Weekend in review...

Horst came and give his presentation about Mac OS X. I was quite humbled by how well everything integrates. The software works seemlessly together, is very intuitive and quite visually pleasing. I will consider purchasing a Mac now for certain things. Two faculty spoke to me on Friday telling me how much they liked the presentation and the speaker. Horst came to Picklefish Thursday night and was looking for some feedback, well Horst you had Dr. Zhou and Dr. Johnsten applauded you for your presentation saying very good things. If any of you wish to visit his page its TheHorst.com where he publishes his podcast.

Well, I continue saying it but I continue doing the same thing. Walmart on Sunday's is crazy. I try not to go there but dangit if I don't continue going. The most disturbing thing is how people act. Someone will sit in their vehicle for someone to empty an overflowing buggy into their vehicle rather than park three spaces farther away from the front doors. I gladly parked many spaces farther away from this scene and was in the front doors before the car had even parked yet. I should have waited to see how long it took them to finally park, but I have better things to do.

I consider myself a gearhead in many ways. I love to work on vehicles in my spare time, thats why I have a 1968 Ford pickup at home that I really want to restore. I also have my eye on a 1968 Mustang which would match up perfectly with said truck. Anyway, I have been fascinated by a new show on Spike in their 'Powerblock' called 'Muscle Car'. I have been learning great restoration tips and stuff about old cars. They are currently restoring a 1970 Dodge Charger. If you want a good hint as to why this is a familiar car but just can't get the grey matter in your head to put 2 and 2 together, its the car used as the General Lee in 'The Dukes of Hazzard'. Actually, the car they are restoring is one of many used in making the movie. But its really cool and i'm enjoying, I must install my PVR so I can digitally cap the show when i'm not around.

Last weekend I dispatched my mother to retreive a gun for me from a friend. Its a 1943 Mosin Nagant rifle. A russian sniper rifle which fires a 7.62x54R cartridge. I like antique stuff. I got it for $110 which rifles like it in good shape sell for $250-$450 thus i'm quite happy. Can't wait to get home one weekend and shoot it.

Adios amigos
~kisea

Round two of changes...

Well, the second round of changes have come through my secret source and they have gladly dropped them in my lap. Not too much changed this time. Some of the minor changes are that they explicitly say that you must take natural science courses with lab experiences and you can take approved natural science courses with lab experiences beyond what is listed. You can take one class from Art, Drama OR music now. The larger change has been that Senior Project has now been shorted a one semester course and 321 Networking course has suffered from the axe. That now means instead of only 3 electives now you have a choice of 4 again but Automata is still an elective course.

I have the PDF and will post it later.

~Kisea

ACM meeting

Well, we had the first real ACM meeting of the semester today and the only thing I could get out of my mind during the meeting was how the faculty advisors....suck. I wish Dr. Langan was the advisor again but no use complaining...too much. Well, I was nominated by about 5 people for president with impromptu elections being held Tuesday. Some of the important things that need to be done are the ACM banquet, fundrasing for the organization and getting more students involved. There are some good people involved but there are also some 'rotten apples' too.

Another plug, Horst Sarubin will be speaking Thursday at 3:30pm in FCE 17 about Mac OS X.

I've played Navyfield some but I can't get on the same server as the few people I know are on. Whenever I try to join it says the server is full, thus I get relegated to the new server where there is nobody on. Maybe i'll get on the good server soon so I can be sunk a few times.

Also, one of the good members of the ACM suggested having a group lunch on Tuesdays at Los Arcos. Well, if you say Los Arcos you almost always receive an immediate 'yes....cheese dip...ummmm'. So, Tuesdays at 2:00pm come join us at Los Arcos if you can.

Whew, back on my feet now...

So, Saturday was a wild night for me. I barely remember the trip home from downtown much less where we went after Grand Central. I think they carried me to an old garage where there was a dog and beer. I'm not entirely sure. I tossed my cookies twice, which I am most certain about. However, my ankle is quite sore for some reason...

Well, here is the link I promised a while back to the new bulletin for Computer Science. Jeremy tells me that the red text that highlights the changes. The red will go away later and more will return. This process will happen three more times total except on the final time it will not have red text highlighting the changes. Link

NOTE: There will be an ACM Speaker Event Thursday, January 26th at 3:30 PM in FCE 17. Horst Sarubin will present an introduction to Mac OSX.

Underworld: Evolution....a review

Two thumbs.....down.....way down. When I reach the credits of a movie and proclaim out loud, "Please, in the name of all that is holy...do NOT let them make another movie." You should know that this is a REALLY bad sign. The plot went out the window and all funds were spent on silicone and graphics rendering time. The story was full of holes and did not adhere to any continunity of the overall story. But, if all your looking for is Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight outfits, silicone and lots of fake blood and gore then this is the movie for you. Personally, I like a smidge of plot in my movies...unless i'm looking for one of those stupidly funny movies. This one was neither.

~Kisea

Random funny post...

When I hear the name Bo Bice I think of two things, untalented musician and that he could pass as someone roaming my old high school.

Also, I made this little story up because it sorta amused me late at night.

I have become convinced that Yoda had an under-achieving younger brother. His name is Bo Bice. He probably had to stay with Yoda, in a spare room at the jedi temple from time to time. Bo Bice is an out of work musician because everyone finally figured out his music sucks. He usually lives with girlfriends, but always gets kicked out after a few months because they see he is so lame. Bo orders pizzas and charges them to Yoda's account. Yoda finds it very embarrassing when Bo interrupts Jedi council meetings in his boxers and robe to ask "hey, do you have any of those little pretzles filled with that cheese stuff?". Afterward, Mace Windu mocks Yoda until the little guy looses his cool and shouts "shut up, you must!" It annoys yoda immensely, when he tells Bo Bice to do something, like find a job, and Bo responds with "yo-da-man". Bo Bice and Boba Fett are drinking buddies, they go to seady bars after coucil meetings, leading Yoda to constantly tell Boba "encourage him, you must not!" to no avail. Then drunkenly, they mock Yoda when he leaves the room. Their drunken antics leads to many bar fights where someone loses an appendage. Bo Bice forgets to write down phone messages and constantly opens the door for strangers, crediters, and even once this guy who said his name was Darth-something or other. He even hangs up on Obi-Wan's urgent messages from across the galaxy because the game is on the holoprojector. But despite his faults, Yoda loves his socially retarded little brother,and they like to play cards sometimes late at night. When Bo Bice wins, he doesnt have to clean the Jedi Temple for a week and mocks Yoda that he will always be the older brother with all the potential. He still believes that his music is the 'yo-da-bomb' and everyone just doesn't understand it. He hopes that one day, he will be remembered as the 'Wild Stallyns' of Coruscant. All Yoda can do at these moments is look to the stars, shaking his head and utter, "a retard, my brother is."

Happy 100th post!!!!!

I started this back in August and now I hit post number 100. Hurray!!

So, what do I talk about for post number 100...Lets see

A story was posted on slashdot about American kids 'outsourcing' their homework. Skrubby made note of a website back in data structures where you could go bid on work and also put up work for others to do. I was looking at that in class oh so long ago to see if, by chance, someone had posted wanting someone to do their DS work for them, and sure enough someone had. Being the student that I am I brought this to his attention (of course this was before I joined his circle of friends) and he immediately had a small list of names of whom it could be. Skrubby was vigilant about cheating, which is a quality which seems to be lacking from some professors these days.

Things like this is why our country is falling behind in Math and Science. Several people are too lazy to do their own work. I understand for some people the class was hard, I admit it was difficult. We were being introduced to a lot of new material rapidly which is quite important to understand for later classes (and your career if you want to amount to anything). It was compounded by a language change as well. While some may say it shouldn't be too hard and I somewhat agree. Its within the same paradigm and extremely similar syntax, however the differences are great enough to cause problems for some. I don't consider myself a great coder but I had problems too. However, its that kind of work which makes one better.

As computer scientists we should come out of school with the basic knowledge of programming language theory and some insight about its design. We should have the basic knowledge to figure out resources for the syntax and semantics of a new language.

The enrollment is down at school and probably for a good reason. I'm sure some people come into the program and see that the intro courses are...well...bobo, then transfer to a new program because of this. From what I can see, there is no real challenge in the beginning. I also feel that doing group projects too early is detrimental to a student. In order to flourish in this dicipline, you must have a firm grasp of the basics, which doesn't seem to be happening in this case. Group work is also a very important part of learning, but it must be introduced at the right time to be effective. Once you have the basics and have a solid foundation, then you move on to larger projects. These larger projects then lead to group projects.

I was speaking to a faculty member today and we spoke about some of this. We then got onto the future of the program. The next 5-10 years will be quite interesting with faculty turnover due to retirement. What's going to happen between now and then? What's going to happen after that point in time? I know...as Matt pointed out before we will all be owned by the Japanese.

The End

~Kisea

I've seen it all...

Well, William Shatner who played Captaim James T. Kirk and T. J. Hooker has sold his Kidney Stone to goldenpalace.com for $25,000. They also own a cheese sandwich which supposedly has an image of the Virgin Mary in addition to other odd things. One good thing is the proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity. One of the spokesmen for Habitat for Humanity said that it will be the first house made from stone....that sound you hear is crickets because I don't think many of you laughed.

I went with kc today when she carried her car to get two new tires put on. While they were working on the car we walked over to the mall and did some shopping. I got one shirt she got several things as women often do.

~Kisea

Weekend roundup...

Friday night we had Anime night, thanks to everyone who showed up. It was pretty good everyone seemed to have a good time as well as myself. I'm thinking we will not be viewing Anime every Friday night but rotate between different events.

Saturday, I do my lazy bum routine for a while then Cbot IM's me asking if I need to get anything from around town. She needs to see about matching a bathroom tile her mother sent her with some tile places to get a couple pieces which have been cracked. This was futile in Mobile because the place we went to didn't actually stock much tile thus they didn't have any old tile which could possibly match it laying around. The tile companies occassionally mix up their colors some for this same reason I hypothesize. You can't match it and you don't want your tile to be odd colors thus you eventually retile the bathroom or where ever the offending tile is.

Sunday, yet another lazy bum day for me. I wash clothes and bed sheets. Clean some stuff off my computer. Watch Mythbusters on Discovery channel (wow is Kari hot in a bikini). I have a bit of the sniffles and a slight cough but I think its more of sinus drainage than an actual cold. I blame the damn weather, cold one minute warm the next. BLAH

Monday, Matt wants to bring Gibbet to play with Smokey and Bandit which is cool. I hope they like each other well, I hear that Gibbet can be a bit...feirce when she wants to. But so can Smokey and Bandit so I guess it'll be all good. Maybe today we can get a game of AOE going, that would be quite fun...

~Kisea

Bored

I'm sitting here babysitting a reinstall on one of the ATI lab machines and i'm completely bored. On a funny note, when I went to use the restroom I noticed some writing on the back of the stall door.

cin >> food;
cout << poop;

Which made me laugh.

Anyway, Matt and I went to CTS yesterday around 3:15ish for their open house. We spoke with the VP, VP of software engineering, head of the Mobile office, HR Manager and their recruiter. They all seemed extremely cool and the products and tools that they are using were appealing. Like I posted earlier, they require you to spend 80hrs a year working on gaining more knowledge outside of the company, which translates into they pay you to get certified. Then another 80hrs inside the company learning something new. They like to keep things fun and interesting and seems like an extremely great place to work. They are developing a lot of new stuff using the C#, .NET, ASP.NET, SQL Server 2000 and the newly released SQL Server 2005. In addition, they do a lot of Java projects as well. Matt and Cbot both have technical interviews today.

CTS

Today is the Open House at CTS in the USA Research Park Suite 190. This is what I was told via IM last night by Matt who has talked to one of their recruiters:

They require you to spend at least 80 of your yearly work hours "bettering" yourself basically...improving your skills in a different skillset. They have a fun team to make sure people are not overworked and unrelaxed. They have frequent retreats to keep everyone fresh. I've been waiting for them to come to Mobile for a while.

This is quite interesting, I will definitely have to go by and see them and I encourage anyone who is interested to come by as well. They do have a posting on the CIS webpage that they are looking for Software Engineers.

I am working on getting some people to come speak to the department concerning Linux and the Open Source movement, it's foundation, evolution, present and future impact as a social technology component from the South Alabama Linux Users Group (SALUG). I will post dates of events for people who may be interested. This Saturday is the January meeting of the SALUG and the public is encouraged to attend. For more details see their website.

~Kisea

So I was sitting in the classroom....

So I was in the 213 computer lab working on a machine when I heard someone outside asking where the room they are looking for is located. So I step out there to help and I was greeted by a very cute looking blonde with a very low cut blouse. Her breasts were practically about to fall out, thats how low cut it was. Imediately I think to myself, 'she must be looking for 150 or 250'. Thus, I ask which class is she looking for and she responds 'software something' so my follow-up question was 'do you remember the room number.' She responds with '213'. At this point I am flabbergasted (not to be confused with flibbertigibbet). I then respond with 'Real-time systems' and she says 'yeah, thats it'. She even tells me the CRN number for the course which matched.

By this time I am overjoyed that not only is there a female in an upper level class, besides Cbot and Melissa, but she happened to be in my lab. This was about 10 minutes before class so I chat with her. She makes some comments about the school so I enquire where she is from. She tells me that she is from Mobile, but she has been attending a University in California. She volunteered that she is working at The Pillar and has waited on the Mitchells several times and that she didn't know the Mitchells practically owned the school. The Mitchell Center and the Mitchell college of business and such. She continued telling me received her bachelors but then they told her 'oops, you still lack 3 classes'. Thus, she is going to finish them at USA. Which is great because, like I said, she is in my lab.

We continue to chat and I really have to admit, its taking every ounce of my strength and willpower to keep my eyes locked with hers and prevent them from.....wondering......down (like I said these things were about to pop out any time like a prarie dog or something). She would talk and move into different position and lean over sometime, but I am proud to say that I did not give in to the human urge to look elsewhere (down) while talking to her. I looked her in the eyes and spoke, not glancing down once while being engaged in conversation.

She talked about how pretty the campus was out there with duck crossing signs and such. She asked where the Humanities building was and how to get there. So, I showed her on a map the best way to get to the Humanities from the CSCB.

We talked some more about transportation then, how she parked in the wrong place way down by the dorms. Then I made a comment about the retarded tram system, which is a good idea but implemented all wrong in my opinion. She told me about her old campus and how they had golf carts. The golf carts would be parked outside the building and if a student needed to go to another building they would take one of the community golf cards, drive over to the other building and park it there. This is quite a neat idea which I could see working well there. But at USA there is no way that could happen. There are just too many stupid people here. I'm sure there is their share of stupid people there but people around here have two strikes against them. 1) Stupid 2) hillbilly rednecks. They like 'racin' and 'wreckin' too much for their own good. I'm certain some body (not mentioning race) would try to sell one of them for drug money.

So, I went ahead and asked the million dollar question, "whats your major?" Her response, "Double major in Psychology and" something else which I think was physical ed or something. Now, how did she sign up for a senior level computer science class is beyond me. She said that she needed an upper level computer course as one of her classes. I tried to explain what the class is going to be like but either she didn't understand or she is serious. I don't know which one is true but i'll let you know as I get more information. All I care about is there is a cute girl in my lab and i'm not complaining.

I heard that CTS is having an open house in the new USA Research Park Wednesday from 3-7. They are located at 775 North University Blvd. Suite 190.

Thats enough for today

~Kisea

Bloody DVD Region encodings...

So, I found a series which I truely enjoy and want to purchase on DVD but guess what....Its only available in Regions 2 and 4 not in the good ole US of A. The name of the show is Doc Martin and its about a surgeon who has practically no social skills who develops a blood phobia thus he becomes a general practioner (GP) of a small village in Cornwall, England. The best way I can describe it is a little House mixed with Everwood and something else I cannot quite identify. Its quite a unique show and is highly recommended by both myself and mom.

Why do we have region encodings, well here is a quick quote on why we have them:

The global DVD marketplace is divided into six regional zones. This controversial regional coding system was ostensibly introduced to combat piracy. It also allows film distributors to stagger theatrical and DVD movie releases across the world's various markets. Thus a film can be released for sale on DVD in one territory only, with access to the disc restricted via regional coding so that this DVD cannot be viewed on a DVD player from another differently coded territory where the film may not have even been released in cinemas yet.

Don't think its working too well, what do you think?

The world has 3 main television standards: NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. In the US all broadcasts, except HDTV, meet this standard. In the UK, PAL is the dominate standard. SECAM is used in France, Russia and some African countries. 95% of the worlds DVD players can read NTSC. All PAL DVD players will output NTSC and most PAL televisions will display NTSC with no problems. In Europe you can find companies which produce products which work with both NTSC and PAL standards, but similar products are hard to find in the US. The three differences between NTSC discs and PAL discs are: 1) Picture size and pixel aspect ratio (720x480 vs 720x576), 2) Display frame rate (29.97 vs 25), 3) surround audio options (Dolby Digital vs MPEG audio). In addition, there are various frame rates (24, 25, and 30 frames per second are common).

I'm tired of this crap. Its a global marketplace on things except for movies. I want a video from England thats not available here, and if I get it from England it may not work in my hardware because of these stupid regions. Its quite annoying....damn them all!!!!

~Kisea

The producers and other thoughts...

Maddog and I went to watch The Producers last night at the theater and it was hilarious! I love Mel Brooks films because of their humor and this was great as well. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick were excellent. Its highly recommended unlike Bo Bice.

While I was home we were talking and somehow we got on the subject of Bo Bice and she very strongly disliked him as well. Cbot made the comment that I had better watch myself that all of the Bo Bice folks would think I caused him to get sick or whatever happened to him lately. While thankfully I can say I have not received any feedback or emails about this.

I was thinking about having a game night around the 20th of January. Matt posted that he played Age of Empires 2 the other day and that spurred my interest in playing some more. Kc and I used to play alot, so when I asked her she was all for it. So, if any of you are interested let me know and i'll see about setting it up. I just need to know how many people so I can arrange for a spacious place for this. If not many people are coming and will be using their notebooks then my house will work if there are several people, then we may have to go to the CIS department.

I have heard that a friend has been offered a wage to grade projects for CIS 230. I guess they don't have enough GA's to cover it which I find funny. Someone really needs to have it hammered through their head that its their fault that the department is going to the dogs. Most of you probably know who i'm talking about so I won't name them...

~Kisea

Travel complete

Well, i'm back in Mobile now and glad that the drive is over with. The drive was fairly uneventful, which is good. No traffic problems and better yet no tickets (not that i speed anyway).

I need to get another LCD monitor so I can run my other computer some. I could run it headless but I prefer to have direct access to it. My archives is starting to run over thus I probably need to start looking more seriously at a good case and Raid5 card. In a way it stinks that Maxtor is being bought out my Seagate. I've always been highly satisfied with Maxtor drives and recently started to purchase more new Maxtor drives. The last couple before the recent Maxtor purchases were Western Digitals but the new Maxtor MaxLine III drives are really sweet with 16MB cache 7200 RPM and 5 year warranties. These are really high performers at a good price and run fairly cool so far. Seagates are a bit more pricey so i've never purchased one because the WD's and Maxtors perform so well at a lower price. Hopefully, they will take the best of Seagate and add Maxtor's knowledge and produce some good affordable drives.

So, i guess my shopping list for the next couple months will be: HDD's, Raid5 card, full tower case, good PS (if a good one is not supplied with the case).

~Kisea

Another travel day...

Well, as i'm about to load the truck up for the trip down south the temperature outside is about 35 degrees with bright sunshine. I think Thor may have had an idea that we were going for a ride today since he woke me up early with a paw on either side of my head and his nose almost touching my nose. I never really get everything done which I set out to do while i'm up here but I have gotten several things done. I didn't get down to 'the ham' to see skrubby. I didn't hang out with my friends as much as I had wanted. Things just get in the way sometimes.

Well, I should be back online later this afternoon from down south.

~Kisea

Is.....that dandruff falling from the sky?!?

Well, I just returned from filling the tank with fuel in anticipation of my return trip tomorrow to the Gulf Coast when I noticed fine white stuff falling from the sky. There's not much falling but its visible. Mom tells me that its called snow, but I told her she was full of poo. Its enough to make Thor jump and try to catch it in his mouth. Quite funny. There's not cold enough for it to make it all the way to the ground nor is it cold enough or heavy enough to even make the ground white.

Well, back to watching Doc Martin, mom is bugging me to finish the season with her.

Oh, and Big Joe Duke says bittorrent sucks. It depends on who is seeding the file(s). There are some good places to get torrents and some bad. If you need a place to get some BJD, give me an email and i'll send you some links.

~Kisea

Are you ready for some football...

Well, tonight is the Rose bowl and its for all of the marbles. #1 USC is taking on #2 Texas for the national championship. If USC wins tonight, they will be the first school ever to win three consecutive national championships. Alabama has had the chance twice but failed to three-pete.

I had to go back to Days Inn, it seems that one of the WAPs had a problem so I had to do some troubleshooting to figure it out. But all's well now.

...Time for the Rose Bowl...

~Kisea

A pretty good day...

Well, I did the job over at Days Inn. It was easy as I had first suspected, just install two new WAPs and run cable for them. The most time consuming thing was crimping cables, just don't quite have that down yet. They still need one, maybe two more WAPs to have good signal in all of the rooms but its quite sufficient.

Also, Alabama played a good game against Texas Tech. It was quite a matchup between the #2 ranked defense in the nation from Alabama and the #2 ranked offense in the nation from Texas Tech. But, as they say the best offense is a great defense which they proved correct several times this season. The coaching staff made several good adjustments for this game, I wish they had made those adjustments earlier in the season. Who knows how the season may have went, we may have been in a BCS bowl or going for the national championship. Well, thanks seniors for what you have put up with for your college career and sticking with the cause. I hope next year is good, they have a promising young quarterback, all of the receivers and the backfield. The defense will be taking a hit with a lot of seniors going but they always seem to fill in the gaps.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Auburn lost badly to Wisconsin. Tough loss but they were playing with a lot of emotion with their coach retiring and all. Oh well Bama won and thats what matters most ;)

~Kisea

First post of a new year...

Hello all! Well, out with 2005 and in with 2006. I spent the talking with friends and 'borrowing' some anime, I counted about 57 titles. So, I clearly have my work cut out for me.

Today, mom made her typical New Years Day meal which she says supposed to give you good luck in the new year. She cooked Turnip greens, Black-eyed peas with 'hog jawl'. In order to get her off my back I ate some of course, so lets hope that boosts my luck for 2006.

Well, I have to say that i've been practically useless while I have been up here :) but I consider it a sort of vacation. However, tomorrow I have been contracted to setup a wireless network for Days Inn. They have one or two WAP's but they have some spots where it cannot be accessed. So, they want me to come out and check their placements, setup and such and install some new WAP's. Which is fine by me, shouldn't be too bad.

Anyway, happy new year everyone!

~Kisea