press button for BS

In a stunning success for the Pizza Guy Theory, I found a store with a USB number pad shortly after bitching about it. The Pizza Guy Theory states that the pizza guy will show up right after you get fed up and yell "WHERE THE HELL IS MY PIZZA?!" Or more generally, loudly bitching about something not happening will make it happen almost instantly.

The new number pad seems to work OK, but now I am totally out of USB ports again (and I've got seven USB ports). I'm a USB-intensive computer user. One thing I can note about the pad is that instead of writing out 'Backspace', the maker shortened the button's label to 'BS'. So I've got a BS button for my computer now.

top ten

Here is what iTunes says my top ten most played songs are:

10. Easier To Run (Linkin Park) - 29 times
9. Anthem (Pi soundtrack) - 32 times
8. Air (Paul Oakenfold, Global Underground: New York) - 32 times
7. In The End (Linkin Park) - 38 times
6. Milk and Sugar (The Hard Lessons) - 42 times
5. No Man's Land (Pi soundtrack) - 44 times
4. Every Time I Look For You (Blink-182) - 49 times
3. Leaving Planet Earth (Paul Oakenfold. Global Underground: New York) - 54 times
2. Somewhere I Belong (Linkin Park) - 72 times
1. Cure For The Itch (SI) (Linkin Park) - 119 times

So that's what I've been listening to. Can you tell I like Linkin Park? The SI in #1 means I went into Sound Forge and cut out the first minute because it was just screwing around until the actual song started, hence the song is Sans Intro. I think these are pretty much in fixed order, though there's a mix of Flaming June by BT and a mix of Finished Symphony by Hybrid that are fighting their way to the top ten.

warmup

I finished all the work I'm supposed to do this week. On Tuesday I taught lab, which was fun because the students are easy to work with and the lab was very simple. Today I taught recitation. I was a little concerned because I have not done physics problems since April, so I am mentally out of shape. I was going to prep for it but I ended up killing all of last night with the tasks described in Paragraphs 4 and 5. Oops. I spent some time on it this morning though, and it turns out I'm in fairly sharp conditino. I had five students in the morning and one in the afternoon, and I think working through the problems with them helped them all out.

I met up with some of the other grads, who play Hearts together at lunch. They've obviously been at this a while, because they have different decks for different numbers of players and all of the cards are well worn. The decks are stacked with extra cards to handle more players, so there are two Queens of Spades in the six-player one. I had a couple hands where I got both of them ('Hatin' on the new guy!'). Tuesday I held onto second place for a while, but I got hit with some bad hands and came in second to last. Today I got completely hosed early on (me with 88 points, next highest 33), but I held out and went several rounds without taking points, managing to sqeak into second-to-last place at the end. I have seen one of my officemates a couple of times but I haven't actually met him.

The lack of routine is messing with me. I work on Tuesday and Thursday, at different times and with off days in between. In addition I think I'm still adjusting to Pacific time. Then add heat. It's wearing me out. Second recitation today especially got me because I needed a siesta after lunch.

I beat Jak II, so my new project of no use is going through the gigs of music I took from PJ shortly before I left. The mass of files started around 21GB, but I'm deleting stuff left and right before I start actually sorting. For instance, Ben Folds gets thrown out when I see it, because I don't like him, as well as Linkin Park, because I already have them. Non-MP3 files get tossed too, especially WMA. (On top of WMA sucking in general, I've got an iPod so I can't listen to them even if I wanted to.)

I also went through the entire archive of Piled Higher and Deeper, which is probably my favorite webcomic, especially since it's about grad school. I'm entertained that I'm part of the system now, even if only for a brief period. (Though one character actually quit her PhD to form an industry startup!) I don't know if they read it here, but they should.

UPS tried to deliver my DSL hardware today, but I was at recitation at the time. Fortunately the pirated DSL is working again, so I can hold out for another day. I also got the book I ordered for my friend, so I'll probably get it in the mail tomorrow. It's an MIT book, so I'm going to figure a way to work IHTFP into the inscription. I don't intend IHTFP in it's primary meaning though, just as an inside joke. It's actually going pretty well here. (For those not in the know - I'm guess 99% of you - you can Google it.)

I've had Freeman for about two months, and I think there's only one thing left I need to remedy: I need a number pad. I can't enter numbers quickly or skip around in Winamp and it's irritating. I think there are USB number pads available. Too bad there are no technology stores nearby.

I'm done working for the week, so I don't know what I'm going to do for the weekend. I'm thinking of heading out to Newport.

what is this "work-ing" you speak of

I have to go back to work. Bleh. I haven't worked since I graduated. I'm TAing some calc-based physics labs tomorrow. The first one is at 9AM, and I have to go in early to double-check some stuff from the lab manual. Then I get to do recitations on Thursday, which will be more what I'm used to. The class is an 11-week course packed into 4 weeks, so it's going to fly by.

Today was long, but at least it was productive. I ordered my DSL and opened a local bank account, all before lunch. I met with Zlatko and the other TA about this class we're teaching and I think we're all going to be winging it, not just me. Between the heat (another high 90's day, still 75 now) and the amount of stuff I got done today, I'm worn out.

This weblog is good for writing stuff down but it's not really all that funny. I'm going to think about how to remedy that.

my office

My office at Oregon State. Can you spot the physics pirate?

the system is down

I went to Salem's Best Buy today. I bought a USB hub and Jak II for PS2. When I got back I found that the wireless internet I have pirated all week stopped working for whatever reason. Unlike the problem at home, I can renew my IP address fine - it just doesn't help. So until further notice I am back on stupid dialup. I am trying to find out how to get Qwest's DSL service, but they don't seem to have my new number in the system. I don't want to have to wait for them to get their damn act together.

Anyway, tomorrow I have another meeting about the class I TA (I start actually teaching on Tuesday). I also need to get this internet crap resolved fast.

i have technology-finding problems

I was out and about a bit today. It's Saturday, so I checked out the Farmer's Market. It was actually very nice, most of First Street gets closed down for it. I bought some strawberries that are quite good. I also went to the normal store to pick up regular groceries. I grilled a chicken breast on the Foreman grill, which is a step up from what I've been eating so far. I haven't been too bad though, I've only had fast food once or twice this week. The chicken was damn good.

I went to Borders today to get the MIT book for my friend, but it turns out nobody has it. I'll probably have to get it online. I have another MIT book that's pretty good but it's a little depressing, so I'm not going to send it to my friend. Reading the MIT books is very interesting because MIT is so much different from everywhere I've been. I was tempted to apply to MIT for grad school but they didn't really have a good program for me, and I don't think I could handle the environment anyway. I wonder if they ever bothered to formally reject PJ.

My apartment is starting to come together. I got some more shelves so I can get more crap off my card table. I listened to Car Talk while putting them together, I've been enjoying listening to those knuckleheads. With more of my stuff sorted my pad is looking less like a storage shed and more like I actually live here. I really need to find a sofa or futon though.

One thing that I basically confirmed today was that Corvallis is a technology desert. We don't have an EBGames or Gamestop, let alone a Best Buy. And the nearest stores aren't in the next city over. They're in Salem, which is about an hour away. Harsh. Corvallis does have a Mac store but that's like saying, "Sorry, we don't have any gasoline, but we do have diesel!" Thanks, that does me a ton of good. At least I know where to get iPod gear. I'm obviously going to have to plan a sortie to Salem - I have $35 in Best Buy reward zone coupons that aren't usable online, I could use a USB hub, and I'm itching to get a new clearance rack PS2 game.

The next town over does have a billiards hall. In fact, I think there's plenty to do around here (except buy technology). If only I had a crew to hang out with. I should meet some of the other grads next week, but what I really want is for the other new guys to show up. I have to wait until late September for that. At least I should be thoroughly settled by then.

I really want to go to a Hard Lessons concert. They have not posted anything about a West Coast tour yet though. If they come to Portland I don't care what else is going on, I'll be there. I'm trying to find out what kind of local bands there are, but I don't know if there's anything like the Hard Lessons.

the hill of futility

I spent the day sitting around waiting for my UPS-shipped stuff to arrive, which it didn't until late afternoon. Consequently I didn't make it over to campus to meet with the guy I'm working for. I played a little GT4 and listened to Car Talk while waiting for the UPS guy, so it wasn't too bad. Whatever it takes, I'm going to meet with the prof tomorrow. This has been drawn out all week and I'm tired of it. Maybe some of the other grad students will be around, and I can meet them too.

After dinner I decided to try and make up for a wasted day, so I drove out to Bald Hill which is supposed to be a decent hike. It's about a mile horizontally from the parking lot to the top of the hill, and over 400 feet vertically. It was a bit rough, but I made it to the top without incident. I found that basically, it's a field. The only property that makes it different from a regular field is that I had to waste an extra 270kJ or so of energy to account for the vertical displacement.There wasn't even a redeeming quality like a lake or a waterfall. It's just a stupid field. You can hear cows mooing from the next hill-field over. The view was decent, if you like looking at farmland. There were too many trees to see Corvallis though, which is what I was hoping for. I could barely make out the OSU stadium. I gave up and went back to the car to enjoy the A/C cranked up all the way. So that's my tale of futility and the outdoors. I'm not giving up though - I'd like to head out to Newport as soon as I can manage it, and the Columbia River Gorge was spectacular but it is past Portland so that will take some effort.

Anyway, at least I have the rest of my stuff here now. I broke out some of the books and I am enjoying one about MIT hacks that might be a good one to send to my friend Erin. With all my extra stuff here it seems I need to get some more shelves or something. I nailed my dorm room in Hubbard Hall right away, but it's going to take a while to settle here.

Jim and I managed to find the last of the Gran Turismo 4 real-world tracks in Google Earth. My latest finds are Fermilab, MIT and CalTech. Jim tried to find CERN, but it's buried. I had the same story with the old SSC site in Texas. What to find next?

bald hill

where in the world

It's been quite a bit slower around here after the chaos of driving and moving in last week. I tried to meet with the guy I'm going to TA for, but I couldn't find him. I waited around for like an hour but he was still MIA so I came back. I'll try again tomorrow. I told the phone company to hook me up, but that could take until Friday and I can't work on getting DSL until my phone works.

I checked out some more stores today too. There's a place called Winco that has bulk foods like Costco. In that plaza there was also a hobby store. It was cool, but definitely for serious modelers like my Uncle Mark. They had special brushes and clamps and everything. I think I'd like to do an Me-262, but I haven't done models in a long time so I would probably mess up whatever I tried to do.

Tomorrow I'm getting the seven extra boxes of stuff that wouldn't go in the car, so I'm looking forward to that. I was kind of holding off checking out the nearby scenic hill until I could get my camera's tripod, and there's a ton of other stuff I would like to have around.

I've been running Gran Turismo 4 in the background, but that's not the main way I've been killing time today. That award goes to Google Earth. It's like a combination of Terraserver, MapQuest and the Yellow Pages. Screwing around with it gives you a real good sense of geography. After I'd found my apartment, my home in Clarkston, UCSD, NHMFL, Disney World and Kennedy Space Center, I found a more difficult challenge: the real-world tracks from Gran Turismo 4. Some of them were fairly straightforward. Others I had to stumble across someone else's drawn-on Google Earth screenshot. I think the only track remaining is Circuit de la Sarthe, and that's because it's a temporary track composed of local French roads. By the way, don't miss the link in this post's title. I amuse me.

I've also been reading a book one of my friends sent me about the Golden Ratio. It's actually quite interesting, especially when they mention bizarre properties about the Golden Ratio or Fibonacci numbers that I had no idea about. I'm trying to find something I can send back to my friend, but I can't think of anything offhand. I'm sure I'll think of something.