October 2003 Archives
The sun is hot. Very hot. Like super hot. And now, its trying to attack the Earth! You may, or may not, know that the sun has been acting up these days. Its now shot off two different plumbs of hot plasma at us, due to some really cool and super big solar flares. In theory its going to cause lots of electrical and communications problems all over the world. A while back, a giant flare killed power through a large chunk of Canada. If I was a crazy person, I'd be more worried about this causeing a global doomsday problem than Y2K ever was. Oh well, at worst we could all end up in a wet, watery world. Quite frankly, I'm more worried about Jared, because this is the kind of event he lusts over. He's a sick sick man.
Seeing how Halloween is today we need to look back and remember the greatest Halloween trick, ever. That darn silly Orsen Wells and his famous radio drama, War of the Worlds. I ran across the original broadcast of the show on Thursday, and I'm currently downloading it for my trip to Madison. Check out this site, because not only does it have War of the Worlds, but a lot of other radio drams done by Wells and his buddies. Few people know this, but I listened to a lot of old radio dramas a lot as a child. What evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! Muh ha ha ha ha!
Also in random cool news. Virginia Tech has built the number 3 Super Computer in the world, out of 1,100 G5 Powermacs! They're trying to inch their way to number 2 by tweaking the system. Buts its a rather cool thing, because the cost ratio to performance makes it the cheapest supercomputer to date! Personally, I wish they'd send one or two of those G5s my way. I guess I'll have to wait. Actually, because I'm seriously thinking of traveling overseas I've been thinking about getting a laptop over the summer to replace my G4 Powermac. That and I've been having laptop lust over Zach's 12in Powerbook. Its so sexy, and cool, and wireless. The only problem would be the money, but thank goodness Apple laptops have such a great resale value, which has been my problem in trying to find a used laptop to supplement my desktop.
So I leave for Madison today. Fun fun fun. I've got to get a costume in order soon. I'm sure I'll find something. Last I heard Dale was trying to fit into his father's old leisure suit. Now that should be fun. Whats not fun is trying to find a CGI script to give me tracking info over the SeeNoEvil webpages, or hell, even add a counter and voting ability to the pages. I'm sure Dale will help me if I ask. Randomly room-mate John Jaquet moved out today, without telling us. No big loss, the rest of us have been talking about asking him to leave for a while now. Sigh.... I guess we now need to find another roomie.
Oh, and if anyone is wondering, I started writing this blog at midnight, and I got sidetracked for almost five hours. I so need some sleep. If I have time, and a computer, I'll try and post from Madison. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I get back.
Yes, the weather here sucks. Not only is it cold, but its slightly raining/snowing, and as always, theres lots of wind. I wish winter would come so I could finally transition into my 'Winter' mode. You know, get some snow on the ground, everyone would be in their coats, and all bundled up.
The caf served curry today! Man do I love Indian food, and I so wish there was someplace close that I could go for some nice Indian food now and than. I (and my roomies) need a bit more variety in our lives and our food intake.
Last night, against my better judgment, a bunch of people watched the movie Kung-Pow: Enter the Fist. This movie is so bad, its good. Its a farce on ever kung-fu movie ever made, and most of it is a re-dubbed movie thats been digitally re-edited to include new people and silly happenings. So weird, but so good. From what I've seen it appears as if they're making a second film. What a world what a world.
I spent a good chunk of time tonight make up some of the subpages and templates for the GACMug webpage and also a 'How to Post' page for the Gamers webpage. Blah, I also put together the first GACMug mailing list the other night, and even set out a couple of e-mails. i've gotten some good responses so far. Hopefully we can add more people as word spreads.
John, Jared, and I are all thinking of spending first semester overseas next year. I don't' know where we might go. I'd love to go to Japan, but Europe would be really cool also. If only I could make up my mind.
So anyhow this week has been rather dull so far. I mean, I've just been doing homework, Orchestra work, and well... webpage work. What webpage work you ask? Well, I've got the GACMug page working now. Nothings really up, but its working none the less. I also made a GACMug mailing list for campus. So far I have 51 Mac users down on the list. So far.
I'm thinking of going to Madison this weekend for Halloween. Dale Emmons invited me so i could use my newfound Drinking Powers. That and it'll be rather fun. I can't say I've ever really 'partied down' ever, but I'm willing to give it a chance. This also means I'll be needing to get all my homework and papers done ahead of time. Arg, the pain of college.
Heres a really funny link someone sent me tonight. If only it was true. I'll hopefully post something interesting soon.
Lets see... my crazy weekend. Saturday I spent configuring 10.3 (and trying to figure our iChat's weird campus related problem). I went to the Orchestra Pumpkin Carving Bash and made myself a super cool pumpkin! So did lots of other people. It was fun, but I was a bit worried being around Zach when he had lots of knives. Lots of sharp knives. Oh, when you look at Zach's cool violin pumpkin, know that it was my super cool design abilities that came up with the idea.
Jared and I went to see The Laramie Project later that night. By the end of the second act everyone in the theater was crying there eyes out. Sara Given played the cello, she was the only music in the entire play. She did a great job (which is what we expected all along).
Sunday Katie Groves and I went into Saint Peter to see the movie Radio, which was really good. Kudos to the parents for recommending it. What I really wanted to see this weekend was Lost in Translation, with Bill Murry, but sadly we would have had to drive into the cities to see it. Too much work for a movie at this point. Maybe it'll be around when i take a trip home some time.
Right, I'm still trying to get all the 'quarks' worked out of Panther. Yeah, and reinstall all my programs. I really need to get the whole GACMug back up and running on campus. I'm sure they'll be a lot of 10.3 questions, and people will probably come to me.
Oh well back to the homework. Love the homework. Love it indeed.
So Zach, Justin, and I went up to the cities to get our hands on a copy of Panther (a.k.a. OS 10.3). So we first went to the Apple Store in the Mall of America, but it was 'Closed for Renovation.' Okkkkk... So we drove on over to the Southdale Mall (which also has an Apple Store) and sat in line for an hour. The line had to be around 200 people long, and there were Apple Store employees running around being all funky. It was really kind of sad, Zach was sitting down, along with about five or six other guys holding laptops. It was a line of technology. We eventually got in and bought our copy of 10.3. Zach was going to buy an iTrip and a Microphone for his iPod, but they didn't have any at the store. So we had to just get our software. We had hoped to get free t-shirts at the Big Release, but we only got Apple Dog Tags instead. I guess we are a cult now.
On the drive back to Saint Peter, Zach installed 10.3 on his powerbook (thanks to a car adaptor he borrowed from Emma). Man is it sweet, so many cool new features and improvements to the OS. I'm still trying to find all of them out. So I than spent the rest of the night doing a clean install of my system and its programs. I figured it was about time because of all the screwing around I do. The only downside to 10.3 so far is that iChat doesn't work on campus now. It works for other people, just not those of us on campus. Sigh.....
I don't know how I ended up staying awake so late tonight, but I did. I would post the pictures I took at the Apple Store, but they turned out really badly. A mall is not too conducive to digital cameras. Oh well. At least we have our health and our new OS.
Yes, my day was extremely dull. I worked my buns off. Worked that the Library, worked on the Gamer Webpage. At least I've gotten a bunch of stuff done. I look forward to Friday, fun at the Apple Store! Boo yeah, 10.3 here we come! I'll be sure to post pictures of the fun we had once I get back, and install 10.3!
Maybe if I'm nice, I'll post something while I'm at the event!
So Sam and Monica threw a great cocktail party tonight. It was superfly! Fun company, good jokes, good conversation, and a interesting round of pictionary! I also learned that Sam has become quite the good bartender. Who would have thought! Kudos to Monica for decking out the room and making such cute invitations. She was truly in her element tonight. Note Monica's classy little... crown (tiara?). It was kinda cute. I think she was in princess mode.
What else did I do today... ummm... nothing. But I did put the pictures of the cocktail party up on the page, at 2:30 in the morning. In news, Apple did come out with new G4 iBooks, and we all await the release of 10.3. Talk about your fun filled night. A software release party. Man, its what college is all about!
So my 21st Birthday turned out to be a bit of fun after all. After orchestra Dave McRoberts took me out to Patrick's for a drink. Thanks Dave! Wow, the fun I had. It probably would have been more fun if I hadn't come home smelling of smoke. Now I need to wash my pants. Oh well, I should do my homework now.... I mean... I should go to bed. Right....
Oh, my parents apparently sent out an e-mail to the entire orchestra, in which they told everyone about my old Teddy Bear named Kirby. They have a very strange sense of humor. Very strange.
Yes, I am now 21, and have just ended my "power hour." This included me sitting in my section reading and talking. Wow, what an exciting birthday. What will I do tonight for my B-Day? Nothing! Wow, seriously, someone come help me get some birthday excitement.
The only thing better would be Kate making fun of me all night long.... oh wait. That IS what happened. Sigh.... oh well, I should just go to bed anyhow before someone makes fun of my spelling again.
UPDATE: Kate just hit me with the longest list of cruel accusations and attacks on my character I've felt yet this year. Thanks Kate. Way to get my birthday off to a great start.
So I changed the colors of links and stuff on the blog. They should now be much easier to see on any computer. For some reason the colors would appear extremely weird on some computers, and perfectly fine on others. Everyone should be good now.
The drive back to GAC was uneventful. Extremely uneventful. Back at GAC John and I engaged in a few fun games of Total Annihilation, and than I helped him set up his blog. If you're reading this, go comment on his page and tell him to actually post something. Jared on the other hand has been working like a dog on his blog and its looking quite nice. Way to go Lee!
I'm currently working on getting SeeNoEvil.org and its sub-pages working. i'll do that tomorrow. Should be interesting.
Only one day till I turn 21, and only 5 days till 10.3 comes out. The fun we'll have.
Day three in Sioux Falls:
John and I got haircuts today. We're looking so stylin now. It amazing what they can do with hair these days. Sadly my parents still insist that I stick gel in my hair. I don't know why, but every time I see them they say "Josh, why don't you put gel in your hair, the girls would like it." I mean, I get phone calls from beauty salons trying to get me to but gel, e-mails from gel distributers, and the worst, free samples in the mail. Life sucks.
So the hocky game was extreamly cool. The Sioux Falls Stampede managed to beat the evil Des Moines Bucaneers 4 to 2, in their first win of the season. Who the heck calls their team the Bucaneers anyhow? Its like a crap pirate, or someone who failed out of pirate school because he couldn't say "Arrrrrr" well enough. Oddly enough I saw David lundy and Chris O at the game. They made the effort to come say hello, but yet they lacked the effort to return my calls this summer. Not that I'm bitter or anything, I just find it weird.
After the game John and I paid a visit to Sam Burish, computer man. Long story short, we mannaged to cause Sam a lot of trouble through the relitivly simple task or ripping my new CDs and sticking them on my iPod. Poor poor Sam.
Speaking of my new Cds, my parents were cool enough to actually get me gifts this year! Some wonderful CCR Cds, Moody Blues, and some Family Guy. We needed the Family Guy because we watched Requiem for a Dream. Its so good, but sooooooo depressing. We should have listened to Sara and had some tissues with us. Man, I so need an upper right now. Or to just go to bed. Probably both.
So I'm posting from the great state of South Dakota. Yes, I have traveled home to be with my own people. I mean, South Dakota is so fun, I mean, look at all we can do. So much... stuff. Right. (Good lord this state is flat!)
So I brought Purdham home with me, which is all good and stuff. I needed someone here to celebrate my birthday with me, besides the parents. The big 21 and all. Right. Whoo hoo.
So Purdham and I crused around the town today, bought some movies, read some books, did some sight seeing. John bought the movie Evolution, which we just got done watching. Man, it may be rather silly, but is it funny. We also saw Kill Bill tonight with my father. He enjoyed it, but he (and us) really wish to see the second half of the film! Damn you for keeping it from us. Kahn!!!!
We're headig to a hocky game tomorrow night, in celebration of the b-day. Little did I know Purdham was a hocky man himself Appearently he has kept his sports riddled past hidden from us, his friends. I feel so hurt by this. I could cry.
PC USERS TAKE NOTE: iTunes for Windows came out on Thursday, and its a killer app. I've been a longtime Mac user of iTunes and so as soon as it was available to download, I went to Jared's room and installed it on his PC. He put up little resistance. Quick and easy install, draged his music library into the iTunes window, and ka-zam! He was using iTunes. No longer will he be riddled with the problem of using three separate programs for his audio needs, now he has one. About time. Seriously, if you're a PC user, and you have mp3s, get iTunes. Its quick, its simple, and its free. Rips, burn, mix. You can also buy songs from Apple's online music store for only $1 a song, if you so choose. I would do that, if I ever bought songs. Hmmm.... Do you hear that, no... its the RIAA ... run John, run!!
End of line.
In the spirit of the Californian Recall Election I've decided to do a recall of my own. Vote to change this blog! Or I should say, to change how it looks. Yes, I know. I'm so indecisive, as always. But I figure I should get some input from those who actually read this damn thing(if there are any out there). So put something in the comments and vote to see if my blog should change its looks, or even if you'd like a certain something to change. Seriously.
So Zach has actually got his template working, after many long hours (not really). It looks nice, but kind of plain. He needs a nice big graphics of his face or something in the background. Maybe we should recall his blog also. Take a look. If you've not looked at Jared's blog you should. Its so... plain. More so than Zach's.
So Ben is a big video game fanatic. To prove this he has a whole bunch of soundtracks from video games. Lots. Like his entire mp3 collection is Weird Al and video game music. Anyhow I'm slightly addicted to his collection of Zelda music. Its so catchy, and it brings back found memories childhood. Its going to annoy the people who I'm giving a ride home tomorrow, because thats the only music I'm going to play.
Speaking of old video games, nothing says geek more than some classic video game t-shirts. I love the internet (thanks Al Gore) if only for the large number of cool t-shirts you can get. Some of these shirts are extremely funny. Wow, these would make GREAT birthday gifts if anyone wished to get something for me at the last minute. Really.
So you know that you're the nerdiest table at the cafeteria when the entire dinner conversation revolves around Star Trek episodes. You'd be surprised by the closeted Trekies we know. Certain tall skinny cellist for one. You know who I mean.
Before I leave you all, I thought I'd leave you with this cool set of Classic Chinese Propaganda Posters. Nothing says Workers Rights like a large picture of Mao on your desktop. Lord knows I love the Chairman. (Please don't take me away)
So yeah, only two more days till fall break. I can't wait to go back to South Dakota. No really. Birthday party and all. Anyhow I'm very sleep and should go to bed, but I figured I'd post this cool link. This is a good reason why NOT to break into the home of a martial arts expert, and threaten him with knives.
Hope to post something more interesting, when I find something more interesting to post. The fun.
P.S. Only 10 more days till OS 10.3! Whoo hoo.
So I have a lot of homework to do this week. Even though its only a 3 day week for me. I should have read those books beforehand. Oh well.
My parents came down for the Parents Week concert. Short, simple. I took a few photos, but I lack the effort to actually put them up. That an the photos I apparently left out of my collection, which has insulted so many. Some people.
Anyhow I'm heading home Thursday for Fall Break, and also to celebrate my birthday (which is actually on the 21st). I'm taking John back with me, for kicks. Man, South Dakota is kind of dull in general. I'm just thinking that John and I can watch some serious anime during this time.
Speaking of John, he called me to come outside and see the moon just a bit ago. It was extremely neat. It was a clear sky, and a full moon, with a big halo around it. I wish I could have gotten a photo of it, but it proved too tough to actually take one.
Blah, I should get back to my reading. I have a few hundred more pages to go tonight.
So Jared, Justin Payne, Lili Payne, and myself went to see Kill Bill. Wow. Thats all I can say. It was awesome. The action was great, in a way that reminded me of anime style sword fights. Uma Thurman fighting with a sword... in a way I can only describe as jaw dropping. This film screamed Quentin Tarantino. The directing and non-linear plot, let alone the crazy fighting style, and the great wordplay. I've so got to take my father to this film over fall break, I'm sure he would enjoy it. That and I'm taking Purdham with me also. Only 4 months till the second half of the film comes out (thank goodness I don't have to wait a year). Only four months, I can't wait that long.
Speaking of waiting. OS 10.3 comes out on the 24th. We plan to drive up and see what happens at the Apple Store in the cities. Apple always puts on a good show when it releases a new product.
This is parents weekend on campus. My parents should be here by noon tomorrow to see the concert and maybe take me out to dinner. I can always use a good meal. A meal thats not from the caf.
I've put all my photos online. It took me all afternoon, but I managed to move over my old photos and put some new ones up. I'll try and be more regular with my photos in the future. I always have people asking me for photos, and this page makes it real simple for everyone to have access. I should get the other parts of my site up later this week. When I have some time. I've got a LOT of work to do in all my classes. Lots and lots of reading. We're talking lots.
Hey look at this, I changed the look of my blog! Thanks to some wonderful people at BlogSkins.com I was able to find this template, for free. Ben also helped me out with some stuff, apparently he has been hiding his super-html skills from us the entire time. Lets hope he uses these powers for the good of all mankind, and not for evil!
Lili Payne has been working on a really nice look for the main page of SeeNoEvil, and I anxiously await her finishing it. Well, I must also keep in mind that I'll also have to make a template by hand with the images she gives us. That'll suck. Anyone out there know html? Anyone? I can pay you in sprite. Seriously.
So with the main page done and a blank template made, I can start making sub-pages. I've also got a lot of photos from this summer to label and export, so that'll be the project this weekend. Hopefully the hard work is done. I'd love to hear any comments you have on how the site looks. Zach is also getting into the spirit and attempting to steal... I mean... apply a template to his blog. Now if only we could get John to actually do ANYTHING with his.
So these Japanese Beatles are swarming campus. The look a lot like ladybugs, except they bite, a lot. Its probably bad right now because of our extreme weather we've been having. Its was hovering around 40 all last week (and so people made fun of me for having shorts and a t-shirt on!) but now its been between 70 and 80 all week. So weird. Lets hope that it doesn't snow for a while, I do love the warm weather. I'd rather be putting on shorts until January than have to bundle up every day. Its so annoying, and so drab. Maybe we should make a Snowman, or a snow Mario. That would be cool.
This week is Coming Out Week at Gustavus. Its a rather interesting time, that usually coincides with Parents weekend. Anyhow it usually includes lots of chalk writings on the sidewalks and some interesting movies. Lindsay Fox talked me into watching one tonight, which was rather interesting. But I'm a Cheerleader is an extremely funny movie about a girl who is sent away to camp to be 'reoriented'. Too bad more people didn't show up, because we were all laughing up a storm. That or it could have been the lemonade they served.... hmmm.... we may never know.
I'm still working on putting photos and updating this page. I'll get around to making or applying a better template to my webpage this weekend. Than the next task is to put my photos up, which is a giant task in itself, because I have so many photos that need to me commented on and to be made into webpages. I'll make it a priority this weekend, because having a blog is so convenient and fun to do. If anyone noticed, my old webpage is gone, and if you try to go there, you get redirected here. Crazy me. Now if only I could get my roomies to USE their blogs, all would be well indeed.
So we had our concert last night, that simply rocked. It was about an hour long, and was simply awesome. The string faculty played a wicked piano quintet while a large silk screen painting was being made behind them. Again, so cool. I took a bunch of photos, so I'll have to get them on later today after my library work time.
The Nobel Conference still goes on. If you wish to catch any of it, do so. They even have the old lectures on file to watch again, and again, and again....
After the concert John, Jared, and I spoke to our head resident, who is getting a decked out Powermac G5. Our plan is to kill him, and take the G5. You laugh, like we're joking.
I've got a lot of work to do on this site, and the other sites on this domain. I should be able to do this in the next week or so. The insanity.
This week is the fun-filled Nobel Conference! What is this? This is when Nobel Prize winners swoop down and give lectures on campus for two days! Most professors wish their students to visit the lectures (or in some cases they just cancel classes because no one would show up). I'll probably end up going to a couple of lectures tomorrow, I need to spend today working in the Library, getting files on the eres system, or Sandee will have my hide.
The other part of Nobel week is the fact that I'll have two concerts. One today, and one tomorrow. So I guess I'll be in a tux for a while. James Bond, I am not.
Just testing the web-posting ability of Moveabletype.
