#systepic

Greetings. It has (yet again) been a while.

In an effort to commit to joining the 'early bird' crowd I am, among other things, attempting to make a daily blog entry part of my morning routine. The general idea is to give me a reason other than work to get up in the morning, an idea inspired by this guy. We'll see how this goes. Some changes have occurred. These days I am a partner (one of three) in a new company called Plaidian LLC, a name whose spelling no dictionary seems to know. I consider that a victory.

I'm hanging out in downtown Portland today, at the wonderful little Coffee Crutch, just up Yamhill from Pioneer Square. Its just a dollar for a cup of coffee, and you can refill it for free. I imagine some of their business model revolves around one feeling guilty about such a deal and making up for it by purchasing a pack of Tic-Tacs or a muffin, which they leave conveniently on display. Tempting me.

In addition to the usual Systepic stuff, I am revisiting my work on Project Theta. It is interesting uncovering work one has done before; I rediscovered a bunch of OneNote entries I wrote almost a year ago, many of which I'd forgotten existed. I think I'm going to pick up where I left off, which means I'll have to hunt down my copy of Dante's Inferno again. Judging from my notes, I was somewhere in the middle of the 9th circle...

On the gaming side, I recently picked up Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for my DS, and am having an absolute blast with it. I was initially a bit worried when I read the game would work entirely off of the touchscreen, but as usual Nintendo quietly backhanded my doubts away within minutes of my first gesture. All in all, the game feels like a lighter, more to the point version of Wind Waker; the same look and feel, less text. The world appears smaller, though I've only uncovered half of the sea charts, and explored less than half of one of them.

Greetings, world. I know, it has been ages since I graced Vox. There is much to explain.

For starters, I no longer call Salt Lake City my home. Matt and I decided that it was time to get out in the world and make a name for ourselves, so we have relocated to Portland, Oregon to found Systepic LLC. Our focus is industry-based penetration software, a method of development where we research what a business lacks in terms of software, and provide a solution to fill that need. I have written a much more detailed summary of what our company is about on the actual company website so if you are so inclined, feel free to check it out.

This of course means that I am no longer an active student at Neumont University. This is not the end, by any stretch; I fully intend on completing my degree. I just don't feel I need to do so right now. I have not 'dropped out' of college! To 'drop out' implies a general disinterest in the major, and a shift away from anything to do with it. Quite the opposite, I'm diving into the industry head first.

It has not been an easy run, getting settled out here. Initially we had a more stable source of funding and thought we would have a place in downtown Portland within two weeks of arrival. Now, it looks as though we'll be residing in Beaverton. It's not far from downtown, as Google Maps will show you. Also, there are a number of public transit options available that can land you right in Pioneer Courthouse Square for only a few dollars. This saves us hundreds on living expenses, as well. Still, I would have liked to be closer. The University District, ideally (good god is it expensive around there).

Portland has changed somewhat since I last frequented it, and not really for the better. Much of downtown is torn to hell due to construction for a new MAX Line. That's fine, but the crime rate in north Portland has spiked quite a bit because of it. There is a lot less car/walking traffic around Union Station, which has led to open air drug dealing, among other things. On 5th and Hoyt, where I used to hop a shuttle to and from Saint Helens back in my PCC days, one cannot cross the street without being...solicited. I truly hope that the situation improves once the construction is complete, but I'm no expert on how effective that will be.

A lengthy conversation with a Portland PD Sergeant revealed that a good deal of the trouble has something in common with irony. Apparently, whenever there is a spike in crime in an area, there is at first an equivilent spike in police reports called in by residents. However, as time goes on people stop reporting crimes, because they see them so frequently that it moves from extraordinary to commonplace. This doesn't help the local PD much, because their statistics show a drop, and less resources are allocated to help. It sounds like a pretty vicious cycle.