In Flex, if you have a custom slider thumb, it will always be scaled to a set size that Flex wants (I think 20×20).

My workaround (that sets to the measured size of the skin image):

package controls.sliderClasses {
	import mx.controls.sliderClasses.SliderThumb;
	import mx.core.mx_internal;

	use namespace mx_internal;

	public class FlexibleSliderThumb extends SliderThumb {

		override protected function measure():void {
			super.measure();
			measuredWidth = currentSkin.measuredWidth;
			measuredHeight = currentSkin.measuredHeight;
		}
	}
}

So I made flan last night.

and we scared the shit out of it

Mmmmm….

I wrote an Flex app yesterday as a demo of component lifecycle and metadata tag usage.

It’s a remake of the classic Gorillas game.

You can play it here.

The source code is here.

So following xkcd’s geohash algorithm as featured in this comic and made easy by this site and documented by this site, we went out to Encinitas to hit our point for Saturday. Our expedition was added to the wiki here.

Some pictures:

Yes, I now own a GPS
Side story: We left home at around 2:45PM to Fry’s since Kristi’s Garmin (GPS) didn’t display coordinates. We got to Fry’s probably around 3:15 to pick up a GPS that showed coordinates. (Garmin Nuvi 200!!) Anyway, we were able to get to the front of the Fry’s line (it was around 3:30 and we still needed to get to Encinitas at 4:00PM for the scheduled meeting time - around 15 miles away) thanks to the badass Fry’s salesman that sold me the Nuvi after I told him we were in a rush. We ended up making it to the meetup point in Encinitas at 3:58 and got pictures at exactly 4:00PM. So the Hero of the Day award goes to the nameless Fry’s salesman.

Side story 2: We went to Home Depot afterwards to buy wood for the old radio to convert to a gaming computer. More on this next time…

Postscript: A new almostflan coming soon…
Post Postscript: Lakers are in the finals!!! I’ll post on how my predictions went later (after the finals…)

I thought I’d put together a bracket for the playoffs starting in a handful of hours. It’s been a crazy year and there are lots of very interesting first round matchups…

There will be 14 series played, I think I’ll be pretty happy if I get 7 or so right.

I’ve got the Lakers winning it all of course and naturally Kobe taking the Finals MVP.

Some interesting things:
-Wizards beating the Cavs, then losing to Boston in 7
-Philly losing in 7 to Detroit
-7 of the 14 series are 7 game series

Anyway, it’s been a fun season. I’m only pretty sure about the outcome of 3 of the 8 first round matchups:
-Orlando over Toronto
-Boston over Atlanta
-Wizards over Cavs

My predictions

So I just upgraded my wordpress install to version 2.5. The shining new feature is a media library. No more need for various hacks in the form of plugins

To commemorate this occasion, my first wp gallery!

Continue Reading »

So I’ve had the joy of working with Windows Vista at work (not directly with, but more IT type stuff) so when people talk it down saying that it’s a resource hog (enter Aero) or that it only supports one and a half programs (explorer and half of MS Word) or its wonderful DRM (RAM upgrades are overrated anyway), I punch them in the face and tell them it’s a terrific OS. Anyway, word on the street is that the next version, the once dubbed Windows Vienna (now call Windows 7), is set to release in 2010.

And of course, we have a wikipedia entry already.

And here’s the compulsory screenshot:
(looks a lot like vista don’t it…that’s the way I like it :D)

This is actually kind of old news. Anyway, taaz is a website where you can do virtual makeovers for free.

I made a video yesterday

So as some of you may know, I work for a company that is developing a product that applies makeup on faces in an interactive context. You can apply lipstick, blush, etc to touch up an existing photo that you can upload from your computer. There is also a notion of a social network built in so that you can share your makeovers with your friends along with content pages for tips and tricks for practical usages and stuff. Of course, all of these services will be free.

My primary role in the company is to develop the software surrounding the product, but as a startup, everyone does everything. For example, I would also be responsible for testing various parts of the code. In any case, one of our tests spawned a site which exhibits some interesting edge cases.

Here is a sample from that site. All images on that site were created completely with our makeup editor. No additional photoshop work was done.