11/29/2004
Recap time!
So, starting with wednesday. Wednesday was an odessy of sorts. As always, when its the day before thanksgiving traffic is very, very bad. So I tried my best to get around the bad areas, which were basicly any way that'd help me get home faster. I do, however, have a map chronicling the way to get home.
It was a tormenting journey, but after like two hours, I got home. Of course, it also then needs to be mentioned that one of the things that made traffic worse was that a man had been hit and killed on Boquet, just south of Seco. Half the road was just totally closed and traffic was a mess because of it. I can't recall seeing part of a dead body like that before...but I could see a hand under the sheet. Four or five cars had ran right over the guy.
I also had to go to Chris's rescue, who was stuck over by the mall. I'm not quite sure what caused it, but his key broke. Like, in half. So he couldn't get into his car. It amazed me, really. He managed to catch me just as I'd walked in from tutoring and right before leaving again, so rather than chilling around the house, I went and got him, dropped him off at his house, then went and got him after I'd tutored and took him back to his car so he could then drive it home after he'd found a spare key. One of these hilarious sorts of incidents. The key was soo warped and all.
It has also now been noticed...when playing Cruel Angel's Thesis at half speed, it is impossible to not laugh for more than the first two seconds.
Thursday was thanksgiving at my cousin's house. thought it would go sorta apolitical, but oh was I wrong. My grandmother's brother's wife had brought the petitions from www.saveourlicence.com to try to get signatures. Little did she know that I have the exact same petitions. She was very, very surprised about it all. Now, what got wierd was that she was trying to get my cousin's grandfather to sign...or rather, had asked...and he said no, and they were discussing it all. Now, eventually she left the arguement, came and got me, borrowed me, and then put me into the debate. While I was discussing the initiative, apparently there was talk of how he'd never sign and there was no chance and stuff like that. It was nearly considered a foregone conclusion by those watching. Somewhere after an hour, though, he decided that he would, in fact sign. No one saw that coming. He said that while he disagreed with it, he respected my efforts. I was much surprised, but I also felt accomplished. :D
Saturday was the trip out to Harvey MUDD. Or more precisly, it was the trip to San Fernando to pick someone up, then out to Harvey Mudd. It took 3 hours to get there, which was wayyy too long. Horrible weather for driving, really. So, we got out there and it was like 5. We had planned to be there at like 3. Got food, then went back to Karl's dorm room and played Dead or Alive 3 and Halo. Halo rocks and I was owning. Left there at 8:30...and in backing up, things went terribly awry. Karl thought that a logical thing to do was jump on the front of the chupathingie. This was a most stupid thing. As soon as he jumped on, there was a snap, he jumped off and I turned the engine off immeditly. Avoiding impulses to beat him about the head with a socket wrench, I went out to see what had happened, as he was quite obviously looking down in terror, so I knew he'd broken SOMETHING. Thankfully, all he broke was the plastic that holds the license plate, and only broken it partially. We could not, however, remove the neccessary bolts to just put the license plate safely in the back of the chupathingie, so instead we had to figure out how to get it to stay safely. the combination of tape and string looks like this:
Needless to say, Karl is in trouble. Like, great deals of trouble. You do NOT do this to the Chupathingie. there are limits.
Anyway, returning Chan to her house, I noticed this, and pulled over to take a picture of it.
Now, I"m not sure what the Sugarhouse is, but I find the placing humourous. Ride back Bryan just sorta fell asleep. And it was cold. These are seperate things, however.
Here we are at Monday, and I'm slowly resuming to a normal sleep cycle. Cuz, over thanksgiving weekend, my sleep cycle has been out of sync majorly. And I have trouble getting to sleep. Its cuz my defence mechanism to avoid my mom is to stay in bed. Busy tutoring week ahead of me...and I will add now that I ruled in a gunbound game. I got my 2nd DK today, and had 10 gp and 1232 gold...but one of the guys was an idiot. I mean, i successfully set up my own dk. thats not supposed to happen. we didn't even win. :( Morons.
And I'm now at the point where I'm two weeks from the day I leave. Well, in half an hour or so, then its two weeks from the day I leave. Close enough. It will be relaxing, no doubt. I'm going to enjoy not having to deal with my mom, for one thing...and I'll enjoy being around Sam as well. She's been most supportive when I've needed it, and concerned. It's helped a lot. Not to say that she's the only one, but certainly most frequent and most passionate on it. Its reassuring to have her love behind me, and its part of why I love her, too. Plus, I'm looking forward to seeing new parts of the country with her...I do have fond memories of last time. And this time I'll get to see Melbourne, and possible some of the Australian Open. Not to mention penguins! But that is all stuff that will come in time.
So, starting with wednesday. Wednesday was an odessy of sorts. As always, when its the day before thanksgiving traffic is very, very bad. So I tried my best to get around the bad areas, which were basicly any way that'd help me get home faster. I do, however, have a map chronicling the way to get home.
It was a tormenting journey, but after like two hours, I got home. Of course, it also then needs to be mentioned that one of the things that made traffic worse was that a man had been hit and killed on Boquet, just south of Seco. Half the road was just totally closed and traffic was a mess because of it. I can't recall seeing part of a dead body like that before...but I could see a hand under the sheet. Four or five cars had ran right over the guy.
I also had to go to Chris's rescue, who was stuck over by the mall. I'm not quite sure what caused it, but his key broke. Like, in half. So he couldn't get into his car. It amazed me, really. He managed to catch me just as I'd walked in from tutoring and right before leaving again, so rather than chilling around the house, I went and got him, dropped him off at his house, then went and got him after I'd tutored and took him back to his car so he could then drive it home after he'd found a spare key. One of these hilarious sorts of incidents. The key was soo warped and all.
It has also now been noticed...when playing Cruel Angel's Thesis at half speed, it is impossible to not laugh for more than the first two seconds.
Thursday was thanksgiving at my cousin's house. thought it would go sorta apolitical, but oh was I wrong. My grandmother's brother's wife had brought the petitions from www.saveourlicence.com to try to get signatures. Little did she know that I have the exact same petitions. She was very, very surprised about it all. Now, what got wierd was that she was trying to get my cousin's grandfather to sign...or rather, had asked...and he said no, and they were discussing it all. Now, eventually she left the arguement, came and got me, borrowed me, and then put me into the debate. While I was discussing the initiative, apparently there was talk of how he'd never sign and there was no chance and stuff like that. It was nearly considered a foregone conclusion by those watching. Somewhere after an hour, though, he decided that he would, in fact sign. No one saw that coming. He said that while he disagreed with it, he respected my efforts. I was much surprised, but I also felt accomplished. :D
Saturday was the trip out to Harvey MUDD. Or more precisly, it was the trip to San Fernando to pick someone up, then out to Harvey Mudd. It took 3 hours to get there, which was wayyy too long. Horrible weather for driving, really. So, we got out there and it was like 5. We had planned to be there at like 3. Got food, then went back to Karl's dorm room and played Dead or Alive 3 and Halo. Halo rocks and I was owning. Left there at 8:30...and in backing up, things went terribly awry. Karl thought that a logical thing to do was jump on the front of the chupathingie. This was a most stupid thing. As soon as he jumped on, there was a snap, he jumped off and I turned the engine off immeditly. Avoiding impulses to beat him about the head with a socket wrench, I went out to see what had happened, as he was quite obviously looking down in terror, so I knew he'd broken SOMETHING. Thankfully, all he broke was the plastic that holds the license plate, and only broken it partially. We could not, however, remove the neccessary bolts to just put the license plate safely in the back of the chupathingie, so instead we had to figure out how to get it to stay safely. the combination of tape and string looks like this:
Needless to say, Karl is in trouble. Like, great deals of trouble. You do NOT do this to the Chupathingie. there are limits.
Anyway, returning Chan to her house, I noticed this, and pulled over to take a picture of it.
Now, I"m not sure what the Sugarhouse is, but I find the placing humourous. Ride back Bryan just sorta fell asleep. And it was cold. These are seperate things, however.
Here we are at Monday, and I'm slowly resuming to a normal sleep cycle. Cuz, over thanksgiving weekend, my sleep cycle has been out of sync majorly. And I have trouble getting to sleep. Its cuz my defence mechanism to avoid my mom is to stay in bed. Busy tutoring week ahead of me...and I will add now that I ruled in a gunbound game. I got my 2nd DK today, and had 10 gp and 1232 gold...but one of the guys was an idiot. I mean, i successfully set up my own dk. thats not supposed to happen. we didn't even win. :( Morons.
And I'm now at the point where I'm two weeks from the day I leave. Well, in half an hour or so, then its two weeks from the day I leave. Close enough. It will be relaxing, no doubt. I'm going to enjoy not having to deal with my mom, for one thing...and I'll enjoy being around Sam as well. She's been most supportive when I've needed it, and concerned. It's helped a lot. Not to say that she's the only one, but certainly most frequent and most passionate on it. Its reassuring to have her love behind me, and its part of why I love her, too. Plus, I'm looking forward to seeing new parts of the country with her...I do have fond memories of last time. And this time I'll get to see Melbourne, and possible some of the Australian Open. Not to mention penguins! But that is all stuff that will come in time.
11/28/2004
Its strange how difficult the future can be to predict...how much things change, and more importantly, how much you can misunderstand yourself over a period of time. I suppose in this point, I would do better to write it as how much I specifically misunderstood myself, where I was, and what directions things were going.
The first thing tied in to this is that I ended things with Loren what is now a little while back, and unfortunitly (but not unpredictibly) it has not gone well since then. I'm not going to go into reasons here as I'm not one to put all the personal drama up somewhere public...but it is something that hasn't been at all fun...but then again, its not something that should be fun or easy.
The second is that, post-that began talking with Sam more again...after quite the gap in routine communications. Its also meant things going back into a direction that I had not figured they would at this point, but, its not an unwelcome direction in the least. Or well, I'm watering down words here because I don't want to say to much then have it be eroded away by thigns....but to say it more straightforward...I'm back together with her now, and come this winter, I'll be there for a roughly unknown time. Basicly, to see if things have changed between us or not since I think there has been individual changes since she was last here. The question now is just how the interactiveness will be...if that has changed as well, or if that will be the same. I suppose you could call this a trial period thing...to see if this is something that we'll try anew for, or walk away from. In reality, it could go either way...but I think, from my read of it atm, that it will be the former rather than the latter. This will also mean that, for all intensive purposes, I will be observing Christmas with any fellow Americans some time in the new year.
It is something I'm looking forward to much though. Australia is an amazing place... and I'm going to get to see more of it this time round than I did last time. Not to mention that I'm going to be able to see where things are more with Sam... there is an element of interaction that really only comes with being around one another in person, and I do still have a lot of very fond memories of the last time I was there. I was a different person...or well, I wasn't a different person itself, but a different side of me was brought out. In the immortal words of andrew: "You're walking, you're using public transportation, you're with a girl, and you're happy? who are you and what have you done with Mike?" (the irony that i'm paraphrasing immortal words need not be discussed)
Very few people, I think, walk away from a trip to Australia with the attachment to it that it is the first time they've ever had Chinese food. or Sushi. not to mention all the things about Australia that were new or different. And I know that this time back will be the same, I'm going to see new elements of Australia and the world, but new elements of me as well that aren't noticed much normally. It was one of the rare times in my life in the last few years that I've hit a period of time where I felt truely comfortable with what was going on in my life, those two weeks there. There have been other times since, of course...but they are very few and far between. With luck, when I go back again this time, it will mean that I will again be in that same position of comfort where I feel good with where things are in my life. I think that's how it will be.
The first thing tied in to this is that I ended things with Loren what is now a little while back, and unfortunitly (but not unpredictibly) it has not gone well since then. I'm not going to go into reasons here as I'm not one to put all the personal drama up somewhere public...but it is something that hasn't been at all fun...but then again, its not something that should be fun or easy.
The second is that, post-that began talking with Sam more again...after quite the gap in routine communications. Its also meant things going back into a direction that I had not figured they would at this point, but, its not an unwelcome direction in the least. Or well, I'm watering down words here because I don't want to say to much then have it be eroded away by thigns....but to say it more straightforward...I'm back together with her now, and come this winter, I'll be there for a roughly unknown time. Basicly, to see if things have changed between us or not since I think there has been individual changes since she was last here. The question now is just how the interactiveness will be...if that has changed as well, or if that will be the same. I suppose you could call this a trial period thing...to see if this is something that we'll try anew for, or walk away from. In reality, it could go either way...but I think, from my read of it atm, that it will be the former rather than the latter. This will also mean that, for all intensive purposes, I will be observing Christmas with any fellow Americans some time in the new year.
It is something I'm looking forward to much though. Australia is an amazing place... and I'm going to get to see more of it this time round than I did last time. Not to mention that I'm going to be able to see where things are more with Sam... there is an element of interaction that really only comes with being around one another in person, and I do still have a lot of very fond memories of the last time I was there. I was a different person...or well, I wasn't a different person itself, but a different side of me was brought out. In the immortal words of andrew: "You're walking, you're using public transportation, you're with a girl, and you're happy? who are you and what have you done with Mike?" (the irony that i'm paraphrasing immortal words need not be discussed)
Very few people, I think, walk away from a trip to Australia with the attachment to it that it is the first time they've ever had Chinese food. or Sushi. not to mention all the things about Australia that were new or different. And I know that this time back will be the same, I'm going to see new elements of Australia and the world, but new elements of me as well that aren't noticed much normally. It was one of the rare times in my life in the last few years that I've hit a period of time where I felt truely comfortable with what was going on in my life, those two weeks there. There have been other times since, of course...but they are very few and far between. With luck, when I go back again this time, it will mean that I will again be in that same position of comfort where I feel good with where things are in my life. I think that's how it will be.
11/22/2004
An important thing to read here is a blog entry by the journalist that filmed the wounded Iraqi being killed. Really, anyone thats at all thought about that incident should read this.
Also, there will be a trip out to Harvey Mudd this coming saturday. Anyone that wants to come, please mention here at the forum, as thats an easier way for me to update if anything cahnges and all. seating is limited.
Also, there will be a trip out to Harvey Mudd this coming saturday. Anyone that wants to come, please mention here at the forum, as thats an easier way for me to update if anything cahnges and all. seating is limited.
11/20/2004
I really need to get in the habit of getting up at normal times. I woke up at 2 in the afternoon then came out and played gunbound for hours. Such a wasted day in some sense.
And so i'm sitting at the comp on aim, and suddenly theress this rumbling sound. Which confused me. So i hurry off to a door and look out and its raining and hailing. So i'm like...hey this is kinda neat. Then, gears start turning in my head and i realise that the windows of the chupathingie are down. So i grab the keys and sandals and go running out into the hail and rain swatting at it as I hurry to the chupathingie, get in, roll the windows up, then do the same chatoic run back inside. I wish I saw this coming.
I've got a new client in castaic. This will make it fun. Each week, hurring off to castaic to tutor. Oh well, money is still good. Money is always good, really. And so this'll be only one i've got thats precalc.
I'm still hooked on the beatles, which I will add that is fully attributable and blameable on Sam, as she suggested them more, and thats hwy they're on my mp3 player. I think I've listened to elenor rigby alone at least 2 times every day this week. or as bryan pointed out, elenor rugby. That is such a cool song....lady madonna and penny lane too.
I shall aslo include a funny story. Funny to me anyway. So, my brother had a play tonight, and after my mom and brother left, my dad called cuz he decided he would go. So he askes if my mom would have her cell phone, and i said that she wouldn't have it on, but she should have it. I hang up and go back to gunbound then hear a ring tone in the living room. i went in there and i heard it from a bag, so i feel my way around in there and found my mom's cell phone still on in there and just freshly 1 missed call. so i called my dad back and let him knew. when he mentioned to my mom that he tried to call her, she said she lost her phone. when she got home and heard the story on how i found the phone, my mom said "oh...i hadn't thought of that."
Here's her sign.
And so i'm sitting at the comp on aim, and suddenly theress this rumbling sound. Which confused me. So i hurry off to a door and look out and its raining and hailing. So i'm like...hey this is kinda neat. Then, gears start turning in my head and i realise that the windows of the chupathingie are down. So i grab the keys and sandals and go running out into the hail and rain swatting at it as I hurry to the chupathingie, get in, roll the windows up, then do the same chatoic run back inside. I wish I saw this coming.
I've got a new client in castaic. This will make it fun. Each week, hurring off to castaic to tutor. Oh well, money is still good. Money is always good, really. And so this'll be only one i've got thats precalc.
I'm still hooked on the beatles, which I will add that is fully attributable and blameable on Sam, as she suggested them more, and thats hwy they're on my mp3 player. I think I've listened to elenor rigby alone at least 2 times every day this week. or as bryan pointed out, elenor rugby. That is such a cool song....lady madonna and penny lane too.
I shall aslo include a funny story. Funny to me anyway. So, my brother had a play tonight, and after my mom and brother left, my dad called cuz he decided he would go. So he askes if my mom would have her cell phone, and i said that she wouldn't have it on, but she should have it. I hang up and go back to gunbound then hear a ring tone in the living room. i went in there and i heard it from a bag, so i feel my way around in there and found my mom's cell phone still on in there and just freshly 1 missed call. so i called my dad back and let him knew. when he mentioned to my mom that he tried to call her, she said she lost her phone. when she got home and heard the story on how i found the phone, my mom said "oh...i hadn't thought of that."
Here's her sign.
11/19/2004
Anyone feels like helping me get an iPod, sign up for an offer with this link:
http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=12121142
If i get it, anyone that fullfilled this and wants one of their own can have their link put here. Who knows, might help.
http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=12121142
If i get it, anyone that fullfilled this and wants one of their own can have their link put here. Who knows, might help.
Clever, Only Not messegeboard
Wednesday was so not cool. So, had to give Bryan a ride home and we went to Shakey's. Up to this point, it was alright. Then I realised I was supposed to start work at 4. I realised this on San Fernando road while driving home at like 3:55. Though, on the freeway George Lucas was in the car behind us. Honest. Bryan will vouch for me on this in the comments section. Or at least, he is expected to. Vouch dang it! Anyways, was 20 minutes late to my first session, 10 minutes late to my second session, and then on time to my third session, or well, half session. Tiring though.
Thursday I was yelled at for a good half hour about how I had to get up or I'd be late. Of course, I got to bryan's just when I said i'd be anyways on my time scale. Though, he sort of overslept, so I was still late to class.
Today was the first day really working with the G.A.T.E. kids at S.C.E. It's going to be interesting to see how this goes...to recap, I'm helping with the G.A.T.E. program because they're going to be doing a school newspaper and since my mom is already volunteering, I was sort of volunteered automatically. Though, I'm actually sort of looking forward to doing it. It'll be interesting to see this develop into a functional paper, and as I always worry, I find myself enjoying dealing with kids. This isn't right, as I'm supposed to hate people in general and especially kids, but I still sort of enjoy it. My mom also had said I was doing a good job explaining things...so that was sort of an odd comment from her. I'll probably post update things as we get further into the paper developing stage. Its interesting though to see that there are some people that've already shown that they can think in terms of layout, so this will be neat.
I've noticed that I've been entering a new phase as far as my interests and tastes and all. They've been really brodening, and I think that this is in major part because I'm no longer an iconoclast on principle. That is to say, I'm not opposing things just because someone else, either an individual person or the masses, like it. Of course, this doesn't mean i'm just buying into everyone else's viewpoints...but things like UCLA football, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys, things that I'd pushed away in the past, I'm now really getting in to. I've been to nearly all the UCLA home games this season, and I've been listening to a lot of both the Beatles and the Beach Boys and quite like it. Of couorse, I'm not just buying into music hype. Example...still think Elvis was a hack. :D
Wednesday was so not cool. So, had to give Bryan a ride home and we went to Shakey's. Up to this point, it was alright. Then I realised I was supposed to start work at 4. I realised this on San Fernando road while driving home at like 3:55. Though, on the freeway George Lucas was in the car behind us. Honest. Bryan will vouch for me on this in the comments section. Or at least, he is expected to. Vouch dang it! Anyways, was 20 minutes late to my first session, 10 minutes late to my second session, and then on time to my third session, or well, half session. Tiring though.
Thursday I was yelled at for a good half hour about how I had to get up or I'd be late. Of course, I got to bryan's just when I said i'd be anyways on my time scale. Though, he sort of overslept, so I was still late to class.
Today was the first day really working with the G.A.T.E. kids at S.C.E. It's going to be interesting to see how this goes...to recap, I'm helping with the G.A.T.E. program because they're going to be doing a school newspaper and since my mom is already volunteering, I was sort of volunteered automatically. Though, I'm actually sort of looking forward to doing it. It'll be interesting to see this develop into a functional paper, and as I always worry, I find myself enjoying dealing with kids. This isn't right, as I'm supposed to hate people in general and especially kids, but I still sort of enjoy it. My mom also had said I was doing a good job explaining things...so that was sort of an odd comment from her. I'll probably post update things as we get further into the paper developing stage. Its interesting though to see that there are some people that've already shown that they can think in terms of layout, so this will be neat.
I've noticed that I've been entering a new phase as far as my interests and tastes and all. They've been really brodening, and I think that this is in major part because I'm no longer an iconoclast on principle. That is to say, I'm not opposing things just because someone else, either an individual person or the masses, like it. Of course, this doesn't mean i'm just buying into everyone else's viewpoints...but things like UCLA football, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys, things that I'd pushed away in the past, I'm now really getting in to. I've been to nearly all the UCLA home games this season, and I've been listening to a lot of both the Beatles and the Beach Boys and quite like it. Of couorse, I'm not just buying into music hype. Example...still think Elvis was a hack. :D
11/16/2004
Good ol' Democrats of California. Its good to know they're diligantly working towards creating a gov't that can track us no matter where we are in the state like something out of 1984.
"Why Mike, how can you say that? The democrats are only concerned with freedom and liberty!" you say? Well, that'd be too predictable with california. So for years the state has relied on the freeway infrastructure to keep thriving. To take care of this, we have a state gas tax to take care of the highways. This money is only supposed to be for the roads, but of course, the government has a nice habit of robbing this account to pay for the stuff they don't have money for, welfare stuff mainly.
Of course, the Democrats have also been pushing more environmentally friendly cars for a while now. You know, good milage, electric cars, hybrids, the whole deal. Finally now, people are really beginning to get these alternative fuel sources cars.
Now, here comes the problem, apparently. More fuel efficient cars means less gas. Less gas means that the gov't gets less money. So, theres an idea floating around thats got support in Sacremento that instead of a gas tax, there will be a tax on how many miles you drive, and possibly even including it to mean you pay more for being on the freeway instead of surface streets and stuff like that.
How could this work, you say? well, there would be monitoring meters on the odometers as well as GPS systems to track where you are. So...anywhere in the state, they'd know you're there. Talk about freedom.
Oh, heres the other fun thing. So, you're having people pay based on how much they drive on California roads and highways. Of course, if this is to get more money...where's the money coming from for all this equiptment? Also, what do you do about when Californians are driving outside the state and the odometer is still running, or tourists that are driving on our roads? anything like this is a mistake, if for no other reason than it would be impossible to implement, completly ignoring the whole "being tracked by the gov't" thing.
"Why Mike, how can you say that? The democrats are only concerned with freedom and liberty!" you say? Well, that'd be too predictable with california. So for years the state has relied on the freeway infrastructure to keep thriving. To take care of this, we have a state gas tax to take care of the highways. This money is only supposed to be for the roads, but of course, the government has a nice habit of robbing this account to pay for the stuff they don't have money for, welfare stuff mainly.
Of course, the Democrats have also been pushing more environmentally friendly cars for a while now. You know, good milage, electric cars, hybrids, the whole deal. Finally now, people are really beginning to get these alternative fuel sources cars.
Now, here comes the problem, apparently. More fuel efficient cars means less gas. Less gas means that the gov't gets less money. So, theres an idea floating around thats got support in Sacremento that instead of a gas tax, there will be a tax on how many miles you drive, and possibly even including it to mean you pay more for being on the freeway instead of surface streets and stuff like that.
How could this work, you say? well, there would be monitoring meters on the odometers as well as GPS systems to track where you are. So...anywhere in the state, they'd know you're there. Talk about freedom.
Oh, heres the other fun thing. So, you're having people pay based on how much they drive on California roads and highways. Of course, if this is to get more money...where's the money coming from for all this equiptment? Also, what do you do about when Californians are driving outside the state and the odometer is still running, or tourists that are driving on our roads? anything like this is a mistake, if for no other reason than it would be impossible to implement, completly ignoring the whole "being tracked by the gov't" thing.
11/14/2004
Who really is the most evil candidate for president? This was a debated question leading up to the election. So, I've decided to use the most reliable means to figure this out, which is, of course, looking at vote counts for states and finding which candidate has the most vote counts containing '666'.
So first, the vote counts with 666 in them.
Bush: Arkansas - 566678
Kerry: Colorado - 960666, Connecticut - 647666
Cobb: Montana - 999 (666 but rotated)
and unrelated
Petrouka: Nevada - 1138. woot!
So, remember, numbers don't lie. And apparently Kerry is the most evil candidate.
So first, the vote counts with 666 in them.
Bush: Arkansas - 566678
Kerry: Colorado - 960666, Connecticut - 647666
Cobb: Montana - 999 (666 but rotated)
and unrelated
Petrouka: Nevada - 1138. woot!
So, remember, numbers don't lie. And apparently Kerry is the most evil candidate.
I've discovered that my essay thing on abortion thats located here on my site has gotten liked to in a thread that i can't read located at the site www.torrentbits.org here. If anyone can get an account there and let me know just why i'm getting hits from there, i'd appreciate it.
VICTORY!
late last night I finally was able to get Norton reinstalled, as uninstalling wasn't an option. Then eventually I was able to deactivate most of Norton, finally allowing the firewall to die forever and the computer to reach the internet.
Mike 1, The Evil Computer gods 0
late last night I finally was able to get Norton reinstalled, as uninstalling wasn't an option. Then eventually I was able to deactivate most of Norton, finally allowing the firewall to die forever and the computer to reach the internet.
Mike 1, The Evil Computer gods 0
11/13/2004
The computer wars continue to be long and difficult. So, I can't get to the network or the internet. And I'm having difficulty getitng the program to open. So I checked in the troubleshooting guide....which says to check the online help feature of the program. this is also where the uninstall info is. So, this is not very helpful at all. And directly deleting it caused windows to not start. So i've got some trouble here.
In other comments....I seriously have to learn to stop trying to do stuff. I've come to the conclusion that any situation I try to make better will, either immediately or in the long term, go downhill from my actions. Its amazing how I have the skill to ruin moods, shatter positive environments, and generally not realise when I should shut up or stop trying. I consider this one of those not so good elements about being a Taurus and therefore stubborn. Is even though I know I shouldn't even bother, I also know I'm still gonna try. And history repeats itself over and over. The part thats most annoying, though, is that pit in the stomach feeling when I spot exactly where I screwed up just a second too late to fix it. Seriously, its like...a reverse Midas touch or something. Which, coincedentally, would also explain the computer problems.
In other comments....I seriously have to learn to stop trying to do stuff. I've come to the conclusion that any situation I try to make better will, either immediately or in the long term, go downhill from my actions. Its amazing how I have the skill to ruin moods, shatter positive environments, and generally not realise when I should shut up or stop trying. I consider this one of those not so good elements about being a Taurus and therefore stubborn. Is even though I know I shouldn't even bother, I also know I'm still gonna try. And history repeats itself over and over. The part thats most annoying, though, is that pit in the stomach feeling when I spot exactly where I screwed up just a second too late to fix it. Seriously, its like...a reverse Midas touch or something. Which, coincedentally, would also explain the computer problems.
I'd like to put an endorsement in here relating computer software. In this case, Norton Internet Security 2005. I would like to endorse the burning of this product. For legal purposes, I would like to clarify that that means the burning in a fire, not copying.
Since last night like around 11, I've been working to get rid of some viruses that got on the computer, I think, around when the virus subscription lapsed. I'd been fighting adware previously, but this was taking the fight to a new level. Thanks to trend's housecall virus software, I was able to find the problem areas. For this, I plug them here. Most helpful. Anyways, so I was up till 4 in the morning working on fixing things with no luck, and so I picked it up again today between 11 and 12. Around 3 I finally got all traces of viruses off the computer. I got some windows updates on there, and for a shining moment, the computer was working alright. Better than it has in a while, actually.
Then, I installed the afforementioned Norton product. Which first said i had to uninstall the norton stuff already on there which was some very helpful stuff. But so I did so because we need anti-virus protection on there and the subscription was up, and this was the option we went for rather tahn just another subscription.
Everything has been downhill since then. Norton crashes when I try to adjust the configuration settings, and it did a really cute thing to make the internet secure. Theres now no internet access from that computer. So...I also can't check my email anymore, cuz its all on that computer. Theres like 6 programs that it starts up when the computer starts up now, and theres no convienient way to figure out what they are. The old one...the antivirus program was like....av or something. I can't recall, but it was clear what it was. Not so now. So this program is slowing the computer and is killing off net connection. Its got the network, just not the net. and as this is being posted from the network, that connection is fine. This'll probably eat up much of the rest of my night, too. Change is bad, change is very bad.
Since last night like around 11, I've been working to get rid of some viruses that got on the computer, I think, around when the virus subscription lapsed. I'd been fighting adware previously, but this was taking the fight to a new level. Thanks to trend's housecall virus software, I was able to find the problem areas. For this, I plug them here. Most helpful. Anyways, so I was up till 4 in the morning working on fixing things with no luck, and so I picked it up again today between 11 and 12. Around 3 I finally got all traces of viruses off the computer. I got some windows updates on there, and for a shining moment, the computer was working alright. Better than it has in a while, actually.
Then, I installed the afforementioned Norton product. Which first said i had to uninstall the norton stuff already on there which was some very helpful stuff. But so I did so because we need anti-virus protection on there and the subscription was up, and this was the option we went for rather tahn just another subscription.
Everything has been downhill since then. Norton crashes when I try to adjust the configuration settings, and it did a really cute thing to make the internet secure. Theres now no internet access from that computer. So...I also can't check my email anymore, cuz its all on that computer. Theres like 6 programs that it starts up when the computer starts up now, and theres no convienient way to figure out what they are. The old one...the antivirus program was like....av or something. I can't recall, but it was clear what it was. Not so now. So this program is slowing the computer and is killing off net connection. Its got the network, just not the net. and as this is being posted from the network, that connection is fine. This'll probably eat up much of the rest of my night, too. Change is bad, change is very bad.
11/12/2004
I hate psycho-lefties. Now, when I say this...i don't mean Democrats. I mean people that feel that anyone that doesn't agree with them is stupid and/or racist. Especially the crowd that think they're the only people that have a right to free speech. Check out this from Berkley that sums it up: Michelle Malkin speaking at Berkley
Personally, I need to check out her book cuz it has seemed really interesting.
Anyways....the last week has been so not cool. Big thing was that I had two big assignments to take care of. The first is my obituary for Michael Moore which I might post for kicks. This was an assignment for Jour 110, where I had to write an obit for someone that hasn't died. I figured, if I could write one for Moore and not have my opinion of him come across, then I have good control over my writing and the connotations within it. Second was my take home test for Math 262...Linear Alebra. The test was on the matrix neo. heh. but so I think I actually did alright on it....2 questions I didn't do to well with...but we shall see how it went overall.
Of course, today was the most annoying day of all. Traffic allll over the place. as in, the radio just said about 10 minutes ago theres traffic from LAX to the 14 freeway. The 5 was closed to 1 lane near valencia blvd, so that made traffic bad, so I took the 14 like i normally do...and san fernando was backed up, both lanes, well onto the 14. so i passed that and took golden triangle off, and then found road construction on via princessa...so i worked through residental to get down to sierra hwy, to some street, then back to via princessa, then to solodad and the 76 station. gas is still...2.349. which is most annoying cuz down in northridge it was 2.299 at a 76 station across from CSUN. but anyways....to the bank then home. I got home 1 hour and 45 minutes after i left csun. so..traffic added like an hour. maybe 50 minutes. so not cool.
good news though is i was listening to the news on the way home....with only like....a day of deliberation, the jury in the scott peterson case found him guilty of first degree murder of Laci and second degree murder of the baby. I don't think that the baby should count as murder....cuz....just a fetus and all....but he SOOO deserved the first degree for Laci. Now just to hope that he fries. Week or two till sentencing is done. John and Ken are very, very happy.
In other stuff, I think I need to do something soon. So...anyone feels like bowling or miniature golf or something, let me know. cuz.....well fresh air would be nice, hense the mini golf....and bowling is sorta active too. and i figure...it'd do me good and i'm otherwise dead at this point. I think in the last 2 weeks, i've had 3 days i went to bed before 3. and like all cuz of school work too. curse you school work! Though i did discover that if you search on yahoo for "Michael Moore Biography" the third site on the list is the starwars.com site for jabba the hutt. try it yourself.
to make a couple other comments...anyone feeling like reading a couple good blogs as we're going in to fallujah (or as bryan thinks...fellatio. not that he thinks thats what the city's called...he just assosciates the two):
The Messopatamian
Healing Iraq
both of these are written BY IRAQIS in IRAQ. No media, no middlemen. straight from the people. Read more of the messopatamian, and he seems QUITE happy to have his country being liberated, even though the violence is problematic.
Personally, I need to check out her book cuz it has seemed really interesting.
Anyways....the last week has been so not cool. Big thing was that I had two big assignments to take care of. The first is my obituary for Michael Moore which I might post for kicks. This was an assignment for Jour 110, where I had to write an obit for someone that hasn't died. I figured, if I could write one for Moore and not have my opinion of him come across, then I have good control over my writing and the connotations within it. Second was my take home test for Math 262...Linear Alebra. The test was on the matrix neo. heh. but so I think I actually did alright on it....2 questions I didn't do to well with...but we shall see how it went overall.
Of course, today was the most annoying day of all. Traffic allll over the place. as in, the radio just said about 10 minutes ago theres traffic from LAX to the 14 freeway. The 5 was closed to 1 lane near valencia blvd, so that made traffic bad, so I took the 14 like i normally do...and san fernando was backed up, both lanes, well onto the 14. so i passed that and took golden triangle off, and then found road construction on via princessa...so i worked through residental to get down to sierra hwy, to some street, then back to via princessa, then to solodad and the 76 station. gas is still...2.349. which is most annoying cuz down in northridge it was 2.299 at a 76 station across from CSUN. but anyways....to the bank then home. I got home 1 hour and 45 minutes after i left csun. so..traffic added like an hour. maybe 50 minutes. so not cool.
good news though is i was listening to the news on the way home....with only like....a day of deliberation, the jury in the scott peterson case found him guilty of first degree murder of Laci and second degree murder of the baby. I don't think that the baby should count as murder....cuz....just a fetus and all....but he SOOO deserved the first degree for Laci. Now just to hope that he fries. Week or two till sentencing is done. John and Ken are very, very happy.
In other stuff, I think I need to do something soon. So...anyone feels like bowling or miniature golf or something, let me know. cuz.....well fresh air would be nice, hense the mini golf....and bowling is sorta active too. and i figure...it'd do me good and i'm otherwise dead at this point. I think in the last 2 weeks, i've had 3 days i went to bed before 3. and like all cuz of school work too. curse you school work! Though i did discover that if you search on yahoo for "Michael Moore Biography" the third site on the list is the starwars.com site for jabba the hutt. try it yourself.
to make a couple other comments...anyone feeling like reading a couple good blogs as we're going in to fallujah (or as bryan thinks...fellatio. not that he thinks thats what the city's called...he just assosciates the two):
The Messopatamian
Healing Iraq
both of these are written BY IRAQIS in IRAQ. No media, no middlemen. straight from the people. Read more of the messopatamian, and he seems QUITE happy to have his country being liberated, even though the violence is problematic.
11/07/2004
Well, a lot to recap so here goes....
Last Saturday was the UCLA-Stanford game. Stanford is always been a school thats bugged me, and they've easily THE most annoying marching band in the nation. Keeping stuff short cuz I don't remember much of the game anymore....but long story short is that UCLA was able to shut Stanford down with a 21-0 win, the first shutout since...like 1996, I believe. Good game, on the whole.
Then it was out to meet up with physics people for a party. They'd been bowling prior, so I'm disappointed I missed out on that. Cuz I would've ruled. Anyway, it went from there to someone's house down in Encino...and I was there for several hours....the wierdest thing was that ALL the music that was played was from my CDs... System of a Down, Eminem, No Doubt, and Queen. Played some ping pong...which I should get better at. And there was a bit of mindgames...and then 2 hours of poker. Final chip count....I had 78% of the chips. Only about 40-45% going into it though. I got down to 3 pennies (yes, we played with pennies) and then went all in with a straight and then raised to power.
Tuesday was....well, wow. talk about days. I'm gonna talk about the election following this in a seperate post, so I'll just talk about the first part; Tuesday morning I didn't go to school, and instead went to Ricky's funeral. A couple days prior I'd found out that Andria was going to be going, but that she seemed to have similar feelings to me on it all....so I'd gotten a hold of her about meeting up and going together. It turned into Andria and her bf, as well as Ricky W and Stacy. Reunions are great, aren't they? As was discussed, we should do this more often. But anyway...the funeral....seemed cheapened to me. The pastor did most of his talking seeming like it was a tv show or something with things about what was going on in the world and drawing wierd parralels...and all the movies he used. Example..."he was brave, but he had heart. Like Braveheart." This just seemed really out of place to just create those references. I will clarify though, that I mean, we all know that at my funeral, Bryan is just going to go up there and talk about Star Wars for an hour or two, but thats a situation makes sense. There wasn't a Ricky-Braveheart connection so it seemed wierd to have all that. Also, I mean, the last bit of talking just about Jesus and Christianity and then saying how thats the only right religion but he's not going to try to convert but Christianity is the only right religion also just...it didn't seem right either. Overall...well, the pastor disappointed me. The youth pastor they had talk, and when his dad talked...those were powerful though. Anyway, after that, we all went to BJs for lunch, so I think the general thing was...were it not for the funeral, it was nice.
Yesterday, another football game for UCLA, this time against Washington State. This was some of the worst playing UCLA has done all season, imo, and I think that the fact that there was a turnover by UCLA in the first 8 seconds and Washington scored in the first 20 as really indicative of this. The UCLA offense really has not had any strong games this year, and thats really a problem, and they can't rely on the defense to win games now. I mean, in the first half the first downs count was 14 for Washington and 4 for UCLA. They don't have a strong dependable offensive game. Which is not to say the offence doesn't have strong players on the whole, but I continue to be very dissatisfied with Drew Olsson, the quarterback. I just don't think he's doing a good job on the field, and his passing leaves a lot to be desired. Most of his passes were dangerous ones to receivers taht were covered and he was missing where he had open receivers, and he was below 50% for completitions. When the offense is never out there for more than 3 or 4 plays, that puts the defense in a very tough position because they don't get any chance to rest. Though the defensive performace today was really bad and the number of missed tackles was through the roof. This is a team that in games prior were hitting the QB every play, and yesterday they weren't putting any pressure on him, to the point that he ran with the ball on a LOT of plays because he has no one between him and the line of scrimmage. I mean, when Washington can be at 3rd and long routinly and also ROUTINLY get the first down....something is SERIOUSLY wrong. The defense was sloppy and couldn't cover for the weak offense. Though I don't hold the problems with the offense to just Olsson. At this point I also am questioning the coaching on that...I mean, the number of times they didn't go for a first down on 4th and 1 when they NEEDED a TD...it created a very bad situation. Its why I'm surprised that UCLA was able to come back to lose just 31-29 after failing the two point conversion. Though, why that didn't work...I DO hold that against Olsson...since he threw the ball away to the line of scrimmage...and that doesn't get you anywhere. With trouble like that, he should've thrown it for the end zone...at least then there was a CHANCE someone could've caught it. Hopfully they'll do better up at Oregon next week. And then a month from now, the USC game. And I get to go. Tom's gonna be so annoyed about that....lol.
Last Saturday was the UCLA-Stanford game. Stanford is always been a school thats bugged me, and they've easily THE most annoying marching band in the nation. Keeping stuff short cuz I don't remember much of the game anymore....but long story short is that UCLA was able to shut Stanford down with a 21-0 win, the first shutout since...like 1996, I believe. Good game, on the whole.
Then it was out to meet up with physics people for a party. They'd been bowling prior, so I'm disappointed I missed out on that. Cuz I would've ruled. Anyway, it went from there to someone's house down in Encino...and I was there for several hours....the wierdest thing was that ALL the music that was played was from my CDs... System of a Down, Eminem, No Doubt, and Queen. Played some ping pong...which I should get better at. And there was a bit of mindgames...and then 2 hours of poker. Final chip count....I had 78% of the chips. Only about 40-45% going into it though. I got down to 3 pennies (yes, we played with pennies) and then went all in with a straight and then raised to power.
Tuesday was....well, wow. talk about days. I'm gonna talk about the election following this in a seperate post, so I'll just talk about the first part; Tuesday morning I didn't go to school, and instead went to Ricky's funeral. A couple days prior I'd found out that Andria was going to be going, but that she seemed to have similar feelings to me on it all....so I'd gotten a hold of her about meeting up and going together. It turned into Andria and her bf, as well as Ricky W and Stacy. Reunions are great, aren't they? As was discussed, we should do this more often. But anyway...the funeral....seemed cheapened to me. The pastor did most of his talking seeming like it was a tv show or something with things about what was going on in the world and drawing wierd parralels...and all the movies he used. Example..."he was brave, but he had heart. Like Braveheart." This just seemed really out of place to just create those references. I will clarify though, that I mean, we all know that at my funeral, Bryan is just going to go up there and talk about Star Wars for an hour or two, but thats a situation makes sense. There wasn't a Ricky-Braveheart connection so it seemed wierd to have all that. Also, I mean, the last bit of talking just about Jesus and Christianity and then saying how thats the only right religion but he's not going to try to convert but Christianity is the only right religion also just...it didn't seem right either. Overall...well, the pastor disappointed me. The youth pastor they had talk, and when his dad talked...those were powerful though. Anyway, after that, we all went to BJs for lunch, so I think the general thing was...were it not for the funeral, it was nice.
Yesterday, another football game for UCLA, this time against Washington State. This was some of the worst playing UCLA has done all season, imo, and I think that the fact that there was a turnover by UCLA in the first 8 seconds and Washington scored in the first 20 as really indicative of this. The UCLA offense really has not had any strong games this year, and thats really a problem, and they can't rely on the defense to win games now. I mean, in the first half the first downs count was 14 for Washington and 4 for UCLA. They don't have a strong dependable offensive game. Which is not to say the offence doesn't have strong players on the whole, but I continue to be very dissatisfied with Drew Olsson, the quarterback. I just don't think he's doing a good job on the field, and his passing leaves a lot to be desired. Most of his passes were dangerous ones to receivers taht were covered and he was missing where he had open receivers, and he was below 50% for completitions. When the offense is never out there for more than 3 or 4 plays, that puts the defense in a very tough position because they don't get any chance to rest. Though the defensive performace today was really bad and the number of missed tackles was through the roof. This is a team that in games prior were hitting the QB every play, and yesterday they weren't putting any pressure on him, to the point that he ran with the ball on a LOT of plays because he has no one between him and the line of scrimmage. I mean, when Washington can be at 3rd and long routinly and also ROUTINLY get the first down....something is SERIOUSLY wrong. The defense was sloppy and couldn't cover for the weak offense. Though I don't hold the problems with the offense to just Olsson. At this point I also am questioning the coaching on that...I mean, the number of times they didn't go for a first down on 4th and 1 when they NEEDED a TD...it created a very bad situation. Its why I'm surprised that UCLA was able to come back to lose just 31-29 after failing the two point conversion. Though, why that didn't work...I DO hold that against Olsson...since he threw the ball away to the line of scrimmage...and that doesn't get you anywhere. With trouble like that, he should've thrown it for the end zone...at least then there was a CHANCE someone could've caught it. Hopfully they'll do better up at Oregon next week. And then a month from now, the USC game. And I get to go. Tom's gonna be so annoyed about that....lol.
