Why moving sucks...

Well, the activity of moving is over now is the next phase which is to finish unpacking and FINDING what you packed. Over the last two days I have spent more time searching for things than doing much of anything else. The big things are easy to find, but when you need that cell phone charger or that stapler or even that pesky receipt its never where its supposed to be.

Thor and I have been adjusting pretty well I guess, the desk fit in my room but my idea of getting a larger bed was nipped in the bud when we moved. But, my room was cool yesterday and my ceiling fan (yes I have a ceiling fan) keeps the air circulating nicely.

Now, I have to start studying for Langan's exam on Thursday. Speaking of Thursday, of all the picklefish crew where are we going this Thursday? Are we going to be at PF, Los Arcos or a new hotspot?

Off to class...

~Kisea

Have you read your EULA lately...

I read a good article linked from my Tomshardware.com newsletter concerning EULA's. This is a few things that I was enlightened to by this article.

Do not criticize this product publicly. There are in fact clauses within EULA's, including a number by Microsoft in the MS XML and SQL Server EULA's, which state that [you] may not without Microsoft's prior written approval disclose to any third party the results of any benchmark test.

How do you like those apples? How about this one:

You agree that you will not use, or encourage others to use, any unauthorized means for the removal of the GAIN AdServer, or any GAIN-Supported Software from a computer . . . Any use of a packet sniffer or other device to intercept or access communications between GP and the GAIN AdServer is strictly prohibited.

Now this is just a good old standard one we all probably know:

Except for any refund elected by Microsoft, YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, if the Software does not meet Microsoft's Limited Warranty, and, to the maximum extent allowed by applicable law, even if any remedy fails of its essential purpose.

Then there is Apple's EULA where not only do you agree to the current agreement, but you also agree to future additions:

Apple reserves the right, at any time and from time to time, to update, revise, supplement, and otherwise modify this Agreement and to impose new or additional rules, policies, terms, or conditions on your use of the Service. Such updates, revisions, supplements, modifications, and additional rules, policies, terms, and conditions (collectively referred to in this Agreement as "Additional Terms") will be effective immediately and incorporated into this Agreement. Your continued use of the iTunes Music Store following will be deemed to constitute your acceptance of any and all such Additional Terms. All Additional Terms are hereby incorporated into this Agreement by this reference.

Pinnacle goes as far as add that you agree to them downloading whatever they want to your machine without notifying you:

You acknowledge and agree that in order to protect the integrity of certain third party content, Pinnacle and/or its licensors may provide for Software security related updates that will be automatically downloaded and installed on your computer. Such security related updates may impair the Software (and any other software on your computer which specifically depends on the Software) including disabling your ability to copy and/or play 'secure' content, i.e. content protected by digital rights management.

This one says that you agree to pay $8,000 if you dispute, reverse, or contest the charge:

You agree, if purchasing by credit card or charge card, that you permanently and irrevocably waive any and all right to cause a "chargeback" (that is, a disputed, reversed or contested charge) against this purchase for any reason whatsoever against Company or other reseller of this license, effective as soon as you receive registration code(s) from the Company, open the envelope containing the program disk or otherwise install or use the software. You agree that, if you institute such a "chargeback", it constitutes a material violation of this license, and damages Company in ways impossible to calculate, and with long-term adverse effects to the Company. Therefore, you agree to pay, and Company agrees to accept in compromise, for each chargeback you may issue or directly or indirectly cause to be issued against company, the amount of EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS ($8,000.00) to Company (or the party selling you this license), as liquidated damages and not as a penalty. You expressly confess, in the event of such a "chargeback", that such chargeback constitutes fraud and confess such fraud. You agree to pay all costs incurred by company or the seller of this license in collecting these amounts.

I admit it, I am guilty of just clicking OK to a EULA before reading it. I have even been angered at the ones that force you to scroll all the way to the bottom before enabling the OK but to be clicked. But, now I will read the EULA's more closely. But, when you buy software like a game at Wal-mart you can't read the EULA unless you go home, open the package, put the cd/dvd in your machine and start the install. However, if you don't agree with the EULA your screwed because Wal-mart will only take back upopened software for refund, otherwise you may exchange it for another of the same kind. What good does that do me?!?

Anyway, the blogging circle gets larger. As you can see, I have linked to Jarred Azevedo's blog as well as added Kenny's Operator Overload blog. Check'em out.

~Kisea

What a day...

Well, the costume is coming together slowly. I got some more major stuff for it today, lets see if the rest can come together nicely.

I now have the phone and cable set to be moved on Friday to the new place. Comcast was quite easy to get ahold of and schedule, however Bellsouth was more difficult and time consuming. Monday they were swamped due to Hurricane Wilma, then more of the same today but I finally got through. Bellsouth, was trying to sell me on other features. First thing was long distance, he asked if I wanted that and I replied evenly "no". He then continued to ask me if I made long distance calls, again I said "no, and no I don't want long distance." Next he asked if I wanted Directv, again I said "no" he then proceeded to ask if I had or was going to get cable and I said "yes, but I still don't want directv". So then he asked for a contact number like a cell phone, I gave him my cell phone number in certain terms that it is to only be used this one time and never again, he stated that it is only for such purposes. But then he asked if it was a Cingular wireless phone service, I replied, "no, its verizon and no I don't want to consider switching." After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally over and the tech was scheduled for Friday...yippie.

The new place has gas heat and range, this will be quite interesting with the projected cost of natural gas usage this winter costing on average 35%, or about $365, more to heat your home this winter while electricity is expected to go up a modest 3%, or about $38, this winter. Mom said her price for natural gas went from about $1.2x to $1.7x per gallon or whatever they measure it by. Thats an increase of roughly 40%, maybe I need to invest in more blankets...

Back the Alabama beat, I just read an interesting blurb. Apparently its just been finalized that 'bama will play Florida State in 2007 at a neutral site...if you call jacksonville neutral. The last time these two teams met was in an Alabama 8-7 victory. Bama holds the edge in this series 2-0-1. In addition, we are supposed to begin a series with Penn State in the near future but the question will be, is Joe Pa still going to be coaching that far in the future.

~Kisea

Less than a week away now...

till we start moving, but its already begun. This morning Kc and I cleaned out the utility building behind the house so we will have a place to store our washer, dryer, lawn mowers, and grills out of the weather. I've packed up most all of my books but I still have a bunch of stuff left to go. I hope my desk makes it here by Friday, i'll be a bit angry since I ordered it on the 12th trying to make sure it would be here by the move. Maybe I can arrange my room in order to fit a larger bed, my single is a bit small since Thor is a bed hog.

I've started working on my costume for Big Joe Duke's party, I hope everyone gets a good laugh out of it :) This Thursday we are going to break the traditional Picklefish visit to go to Los Arcos I believe. Its been a long ride but without Courtney, its not quite the same. Don't get me wrong, Jan is cool so is Sara and Anya but its not quite the same. Who knows, we may end up there again but not this Thursday.

As you may have noticed, I have linked to phlibbertigibbet (AKA Matt's) blog, go check it out. Another one of the crew joins the blogging craze.

I read in the news that Bush's choice for the Supreme Court, Meirs, would not have enough votes to be confirmed if it were happen today. Which is good, I don't quite know who she is nor how she would act on the court. She has been the White House council for Bush and a lawyer but nothing judicial. While i'm not a staunch supporter of abortion, I do not believe that the government has the right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. I believe that is between her and a higher power. What i'm most affraid of is that she could be the deciding factor if the current cases in courts finally bubble back up the Supreme court.

Speaking of a higher power, I hope that my aunt down in Vero Beach, Florida is okay after Wilma passed close to her and I hope that Espen's Stealth (and subsequent belongings) are okay as well.

~Kisea

Rammer Jammer....

Give'em hell bama!!!!

What a game. My emotions was teetering between elation and cursing. But for the second week in a row they got it done when the game was on the line. I was extremely unhappy when Tennessee was driving close to the end zone late, but Roman Harper came through, knocking the ball loose causing a touch back and a turn over. Brodie Croyle, the offensive line, and coaching staff did a great job with passes on target, a great job of blocking, and some good play calling. Roll Tide.

Watched the end of the Auburn game. I was cheering on both teams because if LSU wins we are the lone undefeated team in the SEC West. But then again it would be nice to see Auburn with only one loss playing Bama. But an Auburn loss is still fine. Both teams played well, but Auburn's kicking game did them in.

Tonight Whitston treated some of us to dinner for our job in the programming contest. A 'thank you' for representing the school professionally, giving our all, and at least everyone solving a problem. Whitston made the comment that when he was looking for a job, that during prayer he asked to go somewhere that he may make a difference...I hope that he can. He has tentative approval to teach a graphics introductory class maybe next fall or so. He also told us that he wants to use the 'making the grade' problem from the programming contest in CIS 120 next semester. Its not an overly hard problem and its probably something good for 120. Although he may be annoying on long (11 hour) drives, tonight he wasn't quite as annoying and, at times, almost enjoyable. For us alums, lets hope.

~Kisea

How time flies...

Man, it seems like just yesterday it was monday and I was writing a post...next thing I know its friday and I haven't updated all week. Well, tuesday through thursday I was at training over at Mentor Graphics, it was a bit boring but I think I learned something. Typical classes all week, but the most surprising thing all week was my exam grade on Hain's exam....a 95...highest in the class, of course after a scale and such.

I've been slowly packing a few things here and there for the move one week from today. Oh, how i'm dreading it. We still need to do some cleaning over there before we move in. I hope that my new desk comes in by friday because I DO NOT want to put up my folding desk for like a week then have to assemble my desk a week later.

Well, its the third weekend in October. Do you know what that means? Its time for the Alabama Vs. Tennessee rivalry. Alabama 6-0 looking pretty good in the standings sitting in the drivers seat of the SEC West. While Tennessee has a couple tough losses and looking for an upset in this bitter rivalry. 'Bama didn't look particularly good against a very lack luster Ole Miss squad. Was this an indication how much Prothro meant to this offense? I don't think so, the Rebels coach had those guys fired up for a possible upset however, we got to see 'bama in a hard fought game and prevail. The 2:00 drill went great and Christensen nailed a field goal with time expiring to seal it. The defense played well, however i'm still a bit skeptical about the run defense. I think it could be better, but the pass rush is amazing. I was a bit skeptical about the 3-5 defense but those front 3, on several occasions pushed their way through the 5 offensive linemen to pressure the quarterback.

So, how is this weekend going to go? Whoever dominates the running game and keeps the special team errors to a minimum will probably win. Good running game = ball control = control of the clock. I think the Defensive line will have to play at their best because Tennessee always has a good run game and some big strong linemen. Also, it wouldn't hurt if Brodie is as accurate passing the ball as he has been all season. I'm going to call this one conservative because these two teams bitterly hate each other. So I call Bama the favorite by 10 points.

Roll Tide,
~Kisea

UPDATE:
I just found out that Chris C. was involved in an accident on his way home from class last night. Pictures here and here. The pics are pretty bad, and I can imagine its worse to see it in person. I'm just glad he's ok other than the soreness. I thought it would be okay to let everyone know he was ok. Glad your okay Chris, it sucks about your car but from the looks of it, it could have been really bad.

What a weekend...

Whew, that has to be one of the longest weekends I have EVER had. Friday morning we leave campus at 8:30ish AM heading towards Melbourne, Florida. It turned out to be an 11 hour ride with Mr. Whitston, Jarred and Jeremy in a Dodge Neon. We weren't as cramped as I had initially thought, but Mr. Whitston was cold blooded so poor Jeremy and Jarred burned up on the way down and back. Mr. Whitston continuously talked the ENTIRE WAY. I could not even play gameboy or listen to music because he continuously talked, thus I eventually gave up trying. Jeremy had an inverter so he enjoyed several episodes of Firefly.

We arrived in Melbourne and found our way to the motel. We were very agitated at Whitston at his disregard to our directions, thus we found the motel some 30 minutes later than we should have. The cute girl at the front desk at the Suburban something motel was swamped with a couple people trying to get her to do numerous things at once. Whitston didn't make it any easier either. I felt sorry for her.

We got to be late and had to wake up early because Whitston wanted us at the competition at 8am to get checked in since we failed to make checkin on Friday night. The introduction speech was not scheduled until 10am so we could have slept in for a bit longer. After being suffled around between buildings and such we had the practice session where we finally got to see the true environment we were to work in. We had to figure out how the "standard" input worked exactly and we had two practice problems, the first with code that we were to basically type in and find the bug in the logic. Then the second problem was a fairly straightforward problem to solve and submit. We got our feet wet and learned a few lessons that we should have remembered from Hain's class in the first place. We did have a little "oh crap" moment. We got to our workstation and it was not on, so we turn it on and it does a fsck (file system check) and fails!!! So we reboot again, and it load up just fine...in a way it was a big sigh of relief, then again maybe if it had died we could have used one of the back up machines which were much better than ours.

After that, we had a break for lunch. So we got to walk most of the way across FIT's campus. It was quite interesting in that they had a center portion of the campus that was like a jungle with walkways and streams. It was very cool indeed. I could spend hours admiring it. So we get to the cafeteria and we get in line for some food, which turned out to be pretty decent. We then march back to where the competition is to be held and wait for the environments to be wiped and reloaded on all of the machines. We file into the gym area, go to our machine and wait for the competition to begin.

Competition begins and we start to file through the problems looking for one for each of us to begin work on. We select some problems and begin working on them...yada yada yada. We submit our first problem and its wrong, so Jarred looks at it and makes some changes, wrong again. So, we switch off and I start to code my solution and get it all coded up and it doesn't work right so I go back and start to rethink my logic to ensure I was doing it right. Several changes and such and of the two example cases, one is correct and the second is incorrect. I make a couple more changes and then the first is incorrect and the second is correct. I scratch my head and let Jeremy start to code up his solution (i think). By this time both mental and physical fatigue is setting in from the long ride and lack of sleep. In hindsight, maybe I should have taken advantage and drank a soda for the caffeine, oh well. But at some point in there Jarred returned to look at the first submission and figured out the problem, resubmitted it and we were on the board. Anyway, the competition ends and i'm still kicking myself in the rear because we _should_ have gotten 3 problems right. But, in the end all three teams solved one problem each, and our team, USA Red, beat the other two teams, Blue and White. We ranked in the top 50 of the participants and had a good time. I have to say, some of the problems were very difficult and I applaud all of the teams who attended. Especially Georgia Tech and UCF who came in first and second respectively with 9 problems solved each.

Would I do it again, definitely. Would I spend more time practicing, Most Definitely. We did very well considering how dependent many people are on intellisense and the debugger and our total lack of experience with Linux.

On the trip back (another 11hrs) we made a pit stop by the beach so that the winning team (from south that is) could put our toes in the Atlantic Ocean. I have some pictures but i'm too tired right now to get them off the camera.

I have to applaud my teammates for their hard work and their professional attitude traveling and attending the competition. Of the three teams representing USA, we were by far the most professional.

On the way back, of course I got to hear A LOT from Whitston about what he has taught and his plans for upcoming classes. While, I could not stand having him as a professor, he seems to give out some interesting projects. If he gets to teach OS, he wants access to a small lab of computers to install linux on and assign some nitty gritty projects to be done in C. His reason for Linux, is because you can get much closer to the hardware level than in Windows with many things. Is it possible he can spur a rejuvination in the CIS department, or will he come up short and basically be forced out. Only time will tell. I hope so. Anyway, I have a good mp3 of a 'lecture' by the coordinator which covers several things from the use of a php based scheduler for advising, to why we have one degree with specializations instead of seperate degrees, among others. If anyone wants to grab this file i'll see about making it available.

Oh, and during all of this I had the sniffles and a soar throat, which I still have both. I think it was compounded by the A/C in the motel room and the weather. But I think i'm on the mend now.

Tomorrow through Thursday Kurt and I have training at Mentor at 8:45am so I guess if nothing else the trip got me into the habit of waking early again.

Peace out
~Kisea

its been a long day...

Went to the breakfast thing with the coordinators of the three specializations, Dr. Feinstein, Ms. Thompson, Ms. Ford, and the fellow students. The items on the agenda were: recruitment, retention, and further involvement beyond graduation. With Dr. Owen's lead, we had a 'nominal group technique' brainstorming session about each of these problems the department is having. We each would suggest a 'problem/solution' and Owen would write these on a board. We spoke about all of these suggestions among other stuff. Lets see what transpires from this.

One of the students is also our SGA representative and he told us that the representative of our department will receive $2-3,000 for improvements to the department. So, he came to the faculty to ask what would be a good use of this money, so they then referred him to come and join us for this breakfast. Basically, we decided that it would be nice to have more picnic tables for students in the courtyard, and to do something with the student lounge area to make it 'better'. While there are plans for a new Engineering and Science building somewhere behind the Laidlow Performing Arts center and the Business College, there is a remote chance that we could get room in that building. However, more likely is that we will inherit the old engineering building after renovations to suit our needs. The current buildings for CIS are scheduled to be demolished to provide more parking for new Student Services building which is currently under construction. Anything is better than what the current buildings are. It is unknown how long into the future this may take to come to fruitation.

I installed my new 300gig hdd today, its formatted and i'm currently in the process of moving 189gigs over to it, yippie.

I'm trying to come up with a haloween costume for this year, while I have a few ideas rolling around in my head nothing is really sticking out as a clear winner.

~Kisea

*sigh*

Well, here we are approaching the middle of the month of October, which is going to be quite a busy one for me. This weekend I get to travel with roughly 10 other companions to Melbourne, FL for the ACM programming competition, so wish us luck that we don't totally embarass ourselves. We get to supply our own vehicles for the trip and we have yet to receive word if we will be compensated for the fuel cost.

We are all but finalized about moving into the house across the road, again during this month of October. So, it looks like we may plan a pre-Dwyer-party moving party, which could extend for the entire weekend of the 28th, making it a pre/post Dwyer party moving party.

In other news, I have a breakfast thingie with Dean Feinstein and other student representatives for 'the deans council' or something like that. Basically, we get treated to a free breakfast and 'supposedly' talk with the uppity dean about what could be done better in our department. That could take a LONG time to go over. Our big rubber stamp on degrees needs to stop, even if we have a 'problem' with retention. A) the entire school is having the same problem, B) the nation is having the same problem in our discipline. The use of Extreme Programming in the freshmen 120/121 introductory programming and problem solving courses, IMO, is causing a lot of this. If a new kid doesn't learn to properly solve a problem and design his implementation then, sure your not going to get far in this discipline (unless your an IT or IS major). That last part there needs to be qualified too, i'm not a CS major, and they are not IT and IS majors either. We are all three CIS majors with concentrations in CS, IT or IS. So all of our diplomas say the same thing, bachelors of science in Computer and Information Science. So, out in the work force all they see is "BS of CIS from USA". Same way with the masters program, except currently there is no IT masters program but if some of the faculty have their way its coming.

What is IT, all the students can tell me is "we are tool users....we use tools". Great, let the flood gates open and all who can use tools get a degree. Help water the degrees that me and those before me worked hard (some not so hard) for. Wish I had went through this department a couple years ago when it was 'better'. Lets hope that something changes, but don't hold your breath.

Enough rant, time for some shut eye...

~Kisea

What a weekend...

Well, bayfest is over and now I can blog about it :)

Friday night, I went to see Widespread Panic. The first half wasn't quite what I expected, but the second half of the show was very good. They had solos from the guitarist, bass, piano, and drums. All were really good but the drummer playing an awesome bongo solo has to be the highlight.On Saturday, I saw Signull 47, Katelyn Tarver, Top of the Orange, Dark new day, and a couple songs by Bo Bice. Signull 47 described themselves as a "southern punk band" while the jury is still out on the "punk" part of the statement the band was quite entertaining. The lead guitarist was just amazing, and the drummer was pretty good in his own right. During the set, they would throw out burned copies of their cd to the crowd. I was too far back to get one, but I saw the drummer later walking around the crowd and talked to him for a bit and he gave me a copy.

Katelyn Tarver wasn't who I thought she was. She ended up being what looked like a teenie bopper with cookie cutter pop music along the same lines as Lindsay Lohan and Hillary Duff. Nothing too good here, going beyond music, she was the voice for Barbie in an animated movie or something like that. You go girl!!

Top of the Orange was really really good. They have just about everything to become quite popular I think. Great guitar and bass as well as drums and the vocals was really good too. Signull 47's vocals wasn't too good, but Top of the Orange blew them away as a total package. Here's a pic of them. Ok, here is where it gets kinda funny. Between the Top of the Orange set and the Dark New Day set, a bunch of these older granny types show up, some wearing Bo Bice shirts. Well, little did they know that Dark New Day was loud and hard rock. So, when the roadies came out to do a sound test for them, the grannies were immediately dumbfounded at the "racket" that was being spewed forth from the speakers. Some would cover their ears, others would simply look at the others trying to comprehend why people listened to this kind of "noise pollution". The roadies were all playing the instruments and did a little song and the grannies left to go into the back. After the sound check was over, they returned thinking that either they were gone or they turned the sound level down. On comes the band. The lead vocalist had his head shaved but with a little round area in the center front of his head which the grannies pointed at and looked astonished at each other. When they started playing the music was SOOO loud, I don't think I have ever heard a band play so loud. The look of disgust on their face was classic. One granny, who apparently had too much beer actually started to try and dance and would occasionally kick a friend in front of her in the rear causing many annoying stares at her. I stayed for a few songs, they were pretty good but even I didn't particularly enjoy how loud it was. Quality over quantity guys...
Now, this nights headliner was Bo Bice. While I did like some of his classic southern rock and roll renditions of Lynyrd Skynyrd and others from American Idol (no I didn't watch the show) what I saw of his set wasn't that good to me. I'll be honest, I left after only 3.5 songs. The grannies loved him though, glad he's got some sort of crowd cause I wasn't staying.
Now onto Sunday, I got there just in time to hear a couple songs by a group called Hamelin (no relation to Harry though). Their music wasn't too bad either, but the lead vocalist had this annoying nasal singing voice which didn't go too well with several of the songs I listened to.

The real band I wanted to see on the Pepsi stage was Theory of a Deadman. Some of their more noteworthy songs include: Invisible man, Nothing could come between us, Make up your mind, No Surprise, Since you've been gone, and Say goodbye. This was the best rock band I saw all weekend and definitely rank up there in one of the better bands i've seen live as well. While I thought that their new CD wasn't too good, hearing them live made me reconsider how good they really were.Saliva was pretty good, I really didn't like their music that well. Always was good, and Click, Click, Boom was okay, but other than that, I wasn't overly excited about their set.I would have liked to watch Trapt, but B.B. King held the trump card over Trapt. This was the pinnacle of the weekend. The band was awesome, B.B., and Lucille were all awesome. B.B. just turned 80 years old but the man still has the gift. Some of the most beautiful guitar playing and singing anyone could hope for. The stage area was packed with all kinds of people crowding in to get a glipse of him and his legendary Gibson guitar. His stories were funny, his songs poingant and his level of enthusiasm undeniable. He truly is the icon and king of the blues. If you ever have the chance to see him, don't pass it up and if you can get ahold of me i'll try to go again.

So, the round-up of who to see and who to avoid: B.B. King, Theory of a Deadman, Top of the Orange all come in at a "can't miss". While Widespread Panic, Saliva, and Signull 47 come in at "catch them if their handy", Dark New Day, Bo Bice, and Katelyn Tarver come in as "avoid at all costs".

Ahh much better...

Well, I got the dreadful Hain exam out of the way. However, i'm not sure how well it went, but if you use that from past experience *crosses fingers* I may have done well *knocks on wood*. Now to move on to a plethora of other things that need my attention such as term paper etc.

Well, the SGA van has already been requested by another group of people, so those of us who are going to the ACM programming competition have to come up with our own mode of transportation. Apparently the meeting between Mr. Whitston (new guy) and Dr. Feinstein didn't yeild us any support for transportation (go figure). I went into the office at the end of last week and there were four brand new Linksys 5-port gigabit switches, still shrink wrapped, in the office for Mr. Black of all people. Why? Why does he and "his lab" need gigabit switches?!? Last year they received brand new Dell machines with LCD monitors while anything the CS students touch are P3 600's, unless they use their own notebooks. *sigh*

Ted came home this morning and informed us that the fish sticks he ate the other day gave him food poisoning. They were left in the freezer during Katrina and if I remember correctly, they were towards the top of the freezer too. We (kc and I) cleaned all of our 'suspect' food out shortly after the power was restored....apparently someone (ted) failed to do the same. I guess you live and learn.

On the house front, I guess its pretty much settled that we will be trying to move into the house across the road at the end of the month. Maybe this will be a good thing no matter how much I will loathe the packing and unpacking. Come 3 or 4 months down the road i'll probably still have stuff in boxes. I think I still had stuff in boxes when we moved out of the dorm for a year. Ehh, this way I can reorganize I guess. But, this is the most unopportune time to move...this month is crazy. Bayfest this weekend, programming competition next weekend, then on the last weekend of the month is Dwyer's Halloween party and Halloween itself....UGHHH. Anyway, I talked to mom and she wanted to come down sometime this month anyway so, I guess I could put her to work ;)

~Kisea

Arggg

I'm having the itch to see Serenity again.... I've seen it twice (only had to pay for one). I would go to a matinee not another night show probably. One of the Serenity webpages encourages people to treat two friends to Serenity with the promise that, if they like it, they will return the favor to two other friends. This is to help try to secure a Serenity sequel (which would be awesome).

I installed my gigabit switch and its pretty sweet. Transfers between my two machines are really fast now. Once I use it for a bit i'll post if I would recommend it to others. I had thought that the Linksys NIC I got used a broadcom chip but it had a realtek chip. I have issues with realtek ever since one NIC REFUSED to work for me AT ALL. But so far this one is doing ok.

I have a Hain exam tomorrow so I should probably be studying right now but that stuff will rot your brain if you study it too much. That and his magic math...

Oh, the landlord came by today to put some more felt down on the roof. So, hopefully that will help keep more rain out while we wait on roofers. He said something about coming back next week, but I didn't catch what he said exactly. Lets hope its rushing a roof on the house (however unlikely).

~Kisea

Good news...sorta

Well, Alabama won in a very exciting way. It shocked many of the reporters and has vaulted the team into #7 on the AP poll and #10 in the USAToday coaches poll. However, during all of this one of the very talented players sustained a season ending injury. Tyrone Prothro, on a fourth down pass into the endzone appeared to break both bones in his lower leg, very gruesome to watch on TV. I know all of the Tide nation wishes him well and a speedy recovery. One of my hometown fellows, Wesley Britt, had a similar injury just a couple short years ago and came back just fine and is now playing in the NFL. While, hindsight is 20/20 I personally think that with 4th down and a decent chunk of change for the 1st kick the Field Goal and give the kicker some experience. If you miss it, its just the same as an incomplete pass without the injury to Prothro.

As for the house situation, I talked to our landlord. He has been out of town on business. When he heard about the roof leaking again, he was very appologetic and said he would be out tomorrow to check it out and patch it the best he can in the mean time. He has scheduled a roofing crew to put a new roof on, but they are booked up till sometime towards the end of the month or beginning of next month (depending on the weather). He again appologized about the roof, assured me again he would be out tomorrow, and that he was under the impression that the roof was 'holding its own for the time being'. He said that his helper, Ray, had his cell phone while he was gone and was supposed to check the messages. I told him that he came over to fix the roof when one of the sheets of felt blew loose, but it was raining intermittenly and could not check everything. I failed to tell him he said he would be back on Monday, darnit.

I feel really bad for kc, because while all of this does affect us, it affects her doubly so considering its her room with the majority of the damage. We went and took a closer look at the house across the road. They have picked out the carpet and it will be installed soon. I don't think the house is particularly worth $600/month, considering the 3rd bedroom is a mere 8'x10'. It does have a sunroom that could be used as a bedroom, but then again the washer and dryer are in there and would be a hastle for kc to wash at night in addition to washing just about any time.

But, with all of the rental houses and apartments taken its basically the only option, anything else we have looked at was $950/month which is astronomically out of my price range. I think that if we could hold out for 6 months (length of a typical lease) not only will they be much more places open, but you also have recent graduates moving off elsewhere as well. I'm not saying just wait 6 months, but keep our eyes open and see what comes available in the coming weeks and months. I know, its easy for me to say this because its not my room affected, but if it will make it easier I will volunteer to move into the damaged room, kc and I can trade places if she desires.

Well, back to studying for Hain's exam on Wednesday. If anyone hasn't read Big Joe Duke's blog entry from Friday, do so that is great stuff!!!

Update: I guess I should say that i'm somewhat affraid that if we move over there and I have trouble paying my part of the bills because, while I make decent right now during school, but I don't make squat between semesters...

I love Saturday's in the fall...

Saturday's in the fall are great... you get to sleep in, the weather is pretty nice, and Alabama football. I figure probably most of the people who read this don't really care about the latter. Some people have passions with anime, or MMO's etc. etc. This is what has me captivated on Saturday's in the fall. This year especially. Why? Because Alabama, for the first time in several years is looking like the team I remember they should be. Nobody will ever be 'the next Bear Bryant'. He is unique and thats the way it should be. Shula has to be Shula, and I think we are finally starting to see Shula in his own way. This team is not only a talented team of individuals, but they are playing with heart. The 1992 team were not the most talented guys, they played with heart and it showed.

Heart is whats missing from a lot of things today. How can one have company loyalty when the company doesn't seem to value their employees. Does anyone remember the golden rule? There are a couple companies out there that does, but they are hard to find. I admit, i'm an optimist most of the time and I hope to find one of those companies to work for.

The state of Alabama has a program going on right now called 'Operation Golden Rule'. They have opened all sorts of places for storm victims, while they may not be 5 star accomidations they are following 'the golden rule'. There's been so much damage and heartache from Katrina, things like this and the outpouring of help and support from all over the country has been wonderful. Many people have criticized FEMA but no one could imagine the destruction this would have. Its been known for years that if a hurricane hit NO that they could not evacuate everyone in time.

I have been told since I was a child, to have at least 3 months worth of money put back in case of emergency. Where i'm from we don't necessarily have to worry about hurricanes, we have to worry about tornadoes anytime there is a severe thunderstorm. The government isn't here to take care of everyone, there is no way they can. In addition, the government can't send troops into states without being asked. Could you imagine what could happen if they could do that?

Serenity was AWESOME!!! Excellent writing, excellent direction, excellent special effects, and SUPERB acting. These guys are an awesome cast, if you haven't seen the movie yet GO!!!! Watch the series, watch the movie and sit back like everyone else i've talked to wonder, 'why did they cancel this?!?' Thanks Matt for the early viewing!!!

Anyway, its now 17-0 'bama over Florida so far. So far, today's a good day and it keeps getting better the longer this game keeps going.

Check out this link about my home town....

Roll Tide
~Kisea