The old water heater at home decided to go on the fritz and spew steam and various water-heater type parts across the basement proper. So, naturally, we got a new one installed. The guy installing had some very interesting stories to tell from his heating and cooling career. For example, a family went out of town and squirrels got in through their heating ducts. Unfortunately, the squirrels discovered the food processor in the sink. The family came home to ground up rotting squirrel. I have no idea why that story was shared. Sounds like something from “When Insane Animals Invade Your House VIII.” Then again, it isn’t as bad as the people who used to live across the street from us. Yes, they were away and their house flooded with water issuing forth from a cracked toilet on the upper floor. The water soaked the floorboards until most of the main floor collapsed. Upon her return, Mrs. Across the Street was very nearly hysterical. Insurance usually covers water damage, but I do not know about squirrel stench.
Which reminds me of the Apple iPod mini, a most heartwarming combination of high technology, praticality, and Apple style.
Now, on iPod mini’s big brother, there are heat sensitive buttons. Nice touch, isn’t it? Well, not really. The operating temperature for heat sensitive buttons happen to be rather limiting in a climate like Minnesota’s. For example, when it gets cold enough, one simply cannot control the original iPod using the heat-sensitive buttons. If you take a look, you can see that the mini has only a “ClickWheel” (have spaces gone out of style? I feel like like the new vogue is MashingWordsTogether™), which would seem to be an improvement. However, as you can see in the link, you lose buttons on the smaller unit. Not having tried the mini, I can not say if this is good or bad. However, Apple neatly covers up any possible heat-sensitive issues (after all, these units have to sell side by side) by slathering on a nice layer of advertising ambiguity:
Always striving for perfection, Apple engineers moved the iPod’s buttons under the wheel. The iPod mini Click Wheel gives you the enhanced durability and sensitivity of the iPod Touch Wheel, with buttons underneath.
Yeah, just use the words “engineer” and the people automatically think of guys in white coats in a lab somewhere doing thousands of “usability tests.” Goodness, maybe that’s what really happens. Would you buy a new iPod?
Changes are afoot here at St. Thomas. In the dim past, the college was blessed with ample land and plenty of room for expansion. Then, during difficult times, St. Thomas (with a stunning lack of foresight) sold off large tracts of land. Now, thanks in no small part to Monsignor Terrence Murphy’s brilliant guidance, it is buying back some of it. The University has bought two blocks just south of it’s oldest buildings and is beginning an aggressive building and expansion campaign this May. The first building to be erected will be a new apartment complex out across the soccer fields from my current dorm. Yes, it will be huge. Tapered into the neighborhood, it will have 422 beds and 361 underground parking stalls. It will be constructed by everyone’s favorite builder, Opus (I personally think St. Thomas has some sort of underground deal with them).
Construction will be complete in September of 2005 and a major selling point is “floor to ceiling glass in some units.” St. Thomas says they have already raised all the the money necessary to fund the entire two-block project. I laugh as my tuition increases.
Finished paper. Went to print paper. Printer out of ink. Thought for a moment, and decided to print it that morning. Wanted to get up at 7, got up at 7:40. Ran around. Ate. Printed paper successfully. Great. Ran to class. Icy. Fell into gigantic mud puddle. Soaked pants. Hand covered in mud. Ditto for the paper.
Ahh, Mondays.
Anyways, I will be preparing for various tests and the like in the coming days, so this could effect the updates (either more or fewer depending on how much I want to avoid work). Furthermore, the staff of tumbledry is working on some backend improvements which may result in strange page behavior. Nevertheless, everything will remain completely open - so do not fear! Thank you for your patronage.
She’s so beautiful, I want to slam my face into a door.
I still think “Liberty” is the coolest middle name for a girl. Honestly, take any woman you know, and stick in “Liberty” as her middle name. Ok, so it might not work all the time but you would be amazed at how versatile it is.
And I still have to make that CSS Print file for this site. Stay tuned.
This is the most beautiful sound I have heard in a long time. No pounding music comes from any room near, and so I am alone with the sound of rain falling steadily against the windows. What a solace for a heavy heart, this sound of rain. How rain can sometimes set a backdrop of despair and yet at others sow seeds of the Spring of rejuvenation. Rythmic drops lull me into a calm thoughtfulness.
I leaned back in my chair and looked skyward through my window. Up, up, up, my thoughts soared. Then they settled easily amongst the warm air of a gentle February that surrounded and cushioned me. The clouds were cotton-white and rolled about on the deep blue fabric of the sky. The sun, growing in strength with approaching Spring, lent illumination to the scene. Memories floated by, and I smiled and wept with my past. A beautiful daydream it was, enveloping my tired spirit and rejuvenating my conscious. Then, as swiftly and silently as it had begun, the veil of the dream world was lifted and I was returned to my desk, ready to continue life in the real world.
While the people below me pound out soulless rap music, I turn up the volume to the musical epiphany occurring around me. Ani DiFranco - “Sorry I Am” is a fantastic track. I hadn’t sat down and listened to DiFranco before, and now I realize what I was missing. It’s almost like Howie Day meet Dashboard meets Jewel meets Mystery Ingredient X. Then there’s Paul van Dyk. I’ve liked him ever since I heard “Angel.” I tend to be a sucker for melodic club anthems, and this is one of that genre’s best. Would that songs like these took over the Sandstorms of our horrendous U.S. club offerings. If I could be somewhere, it would be the unreal dance parties of Ibiza (specifically, club Cream at Amnesia in Ibiza). Anywho, van Dyk’s newest album is called Reflections, and originally I hadn’t thought it was anything special.
I seem to have missed one track.
Said tune is called “Nothing But You” and is absolutely addicting. I can not wait to get it spinning on the system coming up here tomorrow. Note to self: get a remix of this track. That reminds me, I will try to get a gallery up of my current equipment, so you can see exactly what I am foaming at the mouth about.
I don’t have much to add from my personal life. Things are going along, there really is nothing of interest to point out. Although, one of these days it would be nice to get out of the eat/sleep/study daily grind. I suppose going to Romeo and Juliet this weekend counts, doesn’t it? The Guthrie usually puts on a splendid production. I’ll check in sometime this weekend.
Have you ever been having a rough and tumble day and looked down at your clothing, noting the dark hues and muted tones? Ever thought they were connected? Probably not. I’ve noticed, however, there seems to be some connection between the colors one wears and the way one feels. Is it merely correlation or full-blown causation? I think it is most likely a little bit of both. Today I am feeling pretty good and as I am writing this, my shirt is a pretty bright orange. Did I put this on this morning because I had an unusally positive attitude or did the bright color make me feel better as the day went by? Maybe the people in the ’70s were happier because of the baby blue leisure suits and tie-dyed t-shirts. Which doesn’t explain the drugs and sex; maybe the bad cancelled out the good.
Speaking of working out, it is going well. The motto last year was “Pain free in 2003.” This year, it’s “Injuries no more in 2004.” So far, so good. I am shooting for a year without missing a workout, a goal which is three short months away. Surprisingly, I saw Marcus at LifeTime last time I was there. He said his mom was sick, so he came up for some days. I asked what was wrong, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about it. It’s surprising how quick the time goes: I have known Marcus for five years now. He’s the one who gave me the tip on who stole my calculator back in the day. If I hadn’t gotten that thing back, I might not have kept coding BASIC programs, which might have kept me out of HTML and design in the dark days of frames and poorly-tiled backgrounds. This, in turn, might have meant this site never would have blossomed to fruition. Suffice to say, it is a good thing that didn’t happen because I love talking to everyone on here; I’ve met all sorts of great unique people.
Today wraps up a chance at one of my dreams. Orchestra Hall is having a piano sale. To play a Steinway in the acoustic environment of that incredible concert hall would be an incredible experience!
Orchestra Hall is particularly renowned for its acoustics, designed by Cyril Harris, with each design feature carefully planned to enhance the warmth and richness of sound in the space.
Over 100 large cubes form a “falling rock” pattern on the auditorium ceiling to deflect sound throughout the Hall. The wood floor and stage allow for better sound vibration, and the angle of the balconies offers optimal reflection of sound.
Actually, Orchestra Hall consists of two buildings: a rectangular-shaped auditorium, and a glass and steel supporting structure (housing the lobby and administrative offices) that is separated from the auditorium by a one-inch gap to free the concert hall from any outside sound.
Unfortunately, this event was not meant to be a part of my schedule. In fact, it wraps up in 25 minutes. Only a miracle will get me there now. I will, however, continue to dream about it (with definite hopes that this is an annual event) and some day I will play at Orhcestra Hall (ideally, it would be empty). I’ll get there sometime, not a rush.
Saturday night entertainment consisted of some very intense DDR playing at Mike’s house. I got a chance to play both the Red Octane metal pad and the Cobalt Flux metal pad. I do now know which one I like better, however I think the Cobalt Flux may edge the Red Octane due to slightly greater responsiveness. For this responsiveness, however, one sacrifices the palpable feel of the buttons. However, once you find your center on the Cobalt Flux, you can fly. All in all, a very invigorating night. Depending on what happens with the camera, I may be able to get some pictures from John. In the meantime, you’ll just have to use your imagination.
The Starting Line - “Almost There, Going Nowhere” … [3^2 - (4^2-5)]
I lost my necklace. It was my favorite necklace. A double leather strap deal, that held a cross (more of a plus-sign, at Katy’s observation). Around the leather, I added a little silver ring, with the words “believe” imprinted in the metal. This ring is from the family of a good friend. But what has happened, “is” I say? Not, “was”? Yes, we retraced all of my steps (I sure walk around a lot in one hour) and eventually returned to my classroom. Katy had the key to the physics room. I knew there was a reason she had a physics internship two summers ago! A little leg work, a little agonizing, and silent thoughts yielded success. I won’t soon forget the image of the cross lying there on the classroom floor, the ring off the chain and sitting nearby. I’m getting that clasp fixed.
That necklace is like lucky underwear to me. You know? The thing you wear when you know it’s going to be a tough day. The little charm you pull out to ease your worrying. Come to think of it, I may have too many of those. At last count, it’s one lucky eraser (which has almost erased itself out), a lucky pencil, and the aforementioned. I’ve never thought of myself as overly superstitious. Do you have any lucky underwear?
I was pretty nervous for the first pre-dental observation. After all, I am only a Freshman here, and I felt like I didn’t know enough. However, they made me feel at ease and the near-three hours flew by. The people were great, and I learned about the inner workings of the private practice; you meet all sorts of great people. It was very very eduentermacating. Next one is next Tuesday.
Sleeping is going better, I have finally gotten into some sort of routine. This is a fantastic (and fortuitous) change from the previous daily random almagamation of events broadsiding my troubled sub-conscious. Somewhere, at some point, I got tired of it. I was finally able to say “enough.” That hasn’t made it any easier, but things flow more predictably now. Self-confidence comes from within. You aren’t listening. Didn’t that register? Gotta find it out for yourself.
“I’ve made myself.”
I keep thinking about that role of 35mm 200 at home; there must be something special waiting to be photographed on it. I’ll get it this weekend. Finally, I must leave so that I may perform my most frusterating and most satisfying responsibility to the best of my ability.
So this means that Victoria’s Secret, Express, Express Men, Bath and Body Works, The Limited, and The White Barn Candle Co. are all owned by the same company?
The frenzied traffic has died down which, suprisingly, has caused my writing style to relax back to its former state. Recent change: the sidebar now supplies you with summaries of what has been happening here. You got it, you can be gone for up to one month and simply click to see what has changed. Will PHP wonders never cease? It was a challenge because imagexhibition is made up of one mySQL database holding picture information, and another for each picture. Each picture has a key that references the gallery id of another table, this latter table holds the information about each gallery. This avoids redundancy in the tables (streamlining by avoiding duplication), however it certainly makes some of the PHP retrieval code a little convoluted. Better there than in the database. Anyways, in order to pull out the information about what galleries have been changed and when, I had to pass two arrays through three mySQL queries. It all stemmed from the fundamental problem that the gallery table stores the date of creation of the gallery and not the date of the last time a picture within it was updated; which is how I wanted it to be. Therefore, the way in which I originally orchestrated the tables to interact forced me to (1) work backwards from the age of the pictures, (2) get them to find the gallery (or galleries, as the case may be), and then (3) load the pictures back from that gallery. Three steps total. I’d show you some of the code, but I haven’t really tested and implemented the CSS and PHP regular expressions for properly displaying source code.
So now you know.
That first physics test I was talking about? Yes, it went well. I didn’t study much. Which was the right amount. Naturally, the work will increase, but physics is not a worry. Life has me much more concerned than school. I took two showers today. My hair developed a bit of a frizz after the second one; I tried to go easy on the shampoo because hair doesn’t play well with a lot of shampoo, but the cleanings were just too close together. Unfortunate, I know. Note to self: most people probably don’t get that joke. My first dental internship is this Thursday, I am a little nervous. I would have liked to get in at the pediatric dental in Minnetonka, but that simply didn’t work out. Either way, I can’t believe it’s really working, really coming together.
Searching all my days just to find you
I’m not sure who I’m looking for
I’ll know it
When I see you
Until then, I’ll hide in my bedroom
Staying up all night just to write
A love song for no one
That was John Mayer, now Kellie Coffey is singing. Why did I turn this on? When did I even get this song? I don’t remember anymore. I can guess why, but I can’t remember. Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe it’s better for me to just forget. Forgetting sure is more difficult than moving on. Maybe I’ll know when I am past. Maybe I’ll understand someday. Maybe I have enjoyed George Winston - Summer - Track 15 for all these years so it could get me through now. Maybe I should stop thinking and start sleeping. This is the earliest I will go to bed in … well let’s not get into that. The server clock is off and I haven’t fixed it, but you’ll notice that it’s about an hour fast (which accounts for how late this update looks). I’ll get around to correcting that.
Guitar is going well, I have a couple of songs under my belt (if you can call them songs) and my chording and calusses have gotten stronger and tougher. I am learning my scales by playing along to songs; it is very effective. Thus far, I have tuned the guitar completely by ear, but I think I tuned a half-step sharp. That too, needs correcting. I have been playing way more piano, and my right hand is getting fast again. The left hand’s dexterity has been increased by the guitar playing. My elbow has healed. Monday, Wednesday, Fridays are still long. My room is cozier, cleanier, and more homey than ever. It’s a sanctuary amongst madness. I am wearing my class ring more now. I don’t know why, I think it gives me something to do with my hands in class. There’s a roll of ISO 200 at home with my name on it; the Canon is calling to me. I found this one bible quote a while ago; I will add it here sometime in the near future. I have an incredible story about English that is as much a testament to luck and stupidity as it is to work to tell for those who would listen. On an unrelated note, the copy writing for my article in Writing in the Margins will be done by the beginning of March. Oh, and we are bringing up the full system one of these weekends and utterly and completely removing the people from the room below me. For those of you who think that I am running to hyperbole, you haven’t seen the picture of this thing. That’s the update of my current activities to the best of my ability: my life in a nutshell, a log file, neatly packaged and tied up with a CSS ribbon for your enjoyment, my future, and someone’s voyeuristic entertainment.
