Jeremy's Web Log - March 2004

3.31.2004

17 days of classes left, and no more tests until finals! One 1500 word journal assignment for Civ and the Computer Design project left, but that's about it. DiffEq lab was repetitive, but I had to go to turn in the homework assignment. It seemed like only half the class actually attempted it, and I'm sure everybody can't wait to be rid of Dr. Devi. I read more of the Silmarillion during SA office hour, and watched some of TTT before Civ class. We wrapped up our discussion of modern art in Civ, and Dr. Shearer told us about some interesting novels using the "flat" plot line strategy. We also talked about Seinfeld (woohoo) and how a "show about nothing" could only have been made in the 20th century. After class I had to pick up a new Roberts key at Aux Services because somebody lost their exterior door key, and the pizza at Evans was actually decent today. I walked over to the Work building with Rolando and asked for a refund on the excess balance in my student account, $94, because I'll probably be needing it for a deposit on a storage place for the summer. I sent some more emails/pleadings to my parents about the Saratoga apartment, talked to them for a while on their new speakerphone, and finally got an agreement out of them. My dad said they had someone look at the house yesterday and today, and they're doing a 1-day real estate listing to get an offer. They should be moving sometime around the beginning of June if all goes well. On that note, they told me to look here in Melbourne for a summer job, so I drove around for a while and saw lots of places with signs out. If I don't get an internship in Wilmington I will have to work out something to stay in Melbourne and work for the summer.

I finally got in touch with the guy that wanted to buy my RF modulator, so I drove over to Sugar Mill to deliver it. It worked great with his playstation so he wrote me a check for $10. We college students never have cash on hand. He said that he really liked the Sugar Mill complex, but then again the apartment was pretty bare and the kitchen chairs were all broken. I don't think the standards were set too high. At 10pm I caught the new South Park episode with Dan and Cory; this week was about the boys seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion, Kyle trying to get the Jews to issue an apology to Christ, Stan and Kenny trying to get a refund on their ticket price from Mel himself, and Cartman acting as Hitler and getting all the Christians to march against the Jews. Good times. Chappelle's Show was alright this week, but it really isn't my kind of comedy. I found this site capalert.com when looking for South Park information, and it is a "Christian Analysis of American Culture" site with a database of movie reviews in regard to offense to young Christian minds that are easily corrupted by portrayals of sin. Gimme a break, some Christians are way too uptight. They forget to accept movies as entertainment and usually criticize them harshly. First of all, I don't know why R rated movies are even in the database since kids shouldn't be watching them anyway. As for the other ratings, if they were 100% clean and wholesome they wouldn't be fun at all, not to mention they wouldn't make any profit. Quite ironically, the site seems to be having financial difficulties, I guess because nobody takes the reviews seriously. I especially like their claims that "God's standards don't change, so neither should ours" and "Is there some magic age at which sin in and as entertainment becomes no longer sinful?" Since when was it sin? I thought you actually had to commit a sin for it to count, watching people commit sin isn't valid.

3.30.2004

The DiffEq test this morning wasn't as bad as it could have been, but there were definitely a couple tough problems that should not have been on a 1:15 test. In total there were 10 questions, and everyone worked right up until the end of class. In physics Dr. Jin collected our summaries and went over alternating current circuits. This chapter unfortunately has lots of equations that we will have to remember for the final. After lunch at Clemente we had a short Computer Design class taught by Kurt. Cory and I went to lab early and added some functionality to our final project program. Kurt found us a male-male serial cable but it wasn't null-modem, so I went and bought an adapter at Radio Shack. I worked on the two physics problems after lab and then went to dinner. I talked to Dave about visiting his apartment and he told us tonight was good, so Ron, Jason, Rolando, and I went over around 8. The other guys seemed to really like them so we are going ahead with an application later this week. Hopefully my parents won't have a problem with that, because I need some money for the deposit... hehe. I watched the first half of The Two Towers extended edition. I also found out that it is Dan's birthday today, so congratulations to him.

3.29.2004

Four more weeks of classes left, I just gotta keep telling myself that. Actually things aren't going too badly at the moment, I have a test tomorrow but no other big assignments this week. In DiffEq we went over some more Laplace Transform stuff and prepared for the test. In physics I looked around for my lost book but couldn't find it, so I sent out an email and finally located it in the physics office on Crawford 5th floor. In Civ we talked about modern art in the 20th century and looked at some examples. Dr. Shearer also talked a bit about the change in music from the Renaissance era to the Enlightenment, since that seems to be his special interest. After class I ate a quick lunch at Evans and worked on my DiffEq homework assignment due Wednesday. I typed up the assignment and it's available here as a PDF. Around 3, Ron and I went to Riviera Terrace and Tradewinds apartment complexes. Neither of them had availability and Tradewinds wouldn't accept <21 year old students. We came back to campus to pick up Rolando and then went to see Saratoga apartments. I think Ron and Rolando liked them quite a bit, even though we didn't get a chance to see a apartment today. Jason was busy working on the robot project so he didn't come along with us. The manager said she could guarantee us an apartment for the fall if we make a deposit sometime soon, which we will do before the week is out. As it looks right now, Rolando and I will be staying together and Ron and Jason will stay roommates. The only tough question is who gets the slightly-bigger master bedroom :-). When we got back I sent my dad an email and then went to dinner with the rest of 3rd north. Ryan also happened to be there so we talked to him for a while about the new house, and he said it's better than he thought it could be. Makes me want to live off-campus even more. Dan and Cory signed up for their dorm room today, and I guess Steve is going to hold off until he finds someone to room with. After dinner I worked some more on the DiffEq assignment until Ron and Rolando got back from lab, then we had a group study session until 11. I feel pretty well-prepared for the test tomorrow; hopefully Dr. Devi doesn't give us any oddball integrals. Jason was working on the robot more tonight and has a Sci/Tech Comm presentation tomorrow, so it's not likely he'll be sleeping tonight. I found out that Big Dan is not attending FIT next year, he's transferring to FAU I guess because it's a lot cheaper. He wasn't liking the Mechanical Engineering too much, so I think he's doing Business now.

In important news today, Fedora Core 2 Test 2 was released and the Xbox price is dropping to $149. Also, some Microsoft PR documents have been discovered to have embarrasing tracked changes. I always knew that feature of Microsoft Word would come back to bite them. I'm going to have to add a table of contents soon for this log, since April is almost upon us.

3.28.2004

[office_space]I swear to God, one of these days, I just kick this piece of shit out the window.[/office_space]

Time for class registration again, and I wake up at 8am because that's when Ambassadors are supposed to sign up for classes. But wait, PAWS isn't ready for me to sign up yet! "Registration is not available at this time." I checked my information, no holds, allowable from 0800 3/28 to 2359 8/31. I tried again at 11am, to no avail. Maybe it will work after noon.

Checked again, and nope it is still broken. I talked to Ryan and Adam and they had the same problem, so it seems like PAWS in general is misbehaving. I spent some time this afternoon taking pictures of campus for the digital yearbook. I wandered all the way toward south campus to see some of the buildings I'd never been to. South campus really isn't as big as I thought it would be, although with the new Physical Sciences building and athletic fields it will be expanding somewhat. After I finished with that I worked on vacuuming my car, but I swear dust kept blowing in as fast as I could suck it out. I read a couple more chapters of Silmarillion after Steve finally woke up, around 3. I had forgotten my physics book in class on Friday so I borrowed his to do my chapter summary. I downloaded OpenOffice 1.1 today and I really like the equation editor in Writer, which is faster than MathType once you learn the commands. The autocomplete feature is useful for long words that you have to type over and over again. I talked to my parents about apartments today and they seem to be pretty wary of the idea. They want us to get a guaranteed apartment before on-campus signup is over, so that way we can fall back and get a dorm room if things don't work out. Jason, Ron, and I plan to go looking again tomorrow and hopefully get a deposit down by end of this week. With the cost of furnishings and transportation it is definitely looking more costly than a Southgate apartment, although it will be of higher quality. I like the idea of getting a place with built-in washer/dryer so we wouldn't have to use a public laundromat, and it should save a little bit of money too. I checked out Angry Naked Pat Ice Cream Fantastic for new videos since there was no Red vs. Blue this Sunday. In case you aren't familiar with Andy Milonakis, he became popular with the short film "The Super Bowl is Gay" and is a regular on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He looks like a 14 year old kid that smokes and drinks but is actually a 27 year old adult with a condition that makes him look a lot younger. Quite a few of the videos are hilarious, some are just corny, and others obscene. A good waste of time.

3.27.2004

!&$* I missed campus cleanup this morning because I turned my damn alarm off and fell back to sleep. I guess that's what I get for going to bed at 3am and trying to get up at 8am. I hope I didn't let too many people down, I will be sure to do the fall one. I took a drive over by Ryan's house this morning, and although it looks small from the front he says that the inside is very spacious. I was browsing /. this morning and found out that Earth has a quasi-moon for the time being, asteroid "2003 YN1" which is orbiting the Sun in close proximity to Earth. The whole thing is only as big as a football field though, so it's only viewable from large telescopes at particular times. I checked out some self-storage places and found the cheapest air conditioned one to be $97 for a 10x10 space, which should be good for my stuff and 3+ others. Jason couldn't go apartment browsing since he had some errands to run, so I read some more of the Silmarillion. At 4:30 I left with Dan, Ronnie, and Cory to see The Ladykillers (Tom Hanks). I thought it was pretty funny for a heist movie, and Tom Hanks' performance will most likely win awards. One of my favorite lines is when Hanks is introducing himself as G.H. Dorr PhD, and Mrs. Munson says "like Elmer?" Hehe. The waffle line is great as well. After the movie we decided on Steak and Shake for dinner, and the food was alright but definitely not worth the $11 I paid. I read some more of Silmarillion and decided to go to bed early at 10pm since I couldn't keep my eyes open.

3.26.2004

I certainly wasn't looking forward to this Friday, with a Physics 2 test and Civ 2 quiz lined up one after the other. I gave a campus tour to another huge group, and about half the people just wanted to walk around without listening to my narration. Whatever suits them best I suppose. The physics test wasn't quite as bad as I imagined, but I got caught up on the circuit problem at the beginning. It figures that my favorite section on the test would give me the most trouble. I rushed to Civ and took a short quiz, getting 9/10 right. Not bad considering I didn't study for it at all, focusing on physics last night. After class I decided to make a trip to the bank and Wal-Mart, and I bought a Whistler radar detector with the $40 Ryan gave me along with Godzilla and The Last Castle from the $5.50 rack. Considering they cost $4 to rent, why not just buy them. After I got back Ron and Jason were ready to go apartment browsing, so we went to Windover Health Club and Bridgewater apartments. Both managers told us that we would need to sign up for an apartment early if we wanted to get anything for August when school started. None of us are planning to be here for the summer, so we can't get one now to have for sure. That was all we had time to see since everybody closed at 6pm. We will probably go see some more tomorrow, but the ones we looked at today were pretty nice. We all went to eat together, then Ron had to get ready for the play tonight. I decided to attend since it only cost $2, and it started at 8pm and was over by 11pm. I met up with Adam and Russ; the rest of the ambassadors decided to go to a later showing. The performance was excellent, and the CP actors were very convincing in their roles. Not to mention the whole musical side of things, with group ensembles singing full-length numbers every couple of scenes or so. Ron had a few piano solo sections that he did correctly, which is great considering he didn't have very long to practice. After the play I watched The Last Castle and then went to bed.

3.25.2004

The crowd at auxiliary services finally got to sign up for their apartments, so the only sign-up left is for regular dorm housing on Monday. Ron, Jason, Rolando and I are going to have to make our decision by then. We had another captivating class of Diff Eq and learned about Maxwell's Equations in physics. We spent a little too much time at Center Court and were late for Hadji's class, but he never cares anyway. Today he rambled on about Harvard and Princeton memory architecture and addressing operation commands. Attendance seems to be at around 60% these days, but most people don't even show up until 30 minutes late. After class I called Bits Computer and asked about my video card that was RMA'd three weeks ago. They said check back by April 4th if they hadn't called me. I spent most of my evening studying for the physics test tommorow, by re-reading all the book chapters and going through my notes and example problems. My biggest concern is remembering all the crucial equations, since there are quite a few. Ryan was moving out tonight to the house that they are renting, so I sold him my desk chair for $40. It took two cars and a pickup truck to move all of his stuff.

3.24.2004

Well damn, I woke up at 10:40 this morning instead of 8:15. I missed my DiffEq quiz and my ambassador office hour, but fortunately my Civ class wasn't until noon. I asked Rolando when his class met for DiffEq and decided to make up the quiz during that period. In Civ we finished off Barrett's chapter two and were notified of a quiz on Friday. At 1:30 I had to meet with Dr. Ports to go over my classes for next term, and so I could sign up for a dual major in Electrical Engineering as well. As it turns out, it's only an extra 18 to 24 credit hours so I think I can finish by my senior year, having 24 AP transfer credits. I was looking around Dr. Ports office today and noted that he holds quite a few patents for semiconductor designs. Yet ironically when it came time to log into PAWS he had to get Cindy for help. Anyway, after that I had Dr. Deshmuk sign my dual major sheet and I was all set. I followed Rolando to Diff Eq and made up the quiz without any problems; it was pretty long but the questions weren't very difficult. I went to CVS afterward to get an air freshener for our bathroom, which recently acquired an awful vomit smell. The worst part is that no one from this hall did it, it was either one of south Roberts' boyfriends or a guy from another hall. They should have made a separate bathroom for guests on the first floor or something. Ron, Ed, and I went to Evans around 5:15 and afterward Ron had to go practice for the musical opening Thursday. I went down Babcock to wash my car, and I determined it takes more than 1 minute to rinse a car off. Fortunately the soap they use dissolves very quickly and I wiped the car off. I came back and studied some physics and caught the new Southpark and Chappelle's show on Comedy Central. For some reason they bleeped most of the curse words in this episode, but it was still really funny. I spent a while browsing College Humor and looking at all the new picture posts. Some of the dorm mayhem projects look interesting, especially the 4000 cups of water one. The crowd waiting by the auxiliary service center has grown to around 30 people, so they will be ready to sign up at 8am tomorrow. I looked over some physics stuff so I wouldn't need to study everything tomorrow, but I didn't get as far as I would have liked.

3.23.2004

Classes went smoothly today. In Diff Eq Dr. Devi gave us an extended assignment since the problems take quite a while... how excellent. Physics and Computer Design were standard.. In Comp Design lab Cory and I started working on our encrypted communicator by figuring out the serial UART initialization coding. We didn't have a male-male cable so we left after 90 minutes. After class I worked on getting some laundry done, since I had built up quite a bit. Unfortunately the laundry room was pretty busy and I ended up spending a good 3 hours in total. I read some more of the Silmarillion though so it wasn't too bad. Roberts had a fire alarm around 10pm and it was fairly chilly outside; for some reason it takes at least 10 minutes for them to reset the system and let us back in. I talked with a guy named Seth who is into RedvsBlue and Jedi Outcast as well. Jason and Ron delivered some bad news tonight: there were already a few groups camped out in front of the auxiliary service center. They talked to them and found out 6 groups were waiting for 4 of the three-bedroom apartments. So.... it looks like we won't be living in Southgate after all. I went for a short jog around campus and verified that there were lots of people camping out. Tomorrow night will be even worse I imagine. Around 2am the four of us had a meeting and decided to look around Melbourne at off-campus opportunities. Sugar Mill apartments are pretty crappy but still cheap, and there are other places close by that have 2 and 3 bedroom options. Still not as convenient as Southgate, but better than a regular hall room IMO.

3.22.2004

T-minus 6 weeks and counting... summer is coming up fast. Still no responses on my resume mass mailing, but it's only been a week so I'm not panicking yet. In Civ today Dr. Shearer started discussion of Barrett's chapter two, about the "Encounter with Nothingness" in the 20th century. Stuff about civilization not having a "ground" anymore since religion and reason have passed. Technology is what our lives center around, at least for the moment. I played some SimCity after lunch, that game is still as fun as it was 6 years ago. Our Ambassador meeting was record fast today, about 12 people showed up and we were done by 7:12. Adam wasn't at the meeting or Civ class so I think he might be sick. I did some Diff Eq problems to prepare for the quiz on Wednesday, which is on systems of differential equations. We watched Lost in Translation, which Chris had rented. He also had Spun, a movie similar to Requiem but about meth. Added those two, plus A Bridge Too Far, We Were Soldiers, and Tears of the Sun to my collection.

3.21.2004

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. I didn't have much on my agenda for today so I woke up at 12:30 to shower and eat. I had to be in Gleason by 2pm for the Phi Eta Sigma induction ceremony, and I met up with Ron and Courtney there. Rodney Bowers, the chairman of Phi Eta Sigma, and the 5-member executive board delivered a few short speeches about the values of the honor society. We were required to pledge to uphold the core values, and then they proceeded with the new inductees. There were about 90 names on the list, and about 70 people actually showed up to get their certificate and pin. After the new members finished, they recognized graduating Phi Eta Sigma members, of which only 6 showed up. The photographer was late, so we got our T-shirts and they took a digital photo of the new people. I headed back to the dorm around 3:15, so the whole procedure didn't take all that long.

We went to eat at the Rat for dinner, and I used my free meal card from the President's office to buy a steak. The remaining balance after she swiped the card said $13, so I wonder if there really is $25 of available flexcash on each "single meal" card. Courtney and Ron were heading to Wal-Mart afterward so I tagged along. The ride was the best part, which when Courtney's driving can be very exhilarating. Ryan was looking for a desk chair for their house, and he offered me $40 for mine. I may sell it to him so I don't have to store the chair over summer break. Steve and I watched The Panic Room (Jodie Foster) and then I went to bed.

3.20.2004

Woke up today around the usual time of noon. Someone had posted a FitForum message asking for 56k modems, so I sold my old Creative one for $10. Steve told me he got back last night around 6am, so he went back to sleep after lunch until 5:30pm. I don't know how he can stand to sleep all day long. I decided to finally put my music albums on CD so I could play them in my car, and I ended up with nine 700mb CDs of Windows Media songs. That should hold me over for any cross-continent trips. I was looking for something to do besides homework this afternoon, so I went to the library and checked out my first book this year, The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkein, a bible of sorts for Middle Earth. I only got through about 5 chapters, but there are so many details and names that any more would have been overwhelming for today. I finally figured out why NCSSM's Neverland server is also called Iluvatar, since all the other Red Hat machines were named after Tolkien creations. While in the library I also noticed how large the upper floors are, which isn't apparent from the outside of the building.

I went with Dan and Cory to eat at the Rat, and we were there for over an hour because of the long wait on food. We all decided to go see Dawn of the Dead at Oaks, and I must say it was the best horror film I've seen in quite a while. It had the right blend of action, suspense, humor, and of course gore. Definitely a movie to see at the theater for effect, and make sure to stay through the credits to find out what happens. Also, the songs picked for this movie may seem to be odd for a horror film, but their integration is perfect and got quite a few laughs from the audience. I still plan to see Eternal Sunshine; might do that tomorrow if I'm bored. It's 3:30am and I feel like going to bed. Zzzz.

3.19.2004

Another Friday, which means I had a 10am tour and physics quiz immediately after. For some reason both my tours this week were abnormally large; today I had about 25 people to lead around campus. I feel like I'm finally getting into the groove of giving tours--I no longer have to think very much about what I'm going to say because it has been programmed into me. I was looking over the Florida Tech 10-year plan for architecture yesterday, and if they accomplish what they've set out to do this campus should be very impressive. The tour guide job will be a bit more difficult though, but I won't be around long enough for that to concern me. I found out at the quiz just how little I knew about induced magnetic fields, so it looks like I'll be charged up for studying physics this weekend. Dr. Jin did do a few interesting demonstrations, one with a solenoid that shot a metal ring upwards. In Civ we got our tests back; I made a 95 on this one and 14 out of 24 students made A's. With another good journal score and final exam grade, I should make an A easily in Civ. Dr. Shearer talked some more today about Ivan and his stressing over the meaninglessness of his life when confronted with death. Just remember that the crowd is the un-truth. Individuality and freedom are what's really important.

After class I went to Great Clips for my usual haircut, only $6.99 with a coupon. I find it interesting how all hair stylists try to make small talk with the customer while they are working. We give them some minor details about our living situation and weekend plans and then we go on our way. Considering how many clients they get each day, they really don't care what we're doing since it all immediately fades anyway. Next I stopped at Hollywood Video with my $4.02 in hand to rent American Beauty, and at Wal-Mart for a new fan and a hawaiian shirt. Money, it's a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash. Speaking of gas, prices have been on the steady incline, averaging $1.69 to $1.79 as I drove around Melbourne. I wish I could complain along with everybody else, but I think the higher prices are key in driving more consumers to switch to fuel-efficient hybrids, or at the very least to dump their Ford Expedition for a minivan. It really sucks for all those driving premium-guzzling cars, with prices on 93 octane almost breaking $2 here. I know if I had the money I'd be driving a Toyota Prius. As a senior design project I could add solar panels and beef up the electric motor. Add a flux capacitor and I'd be all set for the future. 1.21 Giga-what?

I talked to Jason again today, and he said we could get a tent from Clemente to camp out in front of Aux Services. Adrian recommended at least the night before, if not two nights. Everyone seems settled on the apartment idea so we are going to go for it. Dan got a new 5.1 Creative Audigy eX soundcard today for his Logitech Z-640 speakers. I told him he should have went with the 680's, but now he's got something to upgrade to eventually. Steve, Ron, and I have got hooked on this flash game called "Fishy." You can find it at Ebaum's World. Cory came over to watch American Beauty, and everyone else had left so they missed out. After that I wrote a physics summary and this log. Good times.

3.18.2004

Devi's class was more useful than usual today; she worked quite a few 3x3 matrix differential equations. In physics Dr. Jin collected the homework I didn't finish, so I only got 3/5 problems. Ron had someone visit from his high school, so he didn't join us for lunch. In Computer Design Dr. Hadji went over strobe and handshaking data transmission. After class I went to the mall and used my $5 FYE credit to buy a new CD case. I sent the last (maybe) resume out today, bringing the total to 30. I had to finish reading Ivan Ilyich for Civ, and study for the physics quiz tomorrow. Jason talked to me about my residence situation next year, since he, Ron, and Rolando are probably getting a Southgate apartment. I told them I was interested, so if we decide to follow through we will get a 3-bedroom 4-occupant on-campus apartment for $1900 a semester. We will need to determine how early to camp outside the Auxiliary Service center; there are supposedly 4-5 openings so it might be competitive. I checked out the reviews for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet), and quite surprisingly it's getting rave reviews. Looks like I'll be checking it out sometime this weekend.

I missed the Southpark episode yesterday, so I downloaded it and watched it tonight. Very funny episode about the gang buying ninja weapons and battling in true anime style. Butters got a ninja star thrown in his eye and things got serious. They disguised him as a dog intending to take him to the vet, but he managed to stumble into a hospital, which wouldn't treat him since they were "people" doctors. In the funniest scene, Cartman thinks he has the power of invisibility so he takes off his clothes and sneaks through a televised auction. They of course see him, and after the fact he calls it a "wardrobe malfunction." Sound familiar anybody? Let me know if you want a copy (of Southpark, not the nipple flash).

3.17.2004

SSDD. Well not quite, as I had an extra tour today since Guillermo was going to a senior design proposal. I thought it was an unusually large group for a Wednesday, with around 18 people. The quiz in Diff Eq went well--doing the homework can help sometimes. In Civ we started discussion of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, postponed from last week. After class I chilled for a while and cleaned up the room. It's amazing how much dust collects in our carpet over the course of 2 weeks. I had intended to go buy a 5-port USB2 card from CompUSA during their 20th anniversary sale, but Tim offered to sell his for $15 so I saved 5 bucks. Steve and I watched 12 Monkeys (Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt), which I had been meaning to see for a long time. The plot was fairly engaging, and Pitt's performance as a pro-environment semi-insane man was hilarious. There were some definite connections between his dialogue in this movie and in Fight Club.

3.16.2004

Bleh. A nasty day to compliment by mediocre mood. I was still abnormally tired today, so Diff Eq dragged by as usual. We have our quiz tomorrow so I will need to do some studying. On the way to Physics it had started sprinkling, and by the time that class was over it was downpouring without mercy. Fortunately I always carry an umbrella around, which managed to keep my head from getting wet and that was about it. Hadji talked about counters yet again today, and despite many people reciting "yes, we're with you Hadji," it has become an autonomous response just to get on with the material. Computer Design lab was quick and painless today, simply interfacing the keypad with the LCD screen so that punched numbers would display. Cory and I decided to do an encryption project using two PIC controllers talking over the serial cable. A passcode will be required to send and receive the information. Hopefully this will earn us an A. I finished Jedi Outcast and watched Super Troopers with Buff and Chris. I'm about to get to that Diff Eq studying... no really. TTFN.

3.15.2004

Another school week has begun, hurrah. Classes seemed to drag by, mostly because I was tired from the night before. The Civ test went very well I think, so hopefully I will get an A on this one. I took a nap in the afternoon and played some Jedi Outcast. At 7 I made my weekly trip to the Ambassadors meeting, where we had E-board elections. Adam was picked as President, Julie as Vice President, Melissa as Secretary, me as Treasurer, and Laura as historian. Congrats to everybody. My position was a buy-in since Adam was the only one running opposite me. Oh yeah, and we're the best damn organization in the school. Just to let everybody know that. For the third or fourth time. :)

3.14.2004

Today was very busy because I had to prepare 29 resume copies and cover letters to mail to businesses for summer jobs or internships. I went to get a new toner cartridge and laser paper at Office Depot, which set me back $93. The cartridge better yield 3,000+ pages for that outrageous cost. It is nice to be able to print 17 pages a minute, however. I wrapped up my resume project around 3 and went to buy stamps so I could just drop them off tomorrow. A Physics summary and Civ test awaited me afterward, and around 10pm I went to see Secret Window (Johnny Depp) with Cory and Chris. Quite an odd story but everything I would expect from a Stephen King adaptation.

3.13.2004

Well this is the day of the FIRST finals, so Rolando, Steve and I headed out around 8am for Orlando. Tim couldn't go because of an pre-interview test for Avionics. The trip was very straightforward, although 520 did have a bit of 45mph construction zones. Once we got to UCF Arena Ron met up with us and showed the three of us around. The view of the field was good, although we were up in the nosebleeds. We browsed the pit area and saw some interesting robots; Ron's high school team 312 had a cool machine that could hoist itself up on the bar very effectively. Another team used suction instead of arms to pick up the multiplier balls, which was an innovative approach. The seeding matches in the morning went well for Ron's team and they were in 5th place with qualifying points. They selected two companion teams for the finals, although neither was very good. We went to a nearby Subway for lunch and returned around 1 when the competitions started up again. The final matches are always very intense, and this year was no exception with robots trying to guard the bar as well as multiplier balls. Ron's team was eliminated in the finals unfortunately. During the best match of the day, all four robots managed to attach themselves to the bar and lift off the floor, which was an amazing achievement and got a standing ovation from the audience. Rolando, Steve, and I left after the announcement of the 1st place team and didn't get to see the individual merit awards. When Jason and Ron got back they were very happy because their team won the Chairman's award, which is the most prestigious all-around great team accolade.

3.12.2004

Friday at last! I woke up and gave a tour to around 15 people; the weather was nice and the overall mood of the group seemed good. After the tour I hurried to Physics 2 to take a quiz, which I got correct even though I was doubtful while taking it. I had trouble focusing on the discussion in Civ 2 today, for some reason I just can't enjoy learning about Dostoevksy's philosophies. I did pay attention when Dr. Shearer was discussing the topics on the Monday test, and it doesn't look too difficult. After class I submitted my internship resume to Progress Energy in Southport, NC, which is about 30 min from my parent's house. The job description is exactly what I enjoy doing, so hopefully they will consider me. I called just about every computer store in Melbourne and found that nobody carries toner refill kits, most likely because they enjoy the high margin on new cartridges. Looks like the Internet is the only place to get them. Rolando decided to accompany us to Orlando to watch the competition, so we'll be taking both cars so Steve and Tim will be a bit more comfortable in the front.

3.11.2004

Dr. Devi's class was horrible this morning. For some reason 1:15 seems so much longer than 0:50, and the way she covers material is so monotonous. It was helpful since I missed class Tuesday, since she did a review. Physics was alright, and Computer Design was much better than normal since Kurt taught the class. It's kinda bad when you want the GSA to teach the lecture instead of the professor. No personal offense Dr. Hadji, but you aren't an effective teacher IMO. We had dinner around 5, and Ron and Jason left around 6:30pm to head over to Orlando for the FIRST competition. They are meeting up with the team from their high school. Steve, Tim, and I are going over Saturday morning to watch the last rounds of seeding and the finals. Adrian had originally planned a bowling trip for the hall, but his special rate ended up being invalid for the time period we wanted. We ended up going to the Golden Cue instead, where Chris works. He got us about 2 hours of pool for 8 guys for $14. Not bad at all. The only downside is your clothes smell strongly of smoke afterward. They decided to watch Fight Club after we got back, but I did some studying and went to bed earlier than normal.

3.10.2004

Only two classes today, and the best part is Dr. Devi doesn't teach today, the GSA does. He gave us a quiz which was alright until the end integration. I did my hour in the SA office and fixed a few things with the computer. Afterward I had Civ 2 and we just talked some more about Dostoevsky. I know I did something after school, but I don't remember.

3.9.2004

Well, I missed my Differential Equations class this morning by oversleeping 45 min. I did make it to Physics 2, however, which was fortunate since we turned in homework and summaries. Computer Design was more boring than ever, and the wireless LAN in Olin wasn't working properly. The lab was pretty cool since we got to display characters on the 8x2 LCD screen, and I even made my text scroll across. Ron and Rolando couldn't get theirs' to work yesterday, so I guess that Trond got the code worked out correctly. We had a hall meeting to discuss bowling on Thursday, a movie on Friday, and Caribbean food on Saturday. Ron told me about the FIRST competition happening Thurs-Sat in Orlando so I might head out there Saturday morning to see the finals.

3.8.2004

First day of classes after break, starting an 8-week stretch with only the weekends off. In Diff Eq Dr. Devi scolded us for not doing homework over break and reviewed variation of parameters. In Civ 2 we started discussing Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevski, which sounds like an interesting read at the least. At the SA meeting we nominated new officers and I might get to be the Treasurer for 2004-2005--the elections occur next week. I entertained myself this evening by reading some of the infamous George 'Dubya' Quotes. I haven't laughed that much in quite a while, but it bothers me that our current president is so uneducated. Oh well, I imagine Kerry has a good chance at winning the upcoming election.