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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
mrilock's LiveJournal:
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| Saturday, December 2nd, 2006 | | 8:05 pm |
I have some explaining to do...
Okay... so, the last post is, indeed, England continued... but because I've been busy, annoyed and discombobulated by irregular internet, I've not actually *posted* some of my journal musings. Making things more confusing, a bunch of my "journals" only exist as appendings to my calendar. Not necessarily making them more interesting, just *that's the way it is*. Oh, and a bunch of posts are handwritten, when I'm at the pubs or coffee shop... sans computer. I still need to type those buggers up. So, I'm going to mess with ya'lls heads here... and post stuff out of order. If you are actually itnerested in hearing what's going on, I'll try to keep it interesting ("England, Continued" was alright then?), enough so that you'll want to look back at it. Oh yeah, I've done some Flickr-ing, some Google-mapping, and some other web 2.0 shtuff, such as myspace, friendster, facebook, and linkedIn. Feel free to poke me on any of those networks, I'm *trying* to get enough of a network so that I can do something interesting with those connections. And I've already learned that a long-lost friend is engaged... via myspace (or friendster?) so I guess that whole social networking site thing is working. Okay, back to the apologies - To make matters worse, every time things end up being absolutely fascinating and busy, I get too busy to post about them... such as this weekend. Very eventful, stimulating, challenging, and downright terrifying. Hoorah for Iceland. So once I post about it, it will probably be as exciting as cornflakes in my mind. But I'll work on that... so tired! Anyway, the hapless wanderer continues... and hits the bed - another late night (2AM), and for no terribly good reason. | | Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 | | 8:54 pm |
| | Friday, June 16th, 2006 | | 12:47 pm |
My First NASCAR
As I write this, the moments are ticking down until I embark upon my first trip to a NASCAR race. My cousin and I (and some guys from work) are taking the camper I currently live in up to Michigan, and attending the race there this weekend. I really have no idea what to expect. I've watched part of a race before, I've played a little bit of the NASCAR games to know sort of what to expect (yay, I can actually talk some of the talk!), but other than that, no idea. I hear that it can get pretty wild, which would be fine, except I'm with a cousin. While Chris might be one of the wilder of the clan out here, I'm not sure that means I should demonstrate how we party, uh, Colorado stylee. One tradition (can one time be considered a tradition?) I may have to introduce is that of the venerable bratwurst canoe. Should I explain that? The one person I know who reads this journal knows what it is, and is probably laughing by now. Mmmm, brat-canoe. Mix liberally with jaeger and energy drink, sprinkle with random hippies and incoming snowstorm, stir vigorously. Don't forget a wine udder! (You had to be there, but perhaps the photos will one day appear, if I can get a copy of them). I'm not really sure what I'm going to wear to this race, but I'm starting to clue in. During a phone conversation with Allison, she made the comparison between this and Halloween. I'm certainly putting more thought into my outfit here than I do most Halloweens! We determined that collared shirts would be off-limits, and that I'm glad I left my loafers back in Boulder. Here's the outfit so far: -baseball cap (Nike red athletic hat and CAT hat) -sleeveless "wifebeater" undershirts (I may need more, I've only got two) -Green cargo shorts -Sandals That's not too exciting, I know. The conversation was funny, I promise. You had to be there. I contemplated getting some temporary tattoos, but wasn't sure I could find anything other than some smurf tats in a day. That would have flown... Maybe I could sharpie something on? I was thinking about shaving my head, but my scalp would be super pale (not to mention sweaty in the weekend's heat). In the interest of cleaning up though, I whipped out my clippers last night (hey, if I'm going to be shirtless, I should at least look halfway cleaned up). I got halfway through a shearing before I heard someone moving around, and stopped in case I was keeping folks up. As a result, I currently look like a maligned sheep or perhaps the subject of one of those "Messing with the Sasquatch" commercials. Okay, this post is probably starting to alienate any readers by this point. I'll make a quick segue... Phone Project My phone project is going swimmingly this week. A grueling day of research (#%@!, tech companies, for your lack of decent information and resources) helped propel me (hopefully) to a breakthrough; it appears I can dramatically lower the cost and complexity of the phones and printers. Let me stress *hopefully*. Until I have the solution in my hands, I won't know. That being said, I ordered some new equipment, so here's to hoping. Updated Travel Plans If everything works according to plan, then, I should have a prototype for my client by the end of next week. I'm going to leave it here for him to use and critique, and head back to Boulder for a spell. There I'll be packing up the rest of the house, then possibly driving it in a U-haul back to California around the first week of July. Anyone up for a road-trip? I'll be making a rendezvous there with my sister, arriving from England with my new niece! We'll visit for a couple of weeks, then hopefully (if I can get the tickets without breaking the bank), I'm off to England to stay at my sister's place while she's gone. With any luck I'll also be able to get around to some other bits in Europe as well. That's the plan; we'll see how long it stays unchanged. During this time I'm also planning on continuing work upon my phone project - refining it into an easily marketable and sellable product, and perhaps adding some other functionality on as well. We'll see how that goes! -Matthew Current Mood:  excitedCurrent Music: Bark At The Moon - Ozzy Osbourne - The Ozzman Cometh | | Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 | | 10:57 am |
Indiana Update
The Short of It: I'm still in Indiana, after about 2.5 weeks. While here, the two big things that I have noticed are: -I love being out here, with my family (spending time with the kids, doing random projects, getting to know all my cousins better, being relatively free of distractions) -Anything digital that I touch breaks, or just doesn't work. I'm not trying to be melodramatic; okay, maybe a little. I'm just having some terrible luck, and making some absolutely stupid mistakes. My phone project is making slow, arduous progress, and I'm now determined I need to bring in outside help, because right now I'm playing directly to my weaknesses and avoiding my strengths. The Long of It: (ie: I won't pout if you skip this more detailed explanation) ( Read more... ) Current Mood: busy | | Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 | | 3:30 pm |
"When a problem comes along, you must WAP it" (Apologies to Devo)
This post may not be interesting to anyone other than myself, just a warning. Its a detailing, for my own edification and yours, if so desired, as to the state and thought involved in my current consulting project. I'm working on a phone project for a company out in Indiana, building a custom combination of hardware and software that allows them to print documents, sent over the web, from anywhere (even without a web connection). I've just completed and "installed" a test unit for my first version of the solution. It works, but it's ugly like your mother won't admit you are. Its expensive and complex, and the costs of training on it are honestly going to outweigh (I'm betting) the cost of just going ahead and developing version 2.0. Version 2.0 does mean I need to start performing some totally new tasks, first among them being: System Architecture: I may be "rolling my own code", building a custom software application here, and I need to break down the problem into tangible bits. This is also going to save me time and frustration if I eventually bring someone else in on the project. Refactor Current Solution: The tools and services I'm using now may be limiting my options, and its time to re-evaluate this and come up with some more options, discard some, and see where we can substantially improve the ultimate solution. Research: I can't be the only person to be trying to do this. There has to a project or company doing something similar. Either I can contract out their services, pass them the lead and take a commission, buy their product, or recreate their solution. At the very least, I can look around at information and products in this industry, and see what I can learn. I am not an expert in the field, and I need better ideas. So all that is nice and general, but what the hell am I doing? At the bare essence, I want to build a WAP system that allows special cell phones to download and print documents from the web, sent over the cell-phone network. Easy, huh? This can include email, images, contracts, etc. Caveat: I have no idea if this post is going to screw with my intellectual property rights, assuming I have or need any on this project. So, if necessary, I may need to hunt down and kill you (or hire you) in order to protect my rights. So please leave me some comments, inane or not, if you read this far. Cheers! Current Mood: focusedCurrent Music: Ruthless Gravity - Craig Armstrong - Layer Cake Movie Soundtrack | | Monday, May 22nd, 2006 | | 12:03 am |
Holy Wow
I just checked up on people's blogs for the first time in, well, awhile. sounds like lots is going on for everyone. I don't know where to start, but I think I forgot to mention something in my last post. I graduated. For reals and everything. Didn't just walk (that was last year). This year I finished my last class. I'm done! I'm either in shock, or just underwhelmed and overly ready to be finished. Maybe my last post is a good indication of trying-to-move-on-itis. Hey Chris, I got a job for you, buddy! | | Sunday, May 21st, 2006 | | 11:21 pm |
And its a Hail-Mary!
The title just sort of popped out. If that struck you wrong, then avoid the rest of the post. I've been sleeping way too little, working way too much, and having way too much fun in the between bits. Welcome to Huntington, Indiana. Population: I have no idea but its small. I'm actually having a blast here, partly because I'm sinking myself totally in my work, which is fascinating (to me), and because I'm seeing my Indiana relatives (who I adore). I just wrote a long email to my mother, and realized that reformatted slightly could be a great blog post. Informative at least. I tried to pepper it up with clever/manic writing, let me know: *hunts around for lj-cut instructions* ah, that was easy: ( Read more... ) Current Mood:  energetic | | Sunday, November 20th, 2005 | | 9:23 am |
Indiana, Wed Nov. 15th to Saturday, Nov 19th
I'm in Indiana this week. Wednesday, November 16th, through Friday, November 25th. Probably boring for my readers, by I'd prefer to remember it for myself, so I can skim it later. Its been fun so far, and love seeing everyone, though some of the kids are full-blown, or threatening to be teenagers, which changes our relationship somewhat. Thought I might like a little entry detailing some of my adventures thus far in Indiana. I'm out here visiting the relatives, including all the little (and now some not-so-little) ones (Kelsey and Tannon, Hannah and Quentin, Lauren and Caitlin, and Incoming). My trip started in Colorado, and was uneventful until I landed in Chicago O' Hare. Before going to my connection flight's gate, I checked the boards, and saved myself a trip to the far end of the airport. Instead, I got to go halfway to nowhere looking for customer service that was actually servicing customers. Apparently the cancellation was the airport's fault, not the airline's (United), thus they wouldn't give me a free hotel for the night. Why the airport wasn't paying, I couldn't find out. Instead I got a list of rental car places and a list of discounted "airpot-overnight" hotels, and rebooked my flight for that evening (6 hours later) to boot. As a couple hours passed, the hallways began filling up with passengers waiting for small planes, as cancellation after cancellation poured in. I call Prasad to see if he's off work or available that night to put me up. The weather was blowing and snowing, not helping the situation any. I asked the gate agent how my evening flight was looking, and she said that, kindly, that snowballs may have a better chance in the Bahamas. I shrugged, rebooked for the morning (not TOO) early, and started calling rental car agencies to see if I could drive down to Fort Wayne. Most of an hour later, I had nothing, nada, zip. Nobody wanted me to take the car one-way, or if they did, I was the last person to figure it out, and they were empty, except the folks who had a moped to spare, sans 1/2 wheel. Not sure how that works. So I called for a hotel, which turned out suspiciously easy. $45 room, 10 minutes from the airport, picks up every 30 minutes. Sweet! I call my mother know I'm staying the night in Chicago (I haven't heard back from Prasad yet), and reassure her that if I see any murders taking place as I walk inside, I won't stay. I am from the back alley's of Los Angeles, after all. I took off down to the shuttle pickup, and desperately flagged the shuttle down as I was crossing the walk. Apparently, he can't pick me up in the middle of the street, despite it taking all of 3 seconds. So I got to walk, without jacket, 10 minutes in the cold, blowing snow, to another spot, where my new best friend comes and picks me (and several others) up. Lucky, that. Check-in's easy, and I catch the end of "Lost", the best use of my time that evening. The rest of it is spent deploring the current inability of TV to actually entertain, rather than morbidly fascinate me. I spend several hours intricately analyzing the programming, and cursing mildly that my hotel doesn't have wireless internet (just like the airport!), and fall asleep. I'm at the airport early the next morning, and everything starts working better. My flight goes perfectly, I end up Fort Wayne, get picked up by Carolyn and Don Eberhart, and even get to see Chris Stephen and Erica Stephen at Chris' new business location. We go home, and the rest of the afternoon is spent resting up for Thursday night's Spellbowl competition, starring the linguistic abilities of Hannah and Quentin! We go and meet Tannon, Carlene, Jay, Cathalene, and Scott, and watch the spell bowl. While Hannah outperformed young Quentin, their team came in first in a close, and high-strung, competition. I even found myself missing some words, including the final one, "umbelliferrous". I may have still messed that up. We celebrated at Pizza Hut, while I encouraged the kids to pester their parents to go skiing, and gave some advice to Kelsey and Tannon about applying to, funding, and taking full advantage of the opportunities of a college education. I also advised them to consider working for a year in their considered field/major, making some money, and learning about themselves. I also learned Hannah has a deep abiding love of books, not unsimilar to my own, and shared a few stories of growing up Saturday mornings in shopping malls with my mother. Quentin, apparently, has a deep abiding fascination with shiny objects, whereupon I sighed, smiling, and told him we had some things in common, eliciting a query from Kelsey, and answered with a laugh. By the end of the night, I had promised to come and stay over wherever the kids wanted me, as long as they could convince their parents. I woke up Friday and went to the gym with Don at 8:30AM, choosing to lift instead of run when the treadmills were taken up. It was a good workout that left my a bit wonky for the rest of the day, and tender the next. We came back, ate, cleaned up, and at 11 or so I started getting to my email (finally!) and work. My productivity was cut short around 3 by a book and a nap, and at 5:30 Quentin arrived to catch a movie with me since Hunington University's game was a little past his bed time. We chose to play some board games, grab dinner at home, then a movie, "Zathura". We followed that with some air hockey, where the little guy solidly won 7 games in a row (not all against me), and went for a victory lap at McDonalds, where we spoke to Allison on the phone, and showed him how the camera and video worked on it. As we left McDonald's, we got a call from Grandma Carolyn, who was wondering where we were. Apparently we were late, and the plans for Quentin to stay over in severe jeapordy. We got back home, reminded Scott (Quentin's pa) that Cathalene (Quentin's ma) that he was allowed to stay over, learned a little about early-morning deer hunting in the area, then took off for grandma's. The night ended quickly thereafter, as Quentin borrowed my laptop to write a Zathura story, and I watched the news (includind children's designer wear) with Carolyn and Don. We had to force Quentin to sleep, and heard just a little whining. I almost finished my book, but passed out in the final few pages. Saturday morning arrived via Quentin, and was followed up by a pickup from Chris. Off to Chad and Erica's for the night (eventually). We headed over to his work, and helped him move some equipment, and got my first experience in a semi, learning at the same time some of the trials and tribulations of the beaurocracy related to trucking, including environmental regulations, unions, and permit paperwork. We talked about trucking, kids, life, and Allison, and before we knew it we were all finished up, and over to lunch (Arby's) and his place. Brett met us at the house, where she was unpacking groceries, and sporting 8-months pregnant worth of belly. We discussed the burglaries going on all around, discussed possible methods of defense against, and took off to pick up the girls at church Christmas pageant rehearsal and a birthday party. We arrived at the church after conversation about global warming, the earth's ability, and inability to cope, and culminating in discussion of a 500-year-old flash-frozen wooly mammoths with fresh buttercups still in their mouths, who tasted fresh when the discoverers ate them. That gave me some pause, but not comment. At church the kids are practicing for "Operation Baby Jesus: Agent 00-Heaven". I was amused by Lauren's inability to yodel and "yep" onstage. Afterwards, I quickly broke the digital camera while trying to take pictures of the kids going to be baptized the following day, and we beat a hasty retreat to pick up Caitlin at the birthday party. At the party, I was called, by Brett, the "pied piper" of children, which pleased me inordinately, and I felt obliged to perform, promptly getting 6 little blonde girls, looking startlingly alike, to chase me around the room and pretend they were bulls to my bullfighter. Lauren, Caitlin, another Caitlin, Cinny, Abi, and... uh oh, forgot one. They were really cute, though. We went back to Chris and Brett's place, talked and played, popped some tylenol for my headache, and got ready for "Pomp-and-Plenty", Kelsey's Varsity Singer's performance that evening. Dinner and a show, $15. I threw on my new Corduroy jacket, cord pants, argyle, and cord loafers, and promptly got giggles from the girls. No making fun, I chastised them. Dinner was fun, and I encouraged Tannon to come and visit me if I'm abroad, and shared some of my plans. We spoke with the family about possibly price-gouging after Hurricane Katrina, the inflexibility of demand compared to supply, and the likelihood that American consumers might actually make a change in their buying habits, compared with history. We also discussed dessert. The show was great, and the kids fought to sit along-side me, learned to take pictures with my phone, and I learned how to hold Caitlin on my lap for about 2 hours or so. We guessed the Disney songs, tried to figure out which one was Kelsey, and generally had a great time throughout the show, alternating listening with "pester Matthew", which is my favorite game. Hannah declaimed herself as sorry that I'm probably getting of them, and I assured her my tolerance was much, much higher. After the show, Chad and Erica took me home, and I got to play with Titus, or Bobo, or a slew of other names. In short, the cutest damn akita I've seen for a LONG time, despite, or because of, being a rescue dog. Playful, energetic, but able to calm down, he's 4 years old and an absolute marvel. I want this dog, or his puppies, which would be difficult for technical reasons. Big bummer. I took lots of pictures, and some video, and might upload it later. Went to sleep early so I could be up to type this entry, and go to church to see Lauren's baptism. After that, we may be four-wheeling, and then possibly watching the last NASCAR race of the year! I mentioned that it would be interesting to learn a little hunting (it would be awesome to play with a bow, I think), but I doubt I'll get a chance to do that. I still need desperately to wrap the kids presents, write them cards, or something, and need to do some more work, but I'm having an absolutely great time. I woke up this morning in some envy of the life out here. Different, yes, from life where I've been. Always close to family, always there for each other, involved in the kids' lives... not a bad way to live. Made me think a bit. Off We Go! | | Sunday, August 7th, 2005 | | 2:10 am |
I am now on friendster. woot. So is my cat, garfield, last name of "good". :-) come one, come all! Btw, I'm done with my summer program in Urban Planning and Design, and have been recuperating in San Francisco for the past week. I'm off tomorrow morning for Los Angeles, should be a hoot. Cya! | | Saturday, July 30th, 2005 | | 5:18 am |
| | Wednesday, July 27th, 2005 | | 3:12 am |
wow. Just had an amazingly frustrating non-conversation with a 'friend' of mine in the Career Discovery program. This asian woman I've been talking to now and again, who has become a friend, shows these intermittent periods of non-sequiters. It doesn't help that the only time we end up talking is after 1AM, since she's 3 floors above me in the school, and we're in totally separate programs. So, tonight, I'm trying desperately to focus, but drifting in and out of understanding a little bit. But what it comes down to is her ranting (because I've just been listening for about 10 minutes without saying anything) about morals - it all comes down to morals, and how she doesn't believe in some groups, like the catholics, who forgive moral sins. She thinks that's bullshit and a copout, and that it means you have no honor or reason to adhere to a moral ground. "Well," I start, "uh I think the Catholics believe-" "See there you go, with your, 'uh oh uhm uh stutter'". I'm taken aback. "I'm just trying to explain the differences in some cultu-" "No, what you Americans need to realize is that you are all just a bunch of assholes. Don't give me shit about this or that being relative, you can't bear to stand on a single moral ground, and you forgive all your sins as soon as you've committed them, and you have no moral fiber." This last statement from her was paraphrased a little, because hers was long, rambling, and went on for about a minute. It became clear to me that I couldn't attempt to refute or even contribute to the conversation without her accusing me of being an asshole American. that's not a conversation... that's not a dialogue, but a diatribe. I picked up my computer, patted her on the shoulder, thanked her for a nice talk, and walked out. I wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, or just argue with her, but I was too tired and pissed off, and still didn't want to burn bridges for no reason. Maybe I should have stayed. Maybe I should have argued. At the least, I just wanted to get into a discussion of different cultures and whether or not they really "forgive" moral lapses, and perhaps why they would do so, whether for practical, theological, or political reasons. Maybe I should have had her explain in more detail why she was suddenly so seemingly vitriolic towards me, because that venom in her voice was definitely inclined in my direction (I felt). But I was just so blown away, that I didn't want to deal with it. We had one of these the other nights as well, when... I was mentioning that other people may hurt women because societal punishments are lax. She misinterpreted me as meaning that I don't hurt women (or try not to) in order to avoid punishment, and thus ensued an extremely tense half an hour while I meticulously tried to explain what I meant. Her English is decent, but sometimes she really doesn't pick up on the subtleties, which (tonight as well, probably), cause issues. Anyway, I'm also annoyed because it is really hard to follow these conversations when you are dead tired (I was more than ready for bed at midnight, but wanted to take advantage of one of the last chances I'd have to get to talk with her), and I can't *really* afford these late night hours like I've been trying. So I'm annoyed at myself for wanting to pursue the friendship, because often she does seem like she has something meaningful and insightful to say. Then to have her say something so hurtful and dismissive... :-( | | Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 | | 11:55 pm |
always people around when you don't want'em, never when you do. frack. Thus ends the evening pretensions of sociability. | | Tuesday, July 19th, 2005 | | 8:48 pm |
wanting... to blow of work... want... to leave... want.... to tango to portishead.... nobody to dance with.... running around like crazy tanguero to everyone's incredulity... ack. | | Tuesday, June 21st, 2005 | | 9:22 pm |
This is a quickie post
The deep-wingers (left and right) want to hunt down and kill others like themselves, oriented 180 degrees in the "wrong direction". The moderates like me just want to sit back, hand everybody citizenship, ask them to play nice with others, and try to fuck them. Well, the pretty ones at least. ''The marriage issue is waking up alliances that never existed. Abortion was never like this.'' - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/magazine/19ANTIGAY.html?pagewanted=4This is because the abortion alliance never focused upon a set of people it can demonize. Here, as the Bible proscribes, people with homosexual tendencies are ascribed all sorts of improprieties, most of all, living their lives like Jesus (the Son of God, for those who just started watching) would want them to. Come on, people. The gentleman who embraced lepers and whores wouldn't turn away some sodomites who are merely trying to pledge eternal love and succor to one another, now would he? In a world that has seen popes hit on their own daughters, in a world that has seen a god go from Old Testament fire-and-brimstone (a leftover from the Manichean paganists coming before, perhaps?) to the forgiving, accepting, and embracing ideas of Jesus, who can honestly pledge their faith on a strictly Old Testament interpretation There was a day not long ago that God proscribed the African people from having and holding and exercising rights on Free American soil. But we have come to realize, as a society, that we are a community of people, all colors, all types. all cultures, all styles. We cannot discrimate - to discriminate is to attempt to presume upon God his or her own motives. Please excuse me, but I'm sumer God would damn me for that one. "Conservative Christians", as the media has termed them (I would call them "concerned family types"), does our Christian God wish us to be as intolerant of people of varying sexual orientation as some Muslims are of women's rights? We know women can think as well as (if not better?) than men, can rationalize in new and important ways, and can give us males a perspective we do not have before - something I regard as important. As Lincoln said - a house divided cannot stand. I feel the Muslims are short-sighted to keep women in a place of secondary importance, when their role should be as, or more, primary as that of males in todays society. We have learned from our mistakes in our prejudice towards women, the Irish, the Blacks, the Indians, the Jews, in short, anyone different from us. America, and we ourselves pride ourselves upon principles of freedom and equality. Why persist in persecuting people different from us any longer? Are we, yet again, fighting that same battle, even today? I only ask that everyone live free and equal, as my God and my Founding Fathers wished. | | Saturday, June 18th, 2005 | | 12:38 am |
Great "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith" review
http://vanderworld.blogspot.com/2005/06/star-wars-3-amazingly-bad-movie.htmlWhile I liked the movie a little more than the reviewer, I still agree almost completely with his thoughts on it. I laughed out loud at the line, "I’ve got some Dooku for you, right here." Heh. My own points that I would add to the review: Lucas can't write dialog for shit. He either completely stunts his actors with clunky, over-serious dialog, or his actors need to all be taken off of their tranquilizers. I do agree that Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan did his best with the shitty lines (I actually enjoyed his final rant at the crippled, rapidly crisping Annakin), and I also liked Natalie Portman's outraged delivery of the "thunderous applause" line, even while I wish Lucas coudl come up with lines like that when they didn't refer to this real-life political beliefs. And may I give props to Kit, who pointed out to me the benefits of the Dark Side, and the Empire, over the rebels and the Jedi. Good food for thought. I dig force lightning. On a last note, I was terribly amused by the actor who I felt gave the most heart-felt, emotive performance... perhaps his already mangled lines helped mask the idiocy of the writing behind them, I don't know - but I was completely captivated by Yoda's performance. Its a bad sign when your CGI characters are the most convincing... Happily I've felt more closure at the closure of this series than the end of the Matrix trilogy. | | Friday, June 10th, 2005 | | 4:04 pm |
Sunday BBQ is on...
Okay kids, So, it seems there is a general consensus that Sunday is best, and Sunday afternoon, about 5PM would work for almost everyone. I don't really consider that evening, so hopefully that'll work for you, Kit. I'd like to do something at a park, and I'm scouting out good ones right now, but since there is a 50% chance of rain Sunday afternoon, we may move it to my house. So here's the info: Activity: BBQ Location: park to be determined/Matthew's House Time: 5PM Sunday afternoon Bring: Some meat/food for the bbq, beer if you want some. | | Monday, June 6th, 2005 | | 10:33 pm |
Leaving
Hey kids, I'm leaving Boulder, for good (barring extremely unexpected circumstances) in exactly 10 days. I would really like to see some of my friends before I go, but realize that I've done a piss poor job in the last month of actually seeing people. One excuse is that my parents have again invaded, and that does not lead well to inviting people over. Also, not having a car makes me feel weird about "hey, let's go hang out!". I dunno, I'm strange. Anyway, I'm trying to fix this. So, here is my notice - if you are reading this, chances are I want to see you! I'm thinking of having a bbq/soccer game this weekend, whichever day works better for whomever. I'd also like to have a few little dinners with people, not loud and rambunctious, but actually the type of event that might mean we share a few words. I'm pretty much open to days. I'll be making calls in the next few days, if I don't get to you soon, please gimme a ring. *waves* | | Wednesday, April 27th, 2005 | | 3:47 pm |
I do and I don't...
One week until graduation, and I've got major procrastinatino issues. I've been doing just fine, despite an overwhelming amount of work (except that I've sorta neglected some of my classes). So... I think I'm okay, but I'm not really sure. Essentially, I've been pouring my soul into senior projects, and largely negelcting the rest of my classes other than gamelets. I was working my ass off, and since I haven't really done much senior projects this week (the main push was over Saturday), I thought I'd have time for other classes. Except that I'm procrastinating. I was doing fine while I was sleep deprived and manic... but now, well-rested, I'm finding time to fix my friends' computers (a task I usually hate and refuse to do), working on linux (see the above statement), playing with music, my friends, my girl, etc. I need to fucking get back to work. I've budgeted my time, and I definitely have enough time to do everything I need to do... but I need to actually START this stuff. And talk to my teachers. Ugh. Now that I'm this close, I find I really WOULD like to, you know, graduate. Failing out instead of graduating is not an... optimal solution. -Matthew | | Friday, April 22nd, 2005 | | 4:04 pm |
Are you a gamer?
Do you like pc games, particular 1st person shooters, Counterstrike, Quake, Doom, and the like? Do you like games that can be played competitively, head-to-head over a network? Do you like going to and/or administrating LAN parties? If you replied yes to any of these questions, you're probably going to be interested in my senior project. Over the last year we've been developing software to help administrate LAN gaming parties, from providing a unified interface to control multiple games, to presenting an easy way to get a history on players, games, and a way to see how a player is progressing through a tournament. But the interesting part - you can come check out what we did! Tomorrow at the ITLL Design Expo (11AM-3PM) we will be presenting our software, with the ability for audience members to (hopefully) play games live, and allows them to see their results online, in real-time. We also will demonstrate how, with a single interface, we can control multiple games through an easy, modular system. We may also show how to design a new plug-in for our software, so that it can administrate and monitor new types of games that we did not yet add into the system. So if you are a gamer, admin, coder, or just a friend - come check it out, play some games, point out some of the bugs, and give us a hard time. Look forward to seeing you!! -Matthew | | 12:22 pm |
"emails more distracting than pot"
No surprise this Between emails, phone calls, meetings, meals and life, I can never get anything done. This is part of the reason I've started switching to working at night... when else can I get about 12 hours of interrupted work time? Then I sleep during the early afternoon, then do class in early evening (i have a weird schedule this year). Please let me graduate, CU! http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162648 |
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