(30 Dec 1999 -- 9:09 PM)
- My parents finally let me have
access to the old photo albums. I have scanned in a few pictures of myself as a small child. There are also a few pictures of my
biological mother, who passed on when I was only 3.
- Is everyone ready for Y2K? I
think we are, even though we did very little to prepare. We have enough fresh water
for 72 hours, enough lighting, and enough food. My neighbors across the street went a
wee bit overboard. They just installed a wood burning stove in their living room (the
chimney is huge and silver, quite an eyesore), a huge truck load of wood was dropped off
at their house, and I have seen the huge vats in which they are going to store
water. I would not be surprised to see the man of the house pacing in the living room
with a Kevlar vest with ammo-filled pockets, and multiple weapons at his disposal.
(25 Dec 1999 -- 7:10 PM) /* PERSONAL */
- I have been in a quite contemplative mood
this holiday season. I believe this is caused by the stressors of having to deal with
my family, the fact that my grandfather is dying of cancer, missing the people that have
passed out of my life, and thinking of what I have accomplished in my twenty years. I
realize more and more who I am, and how this world is not here simply for my
benefit. This existence is a swirling amalgam of lives, and the pure thought of it is
astounding.
- In this world, there are people that I
have wanted to destroy. In complete contrast, there are a few individuals for which I
have cared too much. I wanted to be with them at all times, I wanted to know
everything about them, I practically wanted to be them. Realization states
this is unacceptable, I have no control and thus I must suffer. Well, enough of
this Mind Purge... I think I need to jump out of a plane soon, with or without
a parachute! (Maybe if I was slick enough, I wouldn't need the parachute to
survive...) Here are some lyrics to brighten your holiday (Tool, Sober,
Undertow.):
I am just a worthless liar / I am just an imbecile / I will only complicate you / Trust in
me and fall as well / I will find a center in you / I will chew it up and leave / I will
work to elevate you just enough to bring you down.
(25 Dec 1999 -- 12:19 PM)
- Merry Christmas, everyone! This year
I have so far received a very nice pen, a pair of slacks, and an 80 watt computer speaker
system. The clarity and bass combination is unbelievable! I will be getting much
more, mainly from Jamie, later on today.
An update from Mike #1: Due to generic stupidity, the Christian calendar
should actually be up to 2004 or 2005. During the conversion from the Julian calendar
to the Gregorian calendar, a few years were lost. Stupid Christians!
(24 Dec 1999 -
Life revealed that what 'we' call the year 2000 is the year:
2543 for Buddhists,
1420 for Muslims,
1921 for Hindus,
4697 for the Chinese,
1993 for Ethiopians,
5119 for Mayans and
5760 for Jews.
(23 Dec 1999 -- 11:48 PM) /* PERSONAL */
- Five days without an update? I am ashamed of
myself. The reason for this is twofold. One, until yesterday, I had no idea why
I was continually being disconnected from the net. My family has used AOL for over 3
years now, and the newest version (5.0) has a few bits of horribly written code. I
switched back to 4.0, and the connection has been strong. The second reason, being
home, has two facets. I am usually busy, but nothing is really happening. Maybe
after Christmas I will at least be able to toss up a list of received gifts. For the
new years, I may have a list of resolutions.
- I miss my computer, dearly. I should
do regular backups of my important files each week to my University space. This way,
not only will I have the files backed up, but I will be able to access them from
anywhere. Too bad I couldn't leave my computer running over the break, at least then
I could FTP into it and get some of my MP3s... I never knew there would be a day I
would rather plop down at my computer for music than toss in a CD. Actually, since I
am home, I would gladly toss said CD in my Probe... god, I love that car!
(18 Dec 1999 -- 3:28 PM) /* PERSONAL */
- I am officially home for the
holidays. I left my personalized room to live in this office with a bed. I left
my 10mb/sec connection for this 56k modem that cuts out every 5-20 minutes. I left
some of my friends (mostly Mike and Katherine), but at least I will see more of
Jamie. I left pre-made and usually very edible food for a barren fridge and peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches. Oh well, at least I am done with classes for 3
weeks. The only problem is when I go back, I am going to be horribly busy.
(18 Dec 1999 -- 3:03 PM) /* COMPUTERS */
- More computer updates: I now have two
different motherboards that I might swap in for a temporary measure. My grandpa
couldn't find the manual for either one, so I will have to guess and play Which Jumper
Does What? for awhile. Also, the fact that one of the SIMM slots had what looked like
chocolate sauce in it wasn't a hopeful sign.
- More importantly, I bought my new
case. It is quite the fatty/phatty. With 12 bays, a 300W ATX power supply, slide
out motherboard tray, slide out sides, and wheels, I think I won't have to buy a new home
for my computer parts for a long, long time. The only aspect of it I am not sure
about is the fan of the power supply... for overclocking, the fan should be blowing
out. If it is sucking in, I will just have to crack it open and reverse it.
(16 Dec 1999 -- 9:03 PM) /* COMPUTERS */
- I gutted my computer tonight. The
video, sound, NI, and SCSI cards are all on my desk along with the processor and 4 SIMMs
of ram. I will be getting a used Socket 7 mobo from my Grandpa, like I
figured. Since I am going home for the holidays in less than 24 hours anyway, I am
not going to deal with that computer just yet. I will probably install the used
motherboard, then replace it with all of my new components within 2 weeks. Just today
I received my Celeron. The fan that I bought for overclocking is a monster. I
held a normal fan up to it, and there is no comparison. I have had a lot of time to
play with it, and dismantle my old computer. I only have one final tomorrow, computer
science. When I beat the mean of the other tests by over 30 points out of 100 total,
I think I am safe. Today were my two hardest exams, honors psychology and
neurobiology. I finished the 2-hour psych exam in under 20 minutes. As for
neurobio, I wrote about 6 pages and I think it will be a solid B or higher. I think I
have noticed a trend this year as exam times go... Anthro: 12 minutes, Psych: 20
minutes, Neuro: 50 minutes. At this rate I might have to use the full allotted time
for my comp sci test! Oh, the humanity....
(16 Dec 1999 -- 11:14 PM) /* COMPUTERS */
- My motherboard died last night. I
waded through the Taiwanese website of my motherboard vendor, and finally found something
that seemed to be a BIOS update for my mobo. I saved my old BIOS, flashed in the new
BIOS, and my floppy disk controller promptly failed. That wouldn't have been such a
bad thing had I not flashed the old BIOS onto a floppy! I tried to boot into Windows,
but the new BIOS caused consistent protection faults. I used Mike #1's computer and
uploaded the old BIOS, finally hacked my way into Windows, and downloaded the BIOS onto my
hard drive. I rebooted, tried to flash the old file, and it told me there was a file
size mismatch! That same program created the file, and it can't use it! I was
pissed, to say the least. I have never felt so incapacitated because I lost the use
of my floppy drive. Needless to say, I will not be online much anymore nor will this
website be updated quite as frequently (I am currently on a computer in a campus
lab... I hate not having everything set to my preferences!). I think my Grandpa
can supply me with a temporary mobo until I decide what to buy for my upgrade. I love
how this had to happen at the peak time during finals. At least I was done writing
papers, otherwise I would be completely livid.