My neighbors have started some kind of passive-aggressive battle amongst themselves over phone books. For some reason we get at least three different types of phone books and the last two put a big stack in the front lobby instead of distributing them properly. So someone left a note saying they shouldn't put garbage there, and then someone else wrote an annoyed note about how these are new phone books, and I haven't really been paying attention except when I got home from work today someone had left three phone books at my door, including the annoyed note. I don't know why these people think I am involved in their petty battle, as I don't care about them in general, but I might just throw all the phone books down the garbage chute if people can't resolve their phone book issues.
I finally finished Mass Effect after three weeks. All 1000 points. I think I'm taking a break from serious gaming now - although screwing around in TF2 is not out of the question.
I made some fudge for tomorrow's Christmas potluck lunch at work. Of course I couldn't do it without incident. Peanut butter fudge is the Alfa Romeo of food.
Showing posts with label neighbors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neighbors. Show all posts
12 December 2007
11 November 2007
don't know where we're goin
Sunday night finds me trying to track down a flute concerto. I've had an mp3 for a while called Bach - Flute Concerto in G which I like quite a bit despite generally not taking to classical music. I've managed to further identify this track as the second movement of the work, but now I am trying to figure out who recorded this version because apparently just any version isn't good enough to make me happy. So now I am on Amazon.com hitting all the preview buttons and checking track lengths in hopes of finding the one I'm after. For example this French guy speeds it up to a point where the track is 7:09, when the one I like is 8:50. Someone else is 6:30.
Another interesting point is that it's not Bach Bach as I thought, but his son Bach.
And of course Amazon.com sees me doing these searches for more than thirty seconds so it fills everything on my front page with classical music items.
The upside of this quest is that it distracts me from the Top Gear torrent, which is on track to be done well before I intend to go to bed. This week's episode looks awesome.
My neighbors left more free stuff in the lobby this weekend, where I scored a USB floppy drive. Technology has reached a point where floppy disks are a novelty. Now that nobody has a disk drive I should start sending disks to people.
Another interesting point is that it's not Bach Bach as I thought, but his son Bach.
And of course Amazon.com sees me doing these searches for more than thirty seconds so it fills everything on my front page with classical music items.
The upside of this quest is that it distracts me from the Top Gear torrent, which is on track to be done well before I intend to go to bed. This week's episode looks awesome.
My neighbors left more free stuff in the lobby this weekend, where I scored a USB floppy drive. Technology has reached a point where floppy disks are a novelty. Now that nobody has a disk drive I should start sending disks to people.
25 September 2006
post number 2^8
First day of classes today. Electronics seems alright except a bunch of my ex-students are in it as well, which makes it weird. Double weird since one of the undergrad TA's worked with me as a TA for some classes last year. Some other grads are supposed to be in there but they were taking quals today. I don't have to.
Vincent has a dartboard in his office now, so we played with that for a while. I should have moved into his office when I had the chance, I spend way more time in there than in my own office anyway. My own office also has new accessories, most notably a rocket launcher. It looks like a fake AK-47 made out of PVC and wood but it can apparently fire Estes rocket engines. It was burned inside the barrel so I take their word for it.
Then it was over to the new engineering building for semiconductor devices. This is my first class over there because I had to crash an engineers-only course. My first impression of the classroom was that it was like something the UN would have. Engineering classrooms are nicer than physics ones. The old asshole prof is out and the new prof seems like a good guy, so I'm hoping that will be a good class.
I also had a bunch of TA stuff today, which was more backwards zaniness. Last year I was the most junior person involved and now I've somehow been promoted to the most veteran member of the team - the other two TA's are first years (seem like OK guys) and the prof isn't the same one as last year and hasn't taught this course in 10 years. So they all look to me as if I know how this class should be run. I don't think they liked my ominous warnings about how hard the prelabs will get. The prof also teaches my electronics class, so I'm both his student and TA.
I ended up having to pull lab duty already. There are so many students enrolled in 211 that there's a new Monday 6PM section of lab. Today I had to hand out clicker things used for in-class quizzes. I brought my Pontiac brochure and ogled a G6 GTP sedan in Electric Blue Metallic while waiting for students to turn up.
Also, more of my neighbors are moving out. This time the ones with the god damned Doberman. Good times.
If last term's overall theme was 'bad profs', it's looking like this term's theme is just the weird role reversals and juxtapositions. I'll have to see how the rest of my new classes go though.
Vincent has a dartboard in his office now, so we played with that for a while. I should have moved into his office when I had the chance, I spend way more time in there than in my own office anyway. My own office also has new accessories, most notably a rocket launcher. It looks like a fake AK-47 made out of PVC and wood but it can apparently fire Estes rocket engines. It was burned inside the barrel so I take their word for it.
Then it was over to the new engineering building for semiconductor devices. This is my first class over there because I had to crash an engineers-only course. My first impression of the classroom was that it was like something the UN would have. Engineering classrooms are nicer than physics ones. The old asshole prof is out and the new prof seems like a good guy, so I'm hoping that will be a good class.
I also had a bunch of TA stuff today, which was more backwards zaniness. Last year I was the most junior person involved and now I've somehow been promoted to the most veteran member of the team - the other two TA's are first years (seem like OK guys) and the prof isn't the same one as last year and hasn't taught this course in 10 years. So they all look to me as if I know how this class should be run. I don't think they liked my ominous warnings about how hard the prelabs will get. The prof also teaches my electronics class, so I'm both his student and TA.
I ended up having to pull lab duty already. There are so many students enrolled in 211 that there's a new Monday 6PM section of lab. Today I had to hand out clicker things used for in-class quizzes. I brought my Pontiac brochure and ogled a G6 GTP sedan in Electric Blue Metallic while waiting for students to turn up.
Also, more of my neighbors are moving out. This time the ones with the god damned Doberman. Good times.
If last term's overall theme was 'bad profs', it's looking like this term's theme is just the weird role reversals and juxtapositions. I'll have to see how the rest of my new classes go though.
09 August 2006
gone fission
So today I got to apply an important grad student skill - raiding free stuff. Some prof retired and left a bunch of old books for people to take. This was last week sometime, but apparently not many people have bothered because there's still piles of them. I went through them today and got a bunch of good stuff. I found an instructor's solutions manual for Marion/Thornton and Halliday/Resnick, but they are 2 and 3 editions out of date respectively. I just like acquiring what used to be contraband - they have the answers to every single problem in the texts.
There was a lot of miscellaneous stuff too, like microcomputer manuals from the late 70's and early 80's, and some books on the nuclear arms race. I took a couple books that opposed Reagan's SDI. I also took a book called "The Discovery of Nuclear Fission" which looks very interesting because it has excerpts from the original research papers. That book is from 1971 though, I think it underplays Lise Meitner's role. I'm still looking forward to reading it
In other news, my dumbass neighbor moved out yesterday, so I'm pleased with that. I also went in for jury duty orientation and got assigned to the circuit court's grand jury. I have to go in two days a week for eight weeks and here about all the horrible stuff going on in the county, but at least it's not hard and it fits in my schedule. I even get a little bit of cash out of it, though that probably won't show up until early November.
There was a lot of miscellaneous stuff too, like microcomputer manuals from the late 70's and early 80's, and some books on the nuclear arms race. I took a couple books that opposed Reagan's SDI. I also took a book called "The Discovery of Nuclear Fission" which looks very interesting because it has excerpts from the original research papers. That book is from 1971 though, I think it underplays Lise Meitner's role. I'm still looking forward to reading it
In other news, my dumbass neighbor moved out yesterday, so I'm pleased with that. I also went in for jury duty orientation and got assigned to the circuit court's grand jury. I have to go in two days a week for eight weeks and here about all the horrible stuff going on in the county, but at least it's not hard and it fits in my schedule. I even get a little bit of cash out of it, though that probably won't show up until early November.
10 January 2006
no war no wrapped in plastic
I stopped trying to make up titles to posts that actually make sense. Now I'm just pulling random lines from songs I'm listening to. It seemed like the hip thing to do. Or maybe I'm just lazy and like confusing people.
Idiot Neighbor Boy was at it earlier today with his incessant pounding bass, so I went over and yelled at him. This time I didn't ask him to turn it down, I ordered him. It's much quieter now. Hopefully it sticks in his damned head this time.
So far my schedule is not too hectic, but the labs I TA haven't started up yet. I was assigned to a section that conflicted with my schedule and it took me two days to get it sorted out. I have to move my office hours though, which means I'll probably get stuck with some awful time slot. I wish this crap had been taken care of ahead of time instead of waiting until classes have started.
My classes. Quantum and E&M are off and running again like we didn't have a break. They're both pounding away at Lagrangian stuff I should have learned somewhere but didn't. It doesn't seem too bad to pick up though. It always amazes me when several independent classes get hooked on the same topic at the same time. At least I only have to learn one thing instead of two.
My philosophy class looks kind of interesting, although I want to go back and read up on Objectivist moral theory. I believe most of it, but I can't debate because I never remember the specifics. Also, I don't really care what other people believe anyway so there's no point in debate. I also do that Roark thing where I don't pay attention to people in the street. I'm always worried philosophy classes will turn all socialist. They were already throwing the word 'selfish' around in the first class today. I'm not looking for trouble, but I won't go quietly.
PSM seminar is going to make a pain of itself to start with, but then the whole second half of the term is making web pages. Hell, I could sleep through that. Just knowing how to get into my OSU FTP is like a million bonus points.
Speaking of websites, I added a couple game reviews to my much neglected MSU site.
The Nice Device released a song that's going to be on their new album. I can't wait until I can get my hands on that. They apparently have the final mixes in hand. I'll probably have to go to a show to buy it though. I really liked them the first time I saw them, but the second show wasn't quite as good. Part of it was just the sound. "Girls and tuning don't mix." -- Alicia Gbur, retuning after a couple songs.
I saw the Miami Vice trailer online. I thought it looked pretty good, until I stripped out the Linkin Park song they used, the fact that I played Vice City and the Ferrari 360. Then it looked awful. I have never actually seen Miami Vice, so I have no idea what the show was supposed to be like. Remember, 'Miami' spelled backwards is ' I Maim'.
My wireless keyboard shipped and should be here Thursday. Should be cool.
I'm a good chunk of the way into my latest book, Germany's Last Mission To Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234. It's an interesting piece of history, but sadly you might not realize that from the book. It is kind of tepid when talking directly about U-234, and it also has a tendency to go off and talk about the war as a whole and make some sweeping claims in passing when it should be talking about rogue Nazi submarines. The book's organization is a little odd too. My tome on cryptology that I am excited to read arrived yesterday from UPS with the rest of my stuff from home, so I might start chipping away at that after I finish the U-234 book.
Idiot Neighbor Boy was at it earlier today with his incessant pounding bass, so I went over and yelled at him. This time I didn't ask him to turn it down, I ordered him. It's much quieter now. Hopefully it sticks in his damned head this time.
So far my schedule is not too hectic, but the labs I TA haven't started up yet. I was assigned to a section that conflicted with my schedule and it took me two days to get it sorted out. I have to move my office hours though, which means I'll probably get stuck with some awful time slot. I wish this crap had been taken care of ahead of time instead of waiting until classes have started.
My classes. Quantum and E&M are off and running again like we didn't have a break. They're both pounding away at Lagrangian stuff I should have learned somewhere but didn't. It doesn't seem too bad to pick up though. It always amazes me when several independent classes get hooked on the same topic at the same time. At least I only have to learn one thing instead of two.
My philosophy class looks kind of interesting, although I want to go back and read up on Objectivist moral theory. I believe most of it, but I can't debate because I never remember the specifics. Also, I don't really care what other people believe anyway so there's no point in debate. I also do that Roark thing where I don't pay attention to people in the street. I'm always worried philosophy classes will turn all socialist. They were already throwing the word 'selfish' around in the first class today. I'm not looking for trouble, but I won't go quietly.
PSM seminar is going to make a pain of itself to start with, but then the whole second half of the term is making web pages. Hell, I could sleep through that. Just knowing how to get into my OSU FTP is like a million bonus points.
Speaking of websites, I added a couple game reviews to my much neglected MSU site.
The Nice Device released a song that's going to be on their new album. I can't wait until I can get my hands on that. They apparently have the final mixes in hand. I'll probably have to go to a show to buy it though. I really liked them the first time I saw them, but the second show wasn't quite as good. Part of it was just the sound. "Girls and tuning don't mix." -- Alicia Gbur, retuning after a couple songs.
I saw the Miami Vice trailer online. I thought it looked pretty good, until I stripped out the Linkin Park song they used, the fact that I played Vice City and the Ferrari 360. Then it looked awful. I have never actually seen Miami Vice, so I have no idea what the show was supposed to be like. Remember, 'Miami' spelled backwards is ' I Maim'.
My wireless keyboard shipped and should be here Thursday. Should be cool.
I'm a good chunk of the way into my latest book, Germany's Last Mission To Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234. It's an interesting piece of history, but sadly you might not realize that from the book. It is kind of tepid when talking directly about U-234, and it also has a tendency to go off and talk about the war as a whole and make some sweeping claims in passing when it should be talking about rogue Nazi submarines. The book's organization is a little odd too. My tome on cryptology that I am excited to read arrived yesterday from UPS with the rest of my stuff from home, so I might start chipping away at that after I finish the U-234 book.
23 October 2005
college nonlife
I really want to play The Sims 2 right now. There is a University expansion pack about college life, and a Nightlife expansion pack where you can drive cars and your Sim can be a DJ. Plus, I always love building Sim houses - it's the architect in me. It looks like so many different ways to entertain me. Unfortunately, the game and its expansions account for a good chunk of cash, which I don't have. I also have no time to play the game right now. I guess I'll have to wait for Christmas or something.
I could also go for some noise-canceling headphones. My idiot neighbor is at it again, and it's just generally noisy in my part of town. Another item for the Christmas list I guess.
So yeah, I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now. It's coming along...slowly. I'll get it done, but I'm becoming a nocturnal creature and Monday morning quantum is going to hurt. Tomorrow is a double dose of quantum, too.
The Hard Lessons concert is a little over two weeks away. I was getting concerned about my ability to pull it off, but now that my cold is cleared up I have a lot more energy, and I found out the Hard Lessons are playing early so I can bail afterward and get home before 4 AM. In any case, all three Hard Lessons concerts I was not sure about going to, and all three turned out to be incredibly awesome. The Hard Lessons helped me get through grading exams on Saturday - "Gasoline" is on my iPod.
My last LiveStrong band broke. I have a whole new box coming though. It should be here tomorrow, but it might take a couple days to catch the UPS man like it did for Jim's Top Gear DVDs.
I could also go for some noise-canceling headphones. My idiot neighbor is at it again, and it's just generally noisy in my part of town. Another item for the Christmas list I guess.
So yeah, I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now. It's coming along...slowly. I'll get it done, but I'm becoming a nocturnal creature and Monday morning quantum is going to hurt. Tomorrow is a double dose of quantum, too.
The Hard Lessons concert is a little over two weeks away. I was getting concerned about my ability to pull it off, but now that my cold is cleared up I have a lot more energy, and I found out the Hard Lessons are playing early so I can bail afterward and get home before 4 AM. In any case, all three Hard Lessons concerts I was not sure about going to, and all three turned out to be incredibly awesome. The Hard Lessons helped me get through grading exams on Saturday - "Gasoline" is on my iPod.
My last LiveStrong band broke. I have a whole new box coming though. It should be here tomorrow, but it might take a couple days to catch the UPS man like it did for Jim's Top Gear DVDs.
ph34r t3h r3d p3n
I just got back from exam grading. I'm about 85% done now, which means I'll have to go in again tomorrow. I think I spent maybe 7 hours grading today, so that's a total of 13 hours so far. The last 15% will take another couple of hours. Part of the problem was that the teacher did a problem wrong, showed the whole class how to do it wrong, who turned around and did it on the exam wrong, and the teacher skipped town before I found out and tried to clarify. I check with the other TAs and they agree with me, so I am grading it my way. I have not seen even one student do that part right yet, but I am giving points to students who broke their programming and took some steps in the right direction.
I have many other things I am supposed to do this weekend, like write papers, but I haven't been able to get to them yet. I stopped grading for about two hours in the afternoon...to work on something else. Speeches related to the biodiesel (biofuel?) project. We are taking steps that seperate us from the biodiesel club and I am very happy with that. Our work on the biodiesel stuff over the last couple days has actually gone very well and I am excited about it.
I also took a break from grading to play badminton because I am supposed to write about an out of class badminton experience. I missed my shot at open gym on Monday so I made Lisa come play with me. I also made the equipment desk people pull out a wallyball so I could prove to Lisa that they exist. (The desk person had no idea what a wallyball is, but I know where they keep it now.) I don't think Wallyball can be played until next week though.
Campus is very peaceful at night on the weekends. Mostly because only sucker TAs are there, grading. In contrast there is some kind of huge party near my apartment and some idiot managed to trigger a fire alarm over there earlier.
I have many other things I am supposed to do this weekend, like write papers, but I haven't been able to get to them yet. I stopped grading for about two hours in the afternoon...to work on something else. Speeches related to the biodiesel (biofuel?) project. We are taking steps that seperate us from the biodiesel club and I am very happy with that. Our work on the biodiesel stuff over the last couple days has actually gone very well and I am excited about it.
I also took a break from grading to play badminton because I am supposed to write about an out of class badminton experience. I missed my shot at open gym on Monday so I made Lisa come play with me. I also made the equipment desk people pull out a wallyball so I could prove to Lisa that they exist. (The desk person had no idea what a wallyball is, but I know where they keep it now.) I don't think Wallyball can be played until next week though.
Campus is very peaceful at night on the weekends. Mostly because only sucker TAs are there, grading. In contrast there is some kind of huge party near my apartment and some idiot managed to trigger a fire alarm over there earlier.
16 October 2005
it's a grad, grad, grad, grad world
So it's been a few days...they are keeping me busy here. I have been running around this weekend trying to get stuff done while I have the chance, so I'm a little stressed. But really, the only thing that truly upsets me is noise. Birds with annoying calls waking me up, idiot neighbor playing music all day with his subwoofer against my wall, some other idiot neighbor whose car makes really irritating noises, somebody using a leafblower at 10:30 PM...all I want is some damn peace and quiet. I'm a grad student now, I guess it goes with the territory.
Other than some AOE2, I have been fairly productive this weekend, but I still have a ton of stuff to do. I'm going to have to be pretty productive all day every day just to keep up. I can see how grad students have no life.
Oh, and I got my first bill from Oregon State. I can also see how grad students are broke.
I am grading prelabs to get them out of the way. I am too tired to actually assign pass/fail right now though. I did not fail anyone in my first section, but some of the people in my other labs are tempting me. Sometimes it makes me very sad to see what they write.
I'm pretty exhausted. I don't know how I'm going to pull the all-nighter to see The Hard Lessons. With my luck there will be a quantum exam the next day.
I just realized quantum isn't meeting this week! An extra hour to sleep in! And I was getting up an hour even earlier than usual at the end of last week anyway, that was rough. I still have QM homework due Friday though.
Tomorrow I'm going to visit the motor pool, and there's also a meeting about this biodiesel project we physics PSMs are trying to get in on. I also want to hit open gym for badminton because I'm supposed to at some point. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
Other than some AOE2, I have been fairly productive this weekend, but I still have a ton of stuff to do. I'm going to have to be pretty productive all day every day just to keep up. I can see how grad students have no life.
Oh, and I got my first bill from Oregon State. I can also see how grad students are broke.
I am grading prelabs to get them out of the way. I am too tired to actually assign pass/fail right now though. I did not fail anyone in my first section, but some of the people in my other labs are tempting me. Sometimes it makes me very sad to see what they write.
I'm pretty exhausted. I don't know how I'm going to pull the all-nighter to see The Hard Lessons. With my luck there will be a quantum exam the next day.
I just realized quantum isn't meeting this week! An extra hour to sleep in! And I was getting up an hour even earlier than usual at the end of last week anyway, that was rough. I still have QM homework due Friday though.
Tomorrow I'm going to visit the motor pool, and there's also a meeting about this biodiesel project we physics PSMs are trying to get in on. I also want to hit open gym for badminton because I'm supposed to at some point. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
03 October 2005
idiot neighbor
My neighbor is some kind of idiot gamer. He has been playing some game literally all day. He was playing at lunch, he was playing when I got home, he was playing at dinner. While his stamina is impressive, I got sick of hearing thumping through the wall and told him to knock it off about two hours ago. He's still playing (though at a greatly reduced volume). Seriously man, get a life. I just feel like I'm surrounded by idiots.
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