9.30.2004
9:02pm

Rooster Teeth Productions, masterful creaters of the machinima series Red vs. Blue, have started a new series based on Electronic Arts "The Sims 2" computer game, called The Strangerhood. The teaser/introductory episode is available for download in WMV or MOV format. It will be very interesting to see what direction they go with this new show, but I imagine it will share the same type of humor that Red vs. Blue currently enjoys.

In other not-so-exciting news today, my modern physics test wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. My crammed studying this morning was probably not necessary at all, but better prepared than not. We had another round of SA interviews today, which were over by 7:30; I grabbed some food at the Rat and then went to the Phi Eta Sigma general meeting. About fifteen people showed up including the e-board, so you can tell how excited everyone is to be involved in such an awesome group...

9.29.2004
9:34pm

Back to school after another mini-vacation. I decided to walk to campus this morning since it was nice outside and I had no excuse to drive. With oil topping $50/barrel unleaded prices will probably get very close to $2 soon. In Circuit Theory we went over chapter three for analyzing circuits, in Sci/Tech Comm we talked about definitions and descriptions; I got back my first test with a shocking 100/100. I expected to make a decent grade, but 100? In Prob/Stat our teacher had planned on delaying our test until Friday, but popular opinion demanded it today, so she went and got them from her office. I didn't study very much since I thought it would be a piece of cake test, but there were a couple of questions that threw me off initially. After some thinking I believe I got them right. I came back to the apartment briefly after the test and checked email & newsgroups. At 3:20 I had to be back at Olin for C++, where we went over more functions and data types.

I had to attend the Student Ambassador interviews this evening, so I headed over there at 6 after getting dinner at Evans. We had four prospectives signed up for today, three freshman and one sophomore. The solo guy to apply for interviews is named Michael Moore, even though he's a Republican and claims no relation to the film director by the same name. Saranya from my ECE classes also applied, and she seemed to be very professional. On Saturday the member selection committee is meeting to decide who we will accept, although at this point we aren't going to be very picky with such a small membership.

My download of the fifth Father of the Pride episode finished this morning, so I watched it tonight and was thoroughly entertained again. Danny DeVito guest-starred in this episode as the conspiracy-theorist/left-wing lobster Emerson who is befriended by Sierra. Siegfried and Roy have a more significant part in this episode than the last one, as they get excited about a visit from Barbara Streisand. Poor Sarmoti has to dress up as Gandalf from LOTR as punishment, definitely the best laugh in the whole episode.

9.28.2004
6:03pm
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road SACD

Aftermath...

Jeanne is finally gone, taking lots of trees, telephone poles, and 2 days of Florida Tech classes with it. We had no power here in Saratoga from 4am Sunday until 5pm Monday. FIT got their power back early Monday morning, so they were able to clean up and prepare for classes resuming on Wednesday.

The hurricane effects were very visible by 6pm Saturday, with the maximum winds coming sometime in the early Sunday AM. Rolando and I went over to Ron and Jason's apartment to hang out after having fun in the rain and winds first. Dave and Brittany were around as well so they came out and said hello. We watched the weather channel for a while in anticipation, and I left around 1am after the power started flickering a few times; I decided it would be better if I could see my way across the parking lot to make it back home.

After the power went out Sunday, it was very boring around the apartment. No A/C or fans, melting ice cream in the refrigerator, no way to cook food, no movies, no Internet, etc. I read Ishmael to kill some time, and I also studied for my Prob/Stat and Modern Physics tests. I resorted to eating deli sandwiches since I didn't want the meat to spoil, but we were able to walk to campus and get some food at Evans for dinner. We ran into Tim and Steve while we were there, and Tim had to work at the grill since he's an RA. That night we all got together at Jenee's apartment to play poker. Dave and Brittany joined us and we played until 12:30am.

On Monday morning Rolando headed back home in Sarasota since they still had power there. I stuck around and killed some more time. When Chris got into town we went to CinemaWorld and saw Cellular, which wasn't half bad. When we got back to the apartment complex power had been restored, and according to Ron it came back around 5pm. I left with Chris again to head to Best Buy so I could buy the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. They were closing just as we pulled up at 7pm, so we went down the road to CompUSA and I got it for $39.99. On the way back we stopped at Golden Panda Chinese and got some take-out, since it was one of the few places open after the hurricane. Our plans to watch Star Wars that night were squashed when nobody else was interested. We decided to hold off until Tuesday when Ron and Jason felt like participating.

Tuesday I went to Kmart to get some end tables and a bookshelf for the living room. I went to Wal-Mart looking for the coffee table I liked but they are still out of stock. Every other furniture item is there except that one thing that I want. Figures, doesn't it? After I got my new items set up, Chris decided to go to Best Buy to check out some speakers to expand his sound system. He's got a really nice Marantz 5.1 receiver, but since it's a good decade old it doesn't have digital inputs or discrete surround decoding. We were looking for a Klipsch center channel speaker to match the two Klipsch bookshelves he has as mains, but Best Buy didn't have any more in stock. He looked at the subwoofers but the cheapest option was a 225-watt 10" sub for $325. Over in the Sony section they had a 100-watt 8" sub for only $99 so Chris went with that one, taking into consideration that he only has a 1-bedroom apartment to fill with bass. I picked up a copy of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" on Hybrid Surround SACD for a staggering $27.99, but it's an awesome 2-disc album so I bit the bullet. When we got back to Chris's apartment we hooked up the sub and Chris was impressed with the bass level. I headed back home to listen to my new SACD which was simply breathtaking, particularly the first 4 tracks. Many people deny that surround effects contribute to a music album, but they are seriously missing out. It creates a genuine field of music that can only be rivaled by a live concert performance. And this was just my impression on my humble surround system.

9.24.2004
3:07pm
Genesis - Land of Confusion

School has been cancelled for tomorrow because of the impending doom that is Hurricane Jeanne. I also got a call from Best Buy saying that my training session tomorrow morning has been postponed until after things return to normal. This means that I actually get a regular worry-free weekend, except for the hurricane that is. I'll be very surprised if school reopens on Monday, unless Jeanne happens to turn away from us at the last minute. Right now it's hitting 100mph maximum sustained winds so it could still do some damage here. I'm still planning to stick around, since evacuating is pretty much out of the question.

So this still leaves me with the "problem" of a weekend with nothing to do. Maybe I will go buy Star Wars just to have some entertainment for 7 hours. Cory and Dan still want to see Harold and Kumar tonight, but it looks like the dollar theater might not bother reopening since another hurricane is barreling this way.

9.23.2004
11:49pm
Van Halen - Feels So Good

Getting behind in my posts, I know, I know. It's looking like Hurricane Jeanne is coming back around to hit Florida sometime Saturday, which is just splendid news; I'm ecstatic. I'm still waiting to find out what FIT plans to do and whether I still have to work at Best Buy Saturday morning.

Tonight Cory, Dan, and I went to the Psycho-Cinema presentation of Harvey in Skurla. This black-and-white movie from 1950 revolves around Elwood P. Dowd, who is a pleasant and perfectly normal person excpet he is accompanied by an imaginary six-foot rabbit. It was actually a pretty amusing movie, and it had a few thought-provoking parts. The psychology professor and grad student that sponsored the event had a discussion afterwards about the attitude of the public toward mentally ill people, and the behaviors of the various characters in the film. It's interesting to note that the "crazy" person in the film is the nicest and best-dispositioned person of all of the cast, making the viewer wonder who really has the problems. As the taxi driver conveys, after the mental patients get the treatment injection, they change from being nice and friendly into irritating and callous, like normal people.

In other news this week, the Sony monitor I bought from Astro Too decided to die on Wednesday. I'm almost convinced that the voltage in the SUB is screwy and is causing our monitors to develop problems. I took the monitor back for repair since it came with a 30-day guarantee, so hopefully I will be getting it back within a couple weeks in working order. Our Student Ambassador social last night was pretty disappointing, as we only had about 8 interested people show up. The current members still had a lot of fun though, and there was a photo of me in my Barney Rubble costume that was just a tad embarrasing. "Mr. tread softly and carry a big stick" was my quote for the evening. It was entertaining to see Dave get irritated with the projector keystone and then with the 300MB PowerPoint file that just had a few pictures. How Julie managed to bloat the file that much, I have yet to discover.

Oh yeah, I tried to get gas for my car tonight and went to three different stations that all ran out of gas as I was in line. Melbourne's going crazy. Fortunately I've still got half a tank so I should be alright for at least the next week. I've already decided not to evacuate for Jeanne, even if it looks like it's going to hit directly. 105 mph wind isn't that bad, after all...

9.19.2004
8:56pm

For those of you living in a vacuum, the Star Wars Special Edition Trilogy will be released on DVD this Tuesday. At first I was really excited about this release and was ready to stand in line to purchase it the first day it came out. However, I've been reading more and more reviews about how adulterated the new "special edition" is with added CGI effects and new continuity issues. IMHO they should have taken the Special Edition version that came out on VHS years ago and cleaned up the picture and stamped it to DVD without modifying the story anymore. I'm still vacillating in my decision whether to purchase it or not. At $41.99 on Amazon it's not a bad deal for all three movies, but I'd rather not ruin my impression of the movies as they originally existed.

2:51pm

"I want to have ze 'umm'!"

I woke up early this morning at 8:30 and found that KazaaLite had downloaded the first Father of the Pride episode overnight, and the third episode was almost done. I watched the two of them and then immediately found the Bittorrent for the second episode and watched that too. It is indeed very similar to South Park in raunchiness factor, and I find the comedy to be appealing and fresh. Some people do not agree, as easily seen on the IMDB message boards. I might start bugging Cory and Dan on Tuesday evenings at 9pm to borrow their TV. The digital copies I've found are also 480p HDTV quality which is amazing; each file is ~200MB though for a 20 minute episode.

I made a trip over to Goodwill today to see if they had any good coffee tables; they only had one in pretty poor condition. I checked Wal-Mart for new tables, but they were entirely sold out.

Right now I'm reading Circuit Theory with The Big Lebowski playing in the background. "That rug really tied the room together, did it not? Fuckin' A." "Forget it Donnie, you're out of your element." "Chinaman is not the preferred nomanclature, man, Asian-American please." Such intelligent dialog...

9.18.2004
4:53pm
Journey - Kiss Me Softly

Content...

Yesterday I had a typical day of classes, from 11am to 2pm. I delivered my old computer and the new SA monitor to the office after class and set it up, which took me about an hour. I called Staples to let the manager know I wouldn't be coming in for an interview, since I accepted the job at Best Buy. Ron told me that he also got a call from Best Buy for an interview, so he might be leaving his job at The Sports Authority if he gets an offer. It would be awesome if he and I ended up working in the same department, but I acknowledge that the odds of that are pretty slim. I made a trip to Target to do some shopping and found that they completely redesigned the store since last semester. They are still in the process of moving all their electronics and media to the back of the store. I picked up a HEPA air purifier for the living room and got four DVDs: A Bug's Life, Ice Age, Lilo and Stitch, and Monster's Inc. I looked for Shrek but only found the full-screen version; even Circuit City didn't have the widescreen version. The guy at the cash register must have been an animation fan as well, because he commented on all the movies I picked out. There's nothing wrong with liking "kids movies," right? I had dinner in the Rat and ran into Buff, so I talked to him for a little while to see what he's been up to lately. I called Cory and found out he and Dan were planning to see Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle at the dollar theater. I drove over there to meet them at 9:15 only to find that the theater is closed until next Friday. We came back to my apartment and watched Ocean's Eleven since Cory had never seen it.

Today I got up at 10:45 and headed over to campus for brunch. At noon I went to the athletic fields to help with the first Florida Tech faculty picnic. They had a catered pork barbeque, popcorn, cotton candy, and all sorts of games set up for the kids. My job was to help with the Ping Pong Shootout game which involved using a squirt gun to shoot ping pong balls off 2-liter bottles. If they succeeded we had slinkys and airplane gliders to give away, if not they had to be satisfied with a sticker and some bubblegum. I left at 2pm after President Catanese made a short speech about the successful turnout and the lack of Florida-targeted hurricanes in the immediate future. When I got back out of the sun I watched Ice Age, ironically. I worked on vacuuming and cleaning the apartment since Rolando is off to Orlando for the day. I don't have any real plans for this evening other than catching up on some work.

9.16.2004
11:03pm

Started off the day with a free hour in the Ambassador's office. I managed to do some casual reading while putting a few critical updates on the computer. I decided once and for all to buy a replacement monitor for the office, since the incredibly tiny 13" analog VGA monitor just doesn't cut it. I haven't used Windows at 640x480 since 1995. I went to my C++ lab at 11am which turned out to be insanely easy. The only required task for today was a program that output our name and computed the average of two numbers three times in a 'for' loop. I typed the whole thing out in VI in about 3 minutes and then started helping everybody else figure out how to use Linux. Most of the class stuck to using Microsoft Visual C++ but a few brave people tried text editing in Linux. Ron knows a good amount about programming, as I do, so we will probably be partners in that class. I'll have to show him the Linux tricks though since he is new to that.

After lab I had lunch at Clemente with Ron and Chelsea, then went to Astro Too to look at used monitors. I found a really nice Sony Trinitron Multiscan 220sx 17" monitor for $50. After cleaning it up a bit it looks and performs just like new. I dug my old pentium computer out of the closet and started preparing it with the recent updates and a ZoneAlarm firewall. It has twice the ram (128mb) of the computer up in the office, so it might yield slightly better performance. It's nicer to look at in the very least... I had to run off to Modern Physics at 3:30 where Dr. Lopez talked about light as an E-M wave and as photons. We're going to have a test on relativity on the 29th, but the good news is he is allowing a single notecard of personal review notes. After class I had dinner at Evans then went to the Student Activities Procedures Meeting in the Hartley room, which lasted until 7pm. After that I made a trip to Kmart to get some Goo Gone for the monitor and some other miscellaneous items. I've been busy tonight with software installations and Sci/Tech comm reading. Dr. Tolbert decided to have our first test on the 22nd so I can't be skipping any reading assignments.

I've pretty much decided that I won't have time to help out for the 2005 DARPA competition. Florida Tech's OASIS Racing team is having its first sincere building session this Saturday, so I may or may not tag along with Ron and see what they are up to. I've also got a commitment to help at the faculty picnic for ambassadors.

9.15.2004
6:33pm

Busy day, very busy... Started off with my 9:15am interview at Best Buy which ended up being a 10:15 interview since the general manager was preoccupied. The good news is that I got the job, and they're going to put me as permanent part-time instead of seasonal which is great as well. My starting wage will be $7/hr like everybody else, and my first day of orientation is Saturday the 25th. After my interview I had to spot by Diane's office then rush back to the apartment to change clothes before class, which lasted until 2pm. Then I went to have a drug test at LabCorp on Port Malabar Rd, which didn't take long at all. I headed back to campus to finally get some food, and ran into Rolando as I got back to the apartment. He was heading out for our Hardware/Software design class, which I would have completely forgotten about if he hadn't passed me. I sat through a boring hour of lecture about C++ topics I already know well. The only thing left to do tonight is the student ambassador meeting at 8pm, then I'm probably going to watch Hidalgo with Rolando. Jason has a Blockbuster Rewards subscription so they've been renting movies left and right.

9.13.2004
11:29pm

Not too much happened today... did some homework and reading, went and saw Resident Evil: Apocalypse with Chris and Rolando. The movie was loud and fast-paced, accomplishing its goal of entertaining and a great bargain at $3.50. Later this week I'm going to see Harold and Kumar go to White Castle with Cory at the dollar theater, and probably see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow next weekend.

1:08am

Tired and finally back home from a night of revelry with Rolando, Chris, Ron, Jason, Jenee, and others. We had dinner at Chili's which was entertaining as always. Get Chris and Ron at a table together and you can be assured of many unscrupulous conversations. Afterwards I got to see Chris's new 10 gallon aquarium that he set up today; he's thinking about getting into saltwater fish as well. We all headed over to Jason and Ron's apartment and networked 3 X-Boxes to play Halo until 1am. I didn't fare too badly considering it's been a while since I played.

I'm thinking about going to see Resident Evil 2 tomorrow with Chris and Rolando, possibly Cory if he's around. Yet another diversion before classes start again on Tuesday.

9.12.2004
9:03am

Found this Open Letter to Ivan on Florida Today's web site forums. An entertaining read for Floridians.

8:26am

Back from my interview with Best Buy. I was interrogated by the Home Theater Dept manager himself. I felt nervous when they asked me about prior sales experience, but I told them the truth that I didn't have any experience. He seemed apprehensive throughout the interview, especially about my availability. As it turns out they couldn't put me on a regular part-time schedule because I needed Tues/Wed off because of Student Ambassador meetings. Instead they could put me on an occasional/seasonal schedule. In the end they did offer me a 3rd interview with the general store manager, so I have to go back Wednesday at 9:15am. If that goes well, I do the drug test and then hopefully start working there. They told me that the Home Theater department was a fairly challenging one but after a few weeks of training it wouldn't be very difficult. The hardest bit for me will be learning sales tactics, as I'm already knowledgeable about the technology and teminology.

9.11.2004
10:32pm

Went and saw the movie Pi for the first time over at Mike's apartment. The film is very unusual and shot in black-and-white so it's definitely not for everybody, but I liked the story and the main character's obsession with the mathematical significance of Pi. The director, Darren Aronofsky, also was at the held of Requiem for a Dream, an equally distrubing but very well-made movie. Both share a common tragic theme of the main character(s) descending further into depression and insanity. Mike said he still hadn't watched Requiem so it will be interesting to see his impression of that movie.

3:57pm

Three years to the day... America remembers 9/11.

I finished playing Half Life: Opposing Force today; I decided to finally wrap up the game since I started playing it over the summer but never got a chance to finish it. I haven't accomplished much else today, but I'm planning to do some reading later on. I bought Face/Off and The Sum of All Fears at Wal-Mart yesterday and watched Face/Off last night. I had never seen the movie before even though it's been around since 1996, and I liked Travolta and Cage's performances. Isn't it everyone's worst nightmare to wake up with the face of their arch nemesis?

I have to get up early tomorrow for an interview at Best Buy. I received a call yesterday for a short phone interview and was asked to come in Sunday morning at 7:30. Hopefully Best Buy decides I'm worth the effort to train this time, since I won't be leaving at the end of the semester. If not I'll just have to continue my search elsewhere.

The CD I ordered off Amazon finally came today, Lebo M's Rhythm of the Pride Lands, music inspired by Disney's The Lion King. I think this means I'm officially a fan of that movie now. I listened to the album this afternoon and was very impressed with the collection. All of the snippets of African tribal music from TLK are now placed within full-length songs. The title song from Simba's Pride, He Lives in You, is the first song on the album and deserves the front spot IMO. The song Warthog Rhapsody which is performed in the broadway versoin on TLK was included, as well as some other bonus tracks. There is also a song included from Disney's animated short "One By One" which was on the Special Features disc of Simba's Pride. Hans Zimmer helped with several of the arrangements and he is probably my favorite composer of all time.

9.8.2004
11:28pm

Writing this entry, I realized that I accomplished very little today. That might be partially because I woke up at 12:30, very late by my standards. The fact that I only got 4 hours of sleep the night before was probably to blame, but I still don't like waking up at mid-day. I did venture over to Kmart today to buy some upholstery cleaner for the couch and some peanut butter for sandwiches. They had the traffic signals along Babcock fixed so it didn't take long at all to get to Palm Bay. I succomed to the Little Caesars $5.00 carry-out special advertisement and got a pepperoni pizza with some crazy bread for dinner. I also watched the entirety of The Two Towers extended edition today which consumed about 4 hours. Jason and Jenee were back in their apartments today so hopefully they didn't have any damage.

I'm planning to volunteer tomorrow with Dave and Brittany at the Brevard distribution center for ice and water. They signed up for a 1pm - 7pm time slot so at least I'll have something to do tomorrow. The weekend is going to be pretty boring unless I figure out something to do. I could always crack open one of my new textbooks or make up the new Ambassadors budget, and it looks like I might just have to do one of those things.

To all my friends at NCSU and Duke that have to go to class this week: haha, sux to be you. Just kidding, because Florida Tech's probably going to take away all of our fall break time to make up for these missed days.

9.7.2004
8:56pm

I'm sitting here on the couch in my apartment and counting my blessings that none of my stuff got damaged in Hurricane Frances. I just got back this morning with Dave and Brittany from Sand Key/Clearwater Beach, and I will say that I was pretty worried that I would find half the roof missing from my apartment. Dave's place made out slightly worse than mine, with a large section of shingles missing over Adam's bedroom. I've spent the day unbagging and reorganizing things, and I made a grocery trip to Publix earlir--they had very few perishable items left and almost no refrigerated items. They had cheese and milk but no deli meat, hotdogs, beef, etc. I got enough food to get me through a couple days at least, then I'll see where I stand after that. Oh, and my Bettas survived the 5 days without food fortunately.

Melbourne isn't in the best condition following the storm, with lots of missing traffic signals and downed trees. The FDOT crews were out in full force today trying to repair the numerous intersections with no signals, which were starting to back up with traffic because of the 4-way stop. I checked to see if Oaks Theater was open today, but unfortunately they were not. Best Buy was however, so I stopped and got some new headphones and the Extended Two Towers DVD that I had been meaning to get for a long time. My original intention was to watch it tonight to kill some time, but it's more of a group movie. Cory and Chris are back in town, and Cory was able to get back into his dorm room. I guess his RA was being lax about the dorm closing unti the 13th; Evans dining is still closed for the time being though.

At this point, classes are off until at least the 14th. Florida Tech is rushing to clean up and repair from the rain and wind damage here. Hurricane Ivan looks like it's headed for the Gulf of Mexico which is fantastic news for Floridians. It could still deviate course northward, but I'm holding out for the best. Hopefully everybody has a safe trip back to Melbourne from evacuation locations.

9.2.2004 - 9.7.2004

To avoid Hurricane Frances, which originally looked to be a category 4/5 storm, I evacuated with Dave and company to Brittany's condo on the west coast at Clearwater Beach. Brittany's two roommates Melina and Megan came along, as well as three freshman from Columbia Village: Becky, Leslie, and Audrey. The drive west took us an astonishing 10 hours because of the horribly clogged highways; we took 95 > 520 > 528 > 417 > 4 > 192 > 27 > 4 > 60 which was probably not the most efficient. We had a few nice days before Frances arrived, so we spent some time at the beach, pool, or hot tub, watching movies, playing games, etc. We went out for Friday night at Frenchy's Grill in Clearwater. Andy and his friend Matt came to visit Friday night for a while because they were staying in Tampa. We got rain from Frances starting Saturday night and it lasted until Monday morning. We didn't lose power at all in the condo which made things more pleasant, and aside from a little anxiety everything went well.