Value Loss

I recently bought a big jug of off-brand mouthwash and it tastes like overchewed gum. It's as if I have been working on a piece of Winterfresh long enough to add a second piece and have that wear out, leaving my jaw aching and looking for a trash can. I only have 2 more quarts to go!

It's too late for Exclamations

I've been up all night working on a math homework. It's been too difficult to say I know my stuff, but the only way I have been able to solve any of the problems is by staring at it long enough to get a "Eureka!" moment. None of the solutions have been obvious or even discoverable through brute force.

It's too late for me to think about these creative approaches.

Broken Windows Need Replacement

My Windows machine was having all sort of problems recently, which was causing me to have all sorts of delays when working on actually important stuff. I got so sick of it, that I did a clean install of Vista. Hopefully, this will stay cleaner than my usual installs, where I just build up a bunch of junk until I go nuts again.

The key is to stop installing useless programs and games that I find. I have problems with that (including games like WoW or Morrowind). Here's my list of necessities:

Visual Studio.NET
Internet Information Systems
An FTP Server (Bulletproof)
Firefox 2.0
Internet Explorer 7.0

This list should not grow too much if I keep the machine limited to a development machine and don't start playing games or using it regularly. I'll let you know when I break this goal (estimated time: 1 week).

Communication Difficulties

Tonight, I was really drained of energy and took a nap. I woke up to a phone call from Katie, but I was too drowsy to remember the ring, picking up the phone, or starting the conversation. By the time I gained my senses (a little) I noticed that I didn't remember the ring, so naturally I must have called her in my post-nap drowsy state. The conversation was awkward, to say the least.

Snowfall

It snowed pretty hard last week, which was a good excuse to get a few pictures while it was falling.

Television Overload

Tonight's combination of 24 and Heroes makes these two days very intensive on my brain as I try to handle all of the subplots and character arcs happening at the same time, weeks apart. I think I'm up to the challenge.

UPDATE: Apparently, they are set up against each other. WHAT WILL I DO???

Functions are Frat-tastic

I saw someone's fraternity t-shirt today, which reminded me that I think about greek letters all day, every day.

OMG BSG

Tonight brought the return of Battlestar Galactica nights to the apartment of Jesse and Clay. The new time required an adjustment in my extra lecture time for the freshmen and a new outlook on my Sunday evenings. Here are some excerpts:

BATTLESTAR: The new half-season looks to have more movement with the action than the last. I got used to the reactionary nature the series took since the new season started, but I hope for some new plots to stir my imagination during the gaps between episodes. I fear the giant leap they took at the end of season 2 has started to bite the writers in the the ass, and they cannot gain back their previous glory. I keep optimistic because the Apollo/Starbuck drama should be resolved next week and we can worry about more important issues.

CLAY: Clay apparently auditioned and acquired the role of one of the dancers in the local rendition of "The Full Monty." I'm sure he's thrilled to do some more acting, but I'm not sure how much of my heterosexuality I want to forfeit before I support him by attending a performance.

JESSE: Jesse has been pressured enough by his family to work on his masters, with hopeful graduation in August. I'm very proud of him, and only sad that my weak pressures this summer didn't work. I'm currently registered to finish my thesis this semester (or I wouldn't actually have an undergrad thesis) which worries me enough. Also, Jesse thought parking in the half-plowed snow was a good idea. I had to help push him out, which was very difficult considering the state I was in after watching Battlestar and Idiocracy over there.

IDIOCRACY: I don't know why I was expecting another "Office Space" kind of movie, but I was pleasantly surprised with the originality and absolute disregard for offense that was shown in this film. It took everything that I despise about America today and compressed it to saturation into a 90-minute film. Let me be as big-headed as I really am for a second: good thing I'm becoming Catholic at Easter. ;)

Hath Frozeth Overeth?

I'm currently downloading the DVD of Windows Vista Business Edition from MSDN Academic Alliance. I don't know how much longer I'll have this, so I better make use of it. I don't really have a good reason to upgrade, but I'll do it anyway. No sense in needing to pay for it later, when I do have a reason.

Ski Trip Pictorals

I have assembled and organized my photos from this weekend. Be sure to check out my photostream for the latest in my adventures.

A Tale of Meat

My dad and I went to Pug Ryan's Brewery for dinner tonight. Dad challenged* me to eat the combo platter of ribs (2 beef ribs and a half rack of pork ribs) and I defeated him. He thinks he conned me into a draw through some talk of dessert, but I ate both heels of the bread, plus a mid section while he only had two. His talk of soup v. salad doesn't count, either.

For the record: nothing makes you feel more like a man than eating meat off the bone. Discuss.

* ordering such a monstrous meal is the same as challenging your guest to eat the same.

Ski Synopsis

I'm in Dillon, CO, resting after a second day of hard skiing with my dad. Yesterday was Vail, today was Beaver Creek, and tomorrow will be Keystone. I'm so sore, I tried to move from my laying position to sitting on the side of the bed, but it hurt too much to make it the whole way.

I'm working on collecting all the important pictures from this weekend, but you'll probably need to wait until I have time on Tuesday. I'm going to bed soon instead of filtering through the bajillion pictures taken via sports mode and cropping as necessary. The good news is that my camera works really well out in the snow, fits in my waterproof coat pocket perfectly, and the lens cap stays on when I want it to.

That's Where They Getcha

I applied for graduation this morning. It had a non-refundable $25 application fee. I love how much they use small fees like this to make it just that much more expensive to get a degree. I'm not going to complain about the cost of school, but admire the skill of extortion the educational system has.

That skill will one day pay my salary.

Goal Tracking

As the new year approachethed and camethed, I decided to be better about tracking how productive I am every day. In order to do this, I needed some incentive and public humilitation in order to see how I am doing. If I want to use the excuse "I'm too busy with homework to work out," I better be actually doing homework instead of being lazy. So, I've started using Joe's Goals to track my progress in every department. I also hacked a little script to strip his advertising from the "goal badge" and put it in the sidebar. You can click the picture to see my goals in particular, or just watch the little green line. I don't have any negative goals, but I'm open to suggestions.

So far, I'm tracking work for each class, including reading or homeworks. Design studio classwork and team deliverables are same goals. Workouts are split between strength and cardio, and cardio is worth 3 points per check. It's harder to do each time, so it's worth more. However, a few reps of the weights will get me only 1 point, because I never had to leave the room. Hopefully I'll get the line to a proper amount and keep it there.

Mom's Birthday Surprise

Andrew had a great idea for a gift for our mother on her birthday. The boys got her something together, put a bow on it, and set it on the kitchen island. She can't open it until her birthday on February 16th. That'll drive her nuts.

Here's a picture of it sitting on its perch:

Suggestive Behavior

I've been using Gmail for a few uses, notably emailing Katie. Gmail makes money by selling context-specific ads. So, they read your email and find similar ads that may apply to you. Sometimes, this is effective. However, I got this suggestion today: