Semi Sequential Sanity

"Failed to connect to EA Online" BFBC2 Solution Xbox360

2011-06-10T11:17:00.000-04:00

I've been playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 (BFBC2) a lot lately (possibly .5-1 hr a night right before bed while my wife is getting her early hours in). Wednesday and Yesterday, I was unable to play due to an 'error' I was receiving while trying to play some multiplayer. Everything would be okay until I hit Quick Play. It would bring up a screen that says "Connecting" then goto a screen that said "Failed to connect to EA Online".

I searched all over the forums for both EA Online and Xbox and really came up with nothing. There were a few posts about opening ports through your router and the such, but to make sure that wasn't the issue (as I was playing forever without issues earlier) I directly hooked up my xbox to my modem and still nothing (yes... i configured my xbox properly after connecting it to the modem).

At this point (being the engineer that I am), I knew it had to be either a corrupt download or user profile. I went to my xbox file management and deleted my 'user profile' for BFBC2. Now... this will get rid of your saved games... but as I only play multi-player, I didn't care.

After deleting the user profile, BFBC2 joined in a heartbeat!

If anyone needs more specific details (like exactly click here, and the such), let me know and I'll add them, but for most this should be enough!.

Hope this helps someone else besides me :)

3d Printer?

2011-01-22T23:37:00.000-05:00

So I'm come across an interesting site.

www.reprap.com

It is an open source community that is dedicated to building 'self-replicating machines'. Essentially, create a 3d printer with parts that can be created by that 3d printer to in effect be able to replicate itself. This will give the ordinary person a 'factory' in their own household (using thermoplastic extrusion) that they can then make another 'factory'. This can be exponentially branched out which will let more people have a factory and keep everything cost efficient.

Looking at the information, the 'hardest' part of this project is essentially the extruder part. What it does is take a spool of 'PLA' plastic (thermoplastic), heat it up and spread it layer by layer according to a design to make something. Looking at the videos on the site makes everything look amazing. Especially since a lot of their videos show them making the parts for the next 3d printer and some of those parts are complex.

I intend to create my own reprap. It will be made using wood (or even 'Cheese Plastic"), threaded metal rods, stepper motors and an arduino (for the computer interface). It will have a cmd line front end that will allow you to choose a folder of images (so even people without 3d designing software can create items).

We will have to see what happens.
It could just be another one of my 'wishes' but if things work out, could be really cool.

Things are not always what they seem...

2011-01-17T23:16:00.000-05:00

It seems like everything is getting to the point of being 'news worthy'...

Since when are tips to remove information from a social networking website considered 'news'???

Is there really nothing else to report on?

Creating PDFS from virtually anything w/ linux

2009-11-01T12:52:00.002-05:00

So recently I was asked (by my wife) if I would be able to join different web pages together all into 1 file for printing and storage. I thought it would take a very long time but turned out to be quite easy. Here's a lil how to:

Print each page/image/document to file (i usually name it an autoincrementing filename aka 1,2,3,4,...)

this stores the page as a PostScript file (even works in Windows)

Join all of the PS files together to form a huge PS file

you do this using the ps-utility psmerge

psmerge -oOutputFileName file1 file2 file3

you can include as many files as you want in order
there is NO space between the -o option and the file name

turn the PS file into a PDF file

use the ps2pdf utility

ps2pdf psfile.ps pdffile.pdf

This seems pretty straight forward but can be quite tedious if you have MANY MANY files to do at once.

Below is a python code that will make this process easier. It renames files (so they can be sorted properly) and generates the command (quite large at times) to perform the operation

#!/usr/bin/python
import os
path='/home/paul/printer/dadsWorksheets/multiSpaceShip/psFiles/renamed/'
files = os.listdir(path)
files.sort()
##rename = True
rename = False
if rename:
for i in files:
name = i
if len(name) < 3:
name = '00%s' % name
if len(name) > 3:
name = name[1:]
print name
command = 'cp %s/%s %s/renamed/%s' % (path,i,path,name)
os.system(command)
#print files
merge = True
##merge = False
if merge:
com = 'psmerge -oCombined'
#print com
for i in files:
com = ' %s %s' % (com,i)
print com
os.chdir(path)
os.system(com)

its simple and quite crude but it gets the job done quite nicely!!
give it a shot and you'll be storing stuff as PDFs in no time!

UFC Ultimate FIghter letdown...

2009-10-28T22:54:00.000-04:00

I am completely disgusted... can they honestly NOT find decent competitors for this show anymore?

That first round on tonights TUF was a fucking joke. Standing up with just punches and hands down the whole time... Anyone with ANY experience (hell even Kimbo slice...) would have ended that fight in the first 30 seconds... But no.. Dana White goes 'OMG OMG OMG' at the commercial break as if it was an amazing round... It sucked beyond comprehension!

People who know me, know that I studied martial arts for 8+ yrs. If that round is the caliber of fighters that is available in todays market.... its a sad sad world indeed.. Even my 'out of shape' ass could have destroyed anyone of those jokers in that first round...

2nd round starting now... will it be better? i doubt it...

Friendship and its eventual let downs...

2009-10-14T22:02:00.004-04:00

I have been pondering about friendship.

You have different friends during different times of your life. If you're lucky, you will have excellent friends during those times. These friends feel like they will always be friends no matter what happens nor how much time passes.

But, sadly, thats not how it usually happens. The people you thought were the closest to you drift away... People you would share everything with, be there for, spend some of the funnest/sadest/closest times with will slowly disappear.

If you're truly lucky and blessed, there will be the occasional few who will be there. Those are true friends. The ones where you can just pick up where you left off with minimal/no awkwardness... Keep them close to you. They're worth their weight in gold.

You will have nostalgic moments of envy for past experiences with friends. These feelings will bring emotions of joy, humor, and sadness. The only thing you can count on... just like your past close relationships, these feelings of envy shall pass.

Facebook Farmville: My Strategy for fast lvling (so far)

2009-10-06T20:08:00.000-04:00

My schedule is pretty simple. It involves a diversified method of leveling and currently little 'niceities'...

Here is a quick image of my current farm:

in the Blue section:
Lemon Trees... As close as they can fit, this is here to take up the dead space . This will be extended on the top left 2 rows as I get more and more of them.

In the Red section:
Trees, Animals, and crops... Used to fulfil the different ribbons. Once a ribbon is complete, move on to a different type and once all of the ribbons that require space are finished, I will be using that space for tractors.

in the yellow section:
i waste one field for the pleasure of faster EVERYTHING in farmville. When you just get into farmville, you will always start in the same spot (changes only when you increase your farm size). Knowing this, I block my character with haybales. This forces him to stay in 1 spot. This eliminates the need for him to walk around to perform actions and things start as soon as they are next in queue. This eliminates a TON of time wasted and will help clear your crops, plow your land and anything else ur character needs to walk to to perform.

Thats what I do for my farm and I have gone up in lvls quite quickly. I only grow crops that I can harvest 1 time a day (fits my schedule best) and i rotate my extra $$ between 1) buying more lemon trees and 2) buying then selling haybales for pretty cheap exp

My Powerlifting Regeme

2009-09-30T21:28:00.005-04:00

I'm a big guy. I always have been and have dealt w/ this fact my entire life. I attribute it mainly to genetics (big frame) but also to my HS lifting days (mad stretch marks around the shoulder to prove it...)

Lately I have been driven to start lifting once again. I have been at it for about 3-4 weeks now and already feel stronger, slimmer and overall better in health. Its great.

I wanted to share w/ everyone (like anyone actually reads this anyway) my regiment for lifting. Its simple, quick and from every1 that has tried it... very effective at growing muscle and strength.

Powerlifting. It consists of 3 exercises:

Squat
Bench
Deadlift

These 3 exercises work the majority of your body and will grow muscle and make you feel strong.

I work a 2 day split.

1st Day (Monday or Tuesday):

Bench Press
Squat
Pull Ups

2nd Day(Thursday or Friday):

Deadlift
Bent Row
Dips

Its simple and quite fast.

My workout reps & sets look as follows:

4 sets w/ one warm-up and 3 work sets. Choose a weight where you will be exhausted and pushing failure on the last work set.

The breakdown for the sets is as follows:

8 reps - Warmup set at 1/2 working set weight
8 reps - First Working Set
6 reps - Second Working Set
4 reps (or more to failure) - Last Working Set

The working sets add up to a total of 18 reps. If you get 16 of those 18 reps, move the weight up for next time. If not then use the same weight for next time. Simple and easy to follow. If you see a plateau in your lifting records (and record every workout so you can actually see your progress and not 'estimate' it) such as 2-3 weeks at the same weight w/o improvement, move the weight up next workout and you'll pass it.

The glory of this system is that you're always pushing for 18 reps but will be increasing weight at 16 reps. If you focus on the 18 reps, you will almost always be moving up in weight and more weight means more muscle.

I have used this system to increase my 1 rep maxes like crazy and others (including hard gainers) have used this system to build immense strength quickly as well.

Give it a shot.

As always, comments are always welcome!

Decipher: First Code

2009-09-08T21:45:00.002-04:00

At the following link is a keyfile. Use it to decode the following encoded message. I will give $20 through paypal if someone can decipher it before Sat 9/11 0001.

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

Check it out and we'll talk.

Program : FlashCards

2008-10-07T13:31:00.002-04:00

So here is a program that I have made lately. I don't have much time to discuss it now but it basically is a standalone flashcard program.

Pretty simple to use and have fun with. Feel free to comment. (Actually... Please comment as much as possible! I'm always trying to get better!!!)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6U75UOOE

Been a long time and so much has happened

2008-05-07T18:39:00.002-04:00

Well...

semi sequential prolly doesnt cut it at this point

i've been busy beyond imagination and things just seem to never get prioritized correctly...

a lot of things have happened since the last time i've posted but heres a lil of whats happened since then

in 2 days... I am finished with college!
i have a job lined up w/ NAVAIR down at pax river, MD and its gonna be exciting!!!
the plans for my wedding are going at a rate that would kill some but its working real well

so things are a little hectic!
i'm going to try to make an effort to post more often as well as bring some REAL content to the blog itself.... sssanity really has been all over the place and it will become more focused soon

until next time
Try Ikariam.com .... join alpha server and msg G19-fanatic
for all of those rts web browser fans... this will be a fun time

Recipe: Perfect Basic Rice

2008-02-13T12:08:00.002-05:00

Making PERFECT rice can be somewhat of a daunting task to many. Me being a college student, I've attempted MANY different ways to cook rice for many reasons, but mostly because its cheap and can be healthy. What I describe below is known as the "absorption method" and it will cook the rice almost perfectly every time(with a little fiddling at first)

Measure out 1 cup of rice
Measure out 2 cups of water
Measure 1-2 tablespoons of oil(olive oil preferably but anything will work)
Bring it to a boil then lower it till a slight simmer
Cook for 12 mins WHILE keeping it covered (must be a tight fitting lid)
Remove from the heat and let it stand off of the heat between 10-20 mins
Fluff w/ a fork gently as to not make it into a mush.

Thats about it. There is one CARDINAL rule, DO NOT LIFT OFF the lid ANYTIME during the cooking. The rice is cooked by steaming then it absorbs the liquid while it stands. If you like your rice a little softer, add a little bit more water. If you like it a little more al dente, then add a little less water. This recipe is scalable, so you can scale up the quantity of rice depending on how much you need.

Of course you can add spices/broth/flavorings to this basic recipe to your hearts content. My personal favorite additions are garlic powder, sesame seed oil instead of olive oil, Ms. Dash Southwest Chipotle, Red Pepper flakes and soy sauce.

Enjoy :)

How To: Put HTML content into GMAIL emails

2008-02-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

Gmail doesn't allow you to put normal html tags (img, embed, table, etc...) into its emails. This is a place where other email services excel at but Gmail is limited. This limitation can be bypassed by simply attaching the content, but not being able to put the content(image,music,video,etc...) inline in the email seriously limits creativity...

There is a VERY simple way of by passing this problem, the steps are below.

Upload the media online, either to tinypic.com or use the URL where the image/video/animation is stored.
Goto to pages.google.com and "add" the image to ANY webpage (can be a dummy one that is setup just for this purpose, you dont need to actually publish the page). MAKE sure you don't browse to the content that is stored on your computers harddrive. It MUST be stored somewhere accessible online.
When it gets added to the page in the WYSIWYG editor, right click it and "copy" the object.
Goto gmail and paste it into the email.

Voila you have just placed an image/video/animation/etc INLINE in the email instead of being limited to JUST attaching it. :)

ASCII Art

2008-01-22T13:12:00.000-05:00

I happened to look through my bookmarks lately (i'm a habitual bookmarker... 250+...) and I stumbled upon the following link: http://www.chris.com/ASCII/

It is just AMAZING to me how the human mind can take something as simple as text and make amazing art with it. Below are just a FEW of the more amazing ones that I came across.

                                             
                                         __ _
                                      ,o88888
                                   ,o8888888'
             ,:o:o:oooo.        ,8O88Pd8888"
         ,.::.::o:ooooOoOoO. ,oO8O8Pd888'"
       ,.:.::o:ooOoOoOO8O8OOo.8OOPd8O8O"  
      , ..:.::o:ooOoOOOO8OOOOo.FdO8O8"    
     , ..:.::o:ooOoOO8O888O8O,COCOO"      
    , . ..:.::o:ooOoOOOO8OOOOCOCO"        
     . ..:.::o:ooOoOoOO8O8OCCCC"o         
        . ..:.::o:ooooOoCoCCC"o:o         
        . ..:.::o:o:,cooooCo"oo:o:        
     `   . . ..:.:cocoooo"'o:o:::'        
     .`   . ..::ccccoc"'o:o:o:::'         
    :.:.    ,c:cccc"':.:.:.:.:.'          
  ..:.:"'`::::c:"'..:.:.:.:.:.'           
...:.'.:.::::"'    . . . . .'             
.. . ....:."' `   .  . . ''                
. . . ...."'                                 
.. . ."'                                     
.

                                         ,-="""=.
                                .'        `.
                               (            `.
                                `.            `..
                                 ,'             .'
                                 `.            '.
                                   `-.           `-.
                                      )             `=-.
                                    .'              `=-.
                                  .`               .`-.
                    _            (                \ `-.
                 ,'   `.          `.        /`.    \
                /        `.         \      |   `.   `.
              ,'            `.       )    /      \    \
             /     .'`.        `.    )    |       `.   \
           ,'    .'    `.         `./     \         `.  \
         ,'    .'        `.                \          \  \
       ,'    .'            `.               \          `. \
     ,'   .'                 `.              )          ) (__.
   ,'   (                      `.            )          `."""'
_.-'    __)                       `.         .
`""'""                               `"""""""

  _  ____________.---------.
\`'  __________|_________|
/   (_)__]             
|    |                  
.'   .'                  
|____]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$'`$$$$$$$$$$$$$'`$$$
$$$$$$  $$$$$$$$$$$  $$$$
$$$$$$$  '$/ `/ `$' .$$$$
$$$$$$$$. i  i  /! .$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$.--'--'   $$$$$$
$$^^$$$$$'        J$$$$$$
$$$   ~""   `.   .$$$$$$$
$$$$$e,      ;  .$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$.'   $$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$.    $$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$     $by&TL$

                    "M,        .mM"
               IMIm    ,mIM"
               ,MI:"IM,mIMm
    "IMmm,    ,IM::::IM::IM,          ,m"
       "IMMIMMIMm::IM:::::IM""==mm ,mIM"
__      ,mIM::::::MIM:::::::IM::::mIMIM"
,mMIMIMIIMIMM::::::::mM::::::::IMIMIMIMMM"
IMM:::::::::IMM::::::M::::::::IIM:::::::MM,
"IMM::::::::::MM:::M:::::::IM:::::::::::IM,
"IMm::::::::IMMM:::::::IM:::::::::::::IM,
"Mm:::::::::IM::::::MM::::::::::::::::IM,
 IM:::::::::IM::::::MM::::::::::::::::::IM,
  MM::::::::IM:::::::IM::::::::::::::::::IM
  "IM::::::::IM:::::::IM:::::::::::::::::IM;.
   "IM::::::::MM::::::::IM::::::::::mmmIMMMMMMMm,.
     IM::::::::IM:::::::IM::::mIMIMM"""". .. "IMMMM
     "IM::::::::IM::::::mIMIMM"". . . . . .,mM"   "M
      IMm:::::::IM::::IIMM" . . . . . ..,mMM"
      "IMMIMIMMIMM::IMM" . . . ._.,mMMMMM"
       ,IM". . ."IMIM". . . .,mMMMMMMMM"
     ,IM . . . .,IMM". . . ,mMMMMMMMMM"
    IM. . . .,mIIMM,. . ..mMMMMMMMMMM"
   ,M"..,mIMMIMMIMMIMmmmMMMMMMMMMMMM"
   IM.,IMI"""        ""IIMMMMMMMMMMM
  ;IMIM"                  ""IMMMMMMM
  ""                         "IMMMMM
                               "IMMM
                                "IMM,
                                 "IMM
                                  "MM,
                                   IMM,              ______   __
                  ______           "IMM__        .mIMMIMMIMMIMMIMM,
             .,mIMMIMMIMM, ,mIMM,   IMM"""     ,mIM". . . . "IM,..M,
           ,IMMM' . . . "IMM.\ "M,  IMM      ,IM". . . .  / :;IM \ M,
         .mIM' . . .  / .:"IM.\ MM  "MM,    ,M". . .  / .;mIMIMIM,\ M
        ,IM'. . .  / . .:;,IMIMIMMM  IMM   ,M". .  / .:mIM"'   "IM,:M
       ,IM'. . . / . .:;,mIM"  `"IMM IMM   IM. .  / .mM"         "IMI
      ,IM . .  / . .:;,mIM"      "IMMMMM   MM,.  / ,mM            "M'
      IM'. .  / . .;,mIM"          "IIMMM ,IMIM,.,IM"
      IM . . / . .,mIM"              IMMMMMMM' """
      `IM,.  / ;,mIM"                 IIMMM
       "IMI, /,mIM"                 __IMMM
         "IMMMM"                   """IMM
           ""                         IMM
                                      IMM__
                                      IMM"""
                                      IMM
                                      IMM
                                    __IMM
                                   """IMM
                                      IMM
                                      IMM
                                      IMM__
                                      IMM"""
                                      IMM
                                      IMM

As you can see, they get REALLY intricate...
These are just a very MINUTE part of what is available at that site.
Go give it a look, you'll spend atleast sometime being amazed at what people can do.

Fraud... People Today >:-0

2008-01-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

So this morning i receive a phone call at around 10am. It is some representative from PNC bank (I hold an account there which i use to receive my schools wage and some personal spending money). She calls me to confirm a few odd transactions on my account. I was stunned!!!

Apparently, $57.00 was charged to my account for some online website template company(it came through as " VISA - LNR* FTD-FLASH.COM " ). Now normally, this type of transaction wouldn't have raised any suspicions (unless it is a common fraud thingy that pops up warnings in VISA's systems..) because i make online purchases. The thing is that it overdue my account. Now that is something that should put some alarms up because I've never (for the 5 yrs ive had the account) over drawn my account.

Here's the kicker. I haven't given my information to any online company lately. Other than paypal and a few local online stores, no one has my CC information. This leads me to believe that i must have been a victim of fraud from somewhere where I have paid using my card in person. The NERVE of some people to try and STEAL things from others.

I will watch my account very closely from now on. I've had MUCH faith in the people handling my information in the past, but NOW I'm inclined to be a lot more cautious. Maybe purchasing a prepaid ELECTRON VISA debit card would solve that problem? I do not know....

How to download any mp3 right off the net

2008-01-14T16:31:00.001-05:00

Every1 downloads music. Most people use torrents or another "sharing" service to download the highly sought after mp3's. There are other ways to do so without actually sharing a thing. The directions how to do so are below :)

First go here and register (its free).

Then go here and type the SONG NAME that you would like to download.

Click on the found results.

You will right click the file and click "Open With". If Wordpad isn't on this list, click "Choose Program" and choose Wordpad.

There will be the link to the actual mp3.
Copy and paste the link(if there are multiple, do the one that corresponds to the song you're looking for, you'll figure it out :) ) into a browser and save the file.

Almost any mp3 you would like can be found this way.

Enjoy!!!

Gettin paid to do some minor clicking: BUX.TO

2008-01-04T01:48:00.000-05:00

I recently (very recently) started an online PTC (paid to click) program.
Its called bux.to and you get 1 cent for every ad that you and your DIRECT referrals view.

This is quite amazing because it is the ONLY site out there that i've heard about where you earn 100% of your referrals profits.

There are quite a few things that are interesting with bux.to. First off is that you can BUY un-referred people. It IS kinda of a steep price but looking at the forum posts as well as the testimonial screen shots of paypal deposits as well as payouts make a very convincing case.

The second interesting thing is that they guarantee replacement of inactive referrals!!! This basically guarantees you that you will be making atleast SOME money from each referral.

After some mulling over it, i decided to buy 35 referrals. After a couple of weeks, if the numbers add up the way i hope they will (and i did it quite pessimistically), i will break even without doing anything at all! Then all profits will be pushed into more referrals until a make atleast $100-200 a week. That would be nice.

Here's my referral link, Give it a shot!!! You'd be surprised how quickly a cent here and there will add up for absolutely nothing outta your pocket.

Photos: First attempt at panography!

2007-12-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

Here is my first attempt at panography. It's quite simple yet still very fun to do ESPECIALLY if you have a digital camera and photoshop.

For those who might not know what panography is, follow the next 2 links to gain some insight:
http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/panographies/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/panography/

My first attempt was of my parents house in NE Pennsylvania. As a stated... its not a masterpiece, but those will come as I have more time this upcoming semester!

Enjoy!

I encourage people to try for themselves and see what they can capture!!!

Celebration?

2007-12-20T17:29:00.000-05:00

Is is wrong to celebrate semi-important events w/ things that you normally wouldn't do?

The obvious answer is that it really depends.... but in the end ppl will do what makes them happy... with or without proper concern for their own health/status/impressions.

Today was my first day when I did not have to stress about anything for the past 2-3 months. It was a good day. Bought breakfast, relaxed, played guitar hero 3 while having a bi-annual cigar.

All in all it was a good day.

I say to all of you college students finishing finals and heading into the holiday season, Relax. Kick up your feet. Enjoy the time off!
We've earned it!

Finals and the unnecessary...

2007-12-15T16:42:00.001-05:00

It's the time of the semester again...

The time where stress is at its highest, the candle burns bright into the night, people walking around like zombies, taking caffeine loaded drinks/pills to keep awake, and countless hours of looking at computer screens/notebooks/hw&test solutions...

Why does the last week of a semester have to be the hardest to get through? We've gone through the WHOLE damn semester... and if you do not know who knows the material by now... then what the hell good are ya?

Its simple... We're Stressed out. On top of just YOUR one final that you know we have to prepare for... we have 5 other professors who expect the same...

Give us a break....

Oh wait.. that doesnt happen... cause we're in the engineering college at psu and there's no such thing as an easy way out....

;asogho;sadgo;sao;gh;owuaekfjbwas,.b,xcbviwadsguoweashglsdh;ljgh;woasdugh

All you students out there... Pull through. Do the best you can with the time you have. Things will work out in the end.

Good Luck

FreeRice.Com

2007-12-11T01:06:00.000-05:00

My roommate recently introduced me to a site: www.freerice.com . It is quite interesting.

It is a site where you get asked vocabulary questions and for every correct answer, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations who in turn distribute it around the world to starving people.

I prompted made a lil program that automated the process of clicking the links and let it run over night for about 5 hrs. I woke up to 18400 grains of rice as my score for the night!!!

This prompted my roommate and myself to actually calculate HOW much rice I just "donated"/contributed to the poor.

We took out my digital food scale and proceeded to show that 2 grams of rice had about 172 grains. After weighing one cup of rice, we found that there were 16684 grains of rice for 1 cup of uncooked rice. About 2 cups of rice will just BARELY feed a person (calorie intake wise). So my 18400 grains of rice was enough food for 1 person to eat for 1/2 a day. This didn't seem to impressive.

After looking at the totals on the website, I came to a different conclusion...
They state(as of today) that they have donated 7,536,669,470 grains of rice.

Using the measurements that I have recently calculated, this equates to roughly 193203.628 lbs of rice.... in only 2 months.... This presents a different picture entirely...

Sooo... Goto www.freerice.com ... play a lil bit.... help to fight the war against hunger...
Every little bit helps

Politics

2007-12-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

Oh boy... here comes a touchy subject if there is any

I'm a registered Democrat. The MAIN reason I became a Democrat is because my parents were and I was lead to believe that it was against my best interest to vote Republican. NOW, i choose to be a Democrat (in general). They are in my mind.. the lesser of 2 necessary evils on most topics and usually correspond with my personal beliefs on what is more important in life.

There are always going to be problems with every candidate that tried to go into office. Every single person has some stand or POV on a topic that I disagree with. The choices are usually few and far between but you must do your best to choose wisely.

I remember the Clinton era. He was a good president but a horrible father/husband with very crappy morals ( ..."I did not have sex with that woman..." ). BUT that is exactly what people do not understand... he had crappy morals... he was a shitty human being... but He did MANY great things for the country ( such as eliminate the national debt.... which should be more of a focus than it currently is...). You do not have to like the person in office so long as they are doing their job.

I am now living through the Bush era... He seems like he was morals (though he blatantly used the idea that he wouldn't raise taxes to get into office yet he did anyways.... twice...) is a good family man and a good Christian. BUT his complete ignorance and numerous bad judgements have put this country into a time of relative ultimate lows...

Elections are coming soon....

Heres my piece of advice... Dont blindly listen to your parents, friends, or family and follow what they do. Do a little research for yourself. Decide whats important to YOU and what candidates take stands on topics that correspond with what you need. (aka If you really dont care about abortion... then whether or not the candidate is pro-choice or not shouldn't matter...)

That being said, here are the things that matter to me...

Economy and National Debt/Budget
Education
Soldiers not dying in faraway lands for no apparent reasons
Health Care
Environment
Immigration

You show me a candidate that puts those things at the top of their list.... I will vote for them (Democrat or not!).

Obsession over GPA, Worth it?

2007-11-28T22:20:00.000-05:00

I'm studying aerospace engineering. Yea.. its a hard major.. It's going to take me 5 yrs to graduate( could have done it in 4 but that would have meant 19 crs every semester w/ no breaks... i love life too much to do that to myself)

i dont have a perfect gpa, no where close... I'm by no means have a low gpa (i have a 2.73 currently)

There are some ppl that have well over a 3.8 in aerospace engineering that have NO social life, which i believe is ridiculous.

Recently... i received information that confirms my standing(one of my friends who is also in aerospace engineering has a lower gpa than me and got a job for over $56k/yr)

Whats the big deal w/ gpa?
It in NO way shows which person is the best engineer... just who was the best at taking tests... not necessarily who knew the material better.

Public Display of Affection (PDA)

2007-11-25T23:21:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has ever been in a relationship can probably agree that atleast once during their time together in public, they have kissed passionately. Now I'm not talking a tongue down the throat kiss (this will be discussed in a few) but I'm talking a genuinely passionate smooch here.

Personally, i have no problem with this type of affection being shown in public... so long as its not a 10 second make-out session

The question arises tho.... Exactly what constitutes too much PDA?

I guess to some ppl, even holding hands would be considered too much

But personally, that isn't too bad. IMO... too much PDA is when ppl are making out and essentially feeling each other up in plain sight. Blatantly disregarding everyone else around them...
Everyone's seen this type of behavior and if you are of good conscious... most likely turn your nose up at it.

But this then arises to another point.
What if you're around friends/family just hanging out...
How do you say to you're roommate/sibling that you'd like them to leave so that more personal make-out sessions (or more intimate) can progress...
You obviously do not want to make the situation seem "strange" but its a touchy subject.

In the end... ppl will do what they want... and if you dont like it, too bad..
But damn ppl.. have the decency to do intimate things in private... and not in the public eye...
You are not cool for making out in the mall infront of 300 ppl...

Online Game: Avalanche

2007-11-24T13:45:00.000-05:00

There is a newer site that I've been going to for flash games.
It is www.thegamehomepage.com

The great thing about this site is that you're able to compete against other ppl to get the highest scores. This has taken the Aerospace Computer Lab by storm and we're trying to compete to get the highest score on the game called Avalanche.

Very simple game, use ur arrow keys to climb higher and higher. You can run across the screen as well as "hug" the walls and slide down blocks. You're score is your max height. My current max is 825 ft

There are 2 ways to die. The first is being crushed by the blocks.
The 2nd is to drown in the pink fluid!

Stop by and play some, but a warning...
It's extremely addicting!!!

Forgot to introduce myself...

2007-11-22T00:28:00.000-05:00

I guess i kinda jumped the gun w/ the blog and all and forgot to introduce myself.

I am a 22 yr old college student. I am a 5th year senior studying Aerospace Engineering at PSU (graduating in the spring '08). I enjoy computer programming and do so in numerous languages, most of which I learned just because I wanted to(Languages include: C++, Fortran, Matlab, LabVIEW, php, perl, and some java/javascript). My ultimate job at this moment would be a test engineer who specializes in the acquisition of data and creation of acquisition systems for vibration, noise and aerodynamic testing.

I am engaged to the most beautiful woman on this earth (been together 5 yrs this upcoming january) with our wedding coming this july. She's also a senior at PSU studying Elementary Education. She's quite possibly the most important person in my life.

I have attended instruction for playing the piano for over 12 yrs (starting at the age of 5). I also trained in Martial Arts for a little bit over 8.5 yrs (Shinjitsu Do).

I'm very interested in "Wilderness Survival" and possess a wide variety of skills that intertwine with it (fire starting, shelter building, clothes making, weaving, slinging, archery, rope making, knitting and even crocheting and etc etc etc). Further skills that I wish to learn would be intricate but primitive snare/trap setups and flint knapping.

I also have a lil crutch that I play video games and have my favorites. In my apartment, the guys and I play Counter Strike (version 1.6.... no source yet for us. Visit the online community that i am apart of.) and AoE3 (Age of Empires). I also play the online real time games: Ogame and Gladiatus.

I consider myself a renaissance man because of my need to learn information... no matter how useless or abstract it may seem at the time. My friends have said that I "...possess a little bit of knowledge on everything...". I like to hold conversations (no matter how controversial) on any topic and always love to hear your side of the story if you're willing to hear mine.

All in all, I'm a twenty something yr old geek who wants to learn more. This blog will be used to spout some information and thoughts out(as I remember them... mayb i should get a lil notebook to jot down thoughts as they pass...). I encourage discussion on any topic (whether it be constructive or not).

Return and you'll be engaged eventually as I hit a topic you're interested in.

Becoming American

2007-11-21T09:04:00.000-05:00

I am a first generation child. My father immigrated to the US in 1972 from Italy. My mother in 1970 from Poland. Both legally.

Both my parents went through intense hardships to become live the American Dream. Lets take a father for example.

He came off the boat at the age of 24 with $52 in his pocket and a dream in his heart. Within one year, he was married to the woman he followed to America (met in italy, rest falls together). Within another 1.5 yrs... he was divorced and faced many extreme situations which I will not discuss in respect of my father.

it just amazes how people will want something with all of their heart and follow it... leaving all of his family, traditions, and livelihood behind in search of something better.

Right... my father is not a born American... but I know very few people who consider themselves "Full Blooded American" who have had to endure the trials and tests of courage that my father has to respectfully call himself American.

This is the time i will post my Political perspective on immigration.
Everyone that immigrates (legally or illegally) is looking for a better life. No one can judge or argue that fact... if they do they have NO idea what it is like to leave everything they have ever known to go someplace and start over...

If you want to come to America... Do so legally. I have NO issue with legal immigrants. They follow the laws set out to become Americans and do so going through every hardship along the way. People who illegally hop the border...be prepared to go jail for your efforts

Crazy Highway Tactics

2007-11-18T23:17:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day of Thanksgiving break. I was on the drive home from Happy Valley during this years first snow storm.

Now normally, driving in the snow isn't a problem for me. I love PA winters and I don't mind driving in the snow, but today was a lil different. The weather was treacherous!

Interstate 81 has lil flashy markers that are lined with the middle lines. This makes driving in heavy snow fall no problem. Stay between the lil flashy things and you're all good.....

Interstate 80 doesnt have any.... anywhere...

Freaking Interstate 80....
nothing like going 40mph when tractor trailers are passing you going 70...