Bakken Christmas Activity

So many pictures...

I took 250 pictures at the Bakken family Christmas today, and put 36 of them in an album worthy of saving. I guess that's how it works, especially when trying to capture fast-moving cousins without a flash. One of these days I'll realize that clear, bright, colorless pictures are worth avoiding the hassle of low-light conditions.

I'm still testing out a few things on the camera, so my picture skillz are still very low. I'm grinding to reach a higher level, though, and hopefully I will improve quickly. I'll repost when I have the pictures ready for viewing.

Perhaps I Should Sleep

I've been up late tonight with a sudden bought of productivity on my thesis project. However, I definitely should have stopped around 2AM in order to preserve my sanity and productivity. I took a quick look at the method BigInteger.isProbablePrime(int c) and turned away, looking for a different method. It took me an hour, and some research into primality tests such as this, in order to realize that the mentioned method is exactly what I needed...

A Puppy!

It snowed this morning, so I took some pictures of a puppy:

Haaj to DL

Today started out simply: just coffee at the cafe with some friends. That quickly grew into the whole group, which led to a crazy mission 20 miles NW for some socks, which led to playing video games at my house with dinner attached. The entire adventure is detailed here.

I spent a lot of time playing around with my camera, which felt a little strange at first, but I'm glad I got so much detail out of the day. The constant interruptions of photography were not much for the others, outside of making fun of me for playing photo-boy. Perhaps these photos will change their outlook on the frequency of a blinding flash in their eyes.

My Emo Shot

No new camera is complete without the emo self-portait...

Christmas Day Activities

Today was wonderfully lazy, including lots of guitar hero:



Then, dinner time came along at the start of some football game. I don't think it was that important.


After dinner, the rest of the family sat down for some cards.

Christmas Time w/ Photos

I'm home for Christmas, and it is our tradition to open presents on Christmas eve. It turns out that I got an awesome digital camera for Christmas, instead of gift certificates to put towards the camera I was going to buy. Here are a few photos:


Andrew and Dad wanted to play some ping pong.


Tom just never smiles properly for the camera.


Never interrupt the father figure when he's reading.

JavaScripted

I spent the better part of my 8 hour shift this morning improving a GreaseMonkey script for IvoryTower. GreaseMonkey is a Firefox plugin that allows me to install custom JavaScript files into pages that meet certain criteria. The gist is that it automatically updates Wikipedia-style links (such as [[Topic]] will link you to that topic) when I am posting to the forum.

The best part was when I got to implement a screen-scraping algorithm with AJAX. It complicated things a bit, but allowed me to learn some of the more complicated Javascript, but also hack workarounds. It was quite interesting, and I hope to find more uses for GreaseMonkey.

Selection Process

I apparently did a good job of selecting Math programs for applications. I was looking for a ranking recently, just for kicks, and found this ranking system with custom ranking criteria. UNL is ranked 85th, and all other schools are below 25th. This is both exciting and scary, as my Math GRE score is less than satisfactory in my opinion. At least I'm looking at schools that agree with my goals...

A Summer Excursion

This summer, I plan on doing a lot of traveling. Instead of wandering around Europe, like some people do, I'm going to wander these great United States. I have a lot of friends and family around that I haven't seen in a while, so it might be good to stop around as many places as possible. Also, there are certain parts of the country I haven't seen yet, such as New England. I hope to take this trip starting in July and a little into August, before moving to whatever grad school I will attend. In order to be uber-cheap, I hope to use Amtrak's month-long ultimate pass to its fullest. Here is a map of some proposed destinations:



The numbers correspond to these locations:

1. Detroit Lakes, MN. This will be my start and end location, as it is the closest train station to home.

2. Fargo, ND. It is possible that the Microsoft Dynamics people will move in as early as August, so they may be around for the end of the trip.

3. Seattle, WA. Lots of my friends graduate to a cushy Microsoft job, including Travis Spomer, Matt Johnson and Steven, and Lincoln DeMaris. It would also be nice to see Brian Holley, even though I haven't heard from him since he left Kauffman. This might be a double stop if Katie gets her Microsoft internship.

4. San Francisco, CA. My aunt lives in South San Francisco with her husband and son. It would be nice to stop by, if not only for a real meal and a shower.

5. Phoenix, AZ. Most of the people who I used to talk to, but have since disappeared went to Phoenix. I'm talking to you, TRACY and TOM.

6. Dallas, TX. I can't remember if Travis is moving to Dallas or Boston.

7. Pensacola, FL. Andrew is moving to Eglin AFB soon, and should be there a while. I'll actually get to visit him this time, as opposed to the last two places he's been.

8. Boston, MA. Patrick is moving to Boston. Maybe Travis, too.

9. Portland, ME. I've never been to New England, so I might as well go as far as possible and take in the sights, briefly, and then turn around.

10. St. Louis, MO. Bob and Mandy will be there. Bob speaks of renting bikes and going for a ride.

11. Kansas City, MO/KS. Beermann, Dee, Nila and Nate, and all you Cerner kids get to hang out with me! I'm sure you're excited. Also, Katie has an offer at Garmin, so it's the other option for double-stops.

12. Lincoln, NE. All you lincolnites better miss me, and I'll stop by to see you. Maybe Jordan can take me home to meet his parents and get those pancakes he promised me.

13. St. Paul, MN. I don't know if Joe will be in Perham over the summer, or working in St. Paul, but I know Paul will still be there.

14. Duluth, MN. A few friends up here, Gus for sure. What is Jake doing for the summer?

These are in no particular order, and minimizing travel time will be key. I hope to bring two carry-on bags: one for a few sets of clothing, and another for a camera and computer. This will require me to spend no more than 2 consecutive days on a train between stops so I can shower and wash clothing occasionally.

If you think you should be on this list, or should be removed, let me know. I hope to find more about how the train schedules work and plan a route that maximizes my visits and mooching.

Applied Stolee

This morning marks my completion of graduate applications. All I need to do now is make sure my letters of recommendation are sent and I'll be good to go. All of my GREs are taken, fees are paid, and energy is drained. It's nap time, soon.

Expectational Presence

I got the last Christmas gift I have purchased in the mail yesterday. I'm so excited to give everyone their gifts, but not excited to wrap them. Katie picked me up some wrapping paper, but she chose to be economical and buy just maybe enough. Now, wrapping will actually require thought, and I won't be able to just throw things together like I used to.

A Film Review

I'm pretty darn sure I got an A in my film class. I got A's on all of my papers, and had 90% attendance (half the grade), so it's almost guaranteed. Now that no one can cheat from my papers in any way, here is a list of them, in order:

Paper 1: The Battleship Potemkin

Analyze a film watched during the first 4 weeks of class.

Paper 2: Akira Kurosawa (1950-1960)

Analyze a director during a 10-year period before 1970.

Paper 3: Crime Films (1940-1949)

Analyze a genre in a 10-year time period, including 5 films in detail.

I would definitely rate paper 2 as my favorite, and paper 3 as my least favorite. Enjoy what papers for film classes look like. Nothing special, but took actual thought sometimes. I'm sure that's more than what most people gave.

Drowsiness

This morning, I fell asleep while walking down the hall before my 4-8:00 shift at the desk. These might be a long 4 hours.

Score Tease

I got a letter from ETS in the mail today. I was excited, as I'm not supposed to get my Math subject scores for another two weeks. However, it was just a notification that they sent my scores to the three schools I requested. What a let down. Less of a let down than my math scores, probably.