Friday, March 31th of the year 2000

7:56 PM
Inspector Gadget is the basis of some of my favorite memories as a child (Warning -- that page is quite ugly). I loved to watch the show, and I owned a few Books-on-Tape. Now that I am in college, I think the Inspector Gadget Drinking Game hits a bit closer to home. Wowzers!

11:29 AM
Almost puked again this morning. Why must my body punish my psyche?

Most of you know that I will be living with two females next year, but not in the dorms. It seems that Haverford College is going to allow coed housing. Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else? Men and women can live together under normal circumstances, but a 12 ft x 15 ft room is not normal. Hell, I don't like living with guys, so why would a woman? Speaking of cramped spaces, the lifeboat for the Internation Space Station was tested yesterday. The X-38 is not anywhere near as cool as the X-33, but it is still interesting.

Japan go boom.

1:23 AM
Ever have something you really want to say, but no one wants to hear it?

1:09 AM
My roommate is gone for the weekend, so what do I do? Party? No, I get to go to the hometown for two days. Today will be filled with catching up on homework (since I can never get any done when I am off the UMich campus) and then hanging out with Sokolnikov and crew. If you are lucky you might get a few updates as well.

Thursday, March 30th of the year 2000

9:31 PM
I think I finally have some time/patience/mental ability for an update. My workout yesterday was a killer -- 7 miles on the stationary bike, 2500 strides on the elliptical trainer (that machine is a dream to use, but it doesn't give you a distance travelled), then a set of 1RM testing. I do not have my list on me, but I do remember that my military press is 130lbs, leg press 600lbs, and preacher curl is 65lbs. I will update the rest later. Today, I worked out with my good man Rob (no, not Shereda) and we were both too tired to do full sets. He schooled me in some roundball, which was delightfully humbling after I did 4500 strides on the elliptical.

12:46 PM
Rapid update, I will fill in the details later: Movie Critic seems to have great promise. Give reviews on movies you have seen, and Movie Critic matches you up with movies that you would like. When your favorites include Akira, A Clockwork Orange (or anything by Kubrick), Blade Runner, and The Matrix, I know only sci fi will be suggested.

My workout yesterday was fairly decent, and I set new 1RMs (1 repetition max) for a few exercises.

I puked 6 times again this morning.

11:40 AM
Pimpwar -- Where did you pimp your hoes today?

Wednesday, March 29th of the year 2000

11:40 AM
This is perfect! I know a few too many females (*ahem* Jamie in particular) that use way too much chap stick/lip balm/etc. When she borrows my Mint Blistex, I do not expect any less than half of it to be used up! For those of you with this problem, Lip Balm Anonymous is here to help.

11:31 AM
My Celeron 366 overclocked to 550 MHz just keeps getting older and older. Intel will soon release the Celeron II, and AMD has their cheap chip called the Spitfire on the way for Q3. It looks like the Celeron II will simply be a castrated Pentium III Coppermine, maybe there will be a way to work around that. AMD uses some of the coolest code names for their chips. While the name Athlon is weak because it is simply made up, Spitfire is slick and their upcoming 64-bit chip is the Sledgehammer.

11:16 AM
I broke my own rule. I said I was not going to spend anymore money, but I just had to finish the new computer. I bought the Asus P3V4X motherboard to go along with the processor, ram, and video card I have purchased over the last three months. It was only $118 (how much is that in Euros? € ?) with shipping, so the paychecks I deposited last Friday will go to good use.

Beside that, life is glorious! The weather outside is officially Mike Perfect™, I am in a very social mood, and the world seems at peace. For those of you in the SE Michigan area, you will benefit from this good mood! Not this weekend, but probably on Saturday, April 8th of the year 2000 the Room of Mike will be hosting a party. I have yet to fly this idea by the roommate, but only one Mike is needed to inhabit the room to make it the Room of Mike.

Tuesday, March 28th of the year 2000

10:32 PM
God, that hurt. It is official -- I will not be going to Chicago for the summer. The perfect job presents itself and I have to reject it simply because I would make too much money. In the long run, I would lose out on too much financial aid, even though the experience I am passing up would have been glorious. Freedom and experience will just have to come at a later time... On the bright side, I have a local prospect for a job. It seems that my resume is being bounced around and 5 different departments are interested. More info later as it develops.

5:47 PM
Something is wrong, definitely wrong... I am drinking about 4 gallons of water a day. I have these gigantic 32oz glasses that I keep refilling with water, and then I have to go to the bathroom every hour. It is healthy to drink lots of water, but what is the reason behind the constant thirst?

11:17 AM
Endless Journey by Pulley

I am tired and confused, I don't know what to do, I can't stomach this pain any longer.
Life is at a crossroad, which way do I go? I can't make a decision for the life of me.
Losing my bout with this life, no doubt, or am I really just succeeding?
I'm afraid of getting older, I feel it getting colder, just please don't give me eternity.

Follow me on my wasted journey, I got two ways I can bring you down.
One's for leaving, two's for staying, either way!

Don't you ever learn from your own interpreter, that a lifestyle is begging for mercy.
I can't understand when it's all in my hands. I don't see it, I don't feel it.
As long as I remember, I will always treasure those times that I actually felt happy.
But for now I stand proud and never speak loud, and hide all my insecure feelings.

Falling prey to your own bad habit, you realize it's time to get out,
happy now, but not quite, I'm just a little too tired right now.
Falling prey, falling prey, don't follow me!

Frozen feelings have always been your being, but the guilt always finds a way in.
Not a tear flows through, not a thought, not a sound and numbness overwhelms me
Solo now I can only reach out for a stray flyer on my high wire
and from the groung to the air it goes totaly unoticed, isn't it just like that.....so typical.

10:15 AM
M u s t m a k e i t t h r o u g h . . . More and more often this semester I find myself skipping class. The 8:30 AM Genetics lecture went fine, there just wasn't enough energy to get to Physics lecture. This used to happen once every couple weeks, and no classes would be skipped between times. Now, it happens at least once a week. I cannot burn out just yet! Only 22 more days to go!

8:15 AM
My period of denial is over. I am now predicting that Michigan State will win the NCAA tournament... those kids brag enough about their athletic program, we don't need to encourage them!

Monday, March 27th of the year 2000

7:51 PM
The title says it all: Bye-bye, pimpmobile.

7:28 PM 2:58 PM
Now that I am finally done thinking about the important aspects of yesterday, I can digest the unimportant aspects! The University of Michigan and Michigan State University are definitely different universes. There is a large dichotomy of students at MSU though. In general, UMich kids are not terribly friendly, but not mean either. At MSU, I have seen the ends of the spectrum. A friend of mine has had frat boys follow her and just spew expletives and derogatory statements for no good reason. On the other hand, certain people just seem exhuberent and friendly. Also, MSU people seem to be more attractive overall. Maybe the ugly ones were just hiding from the sun.

11:45 AM
An update to the Fall 2000 class schedule makes it a bit prettier and more organized. HTML tables by hand are not that hard to do, thankfully. Also, if you have not noticed, the archives are on the left navigation bar and not tacked on to the bottom anymore. User interface is fun to play with.

11:18 AM
I apologize for the lack of updates yesterday. Real life was much more important for once. Now life has (temporarily) returned to normal...

Scientific discoveries of today slowly leak out into public view, and this bothers me. Ever since I was a youngin', dreams of great scientific advances have filled my head. Eventually, I will cause some of these advances. As for now, anything huge that happens does not get the attention it deserves. I want a company (or educational facility) to keep a great advance under complete wraps, schedule a news conference, then blow everyone away with the announcement while the nation watches on TV. While morphing robots is not an amazing accomplishment, things like the cloning of sheep/pigs/etc and the development of the X-33 (the new space shuttle) are. I want the world to be amazed, not just those of us that follow the scientific community!

Saturday, March 25th of the year 2000

4:15 PM
Uh oh. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is coming out. In the basement of South Quad exists the original Marvel vs. Capcom. Once I found that game, I knew I had to master it. My quarter supply magically disappeared each day. There were only 12 characters or so, and I could go extreme with two of them. MvC2 has 52 characters?! Oh boy.

BTW, updates will be sporatic since I am not in Ann Arbor. I am spending time with my new cat (expect pictures on Monday or Tuesday), and I might do something spontaneous tomorrow...wait, if I plan it, it's not spontaneous! Oh well.

Friday, March 24th of the year 2000

12:41 PM
The motherlode! IQ-Tests, flirt meter, suave-o-meter (which I scored 88/100 on, Casanova level), etc etc. Everything you could want in an online test at Emode.com.

Thursday, March 23th of the year 2000

11:55 PM
A rough copy of my schedule for next year is available here. The classes are Chordate Phylogeny, Evolution, C++ Programming, and History of Computers. Hehe, class about computers that fulfills my upper level writing requirement and my social sciences distribution and will be really easy. I love it.

7:11 PM
If you have been reading since I started this weblog in December of last year, you would remember me talking about a motherboard I wanted to buy. The Chaintech CT-6ATA4 was announced in December, and was supposed to be out by the 2nd week of the new year. It just now was released. I hope they spent all of that time making it a great board. What I found humorous was this blurb on their homepage: "CPU Replacement Latest Intel P-III 700 CPU box package that add more size for fan , and many M/B can't match this new spec. You must replace by previous version CPU to install on our M/B. Please contact your dealer to work." Their Engrish is on par with my Japanese.

11:22 PM
To all of you that hate The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and the rest: Police used Backstreet Boys 'music' to torture protesters.

Wednesday, March 22th of the year 2000

10:17 PM
I worked out yesterday for the first time in almost 10 days. That is quite a break for me, so it felt glorious to go back. Again today the Intramural Sports Building was the destination. I decided to set a few goals : ride 10 miles on the bike, see if the leg press max was 500 lbs yet, then continue with the normal routine. Well, quite well I did. 17.2 miles on the bike, then 3 reps of 550 lbs on the leg press (it could have been 600 lbs, but dont forget about those 17.2 miles beforehand), and then the normal routine. Needless to say, I am tired.

7:15 PM
It feels good to be able to pick out, configure, and buy a computer system without having to spend any money. The new DCHP/DNS/Mail server for Student Publications will be from VA Linux. P III 600 MHz, 256 meg PC 100 Ram, etc etc. It will be great for crunching numbers, but my system at home will still beat it for gaming ::grin::. Speaking of gaming, that is something I haven't done regularly in at least a month. Back during childhood, video games were a main hobby. I grew out of them, but I got sucked back in when I lived in the dorms that first year. Quake II over the ethernet was a dream, and now I have Quake III. To the demise of my productivity, I bought Shogo a week ago, but I have yet to receive it. At least I stopped playing Playstation games. I still remember all of the parties we had last year that ended up with Bust A Move tournaments until 3 AM!

Tuesday, March 21th of the year 2000

11:59 PM
I was just thinking... Liz is from Chicago, and now I am going there. Okay, that was pointless. More pointless-ness: Go vote for Rob now!

11:37 PM
You want links? I've got your links right here! Lately, I have been listening to mostly Millencolin, Pulley, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Liz Phair. Time for some band links! Millencolin and Pulley are quite obscure, so links are not as abundant. Their main pages, Millencolin.com and X-Members.com respectively, are a good place to start. Aidan's Millencolin site is up-to-the-minute and nicely designed (for an amature). Pulley is Good, a site where the name says it all. Done in a minimalist style, the content shines through.

On to my goddess: Liz. That honor is not to be taken lightly! She had to overthrow Polly Jean Harvey for that spot! Anyway, once again, LizPhair.com is a good place to start. A variance is introduced with Liz sites, since they all seem to want to specialize in one thing or another. Mesmerizing (not to be confused with Mesmerizor) is definately the place for pictures. The current count is over 550! Simply a marvel to look at, The Slick Divide hasn't been updated recently, but just looks so nice! Maybe I am just in awe of the beauty that is Liz... Beginning to See the Light is page of links, nicely organized though. As for the Peppers, they are popular enough without me plugging them. Find the sites on your own.

8:24 PM
Woohoo! My snack needs are practically solved! I found an entire pound of Jelly Belly jelly beans just sitting on the shelf behind me. I completely forgot they were there!

On an anti-woohoo note, that second computer I attempted to build had a fatal flaw. The motherboard was fried. A feeling of pride has accompanied the ability to single out which part is giving trouble.

4:53 PM
I thought that I had a pretty busy day today (and it isn't even over). Whenever that thought pops up, the idea of Rob and his tight schedule come to mind. This man is not only taking some difficult classes and keeping up with the Glee Club and social life, but he is also running for LSA Student Government! His campaign has been complete with chalking of 90% of campus, two promos on the web (at his own site and the voting site), and door to door almost every day. He has joined the Blue Party this year, and hopefully his non-independent run will get him elected. I will definately be casting my vote (here) for him tomorrow!

12:30 PM
Ah, Biochemistry, you have met your match. Bow down to your new Lord and Master, for I have conquered thee. Alright, enough of that BS. The exam was supposed to take an hour and half. I stuck it in, pulled it out half an hour later and I think a good time was had by all. My skills were well accepted. Excuse me, its time to celebrate and dance.

10:54 AM
Again, I hit the wall and had to go to bed before 11 PM. Oh well.

Alex Trebek dissing "WWBM?".

Netscape is planning on releasing the beta to Netscape 6. Netscape is owned by AOL... that is the only reason that Netscape 5 never appeared. Does it seem unethical/illogical to anyone else to do only one upgrade to a piece of software, yet kick the version number up two levels? This is being done only because Internet Explorer is already up to version 5.5 (beta). This is all for Windows platforms. Macintosh has yet to see IE 5.0 (soon though!).