Progress

So I've achieved my life-long dream of writing a screen saver that shows the time and date represented by the location of the planets in the solar system. Okay, so maybe it hasn't been a life-long dream, but I've spent a considerable number of hours contemplating it.

Among the features of the screen saver is the ability to rotate the solar system to any angle. It also shows the current phase of the moon (it's hard to tell, since it's currently a full moon. Believe me, though, it changes). The planets also get smaller as they get farther away,. There's also a mode where you can have the planets move in their normal orbits, unrelated to the time. Oh, and if you're lucky, from time to time you'll see shooting stars (and all the other stars twinkle a little bit).

I guess you'd just have to see it action to fully appreciate how useful it is.

I've also finished (short of a little more testing) my calculator program. I can't stand the stupid little calculator that comes with Windows, and it's just too much effort to reach into my desk drawer to pull out my real calculator. Plus, this one has so many more features than either of those.

The 2nd and 3rd rows of buttons actually move in 4 directions to show 4 more sets of buttons: one for financial functions, another for statistical operations, one for trigonometric functions, and another to do common conversions. (There's also a second function for each of the buttons that can be brought up by pushing shift, or just right-clicking the button.)

It also runs in the background on your computer and can be pulled up with a hotkey any time.

Oh, and the best part about the calculator: it uses reverse polish notation so it's easy to use. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Anyway, I'm getting better with the whole programming thing. I just need to figure out how to put all those skills to a profitable use.