wrex

Yep, finally put it together and put up a post. I'll probably not be posting again here, so if you still wanna follow me, you'll have to go here.

Yep, going to a nearby, smaller convention today and tomorrow. Oh, and I'm probably going to be shutting down this journal too. I think I'll get another one elsewhere and post a link when I do.

After 3 weeks of doing absolutely nothing, they've finally got me doing actual DBA stuff. Despite the initial plan to get me on the Oracle system, that is developing far too slowly, so I'm learning on the Sybase side, which means working primarily from a Unix workstation. But my only actual responsibilities are monitoring and maintaining the systems... so more or less I'm a highly paid, glorified babysitter. Not that I'm complaining since at least I don't have to deal with end users directly as much anymore.

The one drawback though is that it looks like I'll be stuck on swing shift for the foreseeable future, which is 2:30-10:30pm, meaning most of my afternoons/evenings are shot. However, it does lead to a 5% increase in pay, which is pretty nice I suppose. Not sure if it's worth all that free time, despite the face that it does happen to match my sleep cycle perfectly. ^^;

I really need a new computer project though.. After building my tower last summer and converting the old one to a server in the winter, I don't have a lot of computer things to do - especially since I'm no longer programming for classes. I wanted to rebuild the anime club's website, but I want to do something that might be at least mildly useful, and given the fact that the club is in limbo I'm hesitant to dive headlong into that. Not to mention the previous admin has been incommunicado for over a year now, so there's no telling what I'd have to do to get all that done.

Ah well, I've started relearning hiragana and katakana again since I've forgotten virtually all of it over the semester, though I seem to be retaining it better than I would've thought. Maybe I'll actually eventually get to words. O_O

I'd previously been somewhat concerned about my possible final grade in my ECE course (failure would prevent me from graduating) since I didn't do too hot on the second exam and was slacking in the labs and homeworks in the last half of the semester, but I need worry no more. Grades were posted, and I came outta there with a B. ^w^ Combined with an A in Senior Project and Walking and another B in Graphics, I am officially done~

All of one day after I post my last message, I get a call from the company with a job offer. Pretty effin' sweet. Okay benefits, but a huge pay raise over my current temporary student position. Most importantly, I'm set for after graduation now and don't have to worry about it. >w<d

I have 14 scheduled work days remaining over the next 5 weeks (including about 4 days off) before I graduate. It's crazy to think that I'm -this- close to being done with school...

Still haven't heard about that job just yet, but knowing the nature of the beast I'm not surprised, though I'm expecting a response within the next week or so.

I've also decided on my next computer project: turning my old tower into a file server. I'm probably going to take my copy of XP Pro and put it on there and make the transformation.

Still no job lined up after school, but I'm feeling pretty good about my chances with the latest company I put in for. I met with a couple of reps who came to the school last night, and when I talked about it today at work I find out that one of my co-workers worked there before he came to my current place, so he's going to hand my resume to some of his friends. Combined with my own application put in through their website, so I'm hoping my name gets enough recognition for them to offer me a job ^w^

Beyond that, school is going okay, think I'm still in decent shape to pass all my classes, though graphics will take a little more work. And on the computer front, after the intial wewt-ness of Ubuntu has worn off, I find myself just getting frustrated. I'm really tempted to go back to XP Pro now. ._.

Well, at least for now. Haven't really had too much work thus far, but I imagine that'll change quickly. I've kinda got some applications out there, but just started recently. Mostly applying to places in the area, and if necessary I could probably get a position with a former co-worker at AT&T. I'm gonna talk to him and ask him what their pay/benefits packages are like soon, if I remember... ^^;

Finally built me my own computer from scratch. I'm rather content with how it turned out. It's one of those with a fancy case, y'know, clear side, blue LEDs all over, good stuff. Also put Ubuntu Ultimate on it, so now I no longer have to be stuck with Windows only. Take that, Bill Gates~. (Though I have to keep it on my other tower/lappy for the time being for school purposes. >_> ) Still got a few things to figure out, but pretty much good to go though. ^^

Just watched School Days yesterday... damned if it didn't depress the hell out of me... I was actually eagerly awaiting the final episode for its violent conclusion to get away from all the shit he put Kotonoha through... That show disturbed me on so many levels... which is further compounded by the fact that I also saw Dark Knight on Friday, one of the darkest movies I've seen in a while (thanks in large part to an incredibly twisted performance from Heath Ledger)...

That's right~. I'm actually doing something that I've talked about doing for a while but never started doing: learning Japanese. Right now I've got the 46 basic unvoiced hiragana down pretty tight, though I think I'm going to have to go buy some more index cards to use for flash cards. Still need to do the voiced/compound sounds, but I think I'll pretty shortly be able to FINALLY put that "Japanese for Busy People" book I picked up a couple years ago to some good use.

Other than that, it's been pretty basic. Y'know, work through the week, dates on the weekends, so on. I work next week, and the following week I've taken off to visit family (and just finally get some time away from everything).

Oh, also I picked up an HDTV finally. "Only" 32" and "only" 720p, but still, I'm quite happy with it for how much I paid for it (about $510 before tax). Unfortunately most of the standard cable channels look like crap now, but I get a few digital channels, and damn those look insanely beautiful. I was watching a Cards game the day I got it, and I could see the individual blades of grass... so pretty I could cry... ^^

Well, today was the family picnic for my work. Lots of fun, that thing is. ^^ I had to pay $6 for food, but otherwise they company paid me to spend the day at the park playing volleyball and Chicago ball (which is just softball, except the ball is even bigger and softer, so it doesn't carry nearly as well -_-;;).

In volleyball my team lost the only two games we played, but I had fun since I spent most of the game diving for balls before they hit the ground. XD I had grass stains all over. I tell you, I may not play a lot of sports, but when I do, I love sacrificing the body for the team. I actually ended up rolling my ankle in the process... ^^;;

Then in preparation for Chicago ball later, a few of us threw around some baseballs and softballs. It's been forever since I played, so it took me a while to get re-used to catching and throwing.. of course, since I wasn't used to it, I missed the webbing a few times and it hit my palm, so actually my hand has a pretty sizable bruise on it. XD

In the game itself, I was 2 for 5 with two singles, and our team ended up winning the game. Though I messed up a bit and on my very first swing I overswung and hurt my shoulder a bit. ^^; And I was leading off in one inning, and the pitcher (a girl I know named Miranda) was taking a couple practice tosses while I was in the box. The first one almost hit me, forcing me to lean back to avoid it. So I said "You do that again, I'm charging the mound!" Next pitch hits me in the foot, so I did just that and charged the mound (playfully, of course). XD

All-in-all, I had a ton of fun despite ending up a little burned and worse for wear physically. But at least I have tomorrow off to recover. ^^

Yeah, I know, madness. Anyway, got my grades for the semester, and they're better than what I was hoping for. 3 A's and a B. I was looking realistically at an A, 2 B's and a C. XD Oh well, not complaining~.

And now I've gotten back into loli golf a.k.a. Albatross18/PangYa. Fun stuff~. Username is wrex if anyone else is in on it.

( Yep, this weekend I was in Chicago for ACen, so here's my rundown. )

It's true, and I'll be the one controlling them. *insert evil laughter*

But really, here are some YouTube videos of a robot competition we had for my AI class. Basically, the class was split up into groups to form teams, and each one got their own robot.

For the purposes of this program, we were further divided into two groups: 6 groups were predator (represented by sharks) and 5 groups were prey (represented by bunnies). I was an usagi. XD The predators had to tag the prey and "sing a song", while the prey had to seek out and touch one of two red safe zones and then "sing". Starting out, the predator has 60 points and the prey has 0. If the prey crosses half-court safely, they steal 15 points from the predator. Same for 3/4 court. If they reach the goal, they take all 60 points. (There are possible deductions for moving obstacles and leaving the arena too.)

Anyway, the following 6 links are to videos taken by my partner's camera phone from a robot's eye view. Also, see if you recognize the song our robot sings~ ^^

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6


*Note* Much to our surprise, we won 4 rounds, got to half-court once and 3/4 the other time. All this led to us being crowned as the top prey team. ^^ It's hilarious because we were literally working on the robot until the last second, and we were hoping just to win one. XD

So yeah, it's been a couple months since I last posted. That's long even for me. Anyway, school has been hell - especially for the past month. Programs and presentations due in rapid fire succession almost nonstop. Thankfully it's almost over. This is my last week of regular classes, then finals are next week. And the following week I'll be heading up to Chicago for ACen~.

Oh, and yesterday I traded in my old car for a new one. Picked up a Toyota Yaris. Good gas mileage and it's more spacious than my old Cavalier. Monthly payments are around $275 a month, though for the first year my mom will be paying $100 a month on that as my early graduation present. But amazingly, my credit is good enough such that they allowed me to finance it without a cosigner. Sweet stuff.

Yep, I picked up a new laptop today. Figured it was about time I got one since I was about the only person in CS without one, it seemed. It's an HP Pavillion (running on Vista, yuck) with 2GB of RAM, 250GB HD and AMD Turion processor. Also a DVD burner. It's amusing, but it's a better machine than my desktop. XD

Last week was my first week of school, and I must say I was quite amused by it. Most specifically, I'm getting a kick out of my Game Technology class. Yes, Game Technology, and as part of a REAL degree too. I kid you not, the first two weeks or so of lectures was based entirely on the history of gaming. So while my friends where being lectured about boring shit, I'm being lectured on Atari, the NES, Pong, and Donkey Kong. Also, my first homework assignment is to write a paper/review on a flash game (that was assigned to me). I know it's only a matter of time before stuff gets difficult, but still, I love bragging about that. ^^

Anyway, I'd worked some extra hours over my x-mas break (after going on a mini-vacation), so I got a little more money than I'd been used to. Also a senior co-worker of mine put in a request to get myself and a buddy a cash bonus for doing some ugly bitch work in the back rooms. It was not pretty.. office parts and supplies were thrown ALL over the place, it was hot and humid and required a good deal of lifting. Not only that, we had to try to figure out what was what because we were back there to find some items on cubicle reconfiguration projects so we could just reuse them instead of buying brand new stuff. No guarantee I'll get anything, but she tried, and it's possible I could get some extra stuff in my check one of these paydays. ^^

Lastly, my mom said she finally got around to putting in my tax return, so I should be getting around $1000 back. That's around a month's pay for me. ^^

Saw a couple movies over the past few weeks, and here's a quick commentary.

Golden Compass
Absolute garbage. That Roger Ebert could give it 4 stars out of 4 proves he's going senile. The scenes were just cut-and-pasted one after another, and overall the flow was nonexistent. The same applies to character development. I think there was an interesting story in there somewhere, but at no point did I care about any of the characters because they weren't developed at all. They never gave me a reason to care about any of them, and overall the film is barely watchable.

National Treasure 2
Jerry Bruckheimer is just plain brilliant. The movie had life, unlike Golden Compass. The characters and their relationships were developed very well, and the story flowed the way a great movie should. If you're only gonna see a few movies from the mountain of them that came out this holiday, National Treasure needs to be one of them.

Besides that, I'm got my grades back for this semester, and I didn't do too shabby. 1 A and 3 B's. Probably helps that I actually went to all my classes and only missed a few sessions this semester. My GPA actually went up a couple points too. XD

I took some leave from work, and now I'm off work until next year. Right now I'm packing up to head down to my grandma's for a week before coming back and working full-time hours until school starts back up the 14th.

Yep, my wisdom teeth are no longer attached to my skull. Yesterday I was sore and asleep pretty much all day, but now I'm pretty fine. Can't really open my mouth wide enough to eat anything other than soup or applesauce or jello. About the worst thing I've gotta deal with right now is the swelling.