Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Now What?
This should be interesting. School has all-the-way begun now. Classes are hip (I'm taking Formal Languages & Algorithms, Unix/Linux/Windows Administration, Marching Band, Ice Skating, and some TBE class I only need for the 1.00 credit hour), lunch has been brought/bought, friends have been seen and greeted, system woes have been experienced (I need to talk to the financial aid office), homework is looming, and Thursday lunch is pending. Now the only thing that remains is to see how things will turn out at the Stick. Who will frequent the location? What will happen? Will faculty and staff bombard my office with work? Will SwiftFire Studios ignite? Will I develop madd skilz on t3h c0mpu70r5? Will the hero or the villian triumph in my mocumentary of the marching band? And by hero and villian I mean the people with capes or the people with sinister plots.
Although school is back it looks like we won't be seeing much of BrittChap, SuperCory, or Kristen this semester. Aaron is all graduated. I'm on my way out [ETA 12/05]. Many did not return to the merching bahnd this year. Jarrett is still on the run from the authorities (the band hall authorities, not the feds, yo) and out of the country. werdnA is away down south at the U. *sniff sniff* It's almost enough to make me say, "Hey, what's that over there?" and then grab your grocery bag and run like all get out.
Sooooo.... right now, I'm in the Union lab training a new lab aide and the building is humming like there's another one of those alien spaceships on the roof. I'm not sure what is causing it, but it's weird, man. Weird.
And, apparently I've forgotten that this is my own blog instead of the band blog, so my tenor (pardon the pun) has been different. I revert now for those readers unaccustomed to such talk.
The financial aide office totally owes me a check for $600+ and I received one in the mail the other while for about $70. What is up with that? I'll have to go drop a train on 'em tomorrer. I still have to buy textbooks. I think I'll check out the book exchange and Beat the Bookstore before I resign myself to the wallet-draining influence that the WSU Bookstore exherts on my person.
In other news, my most very looking-forward-to thing of the present is the upcoming western fling that the Taylors are throwing at their flat middle o' this month. And why am I looking forward to it so much? Not only was it one of the best activities we had last year, but I'll also get to see people from the trip to the Sunrise Ranch resort again (see previous post on the subject). That should be fun.
Well, now that I'm bored out of my melon, I'll just post a site of the day:
one9ine.com - check out their showreel ☺
a quote of the day:
When life throws you a lemon, throw it back harder.
a food-available-at-the-help-desk of the day:
totally - Red Vines
and be done for the day.
Tschuß
Although school is back it looks like we won't be seeing much of BrittChap, SuperCory, or Kristen this semester. Aaron is all graduated. I'm on my way out [ETA 12/05]. Many did not return to the merching bahnd this year. Jarrett is still on the run from the authorities (the band hall authorities, not the feds, yo) and out of the country. werdnA is away down south at the U. *sniff sniff* It's almost enough to make me say, "Hey, what's that over there?" and then grab your grocery bag and run like all get out.
Sooooo.... right now, I'm in the Union lab training a new lab aide and the building is humming like there's another one of those alien spaceships on the roof. I'm not sure what is causing it, but it's weird, man. Weird.
And, apparently I've forgotten that this is my own blog instead of the band blog, so my tenor (pardon the pun) has been different. I revert now for those readers unaccustomed to such talk.
The financial aide office totally owes me a check for $600+ and I received one in the mail the other while for about $70. What is up with that? I'll have to go drop a train on 'em tomorrer. I still have to buy textbooks. I think I'll check out the book exchange and Beat the Bookstore before I resign myself to the wallet-draining influence that the WSU Bookstore exherts on my person.
In other news, my most very looking-forward-to thing of the present is the upcoming western fling that the Taylors are throwing at their flat middle o' this month. And why am I looking forward to it so much? Not only was it one of the best activities we had last year, but I'll also get to see people from the trip to the Sunrise Ranch resort again (see previous post on the subject). That should be fun.
Well, now that I'm bored out of my melon, I'll just post a site of the day:
one9ine.com - check out their showreel ☺
a quote of the day:
When life throws you a lemon, throw it back harder.
a food-available-at-the-help-desk of the day:
totally - Red Vines
and be done for the day.
Tschuß
Saturday, August 27, 2005
What a Day(s)/Daze
After a nice last day of band camping and Barbe-que-ing I went with Aaron and Lena to Cory's block party. (Not bloc party - it's not the 80's, umkay?) So that was grand fun.
Wilst there I got the chance to scope out M13 and M57 as well as send 60,000 volts through my fingertip. Videos to follow. After all that jazz and Cory's mom giving him a hard time I tried (unsuccessfully) to get some sleep-time down in the Jensen basement. [Happy Birthday, by the way, Mr. SuperCory.] Then it was off to ride scooters and climb some mountain.
I had never hiked the back of Mt. Timpanogos before and it was quite the experience. There were tons of people getting in one last hike before school started. The 1/2-moon provided enough light that we didn't even need our flashlights most of the time. There were so many people hiking that you could clearly see where the trail went by all the twinkling flashlights of hikers who were already partway up the mountain. It looked like someone left a string of Christmas lights draped crazily all over the mountain. Very cool stuff. Sadly, due to a lack of sufficient traction on the soles of our shoes and more snow this past year than there usually is, the second glacier we encountered persuaded us to turn back before we reached the peak. That was ok since I hadn't been able to get a good few hours of nap before the hike and since I had to get back to WSU for today's fun of Lab Aide retreat/training. We started a bit later than planned as well (ca. 2:30 AM instead of 1:30). It was definitely one of the coolest hikes I've been on ever ever. There were thrills, spills and chills. And quills. Yeah. Alyssa's brother tapped a porcupine with his shoe and came away with a souvenir spike in his sole. No, he didn't harm the critter - just a tap to get the barbed pin. I'll post pictures on my photoblog when I'm good and ready.
The training was great. I almost fell asleep most of the time, but there was still some great information. The guest speaker was excellent, informative, and hilarious. And it turns out I've been assigned to train one of the new lab aides this semester. Joy.
And speaking of work, next week should be fun trying to help out professors who waited till the last minute to do work on their online courses or who are experiencing or will experience woes of various kinds when Banner, the Student Portal, and Vista all get thrown in a burlap sack and shaken up real good for Monday.
I've also offered my services as a sort of internship to the web design venture being made by a couple of my co-workers. I'm way excited to see how the next generation of Macromedia Flash will affect the Web. Here's to SVG and CSS.
Okay, so now I have to go get some sleep before I die a lot. Long day. Tired me.
Wilst there I got the chance to scope out M13 and M57 as well as send 60,000 volts through my fingertip. Videos to follow. After all that jazz and Cory's mom giving him a hard time I tried (unsuccessfully) to get some sleep-time down in the Jensen basement. [Happy Birthday, by the way, Mr. SuperCory.] Then it was off to ride scooters and climb some mountain.
I had never hiked the back of Mt. Timpanogos before and it was quite the experience. There were tons of people getting in one last hike before school started. The 1/2-moon provided enough light that we didn't even need our flashlights most of the time. There were so many people hiking that you could clearly see where the trail went by all the twinkling flashlights of hikers who were already partway up the mountain. It looked like someone left a string of Christmas lights draped crazily all over the mountain. Very cool stuff. Sadly, due to a lack of sufficient traction on the soles of our shoes and more snow this past year than there usually is, the second glacier we encountered persuaded us to turn back before we reached the peak. That was ok since I hadn't been able to get a good few hours of nap before the hike and since I had to get back to WSU for today's fun of Lab Aide retreat/training. We started a bit later than planned as well (ca. 2:30 AM instead of 1:30). It was definitely one of the coolest hikes I've been on ever ever. There were thrills, spills and chills. And quills. Yeah. Alyssa's brother tapped a porcupine with his shoe and came away with a souvenir spike in his sole. No, he didn't harm the critter - just a tap to get the barbed pin. I'll post pictures on my photoblog when I'm good and ready.
The training was great. I almost fell asleep most of the time, but there was still some great information. The guest speaker was excellent, informative, and hilarious. And it turns out I've been assigned to train one of the new lab aides this semester. Joy.
And speaking of work, next week should be fun trying to help out professors who waited till the last minute to do work on their online courses or who are experiencing or will experience woes of various kinds when Banner, the Student Portal, and Vista all get thrown in a burlap sack and shaken up real good for Monday.
I've also offered my services as a sort of internship to the web design venture being made by a couple of my co-workers. I'm way excited to see how the next generation of Macromedia Flash will affect the Web. Here's to SVG and CSS.
Okay, so now I have to go get some sleep before I die a lot. Long day. Tired me.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Away to the Window
...I flew in a flash
Tore open the shutters
And threw up my hash.
If anyone wonders where I get my sense of humor from I would have to tell them it is in part due to the influence of my uncles. They were the ones that taught me fractured classics such as the variation on the beloved Christmas poem of which the above is an excerpt. May they rest in peace. And since they're still alive, may they also wake up and go to work when their alarm clocks ring.
It's amazing what you can accomplish if you're not afraid of having your arms glued together. I finally got around to using a certain can of spray adhesive for the purpose for which it was purchased, namely, to fix our air hockey table. And speaking of retro gaming, I bought a Sega Genesis at the DI the other day. For $12 bucks. Worth every cent.
Recent projects at my place of employment have included creating a simplified version of the WebCT Vista browser tune-up which will be accessable from vista.weber.edu as well as being on this year's free campus technology CD that will be distributed in the student computer labs and mailed to faculty. I've also been tackling turning the WebCT instructor Helpful Hints into .swf movies using Macromedia's Captivate. I couldn't resist and included subtle references to various entertaining things, including the Muppets, WBHR, SpongeBob, and Jarrett. Aaron and I were also working yesterday on some database stuff for the Education department for their accreditator mandate compliance. Or something like that. And the nice thing is that when you help faculty out they sometimes give you food (like the peanut butter bars Aaron and I scored). And finally, I finished, at long last, the Package Tracking System update for campus Shipping & Receiving. Too bad they won't be using it for very long due to a near-future switch to a new hardware and software package. Oh, well. Good experience for me.
I've been thinking and my conclusion is this: as far as my career goes I need to start putting together a portfolio of examples of my mad computer skillz and a resume documenting the work I've done.
Well, now it's time for to hit the.... Hey!!! what a great idea! I'm going to sleep.
Peace
Tore open the shutters
And threw up my hash.
If anyone wonders where I get my sense of humor from I would have to tell them it is in part due to the influence of my uncles. They were the ones that taught me fractured classics such as the variation on the beloved Christmas poem of which the above is an excerpt. May they rest in peace. And since they're still alive, may they also wake up and go to work when their alarm clocks ring.
It's amazing what you can accomplish if you're not afraid of having your arms glued together. I finally got around to using a certain can of spray adhesive for the purpose for which it was purchased, namely, to fix our air hockey table. And speaking of retro gaming, I bought a Sega Genesis at the DI the other day. For $12 bucks. Worth every cent.
Recent projects at my place of employment have included creating a simplified version of the WebCT Vista browser tune-up which will be accessable from vista.weber.edu as well as being on this year's free campus technology CD that will be distributed in the student computer labs and mailed to faculty. I've also been tackling turning the WebCT instructor Helpful Hints into .swf movies using Macromedia's Captivate. I couldn't resist and included subtle references to various entertaining things, including the Muppets, WBHR, SpongeBob, and Jarrett. Aaron and I were also working yesterday on some database stuff for the Education department for their accreditator mandate compliance. Or something like that. And the nice thing is that when you help faculty out they sometimes give you food (like the peanut butter bars Aaron and I scored). And finally, I finished, at long last, the Package Tracking System update for campus Shipping & Receiving. Too bad they won't be using it for very long due to a near-future switch to a new hardware and software package. Oh, well. Good experience for me.
I've been thinking and my conclusion is this: as far as my career goes I need to start putting together a portfolio of examples of my mad computer skillz and a resume documenting the work I've done.
Well, now it's time for to hit the.... Hey!!! what a great idea! I'm going to sleep.
Peace
Friday, August 12, 2005
Someone in this town
Is trying to burn the playhouse down.
I just have to say that the smell of sunscreen is one of my very favorite things in the whole world. Usually I'm not outside long enough to need it. When I am out that long it's usually because I'm doing something fun. So I like the smell and feel of sunscreen because it's associated with fun in the sun.
Like today - my sister Beth and I went to Lagoon. I love the Rocket (Re-entry). The Bat was as uneventful as I'd heard (fairly slow, mostly horizontal, rather short). The Cliffhanger was closed. But I decided I really dig the Spider and Screamer. I also liked the boat ride that I can't remember the name of. Anyway, I think I'll have to go back before the season ends. I guess I'm just in love with rides.
My dad entered some of his blueberries in the county fair and took two ribbons: First Place and Best of Show. We're trying to talk him into entering them in the State Fair if there are still any left when that rolls around.
I met a nice girl at TNT last week. What a great idea TNT is. For those of you who don't know about TNT I am bound to extend a warm invitation to come experience it for yourself. That's the only way you'll find out what it is, because the first rule of TNT is that you can't tell anybody what it's about. If you want to come experience it, bring $0.25 to the bell tower at 9:30 on any given Tuesday night. It's a blast. If you're unsure of what to expect, don't worry. It's just a whole lot of fun. I didn't know what it would be like the first time I went, but I liked it enough that I go every Tuesday now (with the exception of two weeks ago when the sky was trying to kill everyone).
Well, school is flying headlong towards us. And as the hour is growing late, I think I shall retire. Aside from wearing sunscreen while wearing myself out running from ride to ride all day, I like the part where you're all sore at the end of the day and you're laying there in bed so tired you can't even go right to sleep and you just lay there and enjoy being tired and sore. Maybe I'm weird, but I like the feeling of being sore after a hike or a long day working in the yard or playing outside.
Yeah. So, about that retiring...
Zzz
I just have to say that the smell of sunscreen is one of my very favorite things in the whole world. Usually I'm not outside long enough to need it. When I am out that long it's usually because I'm doing something fun. So I like the smell and feel of sunscreen because it's associated with fun in the sun.
Like today - my sister Beth and I went to Lagoon. I love the Rocket (Re-entry). The Bat was as uneventful as I'd heard (fairly slow, mostly horizontal, rather short). The Cliffhanger was closed. But I decided I really dig the Spider and Screamer. I also liked the boat ride that I can't remember the name of. Anyway, I think I'll have to go back before the season ends. I guess I'm just in love with rides.
My dad entered some of his blueberries in the county fair and took two ribbons: First Place and Best of Show. We're trying to talk him into entering them in the State Fair if there are still any left when that rolls around.
I met a nice girl at TNT last week. What a great idea TNT is. For those of you who don't know about TNT I am bound to extend a warm invitation to come experience it for yourself. That's the only way you'll find out what it is, because the first rule of TNT is that you can't tell anybody what it's about. If you want to come experience it, bring $0.25 to the bell tower at 9:30 on any given Tuesday night. It's a blast. If you're unsure of what to expect, don't worry. It's just a whole lot of fun. I didn't know what it would be like the first time I went, but I liked it enough that I go every Tuesday now (with the exception of two weeks ago when the sky was trying to kill everyone).
Well, school is flying headlong towards us. And as the hour is growing late, I think I shall retire. Aside from wearing sunscreen while wearing myself out running from ride to ride all day, I like the part where you're all sore at the end of the day and you're laying there in bed so tired you can't even go right to sleep and you just lay there and enjoy being tired and sore. Maybe I'm weird, but I like the feeling of being sore after a hike or a long day working in the yard or playing outside.
Yeah. So, about that retiring...
Zzz
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
The Place of Charles, the Gaul
Quite the view. Been, have you Ben here?
Monday, August 08, 2005
Sunflower
I'm eating Jello. Mmm.
Today I saw young Mr. Root. Some dude tried to take his car so he locked him out. I gave him a ride to the Root Residence. Nice pad. First time I'd been there. I was afraid the hill was so steep my car might not make it. But it did. Then I had lunch at the University Broiler and Grill. Great place to eat.
Last saturday I got to drive with the Kinneys through Park City for the first time in since I can remember. What a cool little town. Reminds me of Europe all rolled into one. And the Sound of Music. That too. Great concert also. The soloist wasn't astounding but wasn't bad either.
I'm currently signed up to be an extra in WB's Everwood. Should be fun.
I was going to do a podcast about my life, but then I realized that podcasting is a medium that is best suited to content that people are actually interested in. As opposed to, say, a blog.... like this. Yeah. I'll keep my boringness confined to my blog.
Only a couple more weeks till school starts. Yay. I'm so partially excited.
Today I saw young Mr. Root. Some dude tried to take his car so he locked him out. I gave him a ride to the Root Residence. Nice pad. First time I'd been there. I was afraid the hill was so steep my car might not make it. But it did. Then I had lunch at the University Broiler and Grill. Great place to eat.
Last saturday I got to drive with the Kinneys through Park City for the first time in since I can remember. What a cool little town. Reminds me of Europe all rolled into one. And the Sound of Music. That too. Great concert also. The soloist wasn't astounding but wasn't bad either.
I'm currently signed up to be an extra in WB's Everwood. Should be fun.
I was going to do a podcast about my life, but then I realized that podcasting is a medium that is best suited to content that people are actually interested in. As opposed to, say, a blog.... like this. Yeah. I'll keep my boringness confined to my blog.
Only a couple more weeks till school starts. Yay. I'm so partially excited.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
My better judgement
Says to not go there.
But.........
Well, that's ok. I'm good.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. (Sorry, Lena was just reading over my shoulder.)
Today at work Aaron's monitor totally committed hari-kari. It had it up to here and couldn't take it any longer. It jumped. But it failed and is now only damaged, not dead.
I started reading HP6. So far I like it much better than 5.
Which reminds me... gotta run and do something important.
Laters
But.........
Well, that's ok. I'm good.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. (Sorry, Lena was just reading over my shoulder.)
Today at work Aaron's monitor totally committed hari-kari. It had it up to here and couldn't take it any longer. It jumped. But it failed and is now only damaged, not dead.
I started reading HP6. So far I like it much better than 5.
Which reminds me... gotta run and do something important.
Laters
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Success
Faint hope seems so much better than sure failure.
Ok, so I finally got firefox working again on my work machine. I was reinstalling so that I could get the developer tools, and somehow my user profile files ended up in the bit bucket and the new install would not execute. It didn't even give me an error message. It just did nothing at all.
So I renamed the Mozilla folder in my Application Data folder and reinstalled and... hey-presto. It works like a charm. Unfortunately the Extension Room was down all afternoon so I couldn't install some of my favorite extensions, like BookmarksHome. But I did get some from the Mozilla addons site.
Check out:
Mood Tap
Web Developer
View formatted source
View Rendered Source
ColorZilla
mozImage
and, of course
Adblock
I still need that list to import for Adblock though from the post on the ext rm.
Lotsa rain on my person today. Edvalson was like a maze of rivulets through which I swam in my automobile. And then there was this lightning when I was in Lampros that sounded like someone dropped a huge boulder on the roof right over my head. So loud. It was magical. Actually that magical part is just an inside joke having to do with system sounds here at my place of "employment."
And - saving the best for last - my sister had a bouncing baby boy this morning. What a trooper. Give it up for the women who put it all on the line to bring us all here. I doubt much else in this world is as great as what they do.
Laters, all.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Without question
the highlight of my summer.
3 days/ 2 nights with friends away from school and work playing in the out-of-doors, making s'mores, playing board games, having barbe-ques (yeah, there was a line for the food), karaoke, stories of the highly entertaining type, sunscreen, music, fireside, cabins, balancing acts, volleyball of two types, football in the river, jumping off of bridges, walking on burning pavement, centripital force pulling one guy from the rope swing and nearly doing the same to several others including me, a frisbee ninja who tried several times to kill me, and much more.
I just love trips.
game of the trip: Munchkin (you really have to try this one)
event of the trip: first time swimming in about 6 years
post of the voyage: helmsman
level markers of the gaming: SweetTarts
I spent the weekend of the week last at Sunrise Ranch Resort on the Snake River with about 150-200 other peoples about my age just having the time of my life. We took a couple ginormous canoes that held about 25 people each on a 3 hour tour, stopping at an inlet 1/2 way through for water-type games. There was more candy there than was probably legal in Idaho, even considering the per-person amount if we claimed it was owned equally by all present. Water slide - volleyball and badmitton nets - log roll - rope swing - A/C chilled cabins - human Gus stereo system - foosball - ping and/or pong - b-ball court... great fun. Our camp host was a big awesome jolly guy. And, of course, lotsa cute girls to meet and hang out with. And to say that Dave hitting on them mercilessly was highly entertaining is a gross understatement. Gotta love that guy.
Okay, so now I really do need to go do my homework so that I can get done the other stuff that needs to be done.
Q: What gear do army cows wear?
A: Cow-moo-flage.
Yes, some of the candy was Laffy Taffy.
3 days/ 2 nights with friends away from school and work playing in the out-of-doors, making s'mores, playing board games, having barbe-ques (yeah, there was a line for the food), karaoke, stories of the highly entertaining type, sunscreen, music, fireside, cabins, balancing acts, volleyball of two types, football in the river, jumping off of bridges, walking on burning pavement, centripital force pulling one guy from the rope swing and nearly doing the same to several others including me, a frisbee ninja who tried several times to kill me, and much more.
I just love trips.
game of the trip: Munchkin (you really have to try this one)
event of the trip: first time swimming in about 6 years
post of the voyage: helmsman
level markers of the gaming: SweetTarts
I spent the weekend of the week last at Sunrise Ranch Resort on the Snake River with about 150-200 other peoples about my age just having the time of my life. We took a couple ginormous canoes that held about 25 people each on a 3 hour tour, stopping at an inlet 1/2 way through for water-type games. There was more candy there than was probably legal in Idaho, even considering the per-person amount if we claimed it was owned equally by all present. Water slide - volleyball and badmitton nets - log roll - rope swing - A/C chilled cabins - human Gus stereo system - foosball - ping and/or pong - b-ball court... great fun. Our camp host was a big awesome jolly guy. And, of course, lotsa cute girls to meet and hang out with. And to say that Dave hitting on them mercilessly was highly entertaining is a gross understatement. Gotta love that guy.
Okay, so now I really do need to go do my homework so that I can get done the other stuff that needs to be done.
Q: What gear do army cows wear?
A: Cow-moo-flage.
Yes, some of the candy was Laffy Taffy.
