let me forget about today until tomorrow

after class today, i walked to the shuttle stop and read the paper for fifteen minutes until the shuttle came. then i got on and listened to my ipod for the half hour ride home. then i walked home, got the mail, made myself dinner, and ate alone at the coffee table (i would rather have a library than a dining room) in complete silence. there was something really peaceful about the loneliness that brought back the wishes i had for living on my own between living with my family and living with my husband. (cultural reasons pretty much put a stop to this.) i have no real regrets about my life, but still... it would have been nice.

on a different note, class on tuesday confirmed that being a forensic examiner is a pretty awesome career choice for me, and not just because i have come to the conclusion that my forensic teachers are just about the awesomest people ever. all of them. according to my professor, to be a forensic examiner you have to have thick skin, be able to laugh at cry-worthy situations, like to rant, and communicate better in writing than speaking. there were other things, but those were the most note-worthy. (oh, and i like doing the actual forensic-exam-work-stuff, too.) but every time i decide that i really do like computer forensics and the decision to get into for my master's was a good one, i suddenly get a strong urge to write. or to edit one of my "novels" that are sitting around my hard drive collecting the proverbial dust. i think it's my younger self thinking that her dream of being an author is being threatened and refusing to let go of it. (not that i'm gonna let go of it.)

my family is coming back from saudi arabia tomorrow. 

i also have my anti-forensics class tomorrow which admittedly i was pretty excited for (i'm a nerd at heart), until i read the syllabus this morning. the professor is only going to "teach" for the first four weeks, and it looks like topics i've already learned in my other classes. then we have hour long student presentations for october, november, and december (while turning in ten page papers every three weeks). i don't mind the work, i just wanted to actually learn the subject in-depth. i mean we've skimmed over it in my other classes and it looks like this one will just skim too. disappointing. 

one day i will learn to write a blog post that doesn't jump around everywhere. also, the title is more what i was listening to at the time than what the post is about. 

*Mr. Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan

and today i will trust you with the confidence of a man who's never known defeat, but tomorrow upon hearing what i did i will stare at you in disbelief

it has been ridiculously hard to choose a name for this cell phone of mine. he's definitely the hardest to name of all my electronics, which led me to the conclusion (if you read my responses to comments you already know this) that my children will be numbered instead of named. but only odd numbers because hello, i am not cruel enough to wish an even number on anyone. i'd probably start at three, though. i'd only name a boy five, and i'd skip seven altogether because back in the desert they call 7-up (the soda) seven (but with an f for the v because they don't have v's in arabic) and i wouldn't want my kids to be made fun of with idiotic insults generating from a soda brand. originality and wit are always appreciated, though. there would definitely be a nine and a fifteen (that one would be my favorite) and i'm still debating whether to go in order or not. it'd probably be kinda stupid if i started at fifteen went to three and ended at nine, though, don't you think?

also, this afternoon i had a meeting with one of my professors, and can i just say that whenever i walk out of that professor's office i feel like i'm the most amazing thing since the decision to put cheese on a burger? seriously, i think that this whole phd program will be doable and interesting and groundbreaking and amazing and that i'm amazing for doing it and for being me and that i can do whatever i want because, i mean, just look at me. i'm awesomeness incarnate. there is nothing that i can't learn and nothing that i can't do and nothing that i wouldn't want to learn, because have you ever learned about any of this computer-y stuff? it's fascinating. give me a day or two and the high will wear off, but for now i will bask in the knowledge that i am the most amazing contribution to the human race that has walked this earth.

on a less happy note, i woke up this morning to find that my washing machine was broken. it had decided that it was above rinsing and spinning and instead wanted to become a laundry soup maker. (it thinks it could be a big thing among vegetarians.) on an ordinary day this would be an inconvenience. on a day when you find out that you're leaving the country in a week and have absolutely no clean clothes because you've been an anti-laundry bum for the past few months, it is catastrophic. thank god for apartment repair men who come to save the day. even if they do claim that there is nothing wrong with a washing machine that is obviously going through a mid-life crisis.

oh, and i made granola bars last night. like, by myself from scratch. and washed the dishes when they were baking instead of leaving them for this morning. they should totally make a tv show all about how domestic i am.

*Let It All Out - Relient K

my love has drifted out to sea

[one] the other day my mom, sisters, and i went out to watch titanic. when it first came out a million and seven years ago, my sisters and i weren't allowed to watch it (some parents just don't understand how unfair it is to deprive your nine year old daughter of seeing a movie that everyone else in her fourth grade class has seen). as i got older, i just didn't want to watch it as much as i originally had. i mean, i knew the story, had had all of the best parts reenacted for me countless times, and could probably quote half the movie already. i didn't actually get around to watching it until college when it was on sale at walmart and resulted in a spur of the moment buy. since then, i've watched it more times than is probably healthy. it's just such a great movie for when you're in a feel-like-laughing and a feel-like-crying mood.

[two] for field day in high school, we would get some "extra cool" activity to go along with the usual relay races and water balloon tosses. one year we got a dunking tank. another year we got a giant titanic slide. when i watched titanic for the first time, it felt so wrong watching the people slide down the length of the ship into freezing water as it sank and knowing that we got a sinking ship to slide down for for fun. (granted, i never actually went down the slide, but it wasn't because of some moral sense that it was wrong. i just didn't feel like waiting in such a long line for a slide. even if it was really big and looked like a ship sinking into the grass.) watching the movie on a big screen where everyone is pretty much life size or bigger made the titanic guilt worse.

[three] to move on from the titanic, i've talked a few times on here about helping people (namely my dad) with their computers and how it can get frustrating at times. but i will never again complain about being roped into tech support the second i walk into my parents' house because now i know that it could be so much worse. my dad is in the desert at the moment, and the other day i let myself into the house to see my mom and suddenly found myself trying to fix his computer from halfway around the world using a faltering skype connection for communication. not fun. trust me. it is so much harder when i can't even see the screen and there's a three second lag in the conversation and i'm constantly being yelled at to speak slower.

*Where We Went Wrong - The Hush Sound 

man, i'm just tired and bored with myself

it took a heavy dose of the frustration that comes from giving computer help to the computer illiterate to overcome the depression induced blogging dry spell i've been having. i suddenly understand what all my professors were talking about for the past five or so years. i suddenly see that people using optical drives for cup holders and thinking their web browser was google are not just stories made up to add an element of amusement to an otherwise dry class. it's true. it's all true. helping my dad with his computer problems for the past couple of years was just the warm-up for the kind of users that are out there. what i really don't understand is why people insist on making things complicated when they are provided with a simple, easy to follow, step by step guide to do everything they need to do in half an hour or less. i mean, i don't claim to be an expert at everything, but when i come across something i can't do and i have a set of instructions, i follow them. it's the logical thing to do.

gah.

at the same time, though, it kinda feels good to be presented with a problem and have to search for a solution. helping someone achieve their goals makes me feel like maybe i'm not a complete waste of a college education. i researched, and tested, and struggled, and was tempted to throw junior out of the window, and then i found something that fit what i wanted. and i played around with it until i was able to make it work. and then i helped "the client" learn how to use it. and it just feels good to work at something and have it turn out right, you know?

*Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen

can't believe it's that time of year again

hey look, the nanowrimo word count is back (over to the left). which means nanowrimo is starting in less than a day. and i still can't decide which story i want to work on, but i'm sure one will rush to the front of my brain when i actually get down to writing tomorrow. it's nothing to worry about, right? right. (i just know this will be like last year when i switch stories halfway through the first week. i can feel it. ugh.) this also means that it's time for me to start my yearly unpaid advertising for nano and tell all of you to join the awesome insanity and write a novel in a month. if you have nothing to do next month, this is a great way to fill your time, but it's extra super awesome if you have school and work and chores and family and tv and a whole bunch of other things that you have to do at the same time. and i can't even describe the feeling i got the first time i held an actual bound book in my hand that i wrote (forget the fact that the plot had holes and the grammar was a bit off, it was still awesome). just do it for that feeling. so anyway, sign up at nanowrimo.org, add me as a friend (sarah_k), and start a novel tomorrow. trust me, you won't regret it.

in other exciting news... um... actually, to be honest there's really nothing exciting going on in my life as usual. i'm babysitting my nephew on wednesday and i'm excited for that because i think he's way too attached to his mom, but i don't think that will interest any of you too much. my grandma will be coming down soon, and that's always fun. but i won't be living in the same house so i dunno how much i'll actually get to see her. today is halloween, but since i don't really do anything for halloween it's not really exciting. and besides that, there's nothing really going on. oh except for all of the really cool stuff i've been learning in class which i think is awesome but don't really want to bore all of you with cause you might not be as dorky as i am.

*That Time of Year - Sick Puppies

i'm sorry for the way i am

i think that it's just about time for me to issue a formal apology to the members of the IT community for being, as my brothers would say, "a suckish IT person."

i would like to apologize for the fact that i am perhaps the last person on earth that doesn't have a smart phone. the crappy thing i've been carrying around for the past three years or so came free from the phone company, has the memory of the proverbial goldfish, and has a camera that's not even good enough to be measured in megapixels. but to be completely honest, i hate phones and really don't think spending hundreds of dollars on something that will stay in a pocket or bag ignored for days is a very good investment. i always said i was too practical to be cool.

i am sorry that i prefer ink to pixels. i know that ereaders are the coolest thing since the ibm personal computer. they're practical and efficient and good for the environment. they're portable and convenient and everything else. i know all that, i really do. i have an ereader that i love. i named him and everything. but i will always prefer the actual turning of pages over pressing a button, and i am sorry that that is so terribly un-IT of me.

i apologize for choosing novels over computer manuals and personal blogs over info security ones. i'm sorry that the idea of a computer convention does not send chills of excitement running up and down my spine. i apologize for not keeping up with all of the technological advances happening every day. i know i should be more excited for my wired magazine to come than for my writer's digest, but most of the time i'm just not. i'm sorry that i don't want to electronify the entire world. i'm sorry.

i've seen the looks and and rolled eyes. i've heard the snickers and words whispered behind cupped hands.i know. but before you kick me out, i'd just like to say that i'm really not bad at this whole computer thing, and i actually do like it. well, most of the time. i've been studying it for a while, and that's got to count for something. i think the IT crowd is hilarious, read xkcd comics, and honestly laugh at most tech jokes. i may someday even make great contributions to the field, though my lack of ambition makes me think that i probably won't. but who knows? you may one day regret taking away my IT badge. so what do you say we just pretend that i'm not a total disgrace to computer nerds everywhere and let bygones be bygones?

oh, and just in case any of you were wondering, i baked cookies yesterday, and they were delicious. oven: 3, sarah: 1.

*Cold - Crossfade

i'm nearing the end or the beginning, whichever finds me

so i finished my application essay (yay me!) and then reread it and realized that it sounded a bit like a thesaurus threw up all over the paper. you know the people who use big words for the sake of using big words? yeah, i think i might have turned into one of them. my greatest fear has been realized. only, when i read it out loud instead of in my head, it didn't sound that bad. it still sounded a little bad, but i've written so many application essays it feels like they're all just a bouquet of lies and cliches at this point so i didn't really expect to fall in love with it. i'm planning on rereading it tomorrow morning and if it doesn't make me want to die, i'll submit it. if it does, well, i guess i'm back to ground zero.

i also - finally - got the three people to write my recommendation letters. i got my adviser to do the last one because some of my professors are obnoxious, and he was very happy to. i guess he doesn't get asked to write many recommendation letters.

i have also been wondering, where do you wear your watch? a couple of years ago my cousin and i went watch shopping with my sister and noticed she wore her watch right at the bottom of her wrist (like under the bone/on the bone/right at the edge of her palm kind of thing), and we thought it was weird because we both wore it above the bone. while telling my mom that my sister was weird, i noticed that she was also an under-the-bone person. my husband is, too. when i went to get a watch resized the dude working there asked where i wore my watch, but his was under the bone. and then i had the shocking realization that maybe my cousin and i are the weird ones. maybe most people wear their watches lower down, and i just never noticed until now. so i'm asking you, for the sake of my sanity, where do you wear your watch?

oh, and at the risk of sounding like a complete and utter geek, i love the class i'm taking this semester. i think it's one of the best classes i've ever had. i have a paper due tuesday, and i'm actually excited to write it. i mean, i'm sure i'll still leave it for the last minute, but i'm excited nonetheless.

*Days in Avalon - Richard Marx

the sign on the door said no girls allowed

because this didn't fit into the previous post.

i was sitting outside of class yesterday finishing up the last book in the scott pilgrim series. (this post will have spoilers.) a kid in my class joins me and starts talking about it to me because it's like his favorite series ever. (by the way, thanks ash. you have made me cool in the eyes of my IT people.) i mention how i was hoping scott would end up with kim at the end (this is where i lost that coolness) and the kid was flabbergasted. "but... but... throughout the entire series he's fighting the evil exes to go out with ramona. why would he end up with kim?" he spluttered. "i dunno. i just really liked kim and wanted them to end up together," i say with a shrug, laughing a little at how offended he seemed by this. he stares at me for a minute and then said, "this is why girls shouldn't read scott pilgrim" in a tone that brought to mind secret boys clubs with signs that said "no girls allowed" in red crayon. it took all my will power not to die of laughter right there. but i had a presentation to do and i didn't think it would have been fair to my partner. but this kid is around thirty years old if not a little older, and it was just so ten-year-old-boy of him, and it was so funny.

*You Ate My Dog - Still Lost

you are not what i thought you were

because i basically took the weekend off from this weird studious productivity phase i've been in for the past two weeks, today was supposed to be extra productive: polish off the two papers i have done, make presentation slides, work on presentations, and start studying for the exam i have on thursday. well, start reading the text book more than really studying. (the professor said if you read the first couple of chapters of the book you'll get the extra credit right. i need all the easy extra credit i can get.)

as usual, my attempt at productivity is not going quite as planned. and do you know what i get to blame this time? my text book of all things! it's way too distracting. i remember back in high school reading the ap history book wasn't as torturous as some of the others because it would crack little jokes in the text randomly. this book goes above and beyond in entertainment. keep in mind, this is a normal network security text book. at first glance, it looks just as awful as any other text book, but then you start reading.

the first chapter starts with, "It was a dark and stormy night. Somewhere in the distance a dog howled. A shiny object caught Alice's eye. A diamond cufflink!" i'm not even kidding. it goes on a bit about bob and the butler and how alice needs to get a message securely to bob before the butler kills him. she has to make sure bob doesn't think the message is from trudy, though, cause she apparently "spurned the butler's advances" and so it would look like she was framing him.

the rest of the text is littered with jewels like, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me (chant designed to encourage bullies to get physical)" and "if you can't say something in less than 2^64 bits, you shouldn't say it at all." they also have poems like euclidean algorhyme (two of them) and multiplicative in verse. alice and bob send love letters to each other about prime numbers and challenge each other with fiddlesticks. alice often spouts quotes from alice in wonderland. the authors make fun of themselves and each other. it's all fun and games in this book.

the thing that's really been eating up my day, though, is this song they have called "superpolynomial subexponential runtimes" that's supposed to be sung to the tune of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. it talks about rsa and diffie-hellman algorithms. i've been trying to commit it to memory (it was apparently created and performed by eric hughes at an rsa patent expiration party) but keep stumbling over parts.

i never thought the day would come when i would procrastinate with a text book. and have fun. i never thought a security text book could be so entertaining.

*Love Song - Sara Bareilles

we'll be writing fairy tales

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was a retired teacher who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. One day, he had to speak to the banker who was threatening to take the teacher's house if he couldn't make his payments. The teacher begged and begged for more time to come up with the money, but the banker was known throughout the land to be a greedy man and wouldn't listen to his pleas. In desperation, the teacher said, "If you will give me more time I will introduce you to my daughter. She is beautiful."
The banker laughed and said, "What good can beauty do for me? And what good could your daughter do?"
The teacher, noticing an iPod still in its box on the banker's desk said, "She can fill that iPod up with music without touching any of your money."
The baker said, "That is a talent that I could use. If your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her here tomorrow, and I will put her to the test."

The next day, when the teacher's daughter was brought to the banker, he took her into his office in which stood only a computer and his iPod and said, "This is all you'll need. Now get to work, and if by tomorrow morning you have not filled my iPod up with music for free, your father will lose his house." He then locked the girl in his office and went home.
The teacher's daughter had no idea how to fill the iPod with songs for free and started to cry. Just then, the computer flared to life, and a mechanical voice said, "Good evening, teacher's daughter. Why are you crying?"
The teacher's daughter said, "I have to fill this iPod with music for free or the banker will take away my father's house."
The computer laughed and said, "Why, that's easy. Just download this program and you'll get all the music you want, absolutely free." Without a minute to lose the teacher's daughter sat down to download the program. After quickly checking "I agree to the terms and conditions," she was able to download music for free.

The next morning, the banker came back. When he saw his iPod full of music and his bank account full of money, he was astonished. But being a greedy man, he could only think of what else he did not have. He locked the teacher's daughter in his office again and commanded her to get him all of his favorite movies for free. "If I come tomorrow and you do not have the movies, your father will lose his house."
As soon as the banker left, the teacher's daughter started to cry, for who could get so many movies for free? The computer flared to life again and said, "Don't cry, teacher's daughter. Just download this program and you'll get all the movies you want, absolutely free." The girl quickly downloaded the program, checked that she agreed to the terms and conditions, and got all the movies the banker wanted for free.

When the banker came the next day, he was delighted to see all of his favorite movies with the teacher's daughter and not a penny missing from his money. "Tonight, you must get me all of this software for free. If you do, your father will never lose his house, and I will marry you. You may just be a poor teacher's daughter, but you have already saved me a fortune."
The banker locked the teacher's daughter in his office again and left. As soon as he was gone, she began to cry. "Music and movies are one thing, but it is impossible to get such expensive software for free!"
The computer came alive again and said, "If you agree to these terms and conditions, I will give you all the software you want for free."
"I agree to anything you want. Just give me this software without using any of the banker's money."
When the banker came the next morning and found all the software he wanted, he married the teacher's daughter and let her father keep his house with no further payments.

After her wedding, the teacher's daughter decided to go back to her old job at the diner. Her old boss, though, stopped her at the door. "You can't work here anymore," he said. He showed her that one of the terms she had agreed to to download the free music was never working again. "That's okay," said the teacher's daughter. "My husband is rich enough that I don't need to work. The free music was worth this." A few days later, when she was leaving to go to the store, she noticed her car was missing. Where she usually kept her keys was a paper listing the terms she had agreed to to get the free movies, one of which was giving up her car. "That's okay," the teacher's daughter said to herself. "My husband has a car, and I can walk to the store. The free movies were worth this."

A year later, the teacher's daughter had a beautiful baby boy. She adored her baby and spent all her waking hours doting on the child. When the boy was one year old, the teacher's daughter woke to find him missing from his crib. On his pillow were the terms and conditions she had agreed to to get the free software. Highlighted were the words, "I agree to give up my first born child." The teacher's daughter was horrified and ran to the computer crying. "I'll give you all my money," she pleaded with the computer. "What good can your money do for me? I get whatever I want for free. Something alive and beautiful is much more valuable." No matter how much she cried and begged, no matter what she offered the computer in exchange for her son, the computer would not give back her child. And she never saw him again.

***
I got a little lazy at the end lol. Anyway, modern day Rumpelstiltskin, also known as: me not writing my paper. Oh, the extent i go to to procrastinate. Moral of the story: read the terms and conditions that you have probably never even looked at. You may be signing off your first born child.

*Kings in Castles - Michael Tolcher

while we're quietly losing control

have you guys heard about IBM's Watson, a new supercomputer designed to accurately mimic human thought? it is labeled as a "question answering machine" that can understand all the nuances of natural speech and come up with a simple answer. to test it out, they are pitting it against jeopardy champions in three jeopardy matches that will be aired sometime in february. jeopardy questions cover a vast array of topics. they deal with puns, metaphors, and slang. you have to buzz in quickly and think even quicker. all of these factors make it impossible for artificial intelligence computers that otherwise excel in things like chess, archery, or eating dead bodies for fuel. (click the links. enlighten yourselves.)

here is a video of a sample round played with the three contestants:

now, i don't know about you, but i think we might all end up ruing this very day. who cares about the zombie apocalypse or the world ending in 2012? so what if we're in a recession and there's never anything good on tv? we just created a computer so intelligent that it just might take control over the army of less smart but way more deadly robots we've already created. so go ahead, eat that extra donut, take that trip you always wanted, splurge on the ridiculously expensive pair of shoes. pretty soon, you may not have the chance.

also, you know all those unexplained mass animal deaths? i'm thinking it's time we take the robots in for questioning.

*I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light - Brand New

you said it'd be forever and that was your vow, and you're gonna let our things simply crash and fall down

what is it about IT guys that makes them unable to have successful marriages?? every professor i've had has had stories about wife number one and wife number two and sometimes even a wife number three. okay, so maybe not every one, but i think the number of professors i've had that were only married once could be counted on one hand. and  they were either married to women in IT or pretty young so who knows what the future holds for them. and it's not only professors. the guest we had in class the other night (some 100 year old IT guy who didnt wear socks) had stories about his ex-wife doing this and his ex-wife saying that.

is the divorce rate in the IT industry higher than anywhere else or do the divorced IT guys all just find their way to my school to share horror stories about their exes?

is it the fact that these dudes are so in love with technology and their gadgets that they don't leave any room in their hearts for their wives? and i mean, who wants to spend the rest of forever competing with an electrical box?

or maybe it's the fact that they are just so into the engineering and putting things together kind of stuff that they cant process or deal with humans and their emotions and nonsensical wiring?

or is it the fact that IT guys are known for being socially awkward and that just ruins any chances of "til death do us part" that they might have had?

or maybe it's because of something so completely different that i will just never understand.

whatever the reason, judging from what i've seen, you may want to think twice before involving yourself with one of them. this is what i think about during classes. i don't think i'm doing the whole go-learn-stuff thing right.

*Dry Your Eyes - The Streets

well, i think you're crazy

i know that part of being an IT student is getting ridiculously excited when new tech stuff comes out, and i know that i have failed miserably in that respect in the past (okay so there were a few moments when my IT geekiness was in fine form, but i'm just going to look over those for now). this is not a post where i will redeem myself. sometimes, i feel like tech companies are just throwing stuff out there just for the sake of throwing stuff out there. for example, the sony dash personal internet viewer. sounds pretty cool from the name, right? well, it's not. and anyone who tries to tell you differently is obviously either brainwashed or extremely unstable. so run away from them.

what is a personal internet viewer, you may ask? well, an alarm clock with apps of course! i'm not going to get into all of the details about it, but let's suffice it to say that they put linux on an alarm clock so that you can "browse the internet without being tethered to your pc."

first of all, with everything else on the market, i dont think there are many people who are "tethered to their pc" when they want internet. second of all, it doesnt have a battery (though they say future versions will) so you're basically tethered to a wall. third, there's no browser which seems like an important part of an internet viewer and apparently the apps are limited.

it is basically a way that you can check stuff like your email and facebook first thing in the morning (literally) without having to wait for your computer to start up or your phone to be picked up. and if you are that desperate to know what has happened on facebook in the few hours you were asleep, well, i think you have problems. instead of buying a sony dash maybe you should check into some sort of rehab because that is not healthy.

do we need internet on our alarm clocks? no. does that stop people from buying it? no. and what do the people who buy it and realize how stupid it is do? they try and get their friends to buy it so they don't feel so stupid, of course.

what brought on this sudden hatred for sony alarm clocks? well, i was making fun of the commercial for them last night with my sister. this morning, i wake up to a facebook message from an obviously delusional friend who thinks i should buy one. no thanks.

*Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

and i will try to fix you

during exams, chrome suddenly stopped working on joe. i was distraught, and not only because i realized just how i addicted i had gotten to this browser. i didnt have the time to really delve into the problem, though, so as a temporary fix i switched my non-school related stuff to firefox. (if you remember, i can't use one web browser for all of my things.) firefox is way too boxy and stuff for me to be creative in apparently, so it didnt really work out. and then, my security system stared telling me that it was stopping information from being sent to some weird ip address. great, i think, joe has been infected. again.

i swear this computer picks up more viruses than a (insert witty metaphor here).

suddenly, google is acting weird and i realize that i have the google redirect virus and some spyware, too. while my computer knew enough to stop the spyware from getting any information, it could not for the life of it find the spyware on the computer. i didnt have time to do anything so i turned off joe and started to just use junior. junior loved the attention, but joe was beginning to grow resentful of his newly assigned job as a shelf to hold grad gifts and other end of the school year related junk.

so today, since i finally had some free time, i set to work. after downloading three different malware detection things that couldnt find it, and going through the system files and dlls, i finally cured him without reformatting the stupid thing which i was two seconds away from doing. yay me.

this was a pointless post, i know, but i really had nothing else to write about. sorry people.

*Fix You - Coldplay

to each his own

i just do not understand the passion people have for particular brands. the need they feel to grab their sword and avenge it every time someone says anything about it is completely foreign to me.

the other day (monday) i was in class. the professor hates microsoft and is always making little snarky comments about its incompetence in everything. the microsoft die-hards in the class cant say much in response to these comments because, well, this professor does not seem like someone you would want to mess with. monday, someone else in the class decides to play suck-up and makes his own little snarky anti-microsoft comment. it was something stupid, like "yeah, but that would require microsoft to make something that actually works."

all hell breaks loose.

microsoft dude (henceforth called MD) says in that overly polite you are a moron tone of voice something or other defending microsoft's honor. apple dude (AD) replies with something in the same tone. i give up hoping that we'll get out before nine. with each comment, tones are getting less and less polite and voices are growing louder. MD is throwing out statistical facts about market share, industry preferences, and other stuff left and right. AD is sticking to the fact that apple is just better. professor looks like he's immensely enjoying the whole thing. other people join in, because, i mean, these are our computer brands they are slandering! how dare they?! finally, the professor breaks up the "argument" before it starts to get physical (because, let me tell you, a physical fight between IT geeks is not something you would want to see. not very attractive. at all). professor says "okay, we still have a class to finish. you guys can continue this at ten." then he adds something along the lines of "microsoft sucks." MD sits there fuming for half a second, then grabs his bag and leaves.

i dont get it. do you have stocks in either company? is your dad the ceo? did your uncle found it? are they paying you to defend them? because, as i see it, it really doesnt matter much what anyone wants to say about either brand. to each his own. no one's forcing you to buy one or the other. they are stating their opinion, albeit a bit rudely at times. it. doesnt. matter.

what makes people so ready to jump up and fight for the people making their computer? would you?

*The High Road - Broken Bells

he's trying too hard, and he's not quite hip, but in his own mind he's the he's the dopest trip

okay i just remembered something from class yesterday that i wanted to post. and then i'll go work and none of you will see me again until i finish school... maybe.

anyways, we were sitting in class waiting for the professor to come, and this dude in front of me is talking about pens and stuff. im not really listening much. then he says, "i'm gonna get a bunch of cool pocket protectors and bring them back."

the whole class turns to stare at him.

"umm... i dont think they were ever in to bring back. cool and pocket protectors really don't go together," one guy said.

"they were in for a very small select group of people, i'm sure. but then i'll just bring them."

he was semi-joking (not really) but it was a perfect way to end my semester: having the true IT geekiness shine in my last class. i have to admit, i was a little embarrassed to be sitting in the same room as him, breathing the same air, but at the same time, the more he talked about it, the more it made sense. and aside from his lame jokes, i never really considered him a geek.

maybe i did choose the right major after all.

*Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) - Offspring

paranoia is haunting you

being an IT major has made me paranoid. seriously. learning how easy it is to hack into a system, spoof an account, steal an identity, stalk... it's made me very paranoid about what i do on computers. for example, my credit card was declined today at chik-fil-a. why?? i have no idea. i used it last night and it worked fine. i'm sure there's money in the account. it isn't expired, hasn't been exposed to magnets. it just wouldnt work. i wanted to check my account, but i didnt have joe with me and was too paranoid to use the library's. yes, i know the library computers are pretty safe since no one can download anything onto them and there was no one around to look over my shoulder to steal my account information. but i kept hearing my professors' voices in my head, and i couldnt do it.

*The Dutch Courage - The Spill Canvas

warped and bewitched

In another flare of IT geekiness, I have developed a new obsession with Shigeo Hirose's robots. They amaze me. The technological aspects as well as the aesthetics. He creates amazing things. I think the water snake is my favorite. It's a robotic snake that, yup you guessed it, moves through the water and whatnot. click on the link on the dude's name to see a video showing the water snake in action as well as some of his other robots. he has one that can roller skate!

*Assassin - Muse