I'm Still Thinking

TI-85 Calculator

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:03:57 -0700

I got my TI-85 in high school when most of my classmates were using the TI-83. The TI-85’s advanced features and programmability allowed me to write custom programs, some of which are still available online today. I’d spend hours writing and re-writing TI-BASIC apps on long car rides and when I couldn’t be at a computer.

Check out the first ever program I released on the web: Quadradic Equation Solver. It was released at the beginning of my sophmore year in high school, though written in frenshman algebra class. (Mr. Peterson was the best math teacher I’d ever had!)

And while the link on this site is now defunct, at the time Jeff Lewis linked to my TI-85 software site, so I figured I’d link it here: TI-85 | jefflewis.net

The TI-85 was a graphing calculator released by Texas Instruments in the early 1990s. It was designed primarily for engineering and calculus students, featuring advanced functions that set it apart from other calculators of its time, such as the TI-83. The TI-85 included capabilities for complex number calculations, vector arithmetic, and matrix operations, making it a powerful tool for higher-level math and science courses.

Palm IIIxe

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 09:48:40 -0700

Coming soon.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the Palm High School Pilot Program, which allowed me to experience the Palm IIIxe during its prime. The Palm IIIxe was an incredible device for its time, featuring a monochrome LCD screen, 8MB of RAM, and the Palm OS, which was both intuitive and powerful. I loved how it could sync with my computer, allowing me to manage my contacts, calendar, and tasks seamlessly. The Graffiti handwriting recognition was a game-changer, making data entry quick and efficient. It was a reliable companion that helped me stay organized and productive throughout high school.

https://www.wired.com/2000/12/schools-get-a-helping-handheld/

Commodore VIC-20

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 08:52:46 -0700

Coming soon.

I inherited my Grandma’s Commodore VIC-20, a significant piece of computing history. The VIC-20, released in 1980, was the first computer to sell one million units. It was important because it made computing accessible to the masses with its affordable price and user-friendly design. This computer sparked my interest in technology and holds a special place in my heart as a cherished family heirloom.

Walk Notes: The Year 2024 In Review

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 08:52:43 -0700

Finding myself wanting to do some more exercise and knowing that having novel goals for myself ends up motivating more than most things, in early 2024 I decided to build a bit of a custom suite of tools that helped track my walking.

One of the novel goal setting ideas I had was to split the map of my local area into 45 meter ‘blocks’ that, if visited, would light up on the map. This turned into a really fun (and ongoing!) game of ‘getting all the blocks.’ Here is what 2024 turned out looking like.

After some testing, I found that 45 meters mapped decently onto Seattle’s block size, allowing me to walk in an area up and down the streets and end up filling in the whole area. This indeed proved to be a bunch of fun, even if I do still have a long way to go to fill in everything.

This got me walking up and down places that I never thought I’d end up going. On the surface, the arbitrary nature of it seems like superfluous, but needing the steps (and the time to listen to quote a few audio books), I was able to even start at my home and aim for a single missed block. That simple goal definitely pushed me out to walk more and more.

So I figured, in the style of Spotify Wrapped’s Year In Review, I’d drop a little bit of the stats from this year’s walking.

365 miles

Total distance walked

1,179,475 steps

Total steps

82 days

Days above 5,000 steps

37 days

Days above 10,000 steps

10.5 miles

Longest single day: Oct 5, 2024

11,718 steps

Longest single day: Oct 5, 2024

Part of this little custom system that I had set up for walking was the ability to tag “walk notes.” I can send a photo to my system, perhaps with a bit of a caption, and it would automatically tag where I was when I took it. I found so many little interesting things that brought delight while on my walks, so I figured I’d share some here. Eventually, I’ll have an interactive map set up to browse these, so stay tuned for that.

Walking in fall when the blackberries are ripe gives you all sorts of on-walk snacks! These were some of the best I found that weren’t already picked over!

🗺️ 47.619222, -122.287806

There’s lots of amazing, shady tree-lined streets if you know where to find them!

🗺️ 47.625093, -122.288156

There are some truly massive trees out there! The Massive Sequoia Tree, planted in 1927, is a heritage tree in Seattle and the largest tree on private property in the city.

🗺️ 47.543889, -122.38325

I found so many little hidden paths on my walks. These shady places often join to streets between private yards. Some front doors to home are even on some of these paths.

🗺️ 47.56894, -122.29142

Seattle’s humor never fails to impress. I did not complete the puzzle.

🗺️ 47.611864, -122.297634

So yeah. That’s 2024 in walking for me. I hope to ramp it up in 2025. The sun’s even out today, so maybe I’ll make it out while that’s happening. Cheers for now! 🚶‍♂️

Hello Young World: Volume Two - Nostalgic Mixtape Revival

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 08:52:42 -0700

It was the summer of 2007 and I was hard at work as a junior software developer at a hedge fund in Chicago. The blogosphere was moving further than just tech bloggers, and there was wealth of curated music out there starting to flourish. Unfortunately, I can’t remember how I came across this compilation, but somewhere along the line I did, and it introduced me to nearly all of these songs for the first time. But this was almost two decades ago at this point, and the web rots. Things die. And so in effort to keep some sort of search alive for anyone else that listened to and enjoyed this compilation, I have decided to host the tracklisting here.

Hello Young World: Volume Two was a compilation by the producer Lushlife. Originally it was hosted at http://helloyoungworld.com in 2007, and as you can see on the Wayback Machine, it went offline as early as 2008. A the time, you could simply download the zip file of the compilation, including Lushlife’s mixes of the various songs. I downloaded it back then, but that too has been lost to time. (And if you’ve stumbled upon this page and have a copy of this file, please let me know!) There was a Volume One at some point, but that was before I had found it online, and to my knowledge, there’s no record of that anywhere other than in the PRWeb Press Release found on the Wayback Machine. This is probably because they were limited burned copies distributed in the indie music scene circa 2002 New York. (This gives me Cereal Killer from Hackers vibes, handing out his mixes on the sidewalk in front of the arcade.)

Even though this compilation included some lost-to-time mixes, I’ve put together a Spotify playlist that captures much of the essence of this rad mixtape. 📀 Lushlife presents Hello Young World: Volume Two - playlist by Ryan Heaney | Spotify

So, here’s the original text and tracklisting from Hello Young World: Volume Two, as well as some of the press release text introducing it. Enjoy!

All text below is taken from the Wayback captures of either the original site, or the PR release.

The 60+ minute mixtape highlights indie-dance records from the last several years by Bloc Party, The Shout Out Louds, Zoot Woman, and many others, alongside classic records by the likes of The Pixies, Pulp, and New Order; all blended by Lush on two turntables.

April 30, 2007 – Sometimes em-cee/producer and multi-instrumentalist, Lushlife, switches gears for a minute and offers up the second installment in his indie-dance DJ-mixed CD series, Hello Young World: Volume Two. The 60+ minute mixtape highlights party joints from the last several years by Bloc Party, The Shout Out Louds, Zoot Woman, and many others, alongside classic records by the likes of The Pixies, Pulp, and New Order; all blended by dude on the ones and twos with impeccable musicality. If that weren’t enough, he throws the soon-to-be summer anthem, The Gilded Age (on which he plays drums, synths, and sings), from his new rock group Ordinaire into the mix. Best of all, the entire 22 track disc is being made available here completely free as an internet download (complete with album art). Get your copy of Lushlife’s definitive summertime party jawn Hello Young World: Volume Two.

‘Hello Young World: Volume Two’ Track Listing:

01/ Intro - Stars
02/ Hard To Beat - Hard-Fi
03/ Information First - Zoot Woman
04/ If I Ever Feel Better - Phoenix
05/ Walking With The Ghost - Tegan and Sara
06/ Saturdays - Cut/Copy
07/ The Gilded Age - Ordinaire
08/ Ten AM Automatic - The Black Keys
09/ Regret - New Order
10/ The Comeback - Shout Out Louds (Tommie Sunshine Remix)
11/ Churches - New Musik
12/ Mercury Tears - Chromeo (Lushlife Edit)
13/ Debaser - The Pixies
14/ Common People - Pulp
15/ The More You Live, The More You Love - Flock of Seagulls
16/ Come On Lets Go - Paul Weller
17/ In Between Days - The Cure
18/ Huddle Formation - The Go! Team
19/ Two More Years - Bloc Party (MSTRKRFT Remix)
20/ The Sporting Life - The Decemberists
21/ Float On - Modest Mouse (Lushlife Edit)
22/ Girlfriend in a Coma - The Smiths

Click the image to the left or click here to download Hello Young World: Volume Two.

Hello Young World: Volume Two is burned as 128 kbps/16-bit MP3 files with metadata which allows for seamless playback in most current software (iTunes, Windows Media Player etc.) and MP3 Playback Devices (iPod, Creative etc.). To burn a CD of Hello Young World: Volume Two please ensure that the ‘disc-at-once’ setting (DAO) is selected in the settings in your burning software for seamless playback on audio CD.

For more information contact info@helloyoungworld.com

Volume one in the Hello Young World series was an outcropping of the 2002 NYC rooftop party series of the same name, where 500 limited edition discs were pressed and circulated. With Hello Young World: Volume Two, Lushlife is building and broadening the compilation’s breadth to include some of the best indie -party records of the last twenty years. If that weren’t enough, he throws the soon-to-be summer anthem, ‘The Gilded Age’ (on which Lushlife himself plays drums, synths, and sings), from his new group ‘Ordinaire’ into the mix.

Best of all, the entire 22 track disc is being made available completely free as an internet download (complete with album art) from www.helloyoungworld.com.

About Lushlife:

Lushlife is the present moniker of recording artist Rajes Haldar. As Lushlife, Haldar has released several artist albums to critical acclaim. His first, ‘Order of Operations’ (released in 2006), peaked at #6 on the Japanese charts, and was covered in The Independent, The Times of London, and was highlighted as an iTunes Indie Spotlight album. Lushlife may be best known, however, for his Kanye West vs. The Beach Boys mash-up album, which was leaked to the internet in the Summer of 2005. The album, entitled ‘West Sounds’, was downloaded well over 2 million times before being served a cease and desist order. With production underway on his next major artist album, Lushlife, is continuing to build his online presence with the April 2007 free download e-release of his second indie-dance DJ-mixed compilation album - ‘Hello Young World: Volume Two’.

The philosophy behind this website

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 08:52:42 -0700

While being inspired by the small web/indie web re-emergence, I came across a quote from biko (though their site is now down):

My Website is a Personal Museum October 13, 2023

These thoughts about structuring one’s content led me to think: exactly what is the structure that houses my content? Sure, my content is housed inside my personal website, but what does my website represent? I am a person who often thinks in metaphors, so to concretely represent something in a nonliteral way helps out a lot.

[…]

The powerful thing about having a website is that it could literally be anything. It can be structured however you’d like, and you can share about whatever you want. Your site could be a library of information about wildflowers; it could be a shrine for your favourite anime; it could be an alternate reality game. Heck, it could be all of these things combined: an alternate reality game in which you collect and document wildflowers in real life, whilst featuring characters from your favourite anime. The world is your oyster.

biko (broken link)

Found on My Website is a Personal Museum - sizeof(cat)

That struck me–never once in the 32+ years I’ve been making websites did I consider it this way. I’ve always been so focused on the fact that a site should be homogenous in some way that I struggled to keep a single topic here. But just like I am not a homogenous human, my homepage website museum doesn’t need to be either. Or put another way: I am the topic.

So that’s lead me to feel there are three main goals to this site:

participating in small web/indie web ideals
curating the museum of me and my special interests
preserving this data for future techno-archaeologists

Let’s see where this takes me. I’ll be constantly updating the site. Probably during moments of procrastination. A projcrastination project, if you will. What does this look like? Explore the menus at the top to see.