February 2004 Archives

So I was up extremely late last night talking to Nate Kemp and Lisa about random things. Extremely random things. The conversation drifted back and forth for hours, and soon I realized that it was getting light outside, and that my prospie had to be up in about 3 hours. That didn't turn out too well, seeing how we both screwed up our alarms. Mine was set for 9:00 at night, while he slept through his watch alarm. It really didn't matter much, he actually didn't want to go to chapel this morning. We got brunch with his parents and off Tim went. Goodbye Tim, wherever you are!

So after talking with Nate and Lisa about many good thing, it reminded me of how much I dislike President George W Bush, and how much he's screwed up America, pissed off our allies, and lied to everyone. This then reminded me of a really cool book I had bought a while back, so I actually got around to doing what I should have done a while ago. The book is YOU Back the attack! WE'LL Bomb Who We Want: Remixed War Propaganda by Micah Ian Wright. What this book contains, is a whole bunch of WWII war posters that have been remixed to more.. modern themes. There were several that I wanted to stick on my door, and still several more that I wanted to give to my friends and to my boss at the library. So I went to Olin this afternoon and scanned them all in from my book, and then printed several off (in color). I thought I'd include some quotes the book had, along with several posters here. Yes, I know I am probably violating some copyright laws, but the author does say "Finally I hereby order you to break the spine of this book and photocopy these posters onto larger-sized pieces of paper, and then glue them all over your school, neighborhood, protest placard, SUV car windows, or any other convenient place where they might be seen by one of America's unenlightened majority and hopefully change some minds before G. W. Bu$h covers the world with new piles of rubble and corpses."

Quotes:
"Naturally, the common people don't want war... but, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship... Voice or no voice, the people can always be bought to the bidding of the leaders. that is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
- Herman Goering, at his Nuremburg trial, 1946

"When the clock of civilization can be turned back by burning libraries; by exiling scientists, artists, musicians, writers, and teachers; by disbursing universities, and by censoring news and literature and art, an added burden is placed on those countries where the courts of free thought and free liberties burn low in other lands they must be made brighter in our own."
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President... or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong... is not only unpatriotic and servile, but morally treasonable to the American public."
- President Theodore Roosevelt

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin

Speaking of silly things about homeland security my friend Sarah Callahan sent me a link to an extremely funny video, which explains once and for all why we have the color coded security alerts, and what they all mean. For this student, this explains so damn much about everything.

Lastly, I watched the last part of the oscars tonight, and was extremely disappointed. Lord of The Rings swept the Oscars, taking everything. Which sucked, because there were so many good movies to pick from. Actually, I wanted Bill Murray to win best actor, but he lost out to Sean Penn in his roll in Mystic River. I loved you Bill, you were so good in Lost In Translation... but even Lost in Translation could not overcome the power of the one true ring for Best Picture. I curse you Peter Jackson, I curse you and New Zealand!

So I kinda got up about 1:30 today. I swear I was going to try and do some video or photo editing for my China DVD Project, but I guess I needed some more sleep time after watching 21 Grams last night. Seriously, I so needed some down time after that movie. So depressing.

So Zach and are hosting two prospective students (prospies as we call them at GAC) because its Bjorling Music Scholarship auditions this weekend. Sigh... Tim and Chris are actually quite nice guys. Tim is a viola player! Chris is a guitar player, who likes Bruce Campbell and Bond (the music group, not the 007). Darn, I wish he could have been my prospie. Just kidding. They're both nice guys, and I managed to tag along to their free meal tonight. Once again, why Gustavus, why can't you serve that kind of nice meal for the students who GO HERE! Arg! But at least it was free. Speaking of free we also got free tickets to the Musical playing this weekend called 'Good News.' Sadly, and somewhat ironically, I have bad news about Good News. I didn't really like it. No, I mean, it was a good performance and funny, but I personally didn't care for it. Maybe I'm not that big of a musical fan in general, but I didn't care for it. At least it was free.

So we came back to the section and ended up watching what is probably one of my favorite movies ever. Rushmore. I can not state more the amount of love I have for this movie. Its so great! The humor is great, the directing is great, the acting is great, the writing is great. Everything! John hadn't seen it before, and he was laughing up a storm. Which is good, because it pulls him away from his gameboy. Curse you gameboy, you've stolen yet another roommate from me. Ooo... Idea. I think I'll go write a review of Rushmore, right now. Moving there. This second. Look at me go.

So I was going to get an article to read from from of my history professors, and happened to come across the History Board, which is usually quite dull and uninteresting, but today I was surprised! It turns out that a bunch of photos I'd sent in to someone at the department (I don't know who) made it on the board! Yeah! Go digital camera! The funny photo that I took of the four male history professors also made it up there.... along with a request directly from my advisor, Byron Nordstrom (not Nordstrum, as I spelled it wrong earlier), to do a bit of photo editing with it and Mount Rushmore... I don't know if I really want to inflate any more egos in the history department.

At lunch I came up with a rendition of 'The Devil came down to Georgia' that was 'Zach's Mom came down to Gustavus,' because she was visiting. But it didn't work too well. So instead I thought up 'Bill Gates came down to Georgia.' I know, I'm rather lame, but to my fellow geeks, this may be funny. I know, its super geeky but I just had to stick it on my page somewhere. Its a bit too long to stick on the blog area, so I just stuck it over in Rants. sadly, even Jared Lee found it funny. He's not as lame as he may appear.

So the weather outside has been kinda nice lately. Its been in the 40's around here, and the snow keeps melting left and right. This is both good and bad. The good side is that the snow will be gone. The bad thing is that we now have to navigate lakes of water everywhere on campus, and the try not to slip on ice at night, and try not to get in the large amounts of mud. Plus, several of the buildings here get really hot about this time of year because of over active heating. But on a lighter note the Magnolia tree in front of the library is once again budding! Which means it'll once again be the first plant on campus to get a flower on it. Last year it bloomed super early, so early in fact that the tree didn't even have leaves on it.

So tonight I spent some quality time relaxing. I don't know why, but I really needed to relax. I hung around the section after dinner, played a bit of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Academy on super hard mode and had a drink. I kinda wondered in and out of the section watching a bit of Oh Brother Where Art Thou? with Jared and his friend. I do enjoy that movie. The Cohen brothers write and direct a good movie. I eventually went to this week's campus movie, which left me greatly depressed for two reasons. The first is that before the movie they picked names out of a hat for a bunch of movie posters, and I ended up with the poster for Joe Dirt. If you've never heard of this movie, you're in luck. I don't even recall our campus having a showing of it. Anyhow, the movie that I saw was 21 Grams, and now I think I'm going to cry. It was an amazing movie with amazing acting from Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio Del Toro. They were all amazing in it, and the film was just... so sad. The movie itself ran in a nonlinear format, skipping around in the timeline of events. At first this was a bit confusing for me, but after a while I forgot all about it, and it actually made the story more compelling, and really helped me understand the characters and their situations. Seriously, this movie will probably make you cry, but its one of those movies thats just amazing to see. I'm still trying to work it over in my mind right now, and I'm having troubles with it. The characters were so real, I couldn't help but just be amazed by it all. I think I'll go spend some time now reflecting on the movie, maybe have some crackers.

Super cool news today, I just got a paid by the Music Industry! Thats right, they sent me money (for a change). This all came about due to the massive Price Fixing Lawsuit that the music industry lost last year, and as a consumer, if you filled out a few forms, you would get some money back (for all the money we lost due to price fixing). Sadly its only $13.48, and most all of that money is going to have to go to John. I always owe him small amounts of money.

So Jared was really worked up last night after he saw a showing of The Passion of the Christ. Luckily he didn't get hit by what is being called The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre. At least one person is now dead thanks to that movie, which many film critics agree should be rated NC-17 (this means don't take your children to this) due to its graphic brutality and imagery.

So it looks like the Japanese have invaded again. Well, just Microsoft's HQs in Tokyo. Looks like the Japanese don't like price fixing and anti-trust badness. We must remember what happened China. Sure they mocked the Japanese (they called them the 'dwarf pirates'), until one day the Japanese came down and took over all of eastern China. Yeah, thats right. Watch your back Microsoft, the dwarf pirates are on you!

So besides me not having class all day, I still managed to do work. No no no, not library work. Blog work. I first made a new blog for my good friend Sarah Laflin, and helped her set up a template. She's quite excited to move away from her old bloging system, and onto a new cooler one. Oh yeah. I also had to come to the rescue of Anna who had tried to change templates on her blog, and kinda messed a few things up. So now she has a new template and she's all ready to start posting again. So I guess its all about the blog, which is becoming ever more popular. If I get more people signing on I will probably buy a different domain to add to the list (and one for myself), but I guess it all depends on getting a new webserver, which is proving to be quite difficult. The above comic is from one of my favorite online comics, The Joy Of Tech, and kinda gives an insight into the world of Cats and Blogs. Click on the picture to see the full comic. (Don't sue me for putting it here!)

So right before I was abut to go to bed last night I happened to spy my old buddy Jessica Zeibarth on AIM, and oddly enough it showed that has was on a Mac! Well, I couldn't pass up a chance to say hello, so I did so via video chat! (So I guess the $150 I spent on that iSight webcam has now paid off) She was extremely surprised, and kinda shocked seeing and talking with me (she could see me and hear me, I could hear her). At least Texas hasn't totally corrupted her, like it has so many of our young people.

I feel really great today, because I got a package from my mother! Well, it wasn't anything too exciting, just some allergy medication, my bank statement, and a bunch of magazines that had piled up at my house for me. But still, I'm quite happy to actually be getting mail, which doesn't happen too often. Hint hint...

This week is 'Sexual Awareness Week' at GAC, which is why I put all those condoms on Jared's computer. Well, I can never pass up an opportunity to have fun with Jared, so I stopped by the booth and sent him a condom gram. What is this? Its a condom through the mail, with a message. Mine was "Don't reproduce. Love, your buddy, Joshua." I think he'll like the condom, its a multi-colored one! Ooooo...

This weekend is Bjorling Music Scholarship audition weekend, which involves a bunch of high school people auditioning for money. But this also means that many of them will want to stay overnight on campus. I volunteered to help out, because I care, and because my weekends are quite dull in general. Its true. Well, oddly enough it looks like both Zach and I will be hosting people. Two prospies in the same section, only one futon. This means one thing, a cage match. A sort of "Two prospies enter, one prospie leaves!" situation. Plus, as I said, my weekend is really dull. Don't worry, we actually have plenty of room around here. Anna is moved into Wahlstrom today, which means one of them can use her room... seeing how she'll never be sleeping in it.

Ok, so I've now taken the first step to learning Japanese, learning the alphabet. Or at least, one part of it. Katakana is the Japanese alphabet, with some 20 odd characters to learn. I downloaded a couple of little programs to help me learn, I just need to set aside some time in which to do so every day. I'd really hate to go to Japan and have to start learning Japanese from scratch.

My Wednesdays are usually really lazy in the evening, seeing how I have absolutely no class on Thursday. But tonight I went to a history lecture! It was wicked cool. Historian Darlene Clark Hine, a well known historian on black women's history, gave a super talk about black professionals and how they directly influenced the civil rights movement. First off, this is a really cool subject. She spoke about how black doctors, lawyers, and nurses helped change the civil rights movement and helped led it. Second, she was a really great speaker. I was talking to my advisor Byron Nordstrum about it afterwards and we could both tell that she knew how to give a super lecture. She spoke clearly and slowly, and she emphasized all the major points. Long story short, she was extremely easy to follow and extremely cool. I tried to take several photos, and one turned out (damn you Fuji Finepix and your inability to take photos inside with a flash!) but the coolest photo I took was of the four male history professors. Oddly I've had classes with all of them now, but only one with a female history prof (that being Abby Lamberton, of which I've had now 5 classes with her). From left to right they are Sujay Rao (Latin American Hisorty), Byron Nordstrom (Scandanavian History and my advisor), Tom Emmert (Russian and Balkin History), and Greg Kaster (American Labor History). I call them The Fantastic History Four! Find their next amazing issue at comic book store everywhere! (click the photo)

So when I eventually got back to my room, old friend Kate Kruser just had to come over with one of her roommates and see all my China photos. Kate spent last year in Japan, but she was still extremely jealous at my going to China. She hit me several times. Damn her. Eventually she locked me out of my room and talked to Nate Haleen over IM for a while. Damn her. But she reminded me that I should submit some photos to the Campus International Photo Contest which starts next week. Now the only problem will be trying to pick which photo I took in China to enter, seeing how I have about 400.

Oddly, God has been making movies, and not getting credit. Does Mel Gibson know this?

Also, what is the exact social impact of having an iPod? Well, if we had this professor at Gustavus, I'd take his class on iPods.

So I've been trying to bid on a B&W G3 via eBay for about a week now. I don't want anything nice, just a base system that I can configure to be our webserver, (Obvious question back: But don't you already have a webserver?) Why yes I do, but the problem is that our current webserver is having issues, probably due to the fact that it shouldn't really be running the software its running, and its only running it halfway well. Seeing how I'll probably be out of the country next semester, I want to be able to leave the webserver in the hands of friends who don't have to screw with it every few days. Theres also the fact that the webserver won't run any time you take it off campus... which would put a damper on my summer. Oh well, I guess I'd better keep looking for another one to bid on.

So the reaction Jared had to my 'anti-virus' protection for his PC was only mildly as funny as I expected. (if you don't know about this extremely funny prank I pulled, read the previous post) He mostly was slightly angry, and then came over to me and tried to grab my nipples. Many many times. I think he was sexually harassing me. (For this last sentence to be funny, please also read my previous post)

So I've was reading the news today when I came across several news stories which really have got me steamed up. Oh yeah, I'd better simmer down about these, because I'm ranging volcano of emotion!

The first couple of things are about Prez. Bush and some stuff he's doing. First off he's spending even more cash on abstinence only programs across America, most of this money is going to religious programs. This would be great, if these programs worked, except they don't. His home state of Texas is a great example, where as Governor he spent 10 million a year on these programs, only to have teenage pregnancy rise from 5% to 12%. Now he's trying to do this across the entire country, despite what the research and practical usage shows. The article goes on to tell about all the problems this is causing, both in the US and abroad. Oh, didn't you hear? 1/3 of all AID relief money must go to abstinence only programs, and as usual, none can go to family planning groups. Wow, how dumb can you get.

I think he may have just topped it. Bush is now backing a Constitutional Amendment that defines a marriage as being 'between a man and a woman.' This in response to state courts giving the OK to gay marriage, and we can't let these states have too many rights. To quote Bush "After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization. Their actions have created confusion on an issue that requires clarity." Ok... wow. So I guess progress is a bad thing then, or at least progressional thinking. See, the problem is that I don't CARE what other people do. If gay people want to have a legal union, thats fine with me. No skin off my back. I don't see what the major problem is about the entire thing, or why we need an amendment! (Well, we do have states trying to get evolution out of the classroom and teach only creationism. Next thing you know, the world will go back to being flat)

In lighter news it looks like the iPod is now the fashionable thing to mug people for on the streets (no pun intended with MUG, which often stands for Mac User Group). I guess I should worry then, because I'd be lost without my precious... my precious iPod.... But in other Apple news, Emenem is suing apple for using a clip of his song in a commercial. Well, not really a clip, it was a 10 year old girl who sung about 10 seconds of the song. I think he's just being stupid, and this then kinda goes into the whole copyright issue which I won't get into right now because it'll take me forever to write it all.

So I was extremely sleepy this morning. I don't know exactly why that is, because I didn't do anything at all this weekend that was noteworthy, except buy my waste basket. I went to class and all I could think about the entire time was this video Jared showed me, a commercial for coffee, with a bunch of guys yawning. Then again, I had the song Golden Brown stuck in my head also, not the entire thing, just one or two lines. I know I was under the influence when I got done with class, found I didn't retain any information, and when looking at my notes it appears as if I've started written a bunch of insults. To myself. I know I know, but it looks like my brain is trying to tell me something.

But at lunch, well, I came around and said a very funny joke. We somehow started talking about something jewish, and then Tura walked by (she's jewish). She made the comment that she was 1/8 of the Jewish population at Gustavus, and that she was very sad because 4 of the other Jewish students were leaving (and apparently they're hot guys). My response was "wow, its a virtual mass exodus!" I know, you had to have been there.

I had my first viola lesson of the semester today, and I made sure to stop by about 15 minutes early because I knew we would have to chit-chat for a bit. Its Warren, we always talk. Warren has been looking at various Gustavus Policies this week, and he went off on a rant about the sexual harassment policies we have on campus. They're really vague and dumb, so I figured I'd include them here for mocking. This is cut and past from the Gustavus webpage.

Sexual Harassment Policy
Any behavior of a sexual nature that is unwelcome, offensive, or fails to respect the rights and dignity of others may constitute sexual harassment. Subject to the definitions set forth below under the Statement of Policy and Definitions, sexual harassment may include:

A. Use of demeaning terms which draw attention to an individual's sex or sexuality.
B. Repeated remarks, particularly when unwelcome, about a person's clothing or body.
C. Repeated unwelcome invitations to social engagements or work- or school-related activities.
D. Any indication that an employee's job security, job assignment, conditions of employment, or opportunities for advancement or a student's academic progress or success depend on the granting of sexual favors to any other employee, supervisor, or faculty member.
E. Objectionable touching and obscene or suggestive gestures.
F. Display of sexually explicit pictures.

So my question is, what isn't sexual harassment these days? Warren made the joke "So if a student skips class, and I call him/her and ask them to come to class, and they keep saying no, is that sexual harassment?" (Look at part C of the policy). Looks like all my fun on campus is over... or is it?

So this week is sexual awareness week on campus, which means its time to pick up a ton of free condoms. No no no, not for me, but for Jared! See, I'm still a bit ticked off for all the crap he pulled on me while I was in China. Mainly the taking of my 'H' key and all my bedding. This would have been funny, except I'd been up for about 36 hours at that point, and quite frankly nothing was funny at that point. Nothing. Well, I have no exacted my revenge. I picked up a ton of condoms, and killed two birds with one stone. I mocked Jared and then I mocked his Windows PC. See, I stuck condoms all over his PC, you know, to protect it from Windows viruses, of which we've had several in the past weeks. I stuck a picture on there just to let you all know how much I care for Jared. (Seriously, I love the guy) You should really click on the image to see a larger version of it. I seriously can't wait to see his reaction to it later tonight, and the mock him for it the rest of the week.

In an unusual turn of events, Zach Armstrong has returned and started posting on his blog again! Holy shit! I don't know why he has chosen now to start posting on his blog! Actually, i do know why, its because I've been a bitch to him for quite a while about it. He he he. Oh well.

Lastly, I really need to stop drinking Dr. Peper. I had two glasses for dinner, and I was bouncing off off the walls in the Library. Seriously, keep me away from that stuff.

So I got up and did some work on my webpage this morning. I apparently forgot to add the code that kept track of the number of hit my webpage gets, of which now, has been about 1700. I opted not to have a counter on my page. I don't like the clutter, nor do I really need to show off the number of hits I'm getting. What I did do is add a Search function to the bottom left of the main page. This Search only appears on the main page, because it only searches through my blog entries. After ll my entries I figured someone probably wanted to find something specific, and this may come in handy. I also changed the main image picture to what you see now, its a very light picture of Old Main here on campus. I think it looks cool, but tell me if you find the links that are over it hard to see. Lastly, I changed the main index of SeeNoEvil and the Members page a bit. Nothing too interesting.

Zach and I did go to Target though, because he needed book ends and I needed some laundry soap. Well, what usually happens when I go out is I come back with a cheap DVD of sorts. But no, I was good. I instead bought about $20 worth of organizational stuff. I needed some magazine holders and I found some that matched my wire framed cubes, and then I found the motherload. It was a wire framed basket! Why am I so happy about this? well, anyone out there who's using Mac OS X knows why I love this so much. It also came with some other stuff: a business card holder (which is now a stand for my Travel Spirograph), a letter holder (which now holds Cds), a pen holder (which actually holds pens), and a doodad holder. What the hell is a doodad? According to dictionary.com a doodad is:

doo·dad n. Informal - An unnamed or nameless gadget or trinket.

Well, whatever they are, or is, I put it on my shelf and now my little Burger King pikachu lives in it. I guess he misses his open range. Long story short my room is clean, and all is fun. Now maybe I should do my homework...

Seeing how we were at the mall, I had to get myself an Orange Julius. Its my forbidden fruit, and so damn good.

After spending about an hour or so cleaning my room, I figured that I should take some photos of it in its clean state, to show everyone where I live. Or at least where I sleep. I usually spend a good amount of time in our section area. But anyhow, here are the photos of my room, with some descriptions of what I have around here.

So the weather outside today was actually quite nice for a change, somewhere in the area of 40 degrees. As we're leaving, Zach tells me "You don't need your coat, its 40 outside." Only in Minnesota can someone say that with a strait face, and expect no one to laugh.

So I got up early and drove to Rochester to visit my father. He's still living there and working, while we try and sell the house back home and find a suitable home in Rochester. I even helped him look at homes today! I know, my opinion doesn't matter that much, seeing how my ability to tell colors is slightly impaired. Oh well. The bad news is that it may not be till summer until they move, which really messes with my ability to work (of which I shall be doing much of). What will probably happen is that I'll end up living with my father in Rochester this summer. Bachelor pad? I think not.

My father and I went to see 50 First Dates in the afternoon. As always, he fell asleep several times during the show. As an Adam Sandler film, it wasn't extremely funny, although it was extremely cute and sentimental. The best actor award for the film goes to not Sandler, but to a Walrus that appeared several times throughout the film. He should be nominated for an Oscar.

Being with my father allowed me to talk to him about going abroad to Japan and my plans for after college. So much to do around here before I go abroad, or hell, even get accepted to go abroad. I guess my parents are ok with me going over seas, as long as I learn Japanese and apply it towards life and a job. I told him that my plan was twofold. 1) Learn Japanese so I can watch Japanese cartoons without having to read subtitles. 2) Marry a rich Japanese girl, and be neck deep in the Yen (which translates to being knee deep in dollars). He didn't find that funny at all.

Driving home in the dark is never fun, especially by myself. Luckily my iPod was filled with upbeat songs, and my belly was filled with Dr. Pepper, which has very adverse effects on me due to the fact that I have cut caffeine out of my diet almost completely. Nothing like me on a caffeine high. Being overly alert, shaky hands, jitters. Note to self, don't do this again.

As some of you may know that I have two computer monitors hooked up to my Mac. I do this because I can, and because I like having a lot of space to work with. I also like confusing people, and amazing them. But for the longest time I've been unable to find background that would work with dual monitors. Sure, i could put two separate images up, one on each, but I like themes, or stuff that would flow from one monitor to another. I posted this problem on Macnn.com, and got this website suggested to me. Marndolus.com has some amazin background, for both single monitors and dual. Best of all, they're free. I spent some time on Friday downloading them all, and I'm so happy now!

So family news is that our dog Jessie had a stroke the other week, and has impaired mobility on her left side. They don't expect her to make it to the new home. This is quite sad indeed. First the cat, now the dog. Le Sigh....

Speaking of pets and death and stuff, I'm going write up a couple of Rants tonight. I'll probably do another book review, movie review, and music review. I've got nothing else to do tonight, and much on my mind.

So today is V-Day. What is V-Day, well, its vagina day. Yeah, thats right. I didn't know either, but it is. What is V-Day about? Violence, victims, vaginas. Not being female, I celebrated this day by going to see our campus production of the Vagina Monologues. Despite what some stupid and grossly misinformed roommates of mine may say, or think about the monologues, its something everyone should see. John and I went with my buddies Samantha, Monica, and Jen. The turnout was quite well, and all the money made from it goes to a local abuse center. But to quote John "I think you and I are two of the fifteen guys here." I think he was exaggerating a bit, but the audience was about 90% female. Go figure. Oh, we saw Professor Lamberton there with her husband, and she confirmed that the rumors of her catching SARS were quite false. She sounded horrible, actually, but at least she's getting better.

Though the weather outside has turned snowy and cold, a bit of happiness was presented to me today. Johan, the red-headed Swede, gave me a Beige G3 Macintosh! He pulled it out of a trash-can, and it works, but he couldn't find a use for it. So once again, another old Macintosh comes into my hands. What will I do with it? Probably sell it. I know, its bad, but quite frankly I need the money for a new webserver, and I appear to be lacking money right now. So much to do.

So a belated congratulation to Steve and Megan, who managed to get whopping 5.2% of the vote in the race for Student Senate co-presidents! Way to go! I mean, how could they lose with such catching posters as "Don't let the terrorists win. Vote Megan and Steve," and "Whatever you want, we're for it." I wish our presidential elections were the same way.

BTW I posted this so late because Steve and I were hanging in my room for EVER talking and watching silly videos. Which is why I'm so sleepy. Which is bad, because I'm driving to Rochester to hang with my Dad tomorrow, an plan on leaving in... seven or eight hours. Oh well.

Oooo a cool link here. First off, what happens when college students have to reelect a hall representative, and Trogdor is on the ballot?

So the answer is... very. Yes, wonderful Thursday, the day when I have nothing of importance until 6:30 at night. The ultimate sleep in day during my week. Which is why I didn't get up until 12:30, and then I didn't leave my room until 1:30 or so thanks to a wonderful game of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Academy. Nothing starts off a day better then swinging a lightsaber around at some dark jedi. Seriously, its better than a cup of coffee.

So Thursday is also my library work day, which is what eventually did (when I eventually left the building). I did some scanning, and some web-work, and some goofing off, as usual. Making the most of my government granted work study money. Thanks uncle sam.

So anyhow, here are a few thinks that someone out there might find interesting. If not you, then Jared Lee, who apparently has no social life due to his illness.

1) Kevin Smith, writer and director of such films as Clerks and Dogma, has been contracted to write and direct a movie a version of The Green Hornet. yet another movie about a man with too much money, who fights crime. Note, the Green Hornet had the most bad-ass car way before Batman was ever around.

2) When 20 Nobel winning scientists get together, what do they talk about? How about the gross misusage of scientific findings by the Bush administration! Looks like old Bush has been bending the facts a bit when it comes to some scientific data. Bad Bush, bad!

3) What happens when you stick a black hole next to a star? NASA found out, and its quite cool. Look at the super fancy pictures.

So today is a super nice day outside. Even though we may have a foot of snow on the ground still, the sun is out and shining, and the snow is slowly melting away. The sky is a wonderful shade of blue, and I've caught glimpses of students wearing shorts. Soon enough it'll be spring, and with spring will come the most beautiful time on campus. Only in spring will you find the flowers and trees blooming, and the girls will all have on very skimpy outfits. Yes, I said it. Skimpy outfits. The figures that have hidden all winter long under loose fitting sweaters and sweat shirts will be revealed. Its a good day, aye.

So for the rest of the semester my Wednesday will suck. I have five hours of class, and another hour of orchestra in the evening, which means I'll be tuckered out. Thank goodness I'll have a full day to recover on Thursday. Damn, this also means I've forgotten to make a schedule and stick it on my webpage. Darn. Looks like some more webpage work for me tonight. But even though I had all this class I'm still in high spirits, because my day is over, and my classes were fun. Heres a fun quote from my parties and politics class professor when he couldn't remember any of the guys names: "I tend to notice the girls more then the guys. Don't sue me."

I was talking to Andrew Parsons this morning, an old friend from music camp (not band camp), and he sent me this photo his girlfriend took in Seattle. Apparently the people of Seattle are having more fun then the rest of the country, and I'm wondering exactly what this 'booty' of theirs is? Weirdness. Anyhow it was nice talking to Andrew, who goes to another private college, Valparaiso, in Indiana. I went to camp there during high school. Its a nice college, but those Indiana summers are killers. No, I'm not kidding, they super suck to the max! Worse then Minnesota or possibly South Dakota summers.

So in some sad news, one of my favorite professors is in the hospital, yet again. Abby Lamberton, who teaches Asian history here at Gustavus, is still sick from respiratory problems she suffered from being in China. Word is that one of her classes was canceled for the semester. This is quite troubling, seeing how this is her last semester at GAC, and probably the last semester that we'll have an asian history position at GAC. Thank goodness I'm going to Japan next semester, or I'd go insane.

So once again I helped Rachel with her blog, while teacher her the basics of maintaining a webpage. Apparently her blog impressed her parents quite a bit, which is what we were going for. For some reason Moveabletype didn't like the first blog I had made for her, or maybe it was possessed by a demon. Either way I remade it, and used a different template and now its working fine. Except for the image up top. We changed the image from the generic one that came with the template, to a photo she took in Greece. But for some reason, it keeps not showing up. But only about half the time. Its very very odd.

Speaking of blogs, I made some updates to mine. If you'll notice my schedule is now up and running, and I've stuck up a quick book, movie, and music review. I hope to do one or so a week, to let people know what my favorites are. Also because I'm a very critical viewer/listener of all things media, and have a very high opinion of my opinion. I do so like my new look, though I think I should change the image somehow. If you have any ideas, leave me a comment. I get so few these days anyhow.... I know people are viewing this site, I can track that! Leave me a comment. Feed my ego.

So class is surprisingly more interesting when one out of the five people in your class is gone. Right...

Did quite a bit of reading tonight, more then I really wanted to. Went to orchestra.

Thats about it. Seriously. Nothing interesting happened. The least exciting day I've had in a long time.

So after being bashed by so many friends for my mean comments about windows (though well deserved) I thought it would be nice to share an interesting factoid. Our school e-mail server is down due to a massive e-mail virus spreading throughout campus! Ooooo! Look at all the time wasted because of this. I personally love the fact that our Dean of Students caught the virus and sent an e-mail out to everyone, of which, I'm guessing a good chunk of students will open and download the attached virus.

Long story short, if we were all running Macs on campus, this would never be a problem. I wonder how much total time we've been down, system wise, due to windows viruses this year? At least a week total.

Oh, a good chunk of the links on my pictures page are down. I guess they didn't copy over when I changed layouts. I'll fix that right away.

So I had a really interesting conversation with Leo, a Taiwanese guy who works at the front desk to the library with me, today. Women. Yes, being guys we talked about women. Apparently asian women want noses like American women. That and less flat faces. Hmm... I've found that most American guys find asian women attractive in general. Weirdness.

I helped Rachel K. with a weblog today. She wanted some place to put her photos from Greece online. Well, we got that going for her, and now she's quite confused about a great deal many things, mostly computer stuff. Sigh... so many things. This also took up the majority of my evening, that and watching a fun episode of Blind Date. Its a guilty pleasure I partake in every now and then, but its just so damn funny. It makes me feel better about my dating history. Well, only slightly.

Working at the library is too much fun, especially when I'm not working, which is most of the time it seems. Hmm... oh well. My work load gets done and everyone is happy, and I get to meet some nice people every now and then. At least when my roomie are not stamping the back of my neck with "This document is protected by US copyright law." Just to let you know, I am not protected by any US copyright law that I know of.

The Lighter Side: Japanese Error Messages

Here are 14 actual error messages seen on the computer screens in Japan, where some are written in Haiku. Aren't these better than "your computer has performed an illegal operation"?

1. The Web site you seek cannot be located, but countless more exist.
2. Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.
3. Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.
4. Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.
5. Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.
6. Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.
7. Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.
8. A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone.
9. Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred?
10. You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here.
11. Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, but we never will.
12. Having been erased, the document you're seeking must now be retyped.
13. Serious error. All shortcuts have disappeared.
14. Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

Enjoy the zen of Japanese poetry while bustin a cap in your computer screen.

Love Your Macintosh
Enjoy the love of the tech
Don't droll all over it

"Since any reasonable person would choose a Mac over a PC, Apple's market share does provide us with an accurate reading of the percentage of reasonable people in our society." - Roger Ebert

So the reworking on my blog is done now. The layout and the pages are actually all finished. Seriously. Go click on every little link, I dare you to. No seriously, go on. I'm quite happy about the new look, even though some may say its too white, or the picture isn't cool enough. Well, you know what, screw you all!

So this morning, before my concert, I sat down in my PJs and watched some cartoons. Yes, my favorite past time. PJs, Cartoons, a bowl of highly sugary cereal. Mmmmm. I pulled out the copy of My Neighbor Totoro that I bought in China. It was part of a very big anime collection I found, 12 DVDs for 200 Yuan! ($25). I laughed my head off the entire movie. Its a fun story about two kids and the forest spirit that lives next to their house. Sigh.... I wish Totoro lived next to my room, instead of strange guys with smelly socks.

So we had a concert today. The final concert from our Orchestra tour. Except this time our audience was white! Oh well. The low point for me was when my back started to go into splitting pain again, and I noticed that my pants and shirt that I had washed the night before, both black in color, were covered in lint and hair. I hate doing laundry in this dorm. My stuff either ends up more dirty, getting stolen, or shrinking.

So my reading really sucks. I've been trying to read all this stuff, but its so overwhelming. Hundreds and hundreds of pages! Good lord! I don't know what my professors were thinking, but I think they're trying to kill me. Or at least my brain. Maybe I should stick a pencil up my nose to help stimulate it, or at least threaten it.

Lastly, this just in time for the post-valentines day gift, the bear you always wanted. Could this be any more funny?

I'm Redoing my Blog. Please don't complain while I redo EVERYTHING. Thats right, everything!

Quick rundown of my Valentines Day, which was rather dull.

For some reason I fell asleep Friday night at about 10:30, in my clothing. I guess I had worked a bit too hard at the library, and needed some shut-eye. Either way I didn't wake up till about 7:30, at which time I no longer could sleep. (Thanks China for causing this really weird sleep schedule for me) So what could I do... well... I did computer junk all morning, knowing full well that none of my roomies would be up till at least noon. I spent a great deal of time reevaluating my blog, and trying to think of something less blocky and more organic. Which is what I'm now using (note the lack of being complete). I also sent out a bunch of e-mails, looked at some new webservers on ebay, listened to some music. That sort of thing. All morning long.

My afternoon consisted of video editing. Emily Wang took along a nice little video camera to China, and I spent all afternoon sticking it onto Zach's firewire HD. Man, so much video, and so damn cool! My plan is to take this video and a bunch of photos from China and make a really cool DVD! Finally, my Macintosh skills come in handy! Well, that and watch Donnie Darko with Zach. He hadn't seen it before, and it blew his mind. I love that movie.

This evening was spent with Jared. Good old Jared. We had dinner, we talked, and we laughed. Yes, Jared is a man's man these days. I then filled out all my applications for studying abroad, and sent an e-mail to the parents about going abroad. Japan rocks, if you didn't know, and I so want to be part of it. Eventually Zach came back, and a bunch of us watched Dark City, yet another good movie (like most all I own). To cap the night off I applied the new blog template and made a nice little image Old Main for the front page. Now all I have to do is get all the little stuff done, like links, and redoing my other pages. Blah, thats what Sunday is for.

Oh, I have a concert tomorrow (which is Sunday). Nothing too exciting, just the same thing we did all of our China tour. Maybe I should do all that reading I have for next week. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea eventually. Well, seeing how I absolutely love all my classes this semester, I'd better do my reading!

Also, in other bad news, it looks like one of our dogs is going also. She's about 12 years old, and I'm quite sure my parents are going to have to put her down in the next week. So sad. So so sad.

Bedtime for the Josh, much to do, and so little time. But first, a short conversation we had in our section tonight, that ended in hilarity.

Joshua: I really want to get my old room back second semester if I go over seas, so maybe I should put a mannequin in there to fool res-life for first semester! That and a fake Macintosh, no one would know the difference.

Jared: The real question is, if there was a mannequin in your room, would Sara still not talk to it?

Everyone: (Much laughter)

Only two things. The first is this link about milk. The second is that Zach's parents sent me a sympathy card over the loss of my cat. They're very sweet, and even Zach is sweet every now and then. When he tries to be.

No, I don't have the bird flu, but I'm still kinda sick from China. Must have been all the pollution that we had to deal with, and the cold weather. I hope to get better over the weekend, or at least as soon as possible. Damn birds! (Oddly enough its been found in the US now, and so China is banning all birds from the US. The irony)

So I found some randomly fun links, that I'm sure none of you will actually go to. No, don't go! I dare you not to go!

1) When student run Harvard newspapers go wrong.

2) I seriously think Sorority girls read this and think its real.

3) Ben should add a few titles to the list of worst songs ever to be on an iPod.

4) This is so cute, and so demented. I love it!

So now that I'm back from China, I've been having the urge to buy stuff. Mostly techie stuff, but still stuff. First off is my ever growing urge to buy a Powerbook. Seriously, its for a good reason. Me going overseas. So, thats a legitimate reason. The second thing is a new webserver for all the blogs. This is also a good reason because our current one has issues whenever we move it off campus, and also I want to use better software, and this computer is rather old, so no dice. So I guess thats a good reason. The third thing is to buy some new domain names. No no no, I actually have a reason for this. The first is that our list of blogs is growing larger, and lots of people are requesting them, so I was thinking of a bit better domain name then 'SeeNoEvil' was in order. Also, I found one that would work for my family, and one that I'd use for myself. they're rather inexpensive over time, but up front, well... yeah, its a bit of money. Sigh... I guess I should go work at the library and get that money flowing. (Note I am not going to tell you these domain names because I'd hate for you to come and take them from me! You would, wouldn't you!)

If you're wondering why I'm ranting like this its because Thursday is my day off from class, and so I'm killing time before lunch and before work.

So yesterday during lunch, Ben and I had an interesting discussion about Zombies. This discussion was prompted by a preview we had seen earlier in the day for the movie remake of the 1972 movie Dawn of the Dead. A wonderful film, which is a sequel to Night of the Living Dead, in which several people hole up an abandoned super-mall to fend off a hoard of zombies. But what really defines a zombie in todays world? After 45 minutes of discussion on the subject Ben and I came to the following conclusion about what makes up a "modern" zombie: Mindless undead creatures that are uncoordinated and hunger for human flesh (or brains) and make more of themselves by spreading a virus (or zombie 'venom') when they bite people.

It was snowing again today. Its been snowing every day this week. Just a small amount of perfect, movie quality snow flake that you can catch on your mittens and look at, while pondering if you'll ever find two that are remotely alike. Its quite the stark contrast to the non-snowy, but bitterly cold weather of China. That and the fact that I keep slipping on patches of snowy ice as I walk to class. This winter wonderland needs some action, fast.

So my History Seminar class is super fun! Its three hours of "what is history" and such, with an amazing teacher. Greg Kaster is the current History Department head, and he has a knack for swearing in class, waving his hands around, and being silly. We watched a video where 4 well known historians battled it out for supremacy. It was more interesting then watching WWF or American Gladiators, I seriously thought that they'd start fighting right there on TV! Actually it gave me a great idea for a new TV show on the History Channel!

The True Story...
This is the true story of seven historians from different fields, picked to live in a house to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real. The Real World, History Channel!

No, I think this could work. We just need to find the top people in their fields, and in different areas of history, and have them live together! They won't agree on anything at all! It'll be so cool! I'd watch it.

I went o the Chinese new years festivities on campus tonight. I was a little bummed because I couldn't light the incense that I was lighting for buddha because of stupid campus fire policies. Damn you campus, damn you to hell! It was fun, and the food was free. Then again, Angie (who is half Chinese half Japanese) once again lectured Zach and I about the promiscuity of Japanese college girls. So, knowing that, I wish you the best of Nate Haleen, in your quest for Japanese love.

So far only 4 people have put their photos from out Chinese trip on our file server, which saddens me. This only means that I'll have to crack the whip on those people I know who took photos! All you photos are belong to me! Ha ha ha! Seriously though, I need to start sorting through them for the DVD I wish to make about the trip. Sigh... yet another project for me to do. I guess thats why we have weekends.

Anyhow, that was my day of random thoughts and whatnot. Enjoy the cold weather and snow before global warming gets it.

So my 300 level Latin American and the US history class only has 5 people in it, 6 if you include the teacher. This means I'll be brushing up on my reading every week. Yeah, so small. My Latin American Politics class as about 15 people in it, which is quite a good size. Beats my Politics and Parties class which has about 30 in it. I'm told that my History Seminar Class has about 20 in it. Hmmm... so much reading to get done.

Ohhh... and I learned some interesting stuff about the Alamo today. According to new data found, mainly an uncovered journal of a mexican army officer, it looks like the men at the Alamo did not fight to the last man. About 30 men surrendered, including Davie Croquet. These men were then shot. I'm sorry Texas, but get over it.

I'm up late tonight. Not reading, or goofing off, its because my sleep schedule is off. I went to bed about 8, and got up at 1:45 a.m. and now am about to head back to bed. Damn you China, damn you to hell!

Speaking of China... so while we were on the trip I took about 475 pictures, of which I deleted about 100 of them (some didn't turn out, or I took several of the same thing hopping one will turn out). To quote Peter Olson "You take too many photos." Which I do, and I'm proud of it. But look back at my photos and my experience of my photos I'm thinking of getting a bit better digital camera sometime before next year. Maybe something with some more settings, and options, and a better zoom and flash. Especially if I go over seas I'm going to want something a bit better.

So apparently the US government has been spying on protest groups, sending in undercover cops to investigate them. Does anyone else find this just a bit disturbing to say the least?

Oh well, thus is the start of a new semester. How time flies.

The long awaited photos from my China trip are now online! I've put up about 350 of them, and about 100 of them have some insightful comments below the name. I'll probably make a webpage out of a bunch of photos other people took on tour once I gather a bunch.

I went to the International Center on campus and had a meeting this morning, and found out that I need to get on top of things if I'm to travel abroad fall semester next year. Speaking of which, Nate has been having fun in Japan, and has been using his blog to post photos! Craft Nate, making a photoblog! He'll have to show me how to do that sometime!

I bought books this morning. I arms hurt and so does my pocketbook! $461 for books! Someone help me, please! Why don't you just take a toe or something. Evil evil Bookmark!

Arg! Lunch time! Gotta run! Enjoy those photos!

So I managed to survive my first day of class, but only because of a nice little nap that I took. That and the fact that I only had two classes. Oh well.

I was productive in other ways. I managed to go through all of my photos and label them and add comments to them, so that I'm ready to make webpages out of them tomorrow. I sent out an e-mail that informed people how to share photos from our china trip on our file server. I also bought some software. Its the software I use to make all my photo galleries with, so I figured it was worth it. I'll have those all up tomorrow night. I even managed to go in and work at the library!

Now Tuesday I'll have to go in and get my ass handed to me by the Bookmark, while buying books! Ewww!

Oh, and its snowy here still. Lots of snow. Blah! Give me China!

So I didn't really do much today, lots of unpacking again.

Zach, Sara and I went to go see a production of The Gondoliers at Bethany Lutheran College. Zach's old friend Kristen Lussky had a lead role and so we all figured it beat sitting around doing nothing.

I hung up my three wall scrolls and made a little sport on my shelf for all my China junk I bought (and find places to put up my wall scrolls). Now all I need to do is make room for the books I'm going to buy this semester. Speaking of which, I need to buy books. Hmmm....

So I've yet to go through my photos and make some webpages of all the stuff. I'll probably do that tomorrow night. Zach, Sara, and I attempted to do a long ass recollection of our China trip but it took us over an hour to do one day. We'll get around to it this week. I'll then make a webpage out of it, complete with photos and special Josh recollections and comments stuck in.

I also finally got around to finding out my class schedule, and I'll throw it up on the webpage here as soon as I find out my work schedule at the library, of which I will be spending much time at. So much to do now that school is back in session again!

I'm still bummed that my cat died. Seriously. I so loved that cat. Sigh..... what is a boy to do. Oh well, life goes on I guess. (If you can't tell I'm very very bummed about this right now)

I fixed a hard drive that was acting up on our file server. This reminds me that i need to upgrade the systems to newer computers before the semester is over. Especially our webserver, I don't think it will last for another year without an upgrade.

Oh, if you've not seen the movie Lost In Translation, you need to do it! I just bought it on DVD, and this means you all should be able to rent it! Its up for Best picture and Best Actor! Go now!

Sleep would be a good idea right now. Yeah, sleep.

So my day started at 7:30 when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I mulled around for hours cleaning and reading webcomics. Zach and I went to Panera for lunch with his female friend (named Kristen) who goes to Betheny college in Mankato. Good soup at Panera, very good soup.

So I go to return my memory chip and power adaptor at Best Buy, because I'll never use them again, and I had this great excuse made up. Bird Flu canceled my China trip. The clerk asked my why I was returning, and I told him, and he thought I was making it up. The bird flu is real people! Stupid clerk, he kept giving me these looks like he thought it was the lamest excuse ever.

My parents stopped over to see me, Dad was quite sick. I gave them their gifts, and talked their legs offs about China. Bad news though, my Cat died while I was on tour. I'm so bummed. I so loved Sam, he was my best friend for sixteen years. I'll miss you Sam, and hope you're in a better place. Sniff.....

Anyhow Sara, Zach, and I tried to write up a long thingy about our trip to China, only its taking forever. Oh well.

So I'm super jet lagged. I've made it back to school, and managed to sleep for a while, and now that its after 8 I'm wide awake. Anyhow, as expected, I posted on my weblog from China and afterwards found that my mother did look at my blog while I was gone and was surprised to find a post from me (even though I old her I would and mentioned it several times on my blog). So I'm putting away laundry now while in my silk robe (and listening to some Rocky Horror) and contemplating whether or not the breakfast cereal I have is eatable.

Oh, my car started, the DVDs I brought back from China work, and nothing was broke on the return trip. I should get back to cleaning this old room (and reading online news...). I'll post something gigantic about China soon enough before the weekend is over. Its just Zach and I till Sunday, the Purdhams went home for the weekend and everyone else is gone.

Oh, lastly, Zach, John and I found that our somehow Jared got into our locked rooms and removed our bedding and random other items while we were gone. We're not happy. Hear that Jared, we're not happy.