Web Site: http://www.frankgarofalo.com

• Undergrad
• Cary Club (too many great memories to all call out, but definitely being apart of the first Rock the Quad was awesome - especially seeing it continue as an outstandingoustanding tradition with WEtheKings this past spring).
  
• Emily Mauzy Emerging Leaders Program (Bridget Golden - thank you for all the support my freshman year, you've been missed ever since your family moved to Vanderbilt)
  
• WCCR (oh, "Frankie G and the Mafia" was an awesome show, thanks Christian Hall and Billy Castrodale)
  
• Purdue Student Government (thanks Will Delozier)
• Purdue Admissions Office Tour Guides (I'm still can walk backwards)
  
• ACM SIGGRAPH at Purdue
• Purdue Athletic Promotions and Advertising (hey - being a freshman and getting to be on the football field and basketball court during games was awesome)
• Disney College Program (definitely the best summer of my life and a vast amount of great memories)
• ITaP Student Advisory Council (funny how back in 2005 we wanted to get rid of the Purdue Webmail and still in 2010 they are talking about getting rid of it... oh Purdue)
• Disney College Program Campus Representative (Alana Partridge - you were awesome to have worked with!)
  
• Belle of Louisville Marketing Internship
• Resident Assistant at Cary Quadrangle (I've enjoyed seeing my former residents go on and be successful at Purdue)
• Bank of America (my first look at the cubical life in corporate-America)
  
• Staff Resident at Cary Quadrangle (definitely my favorite of all my memories - lots of valuable lessons learned - don't play card games with staff during trainings, ha ha; Thanks to my all my former staff members and to Bob Brophy; funny how you can be accused of being a "ring leader of a coup" when you try to bring an issue to the attention of administrators)
  
• F9IB (ha ha, good times & long story)
• Mortar Board (a fun group of student leaders to have had the honor to work with)
  
• Iron Key (definitely my second favorite of all my memories - go team PTC!)
• College of Technology Undergraduate Student Grade-Appeal Committee (it's amazing how an appeal system can be corrupt - very long story)
  
• Adobe Lighthouse Program & attending Adobe MAX conferences (cold calls can certainly pay off)
• myPurdue Portal Advisory Committee (they ask for a CGT student who has studied user-interface design to serve on the committee but they were too afraid to make changes to the out-of-the-box system to improve the UI, oh well)
  
• Graduate School
• Adobe Dev Connection Content Contributor (I greatly appreciate the support from the Adobe Higher Ed team and allowing me to be a contributor on the Dev Connection site)
• IT Summit 2008 at Purdue University Poster Competition
• U.S. Provisional Patent (who would have thought a web/graphic user-interface guy would get a patent for designing a piece of hardware, it still makes me laugh inside)
  
• An overall summary, being a grad student doesn't necessarily also mean being a teaching assistant or a research assistant... but being a "black sheep" can be fun too, ha ha

Below is an article I wrote for the Adobe Developer Connection (Education Category). The full article, published July 2010, can be found at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/edu/articles/frank_garofalo.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Multi-touch" technology has generated a large amount of buzz in the past several months. Some of the buzz is about mobile/handheld devices, and some has come from broadcast media's adoption of touch devices for their programs (such as CNN's "Magic Wall," NBC's Saturday Night Live, and ESPN). This has resulted in the term "multi-touch" being used to describe a broad range of interaction types, interfaces, and devices. Most of the uses for touch interfaces that I've seen have involved a single user interface allowing only one or two touch points at a time through tapping the screen or through gestures. However, the true capabilities of a "multi-touch" interface can accommodate multiple users interacting through any number of taps or gestures on the screen at the same time.

Multi-user Multi-touch

For the purpose of this article I do not refer to "multi-touch" to describe a smart-phone or hand-held device that can recognize only one or two points of touch simultaneously, such as a Motorola DROID; I refer to larger devices like the Microsoft Surface product that can accommodate multiple users and recognize points of touch from several users simultaneously (at least three simultaneous points of touch).

The research conducted as part of my graduate studies in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University (www.tech.purdue.edu/cgt/) has been a qualitative examination of multi-user collaboration with multi-touch devices. The study explored the experience of users performing a common task in a shared environment (in this case the shared environment is the single display screen of the multi-touch device). For more details about this research study visit www.multiusermultitouch.com.

Digitally Replicating a Six Sigma Brainstorming Exercise

For my research, I designed and built my own multi-touch table (which is currently pending a U.S. Patent) that could showcase the interface I developed with the Adobe Flash Platform.

For the hardware, I used an open-source software package called Community Core Vision (CCV), created by the NUI Group, to serve as a liaison between the hardware components and the Adobe Flash Player. I developed an Adobe AIR application to recreate a brainstorming exercise used within Six Sigma, known as both "Affinity Diagrams" and "KJ Analysis." Typically in Affinity Diagram exercises, participants anonymously record and submit individual ideas or concepts on separate sticky notes. Then the participants sort through the sticky notes, grouping and categorizing them by moving them physically. Through this process, unforeseen relationships between the ideas can emerge. Since this activity requires participants to interact in a shared work environment in the physical world, I chose to replicate it in a multi-touch environment to explore the implications for a multi-user interface.

Exploring the Multi-user Interface

A moderator with Six Sigma Green-Belt certification and experience working with both corporations and universities served as a facilitator for the exercises performed during user testing. I selected Adobe AIR as the client since the application could run natively on a laptop computer connected to the multi-touch table, and chose the Adobe Flash Platform to capture the experience of multiple users simultaneously interacting with multi-touch interface and hardware. In the AIR application, users were able to move virtual sticky notes on the multi-touch table, and perform the same grouping and categorizing exercises that people do with physical sticky notes in an Affinity Diagram exercise.

While both the hardware and software of the multi-touch device created a few challenges for the participants on various levels, including occasional software failures, they were able to complete the exercises. That benefited not only this study, aimed at collecting qualitative data from the participants, but also the participants themselves, who were able to take the results of the Affinity Diagram exercises back to their respective organizations on the Purdue campus.

Affirming Research Assumptions

My goal was to determine whether a multi-touch interface and device can be a practical shared environment for a team of individuals to complete a common task. The participants indicated that for completing an Affinity Diagram exercise, the multi-touch device proved to be a useful tool and believe that it improved collaboration. The moderator for the Affinity Diagram exercise was surprised at the speed with which the participants in both rounds completed the tasks, despite a learning curve for them to become familiar with the multi-touch device. She remarked that she has "not done one on paper that quickly." Furthermore, participants in the study expressed appreciation for the usefulness the multi-touch device provided. It allowed them to see all the data in front of them at once, and to see most of the actions of their fellow participants.

About the author

• Purdue University Press Release: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/general/2010/100706WrightExercise.html
  
• Journal and Courier newspaper article: http://boilerstation.jconline.com/article/20100714/NEWS0501/100714010/1122/boiler
• News Channel 18 WLFI story: http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/emergency-on-campus-at-purdue
  

The submission of the Adobe AIR application I developed as the user-interface for my graduate research project has been selected as a semi-finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Below are my submission details:

• Submission Category: Non-Browser-Based Design
• Submission #: 484
• Entry title: Multi-user Collaboration
• Number of Pieces: 1

For more details about the Adobe Design Achievement Awards, visit: https://adaa.adobe.com/us/content/adaaLive

• My parents and brother
• Robert Brophy
  
• Dr. James Mohler
• Prof. Rodney Vandeveer
• Prof. Terry Burton
• Prof. Gail Farnsley
• Dr. Mary Sadowski
• Julie Talz
• My Resident Assistant Staff Members at Cary Quad from the past few years
• ... and all my friends who have stood by me (and let me vent/rant at times!), you know who you are

I have gone through your document and I think it is in pretty good shape. I have edited and you can pick up the changes I am suggesting. Most edits are grammatical errors/small things to tighten up the document. You have done a good job analyzing and summarizing the qualitative data.

• Content Pages: 127 (including the Bibliography)
• Content Page Word Count: 41,894 words (including section titles, not including the table of content and list of figures)
• Total Pages: 154
  

Adobe Systems has announced the creation of the first ever "digital museum," which just happens to be dedicated to showcasing digital media. The official name is "Adobe Museum of Digital Media" or "AMDM" for short.

For more details visit: www.adobemuseum.com

Adobe has launched a web page outlining their dedication to providing users of their software and platforms choices.

To quote the site "At Adobe, we believe that the open flow of creativity, ideas, and information should be limited only by the imagination. Innovation thrives when people are free to choose the technologies that enable them to openly express themselves and access information where and when they want. Everyone loses when technological barriers impede the exchange of ideas."

What this all comes down to is Adobe highlighting their commitment to allowing designers and developers the ability to choose which tools they would like to use when creating content for their target audience. In other words, another jab at Apple for making the iPhone platform a closed, proprietary system.

For more details, visit: http://www.adobe.com/choice/

Below is a reflection of my experience as a Staff Resident at Cary Quadrangle from 2007 until 2010. For those who don't know, a Staff Resident is a live-in supervisor position for University Residences at Purdue University, whom directly oversees a staff of resident assistants. Take these thoughts for what they are worth - they're just purely based upon my experiences (successes and failures).

Motivation

• Staff Dinners - regardless of having a breakfast, lunch or dinner, get your staff together on a regular basis besides staff meetings. Make it optional, but highly encouraged. I have witnessed how this social aspect helps to build a strong connection among staff members. A large part of supervising a staff is the human resources side - the soft skills.
• Personality Sheets & individual specific rewards - having a brief survey to ask your direct reports about their favorite candy, ice cream, movie, song, holiday etc helps to provide you with information to reveal who they are and what makes them "tick." Also asking how they are motivated as well as how they prefer to be recognized is beneficial information to know. By collecting a list of their favorite candy, cookie, soda, etc this can help when rewarding your staff by giving them specific rewards that you know are their favorites - such as regarding everyone who turns something in on-time and rewarding them each their favorite candy bar.
• Sometimes there is a fine line between being a friend and a supervisor, especially when both of you are still students in college; in addition to living and working in the same building.
  

Administration

• Don't be afraid to ask questions - ask "why?" I thoroughly believe a good manager should not be afraid to have their direct reports question why things are being done / implemented. On a side note, I thank Bob Brophy for having an open communication channel going both up and down the chain of command.
• Come to the table with possible suggestions/solutions, when you disagree with something. This shows that you have at least started to think about what might work better, rather than just showing up and complaining.

Progressive Discipline

• Acknowledge the issue that had occurred, and then focus on preventative / corrective action to keep the issue from occurring again.
• Look for a pattern of behavior - which then definitely needs to be addressed.
• Document everything - even if it means keeping a separate notebook or an Excel spreadsheet.

Confrontation with residents

• Ask questions - to some degree, just like the Socratic method.
• Don't make assumptions, again: ask questions.
• My personal favorite: If there is a large group of residents doing something they shouldn't - say "Gentlemen" (I worked at Cary Quad will all male residents) in a loud tone to get their attention, then ask them "what are you doing?"
• If confronting intoxicated residents, especially those who are uncooperative, tell them that you are concerned about their well being since they are unable to cooperative with you. Call the paramedics and tell the Purdue dispatcher that you have reasons to believe the individuals are intoxicated. Then 90% of the time a PUPD officer will show up with the paramedics.
• From my observations, most people today lack the skill of confrontation. They prefer to avoid confronting someone else about an issue they have. The skills that you can develop as a RA and feeling comfortable confronting others, I personally believe will be a valued asset to have in your profession as well as personal life.
  

Building a community for Resident Assistants (originally written August 2009)

• Building a community is your #1 goal. But how do you do that? Through offering programs to residents, it gives them opportunities to get to know one another as well as establish a rapport with each other and with you. From Day 1 through at least Week 3, you need to focus a large amount of attention on your floor and be accessible to your residents. Get them together for floor dinners each night. Take a group to the fitness center to play basketball or Wally-ball. Initiate a video game tournament. There are several things you can do to determine the interests of your residents, such as passing out a survey to them. Once you know what interests them - you can plan programs around their interests. When you plan programs around their interests, hopefully you will have a larger attendance at the program.
  
• Since community development isn't necessarily a tangible item that can be easily accounted for, the Programming Model exists to help us determine if you have created a community on your floor. The model quantifies the effort you have made to build a community for the sake of performance evaluations. Granted there can be the best RA ever with a floor of residents that don't want to have anything to do with their RA, which is why the model allows you to plan programs for your residents but also invite residents from all across your hall and even other residence halls. Be in communication with your Staff Resident to keep them informed on how the community is evolving on your floor - they can provide suggestions and tips to develop it further, thus making you more successful.
• These first few weeks are crucial to establish the community now while most of your residents are adjusting or re-adjusting to campus. If you are able to establish the community now, it should make the rest of your school-year easier.
• Looking long-term, obviously being a RA isn't a life-time career however by building a community on your floor the skill sets you develop can provide you with an added value once you are out in the workplace.

Additional Overall thoughts

• Residents are the customer, not the parents (even though they may be paying the bill).
• Keep your staff informed and updated as often as possible - this will keep everyone content. Time and time again I've seen too many problems occur because people weren't aware of the most accurate information available.
• Give credit where credit is do - if a direct report of yours makes a large accomplishment that catches the attention of others, don't take credit for it just because the staff member works for you. I've seen some managers take credit for what their staff has done, just because they supervise them.
  
• "Experience is something you gain after you needed it" ~unknown, and to expand upon that: every situation you encounter will be slightly different from the last (again, don't make assumptions) but hopefully you can call upon your past experiences as a rough set of guidelines to determine the best course of action with the current situation you may find yourself in.
• Have fun - and stay positive. Laugh at yourself when you make mistakes.
  

I'll add more to this if I think of more thoughts to share.

Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on "rollovers", which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple's revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn't use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

The digital post-it notes being sorted included various popular social networking sites, such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc. Special thanks for volunteering to be video taped - Sean S., Brian E., Ben T., and Mike M.

• "Can't play the game unless everyone is firing off on all cylinders." ~Unknown
• "Humility is the ultimate virtue." ~Frank Wells, Former Walt Disney Company COO
• "Got to any institution and you'll see, it's not about the bricks and mortar, it's about the people." ~ Michael Eisner, Former Walt Disney Company CEO & Chairman

Given the following XML:

<data_set>
  <data_item>
    <item_num>1
    <item_text>Test 1
  </data_item>
  <data_item>
    <item_num>2
    <item_text>Test 2
  </data_item>
  <data_item>
    <item_num>3
    <item_text>Test 3
  </data_item>
</data_set>

Now to find the maximum or minimum value for the node "item_num", below is a function to sort through the matching nodes of the specified element:

function findValue(xmlData:XMLList, nodeName:String, options:Object = null):String {
  //XMLList of all the nodes with the specified name
  //DATA_ITEM refers to the element name from our XML provided above 
  var col1:XMLList - new XMLList(xmlData.DATA_ITEMnodeName);
  //Temporary Array
  var temp:Array = new Array();
  
  //Add all the relevant node values to a temporary array
  for (var i:int = 0; i < col1.children().length(); i++) {
     tmp.push(col1i);
  }
  //Sort the Array with the options provided as a parameter to the function
  var sorted:Array = tmp.sort(options);
  //Return the first value in the sorted array
  return sorted0;
}

Now to use our function:

//xmlDataList is our incoming XML data from a file or source we have already parsed
trace ("Maximum Value: "+ findValue(xmlDataList, "ITEM_NUM", Array.DESCENDING|Array.NUMERIC));
trace("MIN Element1: " + findValue(xmlDataList, "ITEM_NUM", Array.NUMERIC));

Source: http://www.glodde.com/blog/default.aspx?id=25&t=AS3Flex-Find-the-minimum-or-maximum-v

After looking everywhere to try to figure out how to save data to an existing XML file, this is what I came up with:

//~~~~~~ IMPORT FLASH CLASSES
import flash.filesystem.*;

//~~~~~~ VARIABLE DECLARATION
var dataPathLocal:String = "com/frankgarofalo/data/"; //file path
var destinationFile:File = File.userDirectory; //Where to save the file on local computer
var sourceFile:File = File.createTempFile(); //Temporary File
var writeStream:FileStream = new FileStream(); //File Access
var xmlData:XML = new XML();

//~~~~~~ CODE
xmlData = 1; //XML Data
destinationFile = destinationFile.resolvePath(dataPathLocal);
//trace (destinationFile .exists);
//trace (destinationFile .nativePath);
//trace (destinationFile .url);

//Open File & Write to the File
writeStream.open(sourceFile, FileMode.WRITE);
writeStream.writeUTFBytes(xmlData);
writeStream.close();
sourceFile.copyToAsync(destinationFile, true);
sourceFile.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, dataSaved);	

function dataSaved(e:Event):void {
    trace ("~~~~~~ XML SAVED SUCCESSFULLY ~~~~~~");
}

Hopefully I didn't forget anything from copying over the code from my AS file. If I did or if you have any questions, please let me know. Here are some links for reference:

• Adobe LiveDocs: flash.filesystem.File
• Adobe LiveDocs: flash.filesystem.FileStream

Sonar from Renaud Hallée on Vimeo.

So I've been working with the ActionScript class RotatableScalable (which can be found on the NUI Group web site at: http://wiki.nuigroup.com/Building_Your_First_Multi-Touch_Application_in_Flash). However, I found a major flaw with that class that occurs when rotating an asset object that extends the RotatableScalable class. The object is rotated around its 0,0 coordinate (or in other words the top left corner of the asset). From preliminary testing, this proved to be very disorientating to users since the asset would spin away from the users' fingers.

Chris Yanc created a revised version of the RotatableScalable class called RotatableScalableRev which resolves that issue. For more details about his version, visit: http://www.cyancdesign.com/2009/05/understanding-rotatablescalable/

I'm so glad to get this working correctly now - thanks Chris! :D

// Create a new instance of the Font1 symbol from the document's library.
var myFont:Font = new Font1();

/* Create a new TextFormat object, and set the font property to the myFont
   object's fontName property. */
var myFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
myFormat.font = myFont.fontName;
myFormat.size = 24;

/* Create a new TextField object, assign the text format using the 
   defaultTextFormat property, and set the embedFonts property to true. */
var myTextField:TextField = new TextField();
myTextField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
myTextField.defaultTextFormat = myFormat;
myTextField.embedFonts = true;
myTextField.text = "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.";
addChild(myTextField);

1. Challenge the process
• challenge the status quo
• change
  
2. Inspire a shared vision
• the keyword is "shared"
  
3. Enable others to act
• empower teams
• keep it simple
• delegate the authority
  
4. Encourage the heart
5. Model the way
   

So I've had my Motorola DROID now for 3 days (it arrived on Tuesday, Nov 10th). Upon receiving the device, as usual you have to wait to fully charge the device before using it. The power cord that comes standard with the phone includes a USB cable with an adapter to plug into a wall outlet that has a USB port (for the cable). Waiting for the device to charge fulling was like telling a child they can't open a gift on Christmas morning after rubbing in their face. Once the device was charged, getting it up & running with configuration was very easy with Android 2.0.

I previously used the Motorola Q from Verizon (which I had for the past 3.5 - 4 years). This device synchronized with Microsoft Outlook (contacts and calendar, not e-mail since I don't have an Microsoft Outlook Exchange e-mail account just POP 3 e-mail). This was a very nice feature which I enjoyed... for example adding a new contact while talking to someone I could then go back to my computer, plug in my phone and it would add it to my desktop computer MS Outlook contact list.

For the DROID I was able to export my existing contact list from MS Outlook as a CSV file and import that into Gmail through the Google web site. Then once I had my DROID up and running, I simply input my Google account details when prompted and my contacts from Gmail were automatically sent to the phone. Then once I signed into the dedicated Facebook app, it checked my contacts against my Facebook friends and linked the contacts to the Facebook profiles (I think it's cool, even though some of my friends said it sounds "stalker-ish"). I was able to easily set-up my POP 3 e-mail accounts on the DROID which even provides a shared inbox to view e-mails for all your accounts at once with color coding for each account. My only concern is keeping my contacts synchronized with my Microsoft Outlook contacts. I do have the plug-in for Google Calendar installed on my desktop to sychronize my Microsoft Outlook calendar with my Google Calendar. Now if only there was something like that for the contacts (if there is and I don't know about it, please let me know).

Yesterday I took a ride out to Wal-mart. On the way back I decided to test out the Google Maps Navigation (which is currently in BETA). It provided turn by turn directions pretty well (it had trouble determining that we were in the Wal-mart parking lot initially - but that is minor). Heading home, once we arrived at our destination it provided a "street-view" image of the destination which was a pleasant surprise. The Google Maps Navigation is provided for FREE. It seems that having the GPS activated is resource intensive on the battery.

I've downloaded a few apps from the Andriod App Market. To give you an example, I downloaded the Barcode Scanner app. Then I saw that there was an Adobe Photoshop.com app for Android. On the web site for the Photoshop.com app (http://ow.ly/APBx), there was a barcode to scan for the link to download the app. Initially it was difficult to get the scanner to read the barcode on my desktop monitor, but once it detected it - the URL was provided and prompted me to verify that I wanted to browse to the URL. I was overall pleased with the experience.

I was able to get my 3 home screens customized. At first I had trouble determining how to get an app widget to display on the home screen. Then I read somewhere (I think it was actually a tweet) that you had to tap and hold in a "blank" area of a homescreen to have a menu display with options to add a widget.

The physical QWERTY keyboard of the DROID has keys that are all flat and small which with your thumbs seem to be difficult to accurately press, but perhaps with some practice would be alright. The on-screen virtual keyboards are ok as well. I've never owned an Apple iPhone and my Motorola Q didn't have a virtual keyboard, so I'm still getting used to accurately pressing the virtual keys. I do like the small tactial response of the device when you press buttons to acknowledge the press (which can be turned on and off in the device settings).

I've played around with the 5 mega-pixel camera a little for both pictures and video. I haven't tried out the music player (with the 3.5 headphone jack yet).

Overall, I've been very pleased with the phone. I did purchase a few accessories for it - including a Body Glove protective case.

This past week Motorola and Verizon announce a new touch phone using Google Android. I was intrigued by some of the commercials (iDon't Commercials | Stealth Commercial) for the phone so I decided to take a further look into what it was.

After reading and watching several reviews (cnet review | talk android | boy genius report) about the device, here is the break down of its features including benefits and disadvantages:

DESIGN / HARDWARE

• Thin profile
• Slide out QWERTY keyboard with a D-pad (buttons are all flat and small)
• Virtual Keyboards in horizontal
  
• 3.7" screen (which is bigger than Apple's iPhone)
  
• 480 x 854 resolution
• Capacitance touch screen with an accelerometer
• Double tap, but limited gestures
• Customizable home screens
• 3.5 mm headphone jack
• 5 mega-pixel camera with a dual-LED flash
• Micro SD card (16GB card included)

• Google's Android 2.0 (first phone released with the 2.0 version)
• Native Microsoft Exchange support
• Gmail, POP 3 and IMAP e-mail support
• Dedicated Facebook app which syncs with your contact list
  
• 3-pane Home screen that is customizable
• Adobe Flash 10.1 support (not Adobe Flash Lite)
• Google Maps Navigation (in a beta), which provides turn by turn directions included for FREE
• Google Android App Marketplace
• Lacks World roaming capabilities

Today I spent time working on AS3 code for my multi-touch device. I found the following links very helpful:

• http://wiki.nuigroup.com/Building_Your_First_Application
• http://code.google.com/p/multitouchas3experiments/

A few days ago I also changed the configuration of my mutli-touch device from a tabletop (horizontal) orientation to a wall (vertical) orientation. I mainly did this after the PS3 Eye camera arrived to see if the PS3 Eye would detect the hot spot created on the acrylic from the projector's light beam. I was pleased to see that the camera didn't detect the hot spot.

include('APIToken2.php');
include('WaveException.php');
include('BroadcastMessage.php');

//Prepare Post
$post_string = "Hello Adobe Wave";
$post_string = substr($post_string, 0, 140);
//Build Post
$post = array();
$post0->post_title = $post_string;
$post0->guid = "http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/wave/";

$result = waveIntegration_send('adobe_id','adobe_pass','URI', $post);

if ($result == true) {
	echo 'Success';
} else {
	echo 'Error';
}

//waveIntegration_send
//---------------------
//Input: string (username), string (password), array (post: string title, string url link)
//Output: bool (true - successful, false - error)
function waveIntegration_send($username, $password, $topic, $posts) {
	if($username == '' || $password == '' || $topic == '') {
		// no action - error would be nice
		return;
	}
	
	$title = $posts0->post_title;
	$link = $posts0->guid;
	
	$token = APIToken::getInstance($username, $password);
	$tokenValue = $token->getToken();
	
	$message = new BroadcastMessage(
					$tokenValue, 
					$topic, 
					$title, $link);
	$code = $message->send();
	if ($code >= 200 && $code < 300) {
		return true;
	} else {
		return false;
	}
}

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I cannot accept,
and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had
to kill today because they pissed me off.

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on
today as they may be connected to the that I may have
to kiss tomorrow.

Help me to always give 100 at work...
12% on Monday
23% on Tuesday
40% on Wednesday
20% on Thursday
5% on Fridays

And help me to remember...
When I'm having a really bad day,
and it seems that people are trying to piss me off,
that it takes 42 muscles to frown and
only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me!

Amen

Background and Interests
For as long as I can remember, I have had an interest in art. Throughout elementary and middle school I attended several extracurricular art courses. During middle school I developed a curiosity for computers. This appeal led me to explore web design, which for me allowed me to combine my passion for art with my emerging passion technology. I enjoyed the creativity side of generating an interface design in addition to the problem solving side of debugging code. In 1999, I realized that people were paid to make web sites (and the pay was better than cutting grass for neighbors). That year I started my company, Cyber View (www.cyberviewsites.com), and quickly generated a small clientele list. I was able to turn my new found hobby into an aspiring entrepreneurial business. The following year in August of 2000, it was incorporated as an S-Corporation. Since that time I have transitioned from static web sites into dynamic, database-driven web development. Around 2001, I started experimenting with interactive multimedia. At the time I was utilizing Adobe Flash 5 to make small interactive applications for web pages. Today I describe my business as a web and interactive multimedia company. We are proud to state that we serve customers in three countries. In addition to providing custom web design, graphic design, web development, and multimedia development, the company also boasts two software-as-a-service systems which are offered to customers on a licensing basis. These two systems are: a content management system geared specifically for small businesses owners to easily maintain the content of their web sites (www.cyberstudiocms.com); and a residential life management system to centralize record keeping and tracking for the residential life staff of a college or university residence hall (www.myraportal.com).

During my undergraduate studies at Purdue University I studied Computer Graphics Technology, which provided me with the concepts and skills to know how to utilize graphic design tools more creatively as well as how to program more efficiently. Also within this time period, I developed a stronger fascination with interactive multimedia. As technologies evolved, I found an interest in rich internet applications, in other words, a web application that can be delivered in a variety of formats to send and receive data. I completed my Bachelor of Science from Purdue University in 2008 from Computer Graphics Technology.

Focus
For my graduate studies, I have decided to focus on research regarding the interaction between a human and an interactive multimedia application on a multi-touch device. More specifically, I'm interested in developing multi-user applications for multi-touch devices using the Adobe Flash Platform as the delivery method. Several individuals in both industry and in academia have developed multi-touch devices and others have begun designing applications for these devices. However, the pursuit will be to determine through the literature review what testing has been conducted about the interaction of multiple users with these devices.

There is a definite potential for value-added benefit to companies in the future through the use of multi-touch devices, especially for group collaboration. This potential has led my research focus into this general topic area. One initial challenge I have already encountered during my first year of graduate school is the acquisition of a multi-touch device. Professionally manufactured devices are very costly. In the current economic standing our country is in, these high costs are not within reach of most businesses. Other the other hand, many have sought the task of building their own devices through reading blog posts of other individuals who have attempted the same feat. Another challenge to those choosing to build a multi-touch device is the process of working through the quirks and system-bugs of constructing a multi-touch device from raw parts. While I would have preferred to not dive into the hardware side of multi-touch devices and focus solely of the interaction of the interface and the user, it has become evident that I will need to address both topics.

I am currently seeking a Master Degree. I have decided to select the route of a Directed Project. The decision came, in part, based upon the descriptions comparing a Master Thesis and a Directed Project in the Graduate Student Handbook. After running a company for the past ten years, I enjoy the combination of the business/industry focus with emerging technologies. Furthermore, I embrace challenges of finding methods to apply technological solutions towards solving business/industry issues. In the spectrum of research and development for a business setting, my preference lies towards the development side due to my hands-on personality. I thoroughly acknowledge and understand the value in the research component; although it is not one of my stronger skill sets I still strive to improve.

Here is my real (e-mail) interview with the Exponent Sports Editor - August 17th 2009. I will try to find the actual article online and post a link to it.

Questions 1 - Basically just state your situation and the problems you have with the rule.
Answer: My initial reaction was that I was upset that the Football student section would no longer have reserved seats... however, I can see some positives with it - such as being able to sit with different friends for each game - but I still would prefer reserved seating for students with season tickets.

Question 2 - I know some of the reasons they changed the rule, but do you see any constructive positives that will come from the rule change?
Answer: I can see that the administration will now want the most passionate fans to be closer to the field and those students who show up late to sit in the back.

Question 3 - Currently there is no rule against camping out like they do occasionally at Mackey--would you consider that an option.
Answer: If they allow camping out for football games, there isn't a student organization - like the Paint Crew for basketball - to monitor those camping out and ensure there is an organized line. Especially for some of the bigger teams that we will play against at Ross-Ade, I foresee students wanting to camp out for those. I'm curious to see how administrators will handle this.

Question 4 - Breakfast club/tailgating conflicts?
Answer: My concern is that students who will go and partake in breakfast club, will try to push their way through the seats to get closer/better seats. Breakfast club is a long standing tradition at Purdue and changing how students sit at a football game won't put an end to breakfast club. I just foresee more problems for security guards at the games. I have tailgated before several games with friends and family, and have enjoyed being able to show up right before kick-off to go to my reserved seat - that won't be possible this year.

Question 5 - State your year and your major please
Answer: Graduate Student, College of Technology.

So its Saturday morning (May 23rd) and I m still running on 'Irish Summer Time' (GMT 1 hour) even though I'm back at Purdue which is 'Eastern Daylight Time' (GMT -4 hours). I've begun unpacking - going through all the souvenirs and gifts ;I purchased. Checking e-mail and posting on the blog and twitter. My pile of laundry is ready to be taken down to the laundry room at Cary Quad (anyone want to do my laundry for me? ha ha).

To simply describe the trip in one word: Excellent! The tour guide (Kevin Kinsella) through Shamrocker and our bus driver (David Lawlor) were a perfect combo - providing us educational information and entertainment (hillarious commentary). The 12 of us (10 from Purdue, plus Kevin and David) formed a crazy family for those 7 days as we journied around the Emerald Isle. Luckly for social networking sites like Facebook, we ll be able to keep intouch with Kevin and David. I hope Purdue University Residences continues to offer travel abroad experiences such as this to students in the future, especially since I would classify this initial trip as a wonderful success.

Well, that laundry pile is sitting there so I guess I better get started...

Slainte,
Frank

An Irish Blessing:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Today is our last day in Ireland :(. So three of us decided to finish the day strong, we started by going to breakfast and found, not far from our hostel, a restaurant ;at the Arlington Hotel ;called Legends. There I had a Full Irish Breakfast which included two bacon rashers, two sausages, a ;fried egg, white pudding (a type of sausage), black pudding (a type of sausage), ;and toast - it was delicious. After breakfast we ventured back over to Trinity College to go to the book shop since it was closing while we were their the day before. Then we headed back to the hostel to pack and load the bus ...and we were off to the airport.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2529380&id=13703969&ref=share

Today we wanted to see as much as possible in Dublin, so we got up early (well, relatively early, around 7am) and had breakfast. First stop was to The Old Jameson Distillery. We were told it opened at 9am however the first tour ended up not starting until 10am... so we waited for an hour by going to the gift shop and playing cards. Four of us decided to do the tour and I ended up being one of the volunteers to participate in a whiskey tasting at the end of the tour. The tour showed the different steps for creating Jameson's Irish Whiskey - which is distilled 3 times. The whiskey tasting had us compare a scotch whiskey (Johnny Walker Black), an American whiskey (Jack Daniels) and Jameson's. After comparing smells and taking sips of each we would cleanse the palate with a drink of water. It was a neat experience and we received certificates at the end of the tasting.

Next stop was to the Guinness Storehouse and Brewery, which was about 9 blocks away. At Guinness the tour was self-guided so we were able to go at our own pace. Seven of us decided to walk through the Guinness Storehouse museum. Here we learned the process for brewing the famous beverage created in 1759. The center part of the museum is an atrium shaped like a pint glass. After working our way up several levels we realized we were crunched for time to meet up with the others on the trip for lunch, so we skipped a few levels and went to the sky bar called Gravity at the very top of the museum to receive our complimentary pint of Guinness - delicious!

Lunch was at the Brazen Head Pub, which claims to be Ireland s oldest pub established in 1198. There I had an Irish Stew which was phenomenal.

Our next stop after lunch was across Dublin at Trinity College. There we took a campus tour led by a PhD student studying history. The tour included seeing the Book of Kells in their campus library. On the second and third floor of the library is the famous Long Room, where ancient books are cateloged not by the Dewey Decimal system or by alphabetical order, but rather by the size of the book - try finding a book in that library.

After Trinity College we walked towards O'Connelly Street to see the Spire of Dublin which was built to celebrate the Millennium in 2000 but wasn't completed until 2003 (oops!). From there we walked back towards the city centre and visited Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral. For both the visiting/tour hours were over so we walked around the outside of both churches. Then as we headed to dinner we walked through Dublin Castle, which is home to the Parliament of the Republic of Ireland (basically their version of the US Capitol). Dinner was at Bewley's Cafe and Restaurant on Grafton Street ;(http://www.bewleys.com/grafton-street/).

We went back to the hostel before going out to Stag's Head Pub, a traditional irish pub with live music. After a round at Stag's Head, we got lost looking for O'Donnahue's Pub. Once we arrived, they had already had last call (at 11pm on a Thursday night). So we walked around some more and ended up visiting The Globe Pub, which was a more modern irish pub compared to Stag's Head.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2529323&id=13703969&ref=share

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2529352&id=13703969&ref=share

We started off this morning with a Black Cab tour of Belfast. The tour showed us the Protestant and Catholic areas of the city including the history of the conflict between the two sides. We took pictures of the murals painted on the sides of buildings depicting the conflicts and those who have lost their lives. There is a fence dividing the too areas which was increased in height back in 2005. The guide referred to it as the Berlin Wall of Belfast. Along the fense on the Protestant side, ;there was a memorial with hopes of peace. On the Catholic side there was another memorial. Our guide also took us past murals depicting war/peace from other parts around the world, including one depicting President George W. Bush and the Iraq War. As we ended the tour, I saw a Guinness delivery truck with atleast 30 kegs and took a picture. Then we piled onto the bus and headed back to the Republic of Ireland.

On the way back to the Republic, we stopped to have lunch in Carlingford, which is famous for its oysters. So I had a Guinness and oysters for lunch. En route back to Dublin we stopped at a ruined monastery which is know for its High Celtic Crosses. Once returning to Dublin we checked into the hostel and said good bye to our trip guide, Kevin. Our bus driver, David, was nice enough to let us hop back on the bus and drop us off at Kilmainham Gaol. There we said good bye to David. Kilmainham Gaol is a jail that has been apart of many incidents related to Ireland s history. We took a guided tour through the jail.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Ireland and we will be running around the city of Dublin to see as many sights as possible before heading back to the states.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2529259&id=13703969&ref=share

This morning we left Derry and stopped at a grocery market to pick up food to have a picnic at the Giant's Causeway. Before arriving at the Giant's Causeway, we visited Dunluce Castle. After touring the castle ruins, we were off to the land of the giants. They were amazing to see again. We ate our sack lunches on the rocks of the Causeway. Next we went to Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge - this was great fun. Now we have arrived at our hostel in Belfast and will be going out to dinner soon.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2529178&id=13703969&ref=share

This morning we had to wake up at 5:45am to catch the 7am ferry boat from the Inis Mor island back to the main land (the other, larger island... called Ireland). Technically we were crossing the Atlantic to then make port in Galway Bay. We drove through the Hills of Connemara. Along the way we stopped at Erriff River and took pictures of the Aasleagh Falls. Next we visited the National Famine Monument. Then it was time for lunch in the city of Westport at a small cafe connected to a SuperValu Market (grocery store). Continuing along the way we stopped at DrumClif Church, which is the grave site for W.B. Yeats (a famous irish poet). Lastly before arriving in Derry, we went to An Grian of Aileach, which is an ancient fort built at the top of a tall hill. From there we could see the town of Derry in Northern Ireland while still in the Republic of Ireland. Then we hopped across the border into Northern Ireland (pronounced Nor-Ire-and).

Derry is the oldest city in all of Ireland (founded in 542 AD). It is called the City of Troubles. Tonight we are taking a walking tour of Derry and our tour guide, Kevin, said I should notice a lot has changed (and improved) since the last time I was here 8 years ago.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2528978&id=13703969&ref=share

Today we journied from Galway to Inis Mor (also spelled Inishmore), which is the largest of the Aran Islands. We took a short ferry ride across the ;sea to the island. Once settled into our hostel, we had lunch at Bayview Restaurant. After lunch we went to a sweater museum/store. Next we took a bus tour around the island and went to Dun Aonghasa, which is an ancient fort. Dinner was at Ti Joe Watty s where I had mussels and there was live traditional Irish music.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2528972&id=13703969&ref=share