4.30.2004

Well, Adrian didn't show up by 6:15 so I went to the Rat with Chris, Steve, Dan, and Ronnie. He was there when we got back, and I told him I planned to leave around 2am. He said he would check me out when I left, since he would still be up at 2. I got in bed at 7:15 but couldn't fall asleep. I guess my biological clock was too skewed to go to bed that early. Anyway, I still rested with my eyes closed and finally fell alseep around 11:30. Adrian knocked at 2am and checked me out, and I took my last items out to the car. I said bye to Ron, Dan, and Steve who were still up, and took off.

The drive itself was uneventful, no delays at all. I averaged about 75mph on I-95 and about 65 on US-74, so I got home about an hour earlier than expected. I was nice to leave so early in the morning since there was almost no traffic. US-192 in Melbourne was empty, I only saw 3 or 4 cars on the way to the onramp. When I got home I unloaded my car then washed off all the bugs spattered on my bumper. I stored some things away in my room, refilled my fish tanks, and set up my computer. My dad called because they were having a Roast for him at work because it was his last day, and a presentation he prepared wasn't working properly. For some reason PowerPoint didn't include the audio files he inserted, so I tried to send them over FTP to his computer. However, our cable modem is having problem with file transfers, so he wasn't able to fix the problem. Brittany wanted me to pick her up from soccer practice at 6 so I went and did that, then she had to leave to watch a play at Hoggard. Dad got home around 7:15 and we went to Kohl's for fast-food dinner. He had purchased School of Rock so I watched that again with him. He sold our 43" DLP television to his buddy so that he can buy a 56" one when we move to Blacksburg. He still had his 5.1 surround system set up, so at least we had good sound...

4.29.2004

Woohoo! It's finally over... no more exams! I spent 8-10:15am studying and doing laundry, then took my test from 10:30-12:30. It was pretty difficult, and I definitely didn't remember some of the stuff on there. I stayed for the whole 2 hours, as did Ron. He said he knew he failed it, but I think he might have done alright. When I got back I packed the last items and took them to the storage place, then had my last meal at Evans. I worked on taking stuff to my car that I'll need at home over the summer. My plan is to sleep from 5-12 or so, then drive during the night and get home around 10:30am.

Unplugging my computer now... so I'll update tomorrow.

4.28.2004

I got up at 9am and jumped right into studying Barrett for Civ 2. When I finished that I looked over some notes and my last journal entry. I turned my Address Forwarding card into Auxiliary Services so I can get my mail over the summer. I did a couple loads of laundry then went to lunch before the exam. Dr. Shearer actually showed up on time, and I was done by 1:50. As expected, he gave us 25 quotation matching questions and 2 essay questions. He also gave back the journals today, and I got an A on this one. Considering that I wrote way too much summary and not enough analysis, I'm happy with the grade. When I got back to the room I chatted with Jenny for a while about a computer problem she's having, then I worked on packing the last bit of stuff for the storage room. I took over my winter clothes and some storage crates, so now the only things left are my towels when I wash them tomorrow. I studied Physics 2 most of the night, and went to bed early at midnight.

4.27.2004

I just finished with my DiffEq final, and I can say it wasn't as bad as I expected. Rolando's class must have gotten a harder exam, because ours was alright. There was one long problem with Laplace, but the rest were pretty short. I forgot to answer one of the questions on translation, but it shouldn't be too many points off. I had a small breakfast at Evans, which is very unusual for me. I played Age of Empires until around 11, then looked over World War I for my Civ II exam tomorrow. I had a short nap then went to Evans for lunch before they closed. I borrowed The Green Mile from Jason and reformatted my laptop. I decided to go out for a while and see The Alamo at Cinemaworld using the free coupon from Adrian. It was pretty entertaining, but a bit long at 2:20. They could have easily cut some of the dialog scenes and made a more compact and engaging film. Nevertheless, the actors played their roles convincingly and the battles scenes were satisfactory for a PG-13 rating. There is one cool camera shot where they follow the trajectory of a fired cannonball, very unique. I know a lot of people have complained about the historical accuracy of the film, but I went in without any prior knowledge so I can't comment. After the movie I studied a little more and worked on reloading software on my laptop. I got around to watching The Green Mile, which is one of the best and most emotional movies I've seen.

4.26.2004

I decided that 11:45 would be a reasonable time to get up, given the fact that I went to bed at 3:30am. I took a quick shower and caught Buff and Dan on their way out to the SUB. Buff bought lunch for us, since he still had $80 and we were running pretty low. It was actually the first time I'd eaten at the SUB, ever, and I can't say it was all that impressive. The menu selection was decent, but I still ended up getting chicken fingers. I can be adventurous next year. I saw Laura studying on the patio, not a bad idea since it was really sunny and warm outside. Dan went off to his 1pm Aerospace final and I headed back to the dorm with Buff. Steve was working on packing up his keyboard and stereo equipment. I was dedicated to studying Differential Equations until 7pm, with a few breaks in between to return some movies and talk to people. Rolando said the test was pretty difficult, so going in expecting the worst tomorrow. I'm not too stressed about the test, since my grade is high, but it could still do some damage. I went and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood). It was a good story, great filmography, and I can see why the ratings were so high. It was more of an artsy, independent-type movie but came off very well with the cast. When I got back I hit the DiffEq book again.

4.25.2004

Not much of interest happened today. I woke up late because I had no ambition to get out of bed. After lunch I took some more boxes over to Stor-All, so the room is looking very bare now. I figured it wasn't yet time to start studying, so I played Age of Empires II for a while and procrastinated with the rest of the hall. I initiated a hall dinner at Applebees, and ended up going with Dan, Ronnie, Drew, Jason, Ginae, Tim, and Chris. It was good fun, and probably our last outing as a group. At 9pm I studied some DiffEq with Ron and Rolando, then watched The Devil's Advocate with Steve and Tim at 10:30. Buff, Chris, and Dan were busy getting ready for their aero final tomorrow. Jason took his Xbox out to the lounge for a gaming "orgy" as Ron likes to call them.

4.24.2004

Heh, so I started the day off thinking that I would start studying for exams. Yeah. Just goes to show how well I know myself. Anyway, I didn't get up until 11am and I showered and ate lunch before meeting with Adam at 1. He went over the responsibilities of the Student Ambassador treasurer, and there are actually quite a few things that have to be done on a recurring basis. Nevertheless, I'm still up to the challenge. When I got back from the meeting I found that Steve was actually awake at 1:30, which is quite early for him. I worked on consolidating/packing some more things to take over to the storage room tomorrow. I woke Dan up to go get a haircut since he had been complaining about it for some time. Great Clips had a 30 minute wait, so we browsed Publix for a while and got some snacks. When we got back we found Chris, Tim, and Drew having a discussion so we joined that for a while. It started out with Chris talking about the technicalities of diver's bends and recompression chambers. Then they talked about the San Antonio Edward's aquifer. Then the conversation shifted to Mormons in America and the similarities to Islam. Just an example of typical dialog when Chris is involved. The guys on hall went to dinner really early, so I stayed behind. I went to the Rat around 7 and got a pizza, leaving me only $9.98 in flex cash. I'm cutting it pretty close, but then again I can just eat at Evans with my meal points.

Tim, Chelsea, Gwen, and Steve went to see Kill Bill 2 at Cinemaworld so Tim could use his free ticket. Chris and Cory were working on painting some metal figures for their army. I didn't have much of anything to do, so I watched The Rundown, which turned out to be pretty entertaining. After that I took some stuff out to my car. I watched a couple South Park episodes and played Age of Empires II, then I went to bed.

4.23.2004

I had my last tour before summer, and it came off very well. My route was a little different today but it still worked out within 1 hour. I saw the new bricked area in the botanical gardens by the pond, and it looks really nice. I got to Physics a few minutes late, but I still had time to do most of my quiz correctly. In Civ class Dr. Shearer gave a course recap and told us what to expect on the final exam. When I got back to hall, I found that Rolando and Ron got their clock to work in its entirety. The timing, LCD, RF communication, etc all worked. I went to lunch at Evans and came back to update the Ambassador web site with the Miles of Smiles brochure. Then the usual Friday afternoon fun. Adrian had a short hall meeting to talk about the check-out procedure, and he also had a contest to give away 4 free Cinemaworld tickets. It was a quiz on cinema history, which was answered quickly with a few searches at Google. I'm not sure what movie I'll use the ticket on yet, but I'll probably wait until the fall. I called my mom since I hadn't talked to her in a while, and I let her know I would be coming home the next Friday after exams. I made a late-night trip to Wendy's for a frosty, and Jason, Ron, and company were watching Memento in the lounge. I didn't feel like staying up, so I just went bed.

4.22.2004

Earth Day is today, so do something beneficial for the environment. If you don't already recycle, it's a great way to help reduce landfill waste. Buy a hybrid car, walk to class, do something.

I had my last DiffEq class today, and thankfully it wasn't too bad. I gave Dr. Devi a pretty good end-of-course evaluation, because although I like to joke about her a lot with Ron and Rolando, she is actually a pretty decent teacher. Dr. Jin talked about double- and single- slit diffraction in physics today and told us we still have a quiz tomorrow despite it being the last day. In Computer Design Kurt taught the class and went over the major parts of the assignment due by next Thursday. It's going to count as our final exam, so I'm going to put some effort into it. I will probably check out the ECE1552 lab presentations tomorrow night as well, just to see what other people did.

Chris rented Gods and Generals and Freddy Got Fingered, so I watched a little of Gods and Generals before deciding it was way too boring. I went to Blockbuster with Steve and got The Rundown and The Devil's Advocate, since we had a buy 1 get 1 free coupon. Steve had to work on a paper and I had to work on Computer Design stuff, so we decided to wait on the movies. I went to the IEEE meeting at 9, and we picked a new E-board for next year and talked about goals and accomplishments. We got some free food, and that was about it.

4.21.2004

I skipped DiffEq lab this morning so I could get some extra sleep. Andreas was reviewing old material anyway, so I didn't miss anything critical. I woke up at 11 and got ready for Civ, where we discussed recent historical events. We talked about Communism, Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall, etc. On Friday Dr. Shearer is going to give an overview of the course and discuss the role of technology in our culture. He told us today that we could take the final exam on Wednesday instead of Friday, so I think I'm going to do that so I can head home early. After class I got some lunch and worked on packing up my unnecessary items. I took a car load of stuff over to the storage place, including my surround speakers, extra microwave, old desktop computer, etc. The less distractions I have for finals week, the more inclined I will be to study. That project took a couple hours, after which I rearranged my desk and got some laundry done. FIT lowered the washer price to $0.50 for these last couple weeks, which is nice. I worked on some updates to the Student Ambassador web site with the new E-board and general membership lists. It's actually not very cumbersome to update the site, all I have to do is edit the html files in WinSCP. I watched the new South Park episode tonight, 807 - The Jeffersons. The show is a parody of Michael Jackson, very funny allusions to stuff he's done in the past. He also has a tendency to shout out "jam'on" and "wee-hee" during the show like in Thriller.

4.20.2004

Marching right along through the week now... I talked to Bec this morning before lab to get the information on updating the SA website for next year. All I need to do is an SFTP login to the server then upload the new files. We had a continuation of power series with Dr. Devi, and she gave us problems to look over for the final exam. In physics we talked about wave interference in light and Young's experiment. I zoned out for the entirety of Dr. Hadji's class to finish up the project assembly code, but I did hear him say that our computer design assignment will count as our final exam. He also told the class that he's been having health problems that showed up when he ran the half-marathon, something about a closed valve in his heart. He's going to a specialist this week so he won't be teaching the lecture on Thursday. I feel sorry for Hadji... hopefully this doesn't turn out to be something serious. In lab I finished up the code while Cory worked on the flowchart for the program. I tested it thoroughly, and then we presented it to Trond. He liked the program design and said they may use it as an example next year. Mark was also there to take pictures for the ECE website, so Cory and I had to sign a "model" waiver form. *snicker*. We don't have to go to the presentations on Friday, because those are for Kurt's lab people. Cory gave me a ride over to Best Buy after lab so I could pick up Master and Commander on DVD. I talked to Rolando when I got back, and they are still having problems with the RF chips for their alarm clock. Even if they don't get the RF to work they still have a great project to present. I went to eat with some guys from hall, and afterward vacuumed my car. I went to Kmart and got some Armor-all cleaning wipes, spare fuses, and fuel injector cleaner for the trip back home. I did some internet browsing unti 9, when I watched M&C with Cory, Chris, Dan, Ronnie, and Steve. The DVD was almost as good as the theatrical experience, and the DTS sound track was well-mixed. The movie also came with a "Best Buy Exclusive Bonus DVD" that I didn't look into yet. Probably just a typical special features disc. 20th Century Fox also released a pricier Collectors' Edition with printed maps and even more bonus featurettes.

4.19.2004

Four more days of class. Dr. Devi rushed through power series today so that she can review for the rest of the week. Ron wasn't in DiffEq or Physics 2, so I guess he's not back at school yet. In physics we talked about thin lenses and how to draw primary ray diagrams. I forgot to do the chapter 36 summary so I will try to turn it in tomorrow. When I got to Grissom there was a note on the board that said Dr. Shearer's Civ class was cancelled, so I came back to the dorm. I checked my Wachovia balance and found my dad's $100 deposit, so I went to the bank and withdrew it to give to Chris for the storage place. I decided to take some stuff over today, so I packed up some of my speakers and electronics supplies and took my leather desk chair. I'll probably have to make a couple more trips, but not until closer to the end of exam week. I had an early dinner with Chris and big Dan since Ambassadors were having a pizza part later on. I went to Kurt's Computer Design lab for about half an hour so I could test out the code for our memory game. Everything worked fine, so Cory and I will wrap things up tomorrow and be done. Rolando was still working on the hardware wiring for their RF alarm clock, so I hope they get everything working in time. The SA meeting actually lasted a while this time, since we had to stuff the graduating seniors' mugs with Hershey's Hugs. Our pizza arrived about 45 minutes late but fortunately we were still around to eat it. After the meeting I went back to the dorm and found Steve taking a nap. I watched the new RedvsBlue episode with Dan and worked a little more on my Computer Design assignment.

4.18.2004

It was so nice outside today, perfect temperature and nonstop sunlight. I got up around 11 so I could eat breakfast and make it to the SA E-board meeting in plenty of time. Tim accompanied me to Evans since he was also up early. We sat outside and talked about our goals for next year, and about the process of the meeting tomorrow. I'll be meeting with Adam sometime soon to go over budget stuff and to get the treasurer notebooks from him. I'm also planning to update the web site next year, once Bec gives me the log-in information. Laura is set to be historian next year, so we should have digital photos online plus a hardcopy scrap book. Melissa is secretary again, Julie is VP, and Adam is Prez. We definitely want to do Conference next year so that will have to be budgeted and fundraised. After the short meeting I headed back and regretfully went back inside to finish up my Civ Journal. I didn't get much accomplished, finding many distractions to keep me from my work. I called Chris and planned to meet him at Stor-All to sign up for a storage room. I gathered Steve and Dan and took them along, since all four of us are planning to share. The total cost for a 10x10 room until September 1st ended up being $312, and we're splitting it four ways so it really isn't much money at all. We stopped by Wal-Mart to get a padlock and key copies. After that Chris headed back to the Golden Cue, and I took the other guys back to campus. Around 5:30 I went with Dan, Ronnie, and Dustin to the Rat to play some pool and get dinner. We wasted about 90 minutes there and then headed back. I finished my summary of "Waiting for Godot" and moved on to "The Death of Ivan Ilyich." My Civ Journal is way too long with summary, I've got 4200 words in about 12 pages. I procrastinated some more with Flash games and Bushisms, and finally finished up my journal and went to bed.

4.17.2004

It's Open House finally, which means I got to wake up at 8am and had to be at Clemente by 9. We mingled for a bit then Steve gave us his signature briefing while Judy introduced people and spoke to the crowd. This Open House supposedly drew close to 900 people, including students, parents and other relatives. The tour went from 9:45 until 10:45, then we had the student panels until noon. I took a group of ECE students, and for some reason Dave ended up with many more people than I did. You can't depend on a crowd to divide itself up easily, that's for sure. The panels went well, only 1 parent sat in on mine, and the prospectives asked meaningful questions. We headed back to Clemente for lunch, during which we talked to various families who had additional questions. The Senior Design projects were set up in the intramural gym section, so I browsed them for a little while to see what kind of stuff people did this year. The SERRA rocket and SAE formula car drew the most attention. They were actually driving one of the cars around the parking lot, and the Project Rainmaker fuel-cell airplane was out in front of Clemente as well. At 1:30 I came back to Roberts and changed out of my khakis, then went to wash my car. I made a random trip to Wal-Mart and only ended up getting some 47 cent electrical tape. I also rented Unbreakable so I'd have something to watch later on. Since I didn't get to see KB2 yesterday, I went with Cory, Mike, and Laura to the 4:40 showing. It was a good conclusion to the first part, not quite as crazy and more emotional. After the movie I went to the Rat with Cory, and he went to the pool hall with Steve, Dan, Chris, etc. I worked on my paper and physics homework for a while and then watched Unbreakable. Tim was back from his programming competition and won a copy of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Professional. He's planning to put it up on Ebay, and he could get >$300 out of it! He also got 2nd place in the integration bee which netted him $25. Not a bad way to end the semester.

4.16.2004

Pop quiz: why do people take a campus tour the day before Open House WHEN THEY KNOW they will be taking another campus tour the next day! Not that I'm complaining, but there are better ways to spend an hour in Melbourne, like going to the beach or driving around the area. I had about 25 people this morning, which wasn't too bad. Although a great guy, Bob Rowe always manages to delay the tour 5 minutes by continuing his conversation in the lobby even though it's obvious everyone else is ready to go. Nevertheless, I was able to get everyone back to admissions by 10:59 and got to physics just as everyone else was starting the quiz. Dr. Jin gave us an easy problem today; I did fine but for some reason Ron got confused about the problem specifications. Civ was a real treat today, as Dr. Shearer played various piano compositions from different time periods in Gleason. He's pretty hardcore about music theory, particularly the mathematical aspects, and his playing was impressive as well. Not to mention he had every piece memorized. It made me miss playing piano, because while it is soothing to listen to classical (I know it's a misnomer) music it is even better when playing. On my way to Evans I checked my mail, and sure enough the guarantor form from my parents arrived. I took it over to Saratoga, and Joyce says "when are you bringing the verification of income?" Aaaarrrgh, why couldn't she have mentioned that last time before my dad mailed the form. When I got back I decided to check out the 20th anniversary Applied Computing Center Digital Showcase, hosted by Nikki Hoier and the Digital Domain club (that I'm supposedly a member of). I was generally impressed by the submissions, especially the animated videos. The interactive web pages were dull, but there were some original graphics, musical compositions, and live action videos that were great. Chris decided to go with Big Dan to the 4:40 Kill Bill Vol. 2 showing, so I'll have to go later with Cory because the SA dinner at Makoto's conflicts. I worked on some homework and assembly coding until 6:15, took a shower and headed out to meet the rest of the group at the dorm quad. We had an awesome turnout for dinner, just about every ambassador was there. Dinner was interesting to say the least; they cook your food right in front of you as entertainment, and the mahi-mahi I got was good along with the rice, vegetables, salad, and soup. Best of all, it only cost $7 because the organization covered the rest. People were snapping digital pictures all throughout dinner. SA also won the participation contest at the comedian Wednesday, so we get a pizza party at Monday's meeting, courtesy of CAB. During dinner Julie handed out the graduating senior gifts, which were picture frames with candid shots of each member. She also had certificates for every member, with some humourous designation on each. My award said "Oh, you need cool speakers? Yeah, I'm definitely your man," which is fitting considering I supplied the speakers for the homecoming parade. We went our separate ways afterwards, and I intended to see Kill Bill 2 with Cory when I got back. Steve went to the Integration Bee and apparently dragged Cory along, so I went to Oaks alone. I didn't see the movie though, because the line was backed up really far and I didn't want a bad seat down in the very front. I will just go later on to the 4:40 showing for $3.50. I needed to do laundry anyway, with Open House tomorrow I needed my Ambassador shirt clean.

4.15.2004

In DiffEq Dr. Devi wouldn't stop complaining about how her classes this year seem so far behind last year. Apparently she taught them more theory and more topics, and still finished in the same amount of time. It's not my fault that she has to repeat everything, it's all the people who don't really study or do any homework. Oh wait... I'm one of those people. Anyway, when she finished semonizing I headed to physics and learned all about ray diagrams. Fortunately Dr. Jin didn't take up the homework so I had time to correct my mistakes for tomorrow. In Computer Design almost nobody had the assignment completed, so Dr. Hadji went over some of the details and gave the class an extension. He gave out the course evaluation forms and I definitely rated him "below satisfactory" on organization, clarity, etc. I can't complain too much because it's an easy A, but I would have liked to learn a little more in his classes considering the significant tuition paid. After class I talked with Chris about seeing Kill Bill 2 tomorrow, but since I hadn't seen the first one he offered to split the rental cost with me. I decided to just buy the movie, since Best Buy had a special with Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Reservoir Dogs for $20. I also got a new DVD rack since my old one was over-filled; my DVD total is up to 45. We had dinner as a hall and I decided to wait on watching Kill Bill since the DARPA meeting was at 8pm. I went over with Ron, Rolando, Jason, Ginae, and Tim, but the meeting wasn't informational like I thought; instead they were delegating people to run the booth tomorrow night and during Open House. I decided not to stay and help with the Powerpoint because I don't really know anything about DARPA in the first place. Ron said they may offer a 3-credit class next year for the project, which would make for an awesome technical elective. When I got back from the meeting I worked on my Civ Journal and waited for Chris and company to get back from the pool hall. Around 10:30 we watched KB, and I'll have to say it was pretty damn good, ridiculously gory but good. The anime-style parts threw me off a little, but Tarantino always has weird methods of artistic expression--like the fountains of spurting blood from dismemberment. In any sense, I'm eagerly anticipating the second movie tomorrow--the theatrical experience should be excellent.

4.14.2004

"But I won't cry for yesterday, there's an ordinary world, somehow I have to find.
And as I try to make my way, to the ordinary world, I will learn to survive."

The quiz in DiffEq today wasn't all that bad, primarily because Andreas went over some problems beforehand. I couldn't really care much at this point, only 7 days left and my average is high in that class. During my hour in the ambassador office I read my IEEE magazine and worked on a summary of Endgame for my Civ Journal. Before class I made a trip with Steve to Staples for his printer cartridge and to Blockbuster to drop off some movies. In Civ we finished watching Endgame and had a short essay quiz about a Beckettian joke, which was an unexpected deviation from the standard quiz format. Dr. Shearer reminded us of our music lecture in Gleason for Friday. After class I worked on vacuuming my two floor carpets because someone responded to my for sale email, but they didn't show up today. I looked at the Physics homework and decided to leave it for later since it was difficult. I played some Half-Life for a while and took a short drive down 192. I had dinner at Evans with the guys and worked on the Computer Design assignment afterward. I got my 3x8 and 4x16 decoders finished before the Jon Reep comedy show. He's "the Hemi guy" from the Dodge Ram commercials, and his show was pretty funny although he relied on southern hick jokes a little too much. I went mainly because SA gets credit for all members in attendance; the club with the highest % participation gets a pizza party. When I got back, the Computer Design assignment orgy started in our lounge. Ron, Rolando, Chelsea, and I worked on the dynamic register circuits and the instruction formats. We couldn't decide how the bus architecture functions so hopefully Dr. Hadji will give an extension on the assignment. I finally got around to the physics homework and bounced ideas off Ron, and we came up with something half-decent. Homework sucks.

4.13.2004

I managed to get up on time today, actually I woke up a few minutes before my alarm went off which is very unusual. I played catch-up in DiffEq, learning about the convolution theorem and integrodifferential equations. In physics Dr. Jin spent almost the whole time talking about the sign convention for mirrors, and he assigned some homework to make sure we remember. Dr. Hadji actually told us what the assignment was today: we need to design a dynamic register, two decoders, the bus structure, learn the instruction format, and derive expressions for the working register inputs. In lab Cory and I abandoned the serial transmission idea after we discovered the cables weren't null-modem. We aren't spending any more money on an idea we aren't sure will work in the first place. So, we decided to make a simon-says memory game where the microcontroller flashes LEDs in a particular order and you have to push the corresponding buttons in the correct sequence. We made a trip to RadioShack to return the serial converter and Cory bought a small speaker to try to make beeping noises for our project.

4.12.2004

I woke up this morning at 10am to the beeping of my cell phone, as my dad was calling to ask which fax number to use for Saratoga. I missed my DiffEq class entirely, which I half-expected from going to bed so late last night. I had plenty of time to take a shower and get ready for Physics, where we finished up our discussion of electromagnetic waves. In Civ we watched Endgame for the whole period and almost made it to the end of the play. After class I had lunch and called Subway to ask about a job this summer; the manager said to drop by when I got home and she would give me a job. I made a trip over to Saratoga to drop off my recycling and to inquire about the fax. It turns out their machine is broken, so I'm having my parents send the form through the mail instead. I worked on my Computer Design homework for a bit in the afternoon, even though I'm not entirely sure what the assignment consists of. I procrastinated for a while playing Half-Life and went to dinner with Steve. I finished up my rips of the four movies we rented and got those burned onto CD. The SA meeting was quick, and at member reviews they just wanted to verify if we would be active next semester. As future tresurer I don't have much of a choice anyway. I went to the Rat with Dan, Ronnie, and Cory just to hang out for a while, and when we got back we watched Quills, which was a disturbing but good movie. Ron was copying some files to his new laptop using a network connection in Tim's room, and he kept bothering Tim with computer-generated speech using Remote Desktop. Steve dared a trip to 7-11 on his bike to get some doughnuts, and fortunately he didn't get accosted by any gang members.

In the news today, a robot was "killed" in Iraq instead of the troops it was intended to protect, which is good news for the robot maker. Microsoft shells out more money to settle a licensing lawsuit, and Kill Bill, Vol. 1 comes out on DVD tomorrow.

4.11.2004

Happy Easter everybody! On one hand, I'm happy because school is drawing to a close, but on the other I know that these last few weeks are going to be difficult. I'm not too worried about any of my finals, but I will need to put in some good study time to refresh my memory, especially for Physics 2. I woke up at 11 this morning and had breakfast with Chris, who had to go to a dive class at a hotel pool here in Melbourne. After lunch I contacted an RA in Southgate who was selling his microwave, and I bought it off him for $20. Not too bad for a 1kW digital microwave, although it is getting pretty old. We were having some showers this morning so I waited for the rain to stop before dragging it up to my dorm room. Steve was still sleeping so I quietly cleaned the microwave and perched it atop our FIT microfridge. I re-read the second half of Endgame for Civ tomorrow, and when Steve woke up we watched Lilo and Stitch. I worked on my Civ Journal by summarizing Notes From the Underground, which I also re-read. I had dinner with the guys from hall at the Rat, and Dan brought along Buff's student ID which still has $320 in flexcash left. After that we all watched Equilibrium in my room. I finished my summary for the journal and played some more Half-Life. Ron came back from home with a new Compaq laptop, so I lent him my Windows XP cd to load the operating system. I worked on my Physics summary for chapter 35 and got to bed around 2:30.

4.10.2004

Another day gone by. Today I woke up late at 1:30 without a hint of tiredness. I felt bad about wasting so much of the morning, but I needed to catch up on some sleep that I lost throughout the week. Tim was up and preparing to go to the Roberts BBQ, where there was music, hotdogs and hamburgers. I decided to be anti-social and finished up my leftover sub from the Rat instead of waiting for food outside. After a shower I decided to wash my car, which turned out to be pretty stupid since the love-bugs are everywhere on the roads now. I guess I will just try to avoid driving as much as possible... My mom called to talk about Blacksburg, and it appears that they did not find any suitable houses on their trip. I guess they will have to go back later on to check for new listings. She wants me to call the Subway I worked for last summer on Monday to ask about getting a temporary job there from May 1 - June 12 or so. Steve was up by the time I got back and had gone to the pool hall to watch a tournament that was happening today. I did some laundry and played Half-Life until Chris and Dan came to get me for dinner. Chris had another dive class this morning so he was pretty tired, but we drove over to the dollar theater to check if any good movies were out. Nothing new was showing, so I went with Dan and Ronnie to Blockbuster and rented Runaway Jury (Gene Hackman, John Cusack, Rachel Weisz), Equilibrium, Quills, and Lilo and Stitch which was free with a coupon. When Chris finished his nap we watched Runaway Jury, which I had already seen in the theater. Afterwards Chris went to the pool hall with Steve and Dan.

4.9.2004

Well today is Friday so I must have made it through another week of school. Three more Fridays to go and then I'll be heading home for the summer! The morning started off with the repair man showing up to fix our fluorescent light ballast at 9:15. I was planning to get up at that time anyway, so it wasn't a bother. At the admissions office I found that there were only 5 students signed up for a tour today, so Brittany wasn't needed after all. I guess the Friday before Easter isn't a popular time to visit college campuses, unlike the 4 days prior. My tour went smoothly, and I picked up some extra information off the FIT website that I shared with the group. I got a firm answer from Steve that Olin Physical Sciences will open January of 2005, even though construction may finish a little before then. This building makes a total of $38 million that the F.W. Olin Foundation has contributed for construction projects. In physics we had a relatively easy quiz, and Ron and I both made a 10/10 on this one. In Civ we watched a good amount of Endgame, and the filmed version was more entertaining than the text. Some of the humor is not apparent without the actors' expressions. I ate a quick lunch and headed back to the room, where I listened to some music. I was supposed to go on a tour of the Nokia corporation with IEEE this afternoon but I wasn't feeling all that well so I stayed on campus. I did make a trip to Kmart to get some replacement light bulbs. I played some Half-Life and watched some of the special features on my second DVD disc for Revolutions, and we had a partial-hall dinner at Evans. Chris said that he went to Saratoga today and asked about a single, and it looks like they will let him make a deposit and reserve one for the fall. If this works out it will be nice having 4 other guys from hall nearby, as well as Dave and Adam who already live there. Chris, Dan, and Steve went to the poolhall until 10, and when they got back we set up the speakers in the lounge and watched The Matrix Revolutions finally. I was impressed with the DVD version; every bit as good as the theater, minus the huge screen. We even went through the extra lengths to remove the lights in the lounge.

4.8.2004

Quick entry today since I want to get to bed at a respectable time. This morning I found out that I did not get the internship with Progress Energy (boo). I got a generic email reply that was probably sent to every other applicant who was not selected. They probably wanted college students in a later year than me. After class today I read Endgame for Civ tomorrow and also did the six easy physics problems. I talked with Cory for a bit on AIM about our PIC project since he already went home for the weekend. FIT doesn't give us any time off for Easter, but I'd rather get out for summer earlier than have an extended weekend now. I turned in my meal plan form and also filled out the Student Ambassador end of semester evaluation. Dan had lots of homework tonight so we pushed Revolutions back until tomorrow. The Alamo comes out this weekend so we will probably make a trip to see that as well. Ron told me that they had a DARPA meeting, so I will try to catch the next one and find out how to get involved with that. Mike sent me a link to subservientchicken.com, which appears to be a Burger King affiliated site where you can give the chicken commands and he will act them out. Don't try anything too complicated or else it won't recognize the command.

4.7.2004

"Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty; oh won't you please take me home."

Only a little over 3 more weeks left. The quiz this morning in DiffEq was unpleasant, but I think I got most of them right. Ron had a lot of trouble with it as well, but neither of us studied much. I had to help Guillermo with his tour right after DiffEq, since there was a group of around 40 people. We split them in half to make the tour more manageable and to enable people to hear better. I finished with my group around 11:10 and went back to the dorm breifly before Civ class. No email or calls yet from Progress Energy, but hopefully they will get back to me tomorrow or Friday. I saw Ron back on hall and he and Jason went to Saratoga to make their deposit. Nobody else had signed up since we were there, so they should be fine with getting an apartment. In Civ we watched a large section of "Waiting for Godot" in act two, and Dr. Shearer discussed some of the connections with post-modernism. He introduced "Endgame" afterwards for our discussion Friday. I ate lunch at Evans and grabbed a meal plan form from Auxiliary Services. I'm going with the 7/$750 plan so I can eat lunch/brunch everyday of the week at Evans and then get dinner from the Rat or Clemente. I decided to upgrade my Bettas home and made a trip to Petsmart to get another 2.5 gallon tank and some plants. I got some blue gravel which looks much nicer with the bettas. I put the two tanks side-by-side so they can see each other and flair up; even though they're female they're still pretty vicious. I finished with that project around 4pm and decided to clean the room a little to get things in order. The new stand I got from Wal-Mart gives me somewhere to stack my books finally. I don't think I'm going to sell any of my books this semester, since I will likely need them for reference in the future. Steve got back from the ME robotics competition along with Jason, and apparently both bots did respectably well given some of the failures of the other teams. I went to dinner with Rolo, Ron, and Steve. After that I made a quick trip to the mall to get a new front license plate, since I decided the plastic Jeff Gordon Chevrolet tag needed to come off my Kia. I found a reflective Florida Tech one for $25, which is kind of high but it is a one-time purchase. I was even lucky enough to get a garage spot upon my return. Cory and Chris went to see Hellboy so our plans to watch Revolutions fell through. Adrian held a brief hall meeting at 7 to tell us what a great group we've been and to give out a vocabulary assignment for prizes. Sometimes he picks a fun activity, but this was not one of those times. I busied myself browsing news sites and south park forums. Eventually I decided to type some of my Civ notes in preparation for the journal turn-in.

At 10 I watched South Park 805 - You Got F'd in the A, which turned out to be an entire episode spoofing the movie "You Got Served" which I did not see. Judging by the way the episode went, I'm glad I didn't see the movie. Butters has an interesting role in this episode as the tap-dancing shoe-projecting mass audience murderer. You'll have to see it for yourself to know what I'm talking about. mrtwig.net is a great resource to download episodes. I finished up my notes later on and then socialized with my hallmates.

In the news today, a study reported by CNN.com claims that frequent sex may cut cancer risk. Great, now the viagra spammers have another bold tagline they can add to their emails. Also, it appears that some college newspapers are getting shut down due to racist or offensive April Fool's Day publications. I especially like how the editor of the Tartan claims misjudgement due to fatigue.

4.6.2004

For the second day in a row, Dr. Devi did not take attendance which is really tempting me to skip a lecture or two. She did go over quite a lot of Laplace transform stuff today, so it's probably best that I went. In physics we started discussion of waveforms and propagation, before we get into optics later this week. I talked to Ron and he and Jason are planning to go tomorrow to make their deposit, so hopefully they can get on the priority list. Hadji's class was weird today since the ECE118 auditorium was occupied for a press conference. Hadji being the practical guy he is, held class in the Olin lobby so nobody would wander off. We had a brief presentation from Chris and Joe about the senior design rocket project, and they want some sophomores to get involved so they can carry the knowledge through until graduation. Cory and I went to lab early and tried a few more things to get serial communications working, but nothing helped. Kurt's code wasn't designed for transmission in the manner we are attempting, so we are going to browse some online forums looking for tips on the PIC UART. Steve sent an email to the ambassadors this afternoon about huge tour sizes, so I will probably be assisting Guillermo tomorrow with his tour since I'm the backup. I can't wait for my Friday tour, should be tons of people :rolls eyes:. I took my apartment application back to Saratoga and confirmed that the guarantor form would be faxed Monday. I took Steve over to Astro Too to get some switches and wire for his ME robot project. After dinner at Evans I made a Wal-Mart trip to get the just-released Matrix Revolutions DVD, a small shelving unit, and some duct tape. I looked over some notes for the DiffEq quiz tomorrow and decided to watch Boiler Room since nobody else was available to watch Revolutions. Dan was busy browsing Something Awful with Cory.

News for today: woman self-delivers baby via Caesarean section 8 hours from nearest hospital, MSDN Channel 9 blog was launched, and Star Wars III is coming out May 19, 2005. Good thing there's lots of other good movies coming out this year.

4.5.2004

"Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When!" - Pozzo, Waiting For Godot

Whoever says Monday is the worst day of the week has never had the sort of day I had today. In DiffEq this morning we got our tests back and I made a 94, which was very respectable given the length of the test. When I got back to the dorm I noticed an email from Phil Leich at Progress Energy, asking for a good time to conduct a phone interview. I replied that 2pm would be great, and I called my dad to let him know I was contacted. Physics passed quickly with Dr. Jin covering the problems from the last test, and in Civ 2 we talked about "Waiting for Godot" and watched some clips from the film version. After lunch I headed back and called Bits Computer to see if my video card was back from RMA repair; they claimed it was indeed back now. I got the call from Mr. Leich at 2pm as expected, and the discussion went very well IMO. He explained the details of the internship position and asked a few questions about my background in computers. I should hear back by the end of the week with the result. I went to Bits afterward, and instead of getting my old card back they pulled a new one from the shelf. Lo an behold, when I installed it in my PC I had the same exact problem as before. I guess there is just a severe incompatibility between the eVGA Geforce2 card and my ECS motherboard. I disabled AGP mode and will have to live with slightly lower performance, but at least I won't get crazy black lines all over the screen. I returned the Radeon I was borrowing from Tim, and it turns out he didn't even remember he gave me the card... <humility> good thing I'm an decent person</humility>. When Rolando got out of class at 4 we went to Saratoga after stopping at 7-11 for a money order. It turns out we were very lucky to go today, since the priority list is almost entirely full of 2-bedroom reservations. When we got back we told Ron and Jason to get over there ASAP or they might not have an apartment in the fall. I watched Pirates of the Caribbean to kill some time, and every time I watch that movie I like it even more. The SA meeting at 7 went very quickly since everyone was giving a tour this semester and didn't need a refresher for open house. We did get evaluation forms that have to be turned in next week. Around 9 I went to the Rat to hang out with Dan and Ronnie, and Chris showed up after a bit. He said he is probably going with the single apartment at Saratoga rather than rooming with Steve, which is really his only option now anyway. My parents called as I was walking back to Roberts to tell me that they are leaving Wednesday to visit Blacksburg again, I presume to look at houses. They will be back Sunday so my dad can take care of the guarantor form and this Saratoga business will be over until the fall. I read act 2 of "Waiting for Godot" so I will be all set for Civ class on Wednesday. From what I hear, "Endgame" will be an interesting (disturbing) read for Friday.

News for today: thanks to an away message from a friend, I noticed that there will be new nickel designs for 2004-2005 related to the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark expeditions.

4.4.2004

There's something about Sundays that just makes you want to stay in bed as late as possible, and accomplish as little work as possible while you are awake. I forced myself up at 12:45 so I could go eat breakfast, and Steve got up a few minutes later and met me at Evans. Cory forgot to set his clocks ahead for daylight savings, so he ended up missing lunch by 10 minutes. After we got back I downloaded some stuff on Kazaa and looked over the microcomputer sheets that Dr. Hadji wanted us to read. I took the envelope with Saratoga's guarantor form to the post office so it would go first thing tomorrow, and I decided to kill some time by seeing Hellboy at the 4:30 Oaks showing for $3.50. It was definitely worth the price of admission, with lots of action and a decent storyline to boot. Even though they pretty well wrapped up the plot, there is definitely a possibility of a sequel in the future. When I got out of the movie around 7 it was still very bright outside, thanks to the jump ahead by an hour. The weather in Melbourne couldn't be better, but I expect it will get hotter soon and more unpleasant. When I got back to school I went to the Rat with Dan and Ronnie and got a steak, since I've got about $170 in flexcash to kill before the end of the month. I felt like I should probably be doing some DiffEq today, but I decided against it. I worked on updating my movie listing with HTML links to IMDB.com, which took quite a while. Afterward I had four physics problems to do which took an hour and a half. It's 1:30am now, so I guess it's time to finally hit the sack.

4.3.2004

Woke up at noon today and had an oh-so delicious breakfast at Evans. I checked my mailbox for the checks from my parents, but nothing today. I guess Rolando and I will go Monday to make the deposit on Saratoga. Chris seems to also be interested in Saratoga, so we may have six people from hall living over there next year. I dropped off Tim's CD of campus photos at the applied computing center so Chris could use them for the interactive yearbook. I washed my car finally and bought a new desk chair for $40 from Staples. I won't be unpacking it though, since I will need to put it in storage at the end of April. Jason kindly got us copies of the guarantor form, so I'm mailing that to my dad this week to be signed. I worked on my physics summary and read act one of "Waiting For Godot" by Samuel Beckett. Tomorrow I may actually get around to doing some Laplace problems for DiffEq. I was planning to go to dinner with the ambassadors at Applebees, but I missed the group by 10 minutes so I went to the Rat with Chris, Ronnie, Steve, and Ron. Chris and Steve took off for the pool hall as usual. I made a random trip to Walmart and got some jumper cables for my car and some more shampoo. I watched Gothica before bed, which was pretty decent for a psychological murder movie. The whole ghost entity thing was very weird though. Halle Berry didn't even have to get naked to make her performance memorable. Daylight savings time happens at 2am Sunday, so remember to jump your clocks ahead an hour.

4.2.2004

Wow, busy day today. Started off with a tour to about a dozen people, then to a quiz that I completely bombed. Good news is that I made a 75/100 on the Physics 2 test which curved up to 94 (highest grade in the class). In Civ we were discussing a short story "The Garden of the Forking Paths" by Jorge Luis Borges, which almost no one read (myself included), so Dr. Shearer scolded us and is giving a quiz on Monday. Fair enough, I want some more good quiz grades. I returned my book to the library and ate lunch at Evans, noticing that they were having a problem with the sewer out in front. I guess they got it taken care of by dinner, since it wasn't there later. I stopped by Account Management to pick up my refund check, and then I took it to Wachovia to have it cashed. Now I've got $94 but it technically isn't mine to spend. I did read the story for Civ, which took all of 20 minutes and was pretty interesting. I watched the Godzilla DVD that I bought a little while ago, and I still think it's a pretty decent movie despite popular criticism. The sound is done well at least, lots of bass. I'm afraid that if we do get an upstairs apartment next year I won't be able to use my home theater system anywhere near as loud as this year, since bass tends to travel through a floor very easily. Hehe I could just find out what time the neighbors will be gone... I had a quick dinner at the Rat and then came back and browsed a few news sites. Florida Tech's Crimson had an interesting newspaper release today, with a special April Fool's section including a 5% tuition discount. Too bad it's all a hoax. Cory and I headed out to see Return of the King at the dollar theater, since I'd only seen it once and he missed the beginning when he saw it. There was a little misunderstanding, because the movie started an hour later than we got there. So we did what any typical college students would do and just sat through the ending of the currently-running show. It was actually kinda nice to avoid the sappy ending the second time after the excitement of the battle.

In other news, my desktop has been running for 9.5 consecutive days (on XP Pro) with no slowdowns or errors. The Internet problems we've been having are FIT's fault, Panther doesn't seem to be doing too well. Bits Computer still doesn't have my video card back, and I'm getting a little pissed off at them. I wish they had told me it would take over a month to get the card back, which is only worth $32 in the first place. HowStuffWorks topics for today: How Suntans Work and How Fluorescent Lights Work.

4.1.2004

April Fools Day! Unfortunately my professors didn't seem to acknowledge the occasion and no pranks were played during the day. It looks like Google's Gmail project isn't a hoax after all, even though the press release was dated today. I almost skipped DiffEq today but didn't, and ironically she didn't take roll today. Sigh. All she did was go over more Laplace stuff in section 5.2. In Physics Dr. Jin went over L, C, and R alternating circuits and wrote a bunch of equations on the board with phasor diagrams. Fortunately our quizzes are open-book, otherwise I'd be studying for hours trying to remember all of it. In Computer Design Kurt taught the class again, this time he had prepared a serial transmission assembly program, which is exactly what Cory and I need for our final project. Our microprocessor design assignment is due next week, so it looks like I'll actually have to do some homework for that class. After class I relaxed for a bit and finished the Silmarillion. I took my $1.82 in pennies and $10 check to Wachovia for deposit, the first counter transaction I've made here in Melbourne. Sometimes I think ATMs are more cheerful than the human tellers, but the lady today was helpful. Rolando finally called him parents about the apartment, and they wanted him to draw up a list of costs before they approved. Hopefully things work out all right; I'm pretty excited about the prospect. I still have to figure out what I'm doing for the summer, getting a 1-bedroom apartment would suck up most of the money I would make at a summer job.

I never thought I'd see the day the military used squirt guns in warfare. Although the performance on these hydro-ordnance weapons is stepped up a bit from the typical Super Soaker, it just doesn't seem feasable. Oh well, it's a lot cheaper and environmentally friendly so I'm all for it. I've been checking out howstuffworks.com pretty frequently lately; it never hurts to learn something new each day. Isn't that what I'm in college for anyway? They have a very extensive April 1st joke. Their description of Microprocessors sums up just about everything I've learned this semester in Computer Design, and it only takes a few minutes to read the article.