Another week bites the dust

Well, here we are at the end of another week. They always seem to go so fast. Tonight I'll probably do the normal routine that most awesome bachelors do. Homework while watching a movie. I realize that this is incredibly lame, but I really don't care. I kind of enjoy staying in and just doing whatever. I'm kind of working through a movie list right now, and my homework needs doing. Might as well be productive right? It might not seem enjoyable, but the stillness is nice, and tomorrow I get to see my family.

On an unrelated note, I managed to add a decent reader, configure Tweetdeck and Thunderbird to my liking. Hopefully this will minimize my online time to the necessary things and increase my homework time.

Because I Can

I decided to post, for no other reason than that I can, and that Zemanta is fun to use. Well, I guess it is noteworthy to say that I added a translator to the old blog today. Now my vast audiences from around the globe that number in the zero can access this delicate prose in their native tongues. This does bring me to the Blogger template. I don't want to move to a layout version. Give me my HTML. Do I want to have a nice little UI that I can use to pull boxes all over the place with? No. Steve wants to be able to make things as wide and skinny, tall and short as he so pleases. Also, I decided to use all the links Zemanta provides from now on, even if they do not fit. Take UI for example, interesting, but not so relevant. Maybe next time.

Joy

Image by laffy4k via Flickr

Lately I've been feeling kind of constrained and backed into a corner with homework and responsibilities; pretty normal for a college student. Yesterday though, I felt more at peace than I have in a long time. It might have been the spring-like weather, or seeing my extended family, but something changed. At L.O.F.T. last night, I was filled with overwhelming joy, and I could not stop smiling. I think I even laughed aloud during a song we were singing. I hope this lasts; it feels good.

Thanks much

By the way, thanks to Alex for relaying the good word about Zemanta. It's really a great blogging tool, it recommends tags and offers to insert links for you to Wikipedia pages. I'm impressed.

Aha

So in middle school and high school, I was involved in Science Olympiad in region 12 doing a variety of powder and chemical analysis events. I never really understood the chemistry of it until now. In O-Chem lab, we started integrating chemical analysis of substances with the normal IR, GC and NMR methods that we usually use, and it's all coming together. It's kind of sad that it took me until my second year of undergrad to understand why the things I did in 8th-12th grade worked, but let's not dwell on that. Kudos to David VanDyke for instructing middle schoolers in identification chemistry.

60 ton angel

The album In Absentia is the most beautiful collection of music I've ever heard.
I got wiring loose inside my head
It has an mellifluous quality to it that is just amazing.
I got books that I never ever read
The rhythms flow and writhe.
I got secrets in my garden shed
Bass echoes from the bottom of my soul, urging it to sing.
I got a scar where all my urges bled
The lyrics are compelling and peaceful, yet passionate.
I got people underneath my bed
Reminds me of a time and place, not long ago, that I dearly miss.
I got a place where all my dreams are dead
Yet I'm left hopeful of what is and has yet to come.
Swim with me into your blackest eyes

Oi!

When walking back to class today, I couldn't help but think that it was kind of warm outside. Sure enough, when I got back, the thermometer said 26.8F. Time to break out the swimsuits (I guess that's the beauty of waking up and seeing 0.7F). Anyhoo, I'm warmed up considerably now, from dancing (wild, awful dutch-boy style) by myself to Jaydiohead. Thank you to my friend Alex for hooking me up. (Currently downloading the album...w00tz)

Emily Dickinson

The poetry of Dickinson has continually fascinated me. It fascinates me that people can make a shred of sense from it. Now I don't claim to be a poet, and maybe I'm incredible dense, but I just don't get it. One particularly vexing portion is from poem 398, or "I had not minded--Walls...". Actually the entire poem is a jumble to me:

I had not minded - Walls -
Were Universe - one Rock -
And far I heard his silver Call
The other side the Block -

I’d tunnel - till my Groove
Pushed sudden thro’ to his -
Then my face take her Recompense -
The looking in his Eyes -

But ’tis a single Hair -
A filament - a law -
A Cobweb - wove in Adamant -
A Battlement - of Straw -

A limit like the Veil
Unto the Lady’s face -
But every Mesh - a Citadel -
And Dragons - in the Crease -

Thomas Wentworth Higginson goes as far as to call it, "poetry torn up by the roots, with rain and dew and earth still clinging to them." It sounds more like the writings of a woman who needs a stronger command of the English language. Since most of her poems were published after her death, I think that English majors decided to make up a bunch of meanings from this nonsense. The poem is so general that it probably meant something to her only, but if anyone can find meaning in it, let me know so I may be enlightened...Please...*Please*.

Oh...so happy

So I just installed DS Linux on my brother's incredibly old free laptop...not extremely difficult, but tough enough that I needed some help. If this were windows, I would still be waiting to talk to someone that would either not be able to help me, or tell me to reboot. The beauty of the *nix community is that they know their stuff, and they are willing to help n00bs like myself. Granted, Linux boxes usually aren't gaming PCs or anything like that...but right now there is an operating system comprising all of <50MB on a decrepit old Thinkpad running a tiny bit of ram and stinky little processor that is quick and productive. Glory hallelujah!!

P.S. Thank you jhsu for your forum post(you are t3h r341 r0xx0r)!

Economics

Lately, with the economy the way it is, and the nature of our situation, I've been questioning the validity of professional sports. How can a man that throws a baseball get a deal for millions of dollars simply to entertain. Maybe not everyone can do what he does, but that does not rationalize paying someone $160 million to play a game. As a society, we have our priorities completely out of line. Maybe we could put more emphasis on getting food to those that have none. Since when is it ok to finance entertainment with billions, instead of providing our fellow human beings with enough food to live on. Even worse, there's an industry that comments on our professional sporting entertainment. How messed up is that? I'm not knocking capitalism (just the way we entertain ourselves), but maybe we could focus less on our excess and more on providing basic needs.

Pain

Alex and Jarrod did this, so I clearly have to...

411:
1. Put Your iTunes/Windows Media Player/ETC on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.

1) If someone says, "Is this okay?" you say:
Just Go (Wow, I'm usually not so frank and condescending)

2) How would you describe yourself?
Feels Like Tonight

3) What do you like in a girl/guy?
Jingle of a Dog's Collar (Not my fault :P)

4) How do you feel today?
Desperation Song (Some days)

5) What is your life's purpose?
Last Cigarette

6) What is your motto?
The Video Store

7) What do you friends think of you?
You Never Let Go (this would have been far better as #8)

8) What do you think of your parents?
Divine Invitation

9) What do you think about very often?
Rich Niggaz (I don't even know what to say, I'll just wallow in how unbelievable it is that I actually have this song in my library)

10) What is 2+2?
Victims of Love

11) What do you think of your best friend?
Berlin

12) What do you think of the person you like?
Creativity

13) What is your life story?
Someday You Will Be Loved (Why not now?)

14) What do you want to be when you grow up?
Revolution (Watch out MAN!)

15) What do you think of when you see the person you like?
Flashing Lights [Explicit] (True enough)

16) What will you dance to at your wedding?
Mudfootball (Incredibly difficult to dance to Jack Johnson, fun to watch maybe?)

17) What will they play at your funeral?
Feels Like Home (Rather fitting I suppose)

18) What is your hobby/interest?
Everything but Life (My playlist has a sardonic wit)

19) What is your biggest fear?
Faith for a Sedative (Wow, that's amazingly insightful!)

20) What is your biggest secret?
The Setting Sun

21) What do you think of your friends?
Sheer Heart Attack (Compliment...maybe?)

22) What will you post this as?
Pain

An Ode to my Tooth

Playing soccer was all fine and good, 'til you spotted a knee and had to get a closer look. When you bit the flesh, was it satisfying?...until you met the bone, and got a closer look at my molars. Tooth, I love you, but you're an idiot and might even get yourself killed. Just take care next time you silly little buffoon.

Dredg+La Dispute=Head Explosion!

I'm not sure I can handle myself right now! Dredg is coming to Detroit in mid-November (14), right after the La Dispute CD release show (8)! Two amazing bands just days apart...OH YEAH!!! AAAAAAUUUGGGGHHHH!!! The awesomeness is too much!

Oh I just don't know

Socially conservative, economically liberal, which view will win out. Dad's had no job, I'm sick about that, but not as much as he is. Yet what of the children given no chance to live, don't they deserve a chance? Would a conservative candidate even be able to overturn that famous case? My right is to vote, but is it foolish to say that it's also my right not to vote? Maybe I just need to buck up and choose.

Famine, Affluence and Morality

Image via Wikipedia

My philosophy professor had the class read Peter Singer's famous "Famine, Affluence and Morality" essay written in 1971. He begins with two premises that no one could dispute: suffering and death from lack of food, shelter and medical care are bad, and that if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we should do it.
These seem like pretty innocuous assumptions, but based on them, Singer argues that we ought to give until we reach the limit of marginal utility, or until we approach the poverty of those we are aiding. He writes this of the starvation of the Bangladesh Liberation War refugees, and his argument is valid based on the premises (read it if you're skeptical). Now, he doesn't mean that we should give up everything so that the Bengali people all have big-screen TV's, but if we all did our part, we could remove the suffering and pain they feel, which is Singer's point.
I came away with several things the least of which is that if one wants to successfully persuade, they should use premises that the other party agrees with. That's why ham-fisted political idealogues have such little success. The bigger thing is though that poverty is real and wretched, and something we must act on if we subscribe to Singer's assumptions.

Reminiscence

Now playing: George Frideric Handel - No. 1: Overture/The Messiah [Explicit]
via FoxyTunes
----------------
Strange as it may sound, I'm currently listening to Handel's Messiah. I guess I just needed a classical fix or something. The thing that struck me though, was the opening overture, because the instant I heard those notes it brought me back to riding in my dad's old Plymouth Acclaim, with the windows cracked yet too hot because it had no air-conditioning. It may have been uncomfortable and annoying then, but today it serves as a huge comfort to know that times indeed were simpler and less chaotic. There were no employment worries, concerns about future endeavors, all I had to worry about was readying myself for piano lessons...ha. Of course times weren't perfect, and certainly there was turmoil, but I guess the comfort in looking back, is that the unimportant things can be forgotten. Maybe I'll look back on today and think comforting thoughts about my simple college life. I hope so.

As an aside, I think it's hilarious that the overture was tagged explicit by whatever software processed it.

Speech Recognition + perl = FAIL!

This is a video of a guy trying to use Vista's voice recognition software to write a script in perl. One of my favorite videos evar! It had me tearing up at some points.

Dear Don,

Don, you were one of those people that I got, and that I think got me back. Sarcastic, spouting comic genius, always good for a laugh. We knew what was ok to joke about and what wasn't, where the line was. You flirted with the line, coached our team well as we were developing and gave us confidence. From trivia to friendly derision, lunges to the T.C.U. and M.S.U. drills, you encouraged us to be our best. Your smile was contagious, your laugh even more so and your wit inspired. As a tennis coach, friend, owner of sting-rays, psychology enthusiast, tennis player and much much more, you will be missed. The angels are rejoicing, and you're at peace, but I just can't believe that you're gone...

The Shrew: A midnight adventure

Chase begins a few moments before the witching hour when small furry creature falls out of rumpled up shirt. Both are confused...creature by light, human by creature. They freeze, wondering where light, animal came from. Vermin makes first move and scurries from view, human traps vermin in shirt, still confused. The rodent decides that it has spent enough time on the bathroom floor and scurries into the room of the aforementioned, utterly confused biped. The little ball of fur floors it into the carpeted bedroom and dives into a stack of linens. Human begins taking apart pile intent on capture...but he cannot find the stealthy varmint. This is when, quarry lost, all good hunters do the same thing, they find the master tracker...father. Upon waking and learning of the sorex araneus problem, the veteran grabs his weaponry: dinner plate and coolwhip containers. After an arduous night time search under furniture and other floorbound items, the hunt is nearly called off, until the rookie notices the quarry innocently pondering its existence in the corner of the room where it first entered. Suddenly the furrball is backed into another corner, bolts left, bolts right, dodges the artistry of the skilled, and finds itself back into the well lit water closet. This is his final hour, as the dutch tupperware is tossed through the air, received and promptly slammed down on the crafty vermin. Success, plate slides under trap, guaranteeing the capture of the silly little beast. Minutes later, shrew meets pavement at 25 miles per hour. Goodbye cruel world.

Excerpts from my boss this summer (Timisms)

1. Literally

The word literally is ok to use literally whenever and wherever possible. It's best if there are no elements of the statement that can be taken figuratively...literally. (e.g. "my dad literally played with my two dogs")

2. Cannibalize

This term can be responsibly used to reference taking apart anything...you don't even have to be consuming the corpse of a member of your own species. (e.g. "we'll just cannibalize ground timmer")( bonus example..."i'll just cannibalize that vacuum)

3. Misnomer

It's just another word for misconception, mistake or problem. Heck he'd probably even use it for misname if he got the chance. (e.g. "we've got a big misnomer on our hands gentlemen")

4. Sergio, did you get with Mercy on those mattresses?

Self-explanatory...and of course out of context, but still merits mention.

5. Worked for 100+ years

The man has worked 3 factory jobs for eight years each, JCPenney security, the military (instructor, soldier, musician various branches), construction worker, Catholic school janitor, security consultant and of course Calvin College building services supervisor...there are more, I just can't remember them all. (this just in...following Calvin, he could be doing some cattle ranching down in Texas)

6. Repelling

He always repelled out of helicopters for his sniper jaunts with his 70 lb rifle, never once did he rapel like normal people.

7. Beaner, bitch

It's ok for supervisors or anyone to refer to people from Mexico as 'beaners' and female workers as bitches.

8. Cattle prods

He gives them to his babysitters...for protection.

9. Lisa, Shay-Wen, Leia

There were never people named Lisa, Shay-Wen or Leia on the crew this summer...way to be good sports Alisa, Chia-Wen and Leah.

10. Jeez o' Pete
The misnomer here is that he combined two common exclamatory phrases. Literally.