A Success

Our feature presentation:

[00:19:46] Thomas Ramps: do you have a C:/CLDMA.LOG
[00:20:11] Fenix Drakken: no
[00:20:26] Thomas Ramps: then i wonder why i have an 12GB one

Went to Mongolian Barbecue tonight with my sister. It was delicious, like usual. I've been so lazy this weekend, but I've had absolutely no inclination to do any kind of work (plus I have a growing Oblivion addiction nipping at my heels). I guess it's not too bad... all I have to do this week is Engineering homework for Tuesday, a physics lab report for Wednesday, and a physics test Friday (which will bring the bonage). That seems to be a recurring issue - I lack the ability to have any sort of fun with my free time due to my constant worrying about not doing stuff. Oh well.

Time to continue the lethargy.

Oblivion

The game has been obtained via Case.

Aside from that, this is news to me: Microsoft delays Vista until January 2007. Sucks.

I saw V for Vendetta last night at Valley View and was pretty impressed with it. Hugo Weaving is still a great actor even without the use of his face, and Natalie Portman showed that she can actually perform in a moton picture with some form of emotion (she was good too).

Unfortunately, I have both SAGES and physics lab tonight. I require sleep.

This Could Make Me Like Battlefield Again

...if I had a computer able to play it: Battlefield 2142. Looks like Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun. Friggin' awesome.

Dream Theater '06

\m/

Tonight was my first time seeing Dream Theater in concert. I have to say, I was not disappointed. My back hurts from standing, my throat hurts from singing and my ears hurt from the music, but it was the best three hours ever. They played a history of their music starting way back in 1985 with a song they wrote while they were still Majesty (a song I didn't recognize, actually) all the way up until the closer, Octavarium. I was kind of surprised they finished with Octavarium; I figured they'd save it for the final show at Radio City Music Hall where they might have an orchestra. It was amazing nonetheless. LaBrie sounded amazing too; I'm glad his vocal cords have finally healed. He really slammed every note.

I'm friggin' tired. Here's to another twenty years of Dream Theater.

Oh Snap: Hundert Resigns

This is it, folks: in the face of a successful vote of no-confidence, President Hundert has officially tendered his resignation, effective September 1st, 2006. The Board of Trustees accepted his resignation and will begin the process of selecting a new president before his term is officially over. His letter of resignation in full is online at CasePoint (probably only temporarily).

The times, they are a-changin'.

Hail of Bullets

More assorted junk for the day.

• There appears to be a winner to the WinXP on Mac contest, wherein someone will win a cash pool for proving they have successfully booted Windows XP on a new Intel Mac. Unfortunately, I can't see this being very useful for the average Joe who just wants to dual-boot, but it's nice to know that it can be done anyways.



• Someone took the sounds from the classic Mario games and added them to the Gogo fight from Kill Bill Vol. 1. Hilarity ensues.



• [via Digg] Apparently, the jalapeño component capsaicin is lethal to certain forms of cancer. Ouch. I guess all those Quaker Steak wings really do help after all. Boy, are the side effects bad, though.



• Finally, from the Traumatically Ironic department, a deaf girl was hit by a train while text-messaging her family. From TFA:

  McAvoy was walking northbound along the railroad ties, with her back to the train as it approached, said Austin Police Department detective David Fugitt.

  ...

  A snowplow -- commonly referred to as "cattle-guards" for pushing items away from the tracks to avoid train damage -- was what struck McAvoy, who was estimated to be "no more than a foot" from the tracks, Fugitt said.

  Oops.

Hopefully since all the doods from OSU are arriving back today we'll be able to have some sort of shindig tonight. Tomorrow I have to do some homework and maybe pack for a bit, since I'll effectively be leaving Friday afternoon due to a sleepover at Alex's and the impending Fakeball draft (which I've done zero planning for). Then Saturday I go right from Alex's to pick up Laura at the airport, then we head back to Case where I can prepare for the Dream Theater concert the next day. Phew.

More coffee...

Another Non-Beta

Google Desktop has just left beta. So that's what, like two non-beta products they've "shipped"? Still, neat.

Website Update

I just updated my website with a link to some music that I've created in my spare time. It's kind of techno and kind of suck, so beware / please download it.

Boredom Overwhelms

Not much going on the last couple days. Been reading House of Leaves regularly, although it's absurdly slow reading due to the nature of the print.

Hmm, what has been going on? Interesting personal things, to be sure, but this is not the place.

• Slobodan Milosevic died in his prison cell awaiting the finishing of his trial. A slew of news resulted, most involving the strange nature of the drugs he did and did not take.



• Conditions in Iraq are going down the shitter.



• Menstrual blood is apparently a great source of stem cells.

Now, to resume reading / thrashing in anticipation of the Dream Theater concert Sunday.

Spring Break

Wow. I just checked my Engineering 145 grade on a whim... and discovered that I didn't fail the last exam after all. In fact, after extra credit, I got an 83%. This means I'm officially getting a B in 145. Ridiculous!

I went to Borders today since my mom wanted to get a book. I ended up getting House of Leaves. Seems to be quite an interesting book.

My ability to obtain rest is totally broken. I slept for eight or so hours last night and all I've wanted to do all day is pass out. Seems like it's a bad idea to run on four hours of sleep a night for a week.

Oh, what a week.

(Dis)Approval Rating

Just felt that this was somewhat relevant. Not the usual content of this blog, but entertaining nonetheless.

Also it's fucking 4:24 AM thanks to five hours of physics homework. Thank god we go on break after tomorrow.

I want a MacBook Pro.

Physics and Firefox

Six hours of physics lab finished.

Cool hax: Firefox 2.0 Alpha 1 should arrive soon. Wewt.

Futurama time.

I'm So Tired (Haven't Slept A Wink)

Seven hours of sleep in two days...

Physics lab is due tomorrow. I'm attempting to pound it out now, as a three-shot grandé mocha pumps through my arteries. Wish me luck.

Microsoft Backs Away?

Microsoft appears to be backing down from the aggressive search stance they took against Google not a few days ago. It certainly seemed like they were barking up the wrong tree on that one.

No Confidence

Wooo, we hate our administration. The faculty commenced a vote of no confidence in Case President Edward Hundert (passing 131-44) and Provost John Anderson (passing 97-68), though the exact ramifications of this remain unclear as of yet. Essentially, it means that the faculty at Case has no faith in the administration any longer.

Unfortunately, it may not (read: likely will not) have any effect on the running of the university as it currently is; the president, love him or hate him, simply implements whatever policies the Board of Trustees pays him to implement. As the Board of Trustees is the only body that can remove Hundert, and he's doing his job for them very well, it seems very unlikely that any sort of noticable change will occur in the (mis)administration of Case for some time.

Sigh.

As a completely unrelated note, Engineering 145 is worthless.

Newsvine Out of Beta

Excellent news: Newsvine has finally completed its eight-week beta and is freely accessible. In short, Newsvine is sort of a Digg for general news: Associated Press articles, plus user-created and user-endorsed news. Definitely looks like a daily to-read to me; I plan to hit it as often as I Digg.

W-W-W-Wednesday: Microsoft

Woo, Wednesday night. I get to sleep in tomorrow, then finish my photography stuffs and do Physics homework.

Some interesting stuff:

• So, the Origami rumors were true. Could be interesting - but tablet PCs are old hat now. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I'm much more excited for an Apple tablet/slate than anything Microsoft could dish up.



• Also, Microsoft claims that it will surpass Google in six months. From TFA:

  "What we're saying is that in six months' time we'll be more relevant in the U.S. market place than Google," said Neil Holloway, Microsoft president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
  
  "The quality of our search and the relevance of our search from a solution perspective to the consumer will be more relevant," he told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit.

  Everyone knows that Google's been a thorn in the side of Microsoft for years, but can they really back this up? Do people actually want Microsoft's search? I honestly haven't used anything but Google for my searches in what must be years. I just don't see a reason.



• Lastly, yet more loony allegations from the RIAA. Some day, they'll understand - but for now, it's much too entertaining to watch them flail about and sue grandmothers and nonsense.

We shall see what the rest of the night brings.

Headache

Boringness.

Also, the guys at PA won this. It's awesome.