Insanely Awe-dical

It's good to see Rach and Rowena again. Reminds me of some old times...

like Family Fun Nights...



drunken fits...



fun at the beach...



or just Pat doing the robot



Good times. Makes me think I'm wasting my time not taking more pictures. Makes me realize thats why Kate and her mom are taking so many pictures now. "For the slideshow at your wedding" says Ate Mai. Well, for the memories that make you =)

Yay I'm 22 today!

Gonna head out to Red Robin soon. Hmmmmm fries.

Watched all Lord of the Rings Extended editions back-to-back-to-back. I feel like a real nerd. Arms were raised, and I'm surprised I sat in front of the tv for over 11 hours.

New Years resolutions anyone? The month-to-month idea seems to be the best thing for me (since I actually do some of them).

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...SOUTHWESTERN LOS ANGELES COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA INCLUDING PALOS VERDES...SAN PERDO...ROLLING HILLS...
TORRANCE AND CARSON

This news came as quite a shock to me last night, and we panicked for a little while, considering we were not prepared for a tornado-type situation. Luckily the advice said to stay on the bottom floor of the building you are on, and away from windows. I suppose the worst general injury is winds breaking windows, causing lots of glass to fly and cut your skin. The panic in the house died soon, seeing as we saw the report at about 1130pm, meaning that we should have BEEN on tornado alert, and it was pretty much over.

Frazz is freaking great.

I was thinking on the way to work today about road rage. I can understand people get angry when they get cut off or when they're behind "slow people" (read: 65/70 mph). It happens.

Then I thought about why we get angry. Are we always in a rush? Must we always have our way? If you get cut off, is it
A. your life was threatened?
B. you were surprised?
C. or you didn't get your way (someone "cut" in front of you, ala schoolyard tomfoolery)?

How about when you are in the fast lane, and someone there decides to go 70 mph, when you really want to go faster. Why are you angry? Are you really in a rush? Or do you just NEED to do things your way at all times?

I compared it to walking in a crowded mall. If you were walking in the mall and you end up behind a group of 5 or 6 friends, walking side-by-side. Of course, if these friends are taking up one half of the walkway (probably more), then anyone coming from the other direction is coming back the remaining space (probably at a steady flow considering crowded mall and smaller space).

Now, you are walking quickly, and begin from far behind this group, and soon you are behind them, slowing your pace. Are you angry there isn't much room to slide past? There is a little bit of frustration. I doubt it stems from being late or being in a rush, but more of a "I had to change because of someone else's action."

I found these thoughts fairly interesting.

Comment and tell me otherwise -- perhaps I am only seeing one side of this story.

I saw The Rock again the other day. I mean, Alcatraz. I also mean that I saw the movie for about the 5th time. I laughed at my discovery that John C McGinley from Scrubs (Dr. Cox) was one of Ed Harris' soldiers. I mourned his death this time more than the usual death of the main bad guy's lackies.

I searched for some screencaps of him in the Rock to no avail, but I found the following information hilarious:

"In spite of all these choice roles to choose from, I don't remember John C. McGinley from any of the above. To me, he stands out for his appearance as a contestant on American Gladiators. I don't remember this episode I caught on TNN last year very vividly but I do remember the shock of seeing McGinley attempt to scale the wall, or defeat the Eliminator. It was in 1989 where the Celebrity Challenge episode first aired and John went up against Superman himself, Dean Cain. If my memory serves me correctly, McGinley sucked and was no match for Superman. The comedy of this actor getting smothered by the likes of Turbo, Gemini and Nitro was remarkable. For my money, it doesn't get any better than McGinley getting physically outdone by Dean Cain with Larry Csonka calling the action."

I loved watching American Gladiators with Kate. If only they still had more episodes, then Csonka may have a job....

Single-serving coffee can heats itself

Beginning Jan. 2, consumers can buy a 10-ounce container of Wolfgang Puck gourmet latte at the store and heat it by pressing a button. No electricity. No batteries. No appliances.

How does the can do it? A single step mixes calcium oxide (quicklime) and water. It heats the coffee to 145 degrees in six minutes — and stays hot for 30 minutes.


******************************************************************

Is there anyone with a chemistry background that can verify the validity of a chemical heating reaction like this that will not alter the taste (create side effects) of coffee? This sounds pretty interesting, but at $2.25 a cup, coffee shops clock in at a cheaper, and freshly brewed morning cup of java.

Further investigation on the subject found an old article, where the NesCafe brand of self-heating coffee is described (pictured above). They explain the reaction:

More recent designs have all relied on an exothermic chemical reaction to generate heat. In most cases the reaction is between calcium oxide, otherwise known as quick-lime, and a water-based solution. 'The fundamental chemistry is well known,' says Dr Richardson. 'The difficult part is optimising the reaction and the thermal design of the container to provide an efficient, safe and cost-effective package.'

Pictured below is the diagram from the webpage showing how it would be implemented:




Very interesting technology. It seems this exothermic reaction is seperated from the coffee drink itself, making a very hot center, not necessarily *mixing* with the drink, maintaining coffee taste. Very cool.

An interesting analogy of the chemical reaction would be glowsticks. Cracking them mixes the two pieces, and creates a chemical reaction that makes some practical purpose for a short period of time. Whether its neon light, or an exothermic reaction, the same idea can be used in different scenarios. I'd like to see it employed in other areas.

Finale of Drawn Together was freakin awesome. I love this show.

Comedy Central picked it up for 15 eps next season. Booyah.

Return of the Kind: extended edition released the other day. I tried to post but blogger died.

A pox upon thee.

Upon writing that line, I ventured to find its root. William Shakespeare, but those lines in that order were not mentioned in any googlable page. Here are my findings:

A pox damn you, you muddy rascal, is that all the comfort you give me?
Henry IV Part 2, 2. 4

A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!
The Tempest, 1. 1

A pox on this gout! or a gout on this pox!
Henry IV Part 2, 1. 2

That last one was quite interesting.

Back to the point...

All 3 LOTR extended versions = 11.1 hours = 11 hours and 6 minutes.

Triple-extended-version-a-thon.

*insert weird elvish sounds the ring makes here*

WoW is going great. I'm at level 9 with my Hunter, and its going fine. Solo-questing is kinda tough though. Started an Undead Warlock, and its pretty bad ass so far. My summoned imp fires fireballs at target, while I do the same for dbl spell casting glass cannon action.

Steve: where are you going?
Me: im going to san fran
Steve: oh
Steve: going home to where you belong?
Me: if you're inferring that its gaytown there and that I'm gay
Me: and that im going back there cuz thats where gays belong
Me: THEN YES
Steve: LOL
Steve: thats pretty good
Steve: knocked my whole plan of attack into wack
Me: haha

test

LOTR Return of the King Extended Edition released today.

250 minutes of footage.

208 from Fellowship
208 from Two Towers
250 from Return

lol 666 minutes of glory.

thats 11 hours.

ELEVEN

Triple extended version-a-thon. Pull up a comfy seat, get some drinks and some snacks cuz you need to be ready for a glorious epic of monumentous proportions. Middle Earth needs you.

WoW status update...

New copy comes fine -- same problem. Try on pop's computer -- no problems, game is installed and ready to play. Assume problems with both my cd-roms -- map his cd-rom and remotely install game -- same problem (happens in disk 3 instead of disk one, so instead of 4 wasted minutes, it's about 30). Now manually transferring the game over in dire hopes it'll work. ::sigh::

World of Warcraft status report:

Installation successful, followed by botched patch. Botched patch changed some values, and nothing matches, and I can't patch. Uninstall, followed by fail reinstall. Error reading cd-rom. Changed CD-rom. Same error. Called gamestop and am about to exchange it in about 20 minutes. My account has been live since 4pm, but I haven't even made a character yet =(

Finally bought it. Currently installing. Will post later with thoughts.

Side note: Prince of Persia 2 looks incredible.

Today's Japanese lesson, courtesy of Lindsey:

(hito no kintama wo nigiru): to grab a person by his vulnerable spot; to curry favour with one's superior. (the literal translation is "to grab a person by the balls")

Language can be so expressive -- when one thing can mean so many things. Of course, vulgarity has its moments at times (google the many uses of fuck, and you'll see what I mean).

marian: theres a party i could b going to in a couple hours
marian: i ono if i feel up for it
Me: haha
Me: why not
marian: hmm i ono..i ono how many ppl i kno there
Me: ah
marian: well, my friends live in the same building, so mayb i can sleep over
Me: well make a guest appearance
marian: haha yah
Me: you never know if theres some hot guy who checks you out
Me: then wonders who you are after you leave
Me: cuz you're obviously too cool for this party
Me: his curiousity will get the best of him
marian: hahah
Me: then he'll write a song about you and play it on his guitar
marian: too bad sucka
Me: then cook you dinner and sing you songs
marian: lOl
marian: hahahha nice
Me: then you'll swoon
marian: u kno wat i like bri
marian: lOl
Me: then when he steals your money and breaks your heart
Me: and you walk out into the rain
Me: ill be there to kick you while you're down
marian: hahahh
marian: thanks
marian: i appreciate it
Me: you're welcome

For those who asked for Rome's PCN Page, it is now linked on the right.

Finally finished with my finals!

So what's next?

Relaxing tonight -- maybe some reading, some exercise, some drinking, some gaming, some Linux-server-making, maybe All of the above, but also I'd like to get some sleep.

I got Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from Linds. Thanks a bunch! I feel like such a priss for thinking that the reason I didn't finish reading it before was because the pages felt so dry. Can't use that excuse anymore. So over the break, I plan on finishing Cat's Cradle and working on that Stephanie Plum book I've been meaning to read. I'm also a good ways into Tuesdays with Morrie, so I hope to finish that too. Lots of reading to do...

But I also wanted to e-mail some Psychology professors to get a head start on my research. I'm trying to apply some psychology theories to ICS requirements elicitation. My ideas are still foggy, and I'm not sure if what I said and what Alspaugh heard were the same thing. Ray and Elsy suggested that I try applying requirements engineering/elicitation process to psychologists. That also sounded interesting and related -- though I hope I'm not stepping too far from ICS.

How to make a bozasm

Ingredients: 3 parts awesome 3 parts radical 1 part sexified

Method: Shake with crushed ice and serve in a glass labelled "insanely awe-dical."

I'm doing research next quarter!

More as this develops =)

I just checked my winamp to find the songs I've listened to the most:

Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying from You by Jay-Z/Linkin Park
New Slang by The Shins

after those is a whole bunch of songs by Saves the Day, The Shins, Daphne Loves Derby, and more from the Jay-Z/LP album.

Baba-o-riley by the Who always gives me goosebumps. Like Rudy making that tackle, and finally getting to play. Like Hogan hulking up and kicking ass.

I wonder how these things give you goosebumps. It's like how certain things hit some emotion, and make you cry. These things do the same thing, and hit some emotion, and there goes the bumps.

Don't cry. Don't raise your eye. It's only teenage wastland.

exclusive photos from Team 160!

Steve studying!




We'll have more on this as the story develops. Is he really working on an essay? Why is he using a pink highliter? Is he a complete wuss? Stay tuned!

I cleaned my room. Check out these before pictures.


Those are a stack of dirty bowls on top of my computer tower. That is a water pitcher where I use a magazine as a coaster that will last a long time =)

The whole desk in its glory.

Afterwards....

Yay my prom pic with Kate is actually visible.


Ohhhh nice and clean =) Except for under =(

I like my room.

Romes enjoying sleeping with his favorite girl. =)

Geez, Frazz never fails to amuse me. If only there was a book available...

S*P is doing a great job with the updates. 7 comics is like a freakin record. PA has a great KOTOR2/Star Wars comic.

I love webcomics.

Coffee Bean's drinks come in sizes S/M/L, each with 1/2/3 shots of espresso, weighing at 12/16/20 ounces respectively. With each espresso shot being 1 ounce, this gives each drink a 1:11/1:7/1:6.3 espresso shots to milk ratio.

Starbucks drinks come in Tall/Grande/Venti, each with 1/2/2 shots of espresso, weighing in at 12/16/20 ounces respectively. This makes the espresso to milk ratio 1:11/1:7/ 1:9.5.

Not counting the small drinks, the Venti has the lowest espresso/milk ratio. This would make the Venti drinks at Starbucks the most profitable drink, since milk is much cheaper than espresso (and the added rub that more caffeine is a bit more addictive). For the those who are not espresso aficionados (aka the general public) these drinks with a lower espresso/milk ratio would probably taste better.

This makes the Venti the most tasty and profitable drink (in the long run), along with the added fact that it has the most caffeine in Starbuck's drinks, making it the most addicting (relatively speaking).

Then again, on a per drink basis, the Tall/Small size drinks have the most profit.

Interestingly evil and brilliant.

I wish I was brilliantly evil. Or evilly brilliant. I'd actually be good with either.

On a side note, the most caffeine per drink size would be the Grande at Starbucks, and the Large at Coffee Bean. However, the extra amount you pay for the Large is enough such that it might be more efficient to get a Medium and get an extra shot, giving giving your drink a whopping 3:13 espresso to milk ratio (1:4.3). Today is a long day, so I got a medium with an extra shot.

It is odd thinking that these different ratios per drink should make a distinct difference when you taste the drink, but I cannot recall thinking "Hey, this drink was better last time when I got a different size." I must be a victim of the super-sizing community.