Yaser Sulaiman’s Blog

Everything that has a beginning has an end. Yes, this is my last day of my summer training at Futurware.

I spent the last week finalizing the list of features for the auditing component. Fortunately, the Team Leader didn’t ask me to go to Aramco. I think he figured out that I will only slow them down. Lucky me! I also wrote the second and third progress reports. Unlike the first one, my posts about summer training were really helpful. Lastly, I submitted all what I have worked on to the company.

I really enjoyed working at Futureware. I know it wasn’t perfect, but compared with what I have heard from other students about their summer training experience, mine was really good. I’ll defiantly miss it.

Now, it’s time for me to go to Syria and enjoy my two-week vacation. See ya!

Getting bored of the walls around you? Put HypoSurface on them and enjoy the show!

HypoSurface is the World’s first (see the note at the end) display system where the screen surface physically moves. It uses an “interlocking flexible panels activated by compressed air from behind the wall to create three dimensional waves, patterns, images, and even words by moving the flexible panels in sync“. Using software, the wall can react to sound and movement. Add to that some light effects, and the result is quite amazing:

Here is another video showing HypoSurface in action at the Bio 2007 International Convention:

You can find more videos at the company’s website.

(via [Geeks are Sexy] Technology News)

Note: I don’t think it is the first display system with a moving surface. Daniel Rozin built the Wooden Mirror in 1999 and the Shiny Balls Mirror in 2003. There is another thing: why did the company register their commercial website as a dot-org?

At last! I got the chance to work on something as interesting as the OLAP Cube.

On Saturday, I started searching for audit trail components based on the new info. One of the employees told me that I should take a look at the Enterprise Library (a library of application blocks designed to assist developers with common enterprise development tasks). I found that it contains the Logging Application Block which can be used to simplify the implementation of common logging functions.

On Sunday, I started reading a blog about how to use the Logging Application Block. I tried to follow the steps of building a simple application with logging capabilities, but there was something wrong with the database connectivity. I changed so many settings to the extent that I couldn’t trace back the changes, but it refused to work. The Team Leader sent me an e-mail containing more details and asked me to study this tool more. This was good news for me, because I figured out that I won’t be going to Aramco soon!

On Monday, I continued my struggle with the library and the DB. After one last reboot, the whole thing worked! What made it work? I have no idea! (Déjà vu: I faced a similar situation with the OLAP cube before). I developed and tested another application with more logging capabilities. I sent an e-mail to the Team Leader to inform him of my progress.

What’s next? I don’t know! I have managed to dodge going to Aramco for the time being, but I don’t know if I can keep doing it till the end of my summer training.

It seems that I’ll spend the last two weeks of my summer training in the place I hate most!

On Monday, I formatted the proposal according to the company’s official format and sent it to the Team Leader. He responded by giving me a “real” new task: they wanted to know if there are any audit trail system components that can be used within the system. I never heard of “audit trail” before and I wasn’t given many details about it. So, I was on my own.

On Tuesday, I reached a dead end in my search. I was hoping to see the Team Leader on that day but his meeting with the Big Boss (the founder of the company, that is) took too long and didn’t end till after 5:30 PM.

On Wednesday, I sent an email to the Team Leader requesting more details about this new task. He replied back giving me the details I asked for, and there was something else: “Even if you can’t find anything relevant let me know. I might ask you to do some development with us here in Aramco“. NO! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!

I have to find a way to get out of this! Wish me luck

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