I'll Always Be A Warrior...
Man, tiring day. Nothing like talking and talking and talking and talking until you're actually BORED of talking. For me, that obviously takes qutie a bit of effort. Phew. Got back from another yearly day of Academic Decathlon a little while ago, and had a blast as always. Had a couple awesome interviewees, some mediocre, and some pretty terrible, always fun to see the broad spectrum of upcoming talent. I'm an alumni of the West High Warriors, and they performed well as is the tradition, looking strong going into Friday's banquet when all the results and final overall rankings will be announced. I'm cheerin especially hard for em, if they go on to the State competition (this was County) they'll travel to Modesto, and I'll have an excuse to take a weekend and head North to visit all the friendlies up there while I'm taking in the competition. :)
Actually made me feel pretty old today, those high schoolers are gettin littler and littler. :/ Scarier still is the fact it was my 5th straight year going to Carrows for the after-party given I competed for two years and it was my third year judging... What a phogie I'm becoming. Looks like I'll be hanging around here tomorrow for the Super Bowl festivities, and drive up afterwards tomorrow night at some point. Midterm the next afternoon, so will definitely be back by then. :)
Once again a big congrats to everyone on AD from West, especially the amazingly intelligent sole returner and current keeper of the perfect 10 flame. :) (don't ask)
Friday, February 01, 2002
One Down, Umpteen To Go.
Umpteen is a lot. Really. Anyway, managed to nail my first midterm today after nearly sleeping through the start of it, then having to run to the UCen to buy the blue book I forgot to bring... All's well that ends well I guess. Only about five or six more midterms to go this quarter, I think.
Pretty routine day, will be heading home tomorrow (er today I guess now) at some point and be busy all day Saturday judging the Academic Decathlon competition, and then either hang around at home to watch the Super Bowl or head back up here to watch it, who really knows for sure. Planning things before the day of all the time just gets too old. :)
Umpteen is a lot. Really. Anyway, managed to nail my first midterm today after nearly sleeping through the start of it, then having to run to the UCen to buy the blue book I forgot to bring... All's well that ends well I guess. Only about five or six more midterms to go this quarter, I think.
Pretty routine day, will be heading home tomorrow (er today I guess now) at some point and be busy all day Saturday judging the Academic Decathlon competition, and then either hang around at home to watch the Super Bowl or head back up here to watch it, who really knows for sure. Planning things before the day of all the time just gets too old. :)
Thursday, January 31, 2002
*(!&@#^!*@#&^ AAAANNNTTTSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Pardon my friends, but nothing like waking up this morning, rolling out of bed onto my chair to check my e-mail, and noticing several ants crawling over my hands, and as my view focuses, literally THOUSANDS crawling all over my desk. Apparently someone had left a half eaten box of licorice on the far end of it yesterday, and overnight it became just a feeding frenzy for most of UCSB's population of ants. After completely clearing everything out, having the whole trail and various gathering places sprayed along with all their access points in the hallway, vacuuming the whole room, and rearranging everything again, I've reduced the invasion to a random explorer here and there that is readily squashed.
Ants are quite annoying.
Don't get me wrong, I like many types of animals, but I'm also a firm believer in survival of the fittest, so I have no problem eating meat or eliminating insects that create negative consequences. Like disease. Ew.
Pardon my friends, but nothing like waking up this morning, rolling out of bed onto my chair to check my e-mail, and noticing several ants crawling over my hands, and as my view focuses, literally THOUSANDS crawling all over my desk. Apparently someone had left a half eaten box of licorice on the far end of it yesterday, and overnight it became just a feeding frenzy for most of UCSB's population of ants. After completely clearing everything out, having the whole trail and various gathering places sprayed along with all their access points in the hallway, vacuuming the whole room, and rearranging everything again, I've reduced the invasion to a random explorer here and there that is readily squashed.
Ants are quite annoying.
Don't get me wrong, I like many types of animals, but I'm also a firm believer in survival of the fittest, so I have no problem eating meat or eliminating insects that create negative consequences. Like disease. Ew.
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Tools of the Trade...
Was tipped off by a friend the other night about how to easily work around that annoying limit of 150 buddies on your AOL Instant Messenger list, and I invite anyone curious as to how its done to IM me personally for details. Set mine to 999, that should be fine for now. :)
My screenname is thndrMATT as always, the THUNDER is for everyone who knows me online (scary how many that is) and the MATT is well, you should know by now.
Those of you who don't know me, feel free to say hi, I'm always up for meeting new random people from around the world. Crazy thing, this internet business.
Was tipped off by a friend the other night about how to easily work around that annoying limit of 150 buddies on your AOL Instant Messenger list, and I invite anyone curious as to how its done to IM me personally for details. Set mine to 999, that should be fine for now. :)
My screenname is thndrMATT as always, the THUNDER is for everyone who knows me online (scary how many that is) and the MATT is well, you should know by now.
Those of you who don't know me, feel free to say hi, I'm always up for meeting new random people from around the world. Crazy thing, this internet business.
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
I Wish I May I Wish I Might...
So I've been browsing around the internet as I tend to do looking for el cheapo auctions for the products on my "wish list" so to speak... So for all those of you millionaires with money to blow in the vicinity of my birthday in May, I recommend the following items: Viewsonic VP230mb flat panel monitor, and Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers. The speakers are only 400 bucks retail, and still new enough that they're not falling anywhere below that even at auction. The behemoth of a monitor (its 23.1 inch VIEWABLE) is valued at about 4 grand at the moment, and its prices hasn't exactly been dropping through the floor either. Would be quite the awesome purchase however, my current monitor is 18.1 viewable, but it isn't PF (perfect flat) and takes up about 2 feet of depth as well, whereas the one that's 5 inches bigger would take up a foot LESS of desk space, which is at a premium these days. My current monitor was purchased soon after I came to college, so I've gotten a good 3 years or so of 24/7 usage, pretty good shelf life for a monitor. It suits my needs I suppose, but there's always something bigger and better out there. :)
While we're on the geek topic, the other reason a flat panel would much improve my lifestyle is that it would be easier to pack for the journey to Mesquite, Texas, this summer for the annual Quakecon event. 99% of the people who read this won't know what the hell Quakecon is, but its basically the largest multiplayer pc gaming event in the world, drawing thousands of participants from all over the world every year. Call it a geek convention if you like, but its a strong interest of mine, and it will be quite awesome to spend a long weekend having a blast for four straight days with no sleep with people who are like minded. The reservations have been made at the hotel connected to the convention center where it will be held, luckily because I happened across a site that leaked the dates and managed to snag one of the last rooms available even before it was officially announced yet. So if you're looking for me between Aug 14-19, I'll probably be either there, or on the road, making the twenty four hour or so non-stop journey between my home near Los Angeles and the grand state of Texas. Luckily planning to go with a few companions so as to share the rental car/gas/hotel costs, and driving shifts.
Still in the initial planning stages, but between that and my Vegas trip sometime this spring/early summer, its shaping up to be a pretty incredible year.
So I've been browsing around the internet as I tend to do looking for el cheapo auctions for the products on my "wish list" so to speak... So for all those of you millionaires with money to blow in the vicinity of my birthday in May, I recommend the following items: Viewsonic VP230mb flat panel monitor, and Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers. The speakers are only 400 bucks retail, and still new enough that they're not falling anywhere below that even at auction. The behemoth of a monitor (its 23.1 inch VIEWABLE) is valued at about 4 grand at the moment, and its prices hasn't exactly been dropping through the floor either. Would be quite the awesome purchase however, my current monitor is 18.1 viewable, but it isn't PF (perfect flat) and takes up about 2 feet of depth as well, whereas the one that's 5 inches bigger would take up a foot LESS of desk space, which is at a premium these days. My current monitor was purchased soon after I came to college, so I've gotten a good 3 years or so of 24/7 usage, pretty good shelf life for a monitor. It suits my needs I suppose, but there's always something bigger and better out there. :)
While we're on the geek topic, the other reason a flat panel would much improve my lifestyle is that it would be easier to pack for the journey to Mesquite, Texas, this summer for the annual Quakecon event. 99% of the people who read this won't know what the hell Quakecon is, but its basically the largest multiplayer pc gaming event in the world, drawing thousands of participants from all over the world every year. Call it a geek convention if you like, but its a strong interest of mine, and it will be quite awesome to spend a long weekend having a blast for four straight days with no sleep with people who are like minded. The reservations have been made at the hotel connected to the convention center where it will be held, luckily because I happened across a site that leaked the dates and managed to snag one of the last rooms available even before it was officially announced yet. So if you're looking for me between Aug 14-19, I'll probably be either there, or on the road, making the twenty four hour or so non-stop journey between my home near Los Angeles and the grand state of Texas. Luckily planning to go with a few companions so as to share the rental car/gas/hotel costs, and driving shifts.
Still in the initial planning stages, but between that and my Vegas trip sometime this spring/early summer, its shaping up to be a pretty incredible year.
Sunday, January 27, 2002
"How's It Goin"
The above greeting was what aroused me from my early afternoon slumber, hadn't the foggiest day who it was until she spoke again, and I figured out it was my most recent ex-girlfriend. Phone calls from her are always a random surprise, there tend to be six month or so gaps between communications, for reasons I'm not entirely sure I understand. Anyway, was good to exchange barbs and giggles with her for the first time in a while. As usual she tossed around rumors of making the trek down to Santa Barbara at some point in the future, but those tend to evaporate soon after they're mentioned.
Went to the California Pizza Kitchen tonight, or CPK as aficionados call it, and ate way too much Jambalaya, and shared a yummy Apple Crisp on top of that. Definitely gonna be hittin the workout room before this night is over. :)
Midterms start Tuesday for me, I've got about one a week for the next six weeks or something, pretty lame, but I'm sure I'll find time to schedule in fun along the way.
The above greeting was what aroused me from my early afternoon slumber, hadn't the foggiest day who it was until she spoke again, and I figured out it was my most recent ex-girlfriend. Phone calls from her are always a random surprise, there tend to be six month or so gaps between communications, for reasons I'm not entirely sure I understand. Anyway, was good to exchange barbs and giggles with her for the first time in a while. As usual she tossed around rumors of making the trek down to Santa Barbara at some point in the future, but those tend to evaporate soon after they're mentioned.
Went to the California Pizza Kitchen tonight, or CPK as aficionados call it, and ate way too much Jambalaya, and shared a yummy Apple Crisp on top of that. Definitely gonna be hittin the workout room before this night is over. :)
Midterms start Tuesday for me, I've got about one a week for the next six weeks or something, pretty lame, but I'm sure I'll find time to schedule in fun along the way.
