bytex64.net/blog

As I sit here in the aftermath, I ponder exactly how to relate to you the events of last night. It was bizarre, surreal, and heretofore unfathomable. I think I should just explain it how I felt at the time.

Shit got totally fucked up.

It all started with an IM from Doc Ock asking if he could have a few people over at my place to play some poker and perhaps some casual drinking. He explained that he was doing it for (I think) his roommate, to help him with a broken heart. Romantic that I am, I couldn't help but assist him with such an endeavor.

A couple of hours later, Octavian, Yan, Ed, and Octavian's depressed roommate, Sam, came over. They played poker, and I read the Illiad. Their game of Texas Hold'em involved drinking somehow, I'm not sure of the details. Then, Marty came over. Then, Dan. Then Kan Kan and her friend whose name I don't recall. A little more than I had anticipated, but still under control.

Well, Octavian lost his ability to pour drinks, and for the ones that did get poured, Yan developed an amazing knack for knocking them over. Drinks were spilled, and eventually the poker stopped, and the real drinking began. Octavian and Sam were stumbling around the kitchen, taking shots of Aftershock. Yan was asleep on the floor (sober, he claims, but tired). Kan and Marty were discussing relationships while hurling soft-tip electronic darts at (or near) my dartboard. Kan, with her vicious dart throwing technique, managed to stick one in my wall. Ed played IIDX. At some point Greg came, apparently shocked at the scene, being the only sober person there. He stayed for a little bit, then left with Kan and Marty.

After the last four shots of Aftershock, Sam felt ill, and became Captain of the Stainless Steel Sea. He collapsed, leaving a dent in the wall with his head, and we monitored him for a while, making sure he puked and such. I believe the wall took the worst of it. We dragged him back to ISR, dodging the cops at Green and Busey.

That trial over with, I went back, took a shower, and went to bed. This morning, I skipped my class, missed my alarm for work, and emailed in sick. Here's the kicker: I can't find my glasses. I know I had them on this morning when I ate breakfast and decided I didn't want to go to class. I went back to sleep, but they were nowhere to be found when I woke up at 2:30.

*sigh*. It's going to be a long day.

I have again pierced my thumb with my Cheese Slicer of Doom. For those not familiar with this implement, it is similar to a normal cheese slicer, except that the roller that rolls over the cheese has been replaced with two rods that come to razor-sharp points. These rods are placed such that if you slip while slicing, the slicing wire catches your thumb, ramming one of these razor-sharp rods into your thumb. This is the fourth time this has happened.

I missed class this morning. Ok, missed isn't the word for it. "Wilfully refrained" is a better term. I was up all night working on my latest gadget, the pictowall. (Future warning: This link may not be permanent, as it is on my cable modem connection) Frustrated by the fact that any kind of file transfer crashes GAIM for me, and that I need some way for people to casually share their photos with me (the fact that sharing photos through a tiny AIM conversation window is a stupid idea notwithstanding), I created this infinitely expandable two-dimensional tiled photo space. A photo may be added to a cell adjacent to any existing photo by clicking the "up!" link, and thus the wall grows outward. Eventually, I want to be able to add comments into the cells, and create some sort of voting system so cells may be cleared as well.

Well, what are you waiting for? Start filling in the wall! Oh, and I *can* delete things, so that idea you've got about putting up a carefully designed grid of 500 Erik Estrada pictures that spell out "You're a Fag"? Don't bother. }:->

*yawn*. I had my first class of Mythology of Rome and Greece today, and I just finished reading the first three books of the Iliad. It's surprisingly interesting, especially the Honeymooners-esque arguments between Zeus and Hera:

Hera: You've been scheming again behind my back, I know it!
Zeus: Woman, I've done no such thing! Would you quit prying into my life?
Hera: Prying? I don't know what you're talking about. I merely saw you giving your assent to that trollop Thetis.
Zeus: And what are you going to do about it? Nothing. One of these days, Hera. One of these days! POW! To the moon!

And he could do it, too. :)

Anyway, I ran into Ed, Yan, and Jason at the Union afterwards. Ed, Yan, and I went to Kan's for lunch (because Yan was broke). Kan mentioned that she was sunbathing on the quad while reading this. She mentioned something to the effect that in the history of the universe, she was probably one of the only people to ever have done this.

That is so incredibly... hot.

I told her that. Unfortunately, in an unrelated discussion, she also insulted me greatly by swearing fealty to the Tequila camp, and saying that all Vodka was awful, even the almighty Grey Goose. I demanded that she take back such an awful, libelous statement, but she refused. *sigh*.

My chair broke. Yes, the one I'm sitting in right now. One of the welds holding up the cushion snapped, so right now I'm perched on the edge. I'm not really sure what to do about it... I mean, it's just a chair, but I do spend most of my time here. Maybe I'll just switch it for Mike's and hope nobody notices. :)

It seems I'll be eating some small amount of crow. Apparently the dev machines for the OS X Intel Developer Kit are just plain ol' Intel mobos with P4s on them. This is not to say that the consumer Mac will be, but it is true, that *right now*, OS X is running on commodity PC hardware.

Furthermore, Erickson seems to have found a source that has Apple saying you can run Linux and Windows on MacIntel. I remain skeptical, but I'll admit I'm wrong when the final word comes out. Oh, and if you could, at least make the crow fried or spicy. :)

It was reported earlier today that someone had leaked the OS X that runs on these dev machines, opening the floodgates for thousands of 1337 kiddies with BitTorrent to run t3h OS X on their b0x0rz. It was also supposed that this was some stealth marketing ploy by Apple to get people to get the word out in the PC world about how awesome OS X is. Despite the fact that these torrents turned out to be filled lots and lots of text files (the digital equivalent of a crate full of shredded documents?), it's an interesting idea.

Step 1 - Leak fully-featured but beta version of your awesome OS out on the Internet.

Step 2 - ...

Step 3 - Profit!

It's FOOLPROOF!

In unrelated news, I'd completely forgotten to mention that my awesome tequila shot was caught on video. No, you can't have that video, but it may show up later in a less... incriminating context. Also, I have a video of Mike tossing my CutCo Chef's Knife Of Doom and Mike, Tyler, and I singing this song. Expect that one up shortly. }:->

Summer session II starts tomorrow, and I've got class at 11:30. 'night.

Yeah, I've been slacking with the blog. I think Marcin is the only one who cared, though. Occasionally, I'm too busy to sit down and collect my thoughts. One of those times was this weekend, on account of Mike being around.

We (and by "we," I mean, Mike, the Kan Kan gang, and several people I didn't know) saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I was afraid that it was going to be another cliche-laden action film, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually a cliche-laden comedy with guns, car chases, and explosions. I loved it. :)

At BWW earlier in the week, Octavian and I had decided that we'd have a Long Island fest this weekend. Well, he pussied out, but I wound up getting the alcohol, anyway. I went on an impromptu Meijer Run with Mike, Phil, and Mike's sister, where I got the cheapest forms of Rum (Ronrico), Gin (Fleischman's), and Tequila (Montezuma) I could find, along with some Triple Sec.

Back at the house, I fried up some hamburgers, and Mike grilled some brats. Oh, what brats they were. If you have not had a perfectly grilled Johnsonville beer brat, I suggest you do so at your earliest convenience. Phil came over, and Tyler came later. I made my Long Island, but it turned out poorly due to my cheap ingredients. *shrug*.

At some point during the night (as most drunken nights tend to) we decided to throw things off of the balcony. Eggs. Glass bottles. One of the plastic outdoor chairs we have on the balcony. The last one was the subject of some debate. Mike thought it would break if it was dropped from the balcony. Tyler thought it wouldn't. Tyler lost. I also remember our neighbors downstairs throwing out a balloon that zoomed around the night. That was pretty awesome. I also drank a tequila shot with Tobasco Sauce, chili garlic sauce, and chili oil in it. For me, it was better than a regular tequila shot.

After browsing collegehumor.com, we set out to walk down Green Street. We ate at Antonio's (Oh, man, it's been far too long) and walked back. At Lincoln and Green, we ran into Ed and ... Jason? (I think that's his name) at the Super Pantry. We talked for a bit, and then everyone went home. I attempted to keep my bed from spinning, woke up several times to get a drink of water, and eventually woke up today, slightly groggy, but none worse for the wear.

Moral of the story? Tequila still sucks.

Nerds make better lovers.

I'm sorry, what? Girls are looking for geeky guys? And their references are... David Arquette, Arthur Miller, and Tiger Woods. No, I'm sorry. Girls don't like them because they're geeks. They like them because they're loaded. Ok, note to the media: Using examples from stardom is stupid. These people aren't normal.

Ignoring that flaw, the article still doesn't deliver on any solid reasoning, and is in fact hopelessly confused between the idea of a "nerd" and someone who is intelligent, thoughtful, and caring. I think a comment on digg hit it on the head: "Nerds don't make better lovers, people who are interested in building good relationships make better lovers." Some nerds are serious, thoughtful people. Some aren't. Just because he's a nerd doesn't mean you're going to live happily ever after with a man who has a hard time making a decision between sex and Worlds of Warcraft.

"And they're pretty faithful people, because they're certainly grateful for anything they have." Translation: "Geeks are desperate, so you can walk all over them and they'll still love you." Ok, I'll admit it, this is true. This is not, however, a valid reason to date a nerd.

Vacuous blithering jackasses.

The other day I saw a commercial for Be Cool on DVD. Was that movie actually in theaters? Has my lack of cable and my browser adblocker put me so out of the loop that I missed the release of a major Hollywood film, or was this movie so horrible that it was put straight to disc, despite being headlined by John Travolta and Uma Thurman? *shrug*. No idea, but the point is, I don't care. If I'm that detached from popular culture, all the better.

While I was at Wally-World (Wal-Mart for those of you without a red neck) getting ready to check out, I got a strange feeling...

Na na na na na na na na na na na ...

Hold on... Saving Senses... tingling.

Na na na na na na na na na na na ...

Must... go to... clearance aisle.

Compelled by this feeling, I had no other choice. Not seconds after my arrival, I'd spotted my prize: A knife honer. I'd been looking for one for a while, and this one was half price: $5.00. Smackdown. Add this one to my list of ESPs below: The Sense of Impending Deals.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some knives to sharpen. }:->

BEHOLD! To the left, there is now a search box! This searches all the journal entries and comments on the site. It's not perfect, but I think it's usable enough that I'm putting it into production. Why, you ask? Well, I've got 89 entries in my blog. That's 9 pages, and I'm not going to wade through it all to find something I (or someone else) said.

I was talking to Marcin today, and he suggested that I write a romance novel. I'm not really in the mood for writing right now, but I'll give you a few good excerpts from the conversation.

Pure freaking genius.

So tonight the gang, plus a few people, went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. I learned about this just about the same time as I was going to go eat. Had it been mentioned before? I don't remember. Since we were all meeting up at Kan's place, I headed over there to hang out for a while, snag some food before dinner, and shock some people with my new black hair (I'm azn too now! WHEE!). Dillon was throwing knives, and Kan was lying on her bed, working on her laptop, wearing running shorts... and a tank top... and glasses... and JESUS CHRIST, MAN! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!

*SMACK*!

Sorry. *breathes deeply*.

So anyway, it was Tuesday night at BBW, and that means 35¢ wings. I got 12, and ordered them with "Hot" sauce. And, indeed, it was hot. They burnt going in, and I'm not looking forward to their fiery exit...

Like the title says. Too. Much. Hotness.

I'm going to break from my usual banal emo bullshit for a moment to talk about a subject near and dear to my heart: the 80x86 processor. Namely, it's been announced that that Apple is going to use it in future Macintoshes.

Now, as a CS major, I know that a simple processor change means jack to an application developer, unless you're Hardcore^TM, and do hand-tuned assembly routines. Those of use who have been using Real Operating Systems^TM have known this for years. (See: "Of course it runs NetBSD."). So, I'm not really surprised by the move. Darwin, the Mach-based core of OS X, is one of the more portable pieces of software in existence, and has been running happily on x86 for quite some time. The graphics hardware isn't changing. The peripheral buses aren't changing. This is pretty much a non-deal for those of us who write the code. A talented programmer could make the switch in a weekend.

But, of course, people are making a big deal out of it. And, of course, I have to deal you straight on this ignorance-driven hype machine that is modern media. That goes double for you internet hacks. "Blogosphere." Feh. :) Here's the straight shit:

• No Windows On Mac - No, just because it runs an Intel processor, it doesn't mean it's PC compatible. Apple doesn't want you running Windows on Mac, and really, nobody who owns a Mac wants it, either. :) I might remind people that there have been non-PC compatible architectures that used x86 processors in the past, notably, NEC's PC-9800 series, popular in Japan. (But that's not really the end of the story. See below.)
• No Cheap Macs - Just because cheap, commodity PC hardware exists now, doesn't mean that Apple is going to use it and pass the savings on to you. They most definetly will not pass the savings on to you. :)
• No Mac OS X for PC - Apple makes most of their money off of their hardware. Selling a version of OS X for cheap PC hardware is a good idea... for putting themselves out of the hardware business. Not that some hacker won't figure it out, but you won't see Apple stepping up and giving people a way out of buying their overpriced machines.

On the other hand, here are some things you probably will see:

• Dual-core Pentium M-based PowerBooks
• Pentium M-based Mac Mini II
• Windows emulation with Wine
• Linux, *BSD, etc., for Mac-x86
• Two-button mice (Ok, probably not, but a guy can dream)

YES, THAT IS RIGHT. SALIVATE, FOOLS. *ahem*.

So this is only good for Apple. Apple stands to gain back lost ground on PPC processor, and we may finally see something truly powerful in a PowerBook. Me? I'll never be an Apple fanboy until they make a PowerBook as sexy as the IBM X-series.

Ok, I'm aware that my idea of "sexy" is pretty skewed, but I want one of those new IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad X41 machines. Light, powerful, and sports the return of the TrackPoint. Yes, the TrackPoint, the little eraser mouse that everybody loved to hate. *shrug*. I hate touchpads. Oh, and did I mention that it doesn't have any Windows keys on it? And it has a magnesium composite shell? That's jet black? That's also on fire? Oh, wait. Not that last part. Too bad it costs more than I paid for my car... *shrug*. Someday...