As usual its been a long time since I have written anything here. I've just been busy so this hasn't been a priority. Since for some reason I'm awake at 8:30am on a day when I don't have to do anything though I thought I might as well post.
Midterm has passed has school which is always an excellent thing. I just wish Thanksgiving break wasn't so far off. Classes are fine, just terribly boring as usual. I don't think I'm made for school, never really liked being spoon fed information..... I am starting to get more concerned with finding a job when I'm done to pay off what looks like a ton of student loans. I like money and miss it so hopefully it won't take long to find a good job. I don't believe I'll be too selective with where I'm employed as long as its not too hot year 'round. Ideally I think I'd like to work somewhere in Washington or the UK for a while. An odd pairing I know, especially given that I've never been to either, but I think it could be fun. Washington seems to be the right blend of geeks, hippies, and good weather that I wouldn't mind.
I saw a truck going down the road yesterday with a bumper sticker that said "I (heart) my wife." Is this really a statement that you need to announce to the world? Shouldn't that really just go without saying? If you didn't would you still be married? Perhaps I can start a line of bumper stickers that state obvious things. I see it opening with ones like "Sure Glad I'm Not Dead," "I Have To Breathe to Live," and "Dogs Are Furry!"
In DVD news The Undergrads DVD set is out. It has two discs with all of the episodes on them and a few extras. I will admit I was sort of disappointed with the extras. I was hoping for some commentary in episode from the creator Pete Williams, the writers like Josh Cagan, or even the rest of the cast and crew. In one of the (short) extras Pete Williams mentions the drawings he sent to MTV to win a contest and get the show started. Seeing those would have been nice. With it you get the episodes but not much else. The show is great though so its well worth picking up. Sadly I guess its safe to say that we probably won't see another season of this show since its been so long since the last one.
A month or so ago I went to St. Louis and bought an Apple iPod. I was very hesitant to drop that much cash on a gadget. The 20 gig version is $369 before tax and before a student discount. Add in a USB2 card for an aging computer and $20 for a USB cable for it and it all comes out a bit over $400. Which brings me to another point, everyone always asks why I paid for the USB adapter and didn't just get a Firewire one. First I figured USB2 I will definately use for other devices, firewire I may or may not. Also the USB dongle lets me plug the dock into the wall and the usb port instead of forcing it to be powered by the firewire port only. This way I can turn off my computer and still allow it to charge. Anyway the iPod is the coolest gadget I have ever bought. Blows all the PDA's and stuff out of the water. I don't think the interface could be any better. If you would like music on the go for anything you have to get one. Very small and easy to carry as well. No complaints at all so far from me on it.
This weekend I'm going to neglect some homework and go home. I really shouldn't but I need to. I spent about $200 to get new hinges and seals for my drivers side car door and need to try and put them on. You see, in the winter time my car develops a particularly nasty habit. When I wake up in the morning and there has been any freezing rain, or it even seems like a heavy frost my car keeps me out. I use the remote and the door unlocks, but doesn't open. I will spend 5 minutes prying and pulling and banging on my door at 7:30 in the cold trying to get in but it won't budge. Eventually out of frustration I'll go back up the always trecherously icy stairs to my apartment and get a container filled with scalding hot water or isopropyl alcohol to break the seal of ice and let me in. Once the door finally opens though, it refuses to latch and close. So I'm then faced with sitting in the car for 20 minutes with the heater on high, holding the door closed, to defrost everything or having to drive to school holding the door shut by the seatbelt and hoping I don't roll out when I turn. Arrive at school, lather, rinse, repeat. Same for work. Needless to say this is a tradition I could do without. If the seals and hinges don't help, I'll just light it on fire more than likely.
I may try to neglect homework more this weekend and go see Kill Bill. It looks like its already starting to leave screens around here and I don't want to miss it. I also decided to try and upgrade this server a bit by moving from a 6 gig Quantum Bigfoot to two Maxtor 30 gig 7200 drives in a raid 1 array. I put them in hot swap enclosures by Vantec, but one of the enclosures seems to have a problem and gives CRC errors if I run in UDMA mode. Because of that the array is currently running at PIO4. I have moved from write speeds of about 20MB/s to 4MB/s. I must resolve that next week......
Its nice though that Halloween is coming up. I always like this time of year alot. So much nicer after its cooled off, leaves are falling, etc. I wish it would rain some but... For now though I had probably better finish my laundry, grab a shower, and get ready to leave.
Posted by johnm at October 25, 2003 09:19 AM