Entries tagged “general”

Once again, I'm glad I'm not a Sprint customer. Sprint's service is absolutely horrible - or maybe it is just my phone. Apparently, however, they'll try to justify any of their ills.

I'm getting silicon implants.

I have what is known as congenital ptosis in my left eyelid. Basically Ptosis is a drooping of the upper eyelid.

When I was four I had surgery which fixed a significant ammount of problems that I did have with my eyelids. Around last year I felt that it was time to have more work done on my eye.

I met with the very doctor who worked on my eyes 15 years ago and we scheduled surgery. The processis basically adding a silicon sling within my eye that will keep my eye open like normal.

The surgery will take place next Tuesday (3 Aug).

I saw Wind in the Willows done using the cast from Monty Python. It was wonderful. I had forgotten the story and this was a nice representation. Toad got on my nerves a little bit. The defense was great during the trial.

Afterwards we ate at the Lotus and I went CD shopping with Adam Engelhart. I purchased three albums, Bad Religion's No Control, Orb's Orbvs Terrarvm (can someone explain the etymology?) and Meat Beat Manifesto's Storm the Studio which consists of four multi-part songs. The albums seemed good at the store, perhaps they will live up to my expectations.

I've also noticed that the car kit tools I use no longer seem to work. Namely the CD-tape device. I will see if it's just my CD player or something.

Yesterday I ate at an Indian restraunt. It was okay. I mean I don't like Indian food usually. This, however, was pretty good.

I have sound working on my computer. Linux is a good Operating System if it's preinstalled or you know Ryan Hayle.

Today I got to go to the airport and pick up my brother and sister-in-law. Now I'm bored again. I think I'll find something interesting to do...

I might try to get that Hindu Mandir Online thing working... that could be interesting.

And you would be sad.

Today my Uncle and his family gave me the X-files movie on VHS Cassette (I'm guessing this would be Julie and Auntie's idea). I watched it. It was similar to a long episode of the X-files that was pretty good. It's just not nearly as cool the second time around.

Later tonight Molly came over and we eventually gave birth to cookies. They were good despite the pain we went through (no, just forget I used the word "birth" in that last sentence).

My brother shall be returning soon. Last I heard he and Kelly were in Thailand.

Thank you and before I say goodnight, I leave you with a pleasant link. (Note: This will make sense to Run-Friends and perhaps nobody else, except maybe Su').

The journal database was not allowing me to add new entries. I have fixed this. I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I just though a small entry would be nice.

"They're after me!"

So I was reading this astrological reading...

VIRGO (Aug. 24-Sept. 23): If you want something enough you will eventually get it. Your heart tells you that is true even if your head says it is illogical. Of course, if the something you want is something you were destined to have, it could arrive any time - like today, for instance.

I really love this journal thing. It's an excuse to not talk to people individually. Why bother? Most people are bound to not give a care about one or two (at least) of the things I talk about. Why risk having one of your ideas ignored? So I have this journal system. I can post any damn idea I have that I feel needs to be shared. If someone's interested and they read it, they can talk to me about it more. If they aren't interested they just skip over it and I don't feel like an idea of mine has been ignored or not understood.

I think I know why I dislike my roommate. He's inconsiderate. I'm currently working on my final paper for speech and he's currently watching Street Fighter videos with a friend. He could have asked. It's blatantly obvious that I'm working on a paper. I'm not going to make a situation awkward and ask him to not watch this. It is his room too, I just wish he's be a bit considerate.

Ugh, I was a bit foolish to eat a Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner. Not only do I remove the ham inside it, but the cheese that's in it doesn't agree with me. It's a pity that the insides of me are so much like my brother (lactose intollerant). One day they'll synthetically make food that tastes good.

Caption not available.

I also bought a $65 keyboard drawer. It has neat gel rests for my keyboard and mouse (which is on a sliding tray), it's easily removed so I can use it at home too. I love this thing and is definitely worth getting. "It feels like breast" as one floormate remarked about the gel rests.

ANNOUNCEMENT: When I mention an MP3, I normally will upload it to "the MP3 Server." Some of you wonder what this server is. This server is not run by me, and is not mine to delegate access. A good number of the visitors of this page know of the server and how to connect to it, this is why I frequently use it to upload my MP3s. If you do not have access to this server and want one of the MP3s I mention, I can send it to you if you live in my hall, or I can at least point you in the direction where I found it (usually MIRCX).

I finished Speaker of the Dead. My hall has not yet purchased Xenocide which means I am bound to magazines and writing on the flight home. I should have just purchased this book at the bookstore today. What I did get at the bookstore is a nice legal pad and pad holder and a nice shirt. That cost about $40 total. I think I'm going to have to buy less stuff and start saving money.

Yesterday while watching the X-files there was an add for Ally McBeal featuring Ally going at it with some other woman. I watched it while packing up. What a stupid show. I think I know a Chinese version of Ally McBeal back in Minnesota.

Okay, so I am going home tomorrow. Leaving UIUC at 10:25 AM to Detroit. I'll be at Detroit at 12:55, leaving at 1:40 and then reaching my final destination at 2:32 PM. My incomming flight to MSP is 1137. I will be coming into gate 18 I believe.

Stinky will not be present in my life until 29 November 1998.

Clinton recieving instructions from the mother-computer via an old-fashioned radio.

My dorm light went good-bye. I work in darkness now. Actually I work in the bask of a florescent study lamp from Jack's desk which is adequate for computer work. What errors I encounter will be adjusted through corrective surgery...

By the way, the song that I said was really cool is actually Jeane Michael Jarre's Oxygene 16 performed live in Moscow... I found most of the concert live, but only this track was 128/44 (and mislabled). I've uploaded all my stuff to the MP3 server. I've listened to a few of his other works and they are okay, but none were as impressive as this. Of course this is also the only good MP3 I could find of him (a mislabeled one at that).

There exists a World Jewish Congres... WJC... hmm... interesting. Sounds a little too much like World Wide Jewsih Conspiracy to me.

I've noticed a lot of people on my dorm leave their TV on, and don't actually watch it. It might be laziness or it might be some type of "security" that they get from the TV being on. I know that the TV gives me "company" when I eat alone at home, but I rarely do that anymore. This might be for the same reason. So I ask:

A lot of my friends here on campus have older computers that require non-SDRAM, either EDO or the "other kind." If someone can point me in the direction of how to distinguish between the types of RAM, that'd be great. Also, if any of you have this type of RAM lying around, please give it to me.

Now you may be thinking, "Dave, you're all the way in Urbana." I'm coming back Tuesday and their is a Thanksgiving Party at my house this Friday. All are welcome, just email me so I know you're coming. It's best to let me know if you're coming by Tuesday night for sure. If you've already told me that you are coming, then don't worry. Thanks a lot. Hope to see you soon. And to all my friends living on the east and west coasts, hope to see many of you during Winter Break. Unless I hate you. Email me if you want to know if I hate you.

"I feel like a diabetic kid in the sugar free section of Mr. Bulky."

ICQ 99a is in limited beta (i.e. you cannot download it). It's cooler than all hell. I've had one major problem with ICQ. My list had too many people, and I wanted to organize them. The other thing that was a wish was to get rid of those stupid headings that say "Online" and "Offline" these are now offable. So here's a list of new things.

Features I like
• Groups - You can organize people on your contact list in groups (reshall, friends, family etc.) The groups are collapsable for those of you who have a ton of contacts.
• Global Online Alert - When a user logs online there will be a knocking sound, an icon will flash in your system tray and the user's name will flash in on your list. You can configure this. I have it so it makes no sound, but the contact list (which I keep open at all times) will have the persons name flash a little. It can also flash to notify you if someone's come out of away.
• key shortcuts
• (just found this out) When you get a message and have no clue what it's about, you hit "History" and the message box gets bigger and you can read the history and reply at the same time all in one window.
Otherthings that are new.
• Annoying typewriter sounds when you compose a message. (Easily disabled).
• Colored Messages - You can color your messages so the recipient will get a colorful notice from you.
• Reminders - Set ICQ to remind you of future events and activities. open in new browser

There's a 52 pound package coming from a warehouse in NY. It was last seen in Island City. Hopefully here by Monday.

The Chem test today was bad. It's okay. I understand the subject material. They ask a lot on tests. I think my problem is I learn certain things just to be familiar with them, not to answer all the questions on a test. I should learn differently.

Jack's posters fall. Not the Taco Bell poster though. I wish that would fall. His other posters fall though. I think it's annoying. My posters don't fall. I have six. One is on the ceiling. Heck, a CD I stuck on the ceiling hasn't fallen yet either.

Jack's not used to my being used to coldness. Like my room is cold now. (Same temperature as my basement normally is.) I like it that way. It's like free airconditioning. Actually now that I think about it, it is cold. But I just hate climbing the stairs where it's burning hot and then getting into a burning hot room with Glade Plugins which are being used to mask dorm room smells. I need constant cold fresh air to flush my room out. Maybe I'll shut the window tonight.

HDTV is now available at an alarming price. Most people don't need it. In fact most people are better off throwing their damn TVs out the window, but that's another story. You see, people could care less if their TV looks sharper or not. For the most part, it's not that big of a deal. It's nice when watching a full screen movie, but that's about it. Nicholas Negroponte wrote an article (which you can find on his page) about why HDTV is a waste. He basically says TV is crap with euphemisms.

My eye is severely red. I think I need a new one.

I went to a loveline-type thing at Allen Hall. It was very amusing and interesting. Much better than the real "loveline" on MTV and Westwood 1 Radio Network (or whoever puts out Loveline).

I guess Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0b2 was not supposed to be announced to the world like BetaNews did. Luckily, I installed it before Microsoft did anything. I should probably redownload it for a better build, but I don't care that much. Beta 2 fixed my shortcut/shares and other miscellaneuous icon problems. It installed smoothly (smoother than any other IE, that I can remember). It's worth upgrading to if you have 5.0B1 otherwise don't bother, it may not be worth the hassle.

My mom sent a signed affadavit (actually my dad signed it) for my netcam. I forecast that I will get it around the middle of December at the latest. She also sent a package via Airborne Express filled with Candy. :)

I'm voting for senator Mosely-Braun, the incumbant. It was between her (Democrat) or Jim Davis (Natural Law Party). The Republican candidate didn't fill out this election survey, the libertarian and the US Taxpayer both annoyed me. The Reform party was okay. I agreed with a lot of what Mosely-Braun and Davis had to say, but Braun was a little bit better in most issues. I'll decide on whom else I should vote for later. I'll probably default to Democrat or Natural Law Party (because they are a promising third party with many views akin to mine).

My song of the week is Juno Reactor's Feel the Universe (Kox Box remix)... I'll upload Feel the Universe to the MP3 server of choice. It prompted me to download more Juno Reactor and more Kox Box and other Techno MP3s I could dig up. It's funny, I tend to always have more Techno MP3s than the MP3 server. Even after uploading all I have, I end up finding more stuff.

• I ran today (Friday)... out of assumed necessity. It was nice.
• The web site for Maximum PC is finally online. I think it will be equivilant to the other computer sites I visit, but who knows.
• Hate Microsoft, Love Linux? See this.
• Look at this. I fully expect that this site would use mouseovers (the buttons change when you put your mouse over them). Strange.

Ray Bradbury's (he's older looking in real life) lecture at Foellinger Auditorium was the most motivational thing to which I have ever gone. His lecture was mostly his childhood and about his interests. He spoke of how it was his desires and love for the things he did that got him where he was. I won't detail to much of the event here, as he spoke of a lot of things. I was so tempted to run after the car that drove him from Foellinger to wherever he needed to be. He had a few good lines, "Find something that makes you hyperventilate and scares your friends." "Find something you really love and find a girl who can stand you." He was a real advocate of doing things that you loved and doing it for the rest of your life. He did announce a few things. Farenheit 451 featuring my favorite actor, Mel Gibson, is due this January or February (IMDB says something different, however). He also said next year to look out for a redone Martian Chronicles. He said the original is too boring. He talked about the endings he redid for a bunch of movies. He'd watch a movie, hate the ending, and then he'd rewrite the end to make it better. I love that. He wrote, because he loved to write. What a cool guy. He's inspired me to write. Something, anything. I've always loved the future and robots, so I'll write about that - regardless if it is crappy. I now want to go buy Legos. I love Legos. I love making my own little universe of the future using Legos. It's the funnest thing in the world.

Oh yeah, umm... PS. He still writes books. He's in the middle of four right now.

This may be a bit boring, so it's marked optional. I've decided to put all my one-liner things at the bottom all in one paragraph. Otherwise I have three or four paragraphs of little tidbits and that gets annoying.

Tuesday night, Jack ordered a pizza from Dining Services. Jack doesn't understand that chewing with your mouth open is rude. "Jack," I say, "chew with your mouth closed." Jack wonders with a confused half grin, "Why?" Oh, ignorant ignorant Jack, do you not know? "I don't like to hear you chew." Jack still confused, thinking it's some quirk with me. I help him out and explain, "It's impolite." Jack struggles to chew with his mouth closed, but at least he tries and at leasts I don't hear a bunch of chewing noises. Silly China-man, will you ever learn our ways? I suppose college is the only time he'd ever learn things like manners, etc.

This may or may not be out of context. From Kay's page: "Robocop and I went to bed." Oh boy, another soap-opera that I can twist.

Okay, for anybody who was wondering what Aural Stimulation was, Dimension Music cites somebody (probably from Winamp), "aural stimulation adds some high frequencies to the output, so that the ear hears high frequencies with the music. This tricks the ear into thinking that the recording is crisper, because mp3 tends to filter out most high frequency stuff, so the presence of incorrect (but unobtrusive) high frequencies makes it sound better." So it is not what I expected it to be, which would explain the unfamiliar name.

Looks like I save $299 by not buying a Matrox Marvel. No drivers for Windows NT. I'll just wait till Windows 2000 comes out. I wish Adobe would create Photoshop for Linux.

And now for the tidbits of information:

• I woke Jack yesterday with Logon Rock Witch... oops, oh well... that's what happens when you have stupid sleeping habbits. Mr. I have one class on Wednesdays.
• I've decided that I should use the computer lab in our basement more often. It's quieter at many times and there is no Jack and no PlayStation.
• Woo-hoo! I passed my fire safety inspection test... hopefully it's not the only test I pass.
• Ever wonder who hacks the hackers?
• Download this. If I choose to use this as my default laugh and laugh at more things, I think Jack will be scared of me:)

Take this Sagan! (sarcasm). What horrible people will we become. Nicholas Negroponte in Being Digital states something along the lines that we must not use "ether" as much as we do. It must not be the main transmitter of bits. We should come up with local systems that transmit mobile data to cable outposts which retransmit via wired to anything else (unless it's a mobile device, then it uses a local transmitter). We have the know how. Unfortunately it's not cheap to impliment. That's why I want an army of men and women ages 19-35 to join my industrial sabotage group. We will disable all inefficient corporate projects and integrate newere better designs that are designed with longevity and efficiency in mind, not some made up fairytale thing which we call money.

Speaking of science... look what the Danish have done. I could wait for an upgrade:) Imagine the impact. Technology like that, once it can be easily replicated will enable people to have nearly unlimited storage and memory. This enables us to do so much. Unfortunately science takes its time when it snuggles its way into technology. I want to see Micron eating this technology up:)

There's a new version of litestep (b24). If you want your computer to look pretty, get this. It's real easy to install and should work pretty fine. I don't use it because I like my IE4 shell as it is.

Oh yeah, NT 5.0 to be named Windows 2000. It seems logical as the Win95-98 continuation is being absorbed by the NT 4.0 progression. I guess I'll be using the same OS as you (probably) will be. Of course, that depends on the state of Linux next year. It seems to be gaining a lot of popularity this year. It's become easier to use. And then there is Corel! Most of the stuff I do right now in excel, etc can be replicated using web-based interfaces, etc. So I shouldn't care too much. I'm thinking of buying a new CD-ROM for my old computer and slapping on Red Hat. Maybe next year if I get a laptop it will be a Linux and NT machine... of course.

Sorry I've been away from humanity too long. I have too much computer stuff on my mind. The RIAA ban on Rio has been lifted. Rio is the handheld MP3 player.

Ooh, non-computer: This is for all you people who are sick of those motivational posters.

And, Molly and I by the end of the year hopefully will be both on the NetCam Network thanks to ZDTV who deemed both Molly and I as winners of NetCam devices. I decided to go the ultralegal route and have my mom sign it for me (since I'm under 21). And then I'll send it in later this week hopefully.

Am I being too mean to Jack?

I have a short term memory. I noticed this last year when I started using ICQ heavily. I'd message people and they'd reply and I would have to constantly look at my message history to figure out what they were replying to. This happens less and less, but it was disturbing dealing with such a short term memory. I've started to notice it elsewhere as well. I can't pay much attention in class because taking notes is difficult and keeping a lecture together in my head is hard. When I read a book I often miss important details. This happens especially if the subject matter isn't filled with vivid description or interesting.

I've started taking it easy instead of constantly being stresse over work. It's helped. It's funny my hobby is web site development and I chose the school that created graphical web browsing. It's fun to go to Help|About Internet Explorer if you use MSIE. If you like space, you'll like this. Our school has crappy Pizza delivery. It's just Totino's party pizza. It's nasty. If you go to UIUC, eat dinner, don't get the pizza from URH, if you must spend $5 and order pizza.

Winamp 2.04 has Aural Stimulation support for MP3s. I hope this is what I think it is. In other MP3 news, I just found a bunch of new MP3s from Aphex Twin, Tangerine Dream, Orb (an awesome live Toxygene), Orbital (as if I didn't have enough), Skinny Puppy and Underworld to name a few. I should be set for a while.

The Simpsons yesterday lacked some intelligence that the older Tree House of Horror's had.

Jack is back today. He woke up early (a few minutes after my final awakening). He's awake now.

Again, I wake up and no Jack. The difference? I woke up at 7PM (naturally with no alarm clock). He came back within a half hour or an hour.

Here's the funny thing Jack did. When you read it you will know the what the funny thing Jack did was. Today, I've motivated myself to go researching after dinner and when I came back around 8PM. Jack wakes up when I enter the room and turn on the light. There were 6 identical phone numbers on the Caller ID display and another that was from out of town. I'm assuming from the phone outside Allen Hall/Unit One Housingplex (sounds better than Residence Hall). I check my messages. Jack realizes the time and waits until I finish my message check and he checks his messages. Then he says, "Bullshit... my mom called at 7:34 PM." Well actually his Mom called at 7:34, 7:38, 7:51, 7:54, 8:00, 8:16. He slept through all six phone rings. He asked, "Where were you?" I told him I was at the library until now (then sometime after 8:16PM).

As the Chick tracts would say, "Poor stupid Jack, you'll never get into heaven if you sleep all day." Well Jack is finally gone. Not forever, but for the rest of the week.

Here is a quote to motivate "all y'all:"

We have now progressed in our thinking about giftedness and realise the static nature of our previous approach. Giftedness does not refer to something that is fixed for life but, rather, to a dynamic quality that is influenced over time. We do not seek to identify a fixed reservoir of ability and to calculate an ability score but rather to nurture and develop abilities to a higher level of performance.

-Eddie J. Braggettof Charles Sturt University: in "a developmental concept of giftedness: implications for the regular classroom"

I tend to write in the second person when I should be writing in the first person. Here is an example:

When living away from your friends and family on a college campus you feel somewhat withdrawn and start relying on email.

When living away from your friends and family on a college campus I feel somewhat withdrawn and start relying on email.

ANybody notice the new wave of skin-able programs? It's very strange. Suddenly all these programs we use will all use skins. Of course the only real program I use with skins is WinAmp, but others will follow. Then again, I usually use bigname products like Microsoft and Microsoft... Adobe too I guess.

Oh yeah, I had a test a few nights ago (tuesday) from like 7 PM to 10 PM on Graph Theory. I think I may have passed. The test seemed remarkably like UMTYMP. 8 problems choose 6. You are in a classroom with mounted desk/chairs and it's up to three hours long:) Show all your work.

Tonight I got my haircut obscenely short. I think it's cool.

This Thursday I had the pleasure of having Dan, Amy and Molly stop by for the rest of the week. We had a great time. We mostly hung out. Yesterday we went to Chicago to hang out with my friend Sunita, visit the Sears Tower and eat pizza at Lou Malnati's.

They left. I think I will miss them, because despite the heat level in my room, they added something here that was nice. However, right now I don't feel that loss. I believe I am still in the same mode of not feeling loss, becuase it is interfering. I think if I had nothing to do today I would feel very sad. I however have lots to do, I have to clean this mess-of-a-room for one thing. I have an assortment of documents to organize. I have several homework assignments to begin or at least preview. By keeping myself busy I don't feel lonely. Except now I have two bottles of Frapaccino's that Molly was supposed to take with her that will linger there for a while. Perhaps late at night when it gets hot I will try to finish them.

My brother and sister-in-law bought a Saab recently. Dan Lavenda and I can hardly wait to see it. My brother is going to make an effort to visit me either this month or next, which will be nice. Well I am off to cleaning my room.

Which reminds me I got a few gifts for my brithday. My mom and dad bought me a real nice Columbia Jacket and nice gloves (which are a tad too small) and I think my mom got me some Toblerone from her trip to India. Molly got a plant for me. Her parents got me some hot cocoa that they had sitting around and Molly gave me two of her brother's CDs (one of which I already have). Katie sent me a beanbag which is on loan, which I think is a great thing because I was complaining to my mom and Molly how I wanted a bean bag or something becuase I like to sit somewhere else other than my bed or my chair to read. Marc got me HUGBEES! Thanks again everybody.

Oh yeah, on Thursday I bought my ticket for They Might Be Giants. I am sitting in Section three (of four) in Row C in seat 7. So it's a good seat:) Unfortunately I'm going Solo to it, but that's okay... Also I may be going to see Moxy Fruvous next month.

She came online on ICQ and I called her and talked to her for a half an hour. Thank god I love her, because that was an expensive call... I wonder how long my parents will pay for this...

Well today my cousin and her family left. Today I had a fun day. Katie, Marc and I and later Daniel watched Freakazoid! We later made some food out of all the things we could find. Then we went to Marc's where I read and they watched British TV. Well I ended up watching some TV. Katie was saddened that it would be the last day that she'll see me for a while. For some reason I can't express the sadness as she does. Perhaps it's because I am reading the Dune series. The time for being sad about leaving is not now. I should enjoy leaving in order to start off on the right foot when I go to college. Perhaps I just adapt in order to survive. I make light of leaving everyone by telling them that I may never see them again (which is improbable) or that the next time I see them will be far from now. For now, I just wonder: What would a McKatie sandwhich be? What would it look like? What would it taste like? Well overall, today was a good day. Tomorrow my mother arrives from India.

I should have taken those phone calls last night with a bit more concern as I later found out today.

On to something less morose. My cousins and family are in town. My nephew was playing with Voltron. I started packing one box so far. Unfortunately most of my packing will take place later this week. Maybe a laptop wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Marc came over. We ate and watched Freakazoid! Daniel Lavenda came and we went to baseball at Anna's. That was a lot of fun. Daniel and I were playing around with my depth perception. Apparantly I don't use it and rely soley on visual cues or something.

After the game Daniel and I picked up a French movie called The Visitor featuring Jean Reno (from The Professional and more recently Godzilla) and we got some food and pop. This was a hilarious movie and that's from subtitles. The guy says "okaaaaay" like Marc says "aaaaay."

I guess tomorrow (or today) Katie, Daniel and perhaps Marc are coming over to watch Freakazoid! Katie doesn't seem like the type that would come over soley for Television. I think maybe it's because she wants to spend "quality time" with her Alter-ego...

ZDTV is the ultimate TV channel. Today (or maybe yesterday) they featured the They Might Be Giants web site. They even played the Broom video.

On todays show they will apparently have Afrosquad's site featured.

Looks like I may not take the Japanese test this Thursday. I hate the Japanese teachers because they don't understand anything. I want to take Japanese, but not as a major, and that doesn't seem to click for them. Sure I've only communicated with one sensei, but making an over-generalization is easier than talking to all the Japanese teachers.

It also appears I can get to my hall on the day I need to be there.

Space Ghost from Coast to Coast is this rehashed cartoon from the 60s that is doing a talk-show. It's mildly funny. Last week I enjoyed it quite a bit. Today they did this cool thing where the first show ended with John Hensen from Talk Soup. So basically they had the first half of the show appear to be just a clip from Talk Soup. Which was amusing. Talk Soup is a comical TV show from E! that satirizes Talk Shows (night and day).

Since many of you are going to college soon, you may need to arm yourself with this pieces of scripture:

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

-Mathew 6:5-6

Today I got a card stating that I've been accepted into the University of Illinois' First Year Impact program. Yay?

Actually, now I have a new NIC card and 128MB more memory... hmm that brings me to 192MB of Memory. 64MB was manageable, 128 is comfortable and 192 is luxury for me, but memory was cheap enough for me to go for this.

I broke one of our casarole dishes today. I don't know exactly how it fell, but it did. We have so many, I doubt my mom will notice.

I got a call from my roommate today. He seems really cool. He's bringing a TV/VCR and a play station. I don't require any of these things, but it's nice to know it's there. I guess we're getting a microwave/fridge. This is good... oh yeah, I can drink hot cocoa in the winter now... I can even steal food from the cafeteria!

It's my sister-in-law's birthday today. We took Kelly to Buca to eat. The food was very good. I don't think I'll eat for a while.

Wanna know something neat? Well upsetting too, I guess.

On Thursday night, July 30th, the facility that hosts Merriam-Webster's Web site was burglarized and its servers were stolen. We've managed to restore limited capacity, but we need to obtain new hardware from our suppliers before we can return to full service. We hope to have the entire site active again in a few days. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you will bear with us as we deal with the situation.

Thank you for your patience.

--The Merriam-Webster Web Team

Mail is coming late again today.

I went to see Saving Private Ryan. If you like to watch serious movies, I recommend it. It's a bit gory, but every movie that you have seen that involves gore has been preparing you for this movie. The violence and cruelty in this movie strengthens may hatred of war. It's not just the destruction of resources, but the humanity. This was a good movie, but not something that I could see another time.

It's been an entire week. It's frustrating - making a meal for one. I had Macaroni and Cheese from Annie's. It was very very good. To make it required boiling. Molly's the one who boils stuff.

I went to Best Buy with Marc and looked at a notebook with his friend. She doesn't know much about computers and wanted to get other things as well, like a scanner. After Best Buy Marc and I went to Paul Loudon's for a bit. Then we went by Katie's, but Katie wasn't there.

The mail came late today. When I got it though, I was very happy. I got a letter from a friend of mine who is canoeing in Canada. I call her Molly (among other things... you know, like "dear" and "loved one" or "chosen companion"). I read it and I was happy. Included was Katie-bait (a letter for Katie). I even have an address where I can send her mail. I intend to write something.

Katie fell for the bait and showed up as Marc and I made pasta and tater tots. Katie checked her email while Marc and I ate and watched the Simpsons. Then the three of us watched Freakazoid!. It is a damn funny cartoon that is forever lost in syndication. It's on the Cartoon Network at 6PM CDT on weekdays.

I just ordered a Micron 128 MB PC100 SDRAM DIMM of Memory. I didn't need PC100, but the company who sold it to me, CSP, offered that at a lower price than other companies offered non PC100. I also ordered a NIC (3COM FastEtherlink XL). If this stuff sounds cryptic to you, I can explain it.

If any of you thing your computer is a bit sluggish, now is the time to upgrade your memory. Typically 64MB is good. The reason now is a good time, is because memory is dirt cheap, but it is slowly growing more expensive (at least the good brands).

Today I missed her.

I read a lot of Dune. I like it a lot. Today I cleaned my room further. In the early AM I was working heavily on the new site. I hope to get around to adding everything by the end of this week. I almost helped this girl get a notebook, but actually just tricked her to going to Best Buy when it was closed.

Today I went to the They Might Be Giants concert which was at the Hops festival. It was very very cool. I missed Molly. Perhaps it's because I love going to concerts with her (even though I've done so only twice). We just always have fun. This would have been especially better because we got to listen to someone for free. I am, however, home now, so I don't mind as much. We got very wet. They played a lot of songs, including new ones. I was somewhat hoping for them to play She's an Angel. No such luck.

Today (or well yesterday) I went to Best Buy with Adam and Marc. I bought volumes one and two of the Wedding Singer soundtrack. It is very very good! It's also infinitely easier than finding the MP3s for the songs.

Marc and I watched Conspiracy Theory It was an okay movie. It was pretty interesting. It featured Mel Gibson and Patrick Stewart. If you have HBO, it's worth catching.

Tomorrow I guess the plan is to stalk the band They Might be Giants at the First Annual Hops Festival. We'll attempt to listen to them for free by not going to the actual festival, but by being right outside it. This way Marc won't booze-up with a festival full of drinking buddies.

Yesterday went well. I saw Taming of the Shrew presented by Shakespeare in the Park. They are a very good crew, and they are very funny. I was surprisingly able to keep up with the play even though I don't recall reading it, although I do remember the name Bianca. Laureen, Adam, Katie, Jesse and Jesse's cousin watched it with me. Laureen and I were debating who was prettier, Bianca or Kate. I said Bianca was.

We saw other people in the audience too. We saw Jurewicz (former AP Euro teacher). We saw Katie's parents (credits to Laureen for spotting Katie's dad). We later met with Zach and his person, Dan Lavenda and Ryan Hayle (who completely missed the show somehow).

We went to D'amico's and then Sabastian Joe's for food and Ice Cream. It was a nice day.

I am looking forward to the comedy thing on 9 August.

Yesterday and today I woke up at 9:46AM. I don't know why I wake up at that time, I just do. Yesterday I did nothing useful. Well I actually mailed the last of my thank you notes. I read Dune a lot too. Suzy stopped by and gave me a CD. This is what I call human contact. I think it was neat. She showed me some shirts for her parent's company.

Today I recieved a 9.1 GB Hard Drive as mentioned earlier. I have nothing but good news to report about it. This is the first time I've ever had to install a hard drive and I am very glad I decided to get a SCSI drive because they are easier than Jell-o to install. I was going to read the online installation guide at Seagate's web site, but it was far easier to just "wing" it. Finding a home inside my computer was kinda neat. I found a nice place under my floppy. It actually took a while to figure out how it would house my drive. There is this little cradle that unscrews from under my floppy drive. It attatches onto the new hard drive by sticking two little prongs into holes on one side of the drive while on the other side of the drive, you fasten it with a screw. I was short on computer screws so this one screw mounting was pretty handy. Then the cradle slides back into the spot under the floppy drive and you screw it tight and wallah, you are back in business. Unfortunately they didn't give me jumper-dealies so I had to steal one from a network card I had lying around in order to set the SCSI ID to 1. Then I played around and attempted to not cut the pricy SCSI cable. I succeeded and I plugged in the drive. I booted, the drive registered to the controller BIOS, and then NT started. Opened up the disk administrator and played around with it and after ten minutes or so, I had a nice new NTFS partition on the new drive. Well I copied my 2GBs of MP3s to the drive and it took under 25 minutes. I think that is satisfactory.

Today some people are going to see Shakespeare with me. I think that shall be pretty fun. It's at Lake Harriet Bandshell. I love that place.

I stumbled on this cool ad on television. It was from Volkswagon. What made it cool was they were playing Little Fluffy Clouds from The Orb and they had it synched in such a way that the car colors changed with each beat of the song. Once again VW has put neat music to their ads.

On another note, look at this and then look at this. Or maybe look at them the other way around. Now is it just me or do some of the Apple advertisements have the same tone as the Chick Tracts?

Red-Letter days are memorable ones. I've had a red-letter weekend this weekend and a few red-letter days this summer.

Currently I am doing absolutely nothing. I'm not in too good of a situation at all. I didn't wake up early because I have nothing to do. I sometimes write thank you notes, but that gets boring. Sometimes I read, but I've read a lot recently and am resting. I don't enjoy television and it is too gloomy outside to do any house work.

I'm not a good people person so I don't have that many friends I guess, well most of the ones I have I guess don't have a car or have a job or something. So I really have nothing to do. I don't like doing things in front of a computer either.

Tomorrow I go to Valley Fair with Molly and Laureen. That should be fun. I haven't been to Valley Fair with Laureen for five years. I wish Marc Gutman were in town. He'd know what to do...

Oh goddammit, I really wish he was in town... because I just came up with this cool-ass idea. Get a whole bunch of cardboard and build a people sized icosahedron that would be stable enough to like be inside. Heck even if you couldn't be inside it, it would be neat. I guess I'll just be waiting for Gutman.

I t must be the telemarketer's day out. I've gotten three calls so far from some form of telemarketing. I hate that.

Odd as it may seem, the Star seems to be having the most updated information on my powerlessness. I've been checking that paper and the The Press everyday. Looks like they are down to 50,000 or so homes with no power. Edina, Richfield (I have a friend in my Japanese class from Richfield "denki ga arimasen..."), Bloomington areas have been hit the hardest.

It's interesting.

From the Star

Moeller said that, in a few tough cases, customers might be out of service until Saturday.

Well I think I'll do my Japanese now, and then take another stab at this silly assignment. If somebody who knows a lot of C++ or a fair ammount at least could visit me (at Tom's house) and tell me what I'm doing wrong... that would be nice.

I am one of 89,000 powerless customers.

Hopefully by Thursday (when my damn CS project is due) I can utilize my home for something more than sleeping taking a shower and reading. I don't even know what to eat. I'll eat Tom. I'm at his house, I may as well... no wait... I need Tom... hmm... oh well.

So far being without electricity has taught me one thing. Reading is fun. Make that two things: The sun is nice and bright, and is a decent source of energy. Nevermind, 3 things: More research and engineering needs to go into power distribution and efficiency. Like we should be using solar power.

The Daily Show's Stacey is very pretty and she's cool. She's probably a slut. Most people have some type of tragic defect.

Hey, I had this problem with IE4.0. It has worked up until today. It would no longer opens pages in new windows (even with a target=_blank). Low and behold downloading IE 4.01 SP1 may help you.

This is one of the worst episodes I have ever seen. I mean, sure it was interesting as in suspenseful, but the show was in no way funny. This definitely was not a good Season-Finale. I could care less what any of the die-hard fans have to say. I wasn't laughing.

The fact that the episode was so twisted was bad enough. What the hell are they thinking airing a cartoon during primetime with that type of content? I could understand if the show was funny, but it wasn't.

Oh well, off to my Japanese lecture.

Sayonara.

Wednesday we had our UMTYMP graduation. Present were Molly, Tom Borchert, Adam Engelhart, Suzy Reichel, Laureen Ojalvo, Eve Xin, and others. Doug Shaw gave an astounding speech. Suzy also gave a speech which was good. Raj (my brother) and I did not like the food at all. Other people said the food was alright, but I think maybe my brother and I have higher standards for food.

Anyway, I got a lot of help for my fourth CSci assignment in Recitation. Recitation was boring so I emailed Katie (ed: Romportl - 5/24/06) for the last two minutes. There’s a link, you can email her too (ed: there is no link, it was removed in a belated attempt to thwart spam - 5/24/06). I’m going to start using her as my personal wailing wall. Except I won’t cry. I’ll just babble about how I don’t want to be in my classroom at the moment.

When I got home, Molly and I started working on invitations for our graduation. Hopefully we’ll send them out today or on Monday.

Yesterday, Molly and I went to Minnehaha Falls and rain fell on us (which she enjoys more than I) and then hail fell on us (which neither of us enjoy at all). We ran back to a mini-shelter and then to the car and headed to someplace safe, Arby’s. Molly has sided with me and really likes the Roast Chicken and Pesto Panini Grill sandwich. We then left for the play at Hopkins (Pirates of Penzance). I got to talk to the crew and even where a shirt of a crew-member (because mine was sopping wet). Molly returned to the light, and I found Mike Jorgenson and we sat down and then were joined by Adam and a surprise appearance by Jason Waye. The play was very good.

We (Molly and I) went home, were tired, started printing labels for the invites. Then we realized they didn’t print what we wanted (well I realized that, Molly was asleep on the couch). Molly left home, and I went to sleep.

Today I worked on my C++ project a little. It’s not too bad at all. Tomorrow my dad comes back from India during Simpsons/X-files… I hope his plane gets delayed so I don’t miss any of the show.