Shameless Reblog

But oh so appropriate for mine

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/07/17/the-law-of-sacrifice/

No Regrets

SC2 Beta

In honor of the Beta ending, I present the next bit of tomfoolery

You know you've played too much SCII Beta when:

You spit at your wife when you want her to get more kids

When you arrive in a room, you yell "THOR IS HERE!"

You have actually pondered the plural form of "Colossus"

You find it odd that people don't understand you when you ask for MineRAL Water

You APM spammed when doing your spreadsheets during the downtime to keep up your APM

You refer to the 30% UC tuition increase as a "nerf"

"In the rear with the gear" does not necessarily mean anything dirty to you

You take a shit all along your path to school/work thinking it would spread creep and make it faster for you to get there

Your excuse for slacking off is that you're saving up your chrono boost

HELL, it's ABOUT TIME!

2009-2010 In Review or "WTF where did 2009 go?"

It's about that time of year again, when summer seeps in through wide-open windows, graduation caps fill the air, and sappy, cheesy, and nostalgic year-in-review blog posts clog MySQL databases everywhere. [Note: I started writing this in May. Quit yer yammerin'!] This is one of those blog posts. Mostly it's just my opportunity to rant and reminisce about just what exactly happened in the last 525,600 minutes of my life.

So where am I now? Well for starters, I'm at approximately the same place around the sun (within 3 or 4 orders of magnitude. close enough). And for most intents and purposes, I'm approximately the same. I live in the same place, I'm STILL Computer Coordinator, AND I STILL CAN'T PLAY MY EFFING GUITAR! Unlike astronomy, however, 3 or 4 orders of magnitude is pretty big on a scale as tiny as mine, and that's exactly where I've gotten since that time.

For example, being 21 is 3 or 4 orders of magnitude more awesome than being 20, for obvious reasons. Which, by the way, I would not have been able to take advantage of were it not for a fortuitous discovery at the beginning of last fall. We will leave the explanation to my bewildered friends, a slightly less content liver, and a habit of filling up the water pitcher whenever I leave home (for I'm sure I wouldn't be able to give a complete account)

The results of this discovery, in turn, would not have come to fruition were it not for another even more fortuitous discovery: a life! While I'm still not quite the social animal that my genes are supposed to have programmed me to be, I have been rather more able to enjoy the company of other people this past year. Crazy stuff this "having a life" thing is. Interesting that my most social semester would be coupled with my best semester GPA. Hmmm. Maybe I should have been a party animal from the beginning!

Maybe I would have even gotten a research job earlier too. But no matter, I'm now working on a satellite with a launch date set for next year. AND I'm getting paid for it. Take THAT URAP! Though few people in the project actually know what they're doing, I really enjoy the company of those in the lab, and I might even get a chance to present at a small conference if I finish my project. Tell THAT to 2009 David Clarino.

Most importantly though, being a senior is 3 or 4 orders of magnitude more AWESOME than being a junior. Why? Because a) it feels better when you yell at stupid newmen b) it feels better when you yell at stupid newmen c) it feels better when you yell at stupid newmen and d) you can say "when I was a newman..." and have it actually mean something, and then proceed to yell at stupid newmen, because it feels better. Also your classes are effing AWESOME. Also, you only have one more year until you (and your parents' bank accounts) are done with the pain that is college. Also, HOLY FUCK WHEN THE HELL DID I BECOME A SENIOR?!?!

Such a realization would have panicked me a year ago. But as I've said before, every year seems to teach me lessons in relation to some sort of theme. If you've been following my blog posts through the year, you might already guess what it is: purpose and direction. I have a path set out for after college (including a Plan B...and C...and D...) because, you know what, real life starts in less than 365 days. I'm not afraid at all of leaving the warm embrace of this campus that I love so much because, much like my mother at home, she's prepared me for everything that'll come before me. I'm not afraid of wanting to come back to it all, because I have friends I can keep up with and reminisce about the good old days. Most importantly, I know my best days are ahead of me because of all that I have gotten this year. So here's to one more year of this crazy ass shit we call college, one more year of making 70 year old David's liver mad, and another year of taking this one step at a time.

No Regrets

I am a 20 year old who likes hugging his giant stuffed dolphin

I am the hardest working happy-go-lucky person I know

I have COMPLETED a rubik's cube 8 times but have yet to SOLVE it

I am a tropical native who prefers to be in the cold

I am aiming for grad school without a 3.0

I am an academic who puts an emphasis on working skills

I am interested in all the things I am bad at

I am a double major who doesn't know what to do with his degrees

I am an irrational person who works best in a system

I am a dreamer who daydreams about the practical

I am a man in search of romance, but have already found love

I am just another guy who wants to change the world

I am a walking contradiction, but the one thing I hate more than anything else is a hypocrite

No Regrets

Photoshop stuff

I almost forgot I had these. Rifling through my old folders to check for files because of my transition to Windows 7, I found some of my old PS work. I should really start doing these again. And if you guys want the sigs for forums or whatever, feel free to take them. I just ask you host them on your own.

In addition, I have wallpapers here

My New Years Resolution? 1024x768

There's always been something that's bothered me about New Year's resolutions. Sure, you're laying down how you're gonna begin to be a better person. You may even have a plan to get there. Often, however, new year's resolutions are only good til January 3rd (I'd imagine most of new year's day is spent either hungover, picking up after your crazy ass party, or both, and january 2nd is when you actually do this shit, if you do it at all).

The problem is that the new year's resolution is triggered by a date, not on any innate drive to make oneself better. If you rely on a date to make yourself do something, then it is not your own initiative that starts your improvement; a real resolution starts THE MOMENT YOU COME UP WITH IT.

Thus, in lieu of new year's resolutions, I have a new year's checklist. Being yet imprisoned by the confines of the educational system, I base my division of time on school years, not on regular years like normal people would, and so a final assessment of the year will be more appropriate at the end of my spring semester. Nonetheless, the new year is a good time to check up on myself

1. Lose Weight - It was successful...until the holidays hit. It's like pwning all your midterms and failing the final (which I am no stranger to). still, the added athletic ability will only make it easier from here on out. C-

2. Recompile CalChart - I don't even know C++. F

3. Read the Bible - Haven't read a single word F

4. Run a mile in under 8 minutes - Got to 8 minutes and milliseconds of change. closest I've been since is 8:11 B-

5. Get social skills - Social skills, much like any other set of skills, just need practice to polish up. I think the additional socialization this semester helped out a lot B+

6. Get a research position - ummmmm....working on it TBA

7. Start making money - I feel bad for making my parents pay for an extra three semesters, especially considering a) I could have graduated by now b) the 32% tuition increase and c) neither my GPA nor my family income qualifies me for any scholarships. This is all contingent on whether I can get the research projects I want TBA

8. Get a 3.0 - about that... C-

9. Lose purity points - =) B

10. Learn Guitar - ...well I have some free time over break. F--------------------

One Step At A Time

Headgear

The first thing anybody needs to know about me is...well hold up a minute there. The first thing anybody needs to know about me is that I'm single and the second that I'm incredibly warm and cuddly and may occasionally do nice things for you, particularly if you're a girl.

But the THIRD thing after that is that

I

LOVE

HATS!

Seriously. Hats embody everything that I am: sometimes practical and reserved, sometimes kooky and zany, and rarely ever more than marginally useful. Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not one of those guys who goes out and buys enough baseball caps to cover the entire world, and maybe Mars' polar ice caps (I actually don't like baseball caps at all). Nono, I look for the interesting hats.

My hat selection generally follows three criteria: does it shield my eyes from the sun wherever I turn? Does it keep my head warm down to my ears? Will it ever go well with a future unspecified and likely last-minute conceived Halloween costume? Ahhh yes, you say, now things make a little more sense.

Now before you judge me, I will have you know that I'm not one of those fashionable people who like to accessori-szh (<-- lame attempt at a valley girl accent). In fact, hats may be responsible for 80-90% of any poor fashion choices I make (100% of which I am blissfully unaware of). But I don't care. I like hats because of how useful they are to me.

Oh, and did I mention I was single and incredibly warm and cuddly and may occasionally do nice things to you, particularly if you're a girl?