Today was a lazy day. I wasn't in any mood to start my studying, although I actually did get half of my C SCI 60 homework done. I got a workout in too, which was good. So it wasn't ALL lazy.
I slept in until past noon. I had been up late for the past few nights (particularly Thursday night's late-night programming session), and I needed the rest. I watched the Fresno State football game (close win on the road vs. Rice), which, again, is 100 times better on a big flat screen. I'm glad they didn't lose this one. I hate seeing teams that run an OPTION offense win games. How lame.
Some brilliant soul on GameFAQs's NFL2K3 board is trying to convince me that Kurt Warner currently sucks because of his "thumb injury", and that he and Mike Martz are keeping it a secret from the world. Riiiight. Warner's thumb had an offseason to heal. If it ain't healed now, it's never going to be. Apparently it's an arthritic condition, but it's something he's had since the Arena league. So it's basically just an excuse when things are bad. Or, if it's not, can you say "Bozworth"? Either way, the jig is up.
I went to Target, and bought a cordless phone (with caller ID) for my upstairs bedroom. I also got a headset for the phone. And, I got a cool clock radio for my bathroom. Nothing like NPR classical radio in the mornings.
Speaking of classical, I'm currently listening to Dvorak's String Quartets #10 and #11. Pretty good. String quartets are great when you're in a tired mood. They're almost surreal to listen to in the mornings when you've just woken up, and your mind isn't moving very fast yet.
I'm going to Porterville tomorrow, to watch the Jaguars game (they *better* beat the Jets!). I'm taking my programming books with me. Gotta study for midterms (THREE of them on Wednesday). Time to figure out the Towers of Hanoi...
Saturday, September 28
Last night, I stayed up until 1:30am, completing all of my assignment programs.
I must be becoming a programmer. Every "milestone" deadline that I set for myself, I ended up missing. I actually had 0 programs fully functioning at the end of Thursday night. So then I wanted to have 2 done Friday morning. I finished one, and finished another one in the afternoon. Then, I spent a LOT of time on the 3rd program (these first three were all in C++). I got it done, and done well, but it was a fight. After that, I did my assembly language lab. I didn't do a good job on this one - the code was not optimized, and I don't know if it was correctly functional either. But, it wasn't worth that many points, so it was the lowest priority. The first three programs (a real "assignment" in C SCI 115) were the big ones, and I nailed those (I think).
So, this afternoon, I was done with programming. I got a haircut after I got out of class. Later this afternoon, Stacey came over. We went to Blackbeard's to play miniature golf. Well, let's just say the outcome of the game wasn't in my favor. I got way behind on the first 9 holes, and though I made up a lot of ground on the second 9, it wasn't enough. Then, we played some arcade games (I rule at air hockey ;) ). We drove the go-karts too. Stacey had flip-flops on, so she couldn't drive. Thus, she rode as a passenger in my car. Now, most of the people we were racing against were early-to-mid teens. By myself, I'm heavier than most of the tandems, and with another person, our car was definitely more weighed down than everyone else's. There were a couple where only one person was in a car (and they were paper-thin teen girls too, so they weighed nothing at all). Naturally, those single-occupant cars "won" the race. Stacey and I finished third, behind those two, though. My driving was crisp and skillful. I had a REAL hard time fitting my long legs into the car, though! I hit the brake on accident a few times, because my leg was just cramped in there.
Anyway, we went to dinner after that, and sat outside to eat. It was fun. We came back to my place and added some stuff to her website. All in all, a pretty good day.
I know I'm missing some things, but I'm not all that coherent at this hour. Oh, I installed a new Linux distribution - Mandrake 9.0 - on my laptop. More on that later.
I must be becoming a programmer. Every "milestone" deadline that I set for myself, I ended up missing. I actually had 0 programs fully functioning at the end of Thursday night. So then I wanted to have 2 done Friday morning. I finished one, and finished another one in the afternoon. Then, I spent a LOT of time on the 3rd program (these first three were all in C++). I got it done, and done well, but it was a fight. After that, I did my assembly language lab. I didn't do a good job on this one - the code was not optimized, and I don't know if it was correctly functional either. But, it wasn't worth that many points, so it was the lowest priority. The first three programs (a real "assignment" in C SCI 115) were the big ones, and I nailed those (I think).
So, this afternoon, I was done with programming. I got a haircut after I got out of class. Later this afternoon, Stacey came over. We went to Blackbeard's to play miniature golf. Well, let's just say the outcome of the game wasn't in my favor. I got way behind on the first 9 holes, and though I made up a lot of ground on the second 9, it wasn't enough. Then, we played some arcade games (I rule at air hockey ;) ). We drove the go-karts too. Stacey had flip-flops on, so she couldn't drive. Thus, she rode as a passenger in my car. Now, most of the people we were racing against were early-to-mid teens. By myself, I'm heavier than most of the tandems, and with another person, our car was definitely more weighed down than everyone else's. There were a couple where only one person was in a car (and they were paper-thin teen girls too, so they weighed nothing at all). Naturally, those single-occupant cars "won" the race. Stacey and I finished third, behind those two, though. My driving was crisp and skillful. I had a REAL hard time fitting my long legs into the car, though! I hit the brake on accident a few times, because my leg was just cramped in there.
Anyway, we went to dinner after that, and sat outside to eat. It was fun. We came back to my place and added some stuff to her website. All in all, a pretty good day.
I know I'm missing some things, but I'm not all that coherent at this hour. Oh, I installed a new Linux distribution - Mandrake 9.0 - on my laptop. More on that later.
Wednesday, September 25
I got my MP3 player in the mail today! I checked Amazon.com a couple of times today... once, it said to expect delivery tomorrow, and once it said to expect delivery on the 30th! (Given that I paid for two-day shipping, I was going to demand a refund in the latter case). However, true to the "two-day shipping" name, it arrived today.
After letting the batteries charge for 6 hours, I'm now loading it up with albums. By my math, this little handheld device (smaller than a Discman) will hold approximately 250 albums at a time. That's at an album size of 80MB, which is a rough average for the bitrates that my stuff is encoded at (usually 192kb, which to my ears is more or less indiscernable from CD audio). I currently have 50 albums on there, and haven't yet taken up a full 5GB (out of the drive's 20GB capacity), so we're more or less on target for the 250 album ballpark. How sweet is that? 250 albums on one device is enough to satisfy even me (ask Stacey sometime about my "backpack o' CDs" travel habit). I can't hook this up to my car stereo (unless I get a short-range radio device, which works the way hands-free cell phone devices do), which is a distinct possibility at some point.
Right now, I'm listening to Latin Jazz: The Essential Album, a 2CD compilation of, well, "essential" Latin jazz cuts. Kind of interesting at points.
I'm going to be up for a while tonight, working on my programming assignments (due Friday). I'd like to get 2 out of 4 programs done tonight, and knock off the other 2 at my convienence tomorrow (I have the day off).
[Update: My linked list classes are working! Woo!]
After letting the batteries charge for 6 hours, I'm now loading it up with albums. By my math, this little handheld device (smaller than a Discman) will hold approximately 250 albums at a time. That's at an album size of 80MB, which is a rough average for the bitrates that my stuff is encoded at (usually 192kb, which to my ears is more or less indiscernable from CD audio). I currently have 50 albums on there, and haven't yet taken up a full 5GB (out of the drive's 20GB capacity), so we're more or less on target for the 250 album ballpark. How sweet is that? 250 albums on one device is enough to satisfy even me (ask Stacey sometime about my "backpack o' CDs" travel habit). I can't hook this up to my car stereo (unless I get a short-range radio device, which works the way hands-free cell phone devices do), which is a distinct possibility at some point.
Right now, I'm listening to Latin Jazz: The Essential Album, a 2CD compilation of, well, "essential" Latin jazz cuts. Kind of interesting at points.
I'm going to be up for a while tonight, working on my programming assignments (due Friday). I'd like to get 2 out of 4 programs done tonight, and knock off the other 2 at my convienence tomorrow (I have the day off).
[Update: My linked list classes are working! Woo!]
Let me say it again: IT people are idiots.
In specific, CSUF's IT people are idiots.
There are many reasons why I say this. We can start with the lab in the Computer Science department: a room of computers of which only 50% are currently functional. If we had the network security clearence to work on the machines, and the tools & software that the IT guys have, my 112 lab class could probably bring that total up to 75% in a two-hour lab session. That's one reason that I do my lab work from home.
The reason I write this now, however, is that I got another e-mail in my never-ending struggle with my CSUF e-mail account.
For those of you just tuning in, let's recap:
1. My @csufresno.edu account can send and receive mail to/from anyone perfectly through the web-based interface.
2. My account can receive mail from anyone perfectly through the POP protocol.
3. My account can send mail to other @csufresno.edu addresses through POP.
4. My account can not send mail to non-csufresno.edu recipients through POP.
The error provided by the server reads: "551: Delivery not allowed to non-local recipient".
Let's dissect this error message.
551 is just a code number for the error. We can ignore that.
"Delivery not allowed"... sounds like sending this e-mail would be breaking a "rule". The rule isn't something my e-mail client sets, so that kinda narrows it down.
"non-local recipient". Hmm. It sends mail to csufresno.edu fine. It can't send to anything else. Let's see... "csufresno.edu" = local, non-csufresno = non-local.
This seems very cut and dry. The POP server is not allowing outbound e-mail to non-csufresno addresses.
Three chimpanzees could examine this evidence and come to the above conclusion.
Apparently, the CSUF help desk needs to start employing chimpanzees.
I sent one e-mail to the help desk, detailing the problem. After a few weeks, I got a reply, telling me to "check my settings" in my e-mail client. Nevermind that I *told* them in the e-mail what my settings were (they were correct), and nevermind that I tried this experiment on THREE different e-mail clients (Eudora, Outlook Express, and Netscape's mailer).
I replied, pointing out that my settings WERE correct.
A few weeks later, I get an e-mail from them, asking if I still need assistance on this problem. I reply, saying "Yes".
It has now been a few weeks since then, and I got an e-mail from them today, telling me to call them when I get a chance so that we can "go over my settings".
I am currently trying to figure out my next move. Possibilities:
1. Make the phone call, and jump through their hoops until they come to the realization that they are, in fact, idiots. (Barring that, upon completing the hoop jumping, I could simply take a moment to explain it to them).
2. Reply via e-mail, re-stating the evidence and explaining to them in no uncertain terms that they are, in fact, idiots. (Perhaps including a link to this)
3. Ask to have my work order forwarded to the chimpanzee department of the IT staff.
Stay tuned as more develops.
In specific, CSUF's IT people are idiots.
There are many reasons why I say this. We can start with the lab in the Computer Science department: a room of computers of which only 50% are currently functional. If we had the network security clearence to work on the machines, and the tools & software that the IT guys have, my 112 lab class could probably bring that total up to 75% in a two-hour lab session. That's one reason that I do my lab work from home.
The reason I write this now, however, is that I got another e-mail in my never-ending struggle with my CSUF e-mail account.
For those of you just tuning in, let's recap:
1. My @csufresno.edu account can send and receive mail to/from anyone perfectly through the web-based interface.
2. My account can receive mail from anyone perfectly through the POP protocol.
3. My account can send mail to other @csufresno.edu addresses through POP.
4. My account can not send mail to non-csufresno.edu recipients through POP.
The error provided by the server reads: "551: Delivery not allowed to non-local recipient".
Let's dissect this error message.
551 is just a code number for the error. We can ignore that.
"Delivery not allowed"... sounds like sending this e-mail would be breaking a "rule". The rule isn't something my e-mail client sets, so that kinda narrows it down.
"non-local recipient". Hmm. It sends mail to csufresno.edu fine. It can't send to anything else. Let's see... "csufresno.edu" = local, non-csufresno = non-local.
This seems very cut and dry. The POP server is not allowing outbound e-mail to non-csufresno addresses.
Three chimpanzees could examine this evidence and come to the above conclusion.
Apparently, the CSUF help desk needs to start employing chimpanzees.
I sent one e-mail to the help desk, detailing the problem. After a few weeks, I got a reply, telling me to "check my settings" in my e-mail client. Nevermind that I *told* them in the e-mail what my settings were (they were correct), and nevermind that I tried this experiment on THREE different e-mail clients (Eudora, Outlook Express, and Netscape's mailer).
I replied, pointing out that my settings WERE correct.
A few weeks later, I get an e-mail from them, asking if I still need assistance on this problem. I reply, saying "Yes".
It has now been a few weeks since then, and I got an e-mail from them today, telling me to call them when I get a chance so that we can "go over my settings".
I am currently trying to figure out my next move. Possibilities:
1. Make the phone call, and jump through their hoops until they come to the realization that they are, in fact, idiots. (Barring that, upon completing the hoop jumping, I could simply take a moment to explain it to them).
2. Reply via e-mail, re-stating the evidence and explaining to them in no uncertain terms that they are, in fact, idiots. (Perhaps including a link to this)
3. Ask to have my work order forwarded to the chimpanzee department of the IT staff.
Stay tuned as more develops.
Tuesday, September 24
I've been playing NFL2K3! I led my Jaguars to a 13-3 regular season record - good for 1st in the AFC, and a first round bye in the playoffs.
I took care of the Steelers in the divisional championship game. Jerome Bettis was their only real offensive threat.
Miami gave me a scare in the AFC Championship game. On their first play from scrimmage, Miami handed the ball to Ricky Williams, and he ran 74 yards for a touchdown. On their very next possession, Williams broke another 50+ yard TD run. Williams was knocked out of the game late in the 1st half. Fred Taylor, meanwhile, responded with over 180 yards and 3 TDs, as we won 28-24.
Then it was the Rams in the Super Bowl. There's no NFC team I would rather beat than St. Louis. Kurt Warner was, of course, all too willing to accomodate me. The Rams won the toss, and had only two real possessions in the first half. The first possession was a 3 and out. I then ran a ball-control offense that milked the rest of the quarter off the clock as I pounded Fred Taylor through their pourous defense. A pass to Kyle Brady scored the touchdown, 7-0. The Rams went 3-and-out on the next possession. I then drove down to scoring range again, but failed on a 4th down. St. Louis took over deep in their territory, but the half ended before they could get across midfield.
I took the 2nd half kickoff, drove to just short of midfield, but was forced to punt. The Rams offense then started moving. They drove to my 7 yard line, and had 4th-and-inches. The Rams lined up in a 5-wide formation, and completed a 1 yard flat pass to (I think) Proehl. D'oh. Now they're 1st and goal on my 6. A short pass, and then an incompletion leads to 3rd and goal on my 4. They line up 3-wide, Warner drops back, and he underthrows Torry Holt - but he hit my defensive back, Fernando Bryant, right in the numbers. Interception, touchback, my ball on the 20. Way to blow a scoring opportunity in a one-score game, Warner.
Naturally, I drive 80 yards, mostly with Fred Taylor, topping off the drive with a 3 yard Freddie T. touchdown run. Warner & Co. get the ball back with the clock ticking. After completing a few passes to get a drive going, Warner drops back, throws to the left, and BAM, Fernando Bryant jumps in front of the pass, and takes it about 20 yards the other way. Another big fat "choke in the clutch" interception by Kurt Warner, who was obviously modeled very accurately in this game. I drive until time runs out - completed a deep one to Patrick Johnson, who got tackled on the 4 yard line before time expired. Super Bowl win for me, 14-0.
Time for some MVPs:
Season MVP: Jimmy Smith. Boy, it was hard to choose between the league's top-rated passer (Brunell), the halfback who was 8 yards short of the rushing title (Fred Taylor, just coming up short behind Curtis Martin), and Smith, the league's leading WR.
Defensive MVP: Donovin Darius. My leading tackler, Darius also hauled in 2 INTs and a fumble recovery.
Playoff MVP: Fred Taylor. In 3 games, Taylor ran for 401 yards. His 5.6 yards per carry and 7 touchdowns were the sole reason for my victories. In fact, Taylor ran for more yards than Brunell threw in the playoffs.
Super Bowl MVP: Fernando Bryant. The only interceptions that my defense came up with in the playoffs were Bryant's picks of Kurt Warner in the Super Bowl. Bryant was also tied for my 2nd leading tackler (equal with Darius, one behind Wali Rainer).
That's it for now. Time to go workout.
I took care of the Steelers in the divisional championship game. Jerome Bettis was their only real offensive threat.
Miami gave me a scare in the AFC Championship game. On their first play from scrimmage, Miami handed the ball to Ricky Williams, and he ran 74 yards for a touchdown. On their very next possession, Williams broke another 50+ yard TD run. Williams was knocked out of the game late in the 1st half. Fred Taylor, meanwhile, responded with over 180 yards and 3 TDs, as we won 28-24.
Then it was the Rams in the Super Bowl. There's no NFC team I would rather beat than St. Louis. Kurt Warner was, of course, all too willing to accomodate me. The Rams won the toss, and had only two real possessions in the first half. The first possession was a 3 and out. I then ran a ball-control offense that milked the rest of the quarter off the clock as I pounded Fred Taylor through their pourous defense. A pass to Kyle Brady scored the touchdown, 7-0. The Rams went 3-and-out on the next possession. I then drove down to scoring range again, but failed on a 4th down. St. Louis took over deep in their territory, but the half ended before they could get across midfield.
I took the 2nd half kickoff, drove to just short of midfield, but was forced to punt. The Rams offense then started moving. They drove to my 7 yard line, and had 4th-and-inches. The Rams lined up in a 5-wide formation, and completed a 1 yard flat pass to (I think) Proehl. D'oh. Now they're 1st and goal on my 6. A short pass, and then an incompletion leads to 3rd and goal on my 4. They line up 3-wide, Warner drops back, and he underthrows Torry Holt - but he hit my defensive back, Fernando Bryant, right in the numbers. Interception, touchback, my ball on the 20. Way to blow a scoring opportunity in a one-score game, Warner.
Naturally, I drive 80 yards, mostly with Fred Taylor, topping off the drive with a 3 yard Freddie T. touchdown run. Warner & Co. get the ball back with the clock ticking. After completing a few passes to get a drive going, Warner drops back, throws to the left, and BAM, Fernando Bryant jumps in front of the pass, and takes it about 20 yards the other way. Another big fat "choke in the clutch" interception by Kurt Warner, who was obviously modeled very accurately in this game. I drive until time runs out - completed a deep one to Patrick Johnson, who got tackled on the 4 yard line before time expired. Super Bowl win for me, 14-0.
Time for some MVPs:
Season MVP: Jimmy Smith. Boy, it was hard to choose between the league's top-rated passer (Brunell), the halfback who was 8 yards short of the rushing title (Fred Taylor, just coming up short behind Curtis Martin), and Smith, the league's leading WR.
Defensive MVP: Donovin Darius. My leading tackler, Darius also hauled in 2 INTs and a fumble recovery.
Playoff MVP: Fred Taylor. In 3 games, Taylor ran for 401 yards. His 5.6 yards per carry and 7 touchdowns were the sole reason for my victories. In fact, Taylor ran for more yards than Brunell threw in the playoffs.
Super Bowl MVP: Fernando Bryant. The only interceptions that my defense came up with in the playoffs were Bryant's picks of Kurt Warner in the Super Bowl. Bryant was also tied for my 2nd leading tackler (equal with Darius, one behind Wali Rainer).
That's it for now. Time to go workout.
Monday, September 23
My C SCI 1 instructor was late again. Thank goodness I have my laptop to amuse me.
I got a 20/20 on my C SCI 1 quiz. Not that there was really any doubt. This class is boringly easy (so far, at least).
If you want to see what my MP3 player will be like, look here. It's basically a USB 20GB hard drive that also plays MP3s. As far as playback goes, some reviews say it skips when jogging, while others insist it doesn't. All reviews, however, claim that walking does not cause it to skip at all, and that's what I'm concerned about (it's hard for a non-solid state player to not skip during jogging). Since I'm not a jogger, mine won't be subjected to that kind of abuse. Instead, it'll sit on the front panel of an elliptical trainer....
Also interesting is the fact that the device can be used to record things. This could open up some interesting concert bootlegging possibilities. It's hard to explain a DAT deck to security, but show 'em headphones and press "Play" on this device, and you've made your case. At least for now, until recording/playback combo devices become the norm.
I got a 20/20 on my C SCI 1 quiz. Not that there was really any doubt. This class is boringly easy (so far, at least).
If you want to see what my MP3 player will be like, look here. It's basically a USB 20GB hard drive that also plays MP3s. As far as playback goes, some reviews say it skips when jogging, while others insist it doesn't. All reviews, however, claim that walking does not cause it to skip at all, and that's what I'm concerned about (it's hard for a non-solid state player to not skip during jogging). Since I'm not a jogger, mine won't be subjected to that kind of abuse. Instead, it'll sit on the front panel of an elliptical trainer....
Also interesting is the fact that the device can be used to record things. This could open up some interesting concert bootlegging possibilities. It's hard to explain a DAT deck to security, but show 'em headphones and press "Play" on this device, and you've made your case. At least for now, until recording/playback combo devices become the norm.
Sunday, September 22
The theme of the last few days: fatigue.
I have been TIRED. It's way too early to be school semester rundown. I just hit a spell of fatigue, I guess. I was so tired last night. I went to bed before 11:00. And even today, I'm tired and lethargic. I had planned on staying up late last night to finish my C SCI 112 assignment (due tomorrow - Monday), but I'll do that tonight instead.
The only thing I really remember doing on Friday was checking the Costco here in Clovis for TVs. They didn't have what I want. Then I got a call from Stacey, telling me that she didn't have to babysit that night. So, she came over and hung out. We picked up Bobby Salazar's, played Day of the Tentacle, and watched TV. It was fun.
On Saturday, I got up at 7:00am, got showered and dressed, picked up Stacey, and we went and watched my brother's tennis tournament. After that, we shopped for my TV until finally finding one that I wanted (and that would fit in my entertainment center). We got it home, and then everybody (myself, Stacey, my parents and brother) all sat down and watched the first part of the Fresno State/Oregon State game. It was ugly to start, and it got REAL ugly later. Everyone left after a while, leaving me all alone. Then Derek came over for about an hour. We played a couple quick games, and then he left.
Today, I went to breakfast with my parents (who were in town for the 2nd half of Logan's tournament). After that, I checked out CompUSA to see what kind of MP3 players they had. I then went home, and ordered one from Amazon.com instead. I got the Archos Jukebox Recorder 20GB player. I really, really thought about getting the Apple iPod instead. I really wanted to. But Apple, once again, has priced themselves out of competition. Archos's 20GB player was $225. Apple's 5GB player was $299, and their 20GB player was $499. If their 20GB player had been $299, I would have gone for it. But for 5GB? No way. Apple's player is the best, hands down, but not for that price.
Football on TV (football's so much cooler on a big, flat, sharp screen). Gotta finish enjoying the day of football before dealing with my programming assignment.
I have been TIRED. It's way too early to be school semester rundown. I just hit a spell of fatigue, I guess. I was so tired last night. I went to bed before 11:00. And even today, I'm tired and lethargic. I had planned on staying up late last night to finish my C SCI 112 assignment (due tomorrow - Monday), but I'll do that tonight instead.
The only thing I really remember doing on Friday was checking the Costco here in Clovis for TVs. They didn't have what I want. Then I got a call from Stacey, telling me that she didn't have to babysit that night. So, she came over and hung out. We picked up Bobby Salazar's, played Day of the Tentacle, and watched TV. It was fun.
On Saturday, I got up at 7:00am, got showered and dressed, picked up Stacey, and we went and watched my brother's tennis tournament. After that, we shopped for my TV until finally finding one that I wanted (and that would fit in my entertainment center). We got it home, and then everybody (myself, Stacey, my parents and brother) all sat down and watched the first part of the Fresno State/Oregon State game. It was ugly to start, and it got REAL ugly later. Everyone left after a while, leaving me all alone. Then Derek came over for about an hour. We played a couple quick games, and then he left.
Today, I went to breakfast with my parents (who were in town for the 2nd half of Logan's tournament). After that, I checked out CompUSA to see what kind of MP3 players they had. I then went home, and ordered one from Amazon.com instead. I got the Archos Jukebox Recorder 20GB player. I really, really thought about getting the Apple iPod instead. I really wanted to. But Apple, once again, has priced themselves out of competition. Archos's 20GB player was $225. Apple's 5GB player was $299, and their 20GB player was $499. If their 20GB player had been $299, I would have gone for it. But for 5GB? No way. Apple's player is the best, hands down, but not for that price.
Football on TV (football's so much cooler on a big, flat, sharp screen). Gotta finish enjoying the day of football before dealing with my programming assignment.
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