Read this on a message board the other day, thought it was funny.
C would be Judaism - it's old and restrictive, but most of the world is familiar with its laws and respects them. The catch is, you can't convert into it - you're either into it from the start, or you will think that it's insanity. Also, when things go wrong, many people are willing to blame the problems of the world on it.
Java would be Fundamentalist Christianity - it's theoretically based on C, but it voids so many of the old laws that it doesn't feel like the original at all. Instead, it adds its own set of rigid rules, which its followers believe to be far superior to the original. Not only are they certain that it's the best language in the world, but they're willing to burn those who disagree at the stake.
PHP would be Cafeteria Christianity - Fights with Java for the web market. It draws a few concepts from C and Java, but only those that it really likes. Maybe it's not as coherent as other languages, but at least it leaves you with much more freedom and ostensibly keeps the core idea of the whole thing. Also, the whole concept of "goto hell" was abandoned.
C++ would be Islam - It takes C and not only keeps all its laws, but adds a very complex new set of laws on top of it. It's so versatile that it can be used to be the foundation of anything, from great atrocities to beautiful works of art. Its followers are convinced that it is the ultimate universal language, and may be angered by those who disagree. Also, if you insult it or its founder, you'll probably be threatened with death by more radical followers.
C# would be Mormonism - At first glance, it's the same as Java, but at a closer look you realize that it's controlled by a single corporation (which many Java followers believe to be evil), and that many theological concepts are quite different. You suspect that it'd probably be nice, if only all the followers of Java wouldn't discriminate so much against you for following it.
Lisp would be Zen Buddhism - There is no syntax, there is no centralization of dogma, there are no deities to worship. The entire universe is there at your reach - if only you are enlightened enough to grasp it. Some say that it's not a language at all; others say that it's the only language that makes sense.
Haskell would be Taoism - It is so different from other languages that many people don't understand how can anyone use it to produce anything useful. Its followers believe that it's the true path to wisdom, but that wisdom is beyond the grasp of most mortals.
Erlang would be Hinduism - It's another strange language that doesn't look like it could be used for anything, but unlike most other modern languages, it's built around the concept of multiple simultaneous deities.
Perl would be Voodoo - An incomprehensible series of arcane incantations that involve the blood of goats and permanently corrupt your soul. Often used when your boss requires you to do an urgent task at 21:00 on friday night.
Lua would be Wicca - A pantheistic language that can easily be adapted for different cultures and locations. Its code is very liberal, and allows for the use of techniques that might be described as magical by those used to more traditional languages. It has a strong connection to the moon.
Ruby would be Neo-Paganism - A mixture of different languages and ideas that was beaten together into something that might be identified as a language. Its adherents are growing fast, and although most people look at them suspiciously, they are mostly well-meaning people with no intention of harming anyone.
Python would be Humanism: It's simple, unrestrictive, and all you need to follow it is common sense. Many of the followers claim to feel relieved from all the burden imposed by other languages, and that they have rediscovered the joy of programming. There are some who say that it is a form of pseudo-code.
COBOL would be Ancient Paganism - There was once a time when it ruled over a vast region and was important, but nowadays it's almost dead, for the good of us all. Although many were scarred by the rituals demanded by its deities, there are some who insist on keeping it alive even today.
APL would be Scientology - There are many people who claim to follow it, but you've always suspected that it's a huge and elaborate prank that got out of control.
LOLCODE would be Pastafarianism - An esoteric, Internet-born belief that nobody really takes seriously, despite all the efforts to develop and spread it.
Visual Basic would be Satanism - Except that you don't REALLY need to sell your soul to be a Satanist...
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I can beat up 30 five year olds!
A friend showed me this website, so terrible. I think the deciding factor on my score is that I'm not opposed to using a child as a weapon against other children.
30
Probably the best survey I've ever taken. I'm glad someone has finally addressed the issue of being attacked by a ravenous group of children. It was a serious concern for me, but now I know what my limitations are. If I'm attacked by a group of 40 kids, I'm going to tuck tail and run. However if a group of 25 of the murderous little cretins come after me, they are going down!
I spent the weekend with my family in Arizona for my little brother's mission farewell. It was the first time our whole family has been together in years. Fun stuff. Flying there and back was not so fun, I hate flying. And I seem to have this curse of always sitting next to someone on the flight who's packing down an endless train of Bloody Mary's. Talk about bad breath. Luckily only on one of my four flights did this happen (Granny was holding a baby and packing down the Vodka).
In other news, I was taking a shower yesterday morning before work and felt like I was going to pass out again. Luckily this time I made it out of the shower and to the toilet to puke my guts out and then pass out on the bathroom floor, so at least I didn't hit my head this time. If I ever get drunk and pass out on the bathroom floor of a bar, now I'll be prepared. Boy Scout motto in a real life situation, damn straight.
Just finished reading a book on the history of Ireland. I think I'm going to emmigrate there eventually. Maybe see if I can get into grad school at University College, Dublin. That would be awesome on so many levels.
Going to go watch a movie now. Cheers.
30
Probably the best survey I've ever taken. I'm glad someone has finally addressed the issue of being attacked by a ravenous group of children. It was a serious concern for me, but now I know what my limitations are. If I'm attacked by a group of 40 kids, I'm going to tuck tail and run. However if a group of 25 of the murderous little cretins come after me, they are going down!
I spent the weekend with my family in Arizona for my little brother's mission farewell. It was the first time our whole family has been together in years. Fun stuff. Flying there and back was not so fun, I hate flying. And I seem to have this curse of always sitting next to someone on the flight who's packing down an endless train of Bloody Mary's. Talk about bad breath. Luckily only on one of my four flights did this happen (Granny was holding a baby and packing down the Vodka).
In other news, I was taking a shower yesterday morning before work and felt like I was going to pass out again. Luckily this time I made it out of the shower and to the toilet to puke my guts out and then pass out on the bathroom floor, so at least I didn't hit my head this time. If I ever get drunk and pass out on the bathroom floor of a bar, now I'll be prepared. Boy Scout motto in a real life situation, damn straight.
Just finished reading a book on the history of Ireland. I think I'm going to emmigrate there eventually. Maybe see if I can get into grad school at University College, Dublin. That would be awesome on so many levels.
Going to go watch a movie now. Cheers.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Back by popular demand.
So I received an anonymous tip today that certain unnamed people have actually been checking on my blog from time to time, and were upset that I haven't updated it for several months. Quite a bit has happened this last little while, so I'll try to bring those interested parties up to date on current events.
I'm currently sitting in the front of my Ford Explorer, parked outside my friend's house to get wireless internet so as to be able to complete this blog. Now before you all start jumping to conclusions and marking me as the creepy stalker type, you're too late, I've already be named thus. But perhaps an explanation as to my current situation would help reduce the calls to the police on my behalf. I'm currently living with a friend's family. They have a large shop on their property, and were kind enough to let me clean up one of the upstairs rooms in the shop to live in. While this may seem like a small step above being born in a barn, it is actually quite warm and comfortable. For those of you able to look at my facebook, there are pictures of the place. I have basically everything I need right in one room, (namely my fridge and xbox, obviously).
I'm still working at Melaleuca, and despite the rather long unpleasant last couple of days, I quiet enjoy my work and co workers. Each team at the call center had to decorate their areas for Halloween. The theme this year was Disneyland Rides. Our team was assigned "Tarzan's Treehouse" So we made up the colums to look like palm trees, slapped on some cardboard made to look like a treehouse, and a girl on our team drew a life size caricature of Tarzan and cut him out of cardboard. His manly physique did make me a little uncomfortable, but I delt with it as best I could. We were planning on putting a loincloth made from fabric on him to finish the setup. However there was a delay in getting the fabric, so we had a few comments from other employees about the nude man standing by our team. (He wasn't actually drawn, but from a distance it did look a little sketchy). Today at work employees with children brought their kids around for a call center trick or treat, and would stop at each team to beg for candy. Most of the kids were very polite and only took a piece or two. There were however, a select few children who when offered the candy bowl, tried to take enough candy to put Willy Wonka to shame. One little two year old girl even went so far as to try to boost my candy bucket when I wasn't looking. Fortunately I was able to subdue her hand hand her over to the proper authorities, with only a few minor injuries.
In other news, I've been in and out of the doctor's office more than I care to admit these past few weeks. During the past few month's I've passed out in the shower a few times, and hit my head pretty hard in the process, so they've been doing tests to make sure I haven't given myself any serious brain injuries....what was my name again?... and to make sure I wasn't having seizures. And lastly they checked to make sure my heart was functioning properly. As it turns out I have a resting heart rate of around 95 bmp. Live fast and die young right? Oh, and I also had what Ithought to be a kidney stone, but it just turned out to be an incredibly painful intestinal infection. Which is good news I guess. Aside from that I'm doing provisionally okay in a physical sense.
Aside from all of that, there's really not much going on with me right now. I've been doing alot of reading, I'm actually reading three books at the same time. (Sherlock Holmes stories, a History of Ireland, and a programming book.) Given that I'm a computer science major, and it's every computer science major's secret wish to end up making video games, I've come up with what I think is a pretty cool idea for a video game. A big problem I see with video games today is that there is usually nothing even close to a good plot, just big explosions and women dressed to evidence that their creator is very lonely. I want to make a video game that has a plot that reads like a book, so I thought to myself, hey, write the plot in a book! So I've been working on the story here and there when I can. I've got a million different ideas, I'm just having a bit of a hard time focusing it on a single line of thought, but so far I like where it's going. And in the most likely event this thing never actually becomes a video game, I'll still have a cool story. Given my weakness in writing, I'll have to pass it by my more talented siblings and let them tear it apart. I'm also working on a concept for a movie that we're hoping to be able to start filming next summer, and maybe enter it into a film festival if it turns out how I'd like it to.
Well, I'm wasting gas, I'm tired, and really cramped from the awkward position I'm sitting in, so I'll end with a funny thought I read from that book on Ireland. As the story goes, a priest by the name of Columcille(I think that's how it's spelled) is approached by two men begging for money. The first is a poor and poverty stricken beggar, the other is a chronic gambler down on his luck. The the beggar he gives one gold coin, to the gambler he gives two. When asked by his peers why he would make such a seemingly unwise decision, Columcille leads his peers to a tavern where they find the gambler, who has treated his friends with his newfound money to drinks, and lost the rest gambling, walking a little farther on they find the beggar lying dead on the side of the road. To their question he replies that the two coins given to the gambler have been spread around to several people, and have helped them with food and the like. The coin given to the beggar they find sewn inside his clothing, and as such as completely gone to waste.
I thought that was an interesting little story. And with that, cheers!
~roO
I'm currently sitting in the front of my Ford Explorer, parked outside my friend's house to get wireless internet so as to be able to complete this blog. Now before you all start jumping to conclusions and marking me as the creepy stalker type, you're too late, I've already be named thus. But perhaps an explanation as to my current situation would help reduce the calls to the police on my behalf. I'm currently living with a friend's family. They have a large shop on their property, and were kind enough to let me clean up one of the upstairs rooms in the shop to live in. While this may seem like a small step above being born in a barn, it is actually quite warm and comfortable. For those of you able to look at my facebook, there are pictures of the place. I have basically everything I need right in one room, (namely my fridge and xbox, obviously).
I'm still working at Melaleuca, and despite the rather long unpleasant last couple of days, I quiet enjoy my work and co workers. Each team at the call center had to decorate their areas for Halloween. The theme this year was Disneyland Rides. Our team was assigned "Tarzan's Treehouse" So we made up the colums to look like palm trees, slapped on some cardboard made to look like a treehouse, and a girl on our team drew a life size caricature of Tarzan and cut him out of cardboard. His manly physique did make me a little uncomfortable, but I delt with it as best I could. We were planning on putting a loincloth made from fabric on him to finish the setup. However there was a delay in getting the fabric, so we had a few comments from other employees about the nude man standing by our team. (He wasn't actually drawn, but from a distance it did look a little sketchy). Today at work employees with children brought their kids around for a call center trick or treat, and would stop at each team to beg for candy. Most of the kids were very polite and only took a piece or two. There were however, a select few children who when offered the candy bowl, tried to take enough candy to put Willy Wonka to shame. One little two year old girl even went so far as to try to boost my candy bucket when I wasn't looking. Fortunately I was able to subdue her hand hand her over to the proper authorities, with only a few minor injuries.
In other news, I've been in and out of the doctor's office more than I care to admit these past few weeks. During the past few month's I've passed out in the shower a few times, and hit my head pretty hard in the process, so they've been doing tests to make sure I haven't given myself any serious brain injuries....what was my name again?... and to make sure I wasn't having seizures. And lastly they checked to make sure my heart was functioning properly. As it turns out I have a resting heart rate of around 95 bmp. Live fast and die young right? Oh, and I also had what Ithought to be a kidney stone, but it just turned out to be an incredibly painful intestinal infection. Which is good news I guess. Aside from that I'm doing provisionally okay in a physical sense.
Aside from all of that, there's really not much going on with me right now. I've been doing alot of reading, I'm actually reading three books at the same time. (Sherlock Holmes stories, a History of Ireland, and a programming book.) Given that I'm a computer science major, and it's every computer science major's secret wish to end up making video games, I've come up with what I think is a pretty cool idea for a video game. A big problem I see with video games today is that there is usually nothing even close to a good plot, just big explosions and women dressed to evidence that their creator is very lonely. I want to make a video game that has a plot that reads like a book, so I thought to myself, hey, write the plot in a book! So I've been working on the story here and there when I can. I've got a million different ideas, I'm just having a bit of a hard time focusing it on a single line of thought, but so far I like where it's going. And in the most likely event this thing never actually becomes a video game, I'll still have a cool story. Given my weakness in writing, I'll have to pass it by my more talented siblings and let them tear it apart. I'm also working on a concept for a movie that we're hoping to be able to start filming next summer, and maybe enter it into a film festival if it turns out how I'd like it to.
Well, I'm wasting gas, I'm tired, and really cramped from the awkward position I'm sitting in, so I'll end with a funny thought I read from that book on Ireland. As the story goes, a priest by the name of Columcille(I think that's how it's spelled) is approached by two men begging for money. The first is a poor and poverty stricken beggar, the other is a chronic gambler down on his luck. The the beggar he gives one gold coin, to the gambler he gives two. When asked by his peers why he would make such a seemingly unwise decision, Columcille leads his peers to a tavern where they find the gambler, who has treated his friends with his newfound money to drinks, and lost the rest gambling, walking a little farther on they find the beggar lying dead on the side of the road. To their question he replies that the two coins given to the gambler have been spread around to several people, and have helped them with food and the like. The coin given to the beggar they find sewn inside his clothing, and as such as completely gone to waste.
I thought that was an interesting little story. And with that, cheers!
~roO
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
No Such Thing As Originality
So I've been working on this idea on and off for several months. Basically a small autonomous aircraft able to navigate on a programmed path using GPS, and equipped with thermal cameras. The purpose of the system would be for search and rescue purposes. Imagine one of these flying out in the wilderness around where a person went missing. Using the thermal cameras, every time a "warm body" was detected it would send a picture of the body along with GPS coordinates to a base station, who could then direct emergency response teams to the area. Just imagine how much ground one (or several) of these things could cover. And how much faster/more efficient/cheaper it would be then flying helicopters around and search parties and such. Anyway, that's the brilliant idea I've been cooking up for quite some time now. I don't have any techincal details down or anything, but have just been trying build up a concept system, and determine the plausability of the whole thing.
So I was thinking about the possibility of transferring down to BYU next year, and whilst perusing their computer science department I came upon one of the research areas that the school is working on...unmanned aerial vehicals for the purpose of search and rescue. I seriously almost cried when I saw the article (http://research.cs.byu.edu/~hcmi/news_stories/Fieldtest_5_29_08/story.php) I really thought I had a somewhat original idea that could be used to save lives. And it's a research area at BYU. I'm not going to give up on the project, in hopes that maybe I'll be able to improve on what they've done, as there are some key differences in the imaging capabilities for what they have and what I'm hoping for. But all in all I've given up hope that I'll really be able to come up with something truly original/groundbreaking. I am working on a piece of software to cure cancer, but haven't quite figured out the whole cure cancer part of it. Oh well.
On a more positive note, finding this has strengthened my desire to transfer to BYU, and I think the field (Human-Centered Machine Intelligence) is something I would like to focus on as a career.
So I was thinking about the possibility of transferring down to BYU next year, and whilst perusing their computer science department I came upon one of the research areas that the school is working on...unmanned aerial vehicals for the purpose of search and rescue. I seriously almost cried when I saw the article (http://research.cs.byu.edu/~hcmi/news_stories/Fieldtest_5_29_08/story.php) I really thought I had a somewhat original idea that could be used to save lives. And it's a research area at BYU. I'm not going to give up on the project, in hopes that maybe I'll be able to improve on what they've done, as there are some key differences in the imaging capabilities for what they have and what I'm hoping for. But all in all I've given up hope that I'll really be able to come up with something truly original/groundbreaking. I am working on a piece of software to cure cancer, but haven't quite figured out the whole cure cancer part of it. Oh well.
On a more positive note, finding this has strengthened my desire to transfer to BYU, and I think the field (Human-Centered Machine Intelligence) is something I would like to focus on as a career.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Concerning Geese
So I woke up yesterday afternoon naked and soaking wet on the bathroom floor, with a nice goose egg/cut on my forehead. I have no recollection of anything happening prior to that. Either I passed out and hit my head on the way down, or I slipped in the shower and knocked myself out. Low blood sugar maybe? My friend Rob thinks I have a weird blood condition where your blood pressure gets really low when exposed to hot water. All in all an eventful day.
I went and saw the Dark Knight Saturday morning. I've got to say, in my book at least, one of the best movies I have ever seen. I know everyone is saying this, but Heath Ledger's acting was some of the best I have ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen a movie villain who was so completely believable. But the whole movie in general was amazing. I sure hope they make a sequel.
In other news, some stuff happened.
I went and saw the Dark Knight Saturday morning. I've got to say, in my book at least, one of the best movies I have ever seen. I know everyone is saying this, but Heath Ledger's acting was some of the best I have ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen a movie villain who was so completely believable. But the whole movie in general was amazing. I sure hope they make a sequel.
In other news, some stuff happened.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Roast Chicken
So I went out to falls creek waterfall with a friend yesterday. About 6 months ago half of the rock face collapsed. It's not safe to cliff jump anymore, but it was still fun to swim around in the pond above the falls, and play around under the waterfall. It is absolutely gorgeous out there, I'm glad I got to go again, it's been a few years. Whilst I was playing in the pond, I dove in, and got a nose full of water. Almost immediately on of my tonsils started hurting, I wonder if a parasitic leech or something got rammed up the old shnoz. So I'm not quite sure what I did, but both of my tonsils are throbbing in pain now. Good times.
On a "lighter" note, I forgot to bring sunblock, so my whole back and arms and neck are fried. I was wearing my wolf head pendant, so I do have a cool tan-line. Get it.. "lighter"... because I got burned by the light? *insert laugh here* Luckily the sunburn isn't very painful, but on top of my throat, it's a pretty uncomfortable situation.
Aside from the pain and misery and what not, yesterday was the most fun I've had in years. It did me good to get out of town and just spend a day not stressing out about life. I wish I had more time to do such things, but oh well. I'll try to post some pictures of the waterfall shortly.
Congratulations to Pete & Christy on their new baby. She's definitely a cutie. But that goes without saying, she is a Leman after all :)
On a "lighter" note, I forgot to bring sunblock, so my whole back and arms and neck are fried. I was wearing my wolf head pendant, so I do have a cool tan-line. Get it.. "lighter"... because I got burned by the light? *insert laugh here* Luckily the sunburn isn't very painful, but on top of my throat, it's a pretty uncomfortable situation.
Aside from the pain and misery and what not, yesterday was the most fun I've had in years. It did me good to get out of town and just spend a day not stressing out about life. I wish I had more time to do such things, but oh well. I'll try to post some pictures of the waterfall shortly.
Congratulations to Pete & Christy on their new baby. She's definitely a cutie. But that goes without saying, she is a Leman after all :)
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The Laptop Is Okay!
So after a rousing July 4th of watching a bunch of old star trek movies, then watching our beloved sheriff lighting off illegal fireworks, I hopped on my bike for a quick ride home. About 200 yards away from the house I was at, I came upon a small winding path. Unfortunately I couldn't see exactly where the path wound, and my front tire went into a hole, the bike stopped, and I didn't. I had my laptop in my backpack, and my first thought as I was floating through the air was, "gee, I hope my laptop survives." Luckily, my face took the brunt of the fall, and my more vital body parts like my hands and chest and such escaped unscathed. After recovering from the initial shock of the fall, I tried to get up, only to discover that my thigh was pinned between the handle bar and the frame of the bike. It took me awhile to untangle myself. And it left a pretty nice bruise in the process. So that's basically it. I hurt.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Photography
I took Dallin & Jessica Lochridge out to the woods to do some "family photos for them". Despite a few blunders on my part, the whole thing turned out pretty well, and I got free ice cream from Big Jud's out of it.
I've really been wanting to build up my portfolio to where I can justify charging for my services, and having a competitive edge over other local photographers. A bunch of students advertise their services as "professional" photographers, but if you look at their websites the pictures are mediocre at best, and there's always way too many. Most of them just use a blogsite to display their photos, which is the worst way to do it, because there's no organization, you just have this huge list with hundreds of mediocre photos that you get bored with before you're a tenth of the way through it.
Anyway, I posted a listing on the college bulletin board saying I would do free photography sessions for anyone interested for the purpose of building up my portfolio. I posted a link to a website that I keep what small portfolio I have available (rjleman.myphotoalbum.com). I wasn't really expecting to hear from anyone, just thought I'd give it a chance. Well last night I get an e-mail from a girl who's wanting me to do engagement photos the morning of June 28th, and then I got a call this morning from a lady that wants me to family photos the afternoon of June 28th! She had seen my website and said she really liked my portfolio! Hooray! I'm so excited to finally start doing photo-shoots for people other than close friends. I'm really hoping I can keep this going to the point where I can justify getting some serious digital equipment and try to make a little side business out of it. Anyway, just thought I'd share my excitement with all y'all. Cheers!
I've really been wanting to build up my portfolio to where I can justify charging for my services, and having a competitive edge over other local photographers. A bunch of students advertise their services as "professional" photographers, but if you look at their websites the pictures are mediocre at best, and there's always way too many. Most of them just use a blogsite to display their photos, which is the worst way to do it, because there's no organization, you just have this huge list with hundreds of mediocre photos that you get bored with before you're a tenth of the way through it.
Anyway, I posted a listing on the college bulletin board saying I would do free photography sessions for anyone interested for the purpose of building up my portfolio. I posted a link to a website that I keep what small portfolio I have available (rjleman.myphotoalbum.com). I wasn't really expecting to hear from anyone, just thought I'd give it a chance. Well last night I get an e-mail from a girl who's wanting me to do engagement photos the morning of June 28th, and then I got a call this morning from a lady that wants me to family photos the afternoon of June 28th! She had seen my website and said she really liked my portfolio! Hooray! I'm so excited to finally start doing photo-shoots for people other than close friends. I'm really hoping I can keep this going to the point where I can justify getting some serious digital equipment and try to make a little side business out of it. Anyway, just thought I'd share my excitement with all y'all. Cheers!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Snow! Glorious Snow!
I woke up on the morning of June 11th, excited about the prospect of finally being able to start riding my bike to work and such to lose the couple of pounds I've gained in the past year (and by couple I mean 40.) I walked out the front door, took in a deep breath of the fresh summer air.... opened my eyes...... and it was snowing. In the middle of June. Snow. June. Wow.
Things have been moderately rough here lately. Aside from the obvious circumstances now going on, which I won't bother to discuss. Melaleuca had it's annual customer care convention on Tuesday. They were planning on showing my movie (see previous blog) at the convention in front of the 1000 or so people attending. My whole team couldn't stop talking about how excited they were to finally see my movie. I sat down jittery with anticipation to see the crowds reaction. And instead of my movie at the end of the convention they played a TEN MINUTE slide show with nothing but "inspirational" quotes from famous historical figures and company leaders and such. Ten minutes.... the entire segment could have been summed up in one line. "Don't suck at life." So ya, instead of playing my movie like they promised, they played ten minutes of slides that were so hard to read and moving so fast that you could only read one out of every four slides that flew by. Everyone on my team looked at me and asked when they were going to play my movie, and I tried to put on a brave face and say, "I guess there just wasn't time for it." With everything that's been going on, to have that taken away from me seriously almost brought me to tears. I guess it really shouldn't be a big deal, but I've been looking forward to it for almost two months. Oh well, life sucks then you die right?
Things have been moderately rough here lately. Aside from the obvious circumstances now going on, which I won't bother to discuss. Melaleuca had it's annual customer care convention on Tuesday. They were planning on showing my movie (see previous blog) at the convention in front of the 1000 or so people attending. My whole team couldn't stop talking about how excited they were to finally see my movie. I sat down jittery with anticipation to see the crowds reaction. And instead of my movie at the end of the convention they played a TEN MINUTE slide show with nothing but "inspirational" quotes from famous historical figures and company leaders and such. Ten minutes.... the entire segment could have been summed up in one line. "Don't suck at life." So ya, instead of playing my movie like they promised, they played ten minutes of slides that were so hard to read and moving so fast that you could only read one out of every four slides that flew by. Everyone on my team looked at me and asked when they were going to play my movie, and I tried to put on a brave face and say, "I guess there just wasn't time for it." With everything that's been going on, to have that taken away from me seriously almost brought me to tears. I guess it really shouldn't be a big deal, but I've been looking forward to it for almost two months. Oh well, life sucks then you die right?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Of Smoke and Mosquitoes
Beth and I made another attempt at camping over the weekend. It was a quasi-successful attempt at camping, sort of. We grilled steaks over the fire, cooked baked beans in the can over the fire, and made peach cobbler, over the fire. The steak was a little on the crispy side, but it was tasty. We didn't bring any bowls and had flimsy paper plates, so we shared the beans right out of the can. By the time the peach cobbler was done there were lots of little specks of ashes and the occasional tiny bug on the surface, but it was still tasty, (with extra protein!).
We brought a laptop with us and set up our chairs behind the explorer and watched Without A Paddle, funny movie. Then after dinner we stood around swatting mosquitoes and enjoying the view. We hopped into the tent and watched another movie (The Village), which was cool, but the battery died about 1 minute before the movie ended. Then we stoked the fire and made some smores. Eventually we just started throwing the marshmallows in the and watching them expand. Cool stuff. When it was time to go to bed, we realized we forgot our air mattress, so we slept on the hard ground just like the good old days. I slept horribly, just like the good old times.
All in all it was a fun little camping trip. Beth kind of enjoyed herself, although she hated all the bugs and mosquitoes and such, but hey that's part of camping. I came home with a veritable plethora of bug bites on my legs and arms, but I don't mind.
In other news, I won the film festival at work, got my x-box 360, and ya. That's about it!
We brought a laptop with us and set up our chairs behind the explorer and watched Without A Paddle, funny movie. Then after dinner we stood around swatting mosquitoes and enjoying the view. We hopped into the tent and watched another movie (The Village), which was cool, but the battery died about 1 minute before the movie ended. Then we stoked the fire and made some smores. Eventually we just started throwing the marshmallows in the and watching them expand. Cool stuff. When it was time to go to bed, we realized we forgot our air mattress, so we slept on the hard ground just like the good old days. I slept horribly, just like the good old times.
All in all it was a fun little camping trip. Beth kind of enjoyed herself, although she hated all the bugs and mosquitoes and such, but hey that's part of camping. I came home with a veritable plethora of bug bites on my legs and arms, but I don't mind.
In other news, I won the film festival at work, got my x-box 360, and ya. That's about it!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Cereal Killer!
Here's a short video we made for a film festival at work. Sorry if it makes you question my heterosexuality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qof1CkV0e8 (part1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H65rv-YW24 (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qof1CkV0e8 (part1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H65rv-YW24 (part 2)
Monday, April 21, 2008
Summer is kind of coming but not really!
Well chaps, it's been a long tough semester. Beth is still suffering from whatever ails her. She's getting checked for end-a-meet-reeosis, whatever that is, next week if she doesn't get feeling better this week. I'm just going to be working all summer, and teaching myself programming, and playing my new x-box 360. We got Beth a pink controller so she could have fun playing too. We also got her a spongebob game, so she doesn't have to just play my evil violent devil games. Beth just sneezed. It sounded funny. Well, that's about all that's going on. I'm going to grow my goatee out again now that I'm not in school. I'm excited, I miss having facial hair. Well we love and miss you all terribly. Beth might be coming home to visit next week. I wish I could come to visit, but I'm starting full time next week, and won't be able to/can't afford to take time off. Maybe Mom and Dad should just move back up north. Wink wink. Cheers.
~roO
Monday, March 31, 2008
An ode to my supreme programming prowess!
So a few of us were playing rummy the other night. Beth asked me to go get some paper and a pencil so we could keep score. Due to extreme laziness, I didn't feel like getting up. So instead I spent twenty minutes writing a program to keep score. I'm officially a nerd. But I'm proud of myself. My first functional/quasi-useful program. First rummy, next step, an army of robots!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Almost there!
Well the semester is almost over! It's been a pretty rough couple of months, and I am ready for spring. Still loving my classes. Computer science is still the bomb. Got my bike fixed today, so I'm going to start riding it to school and such. Hopefully I'll lose weight and save money at the same time.
Beth's aunt Amy and brother and his wife came up for easter weekend. We had a fun time shopping and playing games and making food and such. And Amy bought us a new shower head for our shower. It's fun, I don't have to crouch down to get under the spout now.
Well that's about it, life's pretty boring all things considered.
~roO
Beth's aunt Amy and brother and his wife came up for easter weekend. We had a fun time shopping and playing games and making food and such. And Amy bought us a new shower head for our shower. It's fun, I don't have to crouch down to get under the spout now.
Well that's about it, life's pretty boring all things considered.
~roO
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Some pictures for your viewing pleasure
Woods
Pepsi
Standing waist deep in near freezing water for this shot.
Flower
Coolest pumpkin carving of all time
Abandoned Cabin
Falls Creek Waterfall
Falls Creek Waterfall
Waterfall
Owl
So updates since the last post, which was like two days ago. It turns out Bethany has an ovarian cyst. She's in pain. Her gynecologist says she has a very nice uterus. Weird. School's going good. I absolutely love programming. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know, but at the same time the more I love it. It's so fun being able to take a problem and break it down and figure out how it works and build it with your own ten fingers (not quite working on the farm with your own to hands, but I'm okay with being a lazy bum). Anyway, not much exciting to report.
~roO
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Jumping on the Blog Wagon
Well I've put it off for as long as I could, but everyone else in the family seems to be throwing out blogs for the world to see, so I figured I'd join in the fun.
Things have been pretty tough this semester for Bethany and I. We've both been on a roller-coaster of illnesses and injuries. I've missed more school than I care to admit, but I'm working hard on my classes to get good grades this semester. Beth is doing well in her classes, but has been very ill lately and is having a hard time balancing school and work and home.
I'm loving the program I'm in (computer science). I find the school work very challenging but at the same time very interesting. There's something very rewarding about finishing a program, after hours of crying, cursing, and a 64oz Mt. Dew, and seeing the proverbial gold star on your assignment when it's handed back to you.
This may come across as very arrogant and asinine, but while I am very much enjoying learning programming and the like, I've come to the decision that I don't like the conventional classroom setting. (Here comes the arrogant part) It's frustrating being in a class and eagerly wanting to absorb as much information as possible, when the majority of the students in the class care more about what kind of hardware would be best to run the latest video games than actual programming. Oh well.
It's been a pretty rough winter up here in the 'burg. We haven't had this much snow since I was a child. Bethany and I both managed to rear end someone within two weeks of each other. Both of them were minor fender benders, and luckily our Explorer held up to the "Built Ford Tough" motto, and doesn't have a scratch on it from either accident. Snow just isn't as fun when all you get to do is drive in it. I wish I could go sledding or skiing, but time and the condition of my fragile little (well not so little) body don't allow for it. I can't wait for spring.
I'm currently working for Melaleuca as a call center rep. The job itself is rather monotonous, but I love the people I work with, I love the free products we get, and I'm getting a free X-Box 360 in a month, so I can't complain. The last day of every month I have to work a 12 hour shift. The system is not the best, but we get free food, so I'm happy. Last month end shift was pretty bad, I made two grown women cry. Not by being mean, just by not being able to help them. I'll probably burn in hell for it.
Aside from work and school, I spend alot of my time reading. I finished Edgar Allen Poe's entire works recently, and I'm about halfway through Sir Arthur Canon Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" stories. I'm working on an idea for a video game set in the 19th century, that is based on an actual plot and intellectual challenges, and not just button mashing and big explosions. I doubt it will ever be fully realized, but is fun to work on. My secret wish is to bring video games back in to the world of good story lines, and away from the cookie cutter first person shooters boasting the best graphics. One can always hope right?
Well if you've read this far, I applaud your ability to stay awake through complete monotony. Hopefully future blogs will be shorter and more meaningful.
~roO
Things have been pretty tough this semester for Bethany and I. We've both been on a roller-coaster of illnesses and injuries. I've missed more school than I care to admit, but I'm working hard on my classes to get good grades this semester. Beth is doing well in her classes, but has been very ill lately and is having a hard time balancing school and work and home.
I'm loving the program I'm in (computer science). I find the school work very challenging but at the same time very interesting. There's something very rewarding about finishing a program, after hours of crying, cursing, and a 64oz Mt. Dew, and seeing the proverbial gold star on your assignment when it's handed back to you.
This may come across as very arrogant and asinine, but while I am very much enjoying learning programming and the like, I've come to the decision that I don't like the conventional classroom setting. (Here comes the arrogant part) It's frustrating being in a class and eagerly wanting to absorb as much information as possible, when the majority of the students in the class care more about what kind of hardware would be best to run the latest video games than actual programming. Oh well.
It's been a pretty rough winter up here in the 'burg. We haven't had this much snow since I was a child. Bethany and I both managed to rear end someone within two weeks of each other. Both of them were minor fender benders, and luckily our Explorer held up to the "Built Ford Tough" motto, and doesn't have a scratch on it from either accident. Snow just isn't as fun when all you get to do is drive in it. I wish I could go sledding or skiing, but time and the condition of my fragile little (well not so little) body don't allow for it. I can't wait for spring.
I'm currently working for Melaleuca as a call center rep. The job itself is rather monotonous, but I love the people I work with, I love the free products we get, and I'm getting a free X-Box 360 in a month, so I can't complain. The last day of every month I have to work a 12 hour shift. The system is not the best, but we get free food, so I'm happy. Last month end shift was pretty bad, I made two grown women cry. Not by being mean, just by not being able to help them. I'll probably burn in hell for it.
Aside from work and school, I spend alot of my time reading. I finished Edgar Allen Poe's entire works recently, and I'm about halfway through Sir Arthur Canon Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" stories. I'm working on an idea for a video game set in the 19th century, that is based on an actual plot and intellectual challenges, and not just button mashing and big explosions. I doubt it will ever be fully realized, but is fun to work on. My secret wish is to bring video games back in to the world of good story lines, and away from the cookie cutter first person shooters boasting the best graphics. One can always hope right?
Well if you've read this far, I applaud your ability to stay awake through complete monotony. Hopefully future blogs will be shorter and more meaningful.
~roO
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