't be too careful. My main will be empty for some time (but still accepting asks) while I use sideblogs to construct a theme, test out backdating, profile picture, etc, before they are moved to main.
<p>I will still maintain this blog for commentary and personal posts, since this blog is off tumblr and hence immune to reblogs. Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-73504353540322626962017-03-31T00:00:00.000-07:002017-07-13T00:13:36.062-07:00And So It Goes<p>It's been many years I maintained this blog, but like Zuma Blitz, it's time to set sail to something new.
<p>During this time back in 2009, I created this blog, in an hopes to join my other friends who were on the blogging platform as well during college, with posts serving as conversation pieces. It has within that same span also become a hub for Zuma Blitz related material, as well as other games I supported, putting my blog on the map.
<p>Now with college long gone, the major games this blog centered on its way out, and my exploration options limited with a fulltime job, my topics I cover is limited to places and events I have time to go to, as well as commentary, and my reach is based on how well it does on search results.
<p>I realize that the amount of people irl who actually knew about the existence of this blog was much less than I hoped to expect, especially post-college, where none of the people who I met would know my username, much less this blog. The audience was intended to be those who found it either from searching for certain topics (by chance alone), or my username from facebook / twitter when trying to find me on other sites. But after I find the majority of people who I know irl that it was intended to reach were skipping right past this and my content was not being factored in either what they know about me or their posts, I realize this has lost its true purpose, and as a result I've decided to retire this blog.
<p>I'd like to thank the readers that have followed and gave me the motivation to continue posting about things.
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<h3>Where Now?</h3>
<p>I have decided that the best decision for me online is to <i>stay on the sidelines</i> for the time being; I have a lot of stuff that I want to contribute to, but there's substantial proof that there is almost zero interest in anything I have to share or say anymore, and trying to open up first (either with a mention, PM, or otherwise) hasn't gotten me far.
<p>The art project I have for this year will proceed as usual and will still have its own page, but I won't post updates or any images here because I can't find anyone to discuss its contents with complete safety. Any posts I had in my drafts may still get published at some point in time, and will be backdated appropriately.
<p>Some of my older (pre-2011) posts have their images hosted on Photobucket; with third party images disabled many of these posts will be rendered meaningless so I may decide to remove them altogether; the same will occur for FB linked videos. I do not intend to put them back up, but you are still free to ask me about anything that were in those posts.
<p>I'm more afraid of displaying any of my interests other than the ones I'm generally known for (either online or off) due to being preemptively judged, but I want to talk about something else, so I have only luck and hope that there's someone out there who can understand me, is willing to talk to me first, push me (gradually) outside my comfort zone and have me discussing things I wouldn't normally say publicly.
<p>Maybe someday, I'll decide when - and if - I'll return again.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-41773369318664356252017-02-15T22:18:00.001-08:002017-02-15T22:18:24.518-08:00Render: Stockton in Krita<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2017/2017_02_15_sk.jpg" width=960px>
<p>One of my first in progress drawings for the year is using Krita to recreate a shot from a picture that I recently took. Of course after several attempts I couldn't get it looking how I wanted it to be, so I focused on something smaller instead in order to get this post out. More specifically, the downtown BofA building that's <a href="http://www.recordnet.com/news/20170213/downtown-stockton-bofa-branch-to-close">set to close in Jun 2017</a>. I'll try to focus more on recreating the entire picture in the future, but I don't know when.
<p>This took much longer as usual because of having to learn perspective, and the sheer difficulties in allocating time blocks to do these things (In reality it is much busier during my off-time then at work). Since it's hard to have completely free weekends, I have many days where I don't have time to even pick up the stylus, much less plan something out.
<p>I've been thinking of the events that arose earlier this year for weeks, with a lot of theories made on this (a full list on the read more section), and I've come to these conclusions: Regardless of what caused it, it was inevitable, and ultimately there wasn't anything I could've done to change this. It brings a lot of unanswered questions, but it wouldn't matter since I would never be able to ask anyways, and because there are much bigger issues that I need to deal with.
<p>I've probably gone over my head on setting this goal, but I have reached the point where I cannot walk away from this, so I must deliver something, regardless of how I might be judged. I may not have the capabilities to make things that appeal to the thousands on a regular basis (assuming I have enough luck to reach them in the first place), but I have to be timely and ensure that they meet minimum quality standards.
<p>I probably have some leeway here since I can backdate posts and update images server-side but I won't be able to do that once it goes on tumblr/twitter.
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<p>The theories I had were:
<ul>
<li><b>Privacy</b> - The artblog was overexposed. I originally assumed it was not designed to be exposed to people irl due to it disclosing more personal stuff than the main one; however I removed this designation since <a href="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2017/2017_02_11_nmf.png" rel="nofollow">this reblog</a> exists on her main blog (revealing her art blog location to main blog followers), her large follower base ( > 500 followers), and the fact she was accepting commissions and holding giveaways on it.
<li><b>Weather</b> - based on last known location (which appeared in small print in one of her photo meme pictures), the storms and flooding in the area could potentially be a concern.
<li><b>Realization</b> - Because her yoi art with her own signature gained thousands of notes, and got reblogged by one of my irl friend's tumblrs and could've been seen by more (there were some who came back on tumblr due to the hype), and could possibly connect her to the blog with one of her first art posts on her main blog for name verification.
<li><b>FT Job</b> - self explanatory, although she could in theory still be posting stuff, just slower.
<li><b>My connections</b> - Because my mention could make it easier for my followers (probably the ones from CKI) to spot her; Though I did follow some people from CKI, none of them were following me on twitter and hence wouldn't see it; my email there is different from the one used on FB and IRL communications. (Note that I consider any twitter accounts she associates on her main blog as 'IRL', and any associated with the art blog as 'Artists', and mention the appropriate one depending on which audience I want my tweet to reach.)
<li><b>'Personal' reasons</b> - Her quick reaction indicates she probably knew about me and my blog well in advance, figured I found her blog by way of Ngannu's (now deactivated) tumblr, and is most likely holding a grudge against me due to my former association in 2012; I wouldn't know why as she has never said anything to me and I've not seen or heard anything that might suggest it. I always wondered about her last anon ask response and now I know what the real intention of it was.
</ul>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-30843894519935699892017-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:002017-01-31T23:56:05.756-08:00Stockton Chinatown Exhibit - Lion Dance Opening<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2017/2017_01_29_CNY.jpg" width=960px>
<p>The Lion Dance group on the parade route at the San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum; they were opening their new Stockton Chinatown exhibit, which goes on from January to May; admission was free today but parking is not.
<p>Some other events going on here include Mah Jongg, Tai Chi demonstrations, Arts and Crafts, and Lunch.
<p>There is an article about this event <a href="http://www.recordnet.com/news/20170129/stocktons-chinatown-exhibit-stirs-memories">here</a>.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-54224606894151134642017-01-16T12:03:00.000-08:002017-01-26T23:26:50.059-08:002017 in Art
<p>With a fulltime job, I can spend less of my free time focusing on various programming languages and more on pursuing creative projects. My goal (and new year's resolution) for 2017: Produce as much quality artwork as possible during the year.
<p>The goal is designed to achieve the following things:
<ul>
<li>Put a new tablet to use and establish expertise in Krita
<li>Improve my own drawing skills (from almost nothing)
<li>Turn text-only concepts into something that is more 'visual' and 'creative'
<li>Produce an alternative set of sprites for Americana Engine
<li>Learn Speedpainting
<li>Get better known out there to the general public
<li>Get out of the few active followers hole on Twitter
</ul>
<p>I'll probably put up a dedicated page for this, but for the most part these images need to be present on tumblr / twitter with the proper tags to be effectively visible to the proper audiences<abbr title="only way people can effectively follow this blog is via RSS feeds">*</abbr>, so I'll put the better ones up there, and include all WIPs and commentaries on this blog.
<p>Things I will probably be working on (will add to later):
<ul>
<li>Profile / Cover image
<li>Hard Drive icons
<li>Chibis (including paper ones)
<li>Drawings to explain various posts
<li>Shadow casting
<li>Rare pairings
<li>Beancoons
<li>Water Effects
<li>Glow Effects
<li>UX stuff
<li>3D display effects (Wiggle and Split Depth)
<li>Some things from 2011
<li>Zuma Blitz closure
</ul>
<p>Notes:
<ul>
<li>I can't be truly motivated unless I base my quantity / quality of work off of someone who's active and who I've knew or seen IRL, so I set my benchmark against Tv's artblog in 2016 (around 170); picking up this speed should allow me to fulfill deadlines on a more timely basis and participate in collabs without holding anyone back<abbr title="I actually have zero expectation of completing this all the way, because some things were never meant to be.">*</abbr>.
<li>I will probably focus on a variety of topics; the general idea would be to plan ahead substantially to avoid running out of ideas.
<li>This post will be updated in the future, and this post may include its own image as well.
</ul>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-75770109210014959182017-01-07T18:08:00.000-08:002017-11-27T17:43:38.109-08:00Heading Into the Unknown<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2017/2017_01_07.png" width=960px><br>When the walls fell
<p><b>UPDATE:</b> Update: The question(s) that I was ultimately trying to from the tweet were asked directly on tumblr instead, and was since answered.
<hr>
<p>Today marks the end of the first week of a new year - 2017. And today marks the end of a major original-content artblog that I was following for 2+ years, as well as the end of an era where the people I knew from college posted on tumblr on a regular basis. It became empty, filled with posts from people who I could care less about. More importantly, it marked the complete end of new OC content from people I knew IRL who I could get ideas from, which took priority over all other things - it's now completely deserted.
<p>I would be better off explaining my relation to Tv and any commentary on internal things as well as any anon asks that I did / did not send off at some point in the future (I had various ideas from 2013 that I could finally get to now), but I will provide a summary here.
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<p>Post 2013, the blog helped me make post-college more survivable, though it was on the same level as many other blogs that were active. Three years later, there were substantially more tags that helped me pick up context. I had my own fears once I started to pick up the ask button; it was the first attempt at actually reaching out to someone in this manner and getting to know them better. For the first time, I felt.. connected.
<p>My interests did not quite align, but she was someone out there who I knew irl that I could also understand and relate to. I gained knowledge of things I wouldn't have ever seen, and confidence in some other areas. I knew I couldn't go further, because I wasn't in the right clique to be doing this.
<p>By the second half of 2016 her posts have occupied the majority of my IRL feed; I do like it and read more of the posts there than anything else, but due to the content I have gone to some lengths in order to avoid public knowledge of me actually looking at it (examples include use of RSS only, incognito tabs, even placing her twitter on a separate list (that I check just as often) so it didn't accidentally expose it to others unless I chose to).
<p>The biggest hurdle was an ask indicating that she was someone I've seen irl from college (note the wording, because I only saw her for 3 hours at an event and never talked to her in person), and trying to prove this. Liking posts were okay, but everything stopped when I eventually put down a twitter mention<abbr title="The tweet was scheduled 10 hours in advance, not aware of any posts that came right before then">*</abbr> (which my previous post was about my goal of wanting to draw better and speedpaint, and wanted to set a reference point). I start wondering why all of this happened; was this as a result of me actually trying to open up to her without going anon for the first time? Because I was connected to others from college years ago? Something else? It looks like I will never know for certain, but I do know that there are a lot of factors in play, and I will assume that I was part of that reason and base my future posts accordingly.
<p>For the record, the known IRL part is in this <a href="http://bchantech.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-uop-banquet-sounds-of-service.html">post four years ago</a>.
<p><b>Moving Forward</b>
<p>I will be heading into the unknown from this point forward.
<p>Moving forward means a combination of keeping myself together and getting into rather uncomfortable situations. I'm in a new place where connections are not determined based on who I knew in college anymore, but based on interests, what groups I join now, what events I attend, and how good I am at speaking up.
<p>My successor for new ideas from here would be /r/images and /r/art categories, some categories on Deviantart, as well as a number of tumblr posts and tag monitoring, but in most cases I wouldn't feel the same way as I did before, knowing I'm interacting with only an online profile and not someone who I have personally met.
<p>Even though I meet new people, I may have trouble finding their blogs and such, as mutual blog connections are few and far between, unlike the people I knew in college.
<p>My art project (which will cover the entire year) will start next week; it will not be an easy one, but it will be rewarding - I have tons of art ideas and am more open to posting a variety of content. Considering my current situation I may find getting into shipping might be useful in some form or another.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-33151467006306329772016-11-10T09:32:00.000-08:002017-01-01T12:21:43.343-08:00Return to Twitter<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_11_10_Tweets.png"><br>So I can see all my five year old posts at a glance.
<p>As I begin to transition up to the smartphone era, I may be getting back to Twitter. Now that I'm back to a fulltime job, my smartphone will probably get significantly more usage time than before, and I'll need to find new ways to be informed about current events as I can't use RSS feeds here (I've used this since 2009 to keep me up to date, and I have no fewer than 70 on my main computer).
<p>I have had worse experiences there when I was active five years ago with more spam accounts following my twitter than there were actual ones; however, there's probably a better chance of people noticing content there (with mentions / tags / media) than on this blog, which actually takes me longer to write these posts than the total time people spent reading them, so it's probably worth another go.
<p>Unlike the past, twitter posts will now focus more towards what (and who) I care about as well as topics that interest me the most.
<p>My next goal is to figure out what to start posting on a regular basis; most likely it will contain content I would normally post here (but are too short to be considered a post), any art posts, as well as commentary on other posts.
<p>Process:
<ul>
<li>Wipe old posts that were more intended to be towards closer hs-era friends
<li>Unfollow inactive, empty, or <del>spammy</del> compromised accounts (may be archived to list if I need to refer back to it later)
<li>Like any posts that interests me, based on my following list (or accounts I have viewed) - this is approximate due to searching for various keywords for each person I was following, and I might miss posts that I might otherwise like. I won't hesitate to like posts retroactively (up to a max of two years). No retweets will be done during this time.
<li>Create private lists, add people to list, and unprotect the list (accounts are not notified they were added during this phase)
<li>Unprotect Twitter (most follower requests will be accepted). I may or may not have recent posts up for a short period of time after this happens.
<li>Follow a lot more people. My twitter suggestions list is bad enough that I wouldn't follow a single one there, so I'll figure out who to follow manually - this might take some time. Most sites and people whose posts I'm currently reading on a regular basis (via RSS) are also followed if possible. They might be added to a side list instead (that I check regularly) if they don't fit who people expect me to follow, or they consistently occupy too much or too little of my main timeline.
<li>Will start retweeting at 50 followers.
</ul>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-80415350349047346882016-09-02T23:06:00.000-07:002016-09-07T13:01:21.784-07:00Americana Dawn: (Old) Official Soundtrack<p><iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/250869396&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>
<p>The old Americana Dawn soundtrack used in the RPGMaker/C++ engine era has now been recently released on Soundcloud, with commentary and the cover art for each of the songs from screenshots spanning between the two eras (including songs that didn't make it between the transition). However, what's more interesting is the backstory regarding the release of these tracks.
<p>The soundtrack descriptions might reveal spoilers and important plot points about the game, though it may not be relevant anymore considering the fact that AD may be headed into a new direction. Notably, this includes Cadence; despite her appearing in various pieces of concept art in 2013, her <a href="https://soundcloud.com/shnabubula/cadences-theme-original-snes-rpg-music">character bio included in the soundtrack</a> was never publicly released.
<p>It is worth noting that as the result of this music <a href="https://twitter.com/Shnabubula/status/770698611118178304">no longer being used in the game</a>, <i>none</i> of the original assets as seen in the original (2012) Kickstarter trailer will be part of the final product.
<p>None of the official game pages have made mention of this album release. Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-76437120646881563002016-08-12T17:04:00.000-07:002016-12-13T23:30:11.798-08:00Robinhood CLI<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_08_08_rh_cli2.png"><br>Five seconds to a buy order
<p>Links: <a href="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/programs/rh-cli_20160825.zip">Download</a> (build Aug 25, 2016) - <a href="https://github.com/bchantech/rh-cli/">Source Code</a>
<p>Robinhood CLI (rh-cli) - a simple (unofficial) Windows command line client for Robinhood that no one asked for.
<p>Despite being command line, it's more focused on usability than automated trading, and attempts to reduce the time to place a trade to that of other trading platforms, helping to avoid possible price fluctuations in between.
<p>I mainly use this project as a means to get myself into C# programming (making something that works and is something people will use irl) and to learn the more advanced aspects of that language (such as asynchronous programming and parsing json files), but it might be useful to a number of people.
<p>I intend to add features to this program for at least several more months while I'm still looking around for a full-time software development job; feel free to point out any changes made in the backend that prevents this program from working, or any corner cases that I didn't check (such as whether <code>rh positions</code> with > 150 stocks owned will fail to load (either partially or at all), because URI length > 8k ).
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<p><b>Features</b>
<p>This program adds a number of things not seen (afaik) in any other unofficial RH implementation. This list will be added to as time goes on.
<ul>
<li><b>Increased Realtime Quote Speed</b> - Increased the update time to once per second (this is slightly faster than the update speed on Google Finance), particularly since battery drain is not a real issue on a PC. This is around 5x the speed which Robinhood updates. There might be rate limits, but so far I haven't hit any of them. (If you have a lot of stocks up at one time then updates are slower)
<li><b>Margin Buying Power</b> - Displays how much actual buying power you have in your account in an Instant account. In Robinhood Gold accounts, this also factors in extra buying power based on the tier you have subscribed to, although you will be informed if you cannot use all of it when buying that stock. (A number of assumptions were made on how margin is implemented, so this value may be inaccurate)
<li><b>Maintenance Margin / Initial Margin</b> - Gives you information on how big of a position you can open when extra buying power from RH Gold is considered. (We assume that "extra buying power" represents additional funds handed to you by RH, and are subject to margin requirements). If either of these percents are above 50%, you might not be able to utilize all of your extra buying power on that stock. The official app will adjust your buying power accordingly but will not give you exact margin requirements.
<li><b>Intraday Buying Power (Day Trading Buying Power)</b> - Determines how much you can trade during the day. It's based off of 4x excess margin, so accounts comprised of blue-chip stocks (<a href="http://imgur.com/WQLKZFP">example</a>) will have substantially higher buying power than those who are mainly holding low-priced and/or volatile stocks (<a href="https://i.reddituploads.com/86e5d43e8a26422991b6c6d7c13456f1?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=7a1a0390d58051bdc6c267ea4ce6e0ac">example</a>). On non-PDT accounts, you may start getting High Volatility warnings once you go negative; you will receive a Day Trading Margin Call if you are flagged as a PDT. Buying leveraged ETFs will reduce this faster, so your intraday buying power will be adjusted accordingly. (The app will limit your buying power to prevent this, and does not make any mention of DTBP at all, except in Disclosures.)
<li><b>Max Buy/Sell</b>: Tells you how much of that stock you can buy right now given your buying power, as well as how many shares you have currently and in open orders. (If the price does move past 5% between when you entered the command market orders may not fill). Currently this does not factor the max amount when you place a limit buy order, so be warned if you are planning to spend to the last penny.
<li><b>Stock Split Indicator</b> - If your shares vanished (or were adjusted) because of a reverse stock split, didn't see a notification regarding this (or never got them), and it happened within the last two weeks or so, you will know now. (If you don't have enough shares to meet the reverse split ratio, they are usually converted to cash.) You will also be informed if the opposite holds true.
<li><b>Fees Paid if Applicable</b> - If you are charged a fee when the order is filled, it will inform you. The commission might be zero but the regulatory fees aren't. This fee is more noticeable when selling tens of thousands of dollars worth of shares at once. (FYI: For options, the cost from <a href="http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/node/1184">options regulatory fees alone</a> bumps the total fee to 4 cents a contract, whether you are buying or selling, so make note of that when they support options trading.)
<li><b>Account / Portfolio View</b> - You can display either basic account info and/or a list of all your stocks in your portfolio (including quantity held, equity, cost basis, current price, and profit/loss so far) If your portfolio consists of a lot of stocks it may take a while to load.
<li><b>Extended Hours Trading</b> - Allows you to choose whether your orders will be active during normal market hours or extended hours as well. RH Gold has no setting to toggle this off, so this might be useful in some cases.
<li><b>Additional Warning Messages</b> - Because you are using an unofficial app you may be able to get by some of the restrictions that the official RH app has set in place should those orders fill, so it is my responsibility to cover these scenarios. There is one additional warning if the limit price you are entering is substantially lower than the current price.
<p>Also, market sell orders executed on this program will not execute if the price would be below 75% of current price (most likely due to significant slippage), at which point you should do a limit sell instead.
</ul>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-39678164899527657302016-08-01T13:05:00.000-07:002016-08-12T11:31:45.908-07:00Project: Unofficial Robinhood (Web) App Development<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_08_01_rh_cli.png">
<br>When I need more info and a substantial decrease in latency when making trades.<abbr title="Also, the RH app is located on a Android emulator not on my development computer.">*</abbr>
<p>The lack of non-mobile trading options on Robinhood has led to a large amount of unofficial implementations (most on Github) that allow you to trade while away from
a smartphone (other than using an emulator), however
a majority of them cover only basic functions to do trading (such as buy/sell stock, get quote information). Seeing an opportunity to enter into the field
of web application development, I decide to join in as well, believing I can bring something new to the table.
<p>My first open-source (and real C#) project starting my Github programming portfolio involves use of the console to assist with active trading utilizing the RH API.
You still have to manually enter your orders, but it's able to enter positions faster (mainly by skipping the Trade Preview step).
<p>This program was based on other open-sourced apps that used the API; I don't know why most of these implementations have been largely abandoned in recent times,
but I guess I'm about to find out.
<p>Github source for the above available <a href="https://github.com/bchantech/rh-cli/">here</a>.
<p><b>Please note:</b> This project exists mostly as a coding portfolio piece; I only have part-time working experience but completing this might get me much closer to getting my
foot into the door somewhere.
<p><b>Progress:</b>
<p>This project is divided into four segments:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/bchantech/Robinhood">Robinhood API docs</a>: A forked version of <a href="https://github.com/sanko/Robinhood">an existing RH API documentation</a> with more endpoints filled out and more focused on consistency.
<li><a href="https://github.com/bchantech/RobinhoodNet">RobinhoodNET</a>: A C# .NET API that allows easy access for most parts of the RH API.
<li><a href="https://github.com/bchantech/rh-cli/">rh-cli</a>: command line interface to get various quote information, buy/sell stocks, and a few other things. Stock quotes are updated once per second while placing an order.
<li>rh-alt: Alternate<abbr title="vs other 'unofficial' web interfaces">*</abbr> Web Client interface (might be coded with a combination of Angular.JS, Javascript, HTML5 canvas, d3.js, and more)
</ul>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-23325445789111611982016-05-14T18:14:00.000-07:002016-07-29T20:28:00.310-07:00Joann Fabrics Closing Sale<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_05_14_Joann_A.jpg">
<p>While in the area, I noticed a sign that Joann Fabrics was closing and that all of its items were on sale. Normally I would have at least a paragraph or two about how I went there in order to get a few supplies years ago (typically perler beads for several projects) and how they had weekly 40% off an item coupons. However... they are just relocating.
<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_05_14_Joann_B.jpg">
<p>I did go in and half its shelves were empty. There's a sign at the front saying that the sale will end at the end of June, when they finish opening up the new store. They specified an address where they were moving to, which I could just simply look up.
<p>I didn't have to. It's much closer - as in next door.
<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_05_14_Joann_C.jpg">
<p>I still don't know why a sell-off is needed for moving into an adjacent building, but I'm guessing it's due to both a renovation <a href="http://www.recordnet.com/article/20160617/NEWS/160619758">and moving into a space half the size of the original building</a>. (On a similar note the Wal-Mart in Lodi moves next block in July, but its new location stands to be one of the largest in the US.)Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-47090275312574083472016-04-13T23:49:00.000-07:002016-04-25T23:51:22.355-07:00Marie Callender's - Stockton<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_04_13_MarieCallenders.jpg">
<p>This will be the last time I see the Marie Callender's building in Stockton (or at least what's left of it anyways) after it closed down last January.
<p>It apparently will be <a href="http://www.recordnet.com/article/20160217/NEWS/160219744">replaced with Chick-fil-A</a> over here; I have previously heard about it but never gone over there, so it might be something new to try when they open.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-14156860018326191902016-04-07T23:23:00.000-07:002016-04-10T23:36:59.059-07:00Krispy Kreme Superhero Day<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_04_07_SuperheroDay.jpg">
<p>On April 28th, Krispy Kreme has a Superhero Day promotion where you get a dozen glazed doughnuts for free if you buy a dozen on April 28th. There's a doughnut box to match, with the appearance of a comic book.
<p>This is the first time I've actually heard about it, and there's nothing on the official website about this year's event at the time of writing, but it can be assumed to be valid since they ran this in previous years.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-48630382388123362032016-02-20T23:42:00.000-08:002016-02-21T10:11:25.911-08:00Red Robin Black and Bleu Burger<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_02_20_RedRobin.jpg"><br>A true knife-and-fork burger... once you ask for them.
<p>The Black and Bleu burger at Red Robin sounded like a good idea at the time when it came to finding something new to eat, as I've almost always gotten burgers with swiss and portabello mushrooms at restaurants and never had blue cheese on a burger before.
<p>It's not as salty as other burgers I've been normally eating at fast food restaurants, it's much worse.
<p>At 4,496 mg worth of sodium as is, this beats the <a href="http://www.eatthis.com/worst-burgers-in-america-2015">Saltiest Burger in 2015</a>, as well as being way more sodium that I'm willing to handle in one day, let alone one meal. I had to split the sandwich into two parts as a result. Note that the sodium count does not include those from the endless fries.
<p>Remind me to order this burger without the sea salt and pepper, as it effectively cuts the sodium down by more than half, and there's a supply of that on the table to season it to taste.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-40155766128072698492016-02-03T23:00:00.000-08:002017-01-16T00:23:10.085-08:00Inverse Crude Oil<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_02_03_InverseCrude.jpg"><br>Falling too fast.<abbr title="Thankfully it picked up again and she's now several hundred dollars richer.">*</abbr>
<p>It seems like investing in inverse crude is always a bad time; it keeps going up, and a day after buying, it drops sharply. I might have enough to put in a few more shares at this point but no more.
<p>My stance on crude oil going down to sub-26 still stands (at least for the next few months), particularly because of increased efficiency of getting that oil, and that no one, especially smaller companies, can keep that much crude oil forever due to storage costs (the price has <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-18/negative-oil-prices-arrive-koch-brothers-refinery-pays-050-north-dakota-crude">even gone negative</a> in some cases).
<p>Then there's the possibility that even if all countries agree to reduce oil production, someone might break it to gain increased market share...
<p>Unlike the above screenshot, I was unable to buy DWTI for whatever reason so I went for <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SCO">SCO</a> (which instead has a -17% drop in this case). This is probably better since it drops less overall during a period of high volatility and they are cheaper allowing me to average down for less. I don't have the ability nor the funds to buy commodity futures / options contracts yet but I would use them if I could.
<p>I've seen this volatility before when I had money in bitcoin a year ago so I'm used to it; unlike the former this is an ETF so I can't margin call on this one. The best bet would to be buying shares when the RSI for crude oil futures is high... and hodl.
<p>UPDATE: On Feb 9th, crude price oil went down very quickly below 28, and I have since sold those shares for a profit noting a possible rebound.
Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-46852311000730198632016-01-21T19:00:00.000-08:002016-08-16T19:02:23.262-07:00Robinhood Stock Trading<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_01_21_Robinhood.png"><br>Still waiting, but no longer.
<p>After hearing about <a href="https://www.robinhood.com/">Robinhood</a> on a Reddit post in /r/investing back in December that allows you to trade stocks without commissions, I decide to sign up for it at the start of the year in order to get into more diversified stock trading without having to pay a lot from commissions.
<p>What appears to be an easy entrance instead may turn out to be a high barrier to entry. Despite the official FAQ stating approval can take up to five business days, it was at least two weeks after signing up and stuck with an 'account pending' (with the buy button on stocks visible but disabled) before allowing me to proceed. It doesn't appear to be limited to myself, though, as a <a href="https://redd.it/41k3ma">post</a> shows.
<p>I was eventually approved and was able to start trading at the beginning of February. Initially, trading was an issue as my tablet died and I didn't have a smartphone<abbr title="I do have a cellphone but it is not of the smartphone kind">*</abbr> available to get on; however I was later able to do so via an Android emulator (such as Bluestacks).
<p>I obtained API access later that year and <a href="http://bchantech.blogspot.com/2016/08/robinhood-cli.html">built my own program</a> to execute trades when away from a mobile device and to focus on implementing the things I wanted to see. As of August 2016 over half of my trades are done off-app.
<p>I opened an account on another brokerage generally as a backup, which got approved quickly, so I'll keep that one mainly for some other trades (such as leaps and options) and for other things RH does not yet support.
<p><b>Would like to see:</b>
<ul>
<li>Updates the GUI based on actual current time, not the time on the Android device
<li>Show max shares to buy on order window instead of tap
<li>Buy up to X stocks over a period of time during the day below a set price
<li>Tap / confirm = quick market order (in the official app <a href="https://twitter.com/FedPorn/status/763373032077418496">to a certain extent</a>)
<li>Toggle line indicators on placed orders and/or breakeven points
<li>Notify at certain price (other than +/- 10%)
<li>Quick Stock Lists (useful if watching a lot of stocks)
<li>Trailing stops
<li>IOC, FOK, or pegged orders
</ul>
<p><b>Notes:</b>
<ul>
<li>The time between stock price updates is 5 seconds (and 15 during the order entry window). It takes at least 10 to buy or sell shares.
<li>Place any market orders made off trading hours as day orders so you don't get unexpected trades; market orders have a 5% collar and they're not 'immediate or cancel' (at least at the time of writing) so they won't trigger if the stock difference between closing and next day's opening is too high (ex. <a href="http://invst.ly/12wsj">NUGT Feb 11, 2016</a>, +20.7% increase from previous close), but they aren't cancelled either, so the queued order might trigger unexpectedly at some point in the future if the stock slumps. You also cannot tell what price the market order was made at (nor does the email) should it still remain active so you'll need to write it down somewhere.
<li>It seems like Twitter mentions to @AskRobinhood or through other social media channels are more likely to go through than standard emails if there is no reply from the latter.
<li>After account approval, it is strongly recommended you delete all messages related to any information you attached and sent to them via email, particularly since they now exist as web links and not attachments.
<li>You are more likely to get High Volatility Protection warnings when you start a day with a low amount of cash and your portfolio mainly consists of high volatility and/or penny stocks.
</ul>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-68310537168302697912016-01-09T09:21:00.001-08:002016-01-12T01:50:14.902-08:00Americana Engine - Into 2016<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2016/2016_01_08_Into2016.jpg"><br>
"<a href="https://twitter.com/Valroths/status/679890563546636288">Glad to see it's still alive</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/seltaire/status/679890681913946112">and kicking.</a>"
<p>For months I have considered on exiting the game development market; I have previously made future plans on the basis that after my departure from AD, the game was well on its way with a new Kickstarter and a beta out at the end of 2015, with my efforts gone uncredited and my game engine completely unnoticed since its switch over to Unity.
<p>It appears this was not the case, however, and I have chosen to resume production after looking through this month's statistics.
<p>My career as a software developer may very well depend on completion of the game engine (as well as an optional game) and released for others to see; as many companies take working projects into their hiring considerations, I have determined that it is my responsibility to bring usable quality updates on a timely basis if I want even a remote chance at getting hired.
<p><b>Upcoming in 2016:</b> (not a complete list)
<ul>
<li><b>Porting to HTML5</b> - to make it more accessible to web and mobile devices, and also to serve as a means for others to present small demos without requiring the base game.
<li>Possible open-source release on GitHub
<li>Customizable GUI (what kind of information you can get, however, will be limited)
<li>Project Website adjustments
</ul>
<a name='more'></a>
<p><b>Other Notes:</b>
<ul>
<li>I have planned from the beginning to make the engine open-sourced; By allowing others to find and fix various issues related to the engine, I can instead focus on new features. Although I have done testing on the engine myself, there's bound to be some errors.
Most of the code will be ported from the original C++ game engine (which I will not release its source code due to some potential copyright issues contained within).
<li>I will probably unprotect my Twitter after two years of being inactive. I suppose I will get more spam than quality followers, but this is probably my best option to communicate in general and worse things can happen if I kept things as they were.
<li>For the game itself, I'm going to need a lot of art assets. Without funding, I'll most likely be finding art styles that more closely reflects the TLG-era of development and attempting to recreate them. I am assessing several potential sources and will update later.
</ul>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-22976596397817757072016-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:002016-01-05T14:00:17.783-08:00Superhuman, Chess Pieces, and Binary Code<p ><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en" align=center><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Zoe - Binary Wizard - computing her King & Queen challenge on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Superhuman?src=hash">#Superhuman</a>! <a href="https://t.co/cBHjb8SBqB">pic.twitter.com/cBHjb8SBqB</a></p>— FOX (@FOXTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXTV/status/684225177467539456">January 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The first performance of the Jan 4 premiere of <a href="http://www.fox.com/superhuman">Superhuman</a> has Zoe Wheeler reciting from memory the sequence of 60 chess pieces (30 white, 30 black). Only there are two types of pieces to memorize: a King (White) and Queen (Black). A 0 or a 1. Binary Code.
<p>Although there are over 1 trillion combinations (more like <a href="https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=60%20choose%2030">118 quadrillion</a>) that figure need not apply here.
<p>Memorizing 60 1's and 0's might be a difficult task, but there are ways to cut down on the memorization significantly.
<p>There are various methods of memorizing groups of binary code, including hexadecimal (grouping four 1/0s together to get 0-9, a-f), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64">base64</a> (grouping six 1/0s together to produce a letter or a number). I use the latter since I can memorize a string of 10 letters/numbers easier than other options.
<p><b>Base 64 Summary: </b>
<p>A set of six 0 and 1's (64 possible combinations) are grouped together to form a single letter or number (A-Z, a-z, 0-9). Two more characters are used for the binary values of 63 and 64 since the total number of letters and numbers = 26+26+10 = 62. There aren't a string of seven black/white pieces in a row, so they can be skipped for the purposes of memorizing this.
<p><b>Solving:</b>
<p>The order the pieces are laid out are as follows (Treating a white piece as a 1, with the piece closest to her as the first):
<p><code>100101 001001 010010 001001 010100 111010 110110 001010 111001 101101</code>
<p>This can be encoded to base 64 as follows:
<p><code>37 9 18 9 24 58 54 10 57 45 <br>
kIRIT 51J4s</code>
<p>Now it's a matter of memorizing this string, converting it back to binary, and reciting it... in front of a live audience.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-25360452112374246252015-12-24T11:14:00.000-08:002015-12-31T14:58:20.957-08:00Americana Dawn @ Co-Optional Podcast<p align=center><iframe width="960" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uMBy33bDuz0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>There was a mention on Americana Dawn in Dec 24th's Co-Optional podcast in the section 'What games did you Kick-start this year?', where KiteTales mentions AD (considering she provided the narration for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBoXbIzvjp4">Kickstarter portion</a> of the trailer), while opinions were mainly based on the <a href=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=343291594">Greenlight page</a>, which was updated a year ago. I looked this up after finding a <a href="https://twitter.com/TheGwardian/status/679438014687367168">post</a> about this on twitter.
<p>I will not say anything more about this, other than the fact that it <i>actually</i> ended last year, unless she was referring to a new Kickstarter already launched this year (in which case I have not seen or heard anything about it) and the official websites have moved while the social media page links (on FB, YT, etc) were not updated to point to them.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-55755458688941175922015-12-13T16:00:00.000-08:002015-12-15T12:18:32.485-08:00Ghirardelli Chocolate Sale<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2015/2015_12_15_GhirardelliSale.jpg">
<p>During my previous visit a day before Thanksgiving, I was handed a coupon for this weekend's sales (although you can obtain the same coupon online). It looks like an ordinary additional 15% off purchase, but it's much more than that. I have used some of the chocolates bought today as part of gift bags for this upcoming Christmas.
<p>Here's the summary of the holiday sales:
<ul>
<li>Large outdoor tent with free samples and hot chocolate
<li>Take a picture with Santa
<li>5 Stack Gold Tower: $34.95
<li>Large Stand up Bags: $4.25 (Holiday Sea Salt / Peppermint / Classic / Limited Edition Collections)
<li>Variety of Christmas Tins
<li>Small Stand Up Bags: $2.50 (from $2.99 / $2.66 when buying 5)
<li>All Bars: $2.50 (from $3.00)
<li>Factory Seconds Case (Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie): $15.00 (from $17.50)
<li>430 Milk and White Squares: $100.00
<li>Bulk Candy and 80ct Bags remain unchanged in price
</ul>
<p>Unlike other sales promotions, you <i>can</i> use this coupon to discount items that were already heavily discounted from the Warehouse Sale (this was confirmed with the assistant manager).
<p>Stand-up bags become $2.18 per bag (buying five of them is not required) and a dozen bars, assuming you don't mind minor quality aesthetics, averages out to be $1.06 (which is around the price lower quality Falize Chocolate bars sell at the 99c store).
<p>If you want to start giving early, the coupon is not consumed when you pay for the chocolates, so you can gift your coupon to someone else.
<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2015/2015_12_15_BoxCost.jpg">Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-23731053346673946382015-10-31T22:37:00.000-07:002015-11-24T00:23:50.872-08:00Apple Hill Farms<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2015/2015_10_31_RainbowOrchards.jpg">
<p>During Halloween, I decided to head over to Apple Hill, mainly to explore, get an Apple Pie, and possibly visit the Chestnut Festival at Smokey Ridge. Despite it being listed today (according to the Apple Hill 2015 website) they did not seem to have it upon passing by late afternoon, although there were a lot of other things to look at.
The farms I visited were the following:
<p><b>Rainbow Orchards</b>: Sells a variety of stuff, including apples, baked goods, jams, apple cider doughnuts and hard cider. Has outdoor seating and music performances on certain days. The size of the doughnut is a bit smaller than a regular doughnut. There is a BBQ out there as well; they sell sandwiches and hotdogs ranging from $5-9. The apple pies here are moderately expensive.
<p>There is a price listing <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/rainbow-orchards-camino?select=kW0s_gzcHcLVsgJMJeChew">here</a>.
<p><b>Kids Inc</b>: Sells large apple pies, some apples (they have samples available), and a few vegetables. Contains several vendors and a giant corn maze / pumpkin patch. Menu is located <a href="http://kidsincapples.com/pie-shop/pie-shop-menu-2/">here</a>, with a few pies raised by 50 cents. There is also a grand view of the apple fields from the hillside.
<p><b>Abel's Apple Acres</b>: Sells the largest variety of apple baked goods that I've seen so far, as well as candies and gifts. There are at least three places to buy food from, and there's attractions and vendors outside. Apple pies are relatively inexpensive here (at around $11-12 per pie, both baked and frozen).
<p><b>Tip</b>: Bring a map and figure out your route prior to heading over. It's easy to get lost out here, even with a GPS, and some of the signs for these apple farms are hard to see from a distance.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-62279566924176023482015-10-14T13:50:00.000-07:002015-10-19T23:50:48.302-07:00Americana Engine: Redesign<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2015/2015_10_12_Scripting.jpg"><br>Minor (but important) differences in the script syntax from Beta 3 -> 5, especially for branching statements.
<p>A number of changes have been made to the underlying code as well as scripting format in order to both improve readability and performance. Compiled maps from Engine Beta 3 or below<abbr title="including Americana Dawn Prototype versions">*</abbr> may not be playable since a lot of crucial triggers will not work properly, making Beta 4 the last official version for backwards compatibility.
For more information on what may appear in Beta 5, see the <a href="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/americana/changelog.html">changelog</a>.
<p><b>Brief list of changes:</b>
<ul>
<li>All resources now load outside triggers instead of as actions.
<li>Strings are now compressed for standalone maps
<li>Map variables now include strings as well
<li>Variable pointers are used at the beginning of a variable instead of extra values on an action
<li>Jump Actions now made into If-Then statements by default
<li>Locations were reworked
<li>A lot of internal code was refactored
</ul>
<p><b>Next:</b>
<ul>
<li>Faster map reloads
<li>New GUI for terrain editing
</ul>
<p><b>Development Comments:</b>
<p>Loading resources were originally placed in triggers since there was originally enough of them would cause lag if they were placed at the beginning. After some consideration, not only does sounds and resources loaded in the middle of a map cause a few inconsistencies, they can also break some parts of a map if a trigger that loaded them happened to be skipped over for some reason, and another trigger loaded them instead. Additionally, loading in the middle will also lag for the time the texture or sound loads in realtime, and is more significant if the file being loaded is large. It's not going to make a difference in compiled maps, since all of the data is loaded at the beginning.
<p>To centralize the location where all resources will be loaded, all resource calls are now outside triggers, and there should now be no question as to where these statements can be placed and if they will run or not.
<p>Jump Actions were implemented because of the way the script was interpreted; You needed to get to a line, and there's a trigger to do so. Originally the jump statement required a number and optionally direction (up or down). During early stages of beta testing, users had difficulty with figuring out where these statements were jumping to, and most of the time was spent fixing issues and having to readjust the code every time a line was added in the middle. I also did not want to promote bad programming practices, and this one did it with spaghetti code. The problem was resolved with conditional statements instead. Jump to line is still there, just using labels now.
<p>A bunch of code was refactored (and placed into separate source files) since it became progressively harder to add new features, and even more so to maintain. Prior versions placed most of the map rendering and editing functions in a single cpp file, and class definitions in several other header files. It was nearly impossible to split the main cpp file up as class methods pulled data from global variables. In larger teams, the same cpp file was being edited, which can get extremely cumbersome as all revisions from each commit had to be merged and reviewed so that it didn't cause conflicts and/or errors in the source file, as well as other classes referencing it.
<p>The Battle Simulator in previous game engine releases is not compatible with the current engine version and will not be included in release builds, however source code for the map will be available as a separate download for anyone interested in updating it.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-78743463571860352212015-09-06T01:11:00.000-07:002016-12-11T22:28:32.384-08:00Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory Outlet + Price Comparision<style type="text/css">
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<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2015/2015_09_05_Ghirardelli.jpg"><br>
<p>Running out of Ghirardelli chocolates, I went to get some more in other locations. After spotting this factory outlet from riding
the BART some time ago, I went to take a closer look, considering that I was heading in that direction.
<p>Aside from the Pick and Mix display that I saw in Lathrop (as well as in SF) there were also a number of new items and a large
amount of chocolates in cases (sold as stand up boxes) for a considerable discount.
<p>While trying to figure out what gives me the best deals, someone asked me for help on what to buy (for one of his events)
while saving as much money as possible. I'm also trying to save as much as I can since I buy in bulk (several dozen squares at
a time). Which is what brought me to...
<h3>Calculations and Best Deals</h3>
<p>The prices are calculated for 10 regular squares, with the following notes:
<ul>
<li>This is an incomplete list. Prices were last checked on Sept 2015 and do not include tax. Unless stated otherwise, the prices below refer to general squares sold in Livermore, San Leandro, and Lathrop (the last two which are Factory Outlets).
<li>Take Out Boxes in SF are not included because I did not actually check how many could be stuffed in there.
<li>The prices found in Disneyland California Adventure are the same as those in SF.
<li>Twilight Delight and 60% Cocoa in stand up bags contain 13 of them instead of the standard 10 for the same price.
<li>Variety bags and seasonal squares were not checked.
<li>The 12x Bag Discount was intended to be bought as a case.
<li>15% discount (on receipts) was used on anything it could be applied on (in brackets).
<li>Costco's Assortment is Milk & Creamy Almond, Dark & mint, Milk & Caramel, and Dark & Sea Salt Caramel.
<li>Prices do not include discounts from buying Ghirardelli's gift cards in bulk from other locations (such as Costco)
</ul>
<p>That said, the best option for cost effectiveness would simply be to get them from an outlet store, and in bulk. If you're not in California, then from Costco if you favor caramel chocolates (though it is
seasonal), and Target / a discount grocery store otherwise.
<table id="leaderboard" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align=center color=#331121 style="width=750px; border:1px solid #666;" >
<tr>
<td width=400px><b>Type</b></td>
<td width=150px><b>Minimum Quantity</b></td>
<td width=150px><b>Total Price</b></td>
<td width=150px><b>Price for 10</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Chocolate Heaven - Stand up Bag</td>
<td width=150px>10</td>
<td width=150px>8.95</td>
<td width=150px>8.95</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>San Francisco - Intense Dark Gift Box</td>
<td width=150px>16 / 32</td>
<td width=150px>12.95 / 22.00</td>
<td width=150px>6.88 / 8.09</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>San Francisco - Filled Cable Car</td>
<td width=150px>45</td>
<td width=150px>25.00 [21.25]</td>
<td width=150px>5.56 [4.72]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>San Francisco Chocolate - 1 Bag</td>
<td width=150px>33</td>
<td width=150px>16.95 [14.41]</td>
<td width=150px>5.13 [4.37]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>San Francisco - Pick and Mix</td>
<td width=150px>15-22</td>
<td width=150px>19.90 / lb [16.91]</td>
<td width=150px>4.66-6.59 [3.84-5.64]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Alcatraz Market</td>
<td width=150px>10</td>
<td width=150px>4.99</td>
<td width=150px>4.99</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>San Francisco Chocolate - 3x Bag</td>
<td width=150px>99</td>
<td width=150px>42.00</td>
<td width=150px>4.24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>CVS / Safeway - Stand up Bag</td>
<td width=150px>10-13</td>
<td width=150px>5.19</td>
<td width=150px>3.99-5.19 [2.68-3.49]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Online Store - Case Pack</td>
<td width=150px>430 / 530</td>
<td width=150px>170.00 / 190.00</td>
<td width=150px>3.95 / 3.58</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>80 Count Squares Bag - Overstock</td>
<td width=150px>80</td>
<td width=150px>27.95 [23.75]</td>
<td width=150px>3.49 [2.96]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Target - Stand up Bag</td>
<td width=150px>10-13</td>
<td width=150px>4.49</td>
<td width=150px>3.45-4.49</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Pick and Mix</td>
<td width=150px>15-22</td>
<td width=150px>12.00 / lb [10.20]</td>
<td width=150px>2.72-4.00 [2.31-3.40]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Factory Outlet - Filled Cable Car</td>
<td width=150px>45</td>
<td width=150px>17.00 [14.45]</td>
<td width=150px>2.65 [2.25]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Walmart.com - Stand up Bag</td>
<td width=150px>10-13</td>
<td width=150px>3.38</td>
<td width=150px>2.60-3.38</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Costco - 80 Count Squares Bag</td>
<td width=150px>80</td>
<td width=150px>19.99</td>
<td width=150px>2.50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Costco - 50 pack (Assorted or Caramel)</td>
<td width=150px>50</td>
<td width=150px>11.69</td>
<td width=150px>2.34</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>80 Count Squares Bag - Overstock (x3)</td>
<td width=150px>240</td>
<td width=150px>55.90</td>
<td width=150px>2.32</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Factory Outlet - Stand Up Bag</td>
<td width=150px>10-13</td>
<td width=150px>2.98</td>
<td width=150px>2.29-2.98</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>80 Count Squares Bag - Overstock (x5)</td>
<td width=150px>400</td>
<td width=150px>83.85</td>
<td width=150px>2.09</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Factory Outlet - 5x Stand Up Bag</td>
<td width=150px>50-65</td>
<td width=150px>13.30</td>
<td width=150px>2.04-2.66</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Factory Outlet - 12x Stand Up Bag</td>
<td width=150px>120-156</td>
<td width=150px>28.80</td>
<td width=150px>1.84-2.40</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=300px>Costco - 50 pack (Assorted or Caramel) - Discounted </td>
<td width=150px>50</td>
<td width=150px>8.69</td>
<td width=150px>1.74</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-36276383447751163402015-08-07T22:42:00.003-07:002017-04-24T00:27:21.734-07:00Helixteus 2: Guide + Speed Playthrough<p align=center>
<iframe width="960" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/otaMzVArBEo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>A year ago, there was Helixteus, which <a href="http://bchantech.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-helixteus.html">I reviewed</a>. Now there's <a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/Apple0726/helixteus-ii">a sequel</a>, and the concept of multiple universes, as well as a new building (Central Business District, or CBD) which reduces adjacent building costs and Auto-Collect, the latter which makes a quick Triangulum Probe run doable (which allows you to spawn another universe, essentially a New Game with bonuses). Since it requires very little combat (I was able to finish this without leaving the galaxy) I expect this mechanic to get nerfed back soon.
<p>This post was since updated to cover an update to 2016 which added mining drills and made both the early game more game-breaking and pick-mining unnecessary (save some achievements).
<p>I do not attempt to takeover all of the planets that can be seen in a supercluster because it is unnecessary and makes the game lag too much in the very late stages of the game.
<h4>Need to Know Shortcuts:</h4>
<ul>
<li>D = Select all tiles of that building type (or empty ground)
<li>S = Click an area to start a square selection, click on another tile to end it. If you have an item selected when you are doing this, it will apply that to each building in your selection, provided you have enough of them.
<li>E = Upgrade units. If you have selected multiple units, you can mass upgrade. Can mass upgrade one unit if you rectangle select only one (selection is brighter than usual)
<li>Q = Inventory
<li>Shift + C = Sell all ore
<li>Del - Remove Buildings by clicking without confirmation
</ul>
<h4>Need to Know Concepts:</h4>
<ul>
<li>A solar system (when you zoom out towards galaxy view) is guaranteed to spawn on top your first Solar System when a new game is started, which means that travel time there is equivalent to moving between planets in your starting system. If you leave before you occupy it your actual system will show up correctly the next time the game is loaded and colonizing it early will be much harder, especially if your starting solar system glitches and you can't fly to any other planet there. The above run relies on using this bug.
<li>The price of minerals scales to a rate of your Level^(Level/6.1). If this value is less than 1/32 selling price the latter is used instead. Early game you can buy minerals with ore and sell them at a higher price than selling ore directly, until you reach around 100k, then gems will sell for better until boosts take over.
<li>At around lvl 25+ you need to focus on figuring out ways to get enough storage that you can actually buy Quillite / Kyrium needed to build those end probes. Best way would be to stack Lv10 CBD with Lv1->25+ Ore Tanks (upgrading in bulk gives you less XP than one lvl at a time), combined with cost decrease research. Of course you can always mine them.
<li>Overclock Boost: It existed in the last game and it's more useful here. You get a structure building, then you overclock it, then you speed it up to completion. The longer the timer the better the results. The Science Lab has no cap, but the Ore Mine / Power Plant fills it up to its storage cap... unless you have a decent CBD nearby, in which case a percentage of that huge boost will go straight into your total ore storage cap instead, it can be very useful in topping your stores many times over. (A 34-1-8 ore mine, which costs 144B to create, can be boosted x10 and gives 1.5T worth of ore before the CBD is factored.)
<ul>
<li>The additional resources gained from overclocking is only limited to the duration it has, so it's more beneficial to alternate between placing down speedups and overclocks of similar duration. In the above case (where the upgrade timer was 6d 6h), using 5 32hr speedup + 10x overclock instead of a 168 hr speedup will yield 7.4T from that mine alone.
</ul>
</ul>
<h4>Other Notes or Issues:</h4>
<ul>
<li>For performance, 15 tiles a tick, refresh rate 1000ms. If you are approaching larger planets, then 3000ms.
<li>You can cheese the final boss by using four Supernovals on it, killing him instantly from 100%, before you should be able to. You'll skip several minigames that way but that's to be expected.
<li>There is no retreat in battles. If you attempt to do so with the equal key, you'll restart the battle, and maybe freeze the game if you lost a ship that battle. Not that reloading makes a difference since you get your ships back either way, but still.
<li>New universes may spawn without a single supercluster in the Universe menu, at least until you launch a few probes. This may be a side effect of fixing the boss universe bug.
<li>The 20x boost on a planet (and 50x boost everywhere) gives you a boost timer but doesn't do anything. It's a good thing we don't need them since we have much cheaper alts available.
<li>Speedup VIII (which costs 65T and a compressed diamond) will give you a huge amount of science points if you have something under construction - the more buildings the higher the bonus. Considering that some Lv10 techs can cost > 150P science points doing this might be necessary.
<li>The battle screen enemy bar may glitch when overkilling enemies if the stat difference is high enough (A Lv68 T2 Spectre, which has 112M attack, vs a T2 Helixteus of similar level, which has 2000), and enemies will fail to disappear which will cause the wave counter to malfunction.
<li>After a battle the weapon mastery and XP of the first ship gets further multiplied by the universe bonus multiplier, even though it's not listed. If you cycle ships the on the victory screen you can get that result multiplied over and over again.
<li>If the XP to next level for any ship goes over 4.2 billion (which is around lvl 36 on Universe 10) the counter will roll over and can cause a ship to level up indefinitely, which is quite easy to do in later universes. You will need to close the tab and reload the game; it won't give you the cash and can't use those affected ships anymore, but you get to join the 'Highest Ship level' high score board if the game got saved and you happen to be logged in.
<li>When loading a save after entering a different universe (when you have several mapped out), there's a good chance that it will black screen. It's unknown what causes this, but here's <a href="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2015/bad_savefile.hx2">a savefile</a> that black screens after entering a new universe, and then reloading.
</ul>
<h4>Quick Guide</h4>
<p>(As of v 1.4.1)
<ul>
<li>Starting Out (Before Lv5):
<ul>
<li>We skip the tutorial
<li>Enough Mines and 1 Ore Storage (and upgrade) that you don't hit lv6 yet.
<li>Convert your ore to buy materials needed to get a 200m drill and drill an empty spot. Sell your minerals from and focus on getting 1000m drills, converting cash to ore to speed this process up. Repeat this process several times.
</ul>
<li>Before Lv10:
<ul>
<li>Build shipyards + 4 ships, take over Solar System.
<li>Get a planet to have power plants and focus on energy ball power to L7 once you have the cash
</ul>
<li>Before Lv20:
<ul>
<li>CBDs on center of Mines and leveled decently (> 50%).
<li>Science Lab somewhere, Lv to 7, use 4x boost to get a head start. Don't go past Building Science yet. When you get the money to reach new levels, start from a fresh Science Lab.
<li>Recommended build: Ore Tanks 1 planet, Ore Mines all other planets, 2nd solar system: Ore tanks 1 planet, rest Power Plant
<li>Figure out a balance between Ore Tank caps (at least 100k) and what combination of Mine Level needed to top your tank storage with overclock + speedup when you boost Gem Find to 6, while still making a profit. Use excess profits to upgrade your tanks. Repeat.
<li>T2 Ships and get additional planets as needed.
</ul>
<li>Universes 2-14:
<ul>
<li>Incrementing the Master Level requires leveling your universes. The master level increases the universe bonus effect, which improves the stats of everything. This also appears to have an exponential effect over the money given from defeating enemies, though ore is something different.
<li>Your first universe should have a method of being able to pump out Triangulum Probe on an ongoing basis.
<li>The same steps from the first universe apply, though it gets harder to buy coal with ore and sell for a decent profit since the level jumps are higher.
<li>Level 10-15 on these universes is optimal before building a new universe, as this generally increments the master level by 1 (or two) each time. The quickest way to achieve this is building nothing but CBDs on these planets as they have the most XP for the cost.
</ul>
<li>Universes 15-29:
<ul>
<li>At this point 15-20 minutes per universe is doable. Green stars appear a lot more often.
<li>You can't really use the selling technique anymore since the first building you put down will jump your XP to at least Lv5. Start with a Mine, and save enough to get a mining pick and start harvesting ore, which can then be sold for cash. Mining Picks are considerably faster at this point.
<li>Starting enemies can be brutal, especially when your nearest solar system has rare and/or multiple stars. Start with T2 ships and train them in your starting system, and aim for systems which don't have T6-7 enemies. Use the profits to build T3 ships. Don't upgrade the shipyard past what you need since it makes buying ores harder. You can get max level weapon mastery after a few battles.
<li>Up stats 75% Atk/25% Acc or so on a ship. You need the accuracy to not miss any shots, and enough ATK that your defeat them in one turn.
<li>Watch your XP on your first ship, if it gets too high it freezes the game. There's some trial and error but the safe spot is 40-50G total XP per ship after factoring in the universe multiplier so go for lower XP battles.
<li>You should have enough ore to buy a quillite and kyrium, maybe several thousand if you are at a low enough level. Upgrade the selling price and then sell these ores back for a nice profit.
</ul>
<li>Universes 30+:
<ul>
<li>The standard Mine/Pickaxe/14 Power Plants/Shipyard applies. Expand to two planets and then start working on the next solar system, prioritize getting energy balls.
<li>I use a T1 ship on the first slot and three T3s, 75% Atk/25% Acc.
<li>Class Z stars can be generated; they don't show on your stats screen until you have one on your screen. They don't generate as much as you would expect them to with solar panels, but they're good for battle rewards.
<li>Very few battles are necessary to get the required 300T to advance, but the real challenge here is the ore needed to upgrade Energy Ball power to acceptable levels. There are few battles available that can be completed and not freeze the game up. If you can get them to 500G/ball, you're ok.
<li>If your first ship is nearing its XP limit, build a Shipyard on your last planet and swap out your T1 ship.
<li>If you can't get the necessary ore but have cash in the P range, then you can get ore storage up to a value necessary to buy those upgrades. Place and upgrade a CBD nearby first if you also need to buy materials as well.
</ul>
</ul>
Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3643275436941599888.post-75408258119353666742015-07-17T19:00:00.000-07:002015-07-19T23:52:41.626-07:00Bitcoin ATM, Roseville Galleria<p align=center><img src="http://bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/blog_files/img/2015/2015_07_17_BitcoinATM.jpg"><br>
<p>After finding out about this machine in <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/11/04/roseville-galleria-gets-bitcoin-machine.html">an article</a> six months ago, I wanted to see this for myself. I was unable to do so until recently.
<p>I won't be able to use it yet, mainly since I don't have a smartphone at this time, but if I need to return to one, I know where to find it.
<p><b>Note:</b> At the time this picture was taken (7/17 6:45PM PDT), the price to buy 1 Bitcoin was $319.37, which is a <b>14%</b> markup compared to the online exchange rates.Brendan Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06070117209970868284noreply@blogger.com0