bytex64.net/blog

I've been putting off making the pot roast that's sitting in my fridge. I'm sure the thing is past date by now. So as I was driving around tonight, I decided to head over to Meijer and pick up some onion soup mix and some beer. (For Italian Beef. The stuff is dirt simple. Pot Roast, sliced onion, onion soup mix, beer. Throw it all in a crock pot and slow-cook for 12 hours.) After agonizing over a beer that would be suitable for such an endeavor, and yet quaffable enough that I wouldn't throw out the other 5 bottles, I finally settled on Warsteiner. I went up to the checkout, and the lady informed me that they don't sell beer after midnight.

I had what was quite possibly the only benign use for beer after midnight, and I was shut down due to the other 99.999% that use it to get shitfaced up and drive into telephone poles. *sigh*. Oh well, at least I got the onion soup mix.

On the way home I got gas at the BP on the corner of Lincoln and Green. There was some sort of altercation there. Idiots yelling at other idiots, or something. Apparently it required three cop cars. Must've been a slow night.

And on that note, I'm going to go watch some Xenosaga and go to bed.

Here, for the edification of the public, is my take on that crazy little thing called love. For me, it comes in stages. But for me, it's a little... different.

1. Denial - I actually try to pretend I don't like the person. This is, of course, futile. The fact that I'm trying to deny it only proves the point.
2. Confusion - Do I like her? Is this just friendship? Why did she smile that one time? Where did I park my car?
3. Acceptance, part 1 - I finally reconcile the fact that I like this girl. Of course, I'm still unwilling to entertain the notion that she might be interested in me.
4. Awkwardness - I become self-conscious, guarding my feelings so she doesn't find out how I feel. Unfortunately, the averted gazes and absence of my usual incisive sarcasm just make it obvious.
5. Acceptance, part 2 - I finally man up to the fact that it doesn't really matter how she feels, I've got to make it known how I feel. This inevitably leads to...
6. Rejection - Usually something along the lines of "I'm kinda involved with someone," or "It's too soon after the breakup," or "Don't touch me there, pervert!"

What, were you expecting a happy ending? Well, the truth is, I haven't found that happy ending (or beginning, really) yet. I'm guessing if I manage to find a girl that's interested in me, the last stage will be "Elation," or possibly "Utter Disbelief." :)

In any case, the cycle above is why I hate spring. The warmer weather, the increased sunshine, more physical activity, and the unleashing of cleavage from its wintry holding cell are some of the reasons men and women become closer in the spring. But for me, it's usually just a prelude to depression.

Don't take this to mean that I've given up on the opposite sex. I have faith that eventually, I'll find a girl that can tolerate me for being the hardcore geek that I am. If she drives a sports car, groks Linux, and looks like Lindsay Lohan, that would be great, too. (I had wanted to link you to this picture, but I'm an incurable Herbie the Love Bug fan. :) )

[wang] If I have an array variable named array and I have a numerical variable
       named var, is there a difference between the statements array(i) = var
       and var = array(i).  var has already been assigned a number.

See the kinds of things I have to deal with? Now, since he's using parentheses for the array syntax, I can only assume he's programming in either FORTRAN or VB, both of which have issues beside the point. The answer is, of course, yes. The equals sign always assigns to the left. In the first case, you are assigning var to array(i). In the second case, you are assigning array(i) to var. Not to pick on Wang, but the above is what happens when scientists try to write code. Strangely enough, mathematicians, the people who invented the equals sign that we computer scientists abuse on a regular basis, seem to be able to keep the concept straight. *shrug*.

Today in class, somebody referred to the Siebel Center using a long i sound (think "Sighbel"). I know none of you care, but it's "Seebel", with a long e sound. I *was* the only CS major in the ECE-filled class, though.

I did my presentation on our laser spectroscopy project today. Considering we didn't get any good data, and we had at best a shaky grasp on the concept, I think it went pretty well. As much as I'd love to share with you the details, well, it'd just bore you to death. Ok, you twisted my arm.

You see, the atoms in molecules vibrate with respect to each other. Now, in certain configurations, this vibration causes a net diople moment in the molecule. This dipole counteracts the electromagnetic fields at certain frequencies, and we get absorption. Using a laser, we can scan the transmission through a sample at different frequencies and find where these absorption features are. From this we can not only get a unique profile from the absorption lines that can be used to detect the presence of the sample by the same method, but we can determine the concentration of the sample from the depth of the dips.

Pretty cool, huh?

if you miss, you'll float endlessly through space until your food, water, or oxygen run out, or you hit a celestial body.

(yes, I'm aware of the original quote. That's what makes it funny.)

Mike took the bird today. He had it in the small carrying cage, and in the center was a shot glass full of a clear liquid.

"I hope that's water," I said to him.

"I hope it's vodka," he replied.

Mike's not too fond of the bird, either. :)

I never seem to get anything done on Sunday. I'm not really sure why. It certainly has nothing to do with the Christian day of rest thing (though I can sure appreciate a day of rest when it's prescribed). Most people have tons of stuff to do by Monday, so Sunday rarely works out to a lazy day. *shrug*. Well, I *did* do some stuff today, but I wouldn't consider any of it important. Witness:

• I've written off the dead camera as a loss. Sad, yes, but I made the realization that any repairs would cost me more than I paid for the camera, and that the working battery was worth more than the working camera. I'm bidding on another camera, a newer CCD-TRV25. Hopefully I can get most of what I paid back by reselling the battery and charger. :) Interestingly, the camera is being sold by someone who also has a "Adult Only Toys and Novelties" store on eBay. Gee, I wonder what this camera was used for? I should send a question to the seller about sticky buttons. }:->
• I hooked up the output of DIGITALLY IMPORTED's Happy Hardcore station to this neato voiceapp program, which does DFFTs in realtime on incoming data. You can actually see sound with it, it's awesome.
• I made dinner. Dirty rice (from a box, I'm so lame) w/green bell peppers.
• I did laundry.

So today has not been a total waste. Hooray! Oh, read this, it's funny.

I saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy tonight. It was good. What, you say? Not "excellent," "amazing," or "the best movie I've seen all year" (which, incidentally, it is...) ? No. Just good. Arthur was a confused british man, Ford was a weird alien, Zaphod was over the top, Trillian was cute, and everything else was in its place. It's a faithful adaptation of the book, and thoroughly entertaining. Really, what were you expecting?

On a related note, check out the BBC's h2g2 site. It's very similar to something like wikipedia or everything2. Which is to say, it's full of useless junk and it's very slow.

On the topic of uselessness, we've still had no luck in lab. If you want useless data, I can sell it to you by the truckload. I've got hundreds of points of data that gently drifts upward, without any sign of CO₂ absorption.

Speaking of luck, Erickson is still the luckiest fucker in the world. He's managed to find the world's only remaining cute, single geek girl, a feat not unlike finding a golden ticket inside the package of your Wonka Bar. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm positively green with envy even though I haven't even met her. *shakes fist at the sky for the twentieth time today*. He must have been a saint in a past life, helping starving children or something like that. :)

Is there really anyone who clicks on those banner ads, you know the ones. The ones that say "Is Britney really pregnant?" and shows a couple of alternating radio buttons for yes and no. Does anybody actually click on those? Can we take these people out of the gene pool?

If we can't, I guess this will have to do. ☺

I like kittens. Why, then, do I find this so hilarious?

Nancy and I have been working on our final project for our optics class. It's IR absorption spectroscopy of CO₂. We had everything set up, and were checking to see if everything was working. It wasn't. So for about an hour and a half, we futzed around trying to figure it out. Turns out we didn't turn on the output of the tunable laser. D'oh.

Chrissy's in the carribean now, and Mike spends most of the week in Peoria since he works there. So I'm in charge of taking care of Arrow, Chrissy's parrotlett. It's not hard. Food, water, attention. Except that we don't get along too well. A typical conversation goes like this:

Me: Hello, tasty.
Bird: Chirp! Chirp! *fluffs feathers and bites the air*
Me: What's that? Marinate you in teriyaki sauce and stir fry you with some almonds and shallots? Wow, parrotletts really are intelligent.
Bird: Chirp! Chirp!

Of course, when I leave it alone, he chirps, too. He's just an attention whore. "At least you've got a roommate," Nancy said. Yeah... sure.

Nancy also said that if I need a place to stay next year, I can stay on her couch. Apparently, the co-op would love me since I can cook. *shrug*. Good to know I've got a fallback, I guess.

So I've resurrected the freeshell.org archives and made them available here. It's got some 47 entries of whining, self-loathing, and mechanical mayhem for your bemusement, plus everyone else's journals. How's that for a blast from the past?

Darek: All I want is to learn Korean, get a Korean chick who can make me Korean food, and play Pump it Up all day.

Me:: All I want is to learn Japanese, get a Japanese chick who can make me Japanese food, and play IIDX all day.

Octavian: All I want is an Asian White Asian chick, and to sleep all day.

Yan: All I want is... ZZZZZZzzzzzzz...