amelonhead1111

This past week was a little bit more crazy than usual, as the area got approximately 17 inches of snow (at least as measured by the weather people at WLFI). As a result, Purdue c ancelled 1.5 days of classes, which is the first time that's happened since '84. (It's happened other times since then, but not for snow while classes were in session).

What did I do those days? I attempted to get caught up on things that were due on Tuesday. Last weekend was shot for the most part, as I managed to get sick on Saturday and spent the rest of the time trying to feel better and get some work done (and failed miserably). So... I got caught up for that stuff right about Thursday. All the things that were initially due later in the week got pushed back to next week. As a result, I'm stuck with oodles and oodles of things to do this weekend, and only 2 days left to do it in.

Then I have a somewhat growing situation involving someone. While I can't for good reason post who this person is, there are some of you out there who do know this person's identity. Basically, I manged to start screwing up the friendship with this person a couple of weekends ago, and I've tried to make it better over the weeks since then. But I'm afraid that I keep doing things that keep messing up the relationship. Somehow, though, I've got to perservere and get through it all, and hope that things will turn out a bit better between me and this person. And... just maybe.... I will survive this semester (we are 3/8 of the way through).

Now... it's back to the working.

--Ryan out

So... here I am on day 5 of working evenings in Lawson. I'm beginning to wonder if the janitorial staff suspect if I'm a permanent fixture in here or not. (Although it must be said that I don't think I'm quite up to the fixture level of Dr. Gorman [1]).

It's really sad, though, that I've had to spend so much time in here. I know that I'm not able to get things done at home, just because I'm always surrounded by distractions. However, it's been close to the same here in the ACM office, partially because I've been working on the computer a lot more. See... I have this problem with the internet distracting me [2]. I'll be rtrying to work on a certain topic (say correcting my cover letter for an English assignment) and *poof* I have this sudden urge to go looking up a particular topic in Wikipedia. Fortunately for me, it stops a little bit before William Howard Taft, but it's always there. Then there's Facebook, the scourge of every well-meaning college student. And if it's a crazy news night... well... sometimes I just can't stop myself.

But it's getting better, partially because I know that I can't continue this process. I have to get work done sometime. And what better time than now?

Let's see... the last two weeks have been pretty hectic (to once again say the least). The Colts won the Super Bowl (yay!), and... I worked on homework (boo)... a lot of homework, actually. I also did some what can only be described as being stupid events of a more... private nature. But that's something that I won't talk about for some time... until I get it all figured out.

I also learned that apparently my blog is indexed by Google, as my last post that mentioned which company I currently work out (Q---spec) got picked up in a Google News Alert. Sorta scary if you think about it, and a good thing that I didn't say anything bad (not that I have anything to say bad about the company in the first place =)

Next, I learned that I really hate cold winds. Wind chills far below zero are not my cup of tea (or coffee). I guess I should be glad that I wasn't up in the North Dakota (a lot worse wind chills up there) or (less emphatic) not in upstate New York with the tons of snow they've gotten.

Finally.... when is someone going to come and fix this stupid HVAC system in here? I'm tired of hearing it bang off every 10-15 minutes! Anyways... back to the fun homework.

--Ryan out

[1] Dr. Gorman is the Assistant to the Head of the Department. I wish I could tell you what that's supposed to mean, except that I don't know what it means. All I can say is that (a) he works in the Graduate Office, (b) all my TA stuff for the department goes through him, and (c) he's always here at random weird hours of the day / night. And ALWAYS in a shirt and tie (sometimes the coat too). Heck... freshman year I saw him randomly inspecting the cue sticks at Earhart one Friday night. That's some... dedication right there.

[2] Yes, this posting is a case in point. However, I started writing again with the full intention of keeping at least weekly updates. It's been two weeks so far since my last post, and I didn't want it to slip any farther...

First of all, I'd like to say welcome back to myself. It's been a while... a long while (beginning of the NFL season while).

Anyways... I've been doing some thinking recently about my crazy, hectic schedule. It's not that any one particular thing is causing me stress. Rather, it's the whole conglomerate of crazy things that's not going well. I mean... I only have (a) 17 credit hours of class, (b) 10-15 hours of work at Quadraspec, (c) 3 hours of work doing evening consulting for CS 180 (plus other random times that I'm in the lab), (d) treasurer for 2 different organizations, each requiring a fair amount of time (not to mention being a usher coordinator for CVN), (e) other organizations that I"m not a president in, and (f) keeping track of those Boilers...

If I had to go through all this by myself, I'm honestly not sure what I'd do. I'm fairly sure I would have found the University Street parking garage pretty handy... but that's not a path that I choose to think about. (For those of you who aren't in the know... someone did commit suicide by jumping off a parking garage a few years ago after his compiler projects weren't going too well.)

My point is that I'm really feeding off of all of you out there... my friends. I've been so blessed to have such wonderful, caring friends who (at least for the most part) are there when I need them. There are those of you who I've explicitly thanked in the past for helping me out (and you all know who you are). And then there are the majority of you who I have not gotten a chance to thank in the past. This is the time, though, for you to get recognized. If it weren't for you guys helping me out along the roads of life, I surely would have gone astray. And that is a debt I can never repay.

Last night, Kim reminded me indirectly of what I have written on my About Me section on Facebook. It's something that's been up there for a long time, and it's still something that hasn't lost its meaning. Rather than trying to summarize myself, I'll let the words speak for themselves.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about me is that I'm there for my friends (or indeed, anyone at all). If you ever need anything at all, let me know, and I'll see if I can do anything to help. If you need advice, well... I'll give some (crappy as it may be). If you just need a ear, I have two perfectly good ones waiting for you. If you want a hug, I can give it. If you need a shoulder, mine are here for you.

Please... just let me know. It's the least I can do for those who have been there for me. And to all of you out there, thank you.

--Ryan out

I'll post my TODO list.

Classes in general:

• Read, read, and more reading. (Applies to all)
• Do associated homework (MA 375, maybe CS 352) and project (CS 352... if it ever gets released (EDIT: When I get around to it. Happy, James?).

Work:

• Get outstanding issues for v 1.0.0 finished.
• Actually get around to programming my phone (now that they've upgraded them).
• Find a way to actually be productive during offtime (referring more to consulting.)
• Remember to turn in timecard / hours

EPICS:

• Agenda
• Notebook
• Semester Plan Presentation
• Work on the projects...
• Stat script fun
• Documenting existing scripts
• Documenting process to install machines
• Configure Mac machine
• Lay out Music Kiosk design

ACM:

• Finish up Annual Report
• Contact O'Reilly
• Contact assigned corporate officers
• Make sure library is updated
  
• Pay bills
• File paperwork appropriately

Circle K:

• Plan fundraisers
• Meet with BOSO re: pigs
• Hope painting goes well
• Contact HfH, PSG about opportunities
• Set up mailing list
• Compile Gus Macker people's info

CVN:

• Confirm website design
• Work on website
• Shadowing UCs before my first main one (Wilco)

General:

• Turn in Boiler STeam app
  
• Process possibilities from CS job fair
• Go internship hunting!
• Go through stacks of paper in room
• Finish filing emails
• Catch up on papers
• Put sporting events on calendar
• Have quality conversations with certain people.

I probably could keep going on... but this is crazy enough as is.

*sigh* Back to the grindstone it is.
--Ryan

(Postscript... based on a website I found earlier today (no clue where it's at), I was the 543rd member of Facebook from Purdue. Sorta interesting... sorta strainge too that I was actually one of the first people who signed for something like this here.)

(Edit #1 - 9/14 - Got through some things... and other things got put on here.)
(Edit #2 - 9/18 - More things done, more things added. Woot.)

my sanity may not. But we'll see...

It's going to be another long-as-heck semester.

(Transcribed from a cell phone camera pic taken in the basement of Krannert Sunday night; emphasis mine)

ENGL 001T

"Classroom Communication for International Teaching Assistants"

Begins the week of August 28th
(2nd week of Purdue Classes)

Please continuing checking SSINFO for more information.

Yes, I survived the crazy moving weekend. Among the many things that I have learned is that one can in fact successfully move a heavy metal bookcase across the street by using a wheelie chair. That and not having working elevators suck up the wazoo.

But that's not the purpose of this post. The purpose is about what I noticed on campus this weekend in the midst of moving. Yes... it was the big rush weekend for the sororities here on campus. Every time Jon and I would leave Lawson on Sunday, we would hear the girls chanting and clapping some refrain over and over... for each set of prospective fresh blood (I suppose). That's the thing that really gets me--it's the first full weekend here at Purdue; how in the world do you expect the freshman to know if the Greek system is right for them? They've only been here for (at most) two weeks... and two weeks really isn't enough to get a good feel for this campus (unless you're a heaaaavy partier, in which case you may be fit for the sorority life.)

I guess my feeling is that if you push rush back until spring semester, it would allow people to get that much more used to campus and the various houses. Sure, you may have people who are new students starting in the spring (through whatever reason), but it's a heck of a lot less than others.

If anyone has any feedback on this, let me know (as always); I really appreciate it.

Now let's see if Facebook manages to double post this again!

--Ryan out

Tonight's a hodgepodge before I go off to bed (as tomorrow will be a quite early day helping move Camilla, our Circle K adviser).

Today was the (as always) exciting PSUB Activities Bonanza. During my wandering around trying to find the Boiler STeam booth (and no, that's not a typo--the T is capitalized), I found the greatest club of all for Jeanette: the Meat Club. Their sole purpose is to eat meat. All different kinds too. (I talked to the guy at the booth, and he stated that they are open to vegetarians to come, so that they could 'convert' them.) They're actually having a callout on Engineering Mall on the 14th from 11am to 2pm. Sounds like I'll have to go by and check it out. Also picked up information for a few other organizations so that I could fill up my schedule even more (thus bumping my schedule from slightly crazy to somewhat crazy).

Went and saw the Da Vinci Code tonight. I will refrain from posting my comments on it for the moment, as I probably could rant for a fair amount of time on it if I so chose. Afterwords, I wandered over to the Welcome Back Bash. It wasn't too bad, as I ran into some people that I knew, and enjoyed the entertainment. I think one of the highlights of my night was the Ship of Fools doing their murder skit. The suggested occupation for the murderer was none other than a Nobel laureate physicist. Somehow, though, it turned into a mad scientist / bombmaker-like person. In any case, it definitely didn't look like the picture of Mike that I had in my eye.

Schedule for this weekend doesn't look too bad, unless you don't appreciate heavy lifting. As I mentioned, tomorrow will be moving day for Camilla. After relaxing tomorrow night, I run straight into moving the rest of ACM's office Sunday morning. That's going to be a blast. I'll be lucky to be able to move at the end of all of it.

And with that, I'm out. Or at least somewhat close to it.

(edit: Fixed typo. And here I thought Facebook was screwing up the post somehow...)

So... on my RSS aggregator, I had a couple of feeds off of FatWallet. Good way to find out about some cheap / free stuff. Unfortunately, they hadn't been updating for a while (at least a couple of weeks).

Woke up this morning, and noticed that Bloglines was suddenly reporting that I had 6989(!) unread messages. Considering that I had ~600 yesterday night... something was up.

I checked it out, and Fatwallet apparently has 5722 unread items(!). Guess I better start cracking...

--Ryan

Yes. I'm back at Purdue.

Yes. It's been another month since I last posted.

But hey, I'm back and ready to go. Let's see here:

• Finished up the summer internship. I'm going to continue to work at Quadraspec during the school year as an intern (not through IfI--they want to get another intern with them through the program so we can get our huge backlog of issues worked out.


• Started cataloging my library at home using LibraryThing. When I was home for the couple of weeks between the end of work and moving back here, I managed to process all the books in my bedroom, as well as some random other ones strewn throughout the house. So far, I'm up to 297 books. It also looks like I get the job of doing this for ACM, so we finally get some sort of catalog of our library.


• Speaking of ACM, we've started moving our stuff from the old CS building (now Haas Hall despite the claims of practically all the official university maps and the labels on the building itself) to the new Lawson CS building. Once we get our (somewhat old, but still working) computers moved over there, I have a feeling that I'll be spending lots more time over there... especially since we'll have a jack in our office to plug in a laptop and Compilers is here.


• Now speaking of my laptop... I'm trying out Ubuntu on it. So far, I've been able to do everything I need so far on Ubuntu (i.e., without rebooting back into Windows.) However, I still have a bunch of Jeanette's DVDs waiting for me to rip. And everyone needs their Civ4 fix now and then.

As a post note, in case anyone cares to take a peek at my schedule, you can now view my newly-formed schedule on Google Calendar here.

Finally... now everyone can follow my (random, infrequent) posts on Facebook! ... err... I'm not quite sure why you'd want to do that, but you can.

It's going to be one heck of a semester. But it'll be a fun one too. And I promise... I will keep this up-to-date.

--Ryan out