Today, Remanufacture

Well, I'm not sure what happened, but if any of you noticed, my blog exploded. I mean it exploded. I opened up the page and there was html scattered throughout the screen. I have no idea what happened, but it did, and all over the place. I checked out the template and about 2/3 of it was missing. Just gone. Nada. And it was the bottom portion, not like that means anything.

Sooooooooooooooo, at this point, I'm going to begin rebuilding it. However, I need motivation. I need to know that there's a fan base out there for me to put my efforts towards. For that reason, I am asking all my loyal readers to do the following:
Leave me a comment on this post.
I don't care what it says, just leave a comment. I need to know that this is worth it. To be honest, I don't care much for html, especially when I got everything just the way I like it.

Drop me a line. Let me know it's time to rebuild, to remanufacture.

Today, a Mathematical Poet

I have decided that from now on I will put my poems and such on my blog. Perhaps any short stories as well. I figure that since there's that little copyright jargon at the bottom it's safe from thieves, but what do I know. Anyways, you have to know a bit of freshman algebra to get this one. And please excuse the odd spacing between lines. Blogger is acting up. Also, I'd really appreciate your interpretations of this. Enjoy.

Of Xs and Ys

By HKNorla

Who am I to say who I am?

x = y

You are me.

x^2 = xy

You are part of each of us.

x^2 - y^2 = xy - y^2

And we are each less without each other.

(x – y)(x + y) = y(x – y)

But are we not each separate?

x + y = y

Look beyond, and we are the same.

2y = y

You will then see who I am.

2 = 1

Who are you to say who you are?

Today, a Handyman

For the record, anyone who says I'm not resourceful; go suck a lemon. You all know I am. I'm an engineer (almost). This post is going to be a quickie as I have a CS 173 test tomorrow and I need to keep studying.

Carl came up to me with the proposition of helping him fix his window. It was raining earlier and water was dripping into his room from the top of the window. Of course, we didn't have any caulk or anything, not that it would work in the rain. Besides, how many college students have caulk? I then had a wonderful idea; we'd chew a bunch of gum and fill in the gap on the outside until maintenance came. So, we did, in the rain, and the wind, with the mud.

However!, (note the awesome exclaimation mark/comma combo) my plan did work, and well. So next time you need something fixed and don't know where to turn, drop me a line.

(In case you can't tell, I'm proud of my little achievements.)

Today, a Poet

Yeah, that's right. It's the second post of the day. It's a Monday though, so anything goes. Before I begin, I'd like to note that I try to use semi-proper English in all my posts. Now there's a bug that wants to just go nuts. I think I'm going to let him out for a while. Excuse me.

OMG OMG. WTF man!!!!!!!1 U R HAXXORZZZZ!!! 1337 MAN!! UR P03MZ R teh BeSt EvErS!!!11!!11 I <3 U! LoOk I cAn TyPe LiKe tHiS!!1!!

Ok. Sorry about that. Now, onto more somber notes. This poem was inspired by "Philosophy" by Ben Folds Five. Anyone who's heard the song knows what I'm talking about.

Out Alone
by HKNorla

You've never been out in the woods alone.
Heard the song bird chirp or the West wind blown
Through the trees, knowing that rain would soon be near.
The flip flap flutter of the small one's fear.

You've never been lost in the woods alone.
Tried to find just which way the moss has shown
On the trees, or marked the spot of the sun.
Magnetic North and true navigation.

You've never been hurt in the woods alone.
Felt the strain of the pack, knew the roots grown
By the trees would soom become your downfall.
No one was there to catch you after all.

You laughed at me for going out alone.
You spoke to me, that same demeaning tone.
But to me, the trees, the grass, the river,
The shrubs, the animals, to me, are home.

Today, a Technology Victim

It's happened to everyone who owns a computer; your wonderful device decides to stab you in the back over and over again. Yet, until this point my compy has been absolutely wonderful in performance. I haven't had any real problems albeit the occasional popup. I even surprisingly never seem to get any viruses or lagging in the system. But yesterday, it all took a turn for the worst.

I was setting up our new internet connection, which required us to run the entire thing through one cable outlet, into a modem, further into a wireless router, and then to each computer. So I went out and got a Linksys router: a brand which I know works from experience. I then followed all the steps in setting up the entire system.

I first ran the Insight Broadband CD, which required a couple calls to tech service, at which point they gave me an IP that no one else was actually using. I don't even know how that happens in the first place. Finally I got through with that first CD, which wasn't too bad.

Next came the modem CD. This thing was given to us by Insight, and I don't even think it has a brand name or anything, much like that digital box they put on our TV in the living room. I popped the CD in my compy, and the first thing it told me to do is plug the USB connection into my computer. Then it said that a new menu would just pop up. It never did; why would it? Why would anything work like they say? So I tried searching around for a couple hours but couldn't fix it.

Eventually, I gave up on that one and decided to move on to the Linksys CD, the last one. This was the best, best meaning the worst, and worst meaning worst thing ever. I put it in compy and followed the directions for a while until it started asking me info about my IP and stuff. I ran DOS and figured out numbers I know weren't right, but continued nonetheless. I just figured an error message would pop up and that would be it. But no... It then asked me to set up the wireless options, like the name and password and stuff. I did that, and set our channel number to 9, whatever that means.

At that point the entire universe collapsed upon itself. I have no idea how, but my screen turned blue and gave me an error message. I restarted compy but the blue only came back. I then restarted it again, but this time in "safe mode" by hitting F8. Actually, it prompted me to use safe mode, which you know is a major problem when you've hit that point. I used system restore to bring my computer back to Sunday morning settings, but it gave me the big blue finger again. I think restarted it AGAIN, opened it in safe mode, and brought it back to Saturday. And as you guessed, F*$&ED again!

At that point I just unplugged the Linksys and restarted compy, at which point everything worked just smoothly. Now you know, when the universe explodes, I'll have plugged it back in and tried again. I guess I'll be spending a lot of time with tech service this week. Oh well.

Today, a Sociologist

In honor of Gender and Sexuality in my Sociology class, I'm devoting this post to something close to all of our hearts. As I walk around campus, I notice a group of people which seems to grow ever steadily. It may just be the fact that I've never payed attention to it, or it may be the way society has changed over the years. Or maybe it's just the fact that the gays draw all the attention away with their popped collars and strangely colored polos. Perhaps even it could be the capri pants they wear (yes, the guys). The group I'm talking about is the virgins. Not the regular I-just-struck-out-too-many-times virgins; I mean the soon-to-be-40-year-old virgins.

I've compiled a list of traits and comparisons one could use to identify these people. Use at your own discrection; I don't want to hear that the powers of evil have gotten hold of this.

If you see a guy on the quad with a collared shirt - virgin.
If you see a guy on the quad without a shirt - not a virgin.

If you hear someone discussing sorting techniques regarding computers - virgin.
If you hear someone discussing sorting techniques regarding alcohol - not a virgin.

If you hear a girl bragging about kissing boys at parties - virgin.
If you hear a girl bragging about kissing girls at parties - not a virgin.

If you see someone who's excited to buy whipped cream - virgin.
If you see someone who feels awkward buying whipped cream - not a virgin.

If you hear someone giggle when the number 69 is said - virgin.
If you see someone space out when the number 69 is said - not a virgin.

If you see a guy bring pepperspray to class - virgin.
If you see a guy bring pepperspray to a restaurant - not a virgin.

If you see a girl wearing guy's athletic shorts to class - virgin.
If you see a girl wearing sweatpants to class - not a virgin.
(You all know what kind of sweats I'm talking about.)

If you see someone wearing a soccer jersey to class - virgin.
If you see someone wearing a football jersey to class - not a virgin.

If you see someone wearing a turban - virgin.
If you see someone wearing a toga - not a virgin.

If anyone has any addendums to this list, I would much appreciate if you left them in the wonderful comments section. Or just scream them really, really loudly. That works too.

Today, Competant

Once again, unless I personally am in charge of everything, nothing goes right. Today, like most days, it was dinner that went wrong. I shouldn't really complain; nothing that bad happened. It was just a series of small pet peeves that got me angry.

First off, I was talking with Simon about dinner plans. I suggested hot dogs, and he suggested brats. We had some queer number, like 5, brats, so that was out. I figured that we could make a packet of 8 hotdogs, which I knew we had. When dinner time came about, I put a pot on the stove with the built-in strainer and boiled water in it. I put just enough water in it so I could use the bun steamer without soaking them. Of course, when I get back to the kitchen, I find the hot dogs boiling on the stove with the strainer in the sink. God forbid something be more convenient than otherwise. It's like these people are afraid of what they don't understand, however simple it may be.

I then proceeded to turn off the stove, as the best way to boil hot dogs is to boil the water, put them in, then turn off the heat. Eventually they were done; I took two buns and prepared to steam them since they were incredibly stale. I drained a ton of water, but the level was screwed up since the strainer was out. As I'm sure you've guessed, my hot dog buns got soaked, ruining the whole experience. I happen to take food very seriously.

To top off the experience, the milk was more curdled than cottage cheese, which is disgusting in itself. I have to do laundry tonight and a bunch of homework. I'm tired, and therefore incredibly cranky. I miss Annie, which is pathetic seeing as it's Monday. Not to mention, her friends are SO much better than mine. It's easier for girls to become friends with guys than vice versa. Chicks always think you're hitting on them unless you somehow describe your girlfriend who you've been with for a very long time and love very much. Today sucks.

Addendum: When someone says "let's have hot dogs and chips for dinner", but there are no communal chips, and he just brings his own to the table, that pisses me off.

Today, a Karma Trader

It's really what I was meant to do: Karma Trading that is. The basic principal is that I exchane good deeds. Recieve fortunate events, and in return cause some. In other words, try to be a nice guy.

Yesterday, Carl found a cell phone on our balcony. Probably the last thing I would have expected. So we waited for the person to call, but it never happened. I figured that it must have belonged to one of the girls' upstairs, seeing as there really isn't another logical explaination. Finally today, after getting about 5 phone calls from various people who each sounded less intelligent than the last, the owner showed up. Well, he didn't as much show up as I had to walk a half block in the rain and bring it to him because he couldn't figure out how to find West. He actually asked me if the apartment was at the corner of Green and John (two East-West streets).

I kind of owed it to the world though. Last night I got an early copy of the new Final Fantasy movie, Advent Children. Let me give you all the brief, brief explaination of this movie. If you have never played Final Fantasy or watched anime, don't go anywhere near it. If you have played a Final Fantasy game and have some interest in anime or awesome computer graphics, you might like it. If you have played Final Fantasy VII, arguably the greatest game of all time, then go see this movie as quickly as possible. Albeit, it was a bit short, one has to understand that those graphics do not come about easily. Also, the plot is impossible to follow and holds no meaning what-so-ever if you haven't played FFVII before.

The FFVII script is actually a wonderful story. It would make a fantastic book. The main character, Cloud, struggles to learn the truth about his past while trying to secure the future of the planet. The twists are absolutely amazing. There's love, loss and a lot of kick-ass fighting. If you ever have a chance to read it, pick up the script. Actually... Hold on a sec...

(Searching online for the script...)

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/final_fantasy_vii_plot.txt

Well, that's about the best I could find. It deserves all the credit of all who have played it.