Fun with Google tools

Over the past few months I've decided to be productive. I got into a few coding projects I've always wanted to get into so I could practice some languages that I didn't really know. Like my
Athletic Tracking thing (with awesome styles of course)(oh by the way, I'll be getting my broken GPS back so I can start exercising again)(3rd paren: I wonder if its a good idea to post live shipping info on a blog, probably not...). Kathy and I started working on a game which is still in the early stages in Gliffy, but that'll be fun.

Besides coding things up, I've been working with Google's free toolsets. Man they have some cool stuff. Besides the obvious Mail, Maps, Calendar, and Search, I've also gotten into Docs(awesome), Analytics, Adwords, Adsense, Dodgeball, Groups, Picasa, Reader(super awesome) and of special note is Notebook (which is super awesome because of the FF plugin supplied), and a few more.

The latest tool I started using is GWT which I think is so sweet I can't even imagine it. I've used a few frameworks in the past 2 years and I've found mostly frustrating results with them. Possibly it is because most of the tools use languages that I am not too familiar with. GWT seems to be built for Eclipse, or at least Eclipse is built to allow tools like GWT to be seamlessly integrated within. The fact that I'm back in the Java swing (nice choice of words eh?) of things is also very, not to sound cliche, refreshing (lol if you knew how java came to be).

The point of GWT is that you can write Java code and have it translated into Javascript. To me, this is a sweet gap between quasi compiled code (Java) and entirely interpreted code (Javascript). For me, development in JS is just so unstructured and difficult to deal with. I really enjoy my eclipse IDE which tells me when I do stupid things in Java, but I want to be able to do the flashy things you can do in JS. GWT feeds my hunger, and I love it.

I started working on a fun little app which so far looks a hella lot better than my Athletic Tracker. The forced organization of Java allows simpler css(ing). So I'm pleased.

In conclusion, Google has some really fun, time-saving tools.

In other news: I've been to San Diego 2x this year and I can't wait to go back, see the link for my Picasa above for pictures. We went swimming/surfing/boogie-boarding in like 50 degree water. Wet suits rule.

And I've been eating somewhat healthy again. Thats about it.