Category: RecSports

Clean Socks!!!

A few people have been bugging me to update my blog, so here you go.. a few paragraphs of my life. I didn’t even realize people read this until some friends of mine bugged me on AIM about it. Wouldn’t kill you people who do read this to make a comment here and there…

A little background info…
In one of my morning classes, I had bombed a paper pretty bad, but I had gone to 2-3 of the instructor’s office hours to basically rewrite the paper (for no additional credit) so I could understand what the hell I was supposed to actually write about. At the end of the final one (the day before the next paper was due) I got to spend maybe 5 minutes going over a short outline I had prepared for the next paper.. not much time, so I had to wing a bunch of it, but I was a bit more prepared for this one than the previous, but I was still up until around 5am writing (the class is at 10am).

Now, on with my day…

Woke up, went to class, spoke to instructor afterwards about the second paper, and she wouldn’t tell me my grade, but that I did “much better” and “had something to smile about.” That was pretty encouraging, and I’m anxious to see what kind of grade I got on it.

After class, I went to the academic advising, as registration for Winter Term opens up this week, I did get some information in this meeting, but not much as far as the classes I’m going to end up taking next term (or subsequant terms).

I then went to the CIS building and was told to come back an hour or 2 later when the right people would be there.

So, I went to the EMU to mail off my power and cable bills. Then I went up-stairs to find legal services to make an appointment to talk about a risky business proposition I was recently presented with. It involves some easy money for me, so I’d kinda like to follow through with it.

Well, I thought I got information about the classes I was going to take Winter Term, but after going to the CIS building to talk to someone about getting my programming classes from Mesabi transfered to specific courses here (one is a prereq for a class I really wanted to get into). Turns out the guy I needed to talk to is out of town for the week, but the course I was looking forward to isn’t even offered. I guess I’ll have to find a catalog of offered classes and go back to another academic advising session. But I feel I did walk out of there with some information, so it was not a waste of time.

(beginning to seem like a long day, eh?)

Then, I went to McKenzie to follow up on a job possibility that was mentioned to me (from a previous time I went in there) and the guy I needed to talk to was there this time. Got to talk to him and got what sounds like an interview set up. This is for what seems like a dream job to me at this point, plus it’s on campus (so I don’t have to be traveling all over town). This is excellent, as I really do need a job.

blah blah blah.. went to my evening class…

Left early to try to catch the Ski Club‘s dry land practice, which I did, and found out what I’d need to do to join, and I’m pretty sure I’m doing it. Dry land consisted of quite a long jog IMHO (but it was probably actually under a mile), about 30-40 min of ultimate frisbee, some ab excercises, and some streaching. I can’t remember the last time I got so dehydrated, my ribs were getting a little cramped and I was hickuping all the way home (I think I’ll be investing in a water bottle in the immediate future).

Got home, started my laundry, cooked dinner, did dishes, finished the laundry, and now I have….

CLEAN SOCKS!!!!!

Football, furniture, food, and new Finder.

Vikings lost to the NY Giants, Boo!

My brother and sister-in-law came to town to visit this weekend, and gave me furniture and food, yay, I finally have a bed!! (and now nearly 2 cases of EasyMac) meh.

I went to 2 Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) release parties on friday… the one at the UO Bookstore sucked, they were supposed to go until 10pm, but were packing up shop when I arrived at 9:15, and the one at the Eugene Mac Store was pretty tame (though I got there 9:30, and they both started at 8).

At the Mac Store, I played with Panther on a 17″ G4 PowerBook I’m still not a fan of the form factor of this laptop, but it is an amazing piece of work. Panther’s finder is interesting, but I much prefer the OS X (Jaguar) finder. There are some sweet new features that overshadow this though.. exposé is INCREDIBLE.. (one of those features that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it)! iChat AV, File Vault, Fast User Switching, and Xcode are also excellent features.

I should have Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) installed on my PowerBook early this week.

A bit of contrast.. Windoze Longhorn looks rather ass-tastic. I still can not understand why so many people use trash from microsoft. It’s rarely stable, *always* insecure, and looks like poop!

I’m reminded of a conversation I had with an acquaintance in Minnesota a few months ago… he was failing miserably trying explain to me how he can justify using windoze, and asked me, “So, what do you do with all the time you save by using a mac, besides arguing with belligerent windows users?” my reply was something along the lines of “trying to justify my choice of operating systems to belligerent linux users.”

My current take on OS’s is…
* Windoze is for IT people’s job security (someone has to keep it working, and patch the security holes and exploits, as well as hold the hands of people who don’t know double clicking from their left shoe), and solitaire. (people who use it by choice deserve it’s endless downfalls)
* Mac OS X is for people who know better [than to use windoze], and are willing to sacrifice uniformity and conformity, for reliability, stability, ease-of-use, and often times better compatibility. Also, probably the best option for someone who doesn’t know how to use a computer.
* Linux and Unix are for servers, and people who know better [than to use windows; and know that a kernel isn’t something you put in the microwave or a place to buy fried chicken], and perhaps don’t have or like the Mac platform.

A t-shirt on MacShirt.com says:
Macintosh for Productivity
Linux for Development
Palm for Mobility
Windows for Solitaire

Summer heat

Was planning to talk about this tomorrow, but because of the current heat spell here, I’m not going to the next tournament.

What did he say?

I’ve been competing in a few INT Waterski Tournaments this summer. I started out in 3rd class (they let you choose where you start out), and actually took a 2nd place (in that class) at my first tourny. Then at my second one, I got bumped into 2nd class, meaning I’m made the course at my target speed in 3rd class, and am working at a higher speed. Anyways, I have no idea how I did 3 weeks ago at my second tourny of the year, but I did make a complete pass at 32mph, so in theory, I could have placed again, only time will tell.

The last tourny of the year in MN is tomorrow, at the same venue as the first one we went to. The competitions were fun, great atmosphere with nice people. I’ll chalk it up to some good times, and more skiing experiences, and hit it hard again next year (hopefully)

As far as waterskiing goes, I started the year at 28mph, 15′ off the rope. Now I’m making the course somewhat consistantly at 34mph, and my goal for the year is 36mph. The thing is with the tournaments, under 35 y/o, you have to make the course at 36 before you can shorten the rope, but occasionally I try shorter rope lengths for a little variety.