titles are for suckers

Last night I saw Rent for the third time. I had no idea that Darth Vader was Lukes father; I should really pay more attention when I go to plays. First time was in London sophomore year, then in New York last winter, now Baltimore. I'm beginning to think that this is the only play I'll ever see. Maybe by the time I die I can have seen it in every major city in the world. Maybe not.

Ninas cats are starting to be more friendly with me, despite my best efforts to make them hate me. I think that animals like it when you play rough, just so long as you don't actually hurt them. I know this holds for most dogs, but I always figured cats didn't like it. Maybe only kittens deal with it well, and when they get older they just want to be pet or left alone.

Today is my sisters birthday. She turned 24. That about sums that up.

Moving back in time:

Saturnight (I meant to type Saturday night, but that came out instead and I don't feel like using the backspace) I turned off my computer to make some quiet, and the next day when I turned it back on I got this nice little "Operating System not found" message. Restarted, same thing. Went into BIOS and my /home hard drive wasn't found correctly (the one with / and /boot was fine, though.) There was some other name (not WD200G or whatever) in place of the name of my 200 gig /home drive, and it had all sorts of extended ASCII characters. Somehow, opening the case and pushing all the EIDE cables connected to my hard drives against the drive fixed it. (nothing was disconnected, nor did any of the cables even move) So now my computer works again. Whatever that was. I'm beginning to think that I should upgrade my computer. I'm using the same MoBo and CPU that came with the computer, and while I have plenty of memory, my system isn't as fast as I would like, and every now and then it decides to stop working for a few days. Maybe I'll get a new computer over the summer. Maybe not.

Sunday I got to see some of Baltimore, including the National Bohemian building (I saw the face wink), Ninas school and the neighboring graveyard, the inner harbor, and some cool library. I'm not usually impressed by libraries (okay, maybe I am by the glib or libpng libraries, but that's different) but this place was different. Huge open spaces, a fountain with gold fish in the children's area... it felt like a museum, only a museum where you can touch things. I went home afterward to decorate the Christmas tree at my parents place, and despite the fact that I told them I'd be there in a half hour or so, the went ahead and started without me. Not that I was really bothered by it, hanging little trinkets on an evergreen is by far one of the most bizarre rituals in the Christmas celebrating culture.

I think we're going to try to go skiing some time next week (between Jesuses birthday and that day when, five years ago, every computer stopped working thrusting mankind into a digital ice age.) If anybody is interested in going skiing, let Tim or me know what days you're available so we can figure out an excuse for why you can't come.

Was that a date or a fig?

Nina and I got dinner and saw The Incredibles last night. I thought the movie was fairly good, and would recommend it to anybody who likes movies about superheros, computer graphics, or the thought of Samuel L. Jackson ice skating in form fitting spandex. I liked it for the superhero stuff. Now, I'm not much of a movie critic, nor am I down with the comic book superhero scene, so I'm pretty sure you shouldn't care that I liked the movie. Dinner at Duclaw was good, but the new beer they had was too bitter for me; Nina liked it, though. Man... I just realized that Nina is one letter off from Ninja. I should watch my back.

At the job I've been installing, and re-installing MySQL, php, apache, and java among a few other programs. The version of MySQL I'm running doesn't work with php out of the box, and the settings to make it work breaks phpmyadmin. I've managed to find a happy medium that supports everything, but I think the settings I came up with should be the defaults. Far be it from me to know if there's an easier way I somehow missed. That, and I've been burning CDs and DVDs. Fun.

who wants gmail?

Gmail has given me six invitations to dole out. If any of you bastards want a email account like biggest_looser@gmail.com, let me know. If you're some random person reading my blog, and don't know me, chances are I won't give you an invitation (I'm a bastard like that) so don't waste both of our time posting and asking for one. That goes for you, too, Tim. Also, you probably shouldn't post your email address on this blog unless you want spam, so I don't really know how to go about all this. How 'bout you throw a brick with your email address on it through a window at my house. If more than 6 people ask me for an account, I'll come up with some crazy competition to decide who gets them, or just play favorites. That's all, move along.

Laptop

I got a message from Comp USA late last week telling me that my laptop was ready to be picked up. I managed to make it out there on Saturday (going to rockville on a saturday afternoon two weeks before christmas was a dumb idea.) When I got there the guy at the service desk told me I owed them something on the order of $300 for parts and labor. This is despite the fact that Apple said they'd take care of it all for free and all I had to do was take my laptop to any AASP (which Comp USA is.) I asked about this, and they said something about having to give them a proof of purchase to prove that I have a waranty. I don't, however, have a waranty. I got a one-year waranty which has since expired, but this repair was covered by an extended waranty that Apple granted to any ibook within a range of serial numbers. Mine fell in that range. I asked about this, and they guy went back into the workshop, came back and argued some more, then let me take it without paying. So either the people at Comp USA are idiots and didn't read the form I filled out (which had all this information on it) or they figured they'd try to sucker me out of a few hundred dollars. On the plus side, I got to argue with a business over money, and tell a worker that I wanted to speak with his manager. A first for both. I've finally achieved the rank of annoying uppity customer.

Also, I saw Dodgeball. Hilarious.

weekend update with that guy who isn't funny

Ahhh the weekend, a time when I don't have to go to work or school, or generally bathe or practice oral hygene. Seriously, though, I wash.

Friday night was uneventfull; Paul and I got high and hung out, but it was a fairly boring evening all in all.

Saturday I went up to Baltimore to see Edgar Allan Poe's house with Karen and Nina; it was a nice walk from Ninas appartment to the house, but I like walking and cities facinate me so there's no real news there. The house itself was unobtrusive and small, but Poe lived in poverty so I wasn't expecting a mansion. We got there shortly before it was going to close so we didn't have to pay to get in. The stairs are hard to navigate and the informative video playing in one of the rooms was put together, apparently, by a 4 year old with sticky fingers. If anybody wants to get drunk on cognac on E.A. Poe's birthday this year, just let me know. Oh, and bring a ski mask so we don't get caught on film. On the way back from the house we walked through this indoor food market place, can't remember the name but it a few blocks from Ninas place. It was weird in that cool circusy kind of way. When we got back to Ninas building she and Karen went up and I went home. Later, around 8ish, Paul and I went up to Ninas for her birthday party, and once everybody else showed up we went to this bar around the corner. There was this band there, and like a sucker, I bought their CD. And like me, it sucks. I'm not even going to waste time describing it. Now mind you, by the time I bought the CD I had around 3 large glasses of beer, so my judgement wasn't working full time (eventually, I think it went on sabbatical.) Most of us went back to Ninas place where the drinking and talking continued, but not before Tim and I raced up 23 flights of stairs because, for some reason, the elevator wasn't good enough for us. Running up that many stairs while drunk, only to go drink more, really does a number on ones feeling of well being. We made margaritas, then Nina and I wound up doing 4 shots each of the tequila I got her for her birthday. That's 9 drinks for me, a few more for Nina. Needless to say we were drunk. Slowly the bodies started walking out the door, and Karen, Nina, and I carried on a very drunk, meandering conversation before falling asleep... um... yeah.

The next morning Nina made us pancakes and baccon (which kicked ass, by the way) and some coffee that I think Tim gave her. Karen and I went back to the house where I showered and went home to practice piano, still hungover but wanting to do something with the day. The Gershwin pieces I used to play are a bit rusty, but the Rachmaninov Prelude in C# minor came back quite easily, which surprised me since it's a lot of complicated cords and the hands kindof get in eachothers way in parts. Some time this week I think I'm going to the piano store on Rt. 1 and check out the electric pianos. So anyway, we had dinner and I traded cars back with my dad (I had been driving his car that week so that my brother could practice on an automatic and take the driving test in something other than the van, which isn't great for parallel parking.) The next morning I get a call. It's my mom. My parking permit (which I need if I want to go to work and not get a parking ticket) was still at home, so I had to take a hour long detour on my way to work to pick up the permit. Only later did I realize that the garage door opener my dad uses was still in my car. Ah well, I'm going home later this week for Chanukah and can give it to him then.

That's about it. Some other interesting things happened, but nothing I'm going to broadcast on the internet. If you really want to know, just tie me down and put a coat hanger on the stove. It won't take long before I start talking.

I can't take credit for this...

...but I can post it in my blog. My dad just sent me this email; and I think I saw something like this on the West Wing once.

Subject: Dear Mr. Bush

Dear Mr President,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. As you have said, "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man and a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination.... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?


2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?


3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness - Leviticus 15:19-24. The problem is how to tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense. Some have slapped me.


4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Leviticus 1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?


5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?


6. A friend of mine feels even though eating shellfish is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord - Leviticus 11:10, that it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there degrees of abomination?


7. Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?


8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?


9. I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?


10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 9:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Leviticus 24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Leviticus 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.


"Patriotism means to stand by the country, it does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official...."
President Theodore Roosevelt

Nothing to see here

Man am I bored. It's not that I don't have anything to do; I have books I'm reading, classes to study for, and some side projects I'm working on with the hopes of making shit loads of money selling to the NSA. It's just that nothing really excites me anymore. This political season has left a sour taste in my mouth, so I don't feel like really following it (but I do anyway.) I don't know what I want at this point, and I'm tired of not really wanting anything. Complacency is soothing, but like Tim said, you have to want things to have excitement. So that's what I want. Excitement. Is there somewhere I can place an order?

I'm planing on volunteering for Habitat for Humanity at some point before spring. I have to figure out what things I'd be good at (apparently it isn't all hammering) and fill out the application. Assuming they work weekends, which I'm assuming they do since it's a volunteer based organization and most people need real jobs, it will give me something to do in my free time.

I've started really thinking about grad school, and I've narrowed it down to a few fields. I still like architecture, and building houses will probably increase my desire to design them. I'm also looking into meteorology (not broadcast meteorology), because honestly, who doesn't like staring at clouds? All I know at this point is that I don't want to program for a living. Don't get me wrong, I like programming, its just seems trivial lately. Maybe it's just my job. I would still like to be able to solve problems with computers, and architecture and meteorology both use computers to model things. Either way, if I don't get a job I enjoy at NASA or USGS or NOAA or some respectable company, I'll just go back to school. Then, if I still can't get a job I like, I'll teach. If I have to be miserable, at least I can pass it on to the next generation.

My laptop broke. I've been waiting for this to happen since I heard about an issue with the line of iBooks mine came from (the logic board, to be percise.) So now I have to mail my computer to Apple and have them fix it. The good thing is that if the problem is what I think it is, they'll fix it and handle shipping for free. If not, I could wind up paying through the nose. I hate computers, and if they weren't so damn efficient I wouldn't have anything to do with them.

This was kindof a downer post. Not entirely, just more than usual. I'm going to go do something fun.

Fantastic

Man am I glad that's over. Now I can go back to not paying attention to what the government's doing until, 3 years from now, they advertise while I'm watching my scripted reality TV. That's the great thing about democracy, you don't have to do shit. Just sit back, and let those in charge make the important decisions. That's why they're there, so you don't need to think about what's good for you. It's not so bad that the rich people have a lot of say in the government; they already have what they need, so I'm sure they have everybody else's interest at heart. Could you imagine if the impoverished were given power? They'd be all "gimme food", "gimme medicine", "at least let me sleep on the park benches". Greedy bastards; they should learn from the rich. The rich obviously know the way the system should be used; they made it. And if I hear one more complaint about dead Iraqis, I'm going to fucking loose it. They're not Americans, so our government doesn't need to care about them, and since this fine government is "for the people, by the people", you too don't need to worry about them. And nobody can complain about not having a job. The U.S. military will provide every able-bodied american with a job for life. Man, some people just don't get it.

Seriously, though, we're all doomed. My only suggestion is for every liberal to fuck like bunnies, with a member of the opposite sex of course (not to be biggoted, but homosexual sex doesn't produce babies; they can adopt, or at least they should be able to), and raise your kids right so that maybe 18 years from now we'll be able to change things (in congress at least, 20 years for the president). Assuming we make it that long.

Back from California

Going to California on business was an interesting experience. I wasn't crazy about the timing of my flights, which were early Sunday morning and late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Still, I got to meet with some decent people over at JPL and throw some ideas around. I'm working now on something called Object Oriented Data Technology, or OODT. I thought that they had it developed enough that it actually did stuff; why else would they have a conference teaching people how to use it? Unfortunately, all it does is provide a framework within which one can develop programs. So it's going to take some time to get this thing working, but that means I get to program (and in Java, nonetheless) fairly regularly for a few months. Over lunch I was talking with a few of the lead project people, and it turns out the NSA is very interested in any solution to one specific data management problem within OODT. The NSA can't say what their problem is, so they're looking into problems other groups are solving to see if any are similar enough to help them out. It looks like this problem is, and I'll be working on a solution. Now normally I don't like helping parts of our government that spy on people or in general do bad things, but this same problem is showing up almost everywhere that large amounts of poorly structured data needs to be searchable. The cancer research at NIH is another group looking into this, and I figure if I wind up helping one group of people search through emails looking for terrorists (or political dissidents, activists, whoever-the-government-doesn't-like-today, etc.), while also helping scientists organize cancer research, I'm coming out even. Plus, if nobody has come up with a solution yet, and I do, it would be a decent subject for my thesis, if I ever go that route. So for now I work on presenting pictures of comets and meteors in a usefull and meaningfull way, and if I wind up solving a huge problem in information technology along the way so be it.

As for the rest of the trip, there isn't much to talk about. It rained most of the time I was there, so I didn't get to experience typical "California weather", but I was either working, sleeping, or trying to do homework (sleeping), the whole time anyway. My hotel wasn't anywhere of note. Pasadena has some nice parts I would imagine, but not where I was staying, so I just wound up wandering the streets on Sunday looking for something... anything... interesting. Never found it, but I did get to see a lot of palm trees.

One interesting thing happened while I was there. Monday morning I got to JPL early, because I thought the conference began at 7am (which is what the email said) and found out that the visitor center doesn't open until 7:30. It was 6:30 at this point, and I started worrying that I had missed some important detail, and wouldn't meet up with the people I needed to. Now JPL has fairly tight security (unless you're a deer, then you can just wander into the facility from the hills) so I couldn't get in to talk to anybody. I called Tim to see if I could get him to log into my computer at the astronomy department and read me an email that had the information. Here's where things got interesting. I know my password based on shape; I can type it if my hands are on a keyboard, but damned if I know what the actual keys are. I went up to the security desk to ask if I could look at the keyboard the guard had, so that I could figure out my password. This guy didn't want to have anything to do with it. Now I would understand not letting someone from the outside have access to a security guards computer, but how much sensitive information is printed on the keyboard? Either way, this guy was no help. Eventually I realized that I had a laptop with me, which solved that problem, and I found out that we were supposed to meet at 7:30, so I just sat around and waited until people showed up.

One last thing... airplanes, like most other things in modern society other than perhaps pro-basketball locker rooms, are not designed with people over 6' in mind. Especially if those people happen to fly coach. Next time I need to fly somewhere, I'm just going to have wings surgically implanted on my back. That can't be any more uncomfortable than the seats they put me in.

Loan Consolidation Fun

So I'm trying to have my student loans consolidated, now that I've graduated and have a job. This job, however, lets me take a few classes per semester for free (since it's a faculty position at UMD) which means that I still show up as enrolled at the university. Now, the loan consolidation agency won't let me consolidate my loans as long as I'm enrolled. So despite the fact that I have graduated, am no longer taking out student loans or paying tuition, and by all reasonable accounts should be starting to take care of my loans, the loan agency won't let me move ahead as long as, apparently, I have an interest in learning. Now, the plus side is that as long as they don't let me consolidate my loans, I don't accrue interest on one loan (the other has been accruing interest since I was given the money, and I'll pay that one off first). The minus side is that if interest rates go up between now and when I actually can consolidate my loans, I get stuck with a shitty deal. It's not really the money that angers me, it's the stupid bureaucracy. There are probably more details that would make this post more/less interesting (you pick), like my social security number, bank account number, or various insecurities... but who wants to know those? You, 212-xx-xxxx?

California

So it looks like I'll be going to LA for a few days next week. I'm attending a conference at Caltech for my doings with the astronomy department, which will occupy me from around 7am to noonish Monday and Tuesday, so I'll have Sunday and Monday afternoon free. Do any of you have any idea what I should do with myself? I'd rather not spend all my free time reading in my m|hotel room. I was thinking about just wandering around the city and seeing what I could find, but chances are nothing would interest me and I would just go for an extended walk. So here's an opportunity to tell me what to do. Maybe I could throw together a crappy script and see if any producer is stoned enough to take me on. It would be about an amusement park with black jack and hookers. Actually, forget the amusement park and black jack. Ahh forget the whole thing.

It's been a while

I haven't posted in almost a month, but what are you going to do? sue me? Anyway, my life has basically returned to normal... working at the astronomy department and going to classes, only this time it's tilted more toward work and less toward school. I'm taking a meteorology class (METO400) and a linguistics class (LING444), which on the surface don't seem to be related. That's because they aren't. They both are, however, good candidates for artificial intelligence, and I would like to have my computer speaking english and predicting the weather before I die (and really, I would like to see it prevent me from dying too). I could even try to have it do both, and I'd have my own little meteorologist on the monitor. I'm thinking simple weather forecasts, like "It's gon' rain" or something. I don't know.
I need to go on more dates, because I had no idea what I was doing last night. I'm used to knowing a woman first, and going on dates once it's apparent that we both like eachother, so when I'm put in a situation where I hardly know the woman, I'm left confused and disoriented. I have no idea what to talk about, and I forget everything I had planned on saying. That's what happened last night; I met her at a party a couple weeks ago, and this is the first time we hung out not surrounded by (and being) loud, drunk people. Still, I had a good time, and I hope we do it again. I just hope I can take all my friends advice to heart and not be an asshole. That's my brothers job.
Speaking of which, my brother's working on getting eagle (in boy scouts) and needs to do a project that benefits the community, so if anybody is interested in doing some construction for the humane society, let me know. I don't know when he plans on doing it, so I don't really have any more information.
Now go away, I ain't got nothing else to say to you.

Crazy?

So I'm sitting there today, in my room, just trying to calm my mind down a little. I turned off all the lights and any sound-producing device, got comfortable, and started letting my mind wander. I try counting down from 10 to zero over and over, which usually does a good job removing my attention from reality without knocking me out, and I start having a conversation with some people. Mind you, all these people are made up, but I'm half dreaming so it's excusable. I think. Anyway, I'm having a little argument with some guy and he uses the fact that he did something (what, I can't remember) on his birthday. My response was "you're lying, you never had a birthday. You don't really exist." He disappears, and I continue the conversation with everybody else. I eventually drifted into unconsciousness, and woke up groggy as all hell.

Weird.

Not Guilty

Went to court today to contest a ticket I got from an accident this spring. It had been raining earlier and I lost control when I hit a slick spot on a curve in the road while breaking. Hit the jersey barrier, totaled the car, but didn't hit anybody else and I wasn't hurt. The cop got there afterwards and issued a ticket for driving faster than reasonable. I got to court at 8:30, which is when they told me to be there, despite the court not opening until 9:00. They say it's so that people get there on time. I figure, if "on time" is 9:00, tell people 9:00 and let them decide how early they want to get there. I was one of the last cases being heard, so I sat around for about two hours before being called up. It went very quickly; the judge asked the cop if he saw the accident, "no", he then asked if there were any witnesses, *sound of crickets*, asked me how I plead, "not guilty." Judge: "not guilty." It took all of 30 seconds. Got back to my car just as the meter expired (wouldn't that be funny, getting a parking ticket while contesting a moving violation), went home, and now I'm at work.

In other news, my sister is coming over to take a couch and foreman grill (we're getting a newer, better grill) and have me install some programs on her new iBook. She has OS 10.3, while I have OS 10.2, so I'm going to borrow her installation CD and upgrade my laptop, assuming it's compatible.

Lazy

That's the best word to describe my posting habits lately. Now, I'm normally lazy, so that alone isn't enough to justify not posting, but I've been lazy across the board, so I haven't got much to talk about. Anyway, here goes.

Went to NJ last weekend, going up again this weekend. I'm "working" durring the week, but between Tuesday and Friday of this week, I don't have anything to work on, so instead I read the news or play freecell. My brother and sister came back from NJ on Tuesday, and we're all heading back up Friday afternoon; my parents are staying all week. It's a little weird staying in my grandfathers house now that he's passed away, and I still feel like I can't touch or move anything (he was a little OCD when it came to keeping the house clean and in order.) I'll probably spend most of the time at the beach anyway. I'm going to Ocean City with Tim and Parker and Parkers sister and other people who I don't know for the last weekend in August, so I will have had a lot of beach this summer. Maybe it will help give me a tan; I need all the help I can get since I work in an office with no windows most of the time that the sun is out.

I'm not completely moved into my new room. I moved most of my crap a while ago, but my closet is much smaller now and I couldn't find room for a lot of my clothes (and I don't even have that many.) I managed to figure it out, and moved everything in. Then I vacummed my old room for the people moving in (when I moved in, there was dust, paint, and dry-wall chunks everywhere, and I like to leave things a little better than I found them.)

Skip this paragraph if you don't care about computers. This computer project I'm working on has hit a problem that I'm not sure how to fix. The problem is this: I need to install a compiler (a program that turns source-code into a program that can be run) on a completely blank system, but the compiler is given as source-code, which means that I need to first compile it before I can compile anything. Problem is, I have no compiler, which is why I'm trying to install one. It's like buying a screwdriver that comes in multiple pieces that need to be screwed together. Sofar I haven't had any luck finding a compiler that doesn't need to be compiled, but they have to exist.

What else what else what else... I've signed up for reinstatement at UMD and tuition-remission from the astronomy department, so i should be able to take classes in the fall for free. I'm looking at ASTR330, which is Solar System astronomy, and LING444, which is Child Language. The astronomy course is for work since it would be nice to understand the data I'm working on, and the linguistics course is to help me understand how humans learn language, in order to help me figure out how to teach computers language. I think I have a firm enough grounding in linguistics that this course shouldn't be that hard, and I'm finally looking at language in a scientific manner, which makes it a lot easier to understand. I hope those classes don't fill up by the time my application for reinstatement goes through. They said it could be a couple weeks.

I'm looking forward to more people living in my house. (Yes, my house. while I wasn't the first person to notice the house was available to rent, I was the first to actually consider it and talk to the landlord, so I am claiming it as mine. Also, I pee everywhere, so the territory is marked.) Leslie and her boyfriend are moving in in a couple weeks, and Paul should be moving back at some point in August, so the population (not including Keith, who lives in the basement and we rarely see) will double.

Oh, Bill Clinton is going to be on The Daily Show on Monday. I advise you to watch it.

New room

I'm more or less moved into my new room, and I've found a good arrangement for all my furniture despite the room being so small. It's not so bad, in fact. Even with a queen-sized bed it's not cramped. I don't have to climb over anything, it's comfortable. Hopefully the limited space will require me to keep things cleaner, and throw a lot of junk out. If I didn't have so many books it wouldn't be so bad, but I'm not going to get rid of any books. Books are good. I'm going to have to convince myself that cardboard is not, in fact, as useful as I would like to think, and stop collecting it. I suppose "waste not want not" applies to space too.

One thing I like about having a bunch of tapestries is that no matter where I live, I can cover empty wall space with them and the room instantly feels like home, since the walls look familiar. Maybe I'll just make a poncho out of them and forget the whole "living indoors" thing. Maybe not.

The other morning I woke up and thought "I should have no problem with space at all. I just got a 200 gigabyte hard drive" then realized that "nooooo, I'm crazy."

Giddy

Not normally a word I use to describe myself, but what the hell. Today, I told a girl that I still liked her. We went to school together in the 9th grade, went to homecoming together, and even went on a date (both of our firsts, turns out) before she moved to Washington, near Seattle. I haven't seen her since, but recently she got in touch with me. She still lives in Washington, and doesn't know where she'll be working once she gets a job, but that's not the point. The point is that for once, it felt natural talking to a member of the opposite sex about "feelings". Her reaction didn't hurt either.

i've got nothing

I haven't been posting very much lately. I blame apathy, or my current dull state of affairs, or some third thing. But in my defense, I haven't been up to much lately. I'd post on recent happenings that I find interesting, like congresses wise decision to shoot down dubyas (un?)constitutional ammendment that discriminates against homosexual couples, or Stephen Hawkings recent statement about information loss in black holes or the lack thereof, but chances are you probably already know these things, or aren't interested. With that disclamer out of the way, here's some shit you don't care about:

I got a 200GB hard drive, which is actually more like 184GB since the nice people at western digital have decided that 1000 = 1024. 1000MB is not 1GB, 1000KB is not 1MB, and 1000B is not 1KB. Powers of two, people, get with the program. Still, it's a huge amount of storage space, which will soon be filled with genetic algorithms and neural network diagrams, and 32GB of music.

I heard from Katie today, whom I haven't talked to since freshmen year in high school. It's nice to hear from people you thought had disapeared forever, unless they're jerks, then it's just anoying. I'm assuming she got my screenname from my blog profile, so blogspot proves to have uses other than providing an outlet for my oh so dull and poorly constructed sentences. That put me in an unusually good mood.

Freecell is an addictive game. I'm not one for computer games, but every now and then one comes along that grabs my attention, like that crappy Deimos Rising game that came with my mac, or SSX Tricky. Is it bad that I'm thinking about designing a genetic algorithym to play the game?

Clusterfuck is one step closer to completion. Only aleph-null steps to go. I now know how modules will work. Granted no code exists for this part yet, but with clusterfuck the going trend seems to be a few weeks of thought followed by 2 or 3 lines of amazingly powerfull code. This should really go in codemill but it can wait until the code is in place.

We've found people to live in our house. Leslie and her (I'm assuming) boyfriend are moving into my room, which is big, and I'm moving into Bens old room, which is small. I'm a little upset that I'm losing my room, but I had it for a year so I can't complain, plus we're gaining two housemates and people are good. I hope all my furniture fits in the smaller room.

That's it, people. Maybe I'll have some interesting stories by the end of the summer, maybe not. Depends on whether or not I care to write about things that happen when most of the people who would care were probably there anyway.

WVU

Went to visit Kevin at WVU with Tim, Parker, and Kyle this weekend. Good times. Got drunk at a mall then saw spiderman, got a free beer at a bar, pool (table, not water), various "tobacco accessories" stores, stole Kevins car twice. but yeah... uh... the drive back hungover wasn't great, not horrible, just not great, and I like driving.

Got back and went to a BBQ at Wills, played a few games, more fun.

Now I'm driving my sisters car because mine is getting it's oil changed, and she's in France. I definitely take better care of my car than she does hers, inside and out. I found this surprising.

Slashdot story

First Post.

Well, my first story on Slashdot. I didn't write the article, but I wrote the blurb and sent it to the administrators. They liked it, and posted it, and now everybody can read it. They changed the title, but mine kindof sucked anyway. That's right, you can say it. I'm awesome.

cell

replaced. new one gets signal. so, um... yeah. that's about it.

Genetic engineering

Read the article. I'd write more here, but other than bitching about how dumb this is (which the article does quite well) there's nothing I can add.

So yeah, get angry, please.

Rain + Electronics

I got caught in the rain yesterday when biking home from work. I got soaked, as did everything with me including my mp3 player and cell phone. My mp3 player works, but my cell phone is having problems. It has found signal since drying off, but doesn't do it most of the time. I figure there's probably still some water inside that has yet to evaporate, because I've never seen low-voltage electronics ruined by water. Plus it worked this morning and a little yesterday after getting wet, so I imagine it working again. If not, I'll just get it replaced. Until then, don't try calling my cell.

From now on I'm walking

Got a quick (read: immediate) flat today on my way to work and nearly lost control. Luckily I landed on my feet and ran with it, righted the bike and continued on my way without slowing down too much. Didn't even notice the flat until I got off work and it was starting to rain. So I rode on my flat to the bike shop across campus... it's hard to steer when your front tire is as soft as microwaved butter... and got a new tire. I'm never going back to that bike shop again; they kept my flat inner tube (I forgot to ask for it) which I could have fixed once I got home, and the guy said I should come back for a tune-up because the joint where the handle bar meets the fork was a little loose. Did he fix it? No, and on my way from the shop some kid swerved into me from the other side of the sidewalk and knocked me over. I landed on the grass and was fine, but my handle bar was now parallel to the tire rather than the traditional perpendicular configuration. It was loose enough for me to fix by hand, but it's still just annoying. It would have taken the guy 2 seconds to do there. And the last time I went to this shop I got a speedometer and they installed it but decided I didn't need the manual. And yes, before you ask, I can fix my bike on my own, put new tires on, install a speedometer, and what not, but I figure I have no big problem paying for labour at local businesses every now and then. Well, not there anymore. So I rode home shaken up from the crash; I can't remember the last time I fell off my bike, not to mention that I had a close call earlier today.

So yeah, when I drive asshole cops give me tickets, and when I ride my bike people crash into me. Every now and then my incredible luck runs out.

no revenue for the police

So I'm driving today, highway, speeding but moving with traffic, and I get pulled over. I couldn't find my registration at first because I was looking in the glove compartment, when it was in my wallet, so the officer went back to his car to write me up. He came back with a ticket for failing to provide my registration and by that point I had realized where it was and had it for him. Handed it to him. Still got the ticket, which I'm contesting (I produced it on demand, just not as quickly as the cop would have liked), but got nothing for speeding. He said not to go to court otherwise he'd tell the judge what else I was doing. So he tells the judge that I speed... and then what? Why no speeding ticket then? I'll get off from the ticket I got because I gave him the registration before he gave me the ticket, and I won't get a speeding ticket because that's just not how traffic court works. Between the parking ticket I sortof got out of (guilty with explanation, $250 ticket reduced to $20 court fine), the "driving faster than reasonable" ticket I got from the accident (it was raining, I lost control when I hit a puddle, court date in August) when the cop showed up well after the fact --- and told me to contest ---, and this, I'm going to know the Montgomery County traffic court pretty well. And if all goes as planned, I won't be nailed that badly for anything since my only speeding ticket from over 3 years ago. Even when I get a ticket I'm lucky.

Still, this is why I love my bike.

Do Not Click On This Link!

I've included the following link which I would advise against following, http://xxx.lanl.gov/seek-and-destroy, because I find it funny. Apparently the people at LANL (Los Angeles National Labratory), who brought us the atomic bomb, don't like automated searches of their site, and any IP address that tries to access that url will be attacked by the LANL network. How, I'm not sure. And I don't want to find out.

Consider yourself warned... if you click on the link and something bad happens, don't blame me. I'm just the messenger.

Stormy Weather

Bad weather (good, if you ask me. you didn't? nevermind then), good music (Modest Mouse's new CD), and an interesting book make the fact that all my housemates have left me to my own devices not so bad. Still, though, I don't think I would ever want to live alone.

I know what this means... *sigh*... no more being an asshole. *snif*

By the way, we're still looking for a housemate, and if for some reason you haven't been encouraged to exercise your right to live here and are looking for a place to live in college park, let me or one of my housemates know.

Damn, the weather cleared up. I was looking forward to a nice storm. Scratch that title, make it "ramble" instead.

Everybody take off your clothes

It's hot out, and in for that matter, so it is now my mission to wear as little clothing as possible. I'll wear a shirt at work and when I go to establishments of business which require it, and shorts around those who aren't comfortable with nakedness. Other than that, clothes, I ain't got shit to say to you.

^?^?^?^?^?

I've figured out the way I program, and why it takes me a long time to get something finished... I'm a perfectionist and a lot of the programs I write a large. So what ends up happening is I write a rough copy once, then write it again using better structure as I understand the problem better. Usually this means I rewrite code once, but with projects for work where they keep on changing what they ask for, or the standards change, it means I write the same program 4 or 5 times before it's finished. The nice part about this is that in the end, my code is very well structured and easy to read, and usually modular and extensible (my two favorite words.) Right now I'm working on the... let's see... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... 6th copy of the program I'm writing for work. I've changed programming languages once (it started as horrible C code somebody else wrote which I was trying to adapt to fit the problem), added top-level features a few times which required rewriting large sections of code, and broke apart the code into separate modules a couple times (which is what I'm doing now). Once I'm done with this version, though, it will be the last.

new car

2001 prizim. Wasn't planing on getting one (doing fine biking to work) any time soon, but it was my parents idea, and the car will last my younger brother a while in a few years when he gets it. I'm still going to buy my own car eventually, but apparently there's no rush for my brother to get a car. Still, I do want to actually own my own car, and it would make his life easier. So now what? I guess I see if I can still bike to work when the weather's pleasant, or if I'll just drive every day because it's easier. Nice of my parents, though.

Where did everybody go?

The house I live in has changed substantially over the last week or so. First, Paul moved home for the summer, then Ben moved home for good. They had all better come back, often, those jerks. So now it's just the three of us. The house does not feel like it used to. Also, in a little over a week, Tim is going to France for a while. That leaves it as Karen and myself, too few people for such a large house. If anybody cool needs a place to live in College Park, MD (don't worry, you're cool), let one of us know, because with Ben moved out there is an open room that needs filling.

To go with the flow, I've fixed my pc and rearanged my room a little. I figure, if the house feels different but my room doesn't, my brain won't register as quickly the changes (yes, I am that dense.) So now my video card doesn't do that thing where bright or dark areas of the screen make the rows they're on brighter or darker than the rest, and my keyboard no longer has any cables coming out of it. It would be nice if my keyboard worked, though; I thought you could just cut the cables and make it 'wireless'. Finally, I moved my pc from the floor to my desk, so now I won't get back problems every time I feel like using linux instead of my iBook.

You only live once

My grandfather passed away a few days ago. It was unexpected, but not entirely surprising. He was being good about taking all his medicine, and there were no recent serious health issues, so there were no short-term indicators, but he had coronary surgery a few years ago and wasn't in perfect health, so it isn't entirely surprising. It still sucks; he was a good person to have as family. None of my friends ever met him, but I doubt I will do him justice or keep your interest if I attempt to describe his life, in addition to the fact that I don't know it all that well. So instead I will try to depress you and talk about death, because it is each one of our fates, and the fate of everybody we will ever know (baring advances in medicine that could make immortality possible, because I believe those advances won't come in our lives if ever.) Unfortunately, death is simply something we are forced to accept and deal with. Being depressed over the loss somebody is natural, but that does not mean we should not try to grow from the experience. I think I take death well, and not because I am uncaring or insensitive; I cared a lot for my grandfather. I deal with death well because I understand its importance. Without living beings dying we wouldn't be capable of making room for the next generation. After a few generations without death there wouldn't be enough resources to keep everybody alive. Also, it allows the species to make progress genetically, albeit over much longer spans of time. In a perfect world nobody would die who didn't choose to do so, and there would be enough resources for everybody. We live in a much more constrained world. Our bodies fail us, our resources fail us, we were not built to last forever and neither was the world we were born into. But dying does not erase one from the universe. The fact that one existed still holds and will hold forever. All of ones actions are permanent in this nature. Dying prevents you from creating new actions, so it is important to perform all the actions you wish to perform while you are still capable. Once you have lived, forever you will have had lived. In that sense, you never die. But you still do, in the classical sense, so you better do your stuff now.

Cupajo

So they are no longer together, so posting this is in vain (sortof), but Cupajo is an amazing band. You can listen to some of their songs on their webpage. I highly recommend listening if you like acoustic guitar. And no, I have no relation to the band (although they were local) so I'm not just trying to sell some albums. I played piano, but it was just a hobby, never a career, and I could never do what they did. So yeah, listen. You won't be disappointed.

Finished

No more finals ever again. I'm out. Took my last exam, and all I have to do now is get a cap and gown, and go through the graduation ceremony. Well, that, and start making a living. I'm thinking I should become a corn farmer.

It's funny, laugh dammit.

I used to say that flying cars wouldn't ever catch on because they wouldn't be fuel efficient, but apparently they are if you compare them to hummers. Figures, just when I decide to get a monowheel someone comes out with something cooler. Maybe I'll just walk and wait for a teleporter to hit the market.

Religion

I would not call myself a religious person. I was raised in a Jewish (father)/Christian (mother) house with a little exposure to the two ideologies, but it was never pushed on me. I've been to synagogue a number of times, and to church less. I don't believe either religion, or any other religion for that matter. I would still consider myself spiritual because I understand the limitations of describing our existence through any model of understanding. To clarify, consider modern science: through it we try to understand the nature of the universe we live in, but it is confined to be an understanding of how something could work. Even if we were capable of designing a model for the universe that predicted perfectly every observation we made --I do not know whether we are--, we would be leaving unanswered the question of how the thing which that model represents comes to be what we call "actual". Metaphysics, which is religion as far as I am concerned, is a necessary consequence of science.

What irks me, as a thinking being, is how people accept mythology as truth. Maybe Jesus is the son of the Christian God, or perhaps not and is just a prophet, and Muhammad is the last of said prophets. Or perhaps Zeus is the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus. Maybe we are all suffering in the cycle of birth and rebirth to acquire Nirvana, or the universe follows The Way because it is its nature. Or perhaps, these are all valid interpretations of a more supreme truth. I like to think that these are all simply stories we tell each other to comfort ourselves and guide us to follow more cooperative behavior, and teaching them as truth dims the minds of truth seeking agents. I tend to not accept anything to be true and rather let myself work under fuzzy logic and reason about uncertainty. On a fundamental level, I do not even know that it is "true" that I exist. This thought was hard to accept, but it is even harder to try to communicate; I will leave that task for later. I think there is more worth in reasoning about observations than there is in accepting other peoples beliefs as our own.

But please, don't believe me either. Think for yourselves.

found my next vehicle

I've decided the next automobile I'm getting. It's here. Well, that or a hoverbike.

(.64^.5)/.01 % finished with finals

Or, for the numerically handicapped people, 4/5 finished. Nothing quite like 3 days in a row of 8am finals to reinstitute my respect (or at least reverence) for institutions that run on a tight schedule. Not everything is 11am classes or dinner until midnight apparently. But that's the end of that; I have a 10:30am exam on Monday in artificial intelligence and I am done. Then I have a short break, graduate, and start work in June. I must say, the closer I get to being out of school, the more I look forward to just doing whatever. I'll still be tied down by work, but weekends, evenings, vacations... I will have a lot of time to bike, camp, read, program, whatever, and won't have homework to get in the way. I want to bike the C&O canal from end to end again some weekend this summer, anybody interested is welcome to join. (I think we'll just carry our supplies with us, and I know a few campsites along the way.) I figure 3 days should be long enough to have enough time to relax; we used to do it in 4 days, but had small children with us so we couldn't go that fast. Anybody have any other ideas?

Google

Apparently, google.com has found my blog profile. Or, at least user lists for topics in which I'm a member, which then link to my profile. (I randomly google my name to stroke my ego, and usually come away depressed.) This is faster than I thought it would appear.

On a related note, I always think it's a good thing if I can search google for "gimp video" and get what I was looking for.

Fire

-- Fire, Ohio Players --
[...]
Fire (What I said, child, ow)
Fire (Uh-huh)
Got me burnin', burnin', burnin'
Got me burnin', burnin', burnin' (Yeah)
Got me burnin', burnin', burnin' (Yeah)
[...]
----

So, there was a fire down the street last night. Got up at 2 at the beckon of fire trucks with their strobe lights and the flashes of the rotating colored lights. Still don't know if anybody was hurt (I hope not, but does that really need to be said?), but I walked down with the rest of my roommates, who were all up too, and the damage was pretty extensive. The house is probably going to have to be torn down, but I'm not an expert on the art of house repair, so what do I know? Still, there were a lot of fire trucks for such a small street, and we have a hydrant in front of our house, so they were close even though the house was 5 or 6 houses down the street. So let this be a lesson to all of you: brush your teeth every night, and sleep in clean pajamas, or in the nude, whatever suits your taste.

Man v. Nature: The Road to Victory

We need oxygen to survive, we need clean water, various minerals, amino acids, carbohydrates. Nature is the only thing we have that provides us with what we need to survive. We depend on nature, and are a part of nature, and yet we are killing the world. Rain forest deforestation, fertilizers and plastic fibers in the oceans. The ozone hole. The witnessed extinction of species at our hands and the projected extinction of many more, including our closest living relatives: chimps. Fossil fuels. By destroying our ecosystem we destroy the only thing that puts clean air in our lungs, clean water in our stomachs when we are thirsty, and food in our stomachs when we are hungry. Smart, don't you think? Maybe we should start looking for better alternatives than our current suicidal approach to controlling the environment. But what do I know? I know I don't like what I see.

Chinese Phonics

My last Chinese final exam ever was this morning, and now I'm left to ponder why I took so many Chinese classes in the first place. Well, it was because I didn't like my architecture professor. Wait, that doesn't make sense. Let me explain. I was trying to take multiple classes that overlapped so that I could draw from all of them and do better all around. So, I took Chinese history, Chinese poetry, and Non-western architecture. At the time, I was going to take a bunch of higher-level architecture classes to take care of a requirement we computer science majors have where we have to take four 300-400 level classes in another field. I hated this architecture class, partially due to the professor, partially due to the fact that we weren't designing anything, whereas in my first architecture class we got to. So I decided not to apply to the architecture school (I also wasn't sure I'd get in, or if they'd let me in if I wasn't going to major.) But I did well in my Chinese poetry class. Got an A in fact, and thus started my poorly planned trip into a field I knew nothing about.

Now that I'm out, I feel I have learned a lot. For example, there are a lot of Chinese people in Chinese classes. Also, a lot of them speak the language. And some of these classes are a lot easier if you know the language. Also, I can eat three burritos from Chipotle in a day and not get sick. Okay, I didn't learn that in class, but the burritos do have a lot of rice.

I'm going to hell.

I hate early exams

not because I dislike getting up in the morning, but because it makes going to bed feel like a responsibility. Sleep should be a gift from the world at the end of a long day, not a chore done to get good grades. Unless you're sleeping with the teacher, then it's ok.

Hybrid Cars

So... I'm planning to get a hybrid car and find some claims that they aren't as fuel efficient as the car manufacturers claim. So now what? Consumer Reports and Wired News, along with another blog, leave me with an uneasy feeling about getting one. Now I'm just hoping my dad does decide to get a new car (he's been thinking about it for a while) and give me the 92 Honda Prelude. No, I don't want to rely on my parents, but I also need a car soon and don't have a lot of time to go out and test drive. Getting a hybrid would have made things easy since I would only have to test drive 3 cars. Now I have to rethink everything. On the plus side, though, now if I get a car it won't have to be so friggin expensive.

Maybe I should look into turbo-diesel car. I've been hearing good things about them, and they can run on biodiesel. Hmm

Wants and needs

We have too many of them. Americans, among people in many other countries, typically want a lot out of life. I understand this because I too want a lot of things, but I think I want a lot less than most, which is what helps me be so happy. Well, that, and that I get of most of what I want. I want food, shelter, friends, and ways to pass the time. Since I enjoy thinking the problem of passing the time is solved, and since I have a job the food and shelter problems are solved. And I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of decent, intelligent people as friends. Everything else I have, I don't need, and wouldn't be heartbroken if I lost them. I don't need a fancy house, or a fast car, fancy electronics (although they are fun, if you have them), clothes (other people seem to disagree with me there), or most of what the television tells me I should want. I do my best to not buy into the consumerism that has been plaguing our country since the end of world war two. Still, I'm not perfect, so I'm bound to slip up here and there and buy something I don't need. What worries me is that to remain competitive in this world we have to have a strong economy, which people need to buy things, and since people need very little to survive, we all end up buying things we don't need. And where does this money go? Some of the money we spend goes to pay workers, some gets spent on products used to make products, but that doesn't add anything other than business to business transactions. A lot of money, however, goes to those who own the companies but don't to a proportional amount of work for the money they receive. This wouldn't be inherently bad so long as people got what they needed, and the rich could simply get more things. The problem comes when the things the rich people can buy is control over portions of the population. Money should have no place in politics. It should have its place in government, but that is different: the government needs money to pay its workers. Money shouldn't impact elections because then the rich, who may not be the best leaders, will have more of an impact on government than the average citizen. What compounds the problem is that business can benefit from policies put in place by the government.

The solution? Stop buying things you don't need. Stop paying so much attention to mass media. Money influences politics because the average citizen allows it to. If more add time on the television and radio didn't correspond to more votes, campaigns wouldn't be so sensitive to funding.

I'm not very good at writing about things like this. Maybe I should focus less on the problems and solutions, and just present a possible world where the problems are much less severe. Please, feel free to comment if you have anything to say. We can work to make things better.

No more classes, ever

Actually, I may be taking classes next year, too. I'm graduating this year, get that part straight, but the job I'm taking at the astronomy department lets me take two classes a semester without having to pay tuition. But I'm done taking classes for my undergraduate degree. What's even better, or worse depending on how you look at things, I slept through my first class, so my last day was even lighter than I expected. I got to sleep in, still got all my papers in, and have only studying left.

Oh, on another note, as you may or may not have noticed, my posts have been lame. I think so, even if you don't. My intention in starting this blog was to write bullshit philosophy. Because, you know, everybody would love to read that instead. Like anyone wants to read about my boring day-to-day events anyway. Yes, I am dull. But at least I am happy.

I love being able to program

See that little add on the top of this webpage? That's because I figured out how to get rid of it. Granted it isn't hard if you know what you're doing, it's still nice to be able to solve these kinds of problems. If anybody has a blog here and wants help, let me know.

One quick post, then back to homework

Natalie came over (for those of you who don't follow celebrity gossip, we were going out) and we decided, on her initiation I will admit, that we would probably do better as friends than in a relationship. I can honestly say that I think this is best. She's cool, but we're way too different for a relationship to work. Not heartbroken, just a little upset it didn't work out. So now what? How about I finish my fucking homework so I can graduate.

I will post later, promise

I have 2 papers due tomorrow, 3 exams this week, and 2 exams next week. So I won't post much until after I am finished with this semester. On the plus side, though, this is going to be my last undergraduate semester. I am looking forward to the free time... and all the blackjack and hookers I can handle (I can't play cards, and prostitutes are dirty, so maybe I'll just read a lot.)

First Post

This post is just to let me see how this site works. I'll probably not put anything interesting here so you can just skip the rest of the comment. Or, you could just finish reading it.