LiveJournal Project - October 2004

Since there are only three entries for this month, I think I'm going to combine it with November to save a little time.

Date: 2004-10-05 20:36
Subject: more political musings
first, on the vice-presidential debate. i am definitely not a bush fan, but i'm also not a kerry fan - and despite the media pundits' seemingly unanimous declaration (at least on CNN - i'm sure fox will have a different opinion) that this was a draw, i don't share those sentiments. edwards was not at all impressive, and if i had to pick a "winner" i'd have to go with cheney. that's not to say that i like cheney's viewpoints better, but he definitely did a far better job of presenting himself and demonstrating both effective verbal attack and defense skills. edwards at some points really seemed to have his head up his ass - hell, he couldn't even answer the question of "what separates you from your opponent?" without mentioning kerry's name twice, something that he was instructed not to do. dude, i realize that politicians are masters of evasion, but can't you at least try to fake it well enough that the less-intelligent debate-watcher might think that you made an attempt at a relevant answer?

on another note... as i walk around asu, sit in my classes, and generally go about my business, i notice that there seems to be a lot more political buzz this year than i can remember during the previous elections. i sit in my pos 160 class, in which i am probably the only person over 25, and i listen to people having discussions, talking about voter registration drives, and generally taking a rather activist mentality. on a certain "hope-for-the-future-of-america" level, that's pretty cool - but it leads me to wonder two things. first, how many of these kids will actually get out and vote for one fool or another come november? and second, what happens once the election is over? regardless of who wins, i'm rather skeptical that people will maintain their level of involvement, instead devolving back into their usual standards of apathy - at least until the next election rolls around.

Date: 2004-10-22 17:11
Subject: oh, hey, an update...
yeah, it's been that sort of life recently. finally got in to see a sports medicine specialist about my shoulder problems, and it turns out that the original diagnosis of rotator cuff tendinitis made by my regular doctor was incorrect. what i actually have is a pec strain. i've just completed my first week of physical therapy, and i've got two weeks left - and it's already feeling considerably better. i will be benching again, light weights to start, probably on monday. i'm sure i've lost a good chunk of strength due to drastically reducing my workout routine over the last month or so, but eh, such is life.

as far as school is concerned, i'm more or less screwed no matter what i do, in that i seem to only be able to put up with about 2 months of it before i just stop caring. the semester is over in about a month and a half, and i've reverted back to autopilot mode, in which i really couldn't care less if i make it to class or not. it's funny - when i'm not in school, i go about 4-5 months and then conclude that i'm bored and that i'd like to be back in school, and then once i'm back in school, i go about 2 months and decide that i'd really rather be out of school. i think part of the problem is that i've reached the end of my undergraduate existence and i'm just doing "cleanup work" - taking those last few classes that are required for graduation, but that doesn't necessarily lend itself to an obvious solution. as i see it, i have two choices:

1- stay in school past graduation (not grad school - just more undergrad) and focus on doing what i used to do at asu - just take classes in random subject areas that i might find interesting. perhaps i'll stumble upon some direction.

2- just say "fuck it" and get out as quickly as possible - which will leave me with two degrees in two subjects that i really just don't have much desire to continue on with. right now, that isn't much of a problem, but as i peer into my crystal ball and look to the future, i see a future in which it's quite possible that in a couple years i will have squeezed all the money i possibly can out of my current job-like situation and need to actually get a real job. at which point, chances are, i'm going to have a problem. degrees in political science and math - but no desire to do either of those? hmm. not good.

for shits and giggles i was looking around at google the other day at the list of jobs they have posted, and they actually have a job that i think i'd probably like. research engineer. what are the requirements? well, to start, i need a PhD in computer science. even some of their "lesser" jobs still require a BS or MS in computer science - which is really something of a pain in the ass. despite the fact that i have over 20 years (if you count time as a kid when i was fucking around) experience designing stuff and building software, more or less any other programming / intelligence / knowledge qualification that they might ask for, i'm nowhere near a PhD in anything, and even a BS in math doesn't really qualify as a technical degree. i may, once i graduate, apply there anyway; god knows i need to get the fuck out of this city, and the bay area sounds like a good destination to me.

home life, well, it's like everything else. just sorta there. neither exceedingly good nor exceedingly bad.

and since all of this shit just continues to flow back into itself in a never-ending feedback loop, it seems that the only real solution is to do something drastic, to the point where there is no feedback loop - a shock to my existence that i can't merely push under the rug or quietly ignore. so far, about all i've come up with that would fit such criteria would be moving out of phoenix. i'm not really open to death or dismemberment.

Date: 2004-10-26 21:35
Subject: as t3knomanser would say... facepalm
i just saw on the news that a town in washington (pullyap, i think it was) is banning trick-or-treating at school - because, they say, it's "too much fun" and it offends witches (practicioners of wicca).

what the hell is wrong with these people? every wiccan i've ever known LIKES halloween. fuckin' christ.

Date: 2004-10-28 17:22
Subject: blah blah blah blah
the daily rant:

although i'm sure some would deny it, the fact is that a good portion of people who post in livejournal don't really do so only for themselves; they do so for themselves and for anyone who might happen to wander in. sometimes people post things which are relatively innocuous, other times they post things which are controversial, potentially inflammatory, or even downright rude. no problems there. i can even understand the rationale that some might have for making their journals "friends-only." but one thing that i will never be able to comprehend is why people will sometimes post something and then, not too long thereafter, take it down. is it because they had a change of heart? is it because they're embarrassed by what they wrote? or is it because they simply can't stand behind their own (potentially) controversial opinions and are afraid that they're going to be called out on it? obviously, if you've posted something in the first place and not made it a private entry, then it's something that you're either indifferent about or actually hoping other people will see. if you didn't actually intend to say it, then why would you have posted it in the first place? just to stir up the shit? certainly nothing wrong with that, but it still doesn't explain subsequent removal.

come on, people, if you've got something to say, then say it - and don't take the politician's way out by removing it and then denying that it ever happened.
.......

in other news. there is no other news. the weather is finally turning to my liking, although i'm hoping that it gets colder. need a trip to vegas or some other place that isn't in arizona. approximately one more month of school and one more week of physical therapy. and less than a week until we decide if it's going to be four more years of W or two more months.

Date: 2004-11-01 22:42
Subject: too cool for words, but i'll write some anyway.
some of you politicos out there may be aware of the website http://www.electoral-vote.com/ which is predicting the outcome of the electoral college results in tomorrow's election. what i just found out today is that the man behind the website is andrew tanenbaum - yes, the minix guy. i'd be willing to bet that maybe three or four of you know who this is. why is this cool? i don't know - it just is. and this is pretty cool, too:

"Many people have told me that if [insert name of candidate] wins or there is a draft, they are going to leave the country. If you really mean it and are interested in getting a Masters degree in Computer Systems, you might consider a Masters program I am running. It focuses on operating systems, networks, distributed computing, parallel computing, grids, multiagent systems and other systems areas. Knowledgeable observers consider my group to be one of the top three systems groups in Europe. The program is entirely in English and we have students from all over the world. It is also relatively cheap as Masters programs go. Tuition is about $1800 per year for residents of the European Union and about $6000 per year for everyone else. Why is it so cheap? Because taxes are high here (the top rate is 52%) and education is subsidized by the government. Republicans and Democrats are equally welcome, provided they are smart and work hard. Admission is competitive." hmm, sounds good to me. get out of the US, go study in a kick-ass program, and not pay through the nose to do it.

in other news... ASU finally has all of my credits from New College on my DARS, the most direct effect of this being that i now officially have completed my lab science graduation requirements and i'm one step closer to appeasing the diploma gods. also, just for the hell of it, i revised my resume and sent it off to google labs. it's one of the few places that i probably wouldn't mind working, since they do cool stuff and seem to have a corporate culture that doesn't suck. we'll see how long it takes to get the automated rejection letter. and in the event that i don't get a rejection letter, well, hey, i'd be happy to move to the bay area.

Date: 2004-11-12 01:36
Subject: stuff, things, and whatnot.
another day, another mundane entry.

got the automated rejection letter from google. didn't expect anything else, although i have to admit that i'm curious as to what kinds of resumes actually don't get that letter. if, say, i had a PhD from ASU, would they have called me back, or are they looking only for people who come from places like MIT, Harvard, and the like?

speaking of school, i submitted my equivalency request forms to the asu math department to try to get transfer credit for all of my new college courses. i was hoping for mat 444, 472, 371, 342, 274, 272 and two 300/400-level electives. what'd they give me? 272, 274, and 342. i've got an appointment with the head undergraduate advisor on monday to discuss the rest of my coursework and get a signature on my concurrent degree form, so we'll see what happens. if i don't get 371, i can't even complete a BA in math without taking more courses at ASU. if i don't get 371, 444, and 472, i can't do a BS without taking more math courses at asu. i don't have any idea what the guy is going to tell me, but i do know that if i hear something to the effect of "you can't graduate next year" i'm going to be really upset, and i'll probably end up feeling like the entire time i spent studying at new college was a complete waste. i'm not about to retake a bunch of material that i've already covered.

and more on asu... last week in my japanese class i discovered that it pays to be stupid. on the last quiz, i wrote kanji for the colors "black" and "brown" because i knew what they were - and i got marked off for it - even though my answers were correct. apparently, we're not supposed to use things in class that the class hasn't covered yet - even though this week we've learned those exact kanji. i can't believe it. this is the first time i can ever remember that i've lost points for having the correct answer. sure, it's only 2 points, and it's not going to make any difference in my final grade, but still... silly me for thinking that it's ok to have knowledge.

at some point during the next two weeks i need to write a paper on realism (in the IR context) and the movie "cube". this is one of those assignments that is so fundamentally lame that i'm going to have a hard time getting myself to do it simply because of its lameness. that's what i get for taking a poli sci class with a professor who's using a book written by one of his former students.

done with my physical therapy, so now it's back to normal gym workouts. shoulder/chest seem to be feeling pretty good, although i've only pushed it up to 225 on bench thus far. probably won't go for a new 1RM until after finals are over in mid-december, at which point we'll see if i can finally break 300 bench, 450 deadlift, and 475-500 squat. my right knee is feeling a little odd, though; hopefully this isn't the start of another injury cycle. =/

getting out of town for the weekend as cory and i celebrate our two-year "vegasversary." thank zeus. this city sucks. time to sleep.

Date: 2004-11-17 05:52
Subject: they don't call it a BS for nothing.
in the continuing saga of my quest to get a math degree, i was told by the head undergraduate advisor that i could get credit for mat 371, and that i'd need to go talk to someone who teaches 400-level algebra to determine whether or not i could get credit for 444. as it turns out, a prof who teaches that stuff is the same guy that i'm taking cryptography with this semester and, even better, was my original advisor when i first transferred to asu, so he's entirely familiar with my situation. not only did he give me credit for 444, but also for 544, a graduate-level class. it still has to, i think, be blessed by the math department, but if they don't throw up a stink, i won't need any more math credits to graduate. if only it were that easy.

Time: 23:53
Subject: sure, i'd jump off a bridge if everyone else did!

Date: 2004-11-21 02:23
Subject: i can't fucking win
so, my shoulder's finally feeling better, i'm going to the gym regularly, and all is well. at least for about a week. and then, last night, while taking a break from writing my POS160 paper, i decided to go to the gym and clear my head. instead of getting a nice workout, however, i got back pain - to the point where it's a struggle to walk. just fuckin' great. this is something i really don't need right now, given that i have an exam on monday and this paper due on tuesday, neither of which i can miss. urgent care opens in 5.5 hours, so i'm going to drive down there and see if i can get them to give me some painkillers. i imagine that this will all go away on its own in a few days, maybe a week, but in the meantime, i gotta be able to get around and do stuff.

Date: 2004-11-24 08:19
Subject: next exit on your right, political chaos.
on the front page of CNN.com, they're talking about protests in the ukraine over presidential elections. ironically, the following sentence is written: "But exit polls indicate Yushchenko is the winner and many Western nations say the election did not meet democratic standards."

hmm... didn't exit polls in the US say that kerry was the winner?

go figure.

Date: 2004-11-28 18:50
Subject: woo.
thanksgiving recap...

went to dinner at ryanjamieson's place, where cory and i proceeded to stuff ourselves with turkey, potatoes, and pie along with kimber, matt, jag, ryan (of course), and a few other people that i'd never met before. good times to be had by all - and good food, too, even if ryan's house did almost burn down thanks to the fire in the oven. =)

after dinner, cory and i drove up to vegas - and overall, it was a pretty uneventful trip. i think i'm vegas'ed out - and this is a good thing since ski season is upon us. the only thing that sucks is that sleeping in the bed at caesar's palace aggravated my back problems - i don't really understand what happened here, since it was feeling like it was almost completely back to normal, and i hadn't done any lifting which targeted the lower back. bleh.

back to school tomorrow - but we've only got about a week and a half of classes left to go before finals week. it'll be nice to be done with the semester and have some time to work on projects.

Date: 2004-11-30 20:06
Subject: ph34r
beware the pigskin project.