a different kind of sunday morning

I think I may have finally figured out how to disable the bastard auto-update on Google Toolbar. There's no option to make it not replace my nice version with their horrible new one, so I had to get clever. I have been idling in the lair of the beast (toolbar.google.com) and it still hasn't auto-updated, so maybe I am in the clear.

I made an impulse buy today. I was in Staples trying to find new red pens because grading exams used up the last of my good ones, and in the laptop accessories section they had solar chargers. They have a MSRP of $100, Staples originally had them for $80, but they were on clearance for $19.80. Solar power + 75% discount is something I can't pass up. Unfortunately it's night right now so I can't play with it. The website has pictures of people using it in weird places, like "extreme ironing" in the Himalayas. Maybe mine won't be used for that, but hey, if civilization collapses and the power grid goes down I can still listen to my iPod.

I found out last week that the Atlas Shrugged movie(s?) is finally being pulled together. Angelina Jolie has been confimed as Dagny Taggart, I think she'd be perfect. Brad Pitt as John Galt I don't buy as much. I don't know who would be better though. Michael Gambon would make a pretty good Hugh Akston, and Harrison Ford would be a good Hank Rearden if he were younger...Anyway, we'll have to wait until 2008 to see. One of the articles I saw also said a remake of The Fountainhead might also be done. I've seen the original and I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD for years, which is finally about to happen.

The movie news has sparked my interest enough to make me finally get around to my annual reading of Atlas Shrugged. This is the 5th year now. I'm not going for the speed record this time - currently set at 4 days, but I swear it can be done in 3 given nothing to do and the stamina to break through The Speech on Day 3. This time around I'm taking my time and reading a couple chapters a day. That's more than I can afford time-wise anyway.

I've had a cold all week and it's annoying the hell out of me. dHealth/dt > 0 but it's not over yet. Cute Fred Meyer Girl was also sick. We commiserated with each other briefly and she gave me a Halls.

I acquired some mp3s of the new albums by BT and Hybrid. The BT tracks aren't that great, he's gotten a little too artsy. They are spacey and ambient and the shortest one is over eight minutes long (with the longest one topping 14). The Hybrid album doesn't seem to stand out at first, but it got under my skin and I can't stop listening to it. Today's post title is stolen from one of those songs.

court trouble, part III

ACT III
Government: Well we did some checking around and decided to pay you after all, but it won't be until December.
Jon: Christmas bonus!

court trouble, part II

ACT I
Government: You have to give us eight weeks of jury duty. But as compensation we'll give you $25/day.
Jon: Fine, whatever.

ACT II
Jon: You said I was going to get like $300 but you cut me a check for $2.80. What gives?
Government: Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you we have an obscure subsection in this law that says you automatically waived your juror's fee and we just have to reimburse you for mileage. Here's a copy of the law. Share and enjoy!
Jon: What.

court trouble

I got the check for my jury duty today. For a whopping $2.80. (It should be more like $280.) Now I'll have to go harass the courthouse and make them move some decimal points.

title

I'm getting the hang of things, maybe. Electronics is still crawling along, we're still only measuring RC constants in lab. Last week's computational physics problem was about chaotic scattering, which was actually pretty interesting. I was a little stumped by business stuff but once I saw some problems worked out it clicked, to the point where I'm half wondering how my own financial records would look in double-entry accounting. The only class where I'm still really stumbling is semiconductor devices, but I'm hoping to change that this weekend. The prof assigned 6 homework problems but threw 3 of them out because he hadn't gotten very far in lecture, so I might stand a chance this week.

In completely unrelated news, I learned yesterday that Gillette now has a razor with no less than six blades on it, five on the front and one on the back for no good reason. The razor arms race it getting out of hand. I can only imagine that somewhere, men in white lab coats are testing the feasibility of razors with 8, 10, or even more blades. Test subjects require reconstructive surgery after using the prototypes. After all, few men have what it takes to wield the Gillete Baker's Dozen.

Anyway, off to get stuff done, and then maybe reward myself with some more Tropico 2 later. That game is pretty fun but it does take a while to play so I haven't been at it too much. I'll also throw up a new movie review later.

crushed, part IV

I went up to Woodburn on Saturday to get some jeans and while I was up there I hit Fry's and got a lot more Crush, so I'm stocked up for a while. I also picked up Tropico 2, which is taunting me because I can't play it right now, and it seems like a pretty good game.

I was wrong about the 'theme' of this term's classes. It's not-physics. I got stunned by classes last week because I'm not expected to think like a physicist anymore - I'm now supposed to think like a business student, an EE and a computer scientist. The triple culture shock was a little much, I'm probably going to pull an all-nighter here just to tread water. Hopefully things will settle back down.

crushed, part III

I'm down to my last glass bottle of orange Crush. I came up with what I thought was a great idea last night: take a 2-liter bottle of Crush that Fischer brought down from Seattle and put it into some empties. I almost got a six-pack out of it. However, when I drank some it just wasn't the same. I'm not as crazy about Crush as I was a few months ago, but it would still be nice to have some. Oh well.

I like the looks of my business class already. The one I had last term was horrible, it really didn't teach anything and it had the extra horror of making us work with MBA students. There are no business students in this class because they're all taking real courses, not crash courses. (This class is teaching the basics of both accounting and finance.) Most of the students are from science, including a batch of new PSM students who I haven't met yet. In addition, although we've only had one class so far I've already learned something. The prof handed out copies of Harley-Davidson's annual report and we went through it and now I have some idea what those numbers mean.

Today has just been a lazy Sunday. And I do mean properly lazy - I had 11 hours of sleep last night, and I'm sitting around in a comfortable sweatshirt thinking about a nap. I did manage to do some business homework, and I punched out this entry over the course of an afternoon, but really it hasn't been productive today. I guess I'll just have to enjoy it while it lasts - I'm certainly not going to be able to laze about when I'm up to my neck in coursework.

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.

1111111

It's Friday night and I am cruising an obscure corner of the internet. I have been searching high and low for the original score to the movie Pi. I have the album, which contains bits of the score and is great in itself, but the score is really very powerful and I'd like to get my hands on it. One problem - it's unreleased. However, in the composer's online forum he posted:

"It's the 10th anniversary of π next year and there have been some rumblings about what to do to mark such an event. Over the next month or so Tezzer and myself will be launching www.clintmansell.com and by that time a few plans should be in place - and the release of the π score is on the 'to do' list."

That would be awesome.

I saw Fearless tonight and I have to say it was stunning. I didn't come out of it feeling slightly let down like I did with Hero. Better than Fist of Legend I don't know, I have to let it sink in. And maybe see it a couple more times. Definitely a good movie for Jet Li to go out on.

your world is different from mine

It rained today. That's as sure a sign as any that fall is here. Only a little over a week until classes start up again. Kind of exciting that this is my last year of school though...and not even a full academic year of classes.

Yesterday was a very car-focused day. I bought the new issues of Top Gear and Motor Trend. MT's cover story is about how GM might import another Holden, this time as the Grand Prix. It looks quite interesting. MT also had the Solstice GXP and the Aura, so I had to check it out.

I also went and test drove a Pontiac G6 GT, and I think I like it more than the Aura. I have been avoiding the G6 because I was annoyed it looked like every other Pontiac, but I found out the 2007 models are going to have GM's new six-speed automatic transmission and I've really pulled a 180. The G6 GTP is the one I really want of course. The dealer didn't have any of those, but he said there are some new ones coming. So in a few weeks it will be more test driving, Aura XR vs. G6 GTP.

I played through Command & Conquer: Red Alert. I may have only beaten the Soviet campaign once before, and I know this is my first time beating the Allied campaign. I've been playing through the whole series and the early ones are definitely harder. I never noticed before how bad the acting in Red Alert is.

Also: The MSU Physics Shirts are coming back for a third run. I know this is the third time I've claimed this, but I swear it's going to happen this time because I'm not the one handling it. My brother is looking at doing a run as part of the new improved SPS that actually does things. So if you're interested, either let Jim or me know. Not taking orders just yet though.